How To Be A System (Dummy-Proof Edition)

Once Ren Qingquan arrived at a room similar to the one Su Ping entered before, he called the attendant next to him. "Do you still accept items to be auctioned?"

The attendant replied. "Of course sir. As long as the auction hasn't begun, we will accept items that went beyond a certain value."

"Then I want to auction this item." I saw Ren Qingquan placed his hand inside his cloth and pulled a sword from [Storage]. That sword is exactly the one he previously crafted for the Weapon refining test.

"P- please wait a moment!" The attendant answered in surprise as she replied before leaving the door upon seeing Ren Qingquan's nod.

While waiting for that attendant to return, Ren Qingquan placed his sword on a table and lazily lay on the sofa while eating the fruit placed nearby.

His ability to check for danger is seriously too low, why don't he check the fruit for any danger first before eating them. Luckily I already make sure the fruit isn't poisoned or anything.

"Sir, I've brought an appraiser." After three minutes, the attendant returned while bringing an elderly man along with her. The first thing both of them see is Ren Qingquan peeling tangerine while watching the crowd bellow through his window.

Ren Qingquan pointed at the sword next to him and said. "That's the item I wish to auction. Can you check what spirit stones I can gain from it?"

The elderly man walked towards the table where Ren Qingquan placed his sword. When he arrived nearby it, the elderly man pulled something akin to a monocle engraved with several runes and wore it on one of his eyes.

From the runes engraved on that monocle, I think it has the power to magnify items and check the flow of spirit qi.

The elderly man said after staring at the sword for five minutes. "This sword can be sold for at least 60 spirit stones, it is even possible for it to be sold for more than 100 spirit stones if you're lucky and someone took a liking to it. What a pity it doesn't have a sheath, otherwise its initial price might increase to at least 70 spirit stones."

That's right, the sword doesn't have any sheath. Which is probably why the attendant was surprised when Ren Qingquan first pulled it from his clothes.

Still holding the sword, that elderly appraiser asked. "So do you wish to place this sword for auction? If it is sold, the auction house will take 10% of its price as a cost."

Ren Qingquan just nodded. " Mmhm. Please take care of it."

***

When the sun outside almost set, a middle aged man stepped into the auction stage. He is at Golden Core Stage and looks to be forty something years old.

Of course in the cultivation world, someone's age can't be guessed just through their face. So, the real age of that auctioneer is still up for speculation.

As the light inside the building dimmed, the middle aged man greeted every guest inside the auction house.

"Welcome everyone to White Crane Auction House's monthly auction!" Through the usage of some magical technique, the Auctioneer's voice resounded throughout the building.

"First, please allow me to say the rules for this auction." Pausing for a moment, the auctioneer began his rapid fire of words.

"I will say the minimum bid and the minimum amount of increase for every item. Those with the highest bid after I counted to three will win the item. After purchase, we will immediately send the items to you. If you're unable to pay, we'll give the item to the second highest bidder. In exchange, you'll be blocked from bidding for the rest of this auction! "

The middle aged man cleared his throat for a moment before speaking with a loud voice once again."Without further ado, let us start this auction with the first item!"

From behind the stage, a scantily dressed female cultivator pushed a tray containing five pill boxes with 12 pills on each of them.

"The first item on our auction will be a high quality Spirit Gathering Pill! It is sold in a set consisting of a dozen pills each. The starting price for a box is 10 spirit stones. Every bid must increase by at least 1 spirit stone." While opening one of the boxes, the auctioneer said. "Then let's begin the auction for our first box of Spirit Gathering Pills!"

"11 spirit stones!" Right after the auctioneer said that, one of the people sitting in the spectator seat below raised his hand. But his bid is immediately followed by several others. Within a minute, the price of a box of pills rose to 18 spirit stones before it finally stopped.

After the auctioneer closed the bid, he said. "Then, let's continue with the next box of pills."

Just like that, the auction for pills is repeated five times, before a new item is brought forward.

Different from the pills before, the item placed this time is a multicolored flower that occasionally changes color.

If I hadn't sensed it actually only contained less than 5 points worth of energy, I would've thought it was some kind of precious plant.

To be honest I am a bit bored of this auction thing. Why is everyone joining so civilized?

Where is the promised face slapping scene that usually happens in auction plots? Even someone shouting 'please give me face' will be enough for me to get excited.

