CHAPTER 82
WHEN THINGS GO GREAT
The auction avenue wasn’t anything like Lino was expecting; settled just outside the Grens City, on the massive plains, it spanned over three thousand squared kilometers, and rose up to nearly sixty meters into the sky. Built like a half-circular gladiator arena, on one end were the seats, one row over another, while on another was a massive, rectangular platform hovering slightly above the ground. While thick walls encompassed it all around, it wasn’t roofed, revealing the starlit sky far up above, graced with silver-piercing, round, full moon. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold, Lino lamented, rued by the thousands of people currently sitting and chatting ceaselessly.
By Lino’s account, there were at least twenty thousand people present, and to make matters worse, even the weakest of them was at Level 92, Mythic Realm. Technically, Lino was the weakest person in the entire avenue, which infuriated him quite a bit. To think that so many people would show up even when he demanded materials as an exchange... haii, world truly didn’t lack rich young masters. Lino sat in a corner, completely inconspicuous and ignored by the crowd. Ava opted not to have VIP rooms as, according to her, ‘everyone attending would be an VIP’. Lino didn’t really care, one way or another; he only wanted to quickly get this over with so he can see how much can he squeeze out of these rich bastards with too much free time on their hands.
It was just as the midnight ticked that a beautiful woman appeared on the platform out of nowhere. She wore just a few pieces of clothing, revealing long, thin legs and cleavage that looked more like a massive crevice in earth. She had dazzling smile spread across her thin, beautiful face. Even Lino couldn’t help but gulp slightly; he must ask Ava to introduce her to him after this is over. Hmm, I can hire her as an assistant. Heh, hehehe... he had perverted smile on his face which he quickly hid, immediately appearing to be a savant of skies.
“Welcome, Honored Guests,” Hiss, even her voice is soooooo good!! “To the very first auction of ‘Exotic Workshop’.” that was the name that Ava suggested for the shop, and Lino agreed as he didn’t really care. “Today is a rare chance to obtain exquisite treasures crafted by a blacksmith that the Major discovered. As for the rules, I am sure you’re all familiar with them; everything is the same as with every other auction save for the currency - we’ll only accept various materials that are listed in the booklets you were given. Without further ado, let me present you with the first item of the auction - [Rare] grade sword, [Heaven Piercer].” another two beautiful ladies hollered over a shiny sword on a cart, presenting it to the riled up masses. “Crafted from the [Tempered Hell Metal] and enhanced with [Level 40 Fire Demonic Core], its main property is the fact that each swing will unleash a torrential fire upon your foes. The minimum price is 100 points, and each increase must be at least 10.” as she finished, the stats of the weapon were also presented to everyone in the audience.
[Heaven Piercer - Rare]
Level: 80
Damage: 488-920
+10% Fire Affinity
Special Effect: Each attack unleashes torrent of fire in a frontal cone. The amount of fire depends on the expended Qi.
Note: Crafted from ordinary materials, it became extraordinary weapon.
There was only a moment of stiff silence before the entire place erupted in bids and chatter and cheers. Even Lino nearly fell on his bum when he heard someone immediately call out ‘1000 points’. According to his demands, the most valuable material was at 10,000 points, while majority were around 100 points. I wonder how will they lose their shit when the [Epic] one gets on stage? Lino stroked his chin as he watched them throw away money, snickering silently.
“2000!!”
“5000!!!”
“Fuck, I’m a Heavenly Son of Dru’gh the Great, and I will bid 10,000 points!! Which one of you bastards dare go against me?!”
“Fuck you, Heavenly Dung of Fuck-nothing!! Daddy here bids 15,000 points! What can you do about it, huh?!”
“Screw it, I’m bidding 30,000!! I have to get that sword!!”
“35,000!!”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“37,000!!”
Lino was currently standing shellshocked. Oi, oi, did worms eat your brains?!!! It’s just a shitty sword!! It literally took me an hour to craft it!! Are you all insane?! However, what Lino didn’t know is that these people didn’t lack resources, but means to turn them into battle strength. One has to know that even if they come across another [Rare] weapon, chances of it having attributes such as bonus ‘Fire Affinity’ or Special Effect are so small one can’t even dream of it. Yet, the sword before them had both. What did that signal? It signaled that it was not only extremely strong, but also extremely sturdy!
