Reincarnated as a bamboo rat, it begins its extreme survival struggle.

The bartenders were able to give a seemingly plausible but ultimately unconvincing answer to Bell's question.

What do you mean by "not having that blessing"?

"You're just unlucky. Only a wretched person would end up like this after drinking the Crimson Light Essence. A normal person would have already soared to great heights. Some people have even gone from being a mid-level adventurer to a high-level adventurer after drinking the Crimson Light Essence."

The bartender's words made Bell secretly wary. The resource of Crimson Light Essence has two sides. Some people can soar to great heights after drinking it, achieving things like level advancement or improvement in professional skills.

However, there are also cases like the melancholic middle-aged people we see here, who suddenly become useless, devoid of joy, and have to rely on things like alcohol to numb themselves all day long.

"But no matter what the rumors are, seeing this so-called Crimson Light Essence with your own eyes will tell you the truth."

According to those people's descriptions, Bell knew that the Crimson Essence was a liquid-like substance.

He speculated that it was a magical potion, or a similar medicinal product, and as a high-level apothecary, Bell was very interested in it.

Bell possesses the [Information Insight] ability, allowing him to observe the [Crimson Light Essence] from a distance. Furthermore, he is currently very wealthy, with the royal tomb's inheritance in his hands. Even if it were to be auctioned, Bell is confident that he can acquire a piece of Crimson Light Essence.

Whatever magic this substance possessed, Bell felt he could analyze it, and if he could replicate it, he could gain astonishing influence in Redwater City.

As for the acorn, it's currently the best body for Bell, and he'll be responsible for bringing it to the Black Gold Merchant Guild's auction.

"The only task now is to go shopping!"

Chapter 215 This is the VIP

"Sir, if you wish to participate in the inner-area auction, you will need to pay a deposit of 500 gold coins to obtain an inner-area pass. Alternatively, you can also gain entry to the inner-area auction by auctioning off items."

The receptionists at the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce were quite professional; each of them was a beautiful and charming young lady.

Guided by the receptionist, Bell retrieved supplies from his inventory and participated in the supplies auction to gain entry to the inner auction.

After all, Bell had spent all his cash to create the Ultra Wide Area Magic Array, and now all he had left were the more valuable royal tomb relics.

"Ancient Dragon Blood Crystal? This is a rare treasure, fully qualified to be put on tomorrow's auction."

The appraisers at the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce are highly professional; they can identify the authenticity of various rare resources with just a glance.

The production of counterfeit and shoddy products is rampant in this world. Many geniuses are obsessed with it, using cheap materials to produce rare goods that can fool experts in exchange for high prices. Such profits are simply too tempting.

The appraisers in the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce often deal with those who specialize in counterfeiting.

However, in this world, if those counterfeiters are traced back to their true identities, their fate will be exceptionally tragic.

The punishments imposed by various cities on counterfeit goods vendors are frighteningly severe.

Moreover, most of the time, the city's official forces don't need to intervene. These businessmen, like the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce, also have their own specially trained violent organizations. They can act faster and more ruthlessly than the city's official forces.

The city authorities typically impose fines and exile on those who manufacture counterfeit and substandard goods. As long as they do not resist arrest, they are generally not seriously injured.

However, the violent organizations under these chambers of commerce have only one attitude when dealing with these people who sell these items: to fight to the death. After successfully arresting them, they will also use vigilante torture to torture them for a long time.

The conflict of interest between the two sides is extremely serious, but the huge profits make it difficult to eradicate the production of counterfeit goods and fraud. This has led to constant competition between appraisers and counterfeiters, which has improved their professional skills. Both sides are currently in a state of rapid knowledge iteration.

Forgers need extensive knowledge in casting and have seen and experienced a great many rare and precious artifacts. They typically have two or three casting-related professions, along with knowledge-based professions such as historians.

In order to specifically target counterfeiters, appraisers often take on multiple roles, using their equally impressive knowledge and experience to see through those man-made fake treasures.

The situation is relatively good in the southwestern inland areas, where the counterfeit industry is not as rampant. However, in developed regions like the eastern coastal areas, professional systems for appraisers and counterfeiters have emerged, and legendary experts are constantly expanding the development paths for these two professions.

