“What! Eighth-grade ferocious beast hide? Is that for real?”
“To me, it looks like just a regular piece of fabric. It doesn’t resemble beast hide at all.”
“Could it be that Charles is doing this on purpose, claiming a normal piece of cloth is high-grade ferocious beast hide, trying to find a sucker?”
While others were discussing, the stall owner could no longer contain the smile on his face and spoke up:
“The rules of the item exchange market state that once a deal is done, it cannot be changed. This is not ferocious beast hide, it’s just a piece of rag I picked up in the wild!”
Celestine was standing nearby. She crouched down and reached out to touch the fabric. It felt very ordinary, as if it could be torn with just a bit of force.
In her eyes, it didn’t resemble ferocious beast hide at all, it was just a low-quality piece of cloth.
“Charles, is this really high-grade ferocious beast hide?” Celestine didn’t ask in front of everyone, instead, she approached Charles and quietly inquired.
Charles nodded and took a sharp dagger from his [jet ring]. Without further ado, he stabbed it directly into the fabric.
To his surprise, the fabric showed no signs of damage, the sharp dagger didn’t leave a single mark.
Seeing this, the faces of those who had been laughing froze instantly.
Especially the stall owner, who had just mentioned the rules of the item exchange market, widened his eyes, trembling hands raised in disbelief as he exclaimed, “How can this be? This is just an ordinary piece of cloth I found in the wild!”
Charles tossed the dagger over to him, signaling him to give it a try.
The stall owner slowly picked up the dagger and exerted all his strength, yet he couldn’t make a single mark on the fabric.
Looking at the silent and shocked crowd, Charles spoke directly, “This hide is different from ordinary beast hide. It’s quite special, coming from the abdomen of a [wingless beast]. It has neither feathers nor fur.”
Upon hearing Charles’s explanation, someone immediately said, “I think I’ve heard of this creature before. However, it’s so rare that not many people know about it. I can’t believe you recognized it at a glance!”
Charles continued, “That’s right, the number of wingless beasts is indeed very scarce. An average Beast Master might only encounter one in their lifetime. Therefore, the research value of this hide is quite high. Is there anyone interested?”
He didn’t plan to keep the hide. The information prompt in front of him included methods for using this hide to forge equipment,
but it was too troublesome and would take a long time.
So Charles intended to exchange it directly for gold coins, hoping to use that at the upcoming small auction to see if he could purchase a suitable mystical beast egg.
“I’ll offer thirty gold coins for that hide!” Someone immediately raised their hand and shouted, eager to buy the hide.
To Charles’s surprise, others also expressed interest in the hide, calling out, “I’ll offer thirty-one gold coins for it! Can you sell it to me?”
The first bidder, seeing someone competing with him, was about to raise his bid,
but Charles spoke up, “I’m sorry, but I’ve decided to sell to the first person who bid. After all, I initially set the price at thirty gold coins, and he was the first to offer.”
Witnessing this, those around them recalled what had just happened. Faced with competing bids, they were surprised that Charles remained indifferent, sticking strictly to the price he had initially announced.
“What a pity! If he had let them compete a bit more, he might have sold it for thirty-five gold coins!” Someone felt regret for Charles.
Others countered, “Do you think everyone is like you? Money is important, but integrity is even more important!”
Celestine stood behind Charles, her admiration for him growing stronger, and his image in her mind became even more perfect!
The man who successfully purchased the hide was a middle-aged individual, dressed in ordinary clothing and wearing thick glasses. He was the one who had mentioned hearing about the wingless beast earlier.
After transferring the gold coins to Charles’s account, he took the hide and handed over his business card, saying, “Hello, Mr. Charles. Thank you very much. I’m a scholar engaged in the research of Beast Mastery.”
“I can’t believe that at your age, you could identify such a rare wingless beast. Even I couldn’t recognize it. It’s truly astonishing, you’re quite brilliant!”
“By the way, I got so excited that I forgot to introduce myself. My name is David Qi.”
As this middle-aged man finished introducing himself, someone gasped in disbelief and exclaimed:
“David Qi? Isn’t he the greatest Beast Mastery scholar from Genosha? The textbooks used in various academies were all written by him!”
“I was wondering why that name sounded so familiar! I’ve even read some of his other books!”
“Wait a minute, did Mr. David Qi just say that Charles could identify a ferocious beast that even he couldn’t recognize? Did I hear that right?”
