252 The Auction Starts

"Anyway, while it might be just a coincidence, I'm not going to give something with the odds of 50%-50% a try, even if he still has some more, it probably won't be in a huge amount, it's better to deliver the current collection he offered to the sect that bids the highest, while the amount isn't high enough revolutionize the elemental crystal market, it should be enough to satisfy an individual sect…"

Dan, the experienced appraiser, stroked his small yet groomed beard while seemingly half lost in thought...

"I see, Grand Master Dan is really wise!"

"Whatever, return to your post for now, we will see what happens at the actual auction…"

"Understood master."

Seeing Dan wave his hand for him to leave, Doyle left silently, and went back to the appraisal room hoping that he would get to appraise something more interesting to get rid of the thoughts he had about that 'Omni-Element' crystal collection…

`~~`~~`~~`

"Here you go, esteemed guest, please call for me if you need help with something else, I won't be too far…"

It didn't take long for Three to get back holding a scroll like item which seemed to be the list of the items that's expected to be auctioned tonight as he handed it to me...

"Alright, thank you…"

Seeing my acknowledgement, he slowly walked out of the booth, leaving me alone with the scroll…

'Let's see what's in then…'

Unfolding the scroll to take a look, I could see that the list of items was quite incomplete, which wasn't completely unexpected, as suspense and surprise were two of the very important elements in an auction, not to mention the possibility of last minute entries like my 'Omni-Element' crystal collection, but that didn't really matter as I was going to attend the whole auction anyway to see the reaction that my own auctioned items would cause…

At this point, checking the list was just to partially satisfy my curiosity and use up a bit of the time I had to wait through, and of course to prepare my bidding strategy if there was still something good enough in this incomplete list…

'Hmmm… useless… useless… not worth it… useless…'

However, it turned out that going through the list for fun was a terrible idea as nothing seemed to make me impatient for the auction to happen so that I would obtain it, except…

'Oh, this might be worth bidding for…'

Fortunately enough, I finally managed to find one interesting item by the time I reached the end of the list, it wasn't much but it was better than nothing… not that having more stuff that I would want to buy was necessarily a good thing anyway…

'Well then, all that's left is to wait.'

`~~`~~`~~`

"Guests from various and far honorable sects! We welcome you to this year's joint auction hosted by our Unity auction house!"

While the wait was a bit boring, the stadium like auction chairs were already filled to the brim with participants, while the VIP booths we almost all occupied as the auctioneer said his starting line…

"This year's joint auction will start with…"

As the auctioneer revealed the cover a great sword which looked as if it was made from sand…

'This is…'

"The Earthen Edge Great Sword!"

"Oh!"

The reactions of the participants got a bit worked up as this item wasn't even put in the item list, it seemed like they omitted it especially as an auction opener…

"As most of you may have noticed, this sword is an earth elemental conductor, but it isn't your average one as it has been enhanced by a special ability to achieve a 110% conduct boost, the minimum bid will start at 400 gold coins."

"400!"

"450!"

"600!"

...

The bids continued raining as the sword was quite tempting for most, after all, while elemental conducting weapons seemed to be more available in the Nature Domain than it was in the Light Domain for some reason, the balance breaker of +10% boost was still enough to turn the sword into a rare treasure…

As for me, I wasn't that tempted to buy it as although gaining an 'Earth Vein' might prove helpful for the future, I had already obtained a great sword form for my 'Lightning Cloud', not to mention that the boost itself wouldn't necessarily get absorbed, and lastly…

"1500!"

The bids has already reached my upper spending limit…

"No more bids? 1500 going once… 1500 going twice… Sold!"

The one who managed to win the first item, also the one who instantly increased the bid from 1000 to 1500, silencing the rest of the bidders was actually a normal participant…

The huge bodied man was sitting alone at the very end on the auction chairs as he seemed to be a guest just like me, but a very capable one at the very least from the amount he managed to spend…

"Hahaha, I had recently broke my great sword in a life or death battle and came here to check if I could find a replacement for it, I didn't know I would grab such a treasure, what luck!"

Seemingly satisfied with his bid, the big guy hurriedly ran out of the auction hall as soon as he received the sword as if he wanted to test it right away…

"Moving on to the next item…"

The next two items were natural healing pills made by a famous alchemist & an Earthen Armor that seemed to match the great sword that the big guy has won just now, but I still didn't bid as they were items that I didn't really need, my 'Vitality Unbound' was probably as good as these pills or even better, and I still didn't have the earth element yet, so bidding on that armor which went for an even higher price, 1666 gold coins, seemed to be useless in any case, however...

"The next item in today's auction is…"

The item that I had been looking forward to has finally appeared!