My starting summon is a small skeleton

As the administrators finalized their decisions one after the other,

their attention returned to Lu Wu.

At that moment, Lu Wu had been escorted by the staff into the room storing the Summoning Stones.

Upon entering, Lu Wu found that there were indeed numerous Summoning Stones in the room.

In a room of several dozen square meters, four rows of wooden shelves were filled with Summoning Stones.

The Secret Realm managers had really put in effort to elevate the prestige; each Summoning Stone was individually placed on pristine, jade-like porcelain dishes, radiating a sense of high status.

"There are a total of 138 Summoning Stones here, and you may choose any one of them as your reward for ranking first on the score chart!" the staff member said, extending his hand in a welcoming gesture.

"Um, can I pick them up to take a closer look?"

"Yes, you may, as long as you do not damage the Summoning Stones. Any method you use to evaluate them is fine."

The staff member responded politely, holding back a thought he did not voice aloud.

"After all, if you break it, you'll have to pay."

Lu Wu didn't bother about that much; once he confirmed that he could handle them, he went straight to the first shelf and picked up the first Summoning Stone to examine.

The administrators at the backend laughed when they saw Lu Wu's actions.

"Whoa, look at him. Is he planning to check every single Summoning Stone?"

"Just let him look!"

The four old foxes, considering the young man's feelings, didn't say anything too explicit even though they had made their sale and trapped the youngster.

But from the expressions on their faces, it wasn't hard to tell what they thought of Lu Wu's actions.

There was mockery tinged with scorn.

Especially when they saw Lu Wu pick up a Summoning Stone, glance around it, and then put it down, their faces revealed an evident amusement.

With the speed and nonchalance of Lu Wu's evaluation, it was clear he displayed the epitome of half-baked knowledge.

It was settled, absolutely settled; if someone with his mediocre skills could find a gem among these, they would willingly accept their loss.

Meanwhile, the young man nearby seemed not to notice anything odd, still watching Lu Wu's actions with great interest.

As for Lu Wu,

his mood was still okay at the moment.

The situation was largely as he had anticipated, and his Golden Finger was applicable to the Summoning Stones as well.

However, it maintained the usual quirks of his Golden Finger.

It was usable, but expecting it to reveal all the attributes of the Summoning Stones clearly was definitely impossible.

Fortunately, Lu Wu had studied several entry-level articles on how to judge Summoning Stones before handling them, and at this moment, he was putting that knowledge to use.

By combining the Golden Finger with those entry-level articles, Lu Wu nearly mastered the attributes of the Summoning Stones as soon as he touched them.

However, Lu Wu was disappointed because the quality of these Summoning Stones, based on their attributes, was poor.

...

Item: Summoning Stone

Quality: Ordinary (doubtful)

Description: Based on the judging skills you've mastered for Summoning Stones, they indeed seem to be of ordinary quality, capable of summoning only ordinary quality Summoned Beast Babies.

...

Lu Wu looked at several dozen Summoning Stones, and all the attributes he came across were the same.

This made Lu Wu wonder whether the Secret Realm Managers were just stingy, offering only ordinary quality Summoning Stones, or if there was a problem with his own Golden Finger.

"Could it be an issue with the doubtful quality category? Maybe these Summoning Stones are not just ordinary?"

At this point, Lu Wu was even doubting his own life.

And his words, through the still unworn Secret Realm Bracelet, reached the Secret Realm Management Backend.

The four old foxes, upon hearing these life-doubting words from Lu Wu, couldn't help but grin, clearly anticipating the return of the 200 points they had just lost.

However, considering the young man was still nearby, they held themselves back.

Can't laugh, can't laugh—they're professionally trained, even if they can't help it, they must not laugh.

Meanwhile, as these old pros were rejoicing, Lu Wu also raised his eyebrow because he finally saw a summoning stone of a different attribute.

Item: Summoning Stone

Quality: Black Iron (suspected)

Description: Based on your mastery of summoning stone appraisal, the quality of this stone appears to be Black Iron, but it's not guaranteed.

Although the system's description was still vague, it was, regardless, a summoning stone of a different attribute.

This motivated Lu Wu even more; he revved up his engine and sped up his pace.

The management naturally noticed Lu Wu speeding up.

The old pros, who were trained professionally, almost couldn't hold back their laughter.

In their eyes, it was clear that this kid had realized his skills were inadequate and started to act recklessly.

Seeing Lu Wu in this state, on one hand, the old pros were happy about getting back the points they had lost.

On the other hand, they were also delighted to see the previously confident and strategic Lu Wu now appear disheartened and disheveled.

Under their watch, it took Lu Wu less than ten minutes to feel through all the hundred-plus summoning stones in the room.

After he was done, they thought Lu Wu would be lost in confusion and indecision, but Lu Wu was not.

He directly made his choice and picked up the highest quality stone in the room, which was suspected to be of Bronze Quality.

No one expected this development, not even the staff who had come with Lu Wu.

"Have you made your choice?"

"Yeah, I'm set, is it this one?"

Lu Wu had dawdled for ten minutes and then suddenly made up his mind, which the staff found a bit unaccustomed to, prompting them to add:

"Don't you want to reconsider?"

"No need, I'm not one to dawdle."

This comment left the staff unsure how to respond—non-dawdling? But Lu Wu, who had taken over ten minutes to pick a summoning stone, was surely one of a kind.

What was even more baffling for the staff was how confident Lu Wu was in his choice.

"Besides, there's nothing else to consider; there's no other stone in this room better than this one!"

To this, the staff could only say, if you're happy, so are we.

After all, their job was merely to help Lu Wu pick a summoning stone, and now that Lu Wu had made his choice, their task was deemed complete.

However, just as the staff were about to leave with Lu Wu, the staff's work bracelet received a message. After reading it, they paused and stopped Lu Wu.

"Sorry, one moment please!"

"What's up?" Lu Wu cocked his head.

"Uh, considering your excellent performance during the competition, the Secret Realm has decided to award you an extra Summoning Ceremony. Do you want to use the summoning stone right away?"

"Now?" Lu Wu wasn't ready yet, and besides, he wasn't too fond of the quality of this summoning stone.

The staff added, "A Summoning Ceremony usually requires at least 10 Internal Network Points, and if you're unsatisfied with the Summoned Beast, you can simply sell it back to us without making a contract."

Hearing this, Lu Wu immediately agreed.

"Alright, let's do it now!"

Seeing Lu Wu agree, the old pros in the Secret Realm Management Backend became elated.

It was coming back!

The 200 points they had just lost were coming back.

But their excitement didn't last long; in less than half an hour, the joy on their faces turned to incredulous paleness.

Because Lu Wu had used the summoning stone, and the result was out—Bronze Quality!

Evidently, they didn't get their lost 200 points back; in fact, at this moment, they had lost another 200 points.