Technological advancement begins with devouring.

Chapter 99 The Qianwu Auction (1st Update)

Virtual universe, Heilongshan Island.

Inside the quiet room, Jiang Chen and Luo Feng sat together, waiting for the auction to begin.

"The threshold for this auction is 'three-star client'. If we don't count the teacher's account, we just barely meet the requirements."

Luo Feng looked at Jiang Chen and said with a sigh, "I wonder how many treasures will appear at this auction, and how many we will get."

"How much of the wealth from the 'Realm Within a Realm' did you spend?" Jiang Chen asked Luo Feng curiously.

When the money was split, Jiang Chen and Luo Feng split it 60/40, but most of Luo Feng's 40% consisted of treasures, so he only received a small amount of money, barely enough to cross the threshold of "three-star customer".

Luo Feng shook his head and said, "It didn't cost much. I just bought some slaves and cultivation resources, which added up to less than a single Hunyuan unit. However, I gave some of it to Luo Hua to invest, and I haven't checked on it in the past few years. I don't know if it was a loss or a gain."

After a pause, Luo Feng continued, "I only have nine Mixed Yuan Units left. The only thing that won't drop in star rating for a while is the bank, otherwise I wouldn't even be qualified to participate in the auction."

Unlike banks on Earth before the space age, banks in the universe don't frequently adjust customer tiers.

After all, their concepts of time are different.

It's like an immortal-level powerhouse who might spend all the funds in their account to create an important treasure, and then stay in their lair cultivating secret techniques instead of going out to adventure and train. For tens of thousands of years or even longer, no huge sum of money will come into their account.

But while adventuring, he suddenly acquires a treasure, sells it, and suddenly gains a huge fortune.

Such fund inflows and outflows can have a long cycle, so banks naturally won't easily adjust customer ratings.

Normally, the Cosmic Galaxy Bank and the First Bank of the Universe will upgrade a customer's account as soon as the deposits reach the required level.

However, if the account balance falls below the star rating standard, it will not be downgraded immediately. Instead, it will only be downgraded if the customer's balance remains below a certain standard for an extended period.

Moreover, the higher the star rating, the longer the downgrade period will last.

If you are a five-star customer, even if your deposit is zero, you will not be downgraded within one hundred million years.

Luo Feng's funds have only been below the "three-star customer" standard for a few years, and he is still a long way from being forced to be downgraded.

"If you want a treasure but don't have the money to buy it, you can always sell your mechanical race spaceship," Jiang Chen joked.

Jiang Chen didn't try to take the E9-class mechanical spaceship from Earth from Luo Feng.

Not long after dividing up the treasures of the "World Within a World", Luo Feng led his slaves to take back the spaceship.

The E9-class mechanical ship is indeed very valuable, but it's not a "necessity" for Jiang Chen, so there's no need to compete for it.

It's only a few hundred Hunyuan units.

Jiang Chen has deployed as many as 21 Space Furnaces in the outer orbit of the solar system, generating an annual profit of nearly 150 Mixed Yuan Units.

Buying an E9-class Mech-class spaceship would only cost four or five years' worth of income.

If we continue to "snowball" like before, using the money we earn to build new "Space Furnaces," this time can be shortened even further.

Upon hearing Jiang Chen's words, Luo Feng couldn't help but laugh and said, "Unless I encounter a treasure that I absolutely must buy, I would never be willing to sell the mechanical race's spaceship."

After a pause, Luo Feng said, "Thank you very much for letting me have this spaceship. I will find a way to make up for your loss when I become stronger."

Luo Feng was well aware that if Jiang Chen hadn't yielded the ship, he wouldn't have been able to get his hands on it.

At the very least, it should be split equally between the two of them.

Luo Feng had no intention of letting Jiang Chen suffer a loss. This E9-class mechanical race spaceship was indeed very important to him, and Luo Feng couldn't come up with compensation of equal value in the short term.

However, he kept this in mind and planned to give Jiang Chen compensation equivalent to half the value of the spaceship when he was able to do so.

"Forget about compensation. If you feel bad about it, why don't you give me that Zerg mother hive?" Jiang Chen said half-jokingly. "Anyway, you won't need it for a while. When you have the strength to enslave the Zerg mother hive, I'll buy you a new one."

Most of the treasures on Earth wouldn't even make Jiang Chen envious.

There were quite a few who were interested, but none of them would go so far as to compete with Luo Feng for it.

