“Our first item up for auction today, as well as the theme for the first part of the acution… Art! This lovely painting is a genuine Euade DeRoset, who needs no introduction, enchanted to draw the eye of all who come within proximity of it!” Sin said, and I immediately tuned him out.

I began to sketch with one hand, focusing on the Transport Item spell. Orykson glanced at me, then nodded. A moment later, he frowned.

“You should also be practicing your mana meditation.”

I frowned at that. Trying to combine moving my hands to form the right sketching motion and the internal mana manipulation of my meditative technique was hard.

Before I’d even started to get close to managing it, Orykson spoke again.

“And use your other hand to sketch a different spell,” Orykson said. “I’d recommend you focus on a temporal spell, since the opposing forces should help reduce the mental strain of using two hands.”

I tried to juggle sketching both spells with opposing hands, and that alone was too much for me, let alone trying to also include the mana meditation. It wasn’t even the manipulation of moving the mana into both hands, it was physically trying to make such radically different shapes with the separate hands.

I tried for a simpler shape, going for a triangle with my right hand and a square with my left, but even that was really hard. I practiced for a while, but eventually got bored and went back to trying to sketch Transport Item while doing my mana meditation.

That was also absurdly hard, but less so. It’s main constraint was in my spirit and mind’s ability to manipulate mana, not in my body, so I was able to push that further. Orykson glanced at me and shrugged, then went back to paying attention to the auction.

I only took brief breaks when the Avatar of Sin announced a new item. One of the items, about an hour and a half in, had Orykson lean forwards. It was a paper-thin rapier, beautifully ornamental. But instead of being made from metal, the entire item seemed to be made of shadows given substance, and the runic and ornamental engravings were made of light.

“Now, I know this was the art section of the action, but I couldn't help myself! And let's be honest, a blade like is truly art… This beautiful blade is a growth item, produced by the Craftsman, an acclaimed wandering Occultist,” Sin announced excitedly. The audience ‘oohed’ in time with the flourish of his hand.

“It is capable of absorbing spells of its level or below that it strikes and storing them within the void of the blade for later use, with a maximum capacity equal to twice the amount of maximum mana inside the bonded user’s mana-garden,” Sin continued. “Not only that, but it can be charged with either solar or lunar mana to infuse the blade with enhanced speed and strength, quite like a standard physical enchantment.”

His fingers danced along the blade and it vanished, then appeared in his left hand, then his right, then quickly flickered back and forth.

“It’s also capable of moving from hand to hand in an instant,” he announced. “We’ll start the bidding at two and a half million silver.”

I glanced at Orykson.

“That seems… A lot stronger than the growth item blade you had was,” I said. “I mean, a flaming blade is nice, but that seems absurd.”

“Twenty million,” Orykson boomed, before turning back to me. “Power is not the largest factor when it comes to enchanting, potions, or wards. Skill is. And The Craftsman is undoubtedly the greatest craftsperson alive. Quite possibly in all of history.”

Dusk pouted and whistled at me, and I held my hands up.

“Hey, now, that’s not what I said. You’re amazing Dusk, and I wouldn’t –”

“Fifty-six million,” Orykson called out.

“– trade you for the world,” I said. “I just said that Orykson’s sword was less impressive than that one.”

Dusk let out crow-caw laughter and fell off my shoulder, and Orykson rolled his eyes.

"Sold, for fifty-six million!" Sin called. "Now, with that last item, we are off onto our first of three breaks. But don't leave yet! Next up we'll be entering the potions, scrolls, and one use magic items section of the auction!"

I groaned and stood to strech my legs. My meds made this bearable, but they didn't make it fun, and if I hadn't sketched throughout, I would have gone utterly mad.

I used the break to go for a walk and use the restroom, then grabbed a few more snacks – this time, crab and some sort of pesto on a cracker.

I was nervous that Mallory was going to pop out of the woodwork ant attack me, but to my relief, nothing happened, and I was able to head back to the auction booth just fine.

“Welcome back one and all!” Sin announced, clapping lazily. “Our first item up for auction now is something that I’m sure you’re all going to find interesting. A strength enhancement potion.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

He paused to allow the confused muttering to spread through the crowd. Even I was a bit confused. I might not have the plants I needed to make one of those, but that was only a second gate potion.

“Now, this is no average strength enhancement potion, of course,” Sin said, smirking like he knew a secret we didn’t. “This enhancement potion is a permanent strength enhancement. Drink it, and it will permanently alter the life flows in the body, and carve new ones as well. Particularly in the arms, legs, and core, but a little bit everywhere. These flows will allow the body to channel far more strength than an ordinary human would be able to. Let’s start the bidding at fifty-five thousand silver!”

That was well beyond my price range, so I tuned it out and started sketching again, trying to do what Orykson had suggested and both sketch my spell and practice the Depths of Starry Night technique.

I thought I might have a good guess on the pattern that was used, though, as long as it matched the last part of the auction. Sin brought out a really big item to start with and close with, but the middling items were where people started to tune out. If I was going to find anything within my limited price range, that was going to be where I found it.

Sure enough, forty-five minutes in, something that caught my attention came up.

