The auctioneer was giving the Mist Generator his best sales pitch.
"Invisibility? No! This is a far finer art! A mist that blankets everything! Crafted by the renowned master artisan Walkerley, it is the finest shield you could ask for! Whether you need to shake off a troublesome Sea Monster, escape an enemy's pursuit, or set the stage for a surprise attack, this strategic treasure is irreplaceable! Leave your enemies lost in confusion and guesswork! Starting bid—one hundred Chips!"
The instant the auctioneer finished, bids rang out from every direction.
"One hundred!"
"One hundred and twenty!"
"One hundred and fifty!"
"One hundred and eighty!"
Many people in the hall were merchants who shipped goods by sea. The Mist Generator would be useful to them: if they ran into pirates, they could switch it on and speed away.
Ling Chu's first thought was that it would also be excellent for robbing people and fighting. The Illusion Projection feature, in particular, could catch an enemy off guard.
She had no idea what a Low-grade Mana Stone was, though. It sounded like some kind of energy stone. She would win the bid first and figure that out later.
"One hundred and ninety!"
Ling Chu placed her bid without hesitation.
"Two hundred!"
Across from her, the bidder in Box 12 pressed the bidding bell again.
"Two hundred and twenty!"
The bidder across from her followed: "Two hundred and thirty!"
"Two hundred and fifty!" Ling Chu promptly rang the bell.
She believed money was meant to be spent. Hoarding Sea Shells would never make her stronger; it would only make her look like an easy mark.
If she missed out on this, who knew where she would find another one?
The guest in the opposite box frowned. It was bad enough that she had fought him for the Mermaid. Now she wanted this too?
During the bidding for the Mermaid, she had raised the price quickly. She was doing the same thing now, jumping twenty Chips at a time as if money were no object. He couldn't get a read on her limit.
Just before the auctioneer's countdown ended, the guest in the opposite box gritted his teeth and made another bid. "Two hundred and sixty."
"Two hundred and eighty!"
The other bidder had hesitated so long that Ling Chu guessed he was close to his limit. She raised the bid another twenty.
"Two hundred and eighty Chips, going once! Two hundred and eighty Chips, going twice! Two hundred and eighty Chips... sold!"
The auctioneer brought down his hammer.
A moment later, the Mist Generator was delivered to her box.
Delighted to have won what she wanted, Ling Chu put the Mist Generator into her Ring. Then she opened the Trading Post to see whether anyone was selling a Low-grade Mana Stone.
She found one listed for 9,999 Sea Coins.
Ling Chu nearly cursed. The seller was clearly asking an outrageous price because he was the only person on the server who had one.
The Mist Generator itself had cost the equivalent of just 28,000 Sea Coins. A Low-grade Mana Stone was, at most, a kind of battery. How could it be worth so much?
Besides, who else in the whole region could even come up with 9,999 Sea Shells right now? She could, but that didn't mean she would let herself be ripped off.
She closed the Trading Post without contacting the seller. Anyone who listed it at such an absurd price was waiting for a desperate buyer, and she had no intention of volunteering.
Before she knew it, the Auction had been running for over three hours and was nearing its end.
Just as Ling Chu began to feel sleepy, the spotlights flared to life, bathing the display platform in blinding white light.
The auctioneer drew a deep breath. His professional smile gave way to something close to religious fervor as he carefully pointed toward the velvet-covered platform.
His piercing voice rang through the hall. "Ladies! Gentlemen! Hold your breath! What you are about to see is the final lot of this Auction! It is no mere worldly treasure, but... a lost epic, a landmark pointing the way to an age of myth!"
He swept away the velvet, revealing the lot beneath: what looked like an ancient stone tablet, faintly glowing. No—more precisely, it was a rubbing.
The rubbing was made of a material that was neither metal nor stone. Its edges were rough, but it was covered in extraordinarily intricate, beautiful script. The characters seemed to glow from within, flowing with an ancient, mysterious power.
The auctioneer declared, "Look closely! This is no forgery, no invention! This is a rubbing of a Sacred Stone Slab! The script inscribed on it is the supreme writing of the Elf race, long since lost to the dust of time! A people who could summon a breeze with a single syllable and commune with plants through a single suffix! They are gone, but their wisdom and legacy live on, hidden within these slabs!"
The hall fell deathly silent. Everyone was stunned by the lot's origins.
"According to ancient legend, the Elf race recorded all their wisdom—of magic, of life, of the deepest secrets of this world—and the location of their unrivaled treasure across these Sacred Stone Slabs! And most crucially..."
He paused deliberately, his gaze sweeping over every greedy, tense face in the hall. When he spoke again, it was almost a whisper, yet a magical device carried his words clearly to every ear.
"Legend says the final clue to the exact location of the Tree of Luga—the world tree that gave birth to the Elf race, holds boundless life energy, and may even reveal the secret of immortality—lies within the message hidden across the full set of slabs! Whoever gathers them and deciphers their script can find the Tree of Luga and claim everything the Elf race left behind!"
His words hit the auction hall like water thrown into boiling oil.
"The Elf race! They were real?!" "The Tree of Luga... the secret of immortality!" "We have to get it! Whatever it costs!" "But... it's only a rubbing, and just one piece at that..."
Bidding bells rang with unprecedented speed and volume, merging into one piercing din.
"Starting bid: one thousand Chips! Bids must rise by at least ten Chips. Bidding begins now!"
"One thousand five hundred!"
"Two thousand!"
"Two thousand eight hundred!"
The figures leaped from the auctioneer's mouth at a staggering pace. Each raise alone exceeded the price of some earlier lots.
Ling Chu had wanted to join in, but she discovered she didn't even have enough Chips to meet the starting bid.
As the price climbed to an astronomical sum, the bids finally slowed. The rubbing was eventually sold to an unknown guest for 3,720 Chips.
Ling Chu marveled inwardly. It wasn't even a real Sacred Stone Slab, only a rubbing of one, yet it had driven the bidders into a frenzy.
No wonder Lucas had killed Titch and the others for knowing the slab's location. The lure of this thing was too great.
An ancient race. Primordial secrets. Immortality. Treasure.
Every one of those words could stir the greed and desire buried deepest in a person's heart.
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