As I am incredibly bored, I just check on other subsystem's condition while only leaving a small part to check the auction.

During the whole time I am observing other subsystems, Ren Qingquan has also purchased a fruit called Frost Gathering Melon for 10 spirit stones, which is similar to a normal melon but blue and somehow constantly releasing a low temperature.

Soon, the host pulled Ren Qingquan's sword into the platform.

"Our next item is a sword." Gently lifting the sword, the auctioneer showed it to everyone present. "This is a sword made by a master weapon refiner using unknown technique. Although the material used is a bit common, but the sword can amplify any sword technique up to Golden Core Stage!"

Gasps of surprise resounded throughout the crowd when they heard the auctioneer's words. The auctioneer realized it was the right moment and decided to strike the iron while it was hot.

"The opening price will be 60 spirit stones with 5 spirit stones increase for every bid!"

With the auctioneer's sentence, several people immediately throw their bid. The price of Ren Qingquan's sword quickly skyrocketed and only slowed down when the price surpassed 100 spirit stones. Finally, it is purchased by someone from a private room for 110 spirit stones.

Not long after the sword was sold, an attendant entered Ren Qingquan's room while holding a bag with many spirit stones. As per agreement they previously have, the auction house took 10% of his earnings. Which means the bag contained 99 spirit stones.

Seeing Ren Qingquan holding that bag containing 99 spirit stones makes me start to doubt life.

Is my standard just too high, or is this place just utter trash? Even the sword Ren Qingquan used in his weapon refining test can be sold for 99 spirit stones.

If not for the space crack that opens every time I devour anything except souls, that stupid sword is basically equal to 99 points!

I think I finally understand the feeling of those transmigrator's cheat systems that always sold items of the highest quality. It's not like the item those systems sold are of high quality, the world's items are just utter rubbish.

***

After a short silence, the auctioneer's voice can be heard once more."This is the finale for this night's auction."

With his word, a female attendant brought a book encased in a glass like material that's been engraved with runes.

Although not comparable to the interference caused by those top experts in the Pure Wave sect. The runes on that glass are still capable of interfering with my [Scan] slightly.

Coupled with the distance between Ren Qingquan and the book, I am unable to [Scan] its content. Which is such a pity.

After the book's case is placed on the auction platform, the auctioneer begins introducing the item. "This is a book with the cultivation method called 'Hundred Blossom' written inside. The Hundred Blossom method is a cultivation method that can be practiced until the Nascent Soul stage."

Under the glistening eyes of every viewer, the auctioneer continued in a louder voice. "The book has been appraised by Senior Appraisal Yan, a Nascent Soul stage senior appraiser. The content is absolutely safe to use and the only one who knows about its content is senior Yan and the buyer. The starting price will be 500 spirit stones with at least 20 increase for every bid!"

This time, the crowd sitting below is silent. It is not until a few moments later that a female voice comes from one of the private rooms above, "520 spirit stones!"

Soon after, her bid is overwhelmed by several other voices. Among those, there are also several voices coming from Su Ping's room.

The price of the book keeps increasing higher and higher. Once it reached 800 spirit stones, except for three people including Su Ping, everyone else had already given up.

Seeing Su Ping fighting for that book, Ren Qingquan commented. 'System, I think you can sell some of the books in your library to Su Ping and others. Of course after you've removed special books that can only be found in the Pure Wave Sect.'

Then he continued while watching the intense bidding battle where the price of that book already inflated to 800 spirit stones. 'The cost of magical technique in this place is utterly insane! In comparison, the cost of browsing books in Pure Wave Sect's library is basically freebies.'

Yeah, what Ren Qingquan mentioned is true. Guess I can indeed sell some of the books I collected to the subsystem's shop.

At first I didn't sell it because their subsystems didn't have [Calculate]. Which makes me unable to push their mastery of technique just like what I do to Ren Qingquan.

But after seeing those people fighting tooth and nail for a book, I think my books will sell like hot cakes.

With that conclusion, I added several books that look like common cultivation methods and common magical techniques into the list of items sold in the shop. Most of them can only reach up to golden core and below, while only a few can reach nascent soul stage and above.

Of course I also remember to check and remove any mark, notes, or insight that may give away the book's identity to be something from the Pure Wave Sect.

After everything was ready, I sent notification to all subsystem hosts.

[Ding! System shop has been updated.]