Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Sienna smiled radiantly while staring at Sarde, and said, “500,000.”
While William was still guessing at the relationship between the Tower of Dusk and Sienna, the first item of the auction had already been sold successfully. In the end, the Twilight Dragon Armor was sold for 500,000 gold coins.
After the fanfare and congratulations that sounded around Sienna had died down a little, the second item of the auction was brought onto the stage as a small wooden box was placed on the display.
Silence was restored, and everyone was looking forward to seeing the auctioneer open the box. The first item was the Twilight Dragon Armor, which had gone missing for over 1,000 years. What would be the second?
Everyone waited excitedly while waiting for the auctioneer to open the wooden box slowly. Inside it was a golden ring that was embellished with gems.
“This is the ring that the senior jeweler Mr. Joanne has specially created for this auction!” the auctioneer said loudly while showcasing the ring.
Perhaps the ring was not as shocking as the Twilight Dragon Armor, but everyone was still excited after hearing that it was created by Joanne. They shifted their gazes onto the ring that the auctioneer was holding while waiting for the auctioneer to introduce it in further detail.
Everyone in the Breezy Plains had heard about the jeweler Joanne before. Hence, everyone would cheer and rejoice over every piece of jewelry that he created. In addition to being a jeweler, he was also the successor of the Fasetti Family of the Northern Plains and a level-15 Archmage.
Although the Fasetti Family was not as formidable as the Malfa Family, which had a Legendary figure to support them, no one had dared to challenge their authority. The Fasetti Family mainly dealt in the pharmaceutical industry, while Joanne was the descendant of the founder of the Fasetti Family. He was currently the one who was the most likely to attain the level of a jewelry Master.
“The gemstones that embellish the ring are high-quality Sparks Blue Stones that have been meticulously polished to perfection by Mr Joanne. The spiritual power of the gems has been maximized as well. It can be considered to be the jewelry piece of every mage’s dreams.” The auctioneer took the ring out of the wooden box and held it high above his head, allowing it to sparkle as light was reflected off its shiny surface.
For a mage, the most important thing was magic and spiritual power. Spiritual power directly determined the development potential of the mage and the level of advancement that he could attain. Even a normal Evil Eye magical crystal was considered invaluable, let alone the crystal of the Evil Eye Tyrant.
The Sparks Blue Stone also had spiritual-power-elevating properties. However, the difference was that the magical crystal would genuinely increase the mage’s spiritual power, while the Sparks Blue Stone would only strengthen the foundation of the mage. In other words, when one had equipped the Evil Eye magical crystal for a long time, the spiritual power of the mage would be improved and remain at a high level after it was unequipped. However, the mage would immediately return to his original state once he was away from the Sparks Blue Stone. His spiritual power would also decrease back to the original level.
Of course, the Sparks Blue Stone was undoubtedly the best choice for mages in the absence of the Evil Eye magical crystal. Even a slight increase in strength would increase the power of mental strength and, subsequently, the power of magic. Hence, the auctioneer was not exaggerating at all.
”The auction for Mr. Joanne’s masterpiece, the Sparks Blue Stone ring, will begin with a minimum bid of 200,000 gold coins!” The auctioneer placed the ring on a magic hologram projection device, which projected an enlarged image of the ring in midair. He then rotated it slowly to allow everyone to catch a clear glimpse of the beautiful and alluring Sparks Blue Stone.
Immediately after the auctioneer announced the start of the auction, the audience began bidding immediately. The bids increased from 200,000 gold coins to 300,000 gold coins, and then to 400,000 gold coins. When the bid exceeded 500,000 gold coins, the speed of the increment in bids began to slow down. After all, 500,000 gold coins was not a small sum.
“650,000!”
In one of the VIP rooms on the second floor, someone placed a higher bid, which caused a huge uproar amongst the audience in the hall. However, there was nothing they could do, since all of the VIP guests were filthy rich; hence, no one dared to vie with them at all.
“The person who called that bid is a representative sent by the Dark Blade, the level-18 Archmage Tedya. It’s said that their original heir, Stephen, had disappeared in the Blackstone Mountains, and Tedya is the one who has the greatest potential of becoming the next successor.” The Malfa Family dared not disclose the incident that took place in the Blackstone Mountains; hence, even the well-connected William had no idea what’d happened.
Since the VIP rooms’ open sides were facing the stage, Lin Li could easily see Tedya, the potential next successor of the Dark Blade, whose room was located at the side. There were four or five people in that room. Tedya looked to be in his thirties, and he looked malnourished, with his eyes sunken deep in his sockets. His mustache was rather neatly trimmed, however.
“A necromancer?” Lin Li could sense his Undead aura which was similar to that of Ujfalusi.
“Yes, it is said that the Dark Blade has the support of the Darkness Shrine. Hence, it’s not strange that there are a few necromancers among them.”
After all, they were in the Breezy Plains. William frowned slightly at the mention of the necromancers.
“700,000!” another person from the other VIP rooms yelled.
William pouted his lips and shook his head. “This is Prince Hilary from the Ledin Kingdom. Most of the people from the Ledin Kingdom believe in the doctrine of light. Well, they wouldn’t get into a fight here…”
Lin Li looked over to see a middle-aged man who had a goatee, clad in luxurious and expensive clothes, sitting inside the room. He was holding a glass of red wine in his hands, while an alchemy puppet massaged his shoulders. When he noticed Lin Li staring at him, he raised his glass deliberately and put on a noble smile.
