Activated Rope

The auctioneer paused after his introduction and spoke again:

"I need to clarify beforehand that the Animated Rope also has two drawbacks. First, it's only a hundred meters long and can only be used for small sailboats."

Hearing this, Ian's excited mood quickly calmed down.

In his plan, Wawa would definitely be a propeller-driven battleship powered by its own engine, but it needed to disguise itself as a sailboat in the early stages, as current steam warships still had both steam engines and sails.

If there was an Animated Rope that could automatically operate the sails, he wouldn't have to worry about recruiting a large crew.

But this Animated Rope was only a hundred meters long, significantly reducing its value.

Sailboats had many types of rigging, including foresail halyards, mainsail halyards, mainsail outhauls, mainsail sheet ropes, reefing lines, and jib sheets.

Taking the foresail control ropes as an example, there were generally three, each at least 1.5 times the length of the hull.

Jib sheets were even more than twice the length of the hull. Therefore, a hundred-meter Animated Rope had very limited use.

The auctioneer paused after speaking, "The second drawback is: it has a compulsive urge. This is a medical term, but simply put, in its presence: all ropes must be neat, all knots must be standard and correct, and you can't wear your right shoe on your left foot..."

"If violated, it will try to correct it. If its continuous attempts are in vain, it will fall into a temporary 'coma,' the duration of which is uncertain."

"Furthermore, this trait will subtly influence its owner."

Ian's lips curled slightly. This peculiar item was, well, truly unique.

If that was the case, using this Animated Rope for sailboat rigging would be "wasting its talent." It should have more special uses, such as—cleaning...

"Starting bid 1000 gold coins, with each increment no less than 10 gold. Please place your bids—"

"1050 gold coins—"

"1100 gold coins—"

Contrary to Ian's expectations, the enthusiasm did not diminish because of the Animated Rope's drawbacks.

"2600 gold coins!" Ian waited for the bidding to slow before calling out his bid.

He was quite fond of this peculiar item!

Seeing Ian bid, the people from Whaling Group were also surprised. What use could an Alchemist like him, who didn't own a ship, have for it?

They could only attribute it to the whims of the rich. Only Lia, who knew of Ian's plan to leave, gave him a thoughtful glance.

"2610 gold coins!"

"2700 gold coins!"

"2700 gold coins once..."

"2700 gold coins three times, sold!"

Ian let out a soft sigh. He was lucky to have won the bid. If the other party had bid over three thousand, he would have been forced to give up due to an empty wallet.

"Congratulations..."

Lia saw the relaxed smile on Ian's face beside her and congratulated him softly.

Ian grinned back at her. It was his first time attending an auction and winning an item, and the experience was novel.

The auction continued, and the various peculiar items and equipment opened Ian's eyes.

"The next item is a top-grade Awakening Potion produced by the Alchemist Fellowship, a set of 6 bottles, sold in 5 batches."

Ian's spirits lifted, and he focused his gaze downwards. In an exquisite leather case, six black glass bottles with cork stoppers were neatly arranged.

The black glass bottles blocked all external sight and also shielded all spiritual probes. This was not to maintain mystery but a necessary measure to prevent spiritual contamination.

Except for the first few years of the Great Navigation Era when the price of Awakening Potions slightly decreased, the auction prices for Awakening Potions had been steadily rising at other times.

Later, auctions for them became rare, appearing only in small quantities in private transactions among major powers.

In recent years, with the increasing number of mutated and infected extraordinary beings in the Sea of Miracles, it was mainly because most of them awakened using inferior Awakening Potions. Of course, a very small number awakened spontaneously and lacked control.

There were many Awakening Potion formulas, but the output was scarce. One of the main reasons was the rarity of Awakening Potion ingredients, with Blue Silver Grass being a typical example.

Blue Silver Grass itself possessed gentle and pure spirituality, incapable of contaminating any living being, which was a required characteristic for the main ingredient of Awakening Potions.

However, Blue Silver Grass had harsh survival requirements and could not be cultivated artificially, making its stock extremely scarce.

The second reason was that Awakening Potions, unlike Sequence Potions, could not be refined but only blended. Any admixture of spirituality or magic power would inevitably lead to blending failure.

Besides these two points, Ian couldn't help but maliciously speculate whether the major extraordinary powers were intentionally controlling the number of extraordinary beings?

He just didn't know why a faction would bring out so many Awakening Potions this time. Had they found a substitute for the main ingredient?!

Little did Ian know, he was half right.

Although no substitute for the main ingredient had been found, a large amount of high-quality Blue Silver Grass had been discovered on the new continent.

During the period of conflict with the natives on the Western Continent, a few daring adventurers took advantage of the chaos to steal a small amount of Blue Silver Grass and brought the news back.

The Empire of Divine Grace and the Silver Star Commercial Alliance on the Western Continent had already occupied a landing point and, having established a foothold, were likely harvesting even more.

Even more astonishing than this news was the appearance of high-sequence extraordinary beings in this war, who played a decisive role in combating the native extraordinary beings.

It's worth noting that before this, the appearance of a High-Sequence transcendent in Aiolanga was an event from the Fourth Era, over two thousand six hundred years ago.

The influence of the Mana Tide has already manifested; the intensity of Mana and the resources of the Sea of Miracles are now sufficient to give birth to High-Sequence transcendent beings!

Low-Sequence transcendents cannot contend with Mana firearms and organized soldiers, and Mid-Sequence transcendents are no match for alchemical cannons and battleships. But High-Sequence transcendents are different; they have already stepped into the realm of the inhuman.

The powerful spiritual force fields of High-Sequence transcendents can allow them to defy gravity and fly through the air. Their potent spirituality and mana make forbidden spells that can turn the tide of war possible.

The emergence of High-Sequence transcendents will shatter the current balance of power.

Facing the immense pressure from the Western Continent, the various powers of the Eastern Continent were forced to "let go of past grievances" and form an alliance.

No matter how fragile this alliance is now, or how many ulterior motives its members harbor, at least they have reached a consensus on the strategic direction of seizing the new continent.

This auction is an exchange meeting to demonstrate sincerity, bringing out all the stagnant goods, equipment, materials, population, and food to exchange and mutually enhance strength.

After the auction, the major powers will enter the fray, fully committing to the struggle for the new continent.

This auction was precisely the work of the Grand Duke of Emerald. After fighting each other to the death for so long, how could the various powers trust each other, exchange goods, and cooperate sincerely?

When the Grand Duke of Emerald proactively put a Level 4 sailing warship up for auction, all parties agreed. After all, the benefits wouldn't go to outsiders.

And so it was. As the auction progressed, almost all the items were snapped up by them, while the Seven Major Churches of the Righteous Gods observed from the sidelines the entire time.

In the end, all five sets of awakening potions were purchased by the various kingdoms and duchies. The cheapest set of awakening potions still fetched twenty thousand gold coins.

Aranis also successfully bid for a set of awakening potions and then lazily lay back down, no longer interested in the remaining items.