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, these two professions will also become formal professions with complete promotion systems.

Faced with the ancient dragon blood crystal that Bell presented, the appraiser accurately and clearly explained the characteristics of this energy crystal and how to use it for the best effect.

Even Bell

After hearing the appraiser's description, they also expressed great appreciation for his professional abilities.

But the appraiser's sudden change in style surprised Bell.

"Without a doubt, the Ancient Dragon Blood is a rare treasure, and it is especially attractive to tanky classes. But my friend, if you want to maximize the profit from this Ancient Dragon Blood Crystal, I suggest you go to the other three cities of the Upper Four Cities to auction it."

"Sir, what makes you say that?"

"Redwater City has a treasure called Red Light Essence, which can replace some of the functions of Ancient Dragon Blood Crystals to a certain extent. This will cause the auction price of Ancient Dragon Blood Crystals to be lower than their actual value."

The appraiser stated that if this piece of ancient dragon blood, the size of an infant's fist, were auctioned in one of the other three of the four cities, it would likely fetch between seven and ten thousand gold coins. However, in Chishui City, this ancient dragon blood crystal would probably only sell for six to seven thousand.

The reason is simple: Crimson Light Essence, a unique resource of Crimson Water City, is expensive and rare, but Crimson Water City produces a considerable amount of it every year. It can replace the effects of Ancient Dragon Blood to a certain extent, and it is cheaper than Ancient Dragon Blood.

Those who can afford Ancient Dragon Blood can certainly buy a greater quantity of Crimson Light Essence. Apart from a small number of people with a strong demand for Ancient Dragon Blood, most people will give up bidding for it.

When there is no frenzy for an item at an auction, it is difficult for that item to fetch a premium.

“Friend, if you trust our Black Gold Merchant Guild, we can buy this piece of Ancient Dragon Blood for 7,500 gold coins, guaranteed to be the market price. Alternatively, you can go through our Black Gold Merchant Guild's auction agency and entrust the Ancient Dragon Blood to us to be auctioned in the area with the highest prices in the four upper cities. We will only charge a portion of the agency fee. Doing so will take longer to recover the money, about two months, but it will bring in at least 8,500 gold coins.”

The appraiser's suggestions were all much safer than simply throwing the ancient dragon blood into the auction house, and they were also more in line with Bell's interests.

This is why a super-large chamber of commerce like the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce can completely crush the formidable strength of small and medium-sized chambers of commerce.

They control the channels for the circulation of goods between various cities, and are able to openly discuss a portion of their profits in exchange for more customers.

These appraisers are the kind of people who can make the best choice for ordinary adventurers and adventure groups, whether they want quick money or to maximize profits. Other small and medium-sized merchant guilds can hardly compare to them.

"Then give me some quick money. My main purpose is to buy a Red Light Essence."

Bell chose the option of 7,500 gold coins, and the Black Gold Merchant Guild transferred the money to Bell's crystal card at an astonishing speed. Their cash flow was not as weak as that of the professional guilds in Cangxing City.

After the money was transferred, the Black Gold Merchant Guild staff led Bell to the VIP box. This high-profile transaction of 7,500 gold coins immediately granted Bell VIP status.

The reason he was taken to the VIP box was simple: as a VIP, Bell had priority in transactions.

The waiter brought out an exquisite stone box and slowly opened it in front of Bell.

"Sir, you can purchase the Crimson Essence that the Black Gold Merchant Guild obtained this quarter directly, bypassing the auction."

Chapter 216 Crimson Light Essence

According to the waiter, the production of Crimson Essence in Crimson Water City is relatively stable, with a certain amount of Crimson Essence produced every quarter.

Among them, the yield and quality of Red Light Essence are highest in spring, while the yield and quality of Red Light Essence are slightly lower in other seasons.

The Black Gold Merchant Guild, a behemoth, can purchase a considerable amount of Crimson Light Essence from Crimson Water City every quarter.

These Crimson Light Essences will first undergo a priority trading process internally before the remaining Crimson Light Essences will appear at the auction, making the appearance of Crimson Light Essences at the auction a major news event.

