Chapter 480 Hobert's Future Economic Pillar
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That Beyonder weapon was merely an appetizer prepared by Hobert; its normal value, in regular transactions, was at most 2,000 gold Lire.
Hobert used it as the first item for auction because of its scarcity.
But it was different at the auction, especially with these wealthy individuals who didn"t think much of a few thousand gold Lire. Once the atmosphere was built up, they seemed to enjoy the bidding process even more.
The second item for auction was an Beyonder characteristic of Sequence 7 "Interrogator".
Because there were members of the royal family present, Hobert explained, "Everyone should know that George III of Loen has a bounty of 10,000 pounds, which is 12,000 gold Lire, on my head."
'Many ignorant people have tried to earn this high reward, but none of them have managed to leave my territory.'
'The second item for auction is a contribution from a mercenary team of the Loen Kingdom, an Beyonder characteristic of an "Interrogator."'
The nobles mostly couldn"t take their eyes off it. The two royal families had extremely strict control over this pathway"s Beyonder characteristics, and noble families often had only one mid-sequence extraordinary being.
If anyone could obtain this Beyonder characteristic, the family"s strength would be greatly enhanced.
There were also some barons who had been Sequence 8 for several generations, constantly seeking an opportunity to advance further.
Their gazes became very eager.
Seeing that he had fully captured everyone"s attention, Hobert immediately started the auction: "Starting price is 1,500 gold Lire, each bid must increase by 100 gold Lire, let the auction begin!"
A baron calmly said, "1,800 gold Lire!"
Hobert didn"t expect it to be so intense right from the start: "1,800! 1,800 once…"
Before he could finish, a viscount said nonchalantly, "2,500!"
Hobert smiled and said, "This gentleman who understands its value bids 2,500! 2,500 once!"
A count also said in a calm tone, "3,500!"
Hobert"s hand holding the hammer trembled: The nobles are ruthless! Some less popular Sequence 6 Beyonder characteristics, I can only sell for about this price.
Of course, Hobert also knew that being able to sell at this price was largely due to choosing the right customer base.
If the audience was a group of nobles from the Intis Republic or the Feysac Empire, their bids wouldn"t be so crazy!
Immediately afterward, Hobert suddenly realized that auctions and Beyonder characteristics were a perfect match!
Of course, the prerequisite was to find the right customer base. If he were auctioning a "Werewolf" Beyonder characteristic, the most likely outcome would be a failed auction.
While Hobert was distracted, the nobles had already bid up to 5,000 gold Lire!
"5,000 for the first time! 5,000 for the second time! Any higher bids? 5,000 for the third time!" Just as Hobert was about to bring down the hammer, Ethel, sitting in the front row, also said in a calm tone, "8,000!"
Everyone exclaimed in unison. They all knew that 5,000 gold Lire had already exceeded the value of the item. Even if they needed it very much, the wealthy nobles were unwilling to continue bidding after reaching 5,000 gold Lire.
Ethel"s bid was more like a deterrent: The Beyonder characteristics of this pathway belong to the royal family. Only by being loyal to the royal family will you have the opportunity to advance.
Hobert on the stage was dumbfounded by Ethel"s operation. Was this malicious price inflation? But Hobert liked such tycoons!
After asking three times in a row, there was of course no higher bid, so this item was sold for a high price of 8,000 gold Lire.
Klein pondered: I wonder if an auction can be held in the Tarot Club? How annoying! It actually sold for 8,000 gold Lire, which is about 6,500 pounds! And the "Faceless" Beyonder characteristic that Hobert bought from me before wasn"t that expensive!
Hobert certainly didn"t know what Klein was thinking. He was still concentrating on the auction.
The next few items didn"t cause much of a stir. There was an Beyonder characteristic of "Barbarian", many spiritual materials seized from Gunboat Island, and two Beyonder ingredients carefully selected by Hobert.
Divided into a total of 5 auctions, the total transaction amount was only 2,000 gold Lire.
Finally, the highly anticipated finale item arrived: a Level 2 Sealed Artifact.
Whether it was nobles, extraordinary forces, or the royal family, they all valued the collection of sealed artifacts.
Hobert also had such a hobby. Now, just looking at the Level 2 Sealed Artifacts in his hand, he should be close to matching an Beyonder family with thousands of years of accumulation.
This item also had sufficient scarcity. This level of transaction rarely occurred in ordinary Beyonder gatherings.
Hobert showed everyone the colorful bracelet in the wooden box: "This is a very practical magical item. Its ability is: it can use spiritual materials to create scrolls with freezing, paralysis, and other effects. There is a 10% chance of creating scrolls with Beyonder abilities through corresponding materials; the wearer"s spirituality will be greatly increased."
