Chapter 379: Making Money

Long Ming was staring, engrossed, at the Type III Genetic Potion, completely oblivious to Helorin walking over.

“Mr. Long Ming.”

Helorin spoke softly.

“Miss Helorin, you’re here too?”

A look of surprise crossed Long Ming’s face when he saw Helorin. He hadn’t expected to run into her here.

“Yes, what a coincidence! Are you looking at the Type III Omni-Potency Genetic Potion?”

“I am.”

“You have good taste. The quality of this Omni-Potency Genetic Potion is excellent.”

Helorin said with a smile.

“How so?”

Long Ming’s interest was instantly piqued.

“This Genetic Potion was retrieved by a high-ranking military official from a fallen Level 4 civilization called Aegirus. This civilization was wiped out by the Insect Race, and their genetic potions were created from a fluid extracted from a special type of insect. Its effects are even better than the Type III Omni-Potency Genetic Potions produced by the Star Alliance.”

Helorin explained to Long Ming.

Listening to Helorin’s explanation, Long Ming’s heart burned with anticipation as he asked,

“Miss Helorin, is the production output for the Type III Omni-Potency Genetic Potion high?”

“Not at all. In fact, supply can never meet demand. If I remember correctly, the last time one was sold publicly was about a year ago.”

“What was the final sale price?”

“Around 320 million Star Coins, I believe.”

As Helorin stated the price, she watched Long Ming out of the corner of her eye.

“That’s pretty high.”

Long Ming replied, lost in thought.

Helorin grew even more puzzled. 320 million Star Coins was no small sum. Even for a noble of the Twelve Universes like Gentan, scraping that much money together would be difficult; otherwise, he wouldn’t have had to ask his mother’s family for help.

But when Long Ming heard the figure, he showed no shock, nor did he make any grand boasts. Instead, he simply adopted a pensive expression.

‘Does he really want to buy it? And can he actually afford it?’

“Mr. Long Ming, shall we go look at the other exhibits?”

Helorin invited, her interest piqued.

“Sure!”

Long Ming was still very interested in the exhibits.

Together, they walked over to the next exhibit, where a mechanical pillar displayed a stunning, cyan Mechanical God.

“A Fourth-Generation Mechanical God… the Storm Envoy?”

Long Ming was slightly surprised. He hadn’t thought this auction would actually sell a Fourth-Generation Mechanical God.

“That’s right. It’s an entry-level Fourth-Generation Mechanical God, and this Storm Envoy model is very popular.”

“I thought the Star Alliance had very strict controls on Mechanical Gods.”

“They do, but you have to consider who runs the Star Trace Auction. Besides, anyone who can get in to bid is basically either rich or powerful, so it’s not really a violation.”

Helorin explained.

“I see.”

Long Ming nodded slightly and moved on to the next exhibit.

Soon, they came to the third central exhibit, only to find that it was a barren planet.

“This is…?”

“The ownership rights to mining planet CW-03 in the Guangxiao Star Sea. It’s said to contain Level 3 rare ores, making it a very valuable asset.”

Helorin explained to Long Ming.

Long Ming couldn’t help but steal another glance at Helorin. ‘This woman is really something else,’ he thought. ‘She knows so much about all these exhibits.’

Just then, a slightly surprised voice called out.

“Helorin.”

Long Ming and Helorin turned to look.

A middle-aged man approached them. He was dressed in a luxurious brocade robe, with a gaunt face, deep-set eyes, and a steady, composed expression.

“Father.”

Helorin greeted Agor respectfully.

“Hello, sir.”

Hearing what Helorin called him, Long Ming hurriedly offered a respectful greeting.

Agor looked at Long Ming with a hint of surprise and asked,

“And this is?”

“This is my friend, Long Ming.”

Helorin introduced him to her father.

Agor was even more surprised. His daughter rarely had friends. He inquired,

“I see. Mr. Long Ming, may I ask where you are from?”

