After I left the Guangzhou tower, I headed to a large building standing not far from it; it was the hunter league building. On the way, I put on a cap and glasses, after making sure there were no cameras. In the league hall, I approached one of the female consultants, who was the only one free. She was a very beautiful girl, about twenty, with long red hair.
"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked me when I approached the reception window.
"Hello, can I inquire about missions where I only need to check in and points are awarded for the time of mission completion?" I asked her politely.
"Yes, of course. For what rank do you need to select a mission?" she asked me.
"Beginner rank," I answered confidently.
"One moment," she said and started looking for something on the computer. After about five minutes, she replied, "Survival mission on Dongtinghu Lake, although, as you should understand, very few points are awarded, no more than ten points per month."
"It doesn't matter, thank you," I replied. After a couple of seconds of thought, I asked, "And can I get information about the Bao Qing Che team?"
"Alright," she said, typing something into the computer, then searched for something for a minute. "Could you please specify which team you are referring to, and preferably from which country?" she asked, looking at me with surprised eyes.
"Are there more than one?" I was equally surprised. In response to my question, she just turned the computer monitor towards me; there, the team name entered into the search engine was visible, as well as more than two dozen displayed results! There were teams from China, Japan, and the two Koreas! This was just when entering the team name in Chinese! I'm afraid if I entered it in English, there would be matches from half the globe! It was pleasing that almost all teams were of the highest rank, meaning the strongest hunter in them was only at the peak of the intermediate level, but even with them, I couldn't cope on my own, and asking Xu Zhaoting for help would be foolish; what could a beginner-level mage do against a mid-level mage?
"I'm sorry, I don't know which team I need, so thank you," I said, smiling awkwardly.
"It's okay, anything else?" she asked.
"Yes, can I put an item up for the hunter auction that will be tomorrow?" I asked. I wouldn't dare to extract the soul of a pack leader from my main card. Firstly, many questions would arise for me, and explaining them would be difficult. Of course, this way there will be slightly more questions, but it will have minimal relation to me.
"Yes, of course. Please go to room number three hundred and twenty-one; that's where the lot reception point is located," the girl replied good-naturedly. Going up to the third floor, I found the necessary room. Upon entering, I saw a gray-haired, hunched old man over an iron table, and in the corner, a young girl sat at a desk, surrounded by large stacks of papers.
"What can I do for you, young man?" the old man asked in a hoarse voice.
"I want to put several souls up for auction: one pack leader, and three servants," I answered calmly, taking out the vessels with the named souls and placing them on the table in front of the old man.
"Alright," he said, taking and examining the souls. "Are you selling them with the container, or should I provide disposable ones?"
"Please provide disposable ones; I'll need these," I said.
"Alright," the old man said again, taking three disposable soul vessels for servants and one for the pack leader from a desk drawer. "I inform you that the cost of the vessels will be deducted from your proceeds."
"Yes, of course. Can I know the exact amount?" I asked, nodding my head.
"Four and a half million. One and a half million for three servant vessels and three for the pack leader," the old man said calmly, transferring the souls into disposable vessels. "Place of soul capture?"
"Outskirts of the city of Bo, three one-eyed wolves and one three-eyed one," I said, thinking that one pack leader could be obtained from three servants.
"I see, did you get them yourself?" the old man continued to ask.
"No, as part of a team; I don't remember the name," I replied, maintaining a calm and emotionless demeanor.
"It's a shame you don't remember, but that's fine. Give my assistant your hunter card, she'll process the necessary documents," the old man said, gesturing to a young girl.
"Alright," I replied, handing the girl the card in the name of Yun Ivan.
"What an unusual name," she said quietly, looking at my card.
"Yes, my father is Chinese, and my mother is Russian," I answered, smiling sweetly. "I don't know how they chose the name, but this is what came out."
"I see. Do you prefer to receive the money in cash, on a separate card, or transferred to your account?" she asked after a few minutes.
"I think it would be better to issue a separate card, preferably without a name attached. I want to give it to my father. To prove that I am a worthy hunter, so to speak," I said, continuing to smile sweetly.
"Alright, can you sign everywhere there's a checkmark?" she asked, handing me a hefty stack of papers. I quickly skimmed through them, then signed them with a special signature created for Yun Ivan. "Can you also leave a phone number to contact you?"
"Yes, of course," I said, giving the number of a secondary SIM card, bought without registration, which was inserted into my second phone. Why such complications? So that there wouldn't be any later. As they say, it's better to be safe than sorry.
"I'm done. You can take your vessels," the old man croaked. "The estimated value, including the payment for the disposable vessels, is twenty-five million yuan."
