Chapter 320: Will Declan’s Appraisal Performance

He was powerful but not ostentatious. He only helped each student with one appraisal, and his predictions were almost always accurate. After that, if these students wanted to buy other things, he would remain silent, even if they bought fakes at high prices.

His respect for the rules reassured many black market bosses. It turned out he was only concerned with public order and abided by the rules, only rectifying those who didn’t.

Especially the genuine articles he appraised, even if the students didn’t buy them, they were immediately snatched up by the people following behind, eager to join the fun. The speed of transactions was astonishing.

Soon, a crowd of people waiting to snatch up bargains followed these students. As a result, the stall owners at the back all brought out genuine goods. This was a great opportunity for a big sale; genuine items always held some value.

This powerful young man only appraised authenticity and never mentioned prices, unless a student bought the items. This also gave them a lot of room for maneuver.

However, many items appraised as fakes were sold, mostly to these students and Teacher Karl. The customers looking for genuine items initially found this very strange, but later, after hearing what the stall owners said, they realized that Teacher Carter was a scholar who specifically bought fakes for teaching purposes, and they weren’t too expensive anyway.

They hadn’t even gone through half of the black market stalls, and all members of the Archaeology and Appraisal Club had completed their tasks, successfully or unsuccessfully appraising the authenticity of an antique.

The second task was to buy a fake. This was too easy; buying any item would have over a ninety percent chance of fulfilling the requirement. However, the condition was to thoroughly analyze the fake and then bargain carefully to buy it, which made it a bit difficult.

Everyone had bought something. Finally, everyone else turned their gaze to Little Will. Strictly speaking, he was also a member of the Archaeology and Appraisal Club, and even its leader, the president. There was no reason for him not to participate, even though he had been acting as a judge before.

“Don’t look at me like that. Since I’m here, I’ll naturally buy one or two things to take back. Hmm, let’s consider them gifts for Teacher Carter. Giving fakes shouldn’t count as bribery, right?” Little Will’s remark drew a burst of laughter from everyone.

Teacher Carter couldn’t help but smile. “Although I never accept gifts, if you are truly sincere and buy some inexpensive fakes of decent quality, I don’t mind accepting them. However, it’s impossible for me to go easy on you during the assessment. Fakes are fakes, after all.”

“Can I give you a real one?” Little Will asked with a smile.

Teacher Carter laughed heartily, “A real one is sincere, but I only accept fakes.”

Little Will walked up to the nearest stall, took a careful look, and nodded slightly, saying, “It seems everyone is quite interested in us. The stalls at the front only had one or two genuine items per two stalls, but now there are more and more genuine items. At a glance, this stall has at least three genuine items.”

The stall owner couldn’t help but reply, “Customer, I have five genuine items here, not three.”

“Heh heh, your stall has at least forty or fifty items, and only five are genuine, yet you dare to show off,” Little Will retorted directly, making the stall owner chuckle.

“Goods are only valuable when sold to experts. Those nouveau riche who come here to snatch up bargains, giving them one or two genuine items as souvenirs is already very good. Anyway, most of them buy fakes, and the genuine items are kept. At least if they buy everything here in one go, they can still get five genuine items.”

“And then? Because they can’t tell the difference, will they collect them all as genuine articles or sell them as junk?” Little Will’s words drew snickers from the crowd.

The stall owner, however, said indifferently, “You must have a good eye. I saw it earlier. Outsiders might do that, but you students don’t need to go through so much trouble. Buy everything and then give it to Teacher Carter.

He only accepts fakes, so if he returns some items to you, they must be genuine.”

Oh my, there’s such a method?! It seems plausible.

The students were overjoyed, and those following behind to snatch up bargains couldn’t help but laugh out loud. This boss was quite cunning.

“So, shall we begin? Should I help you appraise a genuine item first, or should I just buy a fake directly?” Little Will was unusually humorous for once.

The stall owner chuckled, “If it were anyone else, I’d definitely say everything here is genuine, but in front of an expert, to be honest, there are only five genuine items. If you, little brother, can pick out all five genuine items, I’ll give you a fake, you can pick any one you want.”

“Good!” The people following behind to snatch up bargains cheered. With five genuine items available for purchase, at least the competition wouldn’t be so intense.

Little Will shook his head slightly and couldn’t help but say, “This boss, you’re really cunning. But do you think this can stump me? Let’s agree beforehand, if I pick out all the genuine items, and there are fewer than five, you owe me an extra fake for each missing one, the kind I pick myself.”

“If you can’t find them all, and I point them out in the end, not only do you not get free service, but you also have to buy a fake at a high price, how about it?” The stall owner wasn’t willing to lose out.