The only thing Jiang Chen wanted was the Zerg mother hive.

It wasn't that Jiang Chen had any interest in the Zerg army; he simply wanted to sell the Zerg hive for a large sum of money to prepare for building a mechanical army in the future.

According to Jiang Chen's estimation, once the Genius Battle ends and he joins the 'Virtual Universe Company,' it will be about time to consider building his own mechanical army.

Of course, whether the mechanical legion, enhanced with alchemy and arcane technology, should be renamed was not within Jiang Chen's consideration.

In any world and under any system, the "Legion build" is an extremely powerful but also extremely expensive build.

In the world of Devouring the Stars alone, the mechanical legion of the Machine Race and the swarm of the Zerg Race both require enormous resources to play.

Their combat power is certainly formidable, but without sufficient money and resources, it would be impossible to achieve.

For Jiang Chen, the Zerg hive on Earth was the seed money to build his first "mechanical legion".

Millions of Chaos Units are enough to create an extremely large and terrifying legion at the cosmic or domain lord level.

"The Zerg hive?" Luo Feng frowned. "That's a Realm Lord. Even though it's dormant, the poisonous mist surrounding its body alone is enough to kill a Domain Lord and corrode D-grade metal. Do you have a way to take it?"

"I can't take it now, but I might be able to later," Jiang Chen said. "Don't worry, I won't risk my life."

Luo Feng held back Babata, who was about to jump out and question something, and smiled at Jiang Chen, "Since you're confident, just go and get it. As for compensation, there's no need to calculate it so precisely."

"Even close brothers should keep clear accounts." Jiang Chen shook his head and said, "The Zerg hive is an inheritance left to you by your teacher, so it should rightfully belong to you. I'm just borrowing it for now. When you have the strength to control the Zerg hive in the future, I promise to return a new one to you."

Having said that, Luo Feng didn't refuse any further and nodded, saying, "Then let's do it that way."

"It's almost time, let's go to the auction house." Jiang Chen glanced at the time and stood up.

Luo Feng also stood up, and the two activated the teleportation function, disappearing from sight.

-

An incredibly elegant landmass, suspended in the clouds.

In the center of the floating city, an incredibly huge and dazzling building serves as the venue for this "Qianwu Auction".

A long queue had already formed at the entrance of the auction hall.

A group of humans, each with a distinct appearance, moved slowly forward in the procession.

Although everyone's physical abilities are the same, the concept of "willpower" is something that cannot be limited in the virtual universe.

Experienced experts can clearly judge someone's true strength by observing their eyes, aura, and other subtle cues.

The aura emanating from the powerful figures around them made Jiang Chen and Luo Feng tremble involuntarily.

Ahead of the two, there was a powerful figure whose entire body was shrouded in ice and whose appearance could not be seen, talking with his companion.

They didn't lower their voices, and Jiang Chen and Luo Feng heard them clearly. It was about an extremely special item in this auction: a spot to comprehend the 'Initial Universe'.

Judging from their words, it seems that the opportunity to comprehend the 'Primordial Universe' is extremely precious, attracting a large number of powerful individuals who normally have no interest in participating in auctions.

There were also many powerful people around them chatting, but Jiang Chen and Luo Feng couldn't understand most of what they were talking about.

The procession was long, but it moved very quickly.

Finally, it was Jiang Chen and Luo Feng's turn.

An employee at the entrance scanned Jiang Chen and Luo Feng with a device, then immediately handed them their tokens: "Gentlemen, welcome to this year's Qianwu Auction. These are your seat numbers."

Jiang Chen picked up the token, glanced at it, and compared it with the token in Luo Feng's hand, confirming that their positions were connected.

Upon entering the auction hall, both Jiang Chen and Luo Feng were slightly shocked.

"This place is huge!"

Luo Feng couldn't help but sigh.

The entire auction hall is structured like a super-large stadium, with stands extending upwards all around, densely packed and seemingly endless.

"No need to look anymore, there are three million seats in total," Babata urged. "Go to your seats quickly, the auction is about to begin."

"HZ section, this way." Luo Feng and Jiang Chen quickly found their seats according to the area corresponding to their seat numbers.

The six-meter-wide and ten-meter-high seats were far too large for Jiang Chen and Luo Feng's physiques.

Even when you lie down on it, it seems far too big.

