Super Spender

Chapter 642: Chapter 636: The Ongoing Symphony of Squandering Wealth

“Ah, I see now,” Finn Lewis said, suddenly enlightening. He wondered why there were so many of these atmosphere-setting avatars around.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to our annual auction hosted by the Blackwater Sect. We have a large number of attendees this year, and we truly hope everyone can find the item they love. Complete information on every auction item can be found either at your booths or on your personal portable AI devices. Besides the public auction, there will also be a silent auction and an impromptu auction, the latter of which takes a whopping 20% commission.”

“The detailed terms and conditions are provided in front of all attendees. After reviewing, you can body confirm your intent to participate in the auction. We will give everyone 10 minutes to browse the auction list.” After a sweet female voice made the initial introduction, Finn was intrigued enough to light up the control panel in front of him, revealing the auction list.

Once he opened it, he realized that the auction was similar to those on Earth, where most items are primarily antiques and works of art. Finn was unsure what meaning these antiquities held for these people. However, unlike Earth’s antiquities, which are mere hundreds or thousands of years old, here they were at least hundreds of thousands of years old.

Of course, there were other items. Finn didn’t care about these. He wondered what these pirates or murderers wanted with these things.

“Monty, where do these items come from?” Finn asked curiously, pointing to the screen in front of him.

Dunn Monty looked at the antiques Finn was referring to and then said, “Actually, sir, this place is essentially a pawnshop, with some exceptions. Let’s say two families were enemies, and one family wanted a piece of technology or other valuable items from the other. What would they do?”

“Under normal circumstances, it would be against federal law; however, if the family directly hires star pirates or mercenaries to attack the other family and take the item, then sell it back through this auction house, it becomes legal.”

Listening to Dunn Monty’s explanation, Finn was somewhat speechless. So, this place exists to resolve squabbles among the nobles?

“By your reasoning, the star pirates or mercenary groups involved should be quite powerful, eh?” Finn mused.

If they’re not mighty, how could they best other factions’ fleets? Surely the nobles’ fleets aren’t that weak.

“They vary in size. Powerful star pirates or mercenary groups can even challenge some royal families’ fleets directly. They’re not weak—in fact, they often skirt the edge of life and death, making them much more experienced in warfare than the fleets of the great families,” Dunn Monty affirmed.

“Alright, I get it,” said Finn, nodding. Given that this type of auction has its functions, these antiques and other items must have been acquired the same way. If there are sellers, then naturally, there would be buyers. Likely the nobles Dunn Monty mentioned earlier who sent the avatars are the potential buyers.

The time quickly flew by, in ten minutes. Finn hadn’t really looked at the auction list; most of these items were antiques or artworks, which he had no interest in. He didn’t want to look through so many items on the list and would find out about the items when they were auctioned anyway.

The auction swiftly began. Finn had no interest in the initial antiquated items, but they received a lot of bids. However, the final prices were not high, ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of star credits.

As Dunn Monty had said, many of the avatars below were fiercely bidding. Auction items were selling at an impressively fast pace.

One of the items, a violin-like instrument made by an artist about 200,000 years ago, fetched the highest price so far, 2.68 million star credits! The price rendered Finn speechless. Regardless of being in an advanced or primitive era, nobles always seemed to be extravagantly wealthy.

Finn thought he was already spending wildly, buying a garment for tens of thousands of star credits. But compared to these nobles, he felt somewhat inadequate. They spent equally or more carelessly than Finn did.

“… The next auction item is a piece of technology from the Federal Technology Institute. It’s meant for use on warships. It does not enhance the performance of the warships. However, it can allow the warship to evade the detection of most detection systems, achieving genuine invisibility. According to the Federal Technology Institute, if this system is installed on a warship that is not more than two generations behind the mainstream, the current detection systems are almost ineffective against it.”

“Of course, it is impossible that this product came out of the Federal Technology Institute. But we’ve had engineers verify that it indeed achieves the stated results, and currently, there is not a better detection method. At least, none of the known warships have this detection capability!”

“It is not difficult to install, and any regular engineer can do it. To the leaders of the Six-part Star Field and the heads of mercenary groups, I don’t need to elaborate on how useful this is for you,” the auctioneer said quickly.

“The starting price is 100,000 star credits, with each increment of no less than 5,000 star credits. Now, let’s start the auction… okay, the gentleman bids 100,000 star credits.”

“What is the Six-part Star Field?” Finn asked Dunn Monty by turning his head.

“That’s where Jasmine Davis is from,” Dunn Monty replied irrelevantly. Instantly, Finn understood that the Six-part Star Field must be where star pirates congregated. Indeed, it is worthy of being called the Den of Death—this place openly stated its intention.

“500,000!” A sudden voice caught Finn’s attention—it was the highest bid so far, an increase by a whole 200,000 credits. Finn froze for a moment upon hearing the voice because it was a familiar one. After all, he had spent quite some time on their ship.