Bell was lucky; the auction for Crimson Essence hadn't started yet, and the priority trading within the Chamber of Commerce had just ended, so there was still a chance to trade the remaining Crimson Essence before the auction.

The Black Gold Merchant Guild now treats Bell as a VIP because he can readily produce rare resources like Ancient Dragon Blood. Whether it's a spendthrift from a powerful faction or a lone, powerful adventurer, the Black Gold Merchant Guild is certain that Bell's commercial value is high enough.

"The internal purchase price of Crimson Light Essence is 2,500 gold coins per dose. I believe you know that this is a price for making friends."

The waiter opened the exquisite stone box and said, "If we calculate based on the auction prices, the average price of Crimson Light Essence is around 2,800 gold coins, and if the bidding is fierce, it may be driven up to more than 3,000 gold coins."

Two thousand five hundred gold coins is indeed a relatively low price, but this price for making friends is to allow the Black Gold Merchant Guild to earn more money.

Only customers with extremely high commercial value will receive this kind of favor from the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce.

Listening to the waiter's introduction, Bell calmly watched the cold air emanating from the opened stone box and the sealed glass tube lying within it, and quietly used [Information Insight].

【Red Light Essence】

Type: Pharmacy

Description: A special potion formulated with crimson marrow as its base, possessing individualized enhancement abilities. Upon use, it grants a certain degree of permanent physical and mental enhancement. Simultaneously, it induces a state of [psychedelic euphoria], and those with weak willpower may become hopelessly addicted to this false pleasure.

Note: Crimson Light Essence can be used on legendary-level beings, but repeated use will rapidly reduce its enhancement effect and eventually cause it to be lost.

The description of Crimson Light Essence is very simple; it's actually just a concocted potion.

A certain degree of permanent enhancement of physical and mental attributes is not uncommon, and there are quite a few potions that bring pleasure. Some adventure groups even use more potent addictive drugs to control their subordinates.

The two main effects that make Crimson Light Essence valuable are its ability to induce enhancement and its ability to affect legendary-level life forms.

Induced enhancement is a very unique effect. When a physical-type professional is stuck in a bottleneck in strength growth and cannot break through it for a long time, the effect of induced enhancement can help him cross the physical limit and go further. When mental-type professionals are building their mental domain, induced enhancement will also become the cornerstone of their construction.

This is a kind of lack.

The strange power of replenishing something starts from the drinker's physical defects and uses a peculiar power to repair and compensate for them, somewhat like expanding the limits of one's innate abilities.

The ability to affect legendary-level life forms is another major selling point of Crimson Light Essence.

It's important to know that many pharmacists can concoct drugs with similar effects. As long as the target is set to ordinary mice, they can use inexpensive materials to formulate Red Light Essence suitable for mice.

However, this cannot be compared to the Crimson Light Essence, which has a very wide range of applications. The fact that this substance can be effective on most legendary life forms means that almost all life forms that drink the Crimson Light Essence can gain a considerable degree of improvement, without any strong rejection reaction, which is quite rare.

Some powerful life forms, or those that have used large amounts of potions, develop resistance to various types of potions, resulting in limited absorption of the potions. However, the Crimson Light Essence can break through this conventional limitation.

"Something interesting."

After closing the stone box and taking it with him, Bell planned to conduct research and exploration without anyone watching.

As a senior pharmacist, Bell used a number of methods, including [Fire-Loving Wisdom], to analyze the specific formula of the Crimson Light Essence and attempted to concoct it himself.

Back in his hotel room, Bell stepped out of his old rat suit and quickly set up a magic circle to isolate his aura from external detection. He then opened the vial containing the essence of crimson light.

This stuff only has a shelf life of ten days. If it's not kept in a magic stone box that keeps things at an ultra-low temperature, the shelf life will be shortened even further, so you must drink it as soon as possible.

"Come here, acorn, and see if this stuff works for you."

Using magic, I lifted a drop of crimson essence and presented it to the acorn.

This is a viscous, wine-red liquid with high transparency, making it appear very pure.

When Bell used [Information Insight] to investigate this thing, Acorn also sensed its attraction and felt a desire to swallow it.