“I am from Mountain City Mountain, a recently joined civilization.”

Long Ming introduced himself simply.

Hearing this, Agor found the situation even stranger. ‘Someone from a Little Civilization can be friends with my daughter? And he got into the Star Trace Auction?’

No matter how he looked at it, something felt off to Agor. However, he didn’t look down on Long Ming. He simply said to Helorin,

“Helorin, we should be going. Things are about to start over there.”

“Yes, Father.”

Helorin nodded.

Agor turned to Long Ming and said,

“Mr. Long Ming, my apologies for interrupting your viewing of the exhibits. If you have the chance, please feel free to visit the Afani Clan. We would give you a warm welcome.”

“Of course. Take care.”

Long Ming replied politely.

Agor gave a slight nod, then left with Helorin.

Long Ming continued browsing the other auction items in the hall, but he left not long after. It wasn’t because the exhibits were unimpressive; on the contrary, they were too impressive. The more he looked, the more he coveted them.

…

「A short while later.」

Long Ming returned to his hotel room.

He paced around his room, deep in thought. ‘I have to find a way to get that Type III Omni-Potency Genetic Potion. If I miss this chance, who knows how long I’ll have to wait for the next one.’

But as he calmed down and thought it over, he realized that acquiring it would be next to impossible.

Based on the reference price Helorin provided, the last one sold for 320 million Star Coins. This one would certainly go for more, not less. Therefore, he would need to have at least 400 million Star Coins prepared just to have a hope of winning.

The problem was, he didn’t even have 100 million Star Coins on hand.

At this thought, Long Ming quickly raised his wristband, opened his safe, and checked the twenty canisters of green liquid.

He tried searching the Civilization Forum for any related information, but after a long search, he came up empty.

Long Ming then checked the buyback price in the marketplace, only to find that each canister of the green liquid was only worth 100,000 Star Coins.

The price was far too low.

Long Ming’s head throbbed. He had no idea what this stuff was, so there was no way to sell it for a high price. Even if he put it on the auction interface, no one would buy it. It might even be snapped up for a pittance.

For a moment, Long Ming felt completely powerless.

He immediately opened the Civilization Forum again to see if there were any good ways to make money.

Just then, a post was quickly pinned to the top of the forum.

Curious, Long Ming clicked on it. The post read:

Biggest sale in history! At 12 AM sharp, I will be listing a batch of high-quality invitation letters, including newly released, completely unexplored ones. Everyone is welcome to come and snap them up!

“Holy shit. These damn profiteers are finally willing to sell their stock.”

“Heh, they’re obviously just trying to avoid the auction’s commission fees. They’re trying to sell off their inventory while the online consignment feature is still active.”

“Profiteers!”

…

Countless people cursed in the comments below.

Seeing this, Long Ming’s interest was piqued. He checked the time. It was already past 10:00 PM.

He settled in and waited patiently.

Soon, the time reached 12:00 AM.

Long Ming opened the marketplace interface on his wristband right on time, but he saw no sign of any high-level invitation letters on the consignment page.

Just when Long Ming was starting to think it was a scam, he suddenly noticed a stream of notifications for new listings popping up on the auction interface.

Long Ming hurriedly clicked open the auction interface.

He was met with the sight of a large number of invitation letters being listed.

‘Auction-style?’

The corner of Long Ming’s mouth twitched. ‘This guy really knows how to do business.’

‘The people who were camping out to buy these invitations must be cursing up a storm right now.’

Long Ming didn’t waste time complaining, however. Instead, he carefully browsed all the listed invitations.

He discovered that most of the listed invitations were Level 3. There were a few dozen identical Level 4 invitations, but these were all used for crafting 4x4x4 safes.

There were no ordinary Level 4 invitations in sight.

After a moment of deliberation, Long Ming placed a bid on one of the Level 4 invitations, as well as on the most expensive Level 3 civilization invitation.