Musa doubted life in the fog.
On Toji Hisami’s side, he fell into the trouble of happiness among the dazzling list of items.
The first thing he looked at was the list of auction items.
There were thirty-two items in total, and almost every single one made Toji Hisami’s eyes light up.
Among them were nine quasi-Divine Weapons, the exact kind of equipment used by Victor that contained the power of the gods.
The starting price of each piece was over 100,000 points, which made Toji Hisami feel incredibly stirred.
Even if he sold the Spirit Jade at a high price, he had no hope of competing for these quasi-Divine Weapons.
The starting price of the Spirit Jade on the auction list sat at the very bottom.
Its inclusion in the auction list was entirely due to the spirit jade possessing the aura of the gods and the chance of receiving divine enlightenment.
Most other auction items were also of this type.
In addition to these, there were three or four items whose exact purpose was unknown, yet possessed exceptionally high quality.
Their starting prices also began at 10,000 points.
After Toji Hisami looked around, he reluctantly put away the auction list scroll.
Looking too closely at such things when one was not strong enough could easily shake one’s resolve and Dao heart.
Through this list, however, he also realized how powerful this dimension trading auction truly was.
According to the prompts on the card, in addition to the auction and trade fair, there was also a finale.
The finale was usually when certain high-tier figures sought to resolve complex dilemmas.
Regardless of whether one possessed the ability to help, simply listening to the problems encountered by such powerful entities could be of immense benefit.
Toji Hisami came from a commoner background; because he was a transmigrator, he paid special attention to academy life.
He knew that he could not compete with the descendants of those big families and prominent lords in terms of inherited experience or backing resources.
So he had directed all his energy into studying at the academy.
The Human Alliance had founded the Sacred Academy to make human lords stronger.
Even if some branches had deteriorated, their original purpose, persistence, and traditions still remained.
As long as one truly invested the effort, there was still a tremendous amount to learn.
Yet matters like high-level lord dilemmas were something one could not encounter even within the Holy Academy.
In the past, Zhao Kai would visit certain major lords every year, listening to the problems they had encountered during their growth.
Sometimes, in order to win people’s hearts, he would bring a few followers along.
Zhao Kai only had to listen to Toji Hisami’s lectures to grasp the insights and knowledge that Toji Hisami had gained through painstaking study in the academy.
As a result, that guy was still slaughtered by Toji Hisami later on anyway.
After sighing with emotion, Toji Hisami picked up the transaction list and began looking through it.
This was his primary purpose for participating in the auction this time.
Although Max could enter the Lord Trial and sell goods, whether due to rules or some other reason, the items he sold were basic, high-end commodities.
Even when it came to intelligence, much of it had a limited window of usefulness.
Some tasks seemed like a complete waste of time to Toji Hisami, so he never accepted them.
If one wanted to obtain sufficiently rare gains strictly from Lord Trials, the randomness was simply too great.
It was different at the trading auction; just looking at the catalog made it clear that these transactions operated at a very High Level.
In a place like this, the items used for trading would not be weak.
Everything was listed clearly before him.
Toji Hisami only needed to make purchases based on his own needs and available points.
Compared to the auction list, the transaction list contained far more items, with the scroll extending over two meters long.
The characters, barely larger than flies, made his eyes ache from reading.
Pulling the scroll toward the end, Toji Hisami suddenly discovered there was a filtering function.
"Damn it, why didn’t you put that at the front?" Toji Hisami said in annoyance, while an awkward smile appeared on the round, fat face on the gold card beside him.
Having figured out the screening method, Toji Hisami immediately began filtering the results.
The first priority was territory upgrade items. There were three of them, each capable of unconditionally upgrading a territory by one level.
The prices were identical as well; after all, their functions were the same, with no single item offering more than another.
The price sat at 50,000 points per piece, a sum so steep it gave Toji Hisami a headache.
He turned back and carefully read the information on the three items, discovering that these items could be used directly on official territories!
As long as it was not a Baron-rank or High Grade territory, it could be upgraded using these items.
Seeing this, no matter how calm Toji Hisami usually was, he could not help but gasp.
This item was intended entirely for use on High Level territories.
As was widely known, a lord who passed the lord trial would become an official lord with the rank of Lord.
Moving up further, there were primary territories, Middle Level territories, and High Level territories.
If one wanted to upgrade a High Level territory, many strict conditions had to be met, and the difficulty was far from ordinary.
After all, if that threshold was crossed, it could be described as a leap through the Dragon Gate, changing one’s standing in the world forever.
Spending 50,000 points to upgrade such a territory was an absolute bargain.
Yet if anyone knew that Toji Hisami had originally planned to use it merely to upgrade a territory during a trial, even the wealthiest lords would likely stare in utter disbelief.
Realizing this, Toji Hisami could only regretfully circle one of them, keeping it on his watchlist.
Apart from those three items, there were no other items capable of directly increasing a territory’s level.
Presumably, participants in such auctions generally had no need for basic trial territory upgrades.
In addition to territory upgrade items, what proved equally crucial to trial lords at this stage was the population cap.
Toji Hisami’s level-six territory, combined with the fusion effect of the territory crystal and his bonus as an official lord, allowed his territory’s population to be maintained at around 1,500.
He felt confident that this number was definitely the highest among all current lords, even if others had also upgraded to a level-six territory.
After filtering for population items, the results yielded far more options than the territory upgrade section.
Roughly speaking, there were at least dozens of items, ranging in price from high to low, each with different effects.
Some directly expanded and upgraded the population hall to achieve the effect; this type carried the highest cost, with even the cheapest starting at two thousand points.
Others added special buildings to circumvent territorial level restrictions for the purpose of expanding population.
However, the populations recruited through this method varied wildly. Either their loyalty was highly suspect, their abilities were weak, or their compatibility with the territory was mismatched.
One such item was called the Highland Lizardman Lair.
Once constructed in the territory, one hundred units of Highland Lizardmen could be recruited every week, but this population could only perform ordinary physical labor.
Expecting Highland Lizardmen to bring prosperity to the territory was virtually impossible.
Furthermore, the living habits of Highland Lizardmen differed completely from humans, and their moral values were inconsistent, which could easily introduce management difficulties and future trouble.
Toji Hisami excluded this category directly.
Finally, after eliminating options that were excessively expensive, as well as those with severe drawbacks like the Highland Lizardmen, only seven or eight items remained.
[Mother Earth’s Mercy, 5 ml vial, can increase the reproduction rate of the territory or a designated nest after use, valued at 10,000 points.]
[Place of Balance, camp building, after construction, when the territory remains balanced and harmonious, the population can be increased by 1% to 20%, valued at 20,000 points.]
[Desire Crystal, special item, can forcibly increase the reproductive urge of the territory’s population after use, valued at 5,000 points.]
At the end, Toji Hisami circled two items: Mother Earth’s Mercy and the Place of Balance.
As for the Desire Crystal, the paramount task of the territory at this stage was survival and development; if the residents devoted all their energy strictly to reproduction, the returns would take far too long to materialize.