Charles thought carefully. His main purpose for attending the auction was to contract a mystical beast, everything else was secondary.
However, since it was the annual auction of Genosha, there should be plenty of good items available. It wouldn’t hurt to take a look.
“I would like to participate in all of them. Are there any requirements?” Charles replied.
“Well, Mr. Charles, in order to participate in all of them, you must be a senior member of the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association.” Yana said.
Charles continued to ask, “Senior member? How can one become a senior member?”
“It requires the recommendation of two other senior members, or one distinguished member, along with a verification of certain assets.” Yana explained in detail, worried that Charles might not understand.
“The membership is divided into five levels: junior, intermediate, senior, distinguished, and the highest, supreme level. To become a senior member, you need recommendations from others.”
Charles frowned at this information. He hadn’t expected that attending the auction of the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association would be so complicated, requiring him to seek recommendations from other members.
“If I don’t know any other members, does that mean I can’t participate in the auction?” Charles asked.
Yana shook her head and replied, “Mr. Charles, you must be joking. If you mention that you lack member recommendations, there will be plenty of people eager to be your referee.”
Charles nodded. He didn’t plan to do that. Instead, he took out his phone and sent messages to Zachary and Camilla to ask for help.
Within a minute, Camilla replied:
“[Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association member, Charles, let me ask my father. He seems to be a supreme member.]”
Charles quickly replied:
“[No, it’s just a small matter. I only need two senior members.]”
It seemed like Camilla didn’t see the message, as there was no further reply.
On the other hand, Zachary sent a string of numbers and said,
“[Charles, this is my father’s member account. Just use this.]”
Moments later, Camilla also sent a string of numbers, clearly another Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association member account.
Charles looked at Yana and said, “I have two member accounts here. Is that okay?”
Yana appeared somewhat surprised. She nodded and walked over to the equipment in the private room, starting to input the two accounts from Charles’s phone.
When the account information appeared on the screen, Yana froze in place, unable to move.
Seeing this, Charles slowly said, “What’s wrong? Is it not possible?”
“No, no, no, Mr. Charles, there’s absolutely no problem. Please wait a moment, I need to report to my superior.” Yana said, a bit flustered. Given her extensive experience, she usually wouldn’t be so shocked.
But the information from the two accounts Charles provided was truly astonishing!
One was the membership account of the Emperor of Genosha with the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association, and the other was the account of General Mason of Genosha.
Both were supreme-level members!
Originally, there would have been no issues processing a senior membership, but Yana had other thoughts in mind. She wanted to make a good impression on Charles as much as possible.
So, Yana went directly to the office of the president of the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association’s Genosha branch and briefly introduced the situation.
Unexpectedly, the president, Daniel Long, immediately became sharp-eyed. He knew a bit more than the average person.
What Ezra did that night at the Taylor family and Robinson family had spread among the upper echelons of Genosha!
Without further thought, Daniel Long hurried to the door of the private room where Charles was, knocking carefully. After receiving Charles’s permission, he entered.
“Hello, Mr. Charles, I am the president of the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association’s Genosha branch. Given your special circumstances, we will directly process a supreme-level membership card for you. Please hold on a moment.”
Charles was somewhat bewildered. He hadn’t expected that the accounts sent by Zachary and Camilla would attract the president’s attention.
“Is it because of those two member accounts?” Charles inquired.
To his surprise, Daniel Long shook his head and said, “No, Mr. Charles, it’s because of you. If I had known you were here to apply for membership, I would have been waiting for you.”
This was no exaggeration. While the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association was powerful, they usually didn’t pay much attention to ordinary Beast Masters, even disregarding them entirely.
It was simply because Charles’s teacher was Ezra!
The information of the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association was more comprehensive than that of some prominent families, and the more they knew, the clearer Ezra’s strength became!
Soon, the membership processing was completed, and just as Charles was about to leave,
Daniel Long said, “Mr. Charles, there’s a small auction starting shortly, and there are quite a few good items inside. I’m not sure if you’re interested?”
Charles was a bit puzzled and asked, “Isn’t the auction supposed to officially start tomorrow evening?”
