Kael was genuinely stunned when he felt the sudden weight on his shoulder. He glanced down sideways at Selene, caught completely off guard.Back at the university, Selene Whitmore was famous for being the distant, untouchable campus belle. She usually carried an icy "don't touch me" attitude toward everyone, keeping suitors at a strict arm's length. Countless guys on campus would have given anything just to get a friendly smile from her, let alone have her lean her head against their shoulder so naturally like this.Kael looked down at her and offered a gentle, comforting tone. "To be fair, I wasn't entirely right either. That stone actually made a fourfold profit on its base price. If not for the intense bidding war, it would have been a solid win."Selene let out a soft groan, pressing her head a bit firmer against his shoulder in helpless frustration. "A loss is still a loss! There's no way to justify it, I had fifty thousand dollars set aside for tonight, that was supposed to co

The man's loud voice rang out across the general floor, echoing over the chatter. In an instant, dozens of nearby guests turned around, staring in complete shock."Who said that?""Who dares to say Master Lin is wrong?""Is that guy insane? Master Lin has over thirty years of experience! He's evaluated stones for the top elite families in the entire city!"The loud-mouthed guest raised his hand and pointed straight at Kael. "It's him! This guy right here! He claims Master Lin is completely wrong, and he's actually telling this young lady to bid on the exact stone Master Lin told us to ignore!"Every eye in the surrounding crowd shifted toward Kael.Because of how crowded the hall was, not everyone could see him clearly, but the guests nearby stared at him with intense curiosity. They were surprised to see how young he was. He was dressed in high-quality, elegant clothing, but to the crowd, good clothes meant nothing. Anyone challenging Master Lin was clearly an arrogant fool.Master

"The starting price for this item is $1,300!" the host announced.Hearing the price, Kael raised his head to look at the stage.The stone sitting on the tray was roughly the size of a mini ball. It was ugly, rough, and completely caked in dried, dark mud. It looked more like a common rock pulled out of a gutter than a valuable piece of raw gemstone.Yet, the exact second Kael locked eyes on it, he felt a powerful, familiar energy pulsing toward him. His gut feeling surged back instantly, so strong and distinct it almost startled him.“Why the hell am I feeling that this is something good?” Kael thought, frowning as he tried to shake his mind off the sensation.“Is my mind playing another trick on me again?”Beside him, Selene was completely quiet, she stared blankly at the floor, totally crushed as she thought about the fifty thousand dollars she had just lost tonight.Kael looked over at her and let out a quiet sigh. He

Brian let out a heavy, defeated sigh, running a hand over his face. He truly didn't believe anything good could come from this cheap rock. Kael, however, remained completely silent, his sharp eyes locked onto the cutting table.The saw finished its cut, splitting the small boulder completely in two. The technician sprayed water over the cut faces, washing away the rock dust.The interior wasn't just yellow. Deep within the core, striking bands of rich, emerald green were intricately fused with radiant, sun-golden yellow crystal patterns. It was a breathtaking, brilliant dual-color mix that gleamed under the stage spotlights.Yet, because natural jade was overwhelmingly expected to be pure green, the crowd immediately scoffed at it as synthetic trash."See? It's just pretty for nothing!" a man sneered. "It's just a colored, spray-painted rock!"Up near the stage, Master Lin was about to turn his back and walk away, but his eyes caught the cut faces on the monitor. He stopped dead in h

A audible gulp echoed through the stunned audience.“He really said the money is for her?”The entire room stood frozen, staring in absolute, jaw-dropping disbelief. Lysandra’s sharp eyes widened in total astonishment, Brian’s jaw dropped so low it looked dislocated, and Selene herself felt as though her mind had completely shut down.Logically, Kael had every right to claim the payout. He could have easily handed Selene fifty thousand dollars to cover her earlier loss tenfold and walked away with over a million dollars pure profit in his own pocket. It would have been an insanely generous move that anyone in the room would have commended.Yet here he was, casually handing over the entire one-point-one-million-dollar fortune without blinking an eye.Kael couldn't care less about their staring. Sure, he could have kept the money, but he had explicitly bought the stone as a gift for Selene. To him, a word given was a word kept. Whether the stone was worth thirteen hundred dollars or th