Throughout the venue, the voices of countless powerful individuals conversing with each other created a somewhat noisy atmosphere.

A few hours later.

"Everyone!"

A clear voice rang out, echoing throughout the auction hall.

Inside the huge auction hall, everyone consciously quieted down.

On the central auction platform, an elderly man with a bald head and a black tortoise-shell-like substance on his back stood on the platform, while a giant phantom image of the entire auction platform floated in the air above.

"Welcome everyone to this year's Qianwu Auction! First of all, I would like to thank Virtual Universe Company, Giant Axe Arena, Cosmic Mercenary Alliance, Cosmic Galaxy Bank, Cosmic First Bank, and the Qianwu Cosmic Kingdom for their generous support of this auction!"

The old man smiled, but his voice was incredibly loud: "I believe many of you recognize me. You can call me Old Barto. It's still Old Barto hosting this top-tier event for everyone!!!"

……

After a series of irrelevant 'ramblings,' the old man with the tortoise shell finally got to the point.

"Enough with the chit-chat!"

"As usual, let's have a warm-up auction before the official auction begins!"

The old man with the tortoise shell pointed.

A huge screen immediately appeared next to it, displaying a magnificent galaxy.

As the perspective shifts, galaxies appear rapidly on the screen, only to disappear just as quickly.

"Many people have probably already realized that this is the Tana Star Region!"

"Among the more than 13,000 star systems in our Qianwu Universe Kingdom, this is a small star system ranked near the bottom. The entire star system comprises 668 star systems and was once the territory of an immortal god. Now, this immortal god is preparing for a life-or-death adventure and needs funds to purchase treasures, so he has decided to sell the entire star system!"

"The first pre-auction event of this year's Qianwu Auction will feature this entire star system—the Tana Star System!"

The old man in the tortoise shell shouted, "A complete and independent star field! As long as no country is established, it will be under the permanent protection of the Qianwu Universe Kingdom!"

"This star field is perfectly suited to serve as the foundation for a family's legacy for billions of years. Whether it's training warriors, developing resources, or even cultivating slaves, it's an excellent choice!"

"The entire Qianwu Universe Kingdom has only so many contiguous star systems, and very few are available for auction. Those interested should cherish this opportunity!"

"The auction in the Tana Starfield is now open. Starting price: 300 Chaos Units! Each bid must be a multiple of Chaos Units!"

The old man in the tortoise shell's voice quickly spread throughout the entire venue.

Luo Feng's eyes widened in disbelief: "An entire star field is being auctioned off? The starting price is three hundred Chaos Units? That's so expensive!"

Logically speaking, the price of a galaxy should range from one hundred billion to one trillion cosmic coins.

The Tana Starfield has 668 star systems. If you buy them individually, you'll only get a little over two hundred Mixed Yuan Units.

The starting bid of 300 units of mixed yuan is clearly beyond that price.

Moreover, judging from the bids displayed on the big screen, the bidding price has risen rapidly in just a short time, now soaring to over 600 units and still climbing.

Luo Feng was somewhat confused.

"How much does a single life-bearing planet cost? How much does a star system with hundreds of thousands of life-bearing planets cost? The same goes for star systems that are connected together; the price cannot be calculated based on the number of planets or star systems alone."

Babata explained, "The entire star system is a unified whole. As long as it is well-integrated internally and supports each other, it is very difficult for external forces to exert pressure on it. If individual star systems are separated and scattered, they are easily bullied by powerful surrounding forces. The situation is different, and the price is naturally different as well."

"So that's how it is..." Luo Feng said thoughtfully.

Jiang Chen looked at the constantly changing prices on the big screen and couldn't help but sigh.

It's a pity, I can't afford it.

Otherwise, Jiang Chen would also be very interested in such a continuous star field.

Simply developing resources within a star system will certainly not be enough to recoup the costs.

Moreover, this star field has been developed by that immortal for countless years, and all the valuable resources have long been exhausted.

But the fact that it was "suitable as a base for a faction" alone made Jiang Chen very interested in the Tana Star Region.

Unfortunately, Jiang Chen didn't have enough money to participate in this competition.

Even if he could afford it, Jiang Chen's funds wouldn't be enough to develop this star field.

That's what auctions are all about; there are always treasures that are tempting but unaffordable.

Jiang Chen suppressed his impatience and patiently watched the numbers constantly changing on the big screen, waiting for this round of pre-auction to end.

(End of this chapter)