Chapter 322: The Golden Witch's Idea

"Is that so? I understand."

Beatrice nodded, not angered in the slightest by Nangong Lengyue's cold attitude.

After all, before working together, most of the Witches here had already gotten to know each other in their group chats, so they were well aware of each other's temperaments.

"The second matter is the auction."

"An auction?"

Beatrice's words caused the previously silent crowd to let out a collective gasp of surprise.

What a familiar yet distant word.

They could safely say it had been at least half a year, perhaps closer to a full year, since they last heard that term.

No, even back on Blue Star, they had only ever heard of such things in the news.

"How should I know? I was just a corporate drone before I became a Transmigrator. I've never been to such a high-class place."

"I've participated in a few online auctions, but I stopped after hearing how shady the industry is."

"I heard you have to appraise the items first, then issue an announcement, and then do something else..."

The moment the word "auction" was mentioned, everyone immediately began discussing how such an event would operate.

After all, this kind of thing was incredibly foreign to them.

"Why an auction?"

Diana asked, her face filled with confusion.

"Doesn't this kind of plot happen all the time in novels and anime? The protagonist acquires a supreme magical artifact or rare heavenly treasure at some random auction."

"..."

Diana fell completely silent at Beatrice's answer.

She truly never expected someone who looked like such a mature, elegant woman to say something like that.

It seemed she was quite the novel fanatic as well?

"Haha, alright, alright, jokes aside. If the first item was aimed at the minority, then this second one is aimed at the majority."

Seeing Diana's silence, Beatrice placed a hand over her chest and chuckled.

The rest of the Witches, who had been deep in discussion, paused for a moment before joining in with the laughter.

This little joke immediately lightened the atmosphere in the conference room, allowing Beatrice to continue her explanation.

"Everyone, although I was just joking around, the auction itself is completely serious."

"Even though commercial activities currently exist on the Kalim Continent, to be honest, their scale is quite small."

"Under these circumstances, what we need to do is push a single commercial event to the absolute limit, injecting vitality into this stagnant, lifeless Kalim business world."

"This is also a major reason why I chose an event like an auction."

"Anyone can participate, the content is unrestricted, and it's easy to build hype. These are the biggest advantages of an auction."

Beatrice grew increasingly passionate as she spoke, even spreading her arms wide as if delivering a grand manifesto.

This made the already surprised Witches even more stunned.

But admittedly...

Even though Beatrice's body language was a bit exaggerated, it perfectly suited her Title as the Golden Witch.

After all, it was perfectly normal for someone who could turn stone into gold—and who had graduated from some famous business school—to approach problems from a commercial perspective.

Of course, the most crucial point was that her reasoning actually made a lot of sense.

"So, what do we need to do?"

Diana asked.

"It's very simple. The Tourism Department hasn't found the ancient bloodline dungeon yet, have they? Since that's the case, the Patrol Team should have plenty of free time."

"Therefore, they should go clear dungeons and produce more magical items for the auction."

"I just did some calculations. Right now, a total of 81 tier-one dungeons, 58 tier-two dungeons, 22 tier-three dungeons, and 6 tier-four dungeons have been discovered throughout The Abandoned Land."

"Setting aside the tier-four dungeons, which we currently cannot clear due to level restrictions, the total number of the remaining dungeons adds up to 161."

"If we divide the clearing teams into 161 groups with 100 people per group, the Patrol Team can bring at least fifteen thousand Apprentice Witches into battle."

"This way, while guaranteeing the safety of the Apprentice Witches, even at the slowest pace, clearing 161 dungeons should yield at least two to three hundred magical items a day."

"Not only do we acquire magical items, but the Apprentice Witches also gain valuable combat experience and leveling experience. Personally, I think it's a fantastic bargain."

"In short! Everyone! Before we can attract a permanent population, the first thing we must do is simply draw people here! Whether or not they stay permanently is a problem for later!"

While it might seem like Lan Qingyou was never short of magical items, and even the current Witches had plenty, that was all built on the principle of mutual assistance.

Whenever someone took a magical item from the warehouse, someone else would naturally deposit their excess, unused items.

Forget magical items—people even deposited raw materials.

After all, Lan Qingyou had initially provided these resources so they could get a head start or complete their studies. As the price of Equivalent Exchange, they would naturally return the favor.

Of course, this wasn't mandatory; it relied entirely on everyone's own initiative.

Of course, this wasn't mandatory; it relied entirely on everyone's own initiative.

And quite obviously, everyone possessed a high degree of moral character.

However!

This kind of situation was not the norm.

Even among the races that emerged during the same period as the Witch Clan, not a single one possessed such a smoothly operating warehouse system.

Therefore, using magical items as a promotional gimmick was entirely viable.

It was just that...

"If that's the case, there should be strict requirements regarding the quality of the magical items, right?"

Diana asked with a frown.

The Witch Clan indeed possessed quite a few magical items. While they hadn't reached the point where everyone owned one, it was at least very easy to borrow one from someone else when needed.

But the vast majority of these magical items were C-rank or D-rank.

B-rank items were rare, A-rank ones were even scarcer, and as for S-rank...

Well, the number of S-rank items could be counted on one hand, and borrowing them required strict level restrictions and procedural approvals.

"It doesn't need to be too strict. This is our very first time, so just having them is good enough. Besides, the majority of Transmigrators don't necessarily have magical items in their possession either, so we need to use sheer volume to generate hype."

"For example, a hook like, 'The first Kalim Auction will officially begin at the end of the month in the Witches' Forest, Typhon City! A massive sell-off of ten thousand magical items!' and so on."

"With a hook like that, people will definitely be willing to visit Typhon City to take a look. And once they arrive, they'll naturally realize exactly what kind of place Typhon City is."

After finishing her pitch, Beatrice confidently tossed her long, golden hair over her shoulder.

"Beato, there is certainly some viability to your idea, but I don't think ten thousand magical items alone will be enough to attract that many people."

Diana shook her head.

Although Beatrice's method was good, even if successfully implemented, it wouldn't meet Diana's expectations.

For instance, if a hundred people came, but only one ended up staying after buying their items, what purpose would that serve?

It wasn't like they were actually running a tourism project, merely attracting a batch of tourists who would leave right after.