บท 41: Divine Auction 3
Draco was surprised when he saw the egg just sitting there. He was sorely tempted to see what was inside it, but couldn't because it would strain his eyes too much.
Once again, he would wait for it to be revealed before working his magic on it. Retracting his gaze, he turned to the item on display right now. It was a token that had the symbol of a strange tower carved on it.
｢Babylon Tower Token – Unique Item
Rank: Legendary
Effect: Activates the Tower of Babylon quest｣
｢Tower of Babylon – Unique Quest
Description: The Tower of Babylon has returned to the world. Rise through all 99 floors of unique challenges to acquire Divinity!
Rewards: Treasure Chest (based on final completion), Gold (based on final completion)｣
Draco was curious about this item. He had never heard of such a quest in his past life. The description also stated that divinity could be acquired should one reach the top, but the rewards only listed Treasure Chest, meaning that upon reaching and completing floor 99, one could earn a Divine Treasure Chest! Wow!
Look at the hullabaloo Draco had to go through in order to get just one Divine Item. Now, there was a possibility for another. How could his heart not pump like a young maiden in her bridal chamber?
However, his face was locked in a frown. This was simply because even if a Divine Treasure Chest was achievable, it would require more than herculean effort to acquire it! Since entry into the first floor of the Tower of Babylon required a Legendary token, one could only imagine how hellish it would be to reach the top.
Still, it was one of the few items up for sale that Draco felt was worth his money!
"Hihi, our first Legendary item is here! The minimum bid is 15,000 platinum! Increments must be of a 100 platinum at least! Auctionnnnnn… start!!" Shizura called out with extreme excitement.
Her words filled the audience with a certain fervor as bids began in earnest.
"16,000 platinum!"
"17,000 platinum!"
"20,000 platinum!"
Lord, the bids kept increasing like they were on steroids. In the auction of Epic items, gold was used, but in the auction of Legendary items, platinum was used. This showed the true difference between the two tiers of items and how the natives of Boundless regarded them.
Draco was silent for now, waiting for the bidding to reach it's climax.
"25,000 platinum!"
"27,000 platinum!"
"28,000 platinum!"
"29,000 platinum!"
"30,000 platinum!"
After hitting 30,000 platinum, the bids began decreasing rapidly, till it hovered around 32,500 platinum. It was then that Draco decided to metaphorically lower his zipper so these fellows could peek at what a real donger should look like!
"40,000 platinum."
When that bid was dropped, the whole audience became silent. Their hearts began thumping as they turned to view the room Draco and Eva were located. The display was one-way, so the audience couldn't see in, but Draco could see out. Their hearts were thumping not because of the price alone, but what being in that VIP room represented.
A powerhouse among the hidden powers that no one could afford to offend! Aiyah, did we really try to compete with such a person?
But wait, this fellow up there, why need to flex so hard? If you had called out the minimum bid from the start, no one would have dared to compete, even the Church would take the loss with a stoic heart. You waited until now just to show us the weight of your wallet? Did you really have to rub in our differing circumstances?
While majority of the bidders felt antagonized, they kept their thoughts to themselves… or at least, that was what they thought.
"40,000 platinum once! Twice! Sold!" Shizura cried out while breaking into a happy dance. Wow, this auction was going so well!
Draco was deducted the price instantly and his item was delivered to him. Holding the token in his hands, he observed it curiously before pocketing it. He had peeked into its core framework and found that it was sort of like a modern car key. When he got close to the Tower of Babylon, the Tower would show itself. When he pressed the token against the doors of the Tower, he would be allowed entry.
The next few Legendary items were brought out and sold for outrageous prices. Even Draco couldn't sit still with all the money that was being moved about. Fuck, the Church of Light was really raking it in!
One day, the auction room at the topmost level of his shop would be this popular. Draco fantasized about that day in the future.
When the crown was brought out, Draco inspected it properly this time.
｢King's Coronation – Ornamental Item
Rank: Legendary
Effects:
Passive 1 – Kingly Aura: Suppress all who refuse to pay respects to the King.
Passive 2 – King's Wisdom: Boosts the Health, Mana and Stamina of all allied members by a factor of 3.
Active 1 – King's Rage: Summon the Royal Guard to punish all usurpers. Royal guard have a Rank cap of 6 and are summoner Rank + 4. Cooldown: 18 hours.｣
This item was perfect for NPC commanders, or Guild Leader players since it boosted ally strengths so much without a time limit. It would be an excellent tool for war or any large scale conflict. Draco however, didn't need such a thing with his skills and Armageddon in the bag.
The item was sold for 160,000 platinum to a handsome looking fellow who wore mage robes. Everyone noted his face carefully, making sure to add him to the list of people not to fuck with.
Next was the arrow.
｢Phoenix Cry – Arrow
Rank: Legendary
Effects:
Passive 1 – Sonic Wave: A high-pitched sound attack is launched the moment the arrow is shot. Only damages enemy targets within the range of 1km.
Passive 2 – Return: Arrow will always return to the quiver of the user after being shot, no matter where it is sent.
Active 1 – Vermilion Fire: Activate this skill to add a disintegration by immolation effect to the arrowhead. Cooldown: 1 minute.｣
Draco's heart stilled a little when seeing the effects of the Legendary item. It seemed like this particular arrow fell into the same category as his Dragon Soul. Items that were classified as Legendary but should probably have divine origins.
Draco wasn't sure if an arrow existed that was better than this one, but he knew he would be purchasing this arrow for sure.
"Whoa, this one looks dangerous~ I hope the person who buys it is a kind person! If you use it for evil, I'll beat you up!" Steam seemed to pop from Shizura's nostrils as she shook her fist, leaving the audience chuckling good-naturedly.
