After the staff placed the large object covered with a red cloth on the auction stage, Scarlet mysteriously said, "I'm sure everyone is very curious about what's under this red cloth."
Since you already know, why keep us in suspense?
Amid the murmuring audience below the stage, Scarlet finally lifted the red cloth, revealing a massive, pitch-black wooden stump in front of everyone, about the size of a large truck.
What is this? Charcoal? Is the auction house no longer holding auctions but selling coal instead?
Some customers below the stage were completely bewildered.
"It looks like a tree root." Cole said, examining the blackened wooden stump on the stage, "Could it be the root of an S-class berry tree?"
Lysandre nodded and said, "It should be."
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Meanwhile, in the Sasaki family's private box, they were also discussing this auction item.
"Is that the rumored S-class berry tree root?" Asked a man about thirty years old, with a tall, robust build and long hair.
"It should be, but this root seems to have been burned by a fire. Whether it can be replanted and survive is still uncertain." Kiara replied.
The man who spoke earlier was her older brother, Kane.
Besides the siblings, there was also a small boy with a purple mushroom haircut, about eight or nine years old, who was hugging a stuffed toy and sitting bored on the sofa.
"James, are you bored?" Kiara asked the mushroom-headed boy.
"I'm not interested in auctions. Why did you bring me along?" James pouted.
Kiara was amused by him, "Then tomorrow I'll send you to uncle and aunt's place, so you can travel with them. Jessebelle will be there too."
"No, no! I'll stay with you guys!" James shook his head in terror at the mention of that girl.
"Pfft~" Kiara couldn't help but laugh, then pulled him close and ruffled his mushroom hair, "Oh you, is Jessebelle really that scary?"
James nodded vigorously.
Hearing his response, Kane immediately frowned and said, "Why do you act like you've seen a ghost whenever you hear her name? She's your fiancée. You need to get along with her."
James mumbled, "I don't want Jessebelle as my fiancée. Give her to Brother Kane instead."
"What did you say?!!!" Hearing this, Kane suddenly raised his voice, "Say that again, I dare you!"
James shrank back in fear, and Kiara quickly intervened, "Brother, James is still young. If he doesn't like Jessebelle, you shouldn't force him. James, after the auction ends, I'll take you to meet my friend."
Sara had already informed her about Cole coming to the auction, and they had arranged to meet him after it ended.
Hearing her words, James immediately said happily, "Great, great! Sister Kiara is always so good to me."
As he spoke, he secretly made a face at Kane. When he saw that Kiara had noticed his gesture, he exchanged smiles with her.
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In the auction hall, Scarlet had already begun introducing the tree root's history.
"This is the root of an S-class Starf berry tree. Unfortunately, the original Starf berry tree was destroyed by a fire during a Pokémon battle, and now only this section of the root remains.
But rest assured, according to our cultivation master's appraisal, this root still has considerable vitality. With careful nurturing, there's still a great possibility it could sprout again."
Hearing her words, everyone was skeptical. It's burned to that state and you're telling us it might sprout again? I guess even a 1% chance is still a possibility, right?
You auction house people can really say anything!
The atmosphere grew cold for a moment, and Scarlet felt embarrassed.
"Think about it, everyone! If it really grows, then you'll have an endless supply of S-class berries! Those are S-class berries! Can you buy S-class berries anywhere now? With S-class berries, becoming an Elite Four member or Champion won't be a problem!"
She kept painting a rosy picture for the customers, but she was actually quite embarrassed because she didn't believe the charred root could sprout either.
But the organizers required her to say so, what could she do?
In the private box, Cole frowned deeply at the burned root.
Lysandre advised, "Maybe you should skip this one. It looks like a big lump of charcoal, not something that could survive."
After pondering for a moment, Cole said, "Let's see first. If the price is within my budget, I'll try to get it. If it's too expensive, I'll let it go."
Before receiving the 300 million, he would have definitely given up without a second thought, but now he wanted to try.
If he missed this opportunity, who knows when he might encounter an S-class berry tree again? Relying solely on his own cultivation would probably take fifteen or twenty years to see results.
Too long!
Speaking of the Starf berry tree, Cole actually had one, grown from a seed that Kiara had given him before. After receiving Landorus's blessing, it had barely grown into an A-class berry tree.
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In another private box.
Kiara, hearing Scarlet introduce the root as that of a Starf berry tree, looked to her brother and said, "Brother, it's a Starf berry tree. Do we still want it?"
The reason she asked was because their Sasaki family already had an S-class Starf berry tree.
Kane thought for a moment and said, "Let's see how it goes. If there aren't many competitors, we'll make a move. If there are many interested buyers, we'll reconsider. I feel the chances of this root surviving are quite low."
Kiara nodded in agreement with her brother.
If the root had been from another type of berry tree, they might have tried harder to acquire it and see if they could successfully cultivate it. But since they already had a Starf berry tree at home, it wasn't worth the effort.
By now, Scarlet had finished praising the Starf berry tree root and announced the start of the auction.
"The auction for the S-class Starf berry tree root begins now, with a starting price of P$10,000,000. Each bid must increase by at least P$1,000,000 League currency!"
As her words fell, guests in both the auction hall below and the VIP rooms above simultaneously gasped.
Good grief! You're setting a starting price of P$10,000,000 for a charred tree root, and each bid must increase by at least P$1,000,000? Are you kidding?!!!
The previously lively atmosphere in the venue suddenly quieted down, and no one spoke up to make a bid.
Though Scarlet kept a smile on her face, she was actually feeling quite unsettled inside.