Lin Li thought to himself, What a lame person. Isn’t he afraid that the alchemy puppet might crush his shoulders?
The alchemy puppet was way inferior to the Alchemy Colossuses that Lin Li had acquired in the Dragon Mountains. The alchemy puppet was at most level-10 in strength; besides, alchemy puppets were usually byproducts of alchemists’ work which did not serve much of a purpose.
“750,000!” Tedya yelled.
The highest price that an accessory made with the Evil Eye’s magical crystal had ever been sold at was 800,000 gold coins. Although it was said that the Evil Eye was priceless, that did not mean that its value could increase too drastically.
“780,000!” Hilary exclaimed without hesitation.
Silence filled the air in Tedya’s room. It was not an issue of affordability, for 800,000 was peanuts to the Dark Blade. However, they still wanted to spend their money on something that was worth it. One would certainly be ripped off if they were too generous.
“780,000! Is there a higher bid? 780,000 once…” The auctioneer raised the gravel high in the air and continued to try and stir the audience. “This is Sparks Blue Stone, the masterpiece of the senior jeweler, Mr. Joanne! Is there a higher bid? This ring can help increase magical attributes greatly, and the current bid is 780,000 gold coins! 780,000 twice…”
“850,000!” Tedya yelled, no longer able to hold himself back. He even placed a bid that was 50,000 gold coins higher than the record price the Evil Eye magical crystal was sold for.
“Forget it, I’m not a mage anyway. You may have it,” said Prince Hilary.
“Thanks a lot, then,” Tedya replied, sounding a little angry. 850,000 gold coins was actually insignificant to the Dark Blade. However, he felt like he had been ridiculed because Hilary had deliberately made him place an absurdly high bid.
After asking for the third time, the auctioneer slammed his gravel down forcefully to close the auction for the ring. The Sparks Blue Stone ring was then sold to Tedya from the Dark Blade at 850,000 gold coins.
Upon hearing the gasps of shock, Tedya could not bring himself to be happy at all, for the guests’ reaction simply meant that he had been ripped off.
Although the auction was of a large scale, the items that would be put up for sale were not exorbitantly priced like Twilight Dragon Armor and Sparks Blue Stone. The nearly 2,000 people below the stage were not just there to watch the auction, and William didn’t want them to go home empty-handed, either. Hence, he arranged for a few other items that were of poorer quality to be put up for auction.
Although the average auction price for the items was about 800,000 gold coins, the process made everyone riled up.
“The items that will be showcased next are not included in the catalog, because they were added to the auction rather recently. The items come from a place that you often hear about, and in fact, most of you have probably visited it before…” The auctioneer paused for a moment before removing the red cloth, and saying, “They are magical potions from the Tower of Dusk!” The auctioneer removed the red cloth to reveal the potions which had been stacked like a pyramid.
As the auctioneer said, the guests were indeed no strangers to the Tower of Dusk. Those who wanted to recruit senior pharmacists had all scrambled to the Tower of Dusk, while those who had not been there before had long heard of it. Hence, it was a well-known fact that there were senior pharmacists in the Tower of Dusk, and no one doubted it at all.
Every row of the pyramid was of a different color, and the potions were obviously arranged from the lowest to highest grade. There were 16 crystal potion bottles in the first row, all of which contained some light green liquid. Since they were similar, they wouldn’t be sold individually. The auctioneer grabbed one of the bottles and placed it in the middle of the stage.
“This is made by the pharmacists of the Tower of Dusk. It’s an intermediate-level potion named the Blood of Nature.” The auctioneer held up the potion in his hand, and said to the audience, “The effect of this potion is to quickly heal any damage caused by magic, and at the same time restore the body that had been weakened by the injuries. It’s definitely a necessity for adventurers. Having a bottle of this healing potion is akin to having an extra life. The auction of the first bottle begins at a minimum bid of 20,000 gold coins.”
20,000 gold coins was considered expensive for a healing potion. However, the people at the auction were no fools, and had immediately caught the main point after listening to the auctioneer’s introduction.
There was a huge difference between normal damage and damage caused by magic. Magic damage would leave some brutal magic elements in the wounded body which couldn’t be removed by generic healing potions, thus making it difficult for the injury to heal quickly.
The next effect of restoring the body’s strength was even more attractive. Usually, the injured would have to rest for a long time after being treated with a regular Recovery Potion. Well, at least damage caused by excessive blood loss could not be healed that quickly. However, the Blood of Nature could restore the body, which was akin to giving the injured some of their fighting ability back during combat.
Hence, the potion was definitely worth 20,000 gold coins since it could heal magic damage and restore one’s health. Some people might think that the price of 20,000 gold coins was too expensive for a potion that could only be used once. However, it was akin to buying another life with money. Was 20,000 gold coins for an extra life still expensive? A shorter healing time was at least a better chance for one to escape, regardless of whether it could restore combat power or not.
Everyone understood that. Hence, as soon as the auctioneer finished speaking, someone placed a bid of 30,000 gold coins, which was peanuts to them. The price surged quickly, and the potion was finally sold at a price of 100,000 gold coins.
The following bottles were sold in packs of two or three bottles. At last, they were sold together in a pack of six for a price of 700,000 gold coins, which made William feel rather emotional. Out of all the potions, Blood of Nature was of the lowest grade, and they were just the products of the pharmacists’ practice sessions to Lin Li…