“Yes, Mr. Charles, the annual auction indeed officially begins tomorrow night, and the list of auction items will also be sent to your phone then.” Daniel Long explained first, then continued,
“The small auction happening shortly features some special items, such as information, news, and other things. There might be something you want.”
Upon hearing this, Charles glanced at Celestine beside him. He was somewhat interested, a small auction for special items might yield some good finds based on the information presented.
Noticing Charles’s interest, Celestine directly said, “Charles, I have nothing planned for later. Why don’t we go check it out?”
Charles nodded, and under Daniel Long’s guidance, they headed down to the underground of the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association.
On the other side, Yana completed her reception duties and returned to the hall, where a colleague immediately asked curiously, “Yana, is that Charles really here for the auction?”
“Yes, could it be that he actually got his membership and is qualified to participate in the auction? The requirements for a mid-level membership are not low.” Yana replied.
Thinking of President Daniel Long’s attitude and the two supreme-level member accounts, she smiled and said:
“Guess what level of membership Charles has now?”
Someone guessed, “It can’t be a high-level membership, can it? Does he really have that much money?”
Yana shook her head, indicating that was incorrect.
Others discussed, “I told you, he seems like just a commoner. How much assets could he possibly have? He must be a mid-level member.”
“But Yana, you really have an eye for talent. You successfully processed a mid-level membership, so your performance this month won’t be low.”
“Pfft, it’s just a mid-level membership, it’s not that difficult.”
Yana replied, listening to her colleagues’ discussions while her mind kept recalling moments spent with Charles.
This was the first time Yana had met someone like Charles. He was clearly a big shot but had no airs about him, exceptionally low-key and calm.
Thinking of this, Yana glanced disdainfully at the colleagues who were gossiping and said lightly, “Yeah, he just processed a supreme-level membership. With a little effort, you could do it too.”
“What! A supreme-level membership? No way!”
“What qualifications does Charles have to be a supreme-level member? There seem to be only fifteen of them in all of Genosha!”
“He seems to be just a third-level Beast Master. How could he possibly be a supreme-level member? Yana, you shouldn’t make up such ridiculous stories.”
Yana didn’t explain. Having seen many people, she naturally understood that some would struggle to accept things they had never witnessed.
She wouldn’t attempt to convince them, once the rewards from the association were handed out, they would know that everything she said was true.
Meanwhile, in the underground elevator of the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association.
Daniel Long stood in the elevator and said, “By the way, Mr. Charles, the small auction will officially start in an hour. Before that, there will be a market for item exchanges, and you can take a look. You’ll be notified when it’s about to start.”
“Item exchange market?” Charles hadn’t heard of that before. He had only been aware of the annual auction of the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association and didn’t realize there were so many other activities involved.
It seemed that only by entering the upper echelons of society in Genosha would one be qualified to know these things.
“Yes, Mr. Charles. The items in the exchange market are generally unidentifiable in terms of quality or purpose, a mixed bag. The Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association only provides the venue and takes no responsibility for anything else.” Daniel Long explained a bit further.
This intrigued Charles even more. He understood Daniel Long’s implication: the items in the exchange market varied in authenticity, and it depended on one’s discernment and appraisal skills.
For Charles, that was no problem at all!
With his information prompts, taking advantage of a good deal in the exchange market would be incredibly simple!
“Charles, let’s just wait for the auction to start.” Celestine said with some concern.
As a student at the academy, she was only proficient in Beast Mastery, she didn’t understand anything about item appraisal.
“Don’t worry. With me around, no one knows appraisal better than I do.” Charles replied confidently.
Daniel Long in the elevator twitched his mouth at Charles’s words. Even the most skilled appraiser wouldn’t dare to say such things, considering the vast number of items in the world that not everyone could recognize.
He assumed Charles was just trying to impress his companion with exaggerated claims, so he didn’t think much of it.
“Alright then, we’ll see. I don’t have much money on me.” Celestine whispered close to Charles’s ear.
Looking into Celestine’s sincere eyes, Charles felt a warmth in his heart. He knew she was worried about not having enough money. The Stokes family only had a bit of influence in Lsengard, and in Genosha Calivia, they were nothing significant.
“Don’t worry, leave it to me. Trust me.” Charles said.
At that moment, the elevator stopped, having reached its destination.