'The key negative effect is not significant: it will only be very eager to obtain knowledge of mysticism; and unless the wearer prays for power from the "Hidden Sage," all ritual magic will end in failure.'
This was Hobert"s loot from the mercenary team that assassinated him. It was a magical item of the "Mystery Pryer" pathway.
"Everyone should know the scarcity of items at this level. Today, I"m using it as the finale item," Hobert said. "Starting price is 6,000 gold Lire! Each bid must increase by 500 gold Lire, let the auction begin."
"7,000!"
"8,000!"
"9,000!"
The price soared extremely quickly. Only now did Hobert have a chance to interject: "9,000! This discerning gentleman bids 9,000! 9,000 once! 9,000 twice!"
Darnell, sitting in the back row, bid, "12,000!"
"Ooh~"
Everyone exclaimed and turned to see who had made the bid.
"14,000!" Bishop Simpson followed closely.
This bid once again caused everyone to exclaim. This was a fortune that could allow someone to join the ranks of the wealthy in Feynapotter!
"16,000!" Jonathan of the Theosophy Order bid!
After Darnell"s bid, the nobles and wealthy people were silent, leaving only a few extraordinary organizations bidding and making the price terrifying!
At this time, Ethel took action again: "20,000!"
For her, money was really just paper.
"21,000!" Only Bishop Simpson followed, but he seemed to be running out of steam.
Ethel directly bid without giving others a chance: "23,000!"
Even Bishop Simpson was unwilling to follow.
Klein and Fors in the corner were stunned. They both suspected that they had misremembered: Was the exchange rate between pounds and gold Lire 1 to 5? Or 1 to 6?
In the end, the bracelet was sold for the terrifying price of 23,000 gold Lire. Some wealthy people who lacked mystical knowledge were also very surprised. They couldn"t imagine what kind of bracelet was worth so much! Was this what nobles liked to play with?
Hobert on the stage realized that building the auction house was the right move!
The reason why the price of the auction item was so high, an important concept is its scarcity, which is the core of the auction. As for the psychology of "rare opportunity" that Hobert said before, it is based on this core.
And Beyonder characteristics and extraordinary items are inherently scarce.
Those who hope to monopolize these extraordinary resources are also organizations such as the royal family and the church that don"t really care about money.
Beyonder auctions are rare because it is difficult to solve the problem of legality. Some Beyonder gatherings, such as the gathering initiated by Mr. A of the Aurora Order, if they dare to hold auctions, it is estimated that official Beyonders will come to check three times a day, and it will not be dark yet.
Hobert is definitely an exception. First of all, this is an auction in his own territory, and official Beyonders cannot control it here.
Secondly, he himself is a Sequence 5, which is already a very powerful Beyonder, and can provide enough auction items in the early stage of the auction house.
This exception is difficult to replicate.
Hobert had already realized this, so he hurriedly built the auction center.
The effect achieved by this auction made Hobert very satisfied. This evening, the auction alone created a revenue of 36,600 gold Lire for him.
Of course, this is inseparable from the fact that there are tycoons like Ethel in this auction!
The profit of future auctions may not be so considerable, but the auction will definitely attract many other transactions.
For example, Hobert noticed that Darnell was a little restless.
And this is Hobert"s own channel for selling stolen goods. In the future, if there are any spoils of war, he will have his own sales channel, and there is no need for other forces to earn the price difference.
This will be an important economic pillar for Hobert in the future.
Hobert smiled and said, "Friends who didn"t bid on their favorite items, don"t be discouraged. A large auction like tonight will be held on the 29th of every month."
'Small auctions will be held on the 5th, 15th, and 25th of each month.'
'If you need anything, you can leave your address when you leave tomorrow, and I will send the main auction item information to your residences in advance.'
'Also, did everyone see that room? There are people on duty there 24 hours a day. If you need anything, you can enter that room and make your request, and we will help you pay attention.'
'Finally, there is a second part of the auction: free trading!'
Another important source of income for the auction house is to use the popularity attracted by the auction to conduct transactions other than auctions.
Hobert certainly wouldn"t miss this good opportunity and prepared to hold an Beyonder gathering after the auction.
He began to explain the rules: "If you have any needs, you can ask the waiter to come over and write down the needs on the paper and pen we provide."
'If I can help solve it, I will ask you to stay after the gathering, and we will trade separately.'
'If I can't help solve the need, I will read it out loud on the stage to see if other participants can reach a transaction with you.'
'If you need confidentiality, I still suggest finding an opportunity to go to the room on the side of the hall to state your needs, or mark the word "confidential" on the back of the note, and I will help you pay attention.'
'Okay, now the gathering begins!'
Dennis went on stage to remove the auction table and brought Hobert a chair.
