Chapter 126: Speedy Fertilizer Recipe
A day’s time quietly passed, and the plan to find a bargain in the Black Market fell through.
Those who could get into the Black Market were all shrewd people; if there really was something good, it wouldn’t be his turn as a high school student to find a bargain.
Although quite disappointed, Lu Li was mentally prepared.
“You’ve been wandering around the Black Market for a whole day, and you didn’t find any Pokémon with high qualification?” Ekaterina asked depressedly.
Lu Li: “…”
“Qualification and such can’t be seen from the appearance; I can only analyze based on feeling.”
Hearing this, Ekaterina rolled her eyes: I believe you, my foot! The owner of the Ideal Eye can’t see through a Pokémon’s qualification?
Who would believe that? Anyway, she, Ekaterina, didn’t believe it.
“Let’s go, the auction is about to start.” Ekaterina urged.
Lu Li nodded.
Holding the invitation, Lu Li successfully entered the Black Market’s auction, and the auction side even specially prepared a private room for him.
A private room meant safety and also meant status, which could save him a lot of trouble in this auction.
Lu Li quietly sat in the private room waiting for the auction to begin.
The first items on stage were those made by Item Masters, and Lu Li found that the auction prices at the Black Market auction were much higher than those at regular auction venues.
For example, the Flower Incense he bought before started at 1.1 million here and was even bid up to 1.5 million.
“Next up for auction is the Strange Incense made by Master Anna, starting bid 1.1 million, with each increment no less than 10,000.”
“Bidding starts now.”
As the auctioneer announced the start, bids rang out one after another from the crowd.
“1.5 million.”
Private Room 3 directly quoted the final price of the previous incense.
“1.6 million.”
Private Room 4 added 100,000 on top of that.
Compared to the Strange Incense on the market, this price was 60% more expensive.
“Do Item Makers make this much money?” Lu Li sighed with some envy.
Ekaterina complained: “It’s those famous Item Masters who make this much money; in fact, the vast majority of Pokémon Item Makers are quite poor.”
Hearing this, Lu Li’s restless heart instantly cooled. It wasn’t good to become famous at his age, so he decided to cut off this path to wealth for now.
If it were just over a million, Lu Li would want to bid on this Strange Incense, as the item was quite suitable for Bao Bao.
“Everyone!”
“The next auction item is a bit special; it’s knowledge-based. The only thing we can guarantee is its authenticity. As for the consequences of you buying this item, that’s not something we can take responsibility for.”
“Next up for auction is the exclusive secret recipe from the world-famous Berry Planting Master—Master Yuan Cheng: the Speedy Fertilizer recipe that can accelerate Berry tree growth speed!”
“Starting bid is 2 million, with each increment no less than 10,000.”
“Speedy Fertilizer?”
Lu Li excitedly looked at the notebook on the display stand.
The Speedy Fertilizer recipe itself isn’t precious; every Berry Planter researches their own unique fertilizer recipe, and these recipes are all very similar.
This thing’s status in the Berry world is somewhat like Energy Cube recipes: precious yet also common.
But if it’s a fertilizer recipe from a Berry Planting Master, then its value is different.
“2 million.”
Lu Li directly called out.
Others might not know, but didn’t he himself know his own limits?
The world thought he was a genius Berry Planter, but only Lu Li himself knew he was just cheating.
Although others thought he was an intermediate Berry Planter, he actually hadn’t researched any special effect fertilizers himself.
Now that a Berry Planting Master’s fertilizer recipe was right in front of him, he had no reason not to seize this opportunity.
After all, this was an opportunity: the chance to localize Spirit Fertilizer from the Cultivation World.
Cultivation minor spells plus super strong fertilizer—Lu Li didn’t dare imagine how refreshing it would be to plant fruit trees.
This was double the happiness!
“2.1 million.”
“2.2 million.”
“2.25 million.”
Right after Lu Li bid, others consecutively called out higher prices.
After a round of fierce competition, the bidders finally thinned out, but the price had been pushed up to a whopping 8 million.
“8.1 million!”
After Private Room 9 shouted the price, the person said with full vigor: “Friend in Private Room 2, I’m the Jin Family’s Planter. I hope you can give me face.”
“Sorry, I like this recipe too. How about you give me face?” Lu Li directly retorted.
After retorting, Lu Li continued bidding: “8.15 million.”
Lu Li knew this price was already close to the other party’s psychological expectation, so he didn’t add in increments of hundreds of thousands.
“8.2 million.”
The person in Private Room 9 said through gritted teeth.
“8.25 million.”
Lu Li followed right after.
As Lu Li bid again, Private Room 9 finally went silent.
“8.25 million, first time!”
“8.25 million, second time!”
“8.25 million, third time!”
“Sold for 8.25 million!”
As the auctioneer announced the result, Lu Li finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.
“What do you want this recipe for? If you’re willing to come with me to the Great Russia Region, you can look at such recipes as much as you want—there are plenty.”
Although curious about Lu Li’s purpose for the recipe, Ekaterina took the chance to recruit him.
Lu Li chose to ignore it.
