Chapter 374 - 374

With the start of the first intermission, Marcus decided now was the right time to pull out the snacks that Stella had made.

'Impeccable work as always.' Marcus thought as he took a bite out a fruit tart.

Passing over a few snacks to Lilia, the two of them enjoyed a bit of leisure time before a knock was heard from the door, and a voice called out, "The item that you have won is ready."

After the staff member said that a panel in the wall next to the door opened as they waited for the payment for the item Lilia had won the bid on.

A bit surprising to Marcus who was still slightly skeptical if Lilia had that much money, she quickly pulled out a bag full of gold coins and placed it in the compartment.

The compartment then closed and a moment later reopened with the book that Lilia had won.

She then cheerfully took ahold of the box the book was sealed within and ran back over to the couch and quickly opened it.

Opening the book a big smile appeared on her face, and she quickly but carefully flipped through the pages until she got close to the end and there were only thirty pages left.

"There really is another story!" Lilia said with excitement.

And once her initial exhilaration began to wear off, she started reading the book intently.

'Hm, I have not read that book, but if Lilia enjoys it that much maybe I should ask her to borrow it before she gives it to Alaric.'

With Lilia engrossed in her very expensive book, Marcus passed the time by sampling all of the different drinks that were provided in the room, until the next part of the auction began.

"Welcome back ladies and gentlemen. I hope that you all enjoyed the refreshments we have available and were happy to obtain the items you have won. However, our auction is far from over and the next part is full of wonderous items that anyone would want to obtain. Now to start things off we have an item that we normally would not bring out this earlier and could easily be the headliner of one of our seasonal auctions."

After saying that, Amelia motioned towards the left of the stag where the next item in question was being wheeled out on a cart and was placed within a clear box.

'A skill orb.'

Immediately recognizing the item, Marcus wondered what skill it might have sealed inside it.

Skill orbs could have any number of skills, from mundane skills like sewing, to powerful ones like mana thief.

Still, they all looked the same on the outside, and there was no way to know what was within until you got ahold of it.

"I am sure that some of you who have read through our catalog have already guessed which skill orb this might be, and for many of you, it is probably the reason that you have come to our auction. Within this skill orb is a very rare and sought-after skill that anyone would want. What we have here is a skill orb that holds the regeneration skill."

As Amelia said this, for the first time the crowd of people that had gathered for the auction broke out into an uproar.

This was an item that was truly valuable since it made even normally deadly wounds nothing more than an inconvenience.

Smirking as she saw the reaction of the crowd, she was happy that she had decided to bring up the timetable on this item, as it had caused more excitement within the crowd and was likely to keep prices going high.

Once everyone had settled down, Amelia walked to the very front of the stage and said, "Bidding on this impeccable item will begin at ten thousand gold coins, and any subsequent increased must be in values of at least five hundred gold coins. Now let the bidding begin."

"Fifteen thousand."

Right out the gate someone from one of the private boxes gave out a commanding bid that increased the price by fifty percent.

However, while this might normally scare some people away, for an item as rare as this, there was no way that they would give up without a fight.

"Sixteen thousand."

"Nineteen thousand."

The bid on the regeneration skill orb quickly rose to staggering levels greatly blowing out the prices seen in the first part of the auction hat had not exceeded four thousand gold coins.

"Thirty-four thousand!"

When the bid had reached twenty-six thousand, once gain the private box that had started the bid, brought up the price once again, making it more than triple the starting price.

The auction floor that had been abuzz with people bidding quickly recced into silence, as most did not have enough money to compete anymore and those that did knew it was best to conserve their funds for the later items that should be even greater.

"Hm, are there no more bids. Have you all given up on this once in a lifetime opportunity to obtain one of the most valuable skills?" Amelia said trying to drum up some more interest in one of the auction's big-ticket items.

'Well, I suppose it has already slightly exceeded what we estimated.' Amelia thought seeing that no one else was making a move to bid.

"Going once, going twice, and-"

"Thirty-five thousand."

Right before Amelia was going to announce the winner, Marcus who had been silent the entire time decided to throw out a bid.

Of course, when he did, he attracted a great deal of interest from those on the auction floor. And from the man who had been close to winning, he had obtained his ire.

'I do not know who is currently in Amelia's box, but do not think you can win against me.' Duke Fealltoir thought as he raised the bid to thirty-six thousand.

Yet Marcus just smirked when he heard this, and deiced to raise the bid once more up to thirty-eight thousand.

After the first commanding bid, he had decided to go and see who was in the box just two down from his using his ghost form, and when he found that it was Duke Fealltoir he deiced to make him bleed a little.

"Forty-three thousand!" Duke Fealltoir practically yelled.

He wanted his competitor to know he was serious, and if they bid again, he would allow them to have this item forcing them to spend a fortune.

However, no other bids came, and Duke Fealltoir won, though he was not happy that he had spent the upper limit he had set for this item.

'That is what you get for trying to have Roxene executed.' Marcus thought still bitter about what Duke Fealltoir had tried to do to him.

After the regeneration skill orb, the next items in the auction were steadily brought out. And while none of them matched the value of the regeneration skill orb, they still all sold for high prices in part owing to the fervor brought out by the regeneration skill orb.

'Oh, it is finally time..' Marcus thought with a smile on his as he saw the next item that was being brought out.