Close Combat Mage

Chapter 328 – Grand Auction Pt. 1

Suo Jia was able to achieve something that was originally supposed to take one month in just four days. Although the mighty Diamond Dragon still wasn’t anywhere close to unrivaled in the Greater Trade Routes’ first checkpoint at the moment, it could use its short-range gliding abilities to easily cross over the obstructing magical beasts and allow Suo Jia to quickly advance through his business.

Around two days after heading out, the surrounding landscape rapidly began to change. The temperature quickly dropped, and pure white snow appeared on both sides of the road. The wind that blew in his face also became colder.

As an unequaled overlord of the ice element, the Diamond Dragon seemed to enjoy this environment. Its ability to maintain its combat state alone had been extended by 10 minutes. After all…the surrounding temperature was low, and cold air naturally took longer to disperse.

Because of the change in environment, Suo Jia was able to reach his destination in only 3.5 days instead of 4. At noon of the third day, Suo Jia finally stepped into Icebound City. The exhausted Diamond Dragon was in a deep sleep on his shoulder. Just 10 minutes prior, the Dragon had just dispersed its larger form in a forest a kilometer away from the city; it was now extremely tired.

From the historical records of the Diamond Dragon’s characteristics, Suo Jia had finally been able to understand its several states. The normal Diamond Dragon wasn’t actually supposed to be named as such, but rather a Crystal Dragon. When it entered its combat state, it would be a true Diamond Dragon.

Because of the differences between these two states, the Diamond Dragon’s normal form should actually be called crystal state. It was very weak, and fragile like glass. But once it entered the diamond state, the dragon would become a peerless war dragon.

Diamond was a well known natural mineral, with its trait being the hardest material. The Diamond Dragon in the diamond state was also the toughest of creatures. No force could break through the Diamond Dragon’s armor during its most flourishing period. That’s why…the reason it’s called Diamond Dragon wasn’t just because of its appearance, but its incomparable hardness!

As soon as they entered Icebound City, Suo Jia went straight to the Commerce Union General HQ. With his status as a merchant, he purchased a street in real estate. After all…with a high-end good like Blazing Liquor, Suo Jia didn’t plan on giving any profits to other merchants.

The Blazing Liquor was priceless in Icebound City. No matter how high a price Suo Jia sold it to other merchants, they would definitely earn at least twice the amount. Moreover, this high of a price was clearly not suitable for large consumption. Like this, Suo Jia wouldn’t even be able to earn half the amount, and the sales volume of the Blazing Liquor would decrease. This definitely wasn’t something Suo Jia could accept.

Icebound City was a small-scale city with a population of around 200,000. Because it produced Heaven tier Freezing Fruits, it was an extremely busy city. Many foreign warriors would rush here and search for the fruits. As long as they could find just one, they’d have enough to raise a family for several years. Within a thousand meter perimeter, only Icebound City produced these Freezing Fruits.

Icebound City’s current consensus was 200,000 residents and 400,000 visitors. Every day, several hundred thousand people would enter and leave. This could be said to be the liveliest city at the first checkpoint. Thus…Suo Jia had chosen this place to open his first shop, with the Blazing Liquor as its main product.

It was a well-known fact that the liquor could warm the body, excite the blood flow, resist the harsh cold, and even replace food when hungry. Putting aside the residents, the visitors that had come to search for money needed large amounts of Blazing Liquor to protect themselves when going out for their money retrieval.

The size of the shop wasn’t very large. With Suo Jia being vouched for by his previous credit from successful transactions, he was able to obtain a small-scale shop around 200 ping in size. Although its position wasn’t ideal, it wasn’t too isolated either. The place wasn’t large, but Suo Jia only needed room for a display counter and a few bottles of liquor.

Of course, he naturally had to place some round tables and seats in the store as well. It couldn’t support major meals, but some savory dishes to supplement the liquor could be bought at restaurants in the city and brought here. He’d sell these dishes for as much as he bought them. Suo Jia didn’t pay any mind to the money earned from the food.

Using the Trade Route coins on him, Suo Jia employed ten salespersons. He then placed all the Blazing Liquor in the storehouse at the back. However, Suo Jia was stuck at the difficulty of the next step.

