Zhou Yan paid no mind to their internal disputes over benefits. He continued to examine the items with others, but these materials were all rather common, and Zhou Yan wasn't particularly interested. He learned where the three specific materials were sold.
The vendors of these three materials were the forces that controlled the eastern district. Naturally, they didn't need to set up stalls. To purchase those three materials, one had to visit their shops.
Zhou Yan, along with Cai Yan, Xiao Zhao, and Zhou Zhiruo, arrived at the shop opened by the eastern district's forces.
It was a luxurious shop, occupying a vast area, nine stories high, and bustling with customers.
"Quite a lot of people," Cai Yan observed, watching the comings and goings.
"It's quite grand. The four major forces each have such a shop in every city, specifically for accumulating wealth. Their influence is indeed not to be underestimated."
Looking at the shop, Xiao Zhao expressed her sincere admiration. However, her own territory also had methods for gathering wealth, and it was precisely because of those that her territory could develop at such a rapid pace.
"Let's go in and see how they sell the materials. I'm quite curious about how much of each material each lord can purchase," Zhou Zhiruo suggested.
"Let's go."
Zhou Yan led the three women inside. They looked around, but the items on the first floor were not of high value—low-grade equipment, materials, and items. There was nothing Zhou Yan needed.
"Let's go up to the second floor," Zhou Yan said.
"The items on this floor are all quite low-grade. The second floor should have better things," Xiao Zhao chimed in.
Upon reaching the second floor, the items were indeed better than those on the first. Most of the goods were of Bronze, Silver, and Gold quality, and this floor had the most people.
"There are so many things on this floor, and many people are buying them." The women were quite surprised by the lively scene.
They browsed casually but didn't find any items they needed. These low-grade things genuinely failed to capture their interest.
Xiao Zhao quickly asked a staff member, "Excuse me, on which floor can we buy your specialty materials?"
"The materials are on the third floor. That's where they are exclusively sold," the staff member told Xiao Zhao.
"Thank you," Xiao Zhao replied.
"Then let's head up to the third floor," Zhou Yan said, leading the three women to the third floor. There were fewer people here, making it much quieter than the first two floors.
The three looked towards the counter. Xiao Zhao quickly said, "Lord, there are quite a variety of materials here. Shall we buy some?"
Zhou Yan carefully examined the materials and found that many were needed by his territory. He then asked, "How much of these materials do you have in total?"
"How many stars are you looking for?" the female attendant inquired.
"I need one star to ten stars," Zhou Yan replied directly.
The female attendant: (¬_¬)
"You jest. We only have up to five stars. Materials above five stars can only be purchased on the fourth floor." The attendant quickly replied.
"The fourth floor is also for selling materials?" Zhou Yan hadn't expected such a division.
"Yes, because materials above five stars are relatively rare, they are placed separately on the fourth floor. If honored guests wish to purchase them, they must go up to the fourth floor," the attendant explained.
"In that case, give me one million portions of each of these materials," Zhou Yan said, pointing to dozens of types of materials.
"Okay, one hundred of each..." At this point, the female attendant froze and then asked again, "How many did you say?"
"One million portions," Zhou Yan answered again.
"One million portions."
Upon hearing this, the surrounding people were dumbfounded and speechless. Then, the female attendant said helplessly, "Uh, we don't have that much."
"Then just pack up all the remaining stock for me," Zhou Yan said.
Everyone: (¬_¬)
They were indeed astonished. Packing up all the remaining stock—how much would that cost?
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
After repeated confirmations, the other party finally tallied up all the materials. Once the transaction was complete, they realized Zhou Yan wasn't joking; he genuinely intended to purchase these materials.
Among them were also the three specialty materials. Each had a limit, with one person only being able to purchase ten thousand units.
However, having purchased so many materials, Zhou Yan immediately became their top VIP. His VIP card allowed him to purchase double the amount of materials. But since there were only four-star materials here, Zhou Yan bought ten thousand units of each.
They couldn't help but look at Zhou Yan several times. In all their time working here, they had never seen anyone purchase so many materials.
Dozens of materials, with each type bought in at least tens of thousands of units, and the material bought in the largest quantity reached seven hundred thousand units. Such a massive amount of materials truly surprised many.
Zhou Yan went directly to the fourth floor. The materials here were indeed all five stars and above. However, these high-grade materials were not like the lower-grade ones where one could buy ten thousand units.
Each person could purchase a maximum of one thousand units per day. This strictly limited their procurement volume. Even with a top VIP card, one could only buy two thousand units of materials.
Zhou Yan directly approached the shop's specialty materials: Soul Crystal, Soul Gem, and Soul Stone.
"I wish to purchase these three materials," Zhou Yan said, presenting his newly acquired top VIP card.
"Certainly. How much do you require?" The attendant took the VIP card and inquired.
"The maximum amount," Zhou Yan replied.
"Is that two thousand units of each? We only sell up to seven-star materials here. Eight-star and above can only be purchased at the auction two days from now," the attendant replied.
"There's also an auction!" Zhou Yan was surprised.
"Yes, because eight-star and above materials are extremely difficult to excavate, and they must be distributed to so many cities, it's only possible to compete through auctions. There's no other way," the attendant explained.
Everyone understood. Forget these rare materials; even ordinary wood and stone, once of a higher grade, were almost impossible to find on the market. They would only appear in batches at auctions for people to compete for.
"How can I participate?" Zhou Yan asked.
"There are no requirements. You just need to present this VIP card then. The auction is in the basement. You can ask around when you get there to find out where it is," the attendant explained in detail.
Zhou Yan nodded and then said, "I'll take two thousand units of each type."
"Please present the items you wish to trade," the attendant replied.
For materials five stars and above, they did not accept spirit coin transactions. Therefore, Zhou Yan needed to present corresponding items for trade.
Zhou Yan understood this implicitly and took out a large pile of materials and items that his territory did not need.