Chapter 60 - At All Costs

'Hmm… It seems that the both of them had plans for the wild ginseng." Aziel thought, quickly reining in his emotions and returning the calm, friendly-looking fake political smile to his face as he nodded at the man.

The man in return only snorted and returned his attention to the stage…

As the clock struck 8 PM, the chimes of the bell instantly quieted the originally noisy auction venue down as everyone's eyes were fixated on the stage. Along with the auction's stage opening, a young beautiful woman at the prime of her life walked onto the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! We, the Purple Cloud Auction welcome you to this month's event! The venue is held with the support of the Eastwind Trade Union, and all the items that will be auctioned have been listed on the auction's brochure that has already been provided to you beforehand. This humble one's name is Tiana Sohl, and I will be the host… *khm*, auctioneer for tonight's event! "She spoke with a beautiful smile, showing some theatrics as she 'accidentally' made a mistake and smiled embarrassedly only to captivate the male audience even further.

"This action's session will soon begin, and I believe that all the present fair Ladies and handsome Gentlemen have already seen the auction's list of items. It is my sincere wish that everyone will be able to obtain the items you want and return back with a rewarding and successful evening." She said.

"I hereby announce that the 35th Purple Cloud Auction has officially begun! The following first auctioned items are a rare treat to those looking for some precious, historical antiques… It is a group of three silver table articles! A silver vase and two trays!" She exclaimed as the assistants unveiled the items that were brought up to the stage.

Seeing the lack of enthusiasm, the host, Tiana continued with a gentle smile.

"Do not be too quick to judge! Everyone must not look down on this beautiful silver vase and the pair of trays! The orb is in pristine condition despite its age estimated to be around 150-200 years old, its plating is still intact! Also, the seal found at its base, it shows that it was used by none less than some highly esteemed noble household in the late 1800s or 1900s! There's even a chance that this set was used in a Royal household…"

Aziel sat quietly in his seat as he listened to the grandiloquent introduction from the auctioneer. As the auction was announced to officially begin, he looked at the following hundreds of guests of the Purple Cloud Auction as they began to place their bids for the items, looking uninterested in the items.

From the growing bid war that slowly reached its peak, he was reminded of the similar events from his previous life, he couldn't help but reminisce about the scene.

He remembered how his brother used to say. When the world is in chaos, the opportunity for gaining strength arises… However, when the world is in peace and is thriving, then amassing wealth is flourishing!

Remembering it, Aziel could now see how deeply true that sentence was. Each item was being auctioned at a high price and each item would be bought at sky-high prices. He couldn't help but sigh. At present, there were a lot of rich people, and they loved to amass wealth and become richer. Certainly, he also had another kind of thought, that rich people were foolish. Buying pieces of dead objects and bringing them home with such meaningless significance.

…

The auction had lasted for over 2 hours and Aziel had yet to place a bid even once. In contrast, Lydia's friends, Sandra and the haughty man had bid a few times and even won a couple of items they seemed to take interest in. Lydia, however, remained silent as whilst there were a couple of interesting articles, their purpose for coming was the two last objects Aziel had taken interest in.

"For the next item we will auction, it is an incredibly rare ore! This rare ore is very hard and we suspect that the ore came from space and was crushed down to Earth as a meteorite, millions of years ago! We believe that this item will be a very precious piece of the collection of valuable minerals! Perhaps, this space item's value will be more valuable in the future and would be very difficult to estimate!

"The floor price is 2 million and every bid must not be under 500 thousand! Now... let us begin the auction NOW!" The auctioneer held the dark purple Void Stone in her hand and explained in an excellent voice and expression as she announced the start of the auction.

"This is it!"

Aziel's spirit shook as his eyes tightly honed on the chunk of purple stone held in the host's hands. It was really, undoubtedly Void Stone! He had to get it!

Still, he quickly quelled the raging storm in his heart and forced a neutral expression his face. He couldn't rush to bid, as from what he had observed from the last 2 hours of the venue, only very few of the initial bidders would truly want to claim the items. They were as though throwing the brick to attract the jade, and only initiated the bidding, and if some people called for the biddings, they would immediately renounce it. If nobody called for the bid, they might be able to obtain the item with little money, but still, buy it as one of the things they took a fancy at.

Not even a moment later, a voice resounded in the hall as someone raised his flag sign.

"2.5 million."

Immediately, another voice came from the other end of the room. Another flag was raised.

"3 million!"

"3.5 million!"

"4 million!"

...

Shortly after, the Void Stone's price had reached an astounding 9 million. However, after the last person called the bid, nobody raised their flags even after 10 seconds.

A sweet-looking smile appeared on the auctioneer's face as she spoke "That gentleman has bid for 9 million, any other guests calling for a higher bid? Everyone, don't take lightly this rare ore with its mysteriousness. Perhaps its value would be 10 times higher in the future compared to the present."

"9.5 million!"

As the auctioneer's voice fell, another voice sounded, coming from one of the VIP boxes.

Seeing as how the bidding war was progressing, Aziel took a deep breath and pushed the button in his chair, signaling that he too now was interested in the bid. A moment later his distorted voice resounded from the speaker placed beneath the VIP boxes.

"10 million."

"11 million!"

The voice sounded again, this time with a bit more power behind its masked voice.

Aziel didn't care about the increased pressure coming from his opponent. He calmly pushed the button and revealed his next bid.

"15 million."

...

Everyone at the auction venue turned around and looked at the VIP box's direction from where the bid came from.

"Who could be throwing away money like that? Some arrogant kid from a rich family, no doubt!"

"15 million for an unknown piece of space crap? What an idiot!"

"What a stupid idiot! Even the 9 million was way too much for it, much less 15! Pfff... Rich people nowadays really don't value money!"

"Some prodigal brat, wasting away their family's hard-earned wealth!"

"Could it be that he just took a liking to the auctioneer girl? Wanting to showcase his worth in front of her?"

"Wow, this is really interesting!"

Following Aziel's bid, a lot of people began to comment on the show in the conference hall, which, thanks to his heightened, sharp hearing did not escape his senses. Still, he did not comment on it and wore an indifferent expression on his face as his eyes were fixated on the chunk of Void Stone presented on the stage.

He was sure, from what he had heard that none of them had the knowledge about the truly precious things, and he wasn't going to pay notice to these ants. Even more, there was no chance he would tell anyone about the truth behind this item, and that is what it truly was! In his hands, this item was an incredibly precious treasure that he could fully utilize, but for these ignorant people who wouldn't be able to refine the stone into a Spatial Ring, it was only a lump of rough stone.

The auctioneer looked at Aziel's box deeply as she smiled and asked. "The esteemed customers at Box Nr 1 have placed a bid of 15 million. Are there any higher bids than 15? If not, this precious rare ore will be sold to them!"

"15 million going once..."

"15 million going twice..."

When the auctioneer was about to speak the final word and announce that the Void Stone was sold to Aziel, the voice coming from the other VIP boxes suddenly sounded.

"20 million!"