The pie she painted was pretty good—at least better than Jin Fengjiao’s—but Lu Li indicated that he wasn’t buying it.
With 8.25 million spent, plus the upcoming Wobbuffet, Lu Li knew he would soon face a bankruptcy crisis.
The subsequent auctions went much more smoothly; the auction price for Wobbuffet was just one or two million more than on the market.
Lu Li ultimately won Wobbuffet for 12.4 million.
Even so, Lu Li’s money was almost spent; this was still counting the money from selling Water Stones and potions later, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough.
After the auction ended, Lu Li couldn’t wait to flip through the notebook.
The effect of Master Yuan Cheng’s Speedy Fertilizer recipe was outrageously good—it could reduce Berry growth time by 25%.
What was this concept?
In the game, Speedy Fertilizer had this exact effect.
As far as Speedy Fertilizer went, there probably wasn’t any better Speedy Fertilizer in this world.
Speedy Fertilizer was a growth fertilizer; though the production cost wasn’t high, one portion cost about 1,000 bucks, but for its effects, this price was practically a bargain.
Most importantly, Speedy Fertilizer had no technical barriers; as long as one had the recipe, even an ordinary person could make it.
At least fertilizer recipes were much easier to learn than Energy Cube recipes.
Looking at Lu Li who had been staring at the notebook ever since the auction ended, Ekaterina speechlessly complained: “You guy are still a Berry Planter?”
“Sort of.” Lu Li nodded; there was no need to hide this, as it was something anyone could find out with a little inquiry.
“Trainer, Breeder, and Berry Planter—you guy have so much energy!” Ekaterina complained.
But though she complained, Ekaterina in her heart attributed all this to the great power of the Ideal Dragon.
Just as Ekaterina was about to continue complaining, her facial expression suddenly changed.
After giving a cold glance at a tall building not far away, Ekaterina said: “Thank you for taking me around today. Let’s meet again another day—remember to pick up my calls.”
After saying that, Ekaterina released Jynx.
“Jynx, Teleport.” After Ekaterina said it, she instantly disappeared.
Lu Li, focused on the notebook, casually nodded and didn’t get distracted by Ekaterina’s departure.
…………
“Fairy Heavenly King Qu Suxin, Champion Level Trainer not yet 35—you’ve discovered it after all.” Ekaterina sighed looking at the beautiful woman before her.
Although she had guessed early on, seeing Qu Suxin still made Ekaterina feel depressed inside.
The chance to make a fortune quietly was gone, and now she might not even have the qualification to get a share.
The depressed Ekaterina directly laid her cards on the table: “Tell me, what are your conditions? If I’m not satisfied, I don’t mind making this matter known to the whole world.”
Ekaterina’s goal was simple: if she couldn’t get a share, she’d expose the matter.
In the last Truth Contest, the real Hero was in the Western Hemisphere, the ideal Hero in the Eastern Hemisphere.
If this time was destined reincarnation too, then the ideal Hero was fated to unify the entire Eastern Hemisphere. What she wanted a share of was naturally influence over the ideal Hero.
“Stop probing. Right now, only you and I know, and I’m not even sure if he’ll become the ideal Hero. After all, there have been many in history with the Ideal Eye, but none of them became the ideal Hero in the end.” Qu Suxin also chose to lay her cards on the table.
This was like two anglers successively discovering the same prime fishing spot—the best outcome was definitely for both sides to communicate and try to keep the spot secret.
Hearing that only Qu Suxin knew, Ekaterina breathed a sigh of relief.
This was already the best possible outcome; what came next to discuss would be much simpler.
“I won’t contact the little guy, but you remember to tell him about the Ideal Eye, so he doesn’t carelessly expose his ability. If more people know about him then, it’ll only be bad for us.” Qu Suxin reminded.
Ekaterina nodded.
Qu Suxin added: “Also, don’t think about luring him to the Big Goose region—that’s my bottom line.”
Ekaterina didn’t object; now she no longer had any ideas about luring Lu Li away. With a Champion Level Trainer watching, even if she wanted to, she didn’t have the ability to take him.
Qu Suxin: “Finally…I want a Vulpix Pokémon Egg of special form, qualification at least Heavenly King Level.”
Ekaterina: “???”
“Why?” Ekaterina sneered, laughing from anger.
With arms crossed, Qu Suxin had a “I’ve got you” look: “This is the condition for me not stopping you from having that little guy help you.”
Ekaterina: “…”
“Impossible! If you’ve got the guts, come out and stop it—see who’s afraid of who!” Ekaterina said through gritted teeth.
No wonder this woman became a Title Heavenly King of the Alliance at a young age; with this thick skin and scheming, she was practically a born politician.
“Forget it then.” Qu Suxin shrugged; she had only wanted to see if she could get a little advantage anyway.
Better if she bluffed the other side; if not, no big deal—it was just a few extra words, not like losing a piece of flesh.
“Gardevoir, let’s go back.”
After Qu Suxin said it, she disappeared from the spot.
“Damn woman! Jynx, let’s go back too.” The grumbling Ekaterina also turned to leave.
Meanwhile, Lu Li was studying the fertilizer…