Suo Jia had gone to the Adventure Union to check that Icebound City definitely didn’t have any place selling Blazing Liquor. After all, one could bring back a few barrels of it during the two month round trip. How much would they sell it for? If they sold it for too high, who would be able to afford it? Aside from Suo Jia, who else in this world possessed second and third generation interspatial rings? There were only a bit over a thousand 1 cubic meter rings that existed, so how could they ship very many barrels?

Only Suo Jia, with his Diamond Dragon’s assistance, could rush over to Prairie Fire City in 3.5 days. Only he possessed 100 cubic meter third generation rings, as well as the nine 10 cubic meter second generation rings. Thus, he was also the only one that could ship such large amounts and earn huge profits.

After pondering this for a long time, Suo Jia finally decided that…he wouldn’t sell the liquor in barrels. Although these barrels weren’t big, about the size of trash cans, it wasn’t like he could let everyone carry around barrels while adventuring.

Storing the liquor in bottles was the best way to circulate it around. One barrel cost 1000 Trade Route coins, but when stored into 10 bottles, each bottle was also 1000. A price of 1000 didn’t count as very high. Finding a single rank one Freezing Fruit could be sold for 100,000 Trade Route coins!

1000 Trade Route coins was basically a third of the residents’ monthly incomes. However, to the gold searchers, this was only the tiniest of tiny amounts. With the Blazing Liquor, they’d be able to move outside of Icebound City for their pursuit of gold with greater protection, as they would at least not freeze to death outside.

After making this decision, Suo Jia found a local sundry goods market to buy 100,000 bottles at 1 Trade Route coin each. They were shaped like gourds, and scarlet red in color. There were also two, large crimson words like rising fire written on the bottles: Blazing Flames!

Afterwards, 10 beautiful female salesmen picked up leaflets, and as per Suo Jia’s orders, began to distribute them around the 10 busiest areas of the city. At the same time, Suo Jia quickly left Icebound City and rushed back towards Prairie Fire City without stopping.

During the following month, Suo Jia’s Life Protection completed the orange level, and the Diamond Dragon broke through the scarlet level, beginning to advance into the orange level. Without wasting training time, Suo Jia also rushed back and forth between the cities four times. He made a round trip every week, shipping a total of 4000 barrels of Blazing Liquor to Icebound City.

Just as Suo Jia had expected, the Blazing Liquor’s special abilities, powerful strength, and fragrant aroma threw all of Icebound City into turmoil. 40,000 bottles were sold out as soon as they were put onto the market, and Suo Jia was able to earn a wild amount of 40 million in a single month. This speed was so fast that anyone who heard it would be shocked.

This might seem exaggerated, but this was where the profits of the beverage market lay. 1000 Trade Route coins per barrel had been split into 10 bottles by Suo Jia, and yet each bottle was still sold for 1000. The profits gained was too great. Moreover…Icebound City’s 400,000 gold seekers could use up these 40,000 bottles within a single day. In reality, even with Suo Jia’s shipping abilities, he’d never be able to satisfy the demand.

Now that he had money, Suo Jia could finally carry out the second step of his plans. He temporarily stopped his shipping of Blazing Liquor, and stayed at an inn for a while. The following afternoon was the monthly Grand Auction. Suo Jia hadn’t had the money to attend the previous Grand Auction, but this time money wasn’t a problem.

Time continued to flow. The next afternoon, Suo Jia used his status as a rich merchant to enter the VIP room of the auction house. His large amount of transactions had allowed his popularity in Icebound City to significantly rise. Everyone knew that Suo Jia had earned a large amount of money within that month. Thus, the auction house boss immediately granted Suo Jia VIP status. Only rich people could spend large amounts of money, especially adventurers like Suo Jia, who earned money just to spend it. As long as the item was good, who cared about the money? Such people were willing to pay it out, no matter the price.

The Grand Auction soon began. Goods appeared on the stage one after another: Legendary ranked equipment, various rare ores, and even some magical pets. Although these all continued to be displayed, they were unable to attract the attention of Suo Jia, who already owned a complete Epic ranked equipment set and the most powerful magical pet, the Diamond Dragon.

A large portion of the Grand Auction soon passed. The Freezing Fruits that Suo Jia had anticipated for so long finally made their appearance. Naturally, the first ones to appear were rank one Freezing Fruits.

The auctioneer on the stage opened a jade box in his hands and said to the audience, “This is a rank one Freezing Fruit that was picked 3 days ago. The price being asked is 100,000. Everyone please make your bids!”