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Chapter Sixteen: Setbacks

  Auction houses have a very strict review process, especially for civilian auction items, and are even more stringent, otherwise the reputation of the auction house will be ruined if fake goods are sold.

  The one who greeted Lin Ming was a middle-aged man. To be exact, it was this middle-aged man who had stopped Lin Ming, "Excuse me, sir, what can I do for you?"

  Although Lin Ming wore a large robe, he was still shorter than the average adult male by several inches. Moreover, his immature voice made it impossible to conceal the fact that he was just a fifteen or sixteen year old youth in front of the auctioneer who had seen countless people.

  So Lin Ming simply said in his original voice: "Im here to appraise the Inscription Symbol."

  "Huh?" The middle-aged man looked at Lin Ming with some skepticism, "May I take a look at your inscription symbol?" In fact, the mans attitude was already quite good. A fifteen or sixteen year old youth coming to an auction house to appraise a symbol, and one that could be worth thousands of gold taels at that, seemed suspiciously like a prank.

  When Lin Ming took out the talisman paper, the middle-aged man saw that the poor-quality talisman paper was almost the same color as the grass paper and slightly frowned. This was obviously the lowest-grade talisman paper sold on the market, with a dozen or so sheets for one or two taels of gold. Although the talisman paper itself could not affect the quality of the talisman, Lin Mings identity as a talisman master naturally made it impossible to use such low-grade talisman paper. They usually used high-grade talisman paper that cost over ten taels of gold per sheet, which was the only way to match the value of their priceless talismans.

  However, feeling the energy emanating from the inscription, the middle-aged man was certain that this was indeed a complete rune symbol and not a prank. He looked at Lin Ming and asked, "Do you have any certification documents from the Rune Master Guild?"

  Lin Ming shook his head.

  "Alright, come with me."

  A middle-aged man brought Lin Ming to the appraisal room of an auction house, where a black-shirted old man in his fifties or sixties was responsible for the appraisal. Lin Ming noticed that on the old mans chest there was a name tag that read "Senior Appraiser".

  The old man in black took over the inscription symbol and naturally noticed that the inscription symbol was made of inferior symbol paper, but he did not show any contemptuous expression, but rather calmly put on white gloves, and then devoted himself to serious and meticulous appraisal work, showing good professional ethics.

  However, the appraisal had just begun for a while when the old man raised his head with an unusual expression. He looked at Lin Ming and then at this inscription symbol. Finally, he said: "If Im not mistaken, the person who drew this inscription symbol has a strength that does not exceed the third stage of the Practicing Body, right?"

  The inscription symbol will leave behind the creators true yuan trace, and the appraiser can roughly judge the creators martial arts level through these traces. The inscription symbol drawn by Lin Ming has a naturally low true yuan level. The old man judged that it was still in the third stage of body refinement because Lin Ming practiced the "Chaotic True Yuan Technique", and the true yuan was more condensed than that of the same-level warrior. If he knew that this inscription symbol was actually drawn by a 15-year-old boy who had only reached the first level of body refinement, he would probably be so shocked that his jaw would drop to the ground.

  Lin Ming knew he couldnt deny this point and could only nod his head.

  The old man took a deep breath, sighing in admiration, "Talents emerge in every generation, and yet with just three layers of cultivation, you can already inscribe sacred runes - its astonishing!"

  Generally speaking, the masters of inscriptions are all somewhat older martial artists, most of whom are above the Bone Forging Realm, and many have even broken through the Condensing Pulse Realm, with some being even later-stage martial artists.

  Sanhes fear is probably just a calligraphy apprentice, a calligraphy apprentice who, due to chance, successfully draws a complete calligraphy symbol is not surprising, but drawing four identical calligraphy symbols in a row is astonishing.

  Lin Ming heard the old mans praise and thought that this business was almost done, but unexpectedly, the old man changed his tone and said: "Although it is a complete inscription symbol, if the creator is only an apprentice of inscription technique, we cannot confirm its amplification effect. You should know that apprentices of inscription techniques generally have limited true yuan, and it is difficult to complete complex inscription drawings. If the amplification effect of the inscription symbol is within 1%, it has no value. We cannot auction this kind of inscription symbol. Once its grade is not up to standard, it will damage the reputation of our auction house."