She was following the organizer's instructions. According to them, the survival rate of this charred tree root was obviously low, and if they set the starting price too low, it would confirm this fact, making it highly likely that the item would go unsold.
But if they started with a high price, people might think, "If they dare to set such a high price, perhaps the survival rate is actually quite high?"
In short, it was all psychological warfare!
It must be said that the organizer's psychological tactic was somewhat effective. While many customers mentally cursed them as crazy, quite a few were starting to think along the lines they intended.
Sure enough, after a moment of silence, someone finally quietly placed a bid.
"P$11,000,000!"
After the first bid, others gradually started to join in.
"12,000,000!"
"13,000,000!"
"14,000,000!"
...
Compared to the previous auction excitement, the numbers on the big screen climbed very slowly, with long pauses between bids. Scarlet, however, breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Thank goodness it wasn't going unsold! Otherwise, their reputation would have been ruined today! In her fifteen years in the business, this was the most embarrassing situation she had ever faced.
When the price reached 20,000,000, Kane made his move.
"25,000,000!"
His bid was extremely bold, raising the price by 5 million at once, attempting to scare off competitors who were hesitating and uncertain.
His strategy worked, as the number on the screen didn't change for quite some time.
"Excellent!!! The distinguished guest in Box 98 has bid 25 million. Does anyone else want to bid? Opportunity knocks but once! 25 million once! 25 million twice! 25 million..."
Before Scarlet could finish speaking, the number on the big screen suddenly jumped.
"30,000,000!"
"30 million! It's 30 million! The distinguished guest in Box 112 has bid 30 million!" Scarlet almost screamed with excitement, even more excited than when the previous item had sold for nearly 100 million.
Kane had already assumed the tree root was his, but when he heard the announcement, his heart skipped a beat.
"Box 112? Who's in there?"
"I don't know." Kiara shook her head in response. She didn't know that Cole was there.
Kane thought for a moment, then picked up the bidding device and entered another string of numbers.
"35,000,000!"
This was still within his acceptable range.
In Cole's box, Daisy heard Scarlet announce a bid of 35 million and decisively entered 40 million into the bidding device.
Cole silently watched from the side. Seeing his mother spend tens of millions without batting an eye, he couldn't help but think how impressive she was!
From today on, you're the queen! The queen who spends money like water!
And so, Daisy and Kane went back and forth, eventually pushing the price up to P$50,000,000.
When Kane saw Box 112 bid 50 million, he decisively threw down his bidding device.
"Forget it, it's not worth it. Let's give up!"
"50 million, Box 112 has bid 50 million. Is there anyone else?" Scarlet exclaimed excitedly, her snow-white cheeks flushed with a hint of pink, making her look even more enchanting.
Seeing that the number on the big screen was no longer changing, she tapped her wooden gavel.
"50 million once, 50 million twice, 50 million three times! Sold! The S-class berry tree now belongs to the distinguished guest in Box 112!"
What was clearly just a charred tree root that might not even survive had become an "S-class berry tree" in Scarlet's words. She certainly knew how to please her customers.
Hearing her announce the result, Cole heaved a sigh of relief. Although 50 million was a bit beyond his expectations, it was still within an acceptable range.
Lysandre laughed and said, "After spending so much money, I wonder what you'll do if it doesn't survive."
"What nonsense! Don't jinx it!" Cole glared at him, "It will definitely survive. Even if just for the 50 million I spent, I'll make sure it grows. If all else fails... I'll... I'll... I'll carve a wooden sculpture out of that stump, in the image of my mother, and place it at the entrance of our home."
Upon hearing his words, Daisy immediately became interested. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at her son, as if to say: Darling, let's use that wood stump to make a sculpture!
Cole shuddered in fear and quickly said to her, "Don't get any strange ideas!"
How disappointing! Seeing that he was just kidding, Daisy lost interest and flopped back onto the sofa.
Lysandre found the interaction between this mother and son duo incredibly amusing and couldn't help but laugh again.
After the black wood stump auction ended, it was time for the final, headline item of this auction. Everyone instinctively craned their necks toward the auction stage.
"I believe everyone will be astonished when they see this final auction item!" Having recovered from her previous failure, Scarlet had regained her confidence.
After speaking, she gently clapped her hands, and the staff brought up a computer. Everyone was perplexed when they saw this computer.
The final auction item was a computer? No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like just an ordinary computer!
Seeing that everyone's curiosity had been piqued, Scarlet finally said, "The final item for auction today is still a Pokémon!"
Upon hearing this, everyone's curiosity intensified. Why bring a computer to auction a Pokémon? After the pseudo-legendary baby Jangmo-o earlier, what Pokémon could possibly top it as the final highlight?
At Scarlet's signal, the staff turned on the computer, and a strange-looking Pokémon appeared on the screen.
It was a Pokémon, right? Everyone thought so, but no one had seen this kind of Pokémon before.
At first, everyone assumed the Pokémon on the screen was just a recorded video, not realizing that the Pokémon actually resided within the computer itself.
However, Cole recognized its identity the moment he saw this Pokémon.
Isn't this Porygon?
"Today we are auctioning this artificially created Pokémon that exists within computers — Porygon! It was invented by Dr. Akihabara twenty years ago and has only now been perfected. Currently, there are fewer than twenty of them in existence worldwide.
I'm sure you all are familiar with Dr. Akihabara, the inventor of the Pokémon Transfer System. Without him, carrying our Pokémon would not be as convenient as it is today!
Now, following the Pokémon Transfer System, Dr. Akihabara has released this groundbreaking artificial Pokémon!"
Upon hearing Scarlet's explanation, the audience below erupted in a commotion!
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