"60 Spirit Stones!" The next bet came even before the auctioneer could acknowledge the first bid. A third bird jumped in with 70 stones. Before the auctioneer could even say anything, three VIP booths were already in a bidding war.
Here, Seth thought he had chanced upon a secret hit, but apparently there were three more people who held an interest in the pendant. The blacksmith didn't even try to hide the displeasure on his face; however, he didn't join the bids yet.
"170 Low-Grade Spirit Stones. The Young Master in the second-floor VIP booth 1 bid 170 stones," the auctioneer exclaimed. The rapid bidding had quickly calmed down after passing 150, to the point that he could interject.
"170, First Call!" The floor stayed silent. Were the other two really done? They had quickly raised the price but crumbled so quickly? Maybe they didn't know its true value and thought it wasn't worth more than 150?
Considering the XiGuang Province probably had nobody, or very few craftsmen with a technology comparable to Minas Mar at this point, it made sense they didn't know. Were they vying for it for a different reason?
"200 Low-grade Spirit stones!" a fourth voice from the floor, a few rows behind them, spoke up.
"200 Stones! The esteemed guest with the Number 94 bid 200 Spirit Stones!" the auctioneer announced quickly, pointing at the cloaked figure hiding their face among the crowd. What an ominous person, and they had also waited for the bidding war to end like Seth.
"200, First Call!" the auctioneer exclaimed. The VIPs stayed silent. This practically confirmed that 200 was above the price they were willing to pay. With nobody left bidding, the pendant would naturally go to the cloaked figure. But Seth was still here.
"300 Low-grade Spirit stones!" the bard shouted, raising his little paddle, raising the price once again by a stupid amount. Mr. Moneybags didn't care. Considering the money they had looted from the cultivators that tried to dupe them, even if he added the prices of the things bought on the bazaar to this bid, he would not even touch the travel expenses Master Mountain had provided.
"300 spirit stones from the young master with the number 72!" he announced and looked at Seth and the cloaked figure. Bidder 92 looked in Seth's direction for a long moment; the auctioneer exclaimed the first call.
The cultivator in the cloak seemed somewhat forlorn, staring at the stage. They finally sat down, making no attempts to bid any further, allowing Seth to win the auction and receive a small round of applause once again.
Mina gave him a look, but didn't say anything.
"If it works out as I hope, this will be more than worth it," the blacksmith assured, hoping for an epic, or even legendary enchantment from the little bronze piece. Maybe it would even be worth reworking one of his own piece of jewelry with that, considering it was an earth-related enchantment.
Once the items for cultivators started appearing on stage, the auction became more lively, but it became almost rowdy when the more sought-after items like weapons and rare pills appeared. Weapons Seth wouldn't even glance at were sold for 300-500 Low-grade Spirit Stones, making his "costly purchase" seem mundane.
"1000 Stones! This pill belongs to the Xu Family! Who dares try to snatch it!" the young master from VIP booth 1 exclaimed, revealing his identity to claim a Foundation Establishing Pill that could ease the breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment Realm.
"Ha! What Xu Family? Konan still belongs to the Yi! 1200 Stones!" an older man from VIP Booth 4 exclaimed, outbidding the young master. They even got to witness such a scene multiple times as the auction went on. On that note, the pill went to the Yi Family for 1500 stones.
Based on what Seth knew from skimming through the info compiled by Marco, this was a huge investment for a small martial clan. Considering the size of Konan and the Yi Family, the old man had probably blown their yearly income on this.
Apparently, the pill was rare and hard to find in the quality offered today. But Seth didn't really listen, since it wasn't really interesting to him. His attention only focused on the stage a while later, when finally the Wailing Shard was brought on the stage.
With its 25% damage increase when channeled with magic, it didn't really stick out among the other mid weapons seen so far. If it wasn't for the fact that it was made of
"This dear guest is the Wailing Shard! Do not be fooled by its appearance; it used to be a weapon feared across the lands before it was broken in a battle between Golden Core Masters. Despite being broken, it still holds some of its former might!" the auctioneer pitched the weapon to the crowd.
Seth was happy to find that interest in the weapon was small and managed to directly purchase it for 70 spirit stones. With this, he would be able to add a second sword made from
For the remaining auction, they were able to enjoy the show of cultivators in bidding wars, getting riled up and sometimes shouting threats and family names around. It was actually quite fun, a shame that they had no snacks.
"Next we have lot 131, registered just before the auction, so you may not have seen it beforehand. The seller called it the Wrathful Sword, a weapon that grants the physical strength and body of an Asura, but hungers for the mind.
It is assumed to be an early version of the recently surfaced wave of ancient weapons. Unfortunately, we were unable to ascertain the effects ourselves, given the short time frame," the auctioneer finally announced the toy Seth had put up for auction. The auction was getting close to its end, meaning they actually rated it quite highly, despite not being able to test it themselves.
An excited murmur went through the crowd at the unexpected revelation of such an interesting lot. Seth could even hear some curses from people who had already spent their money. He only smiled, amused, thinking that they were actually lucky. On the other hand, there were many people questioning and doubting the effect and source of the weapon.
"If you couldn't ascertain it, how can you know whether it's true?" "Are we supposed to just believe it might be connected to the Divine Weapon Surge?" "By how much does it raise the strength?" "Aren't you just being fooled?" the audience asked. Apart from the fact that even cultivators could judge whether a weapon was imbued with power, their doubts were not unfounded.
"How about a demonstration of the power then?" a wizened voice asked, cutting through the crowds clamoring, despite speaking calmly. It was actually the auctioneer who asked this. Was it all a sly setup for a demonstration of the power?
"Are there any volunteers that wish to try and wield the weapon on stage?" he asked for a sacrificial lamb. There was a surprising number of people ready to go on stage and become a test subject, but the loudest voice was actually-
"I, Xu Ao, will test the weapon, and if it holds what it promises, my Xu Family will claim it without fail," the young master proclaimed proudly. Seth gave him a glance with
At this point,
"Our Yi Family will also have a disciple test the sword," the old man who had spent a fortune on a pill earlier also announced his participation. Xu Ao had an expression like he just swallowed a bug; it took Seth a moment to realize why.
The bitch actually planned to belittle his work and lower the price! This would no longer be possible if a second party checked their words. Seth doubted the old man did it for fairness, though.
It was probably pettiness, a way to pay back Xu Ao for driving up the price of the pill.
"Very well, then please send your disciples to the stage."