Little Will nodded and immediately reached an agreement with him: “Deal! But it’s agreed, this authenticity refers to antiques. These two pieces of ore of yours are definitely real ore, absolutely not wood.”

“This is bogwood, high-grade wood that has been submerged underground for thousands of years and turned into stone,” the stall owner quickly retorted. Little Will shook his head and said, “The craftsmanship is too exquisite.”

The others were slightly stunned, not understanding what he meant, but the stall owner immediately reacted, slapped his forehead, and smiled bitterly, shaking his head, “Indeed, too much is as bad as too little. Pursuing perfection too much makes it seem unreal. Even if wood buried underground turns into stone, it can’t be so neat and without flaws. A miscalculation!”

Little Will scanned the stall, his gaze falling on a scimitar. It was an orc-style scimitar, but somewhat luxurious. “This is a trap.”

As soon as Little Will spoke, countless people paid attention, but the stall owner watched him unhurriedly, waiting for his explanation.

“Boss, is this sword being sold as an antique? Or as an ordinary decoration? Or do you think this is a personal weapon of an orc noble master?”

Little Will smiled at the stall owner, who leisurely pulled out a lollipop and put it in his mouth. This childish action earned him a collective middle finger from the crowd.

“This is an orc scimitar, absolutely genuine.”

The stall owner said with certainty, “I bought this at a high price from an old brother who came back from the orc battlefield. It’s not an antique, but it’s a genuine weapon of an orc noble.”

Little Will chuckled and quickly dismantled all the decorations on this “orc noble’s weapon,” leaving only a simple, unadorned ordinary orc scimitar. He then looked at the patterns on it.

Little Will actually nodded and said, “This is indeed an orc scimitar, and it’s highly likely it came from a battlefield, but this isn’t an orc noble’s weapon. All these decorations were added later, weren’t they?”

The stall owner said nothing, but instead gave Little Will a thumbs up. Little Will put the scimitar aside and continued to scan the next item, explaining the origin and where the fake was, as well as how to appraise each item. Soon, the students all pulled out notebooks and started taking notes, and even Professor Carter felt greatly enlightened.

The sweat on the stall owner’s forehead began to increase, because there were fewer and fewer items left, already less than ten.

“Little brother, how about I surrender? Pick any two of these items you’ve appraised.” The stall owner suddenly realized that if this continued, he might lose money.

One of the five genuine items he mentioned was actually proven fake by this little brother. Among the remaining items, only three were genuine, because that scimitar, due to his slip of the tongue, was also classified as a fake.

That could actually be considered a genuine item, an authentic orc scimitar, goods from the battlefield, but because he overdid it, it became a fake. Wasn’t that unfair?

“Little brother, don’t listen to him. Appraise all of them for him, and we’ll treat you to a meal later.” The people following behind, eager for excitement, cheered in unison.

Little Will picked up a mineral version of “bogwood,” then picked up the reassembled orc scimitar, and explained to the crowd behind, “Originally, I had a bet with this stall owner, so I could openly expose him, but now that the bet is over, according to black market rules, I shouldn’t speak carelessly. Please forgive me.”

“However, there are at least three genuine items among the remaining ones. It depends on everyone’s luck and discerning eye. One of them is quite valuable; buying it means making a profit!”

As soon as Little Will left, the people waiting to snatch up bargains swarmed the stall, surrounding it tightly.

“Boss, I’ll take all nine remaining items.”

“Boss, sell it to me, sell it to me, I’ll pay a high price.”

The nine items were all sold at high prices, and then a big fat man, fantasizing, directly took the newly bought item and planned to “give” it to Teacher Carter, which earned him direct scorn from Little Will and the others.

His attempt to apply what he learned immediately didn’t succeed, but he was still very happy, as the possibility of it being genuine was very high. Then he immediately resold it, almost doubling his money, and excitedly continued to browse with them. This audacious move almost blinded everyone’s eyes.

“Lord Will is indeed worthy of graduating with excellent grades in all subjects and being the top honor student who entered Drake Advanced Academy with a perfect score. I admire his insight and discernment!” A round of applause erupted, followed by Strande, smelling fragrant, with flowers in his hair, and dressed in luxurious clothes, walking up. Behind him, a warrior carried a large wooden box with both hands.

“I also brought a beautiful work of art, which I intend to present to the beautiful Miss Lilith. I wonder if Lord Will could help appraise it?” Strande’s words made Little Will and Lilith frown simultaneously. The bad premonition seemed to grow stronger.

Strande wasn’t wearing gloves!