I'm a monster in Demon King's Castle

Two lines of text appeared on the giant screen, in Human and Common Demon Tongue respectively: “Auction House Goods Announced Tonight! Don't miss it, esteemed patrons!”

Along with the appearance of the giant screen, several fireworks soared into the sky, reminding all the merchants in the square to pay attention.

Li Yue's attention was naturally drawn to it as well, hoping to find some high-quality goods among the items in the auction house.

“So you were waiting for the auction; no wonder you were only shopping with your eyes.” Abed stood next to Li Yue, looking up at the giant screen in the air with him.

The Demon Market lasts for a full month. During this time, the auction house will open every night at the human hour of 0:00 Red Time, selling seven rare items each time. These could be holy objects from the continent of Chaos, or inconspicuous trinkets with hidden secrets.

These rare items have all undergone “appraisal” by demon merchants, guaranteeing their value and function.

In addition, there will of course be items that even the demon merchants of the auction house cannot appraise—these items will be auctioned together on the last day of every seven days. Li Yue interpreted this as opening a blind box, but he doesn't seem to have the capital for that yet.

“First item up for auction: the latest model of magic-powered motorcycle from the Tas Empire! Powerful horsepower, three magic stones can drive it for a whole day! Its speed can rival the magic wolf warriors of the Forbidden Forest! Faster! And more durable…”

Along with the bilingual introduction, an item resembling a car appeared on the screen, with a magic wolf warrior next to it for comparison, showing the size of the magic-powered motorcycle and the speed comparison with the magic wolf warrior when it's activated.

Seeing the magic-powered motorcycle, Egg and Shadow had no reaction, but Li Yue's heart was shaken, though his expression remained normal—Abed was right next to him, so he had to be careful about managing the expressions of the Weirdo Puzzle.

Sure enough, current human technology uses magic as a power source, and… has it already developed to this point?

Does that mean magic-powered tanks are also about to be invented?

Li Yue sighed silently, vaguely thinking of something; and when he saw the second item up for auction, he had no doubt that humans had already made tanks.

“Second item up for auction: a magic-powered cannon from the Iron City wall! Can be loaded with magic, gunpowder, and solid matter, firing rays and magic-powered shells with various effects. Successful bidders will receive a hundred shells, along with the coordinates and contact information of the armory…”

When the second item was presented, the screen flashed, and Li Yue saw a semblance of the Iron City wall, looking more ferocious than during the Blood River simulation battle; outside the city, a magic-powered cannon fired a shell, directly collapsing a corner of the Iron City.

Its power was no less than that of a wheeled siege beast.

Of course, this was a simulation conducted by the Demon Market, and the destructive power may have been exaggerated, but it was enough to prove that human warfare methods had undergone a qualitative change—during the Blood River simulation battle, it was still ordinary cannons and gunpowder, but recently it had become magic-powered cannons.

Undoubtedly, this technology will also be applied to steam-powered mechs and clockwork warriors. This expedition of the Demon Expeditionary Force… will certainly not be as smooth as before, right?

The city lord knows this but still wants to launch an expedition? What is the purpose?

Li Yue's thoughts were diverted a bit.

“I want this! I want this!” Egg suddenly wrapped Li Yue's brain with particles, becoming restless.

Shadow didn't speak, but Li Yue read its mind.

【That way we can fly…】

More than just flying?

If the magic-powered cannon were used to shoot out Egg, Shadow could fine-tune Egg's landing point like controlling the direction of a wheeled siege beast, almost guaranteeing a hit…

But the problem is… aren't these two going to join the Demon Expeditionary Force?

“What are you going to do with it? You two don't even know when you'll be back.” Li Yue's thoughts were slightly sour.

“We can play enough before we leave…” Egg wanted everything, while Shadow didn't say anything—its advancement required experiencing the lives of various shadows, and being limited to the library's scope was not enough.

“Don't worry, I want it too.” Li Yue conveyed, signaling Egg and Shadow to rest assured.

Li Yue felt that the library itself also needed something like a magic-powered cannon, filling it with various magic-powered shells to defend against enemies; even without Egg and Shadow, as long as the magic-powered cannon was placed at the end of the Bloody Corridor, at the entrance of the Sixth Library, it could still guarantee a hit rate.

Moreover, Li Yue could directly change the terrain of the library, launching the first shot at the entrance…

Wait a minute!

Li Yue finally remembered what he had just missed—whether it was the magic-powered motorcycle or the magic-powered cannon, these represented the pinnacle of the Tas Empire's technology. Instead of directly taking them for application… understanding their composition and turning them into sensory objects would be the most strategically significant choice!

Although it was impossible to directly turn complex items into sensory objects, soaking a little of the materials of the motorcycle and magic-powered cannon, and then assembling and piecing them together, wouldn't it be possible to complete mass production?

Magic stone power device, power system, ignition device… as long as these were soaked, more items could be extended—whether for defending the library or further conquering other areas of the Demon King City, they would be absolute assistance.

