The Intermediate Auction

As the time drew near, Luo Zhiyuan entered the Virtual Universe.

Bulieni appeared on Luo Zhiyuan's shoulder and patted him as he said, "Kid Luo, get ready. We're heading to the Xuanyi Universe Kingdom. The auction is being held in the Xuanyi Universe Kingdom in the Virtual Universe. Let's go!"

Luo Zhiyuan brought Bulieni to a teleportation point. Since he had an admission ticket to the auction in the Xuanyi Universe Kingdom, he could choose to teleport to its location in the Virtual Universe. The instant he selected teleportation, he was transported to the entrance of a gigantic tower on the Xuanyi Continent.

It was a nine-story tower, with each floor dozens of kilometers tall. There were eight gates on the four sides of its base, and Luo Zhiyuan was standing in front of one of them.

In the middle of the tower, several large characters were displayed in midair in the Universal Language: "Virtual Universe Company Auction Center."

Luo Zhiyuan looked up at the towering nine-story structure, but he didn't feel small in comparison. That was one benefit of reaching the third level of mental state.

Since his inner world was already boundless, he was no longer affected by ordinary things like imposing buildings. Otherwise, a tower countless times taller than the highest mountain on Earth would have shaken him to his core if he'd seen it before.

He turned his head and looked around, but didn't see any other humans. Then he went straight into the auction center, the ticket in his hand transforming into a layer of blue light that shimmered above his head.

The first floor of the auction center was a spacious hall, with many faintly visible compartments. Some held shadowy figures, while others were empty.

As soon as Luo Zhiyuan stopped, a staff member with green skin and a horn on his head approached with a smile. "Honored guest, the intermediate auction is being held on the sixth floor. If you don't know where to go, I can show you."

Luo Zhiyuan looked at the staff member in surprise, wondering how he knew he was there for the auction. Then he followed the staff member's gaze to the ticket above his head and realized it must be the ticket's effect. He nodded. "All right, sorry for the trouble. Please take me there. This is my first time here, so I don't know where to go."

The staff member bowed and pointed in a direction. "Of course, sir. Please follow me. There's a teleportation point here that will take you directly into the auction hall."

He followed the staff member across the first-floor hall and used the teleportation point to enter the auction hall. The next instant, he appeared in a gigantic room.

"Room" wasn't quite the right word. The space was enormous, a hundred meters high and five hundred meters long and wide. In the center stood a circular metal platform, one meter high and a hundred meters in radius. Luo Zhiyuan appeared in front of it. Behind him was a five-meter-long sofa, with all kinds of colorful food and drinks arranged in front of it and on either side.

Luo Zhiyuan sat on the sofa and examined the unfamiliar food before him, practically drooling. He asked Bulieni, "Bulieni, hurry up and tell me what all this stuff is. It looks so beautifully made!"

Bulieni glanced at it and curled his lip. "How stingy. They've only put out some virtual energy fruits and energy drinks. Even the real stuff would cost no more than ten Hunyuan. It's even cheaper in the Virtual Universe. Nothing special. Just try some."

"Wow, these things that look like fruit and drinks are worth ten Hunyuan out there? Then I'd better give them a proper taste." As he spoke, Luo Zhiyuan picked up a fruit that looked like a plum and tossed it into his mouth.

Ptooey! Damn, that was sour! He spat it out, then picked up a bottle of shimmering, colorful liquid and took a small sip. This one was sweet and refreshing, and suited his taste.

Whenever Luo Zhiyuan picked up a food or drink, Bulieni told him what it was and what it did. Most of them enhanced the body's energy level.

As Luo Zhiyuan sampled the various foods and drinks, he said to Bulieni, who was perched on his shoulder, "This isn't what I imagined an auction would be like. I thought there'd be a big hall with lots of people sitting in a circle and bidding. Having a separate private room like this doesn't give you much of an atmosphere."

Bulieni lay back on Luo Zhiyuan's shoulder, legs crossed and swinging. "A big hall? What kind of people do you think attend an intermediate auction? They're at least four-star customers!

"Most of those customers are Immortals. You think they'd want a bunch of Immortals haggling until they're red in the face? They'd lose face! So, whether you look at it in terms of status or face, private rooms like these make more sense."

"Fair enough. Ha ha, it would be pretty embarrassing for a bunch of Immortals to fight over something. I know how important face is to Immortals. By the way, Bulieni, see if there's an auction catalog or something. We can prepare in advance."

Bulieni sat up when he heard that and nodded. "Good idea. Let me check. There is one. Come on, let's look."

With that, Bulieni waved his hand, and an image of a book appeared in front of Luo Zhiyuan. The cover read "Auction Items." It looked very thick, and he had no idea how many items were up for auction.

Luo Zhiyuan felt a headache coming on. "Come on, there are obviously tons of items in there. How long would it take me to go through them one by one? Bulieni, look through it first and then show me the things that might be useful to us."

"Mm, good idea. Let me take a look." As Bulieni spoke, the thick book-image in front of Luo Zhiyuan flipped rapidly from beginning to end, taking less than a second. Luo Zhiyuan hadn't seen a thing, so he waited for Bulieni to tell him what was in it.

