Daniel stuffed all the other coins into the bag.
In fact, buying these items wasn't just about acquiring the misprinted coin without alerting the stall owner.
If he let the system buy back, he could gain corresponding appraisal skills, or perhaps other rewards.
It wasn't convenient to do this in public, so he'd better try later at home.
Daniel continued to stroll through the antique street with Benjamin Taylor.
He already had artwork, gem appraisal skills, and had prepared for old books and coins.
What other types of antiques did he still need?
Daniel glanced around casually, locked onto a stall, and walked straight over.
On the booth, there were ceramic items of all sorts and sizes.
Some were in very new condition, others were covered in dirt on the outside.
Benjamin Taylor asked with confusion, "You study ceramics too?"
Daniel responded nonchalantly, "Wouldn't say study, just have some general knowledge about it."
Hearing this, a puzzled expression crossed Benjamin Taylor's face.
So far, this young man had demonstrated the ability to appraise paintings, gem, and coins.
If he indeed had knowledge about ceramics as he claimed,
his expertise in appraisal would far exceed expectations.
There were people who could appraise all types of antiques, but they were mostly old guys with white beards.
The kid in front of him was only twenty years old.
At such a young age, to have such an eye for detail was really something.
Daniel squatted down, looking at the pottery and porcelain on the stall.
10 coins,
50 coins,
25 coins,
175 coins,
500 coins...
Out of dozens of items, fewer than half had a market value exceeding a hundred coins.
They were all replicas made last week, with no value for snagging a bargain.
Anyway, he was just doing this to get a system reward, so he might as well pick something at random.
Daniel looked from left to right, and finally pointed to a green porcelain bowl in front of him that the system had deemed the cheapest, asking, "How much for this one?"
The stall owner was an old man with white hair.
He glanced at Daniel, then put on a profound look.
After frowning for a while, he said, "Young man, you have a good eye."
"This green porcelain bowl is the treasure of my stall."
"It's from the Serenalia feudal era, blue and white porcelain. It's said that even some queen mother used it. You know what the queen mother is? She's like the mother of the emperor of Serenalia..."
This old man was obviously a chatterbox, talking non-stop as soon as he opened his mouth.
Daniel didn't feel like listening to his nonsense.
As a Serenalia native, did he need a foreigner to tell him what a Serenalia ancient queen mother was?
He picked up the green porcelain bowl and asked directly, "How much?"
The old man said, "Five hundred thousand."
Daniel held up two fingers, "Twenty."
The old man had not yet finished his sentence when he swallowed it back.
He looked at Daniel, opening and closing his mouth, hesitating for a while, and finally nodded.
After all, it was bought from a kitchenware shop in Serenalia city for two coins.
Selling it for twenty was already pretty good.
Watching Daniel pay for the goods and get up to leave, the whole process was smooth and flowing.
Benjamin Taylor couldn't help but ask, "Although I don't know much about porcelain, I can tell that this is not a good piece. Why did you buy it?"
Daniel said, "Like that book, I bought it for fun."
Benjamin Taylor, "..."
After strolling through the entire street, Daniel didn't find anything worth picking up.
Instead, he bought quite a few different items.
Calligraphy sets, lacquerware, bronze ware, ornaments, bones, teeth...
There were so many things that he and Benjamin Taylor couldn't hold them all with their four hands, and in the end, they hired a delivery guy to pack and deliver the stuff to Daniel's place.
It wasn't until the two were ready to leave the antique street that the netizens reacted.
"Streamer, you're not here to snag bargains, you're here to stock up, right?"
Daniel said, "Snagging bargains isn't something I can do just because I want to, it depends on luck."
The netizens agreed, "That's true."
"After all, most of the real stuff is directly taken away by people, who would come to a place like this to sell."
"Streamer, you should go live at the harbor, the auctions are much more exciting than this antique street!"
"That's right, we all came to see you snag bargains, but all we saw was you stocking up."
"And the stuff you're stocking up is all junk, it's boring."