"Thank you very much. I hope the auction brings everyone a lot of profit," I said, taking the vessels and leaving the hunter's league building.
After meeting up with Xu Zhaotin, who had found us lodging by then, we headed back to the league to find out how the auction would proceed. On the first day, they sold souls, spiritual seeds, and other various rare materials, and on the second day, artifacts and magical instruments. This arrangement suited me perfectly. On the first day, I earned money as Yun Ivan, and on the second, I would spend it as Jiaxing Yun with Zhao Tin. I think the organizers deliberately did this so that hunters would have money to buy artifacts and instruments.
We spent the rest of the day walking around the city and exploring its sights. Late in the evening, the black market seller I had commissioned to find information about the guardians called me and informed me that he had found everything he could through his channels, and couldn't find anything more. He also named the price for which he was willing to give me all the gathered information: five million yuan! I, of course, suspected that information of this kind would be expensive, but not *that* expensive! Moreover, after dealing with Bao Qing Che's team, I wasn't sure I would learn anything new. However, I agreed to buy the information in a couple of days. Even if it was something I already knew, it wouldn't hurt to be sure, as they could have lied. Although I did figure out who betrayed me based on their hints.
The next day, I went to the auction, while Xu Zhaotin stayed at the apartment to cultivate, saying he would soon break through, especially with his instrument. Upon arriving at the league building, I was led to a large concert hall where many hunters, clan representatives, and mages of various professions had gathered. Naturally, I was wearing glasses and a cap, as well as a sports uniform. Today, I was Yun Ivan, selling souls.
The first lots were souls. They differed in quality, monster level, and rarity. There were souls of giant tritons, well-known to me, which were quickly sold for no more than three million. There were souls of red-eyed tritons and sharp-toothed pandas, both creatures being pack leader level monsters. The former are common in the vicinity of Huzhou, and the latter in the areas north of Guangzhou. There were also a couple of unique souls, like the soul of a swift wolf or a red-eyed fox. My souls, as expected, were bought quickly without much bidding, as in the overall mass of souls, they only differed in two aspects: they were wolf souls, and they were of slightly better quality than all the others.
There was a break at noon, after which they were supposed to start selling various curiosities. In principle, I had already done everything I needed to, even picked up my card with twenty-seven million yuan, considering the expenses for the disposable vessels. But I decided to stay and see what else they would sell, perhaps some interesting rarity or resource would be put up. However, there was nothing special. Standard rare materials, and elemental crystals of low quality water and earth, which are abundant everywhere. There were also various herbs and stones that temporarily accelerated cultivation, but all of this was uninteresting to me. I was already about to leave and return tomorrow to look for a defensive artifact when...
"Next lot! A rod made of ash. The wood from which it was carved grows in the forests of Qing-Lin and stood for many centuries, exposed to all the winds. Also, according to the accounts of the hunters who brought it, lightning struck it every few days, turning the entire tree to charcoal, and it barely held against the strong winds. When the hunters approached and touched it, the tree crumbled, leaving only this rod. The instruments we scanned it with showed a high content of wind and lightning elements, but there's one catch. Research with more precise instruments showed that both elements are intertwined with each other, and if used by an unprepared mage, they can cause him harm. Starting price, one million yuan!" the auctioneer proclaimed. Whispers went through the hall, like: "Why would anyone need such a thing?" or "Who would dare to put their cultivation at risk?" My eyes, however, lit up at the description. Two elements, lightning and wind, and intertwined! What could be better for my seeds! I quickly raised my paddle, claiming my right to this item.
"Young man in the last row, one million one hundred thousand yuan!" the auctioneer said, seeing my gesture. "One million one hundred thousand, the man in the first row!" the auctioneer immediately blurted out again. I looked at who it was. It turned out to be a fat man in an expensive suit, clearly some kind of collector. However, I wasn't going to give up and raised the price again to one million three hundred thousand.
The man raised the price again, and I responded in kind. This continued until he backed down at the mark of two million one hundred thousand, saying, "This trinket isn't worth that much money." Clearly, he was a collector after all. I happily took my rod in its metal case. As I was told, the rod itself was quite modest in size, thirty centimeters long and three wide. However, I didn't care. Even through the metal, I could feel the powerful lightning-wind energy inside!
Returning, I hid my purchase in my huge backpack, already cluttered with all sorts of junk, until favorable times when I could be alone with it and cultivate. After that, I went to the roof to do my usual cultivation. I had mastered thirteen stars of lightning and four spaces. There was still a lot of work to be done.