After skimming the auction catalog, Bulieni told Luo Zhiyuan, sounding somewhat unimpressed, "There are quite a few items, but nothing really good. The best spaceship is an E9-class spaceship from the Machine Race.

"Looks like I shouldn't have expected too much from an intermediate auction. Oh well, I'll make do with that broken spaceship for now."

Luo Zhiyuan looked at him in surprise. "Seriously? Bulieni, aren't your standards a little too high? It's an intermediate auction, and an E9-class Machine Race spaceship isn't a broken spaceship. It's good enough for some Ordinary Immortals.

"You can't keep judging things from the perspective of someone with my teacher's status. Look again. See if there are any weapons or equipment that would suit me.

"What my teacher left me is all too advanced. Right now, I've only got a second-order Telekinetic Weapon and a second-order Force Battle Suit. You can't expect me to cultivate all the way to the World Lord or even Immortal level with just those two things, can you?"

Bulieni rubbed his chin. "Oh, right. Your teacher really didn't prepare any transitional items for the early stages! In that case, there are a few things at this auction that you could use. For example, these three: the flying Telekinetic Weapon Flame Light Feather, the Nine Great Divine Weapons of the Controller, and the Divine Illusion Bead.

"The Flame Light Feather is a flying Telekinetic Weapon suited to someone following the Law of Light to break through to Immortality. It can greatly increase the user's instantaneous dodging speed and burst speed, so it should suit you.

"The Nine Great Divine Weapons of the Controller are the best weapons for Mental Master Controllers. This set contains all nine divine weapons, bundled together, along with basic Combat Secret Techniques.

"You can make do with the Shadow Divine Weapon for now. It's a Telekinetic Weapon that combines the Laws of Light and Time. Once you reach the World Lord Level, you can switch to the weapons your teacher prepared for you.

"Didn't you say you liked the Illusionist path? The Divine Illusion Bead is a Telekinetic Weapon suited to Illusionists. It can strengthen your mental power and amplify the power of your Soul Secret Techniques."

Luo Zhiyuan nodded, feeling more hopeful about the auction. Then he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, "Oh, right, Bulieni. I almost forgot something important!"

"What?"

"My clones! I need to prepare for them. See if there are any suitable materials for making clones.

"Besides, since my teacher foresaw that one of my clones would be from the Shadow Race, I'm definitely going to make a Shadow Race Clone.

"I haven't made a clone yet, and I don't know anything about this race. You should know a little, right? Also see if there's any equipment suitable for this clone.

"Oh, and Xingshuo. Teleportation is an important ability, after all. If I make one of my clones from that race too, I can prepare for it now. I won't get another chance to attend an intermediate auction anytime soon, so we shouldn't miss it."

Bulieni slapped his thigh and nodded repeatedly. "Right, right, I really did forget about something this important! I'd better look for it."

Luo Zhiyuan gave a helpless laugh. "Bulieni, are you messing with me? You're an Intelligent Life. How could you forget?"

Bulieni rolled his eyes. "I can forget precisely because I'm an Intelligent Life!

"Intelligent Life is still a form of life. And all life has emotions and desires. We're not as rigid as intelligent programs.

"So, if I'm happy or unhappy, isn't it perfectly normal for me to forget things? Don't you humans do the same?"

Luo Zhiyuan was left speechless. Something about Bulieni's argument seemed wrong, but he couldn't work out how to refute it. He could only urge Bulieni to hurry up and check the catalog for suitable equipment to buy.

Bulieni tilted his head in thought. "I don't know much about the Shadow Race or the Xingshuo race either. Old Mystic only told me a few things.

"Let's start with Xingshuo. They're a type of plant life, but unlike other plant life, they have bodies resembling ordinary human beings rather than ordinary plants.

"But the Xingshuo can extend more than two Vine Leaves from their bodies. These Vine Leaves are quite long and can be used as weapons or spread over the body as armor. They excel at the Law of Space. That's all I know."

"As for the Shadow Race, they're energy-type Special Lifeforms who fight as close-combat Martial Artists. They aren't afraid of Soul Attacks. Their burst power and burst speed are both pretty good, and they excel at the Law of Light. That's all I know about them, too.

"Looks like we can't make any specific plans. We can only decide to buy equipment related to the Laws of Space and Light, but that still leaves a lot of possibilities. Let's keep looking during the auction. It's about to start."

Luo Zhiyuan nodded. They knew too little to make any specific plans, so they'd better focus on the auction for now.

Today I'm exhausted, brothers, so this is the only chapter. Sorry.

I hadn't realized it before, but community volunteering is pretty tiring. I have another shift tomorrow, so I'll probably only manage one chapter at this time tomorrow, too.

Brothers, stay home for a while and let's get through this together. Staying home and reading novels is pretty nice.

Also, since I didn't write much, I won't shamelessly ask for votes. But please give me a boost in collections; I'm almost at my second achievement. Thank you, everyone!