Most nobles have participated in some Beyonder gatherings, so they are no strangers to the rules of this kind of gathering.
Generally speaking, the notaries of this kind of gathering are powerful Beyonders. The second auction item barely proved Hobert"s strength. At least he is a Sequence 6, otherwise it would be impossible to kill a Sequence 7 so easily.
However, because it was the first gathering, everyone was still a little worried about Hobert"s strength, so after more than half a minute, a noble tentatively wrote down a need that he didn"t urgently need.
The lights in the audience were relatively dim, and Hobert could only see that the other party was wearing an expensive suit, and he couldn"t tell what level of noble he was.
The waiter handed the note to Hobert, opened it and saw: Need a complete five-color leaf grass.
Hobert smiled and said, "This gentleman needs an ingredient at the Sequence 9 level, and I can help solve it. Please stay after the gathering, and I will trade with you separately."
'Mr. One! This is your code name for trading later!'
"Complete five-color leaf grass" is one of the main ingredients of "Mystery Pryer".
A long time ago, when Hobert accidentally glimpsed the "Knowledge Moor", he obtained some "knowledge itself" at the cost of his head being blown open, and also obtained the potion formulas from Sequence 9 to Sequence 7 of the "Mystery Pryer" pathway.
And among the spoils of war from the shipyard island before, there was a "complete five-color leaf grass".
Seeing that Hobert easily solved the first need, someone handed over a note: May I ask what exactly is an Beyonder characteristic? Why are there Beyonder characteristics?
Hobert smiled and said, "This gentleman is asking an extraordinary question. Similarly, I can answer it. If you just simply talk about the appearance of this question, it costs 100 gold Lire. If you want me to explain the principle behind it clearly, it costs 1,000 gold Lire."
"Believe me, my asking price is very fair, because the answers to some questions cannot be bought with money."
Klein and Fors in the audience felt inexplicably familiar when they heard this sentence.
Hobert continued: "Mr. Two! This is your code name. If you want to trade, please stay after this gathering."
Next, the atmosphere of the transaction gradually became enthusiastic, and 12 transactions were initiated one after another, including 3 transactions asking for extraordinary questions.
There were 7 transactions seeking Beyonder ingredients, and two transactions seeking "low sequence" potion formulas.
Hobert himself solved 4 of the 7 Beyonder ingredients needed, and Hobert also had those two potion formulas.
Originally, Hobert thought that the first gathering transaction might be cold, but he himself did not expect that his accumulation of potion formulas, knowledge reserves, and Beyonder material accumulation could completely cope with such a gathering.
Of course, there will not be too large transactions at this kind of gathering, but this can accumulate a large number of potential customers.
Today, a Baron bought a Sequence 7 potion formula, so tomorrow he might buy Sequence 7 characteristics, or perhaps sell some Beyonder materials.
In short, they are the key players in the active Beyonder market.
After the gathering ended and most of the onlookers left, private Beyonder transactions were conducted one by one. At this time, only Fors and Donna were left in the auction building, waiting for Hobert.
Donna greeted him with a smile, "Hobert, when Father left, he said you have a better business mind than him and Rex."
Hobert smiled and said, "That"s because I spend more than they do. Alright, we should go back and rest."
"Look, the night outside is so charming. I still want to "dance" with Fors."
Fors glared at Hobert angrily. Now, dancing has become a code word between the two.
Donna, who was beside them, felt a little strange. It"s just dancing, why are these two so happy?
However, today"s business was not finished yet. As soon as he returned to the Lord"s mansion, Hobert saw Klein.
So Hobert asked Fors to go back first, and he invited Klein to the study.
As soon as he entered the study, Klein stated his purpose: "I should go back."
Hobert nodded, "Thank you for your help these past two days. Have a cup of tea, and I"ll send you back."
Klein sat opposite Hobert: "I was really enlightened tonight. I didn"t expect a Sequence 7 characteristics to sell for such a high price."
"I just found the right customer." Hobert smiled, "If I sell the same "Interrogator" characteristics to you, don"t even mention 1800 pounds, you"d have to think twice about 1200 pounds, because you don"t need it."
Klein felt a little better. His grumbling just now wasn"t because he was stingy, but because Hobert had just used 1500 pounds to buy a Sequence 7 characteristics from him at the Tarot Club this week.
Compared to 6500 pounds (roughly equivalent to 8000 gold coins), the difference was too great, so it was inevitable that he felt a little unbalanced.
Hobert sighed and looked out the window: "Our development methods are different. When I open my eyes every day, there are more than two thousand mouths waiting to eat, waiting to get paid to support their families."
"What do you think these 8000 gold coins are enough for?"