  The inscription symbol can only be used on high-grade treasure equipment, because only high-grade treasure equipment can be infused with true yuan by warriors to fight, and the inscription is through changing the flow of true yuan to enhance the combat effectiveness of the treasure equipment.

  So, the lowest that can be inscribed with a rubbing is at least a human-grade lower product, and the value of a treasure instrument of human grade lower product is generally above several thousand taels of gold!

  Treasures are not something that ordinary people can equip, even if they are the children of a large family, they must wait until their cultivation reaches the stage of Easy Tendon and Hard Bone before they have a chance to obtain one.

  For example, when Wang Yigao first started out, although his family background was not bad, due to his limited cultivation, he only used a high-quality Qingfeng sword. This Qingfeng sword was not a treasured artifact and was worth no more than 200 taels of gold.

  The number of engravings on a treasured instrument is limited, basically only once. In other words, after one engraving, it cannot be engraved again. Think about it, who would buy a treasured instrument worth several thousand taels of gold and then use an unreliable engraving symbol to engrave it?

  So the epigraphic symbols made by apprentices of epigraphy are not marketable.

  Lin Ming said with a smile: "I can only auction off three of the Inscription Symbols, and keep one for experimentation."

  After the completion of the product, it is difficult to test its results without engraving on the treasure device. Even if it is the creator himself, he can only roughly infer that the amplification will be between a few percent and several percent.

  Many times, the warriors who buy inscribed symbols are also trying their luck, so master-level inscribed symbol works are very popular because they have a reputation guarantee. On the other hand, the inscribed symbols made by unknown inscribers often go unnoticed, and no one will buy an inscribed symbol with unknown effects and risk their precious equipment.

  The appraiser said: "This is naturally possible, however, the precious instrument for experimentation requires you to provide it yourself."

  Lin Mingyi was speechless for a moment. An artifact worth several thousand taels of gold, the auction house wouldnt casually take out something worth several thousand taels of gold as an experimental tool.

  Of course, if Hayashi Akira himself is a master of the art of inscription, its different, because masters have a reputation guarantee, taking out precious instruments for experimentation wont be a loss, and this kind of person, auction houses are happy to get along with, paying some appropriate amount is worth it.

  Lin Ming was at most eight hundred taels of gold when he was richest, where could he get experimental precious instruments?

  He didnt say anything else, nor did he try to persuade me, believing that I wouldnt let the precious artifact you provided suffer any losses. He knew it was pointless to say so, as the appraiser wouldnt believe him anyway, mainly because the genuine aura of this inscription symbol is too weak.

  Lin Ming left the Tianyun City official auction house with his four inscribed symbols.

  ……

  "Sorry, we need a certificate provided by the Inscriptionists Guild or a document provided by the Master Scribe himself..."

  At the Tianyun City Trade Fair, the purchasing masters didnt even give Lin Mings four inscriptions a chance to be appraised after seeing that he was just a teenager, and directly rejected him.

  This is still a good attitude, and later Lin Ming went to some private shops, where peoples attitudes were even worse.

  The shops that can sell the scrolls of fate are absolutely the subordinate shops of the big business associations. The shops are usually five or six stories high, with luxurious interior decorations and a grand atmosphere. As for the prices of things, they are naturally expensive to the extreme, often in the hundreds or thousands of taels of gold. The clerks and shopkeepers of this kind of shop are also extremely arrogant. If its the god of wealth who comes, they will naturally be very polite and courteous, offering good tea and water as hospitality. But if its a salesperson or a poor person who comes to the door, not being thrown out is already a blessing.

  Some of them didnt even bother to pay attention to Lin Ming, while others were impatient and waved their hands to shoo him away.

  "Where did this kid come from? Dont cause trouble here and disturb our business."

  "Hurry up and leave, this isnt a place for kids of your age... Ah, ah, sir, do you need something? Come in and take a look..."

  "Hey kid, stop making me laugh here. Is this a rough draft? You drew a small flame on a piece of scrap paper and think its calligraphy? Hahaha..."

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