“Charles’s knowledge has already astonished David Qi!”
Hearing that the person before him was David Qi, a renowned Beast Mastery scholar, Charles was a bit taken aback. He placed David Qi’s business card into his jet ring.
“Hello, David Qi. My name is Charles, and I’m from Cyber Academy.” Charles said.
David Qi smiled and replied, “I know. I’ve heard many things about you, and my daughter is one of your fans. You can come find me later. I have a lot of unknown ferocious beast materials that I’d like to consult you about.”
The crowd was shocked once again. No one could have imagined that the famous Beast Mastery scholar would ask Charles for advice.
After all, in their eyes, Charles was just an eighteen-year-old Level 3 Beast Master!
“David Qi, you’re too kind. I don’t know much, I just happened to identify this piece of beast skin.” Charles said, scratching his head in response.
To his surprise, David Qi’s smile grew even wider. He pointed to the stone on the ground and said, “Charles, I assume you’ve recognized this as well.”
A crowd of people stared blankly at the stone on the ground. After hearing David Qi’s words, someone spoke up in confusion:
“What is this? Isn’t it just a broken stone?”
“It can’t be. Since David Qi said that, this stone must be something special!”
“No, what David Qi just asked Charles implies that Charles identified this stone, which is why he bought everything?”
The stall owner, who was stiff with regret on his face, could no longer hold back. He asked, his voice trembling, “Is there something special about this stone? It’s just a forging material for Tone Reproduction!”
David Qi didn’t answer. He stared at Charles, trying to see if Charles had recognized the stone’s special attributes.
Charles sighed, he wanted to keep a low profile.
David Qi wasn’t wrong. The items at this stall were special, not just the piece of beast skin, but also the stone in front of him.
Charles received an information prompt:
[Stone Ape Heart [Orange Quality]: The heart of an eighth-tier ferocious beast, the Stone Ape. A high-quality forging material, usable for weapon crafting and alchemy, highly valuable and extremely rare.]
This stone was not an ordinary stone, it was the heart of a high-tier ferocious beast, the Stone Ape.
For Charles, he planned to keep it for himself. Once Colton returned, he could show it to his teacher. High-tier alchemy materials are not easy to find.
Charles wanted to see if he could use this to trade for a Map Fragment with Colton.
He wanted to be prepared and, after confirming the specific location of the divine beast, strengthen his abilities further before trying to acquire a divine beast early on!
“That’s right, this stone is also quite special and can be used for alchemy.” Charles said, no longer hiding the truth.
“This stone is more valuable than that piece of beast skin?” the stall owner asked, trembling.
Charles nodded. To his surprise, the stall owner couldn’t take it and fainted, collapsing to the ground.
“You really identified it? Even I didn’t recognize it right away. Charles, I’m really looking forward to it. Come find me when you have time, I have many unknown things as well.” David Qi said, intrigued, extending his invitation once again.
Charles replied, “I will come by when I have time, I have some questions I’d like to ask.”
He wasn’t being polite, Charles had always been curious about those tentacles he had seen before and other strange creatures.
Since David Qi was the most renowned Beast Mastery scholar in Genosha, he surely knew things that ordinary people didn’t. Perhaps he had knowledge about those bizarre creatures.
Charles didn’t plan to wait until later to make contact. His habit was to gather all information and intelligence in advance, making it easier for him to plan for the future.
Soon, amidst the crowd’s astonishment, Charles bid farewell to David Qi and walked towards the entrance.
Beside him, Celestine’s eyes had not left Charles.
She was so shocked that she couldn’t find the words. Before today, Celestine thought she understood Charles well enough.
But Charles’s performance today shattered her perceptions once again!
It was David Qi, after all, the author of various Beast Mastery textbooks!
For someone like him to hold Charles in such high regard and respect left her feeling anything but calm.
At that moment, Daniel Long stood at the elevator entrance with Zane, clearly preparing to attend the upcoming small auction.
Daniel Long saw that Charles was approaching and asked, “Mr. Charles, how are you? Did you find anything interesting?”
Charles nodded and replied, “I found quite a few valuable things.”
“Oh? I wonder if you could share what kind of things they are. I’m quite curious about your discerning eye, Mr. Charles.” Daniel Long quickly inquired.
Beside Daniel Long, Zane appeared relatively calm. He had already accepted what had happened earlier and didn’t intend to stir the pot any further.
As Daniel Long posed his question, Zane quietly perked up his ears.