“This lovely spiritual wine is called the Heart Peach Wine Vortex!” Sin said, spinning a wine glass on one finger. I did wonder a bit how he was able to balance it on one finger like that, but he did so with aplomb. “We have eight doses up for auction tonight. What does it do? Well, it’s designed to help with the automation of a mana meditation. It only works for those who have yet to enter the spellbinder stage, so we’ll start the bidding for the first glass at one hundred silver!”

I watched the bidding carefully. Five people seemed to be really going for the purchasing of the wine, so I ignored the first five glasses, but as the five big bidders each got a glass, I moved in. On the sixth glass, I leaned forwards as soon as he started the bidding.

“One fifty,” I called out.

“One sixty-five,” someone else called.

“One seventy-five,” I called.

“Two hundred,” the same person called.

I fell out then, but on the seventh glass, I tossed in my bid again.

“One seventy-five,” I said.

This time, the bid only rose to one eighty, and I grinned.

“One eighty and a first gate healing potion with half the usual level of mana toxicity,” I said.

That actually sent a few small mutters through the crowd, much to my surprise, and I wondered if I’d undersold the value of the potion.

Oh well.

“We’ll need to verify the strength of any potion we accept,” Sin said. “Any counteroffers?”

When nobody did, I grinned, and Dusk let out a quiet, fish-sounding whoop. I wasn’t sure how her whoop sounded like a fish, but it did. Kind of a glub-glub sound.

I returned to sketching and practicing my mana meditation until something caught my attention.

“Tonight, we have three vials of Dott’s Draught up for sale!” Sin announced. “This rare concoction needs no introduction, but for the uninitiated, it binds a spell formula sketched with it to the walls of your mana-garden. This will lock up more of your mana than a normal mastery, but it’s ideal for any spell that already makes use of the walls of the mana-garden, like full-gate spells, perfected mana generators, or single-spell gates. We’ll start the bidding at one thousand silver!”

This time, I watched carefully as the first draught was snapped up for seven thousand silver.

That was lower than the usual asking price, and I wondered who’d put the draught up for sale. Maybe some alchemist who’d needed it to pass a college test, but couldn’t use it? That would make sense.

During the second round, I tossed in my bid.

“Two thousand silver, and a second gate healing potion with half the usual level of mana toxin!”

“Three thousand one hundred,” someone countered, and my eyebrows rose. Was my little potion really worth all that?

Then again, maybe. Alchemy was lucrative, and I’d had to spend a lot of time gathering resources to make the healing potions.

“Two thousand, and one of each first and second gate,” I called out.

“Eight thousand,” someone called.

A voice I recognized.

Mallory.

I gritted my teeth.

“Two thousand, two first gate, four second gate, and two Soultoad’s Seat mushrooms.”

“Nine thousand,” Mallory countered, and I sat back down. I wasn’t able to counter that without selling things that I really needed.

On the third dose of Dott’s Draught, I was sniped by someone else – not Mallory this time, thankfully, just some random politician’s kid.

Things quieted down and I practiced more until a strange crystal came up that sent me reeling. Despite my reaction, most people seemed unimpressed.

“One of the Beastgate Mana-Mark Warding Crystal,” Sin said. “This crystal acts as a key to a trial trail known as the Beastgate, located in the Dragontooth Glacier, which opens for those below spellbinder once a year, on the longest night of the year. It’s a notoriously difficult gauntlet of combat, but if you succeed, you’ll be granted a mark that allows you to cast a beast spell using a base mana type you don’t have. Details on the exact nature of how many, what the cost is, and more are relatively unknown, given most flee the trial before they complete it. We’ll begin the bidding at five hundred silver.”

I shot forwards, practically throwing myself off the balcony in my haste, and even Orykson gave me a strange look.

It didn’t matter. If the mark would allow me to cast even one spell with the base that I didn’t have, then it would be worth it. By combining it with the Beast Mage’s Soul and Magister’s Body, I could manage the other aspects, and use my own mana to help with those.

It might not work, of course, and even if it did, it’d take an absurd amount of work, at least a week of travel, and would push me to the limits. Come to think of it, that was probably why most people weren’t super interested in it.

But I was.

“One thousand three hundred,” someone called out.

“Two thousand!” I cried.

“Three thousand,” Mallory called.

Primes.

“Two thousand and a first and second gate healing potion with reduced mana toxicity!”

“Five thousand,” Mallory countered.

“Two thousand, two second gate, two first gate,” I said. “And a single Soultoad’s Seat mushroom.”

“Nine thousand,” Mallory said. It wasn’t lost on me that was the same bid that had dropped me out last time.

I gritted my teeth, trying to figure out if I could increase my bid. Probably not without selling all of my Soultoad’s Seat, all of my mana-apples, and plucking the leaves of my Healer’s Heart to dangerous levels, and even then, there was no guarantee that Mallory couldn’t just up the bid again.

She was absurdly wealthy, after all. Even if she just turned around and resold everything at a loss, she’d be able to take the loss.

I couldn’t. I slumped down in my chair and sighed. I’d have to keep an eye on the markets and see if I could find another wardstone somewhere. This couldn’t be the only one in all of Mossford. We shared a border with Dragontooth, after all.

Dusk whistled that it would be okay, and patted my check. I smiled at her.

“I know. Thanks, Dusk.”

I turned my attention back to the auction again as the next item was introduced, then started sketching when it wasn’t interesting.