A few days later, after catching up with Lux, the Void Auction finally began.
Entering one of the VIP rooms, Maximus and Lux took their seats.
Otto was still in seclusion, so it was just the two of them bidding this time.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! Without further ado, let's start this auction!"
The first phase of the auction was the same as it had been a thousand years ago: selling books of inheritance.
Seeing this, Maximus instantly lost interest.
Unless it were a Tier 12 knowledge, Maximus wouldn't even bat an eye.
His Dimensional Origin Library was already amassing massive amounts of knowledge, especially Tier 10 and Tier 11 knowledge.
Maximus already had a complete introductory knowledge of all the origins of laws.
Even some Tier 11 knowledge about the River of Laws had been collected by Maximus.
Although he couldn't understand most of it, selling it could probably earn him billions of origin coins.
Unfortunately, it would only bring him trouble once he sold this 'stolen' knowledge.
As the auction continued, Maximus and Lux watched idly from the sidelines.
In contrast to Maximus's lack of interest, Lux simply didn't have any money.
He barely had a few hundred million origin coins; attending this auction was merely to accumulate some experience.
"Now, for the next phase of our auction, we have different creatures from our plane of existence!"
"For the first creature, we have a Shadow Elder from the Shadow Realm!"
"A Shadow Elder?" Maximus thought with interest as he looked at the dark-hazy figure on the platform.
The Shadow Realm is a unique place in the Aeon Plane.
Unlike a living dimension, this dimension is a place blurred between reality and the void.
Although it doesn't have a civilization of its own, it's full of unique treasures and was visited by creatures from all over the Aeon Plane.
A Shadow Elder is a Tier 11 monster living in the Shadow Realm.
Once tamed, it can hide in its host's shadow, making it a perfect bodyguard.
"The first bid is 100 million origin coins!"
Soon, bids began to come in one after another.
"110 million!"
"150 million!"
"200 million!"
"300 million!"
Seeing the price slowly climb, Maximus grew a little nervous.
He had just been thinking about buying a bodyguard, and now this Shadow Elder had appeared—it couldn't be more perfect.
With a Tier 11 bodyguard, as long as he didn't seek death, Maximus could run rampant throughout the Dimensional Alliance.
Maximus was only at Tier 9; although he could fight with a Tier 11 individual, it would attract too much attention.
Perhaps the trouble his strength would bring would be more problematic than his enemies.
Even Otto, who was stronger than him, had a bodyguard, even in a virtual realm where he couldn't die—so why couldn't he?
As the bidding on the Shadow Elder reached billions, it began to slow down.
This was a staple for a strong dimension; not only could it purify the dimension's energy, but it could also strengthen the energy density and barrier protection.
Unfortunately, just like a thousand years ago, this dimensional treasure quickly shot up to tens of billions of origin coins, eventually selling for 170 billion origin coins.
"For our next item, it's still a Void Heart Core, but at the Tier 10 level!"
This time, Maximus could finally afford the dimensional treasure and easily bought it for a few hundred million origin coins.
Winning the foundational treasure he had wished a thousand years ago, Maximus felt fulfilled.
From helplessness to easily winning the treasure he wanted, this thousand years had not been in vain.
"With this, the Etherium Realm should evolve into a Tier 10 dimension in just a few thousand years!" Maximus calculated.
After passing on a few dimensional treasures he couldn't afford, the Tier 9 ultimate treasures finally appeared.
In full gear and making sure it wouldn't attract hatred, Maximus bought almost all the Tier 9 ultimate treasures being auctioned.
This time, Maximus spent 15 billion origin coins and bought over a thousand Tier 9 ultimate treasures.
"A huge harvest!" Maximus thought with a smile.
This saved him over a hundred thousand years of the World Tree condensing ultimate treasures.
"It seems I could advance to Tier 10 in less than a million years!"
Maximus had thought it would take him a few million years to advance to Tier 10.
Using the money earned by the Dimensional Origin Library, he had shortened it to just a few tens of thousands of years.
Clenching his fists, the auction continued.
This time, Maximus no longer had any money and could only watch the auction.
Spending over 4 billion before and another 15 billion, he had less than a billion left in his account.
His accumulation for nearly a thousand years was depleted in a single sitting.
He couldn't even buy those tier 9 expandable treasure he planned to buy.
Each of them cost billions of origin coins which was out of his budget.
The money he stored in the Etherium Realm was for emergency, Maximus couldn't move it because of his willfulness.
With nothing else to do, Maximus and Lux watched the auction boredly.
Soon, the last auction item was a Tier 11 dimensional barrier, slightly worse than the previous auction.
Even then, this sought-after treasure still sold for a few trillion origin coins.
"I'm still far from being rich..." Maximus mused, glancing at Lux, who was also sighing.
This auction opened Lux's eyes.
Just when he was getting complacent, earning hundreds of millions of origin coins, reality slapped him in the face.
The saying that a Tier 11 individual only possesses millions of origin coins was like poison, making him comfortable with his achievements.
This was obviously spread maliciously, numbing the lower class into being content with what they had.
Seeing some figures who were only at Tier 10 casually spending hundreds of millions to billions of origin coins, the higher class was grander than he had imagined.
"Just tread step by step; you shouldn't set your limit to these illusory numbers. There has never been a limit—each path leads to infinity..." Maximus advised, seeing Lux's mood.
When he first attended the Void Auction, Maximus also felt helpless.
Seeing trillions of origin coins being spent casually, he realized he was so small, mingling with these giants.
"Don't worry, Father. In the future, I'll give you a few trillion origin coins as your pocket money!" Lux vowed.
If he couldn't do at least this much, Lux felt he had lived in vain.
"That's good. I'm looking forward to that day."