Brain spirit mechs? Arc lamp candlesticks? Explosive little brawlers?

Li Yue fantasized endlessly, feeling that this was the true value of these two auction items.

However, all of this had to wait until he actually obtained these two auction items before doing research, while the Sand Country merchant was still complaining.

“What is this… a human special?…” After hearing about the two auction items, Abed didn't seem very satisfied—as a top merchant of the Sand Country, he certainly knew what step the Tas Empire had reached.

【So the king wants to launch a war… if this continues… the Tas Empire will unify the continent of Chaos…】

Li Yue also heard some changes in the continent's situation in Abed's heart, thinking that this process was unstoppable, but now that there was the Demon Expeditionary Force, the result might be slightly different.

And Abed had just complained about the first two auction items when he was immediately ignited with enthusiasm by the third item.

“Third item up for auction: the wandering demon merchant Bainmai…” In the light curtain, a green toad appeared, firmly chained to a red-hot iron pillar, looking painful.

【Demon merchant! The chieftain has been dreaming of a demon merchant! With it… we can appraise our sand and turn it into an inexhaustible treasure…】

Abed was overjoyed.

Li Yue also didn't expect that demon merchants could be auctioned. He wondered how crazy the managers of this Demon Market were—if he bought one and dug out its eyes, could he extract a pair of Appraisal Eyes?

Seeing that it was a demon merchant, Egg and Shadow weren't very interested, still fantasizing about the scene of the magic-powered cannon firing a cannon “Egg”.

Continuing to look down, the fourth, fifth, and sixth auction items were respectively a Holy Knight's longsword, a talisman from the Holy City of Xindrami, and an invitation to the “Demon Ball” in the Pleasure Realm.

These were not what Li Yue wanted, nor did they meet Abed's needs, so the two of them had no reaction, each planning where to find the “introducer” for tonight's auction house.

But when he heard the last auction item, Li Yue was no longer calm, feeling that his 270,000 gold coins might not last long.

“Seventh item up for auction, also tonight's highlight, the Prophet from Fire Burial Valley! As famous as the Red Robe Bishop of Demon King City, carrying the mysterious inheritance of Fire Burial Valley, helping you predict good and bad luck, and foresee the future…” A “person” appeared on the light curtain, his face covered with fire patterns, even his outer robe was made of flames.

Li Yue's heart stirred—Fire Burial Valley?

Although Li Yue had no interest in divination, it sounded like… Fire Burial Valley should have something to do with “Hellfire”, right?

Even the library's books about “Fire Burial Valley” stated that “Fire Burial Valley is the closest place to hell.” In this way, this Prophet of Fire Burial Valley… might be the closest clue to “Hellfire” that Li Yue could currently find.

“What do you think, are we snatching it?” After seeing the introduction of tonight's auction items, Egg and Shadow started communicating inside Li Yue's head again.

“Bid first, if we can't get it, then steal it, if we can't steal it, then we rob it.” Li Yue decided to go to the auction house at 0:00—if the Prophet of Fire Burial Valley and the magic-powered cannon were both auctioned off by others, he would find a way to forcibly snatch them.

Although Li Yue didn't know how to break the contract of the Demon Market, nor did he know if the auction opponents would choose to hire Dersler's guards for escort, nor did he know the security measures of the auction house… but the first two auction items were a must-have, and he had to try no matter what.

As for the method of robbing, although it wasn't clear yet, Li Yue already had some ideas—he was new here, and the ins and outs weren't very clear, so instead of racking his brains to bypass the contract, he might as well actively attract experienced people to show up and learn from practice.

Anyway, there were murderers here, and there must be many robbers as well. As long as he flaunted his wealth, he could attract them.

“Mr. Grangtai… from what I gather, are you planning to go to the auction house?” Abed warmly invited, “Want to go together? I know an introducer, you only need to give me a 15% introduction fee…”

Li Yue held up one finger.

“10%? That's not impossible… seeing as you just helped me…”

“One, as in not giving a single hair.” With limited funds, two auction items, Li Yue certainly wanted to spend every penny wisely.

Saying that, Li Yue took out his money bag and poured the gold coins into his sleeve with a rustle, but the crisp sound didn't attract much attention. Obviously, neither thieves nor robbers were here, unable to provide Li Yue with referential “ideas”.

“You also have your own introducer? Who is it?” Abed perked up—the cost of entering with different introducers varied, the higher the status, the cheaper it was. Seeing that this superior person was stingy to the point of not giving a single hair, Abed felt he could try to freeload.

“I'm going to find the town chief, do you want to come along?” Li Yue had just heard in the hearts of the passing merchants that the town chief was also an introducer, and a very influential one.

Li Yue felt that… with his identity as the master of the library's authority, he should be able to get an admission ticket.

“No, no… we… see you at the auction house…” Abed didn't seem to want to see Dersler, the town chief of Death Town.