Ava was also currently sitting some ways off, a smile on her face. She indeed expected this; if she had thick enough of a skin, she’d bid herself on every single one of the items. However, she pushed down the desire as she was already promised a [Legendary] grade staff. In her eyes, these people were fighting for crumbs while she was getting the actual bread. She knew that Lino hid some of the things he crafted, but she didn’t care. It’d be weird if he didn’t; after all, this was more than enough for the shop to immediately become a legendary existence in the valley. She was also glad that those bigshots were holding back; an ‘accidental’ leak let them know that there would be an [Epic] grade sword at the end of the auction. I wonder for how much will it sell? 500 million? Hmm...
If Lino could hear her thoughts, he’d definitely shudder and cringe. Which idiot would give away so many resources for an [Epic] weapon?! Alas, that was what it meant to lack understanding of the masses. In the end, the sword was bought by a middle-aged man for incredible 140,000 points, and after Lino saw the mass of resources the man was handing over with a smile on his face, he nearly went down and smacked his head silly to educate him of the value. If Lino wanted, of those resources that the man gave away, he could craft at least 60 of those swords!! Good lord!
Following the sword, three additional [Rare] quality items were auctioned off, each selling for at least 130,000 points. Lino became slightly numb to it all, realizing he didn’t need 3 months. Heck, he can probably gather everything he needed in 10 days. These people were way too rich in his eyes.
“Next up, we have something different,” the woman on the stage calmed the crowd easily with her charming smile. I must have her! “The following item is neither armor nor weapon, but don’t disregard it so quickly. Of [Unique] grade, it’s a priceless treasure for anyone cultivating Earth Qi. [Totem of Earth Gods] is its name.” suddenly, a five meters tall totem appeared on the stage seemingly out of nowhere. It exuded extraordinary aura, seemingly sucking all Earthly Qi around it directly. It had strange carvings around its surface, with wing-like extrusions at the sides of its main body. When the audience saw its stats, there was only utter silence.
[Totem of the Earth Gods - Unique]
Level: NIL
+100% Earth Affinity
+10% Attraction to Earth Spirits
Special Effect: Speed of cultivating Earth Qi is increased by 400%.
Special Effect: Increases battle capabilities in the mountainous terrain by 20%
Note: One of its kind, the item cannot be replicated by any means; it will forever be helpful to those fated to it.
Silence. Utter, complete silence. Ava understood. She was the same when she first saw the stats. This was no longer something that should be craftable by a human hand; this belonged to the Realm of Gods in her eyes. She believed it was utter waste to auction it off here. Rather, she wanted to take it to the Central Continent, or even perhaps Holy Continent, and auction it off there. She was confident she could have sold it for at the very least 10 billion Supreme Qi Stones. However, when she told Lino it could take years for that to happen, he just dismissed it and told her to sell it here for whoever’s fated to it.
“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!!”
“WHAT THE FUCK?!!!”
“THAT’S A LIE!!! THAT’S A FUCKING LIE!!!” hundreds of voices hollered all sorts of profanities as they were unable to make peace with the fact that something like that actually existed.
“Staring price is 100,000 points, each increase must be at least 10,000 points. Go.” there was only a moment of silence before everything exploded.
“1 million!!”
“Ten million!!!” bigshots finally began joining in, causing Lino to actually plummet down on his knees. However, nobody even paid any attention to him. T-ten million?!!!! WHY DON’T YOU JUST THROW YOUR GODDAMN MONEY AWAY, YOU ABSOLUTE MORONS!!! However, when the price reached 100 million, Lino gave up. Forget 10 days, he already had enough resources to go back, burn half of them as an offering to god of tits and wine, and still have excess for the war. A-am I the retarded one?! Should--should I have held back a bit more?! But hell, I barely squeezed half of my skills even into that [Epic] sword!! Are they really thirsty?!
Another thing Lino didn’t know is that, besides weapons and armors, unique items like the totem were not only rare, but almost non-existent. In the end, everyone would occasionally come across a fortuitous encounter where they’d get a hold of a decent weapon or armor, but when it came to unique items, they can only sit back in the corner and dream about them. Especially something like the totem, which didn’t only increase their potential in present, but would do so for endless years to come. Even when they died, their future generations would still ride the skies so long as they had the totem. If someone started cultivating at an early age with the totem around, they’re bound to become invincible existence in the world even if their talent was so bad it went in reverse. In the end, it was sold for 400 million points to an old man, who immediately became the source of envy for hundreds of people in the audience. Meanwhile, Lino was crying. Not metaphorically, or figuratively; he was literally crying in the corner. For how much he struggled through his life, these farts were throwing money toward the sky without a care in the world. Unjust!! The world is so unjust!!