Klein didn"t echo his words, but just felt fortunate that he hadn"t built an Beyonder organization that served him so quickly. The Tarot Club was just a gathering, and he, "The Fool," didn"t have to pay any remuneration. On the contrary, he could get a lot of benefits from the Tarot Club.
"Alright, I"ll send you back. Keep in touch in the future." After Hobert finished venting his grievances, he took Klein back to Bayam to continue Gehrman Sparrow"s adventure.
Then, Hobert used "Travel" to return and said to Dennis outside the study: "Go and change the tea. You should go back and rest too."
Before Dennis could return with the tea, Darnell, Hobert"s expected guest, arrived.
This demigod of the Tudor family still looked so amiable and easy to talk to.
The two drank some tea and chatted for a while, and Darnell got to the point: "I apologize for Bunnell"s previous recklessness."
Bunnell was the Tudor family member who claimed to be Hobert"s grandfather.
Hobert smiled: "It"s okay, I forgave him a long time ago."
Darnell was stunned. Hobert"s words proved that he was really angry at the time, otherwise he could have said something like "We are all family" to make the atmosphere of the conversation more harmonious.
This made Darnell secretly scold Bunnell in his heart for being a fool. The patriarch asked him to come and demonstrate first, but he almost completely offended Hobert.
However, Darnell would only say so much. As a demigod, he couldn"t continue to apologize: "I still hope we can facilitate that transaction."
Hobert was a little embarrassed: "You also saw how popular the characteristics of the "Arbiter" Beyonder pathway is."
This was the reason why Hobert invited Darnell to the auction, to let him see what price his channels could buy the "Arbiter" pathway characteristics for.
Darnell smiled: "If we can facilitate this transaction, the family"s resources and power will definitely be more inclined towards your territory."
In fact, even if this transaction was not reached, there would be such an inclination.
After Darnell came to the site and saw it, he found that there were too many investment opportunities and living space for Beyonder powers here, and the family should increase its investment in Jeffery"s territory.
Hobert said with some difficulty: "Well, I am still happy to do business with a gentleman like Mr. Darnell."
"But the price of the Beyonder characteristics cannot be lowered anymore. You also saw that the territory needs money everywhere now. If the price is too low, my capital chain will have problems."
In fact, Hobert also hoped to reach this transaction, because this is the way to make money in the auction house: create scarcity! Raise the price!
Only when an item is very scarce will everyone"s bids go crazy, which is why Hobert only auctioned two Beyonder characteristics tonight.
At the subsequent small auction, he only planned to sell two "low sequence" Beyonder characteristics, once again to whet the customer"s appetite.
Even by the 29th of next month, Hobert didn"t plan to buy another "Interrogator" Beyonder characteristic, but planned to auction a "Briber" Beyonder characteristic.
Just to create scarcity.
Then, since everyone didn"t buy what they wanted at the auction, they would of course ask the auction house to help them pay attention to their needs in the rooms specially prepared by Hobert in the auction hall.
At this time, business will come to your door, because with the auction price as the bottom line, the price of this private transaction will not be low.
Because this is a private transaction, the auction house will never disclose the transaction information to the outside world on the grounds of protecting customer information.
And the other party in the transaction feels that the goods they get are cheaper than the auction items, so of course they will not disclose the transaction with the auction house to the outside world.
As a result, the scarcity of the market still exists.
Public auctions are the signboard of the auction house, while private transactions with customers are the real long-term and profitable transactions.
Before Darnell came, he had already thought that this transaction would cost more gold coins, but he had to do it, because without Hobert"s creation, the scarcity of Beyonder characteristics also generally exists.
It"s just that after Hobert raised the price too high with the auction price, Darnell couldn"t bargain with the "market price".
Darnell took a deep breath and once again regretted that he had not reached a deal last time: "Name your price."
Hobert smiled: "Although I have my difficulties, I still have to take care of Mr. Darnell."
"How about this, basically the same as the last quote: "Arbiter" 400 gold coins, "Sheriff" 1000 gold coins, "Interrogator" 3500 gold coins, "Judge" 8000 gold coins, "Disciplinary Knight" 15000 gold coins."
Hobert raised the price of the "Mid Sequence" Beyonder characteristics slightly.
Darnell breathed a slight sigh of relief. Fortunately, it didn"t grow too outrageously. Although the premium was a lot, it was barely acceptable.
If a "Interrogator" Beyonder characteristic cost 8000 gold coins, Darnell would definitely go back and kill Bunnell immediately.
Darnell asked again: "Is the transaction volume still the same as last time?"
Hobert shook his head: "It would be too disadvantageous for me to trade all the Beyonder characteristics to you."
"I will only give you 12 copies of "Arbiter", 10 copies of "Sheriff", 2 copies of "Interrogator", 2 copies of "Judge", and 1 copy of "Disciplinary Knight"."
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