Liens, as usual, "slept" after eating, continuing to explore ways to escape from here; this was now his only goal.
Otherwise, he could only wait for someone to buy him, and then seize the opportunity to run away depending on the situation.
However, it was a pity that although many people had visited the basement over these thirteen days, almost no one took a liking to him, this scrawny youth.
Most of them were after those who were strong and robust, or those who were good-looking.
He had tried to show off his knowledge from his previous life in the instance to attract buyers' attention.
But those people mostly regarded his words as mad ramblings and didn't pay much attention.
These "mad ramblings" even attracted beatings from the thugs, and coupled with his cautious mindset, he didn't show off his so-called "otherworldly knowledge" in reality.
After multiple failures, he gave up the idea of relying on others to help him escape and focused on finding an opportunity for a "jailbreak."
A stick poked Liens, pulling him out of the "instance."
Liens opened his eyes, looked up, and saw a thug poking him with a stick, and beside him were the elegantly dressed Master Barton and a mysterious person in a black robe with a hood.
Seeing this, Liens realized that Master Barton wanted to sell him, this high-value commodity, again.
"10 gold coins, you know, mental power talent is a very excellent ability, having an advantage in any profession."
"With a little cultivation, he might even become a noble Mage."
"Such high-quality goods are hard to find; it's just good luck to encounter one so rarely."
Barton was the first to propose a price, indicating that Liens, as a commodity, was very precious, and this price was very normal.
Liens had heard similar sales pitches from Barton before, but the price was never as high as today; previously, it was only two or three gold coins.
Although it was meant to belittle him, Liens was still very surprised to hear that his price was counted in gold coins.
He remembered the currency exchange rates he had heard from others: one gold coin equaled twenty silver coins, one silver coin equaled twenty large copper coins, and one large copper coin equaled five small copper coins.
To think that Barton had only spent 10 large copper coins to buy him.
In other words, the current price had directly quadrupled by 400 times; even drug traffickers in his previous life didn't have such high profits.
Regarding this, Liens could only lament that Master Barton was truly good at business.
Of course, he wouldn't remind the mysterious person, otherwise, if he ruined Master Barton's business, all that awaited him would be a severe beating, which he had already verified in the instance.
The mysterious person didn't respond directly but carefully scrutinized Liens for a few moments, then replied in a low voice: "I just tested his talent. Although he does have some mental talent, with so little mental talent, I even doubt if he can learn basic meditation."
"For this, you still want 10 gold coins from me… 10 silver, no more."
From the voice, Liens guessed that the mysterious person in front of him might be a male.
Combining Master Barton's conversation with him, Liens also deduced that this mysterious person was very likely a "noble Mage" as Barton had called him.
To be honest, Liens really wanted to be bought by this suspected Mage; perhaps he could even learn magic as a result.
But unfortunately, he knew this transaction would likely end in failure again.
Because Master Barton would absolutely not accept a price of 10 silver coins; otherwise, he would have been bought long ago.
After all, mental talent was still a bit of a bluff.
"The customer jokes. How can you bargain like that? Why don't you propose a new number? As long as it's reasonable."
Master Barton, of course, rejected the mysterious person's proposed transaction price; a difference of a full twenty times, that was too much of a cut.
Upon hearing this, the black-robed mysterious person turned and left directly, without any intention of continuing to bargain, seemingly convinced that Liens was only worth 10 silver coins.
The transaction fell through again, and Master Barton's face naturally didn't look good; with a darkened face, he also turned and left the basement.
From then on, Liens's treatment declined.
Not only did the daily portion of black bread porridge become smaller, but the frequency of beatings also increased, and the thugs hitting him became increasingly reckless.
Sometimes, Liens would even be beaten until he vomited blood, nearly half-dead; at those times, he didn't know how he endured it.
As a result, Liens became increasingly desperate to escape from here, but unfortunately, in most attempts, he couldn't even leave the cage that held him.
Liens had just finished the "black bread porridge" in his bowl and was about to close his eyes to "sleep" when he was shaken awake by someone rocking his cage.
He thought he was going to be beaten again today, but unexpectedly, the thug merely opened the cage and then took him to a large hall, telling him to stand there and wait patiently.
Liens observed briefly and saw that he was not the only Slave in the hall; there were more than a dozen other Slaves also wearing shackles.
Moreover, other Slaves were continuously being brought in by the thugs.
He didn't know what the people at the Slave Exchange were doing with them, these Slaves, by putting them here, but with so many Slaves present, it shouldn't be anything life-threatening.
After all, if they wanted to kill them, there would be no need to drag them over here.
Although it sounded a bit demeaning, the blood of them, these Slaves, might not even be worthy of staining this magnificent hall.
They didn't wait too long; after dozens of Slaves had gathered in the hall, the thugs stopped bringing Slaves into the hall.
Then, Master Barton also appeared in the hall. He went to the counter, sat on the chair behind it, and said to his subordinates: "Have them all line up properly, then come forward one by one to register." To support our work, please read on *.
Then, the Slaves were forcibly lined up by the thugs, and then pushed one by one to the counter in front of Barton.
Liens, who was positioned near the front of the line, could see Barton writing something on the counter with a quill.
The Slaves went up and came down one by one; the process was quick, and it wasn't long before it was Liens's turn.
Barton glanced at Liens, then asked indifferently: "Name?"
"Liens," Liens quickly replied, not giving Barton a chance to get angry.
"Press your thumb here."
Then, Barton wrote something on a piece of paper and then had Liens press his handprint on a spot on the paper.
Although Liens really wanted to know what Barton had written, forgive him for being illiterate; he couldn't understand the scribbled characters on the paper.
It wasn't his fault; he hadn't received much education at the orphanage.
After leaving the orphanage, most commoners barely recognized a few characters, so he naturally had no opportunity to learn to read.
Liens pressed his handprint as requested, and miraculously, after his finger left, a clear red thumbprint was left on the paper.
His hand wasn't stained with any red dye, nor was his thumb bleeding.
Logically, given the dirtiness of his finger, what should have been left there were black fingerprints, not that conspicuous red.
Master Barton, of course, wouldn't explain Liens's questions, and the subordinate beside him, hearing Master Barton's voice, quickly pulled Liens away.