Chapter 68 Auction
"You should have noticed that the number of seats on the front and back is completely different." Angar said pointing uneven number of seats in every row.
"The front seats are for Marquess Rank Nobles, and the next row of seats are for the Earls Rank noble, and every following row is for following Rank nobles."
"You should sit in the row according to your Noble Rank, as there are a set number of seats for the auction participants in each row," Angar said, clearing Alex's confusion.
"Brother, I appreciate your help," Alex replied as Angar had saved him from getting embarrassed because he was planning on sitting in the back not to gain any unnecessary attention.
"You should go to your seat. Cedric is almost finished with explaining the auction rules." Angar said as he left to take his seat.
Alex quickly walked toward the second row and took the last empty seat, and as Alex took his seat, he got many surprised looks from other players as he was the third Earl player in the hall.
The players were surprised because the other two Earl Players were from the major guilds and had some popularity, but Alex was just a ghost, and nobody had any clue about his identity.
'They can only see my name, so it's alright.' Alex thought, not minding the stares and focussing on auctioneer Cedric.
Alex knew something like this could happen, so he had already used the mask to hide his level, but that was all he could do as the person who checked his Noble identity had already told him that he couldn't use any mask or appearance-altering item while participating in the auction.
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"Ladies and gentlemen, If you have any questions, you can ask right now because after the auction starts, it is not polite to disturb the auctioneer," Cedric said after explaining a bunch of rules.
The rules Cedric explained were mostly advice to the new participant not to do anything stupid, or they will get banned from ever joining the auctions held by Duke Brythan.
"Butler Cedric, I heard rumors of there being a companion beast of Rare Epic quality in today's auction." A Noble Marquess asked the question that the majority of people in the hall wanted to ask.
"Marquess Francis, If a companion beast of Rare Epic quality is on the auction list, it should come for bidding at some point in the auction," Cedric replied, neither confirming nor denying.
'I believe the rumors are true because if they were not this, many high Ranking Nobles wouldn't have joined this auction.'
Alex believed that rumors were true because all the high Ranking nobles who joined the auction were wealthy merchants with very low personal strength, and they all came here with only one goal of acquiring the rumored beast companion.
If they could get a beast companion with high potential, they would spend their wealth to nurture him, turning him into a loyal, strong protector that they could truth with the protection of their life.
"If nobody has any questions, I will start the auction," Cedric said as he took out a full-body cloth armor displayed on a crystal mannequin.
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Name: Holy Priest Set [Light Armor]
Equipment: Five piece Armor Set
Restriction: Healer Class
Quality: Unique (Middle)
Grade: Third Rank (Upgradable)
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①-Effect: Increase Light Element damage by 40%
-Increase Dark Element Resistance by 20%
②-Effect: Increase the effectiveness of healing spells by 50%
-Decrease All Light Element Spell [Cool Down] by 25%
③-Effect: Increase Vitality by 70%
-Increase Stamina by 40%
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Two armor pieces set effect: [Wide Area Heal]Skill will be useable.
Three armor pieces set effect: [Light Lance] Skill will be useable.
Four armor pieces set effect: [Holly Judgment] Skill will be useable.
Five armor pieces set effect: [Bane of Undead] Skill will be useable.
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Description. A Cloth Armor set made by the Grand Master Blacksmith Thraddac using the Hide of a Phantom Leopard.
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"This Magnificent armor set is today's first item for auction."
"The Armor Base Price is 20K Gold Coins, and the Minimum Bid Increment is 1K Gold coins, and after every ten bids, the bid increment price will get double."
"Let's start the bidding," Cedric said calmly, not showing the enthusiasm of an auctioneer.
'This armor is good, but with the restriction of only healer-type class, it is at best worth 65K Gold coins.' Alex thought after checking the armor.
A middle-quality Unique armor, at minimum, would cost around 45K Gold coins, and the best middle-quality armor could cost up to a little over 100K gold coins.
'I will wait for some real items worth bidding on.'
Alex knew this armor was just the opening item, and good stuff would come late in the auction, so with no interest in the armor, he decided to enjoy the bidding war between the Players and the Nobles.
There were more than thirty participants interested in buying the armor, making the bidding competitive but not hectic as every interested participant only raised their hand to place their bid.
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"21K Gold Coins"
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"34K Gold Coins"
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"48K Gold Coins"
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"62K Gold Coins Going Once."
"62K Gold Coins Going Twice."
"SOLD"
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"Congratulations, Marquess Francis, on buying the first item of today's auction," Cedric said, placing the armor and crystal mannequin back into his space ring.
After the first item was successfully sold, Cedric took out seven more armor sets, one by one, of Low Epic to Low Unique quality, and not a single one piqued his interest as every one of the armor sets was useless compared to his yeti king armor.
"Butler Cedric, I think it is time for you to take out some good stuff on which we can have a healthy bidding competition." Marquess sitting next to Francis said.
"Marquess Asdar, I think the next weapon should meet your expectations," Cedric replied.
'This Noble name is Asdar?' Alex was surprised to hear the name.
'If there are no other Noble named Asdar in the gold kingdom, then he should be one of the traitors.'
'I need to research Marquess Asdar to find out if he is the same noble who was a baron six years ago.'
The list of traitors Alex got from the senior Lukius diary contained the name of fourteen Nobles, and four of those traitors belonged to the Gold kingdom Nobles.
'I wonder how many noble presents here have become demon slaves over the past six years?'
The Gold kingdom had close to one hundred and fifty Oficiall NPC Nobles, and Alex was confident that at least 20% of that number belonged to traitors.
'The people I recognized from the traitor list have all gained tremendous power over the past six years, and most of the traitor nobles have gained higher authority in each kingdom.'
'Let's just enjoy the auction right now, as worrying about the demonic cult will only add stress to my life.' Alex thought, seeing Cedric setting up a stand to display the next item.
'These knives look familiar?' Alex thought, seeing Cedric displaying two long black throwing knives on the stand.
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Name: Space Phantom (???)
Weapon Type: Throwing knives
Quality: Unique (???)
Grade: First Rank(Upgradable)
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①-Effect: Increase Agility by 20%
- Increase Space element affinity by 1%
②-Effect: Increase critical hit chance by 20%
- Increase critical hit damage by 30%
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[Skills]
?-[Teleport]
?-[Space Slash]
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Description: A set of throwing knives made by an unknown blacksmith.
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"I think everybody understands the true value of this set of throwing knives," Cedric said after seeing all nobles looking at the set of throwing knives with bright eyes.
"This set of throwing knives could be a part of a legacy item, but I have no solid evidence to prove that claim," Cedric said.
"Butler Cedric, Can you please start the bidding," Francis said, interrupting Cedric from explaining anything further about the throwing knives.
"The throwing knives set Price is 100K Gold Coins, and the Minimum Bid Increment is 10K Gold coins, and after every ten bids, the bid increment price will get double."
After Cedric confirmed the price, all the Nobles and players started a bidding war to acquire the throwing knives while Alex was conflicted about making a tough decision.
'I am not 100% certain, but these knives look exactly like the Six knives of Doom.'
Alex searched his memory, trying to remember anything about these two knives but other than a few blurry short memories, he could not remember anything else significant.
'At the rate, these ignorant idiots are bidding, the price will reach more than one million gold coins, and buying these throwing knives for more than 10K White flame coins would mess up my chances to acquire any other valuable item.'