Daniel chuckled, "The harbor doesn't have auctions every day. Coming to the antique street occasionally, who knows, I might find a gem."
After leaving the antique street, Benjamin Taylor laughed and said, "Want to grab dinner together?"
Daniel saw right through Benjamin Taylor, "I know you have a date with that beauty from last night. Better get going."
Benjamin Taylor sheepishly laughed, then said, "There's another auction at the harbor tomorrow, are you going?"
Daniel replied, "Of course."
"In that case, I'll be there too. See you tomorrow then."
"See ya."
Watching Benjamin Taylor leave in a taxi, Daniel also hailed one.
Once in the cab, he said, "The Central Park Cafe on 3rd Street."
...
Daniel's place was a government-subsidized apartment located downtown.
As an international student, he was eligible to rent it.
He had graduated a few months ago and was worried about where to live once his lease ended.
After all, the rent in downtown Golden Shores, one of the top cities in Libertopia, was insanely high.
But now, with fifty million StellarCoins in his account, he no longer had to worry about that.
By the time he got home, the items he had bought on Antique Street had arrived.
Looking at the table full of items, Daniel casually picked up a 2005 coin.
[Modern coin (ordinary) detected.]
[Proceed with buyback?]
Daniel nodded, "Yes."
The next second, the coin disappeared from his hand.
At the same time, a torrent of information flooded his mind.
[Coin Appraisal skill acquired!]
At that moment, Daniel felt he had an incredibly strong ability to appraise coin-like objects.
From now on, he could appraise any coin without the system's prompts, which made him quite happy.
He reached for the nearest bronze ware.
[Bronze tripod (fake) detected.]
[Proceed with buyback?]
Daniel said, "Yes!"
[Bronze Appraisal skill acquired!]
Next, he picked up other objects.
[Calligraphy set appraisal skill acquired!]
[Lacquerware appraisal skill acquired!]
[Bone and tooth appraisal skill acquired!]
[Wooden art appraisal skill acquired!]
[...]
In just a few minutes, vast amounts of information kept flooding Daniel's mind.
He even felt his head was a bit heavy and dizzy.
This must have been because he had acquired too many skills at once, and his brain was overwhelmed.
He had to close his eyes and rest for a while.
When Daniel opened his eyes again, it was already the next day.
"Damn, it's not good to master too many skills at once. I actually slept for so long."
Seeing the date on his phone, Daniel couldn't help but laugh.
Just then, his phone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number.
He answered the call, and Benjamin Taylor's voice came through immediately.
"Daniel, where are you?"
"The auction has been going on for over an hour now, and there have been quite a few good items."
Daniel bolted upright, finally catching on.
"I'll be right there."
Damn, he had slept until almost noon.
From Benjamin Taylor's tone, it sounded like he had missed a lot.
After a quick tidy up, Daniel dashed out of the building.
As was his custom, he bought a nudie magazine, hailed a cab, and headed for the harbor.
When Daniel arrived at the harbor, Robert was just introducing the situation of the container next to him.
Robert announced, "This container is outgoing cargo, but the owner didn't pay, so it has been sitting here. Also, we haven't been able to contact the owner for a long time, so we're auctioning it off."
With that, he waved his hand.
The staff behind him stepped forward, cut off the big lock on the container door, and opened the two doors.
What came into view was a neatly arranged set of machines.
The twin brother Allen was the first to recognize what they were: "Slot machines, eight-handed ones. Not much fun in this beaten-up state."
Abel somewhat agreed with his brother's words, also analyzing: "A machine like this can sell for about 500, looks like there are seventy or eighty."
Then, Robert announced, "Starting bid, 5000."
This price was tempting enough.
The final selling price depended on their bidding enthusiasm.
Daniel just glanced at it casually, not wanting to bid.
The system's valuation was even lower than Abel's estimate.
Just as he was about to turn around and look for Benjamin Taylor, his movement suddenly paused, and he immediately raised his hand to bid.
"50000!"
The people who were still hesitating suddenly quieted down.
Something worth at most 40,000, and this guy bids 50,000?
Had he lost his mind?