"The minimum bid is 45,000 platinum! Increments must be at least, 2,000 platinum! Auctionnnnn… Start!"
"47,000 platinum."
Immediately, the fervor died down as everyone's words got caught in their throat. When they turned to view that VIP room, they hesitated. The arrow was good, but very few in the crowd were bowmen. Even the hidden powers had very few archers in their ranks.
To most in the auction, the arrow would be a good present to butter up a hidden power or a good tool to use in the right situation. Its value didn't surpass offending a power the Church of Light deemed as worthy of care however.
Let's not forget, the Divine Auction was held monthly, not yearly or infrequently. It meant that not every hidden power would attend every auction. If something they liked popped up while they were unavailable, they had a hundred and one ways to claim it for themselves.
As such, no hidden power that would've contested Draco, even with his backing, was present this time.
How convenient.
"Ehhh?? No one is bidding? Come on guys, don't let the arrow get taken away so easily~" Shizura prodded the audience with a pout, but no one had the time to respond to her. Instead, they were giving her strange looks which made her confused. Did she do something wrong?
"Announce the sale." One of the other staff present told Shizura quickly with a panicked look on his face.
Even if she was naive and playful, Shizura wasn't stupid. She could easily tell that she had blundered somewhere, but what wrong she had done, she didn't know. This made her feel sad, but she still did her job.
"47,000 platinum going once! Going twice! Sold!"
Draco received the arrow for a price that would make the seller feel gloomy deep down. Such a unique legendary item should've sold for hundred of thousands of platinum, but came down to just barely above the minimum price! Wherever that fellow was, he must be spitting blood.
The Map was soon brought out and displayed before the audience.
｢Deep Vault Map – Unique Item
Rank: Legendary
Description: This is a map that leads to the Vault of the Deeps, the treasury of the city of Atlantis.｣
Draco's breath paused for second and so did Eva's. These two old monsters knew of Atlantis from both real world lore and in-game lore. It was one of the few ways to acquire a race change in Boundless. Boundless couldn't truly be a magical second world if you couldn't experience a transformation, physical or otherwise. Atlantis was the key to the Merwarrior and Mermaid race for males and females.
However, the God of the Sea was said to have left his trident there, which was a Divine item mind you, as well as most of his other possessions before receding into heaven.
A map to that treasury was enviable! However, similar to the Tower of Babylon's token, whether one could get the rewards depended on a huge amount of factors that instantly eliminated almost every individual from ever achieving it.
Draco ignored the bidding that was going on for it. Right now, he was memorizing the content of the map. His memory was typically good and when it concerned his past life's memories, they were perfect. However, memorizing this map required more than that since… since it was just like the Babylon Tower token!
In other words, the map would lead you to a checkpoint before displaying the next steps and finally act as a key to open the vault. Clearly, Poseidon wanted only a truly gifted fellow to acquire his stuff. What that meant for Draco was that he had to pierce through the map, which was already straining his mind, much less memorize it.
By the time the hammer came down and the map was sold for 200,000 platinum, Draco had managed to memorize it superficially. He would definitely have to find time and draw it on a parchment himself or it would bleed out of his mind.
Not just due to forgetfulness, but the nature of the map. After all Poseidon knew that fellows like Draco would exist. In fact, being able to retain the surface level of the content as solely due to the fact that Caelo, the owner of the divine eyes, was an apex God that Poseidon could only greet as grandpa.
The egg was soon brought out and put on display.
"Everyone! This is the last item for this month's Divine Auction and it's the most special! Make sure to bid for it like crazy, okay?" Shizura teased with a silly expression and a peace sign.
｢Drake – Combat Pet
Rank: Legendary
Description: This egg contains the offspring of a low rank fire Dragon and a Rank 7 Sea Serpent.｣
Draco and everyone else in the room stood up immediately. How could the Church dare to sell this? Who did they expect to buy this? This was far more valuable than his 23 Dragon's Blessing potions. Why not trade a few Divine Treasure Chests and keep it for themselves?
"Hihi, as everyone can see, we have the egg of a Wyvern, which has a 10% chance of evolving into a low rank fire dragon!" Shizura fanned the flames of the crowds passion with her words.
What the fuck? Draco was stumped. Did she just call a drake… a wyvern? Could it be that this lass' brains were fried due to too much posing like an idol?
"Draco, my identification of the item shows this." Eva said while private messaging something to him.
｢Wyvern – Combat Pet
Rank: Legendary
Description: This egg contains the offspring of a fire wyvern and a Rank 7 Sea Serpent. It has a 10% chance to evolve into a low rank fire dragon.｣
Draco slapped his head in understanding! He had been such a retard for a second there. He forgot that his Eyes of Caelo could see through everything and clearly, this egg had been altered somehow to hide its true content. Even though Eva's means of identification were crude, Draco assumed that no one in the audience should be able to see the true nature of the egg,
Just to make sure, he read through everyone's mind before breathing a sigh of relief.
"The minimum bid is 300,000 platinum! Increments must be at least 10,000 platinum! Auctionnnnnn… Start!"
"400,000 platinum!"
"410,000 platinum!"
"420,000 platinum!"
"450,000 platinum!"
"Fuck!"
"That's not a valid bid, idiot! 470,000 platinum!"
It reached a point where some bidders broke the no conflict rule due to feverishness. Even though the item was extremely valuable, very few could bid such astronomical amounts. That limited the fight to the select few who had held back earlier on.
"480,000 platinum! Whoever calls another bid will be my enemy for life!"
"Fuck, who is scared of you? 490,000 platinum!"
At this point, the feverishness started to tone down, but bidding wasn't over. After all, one party was able to spend 600,000 platinum just for Draco's Semi-Epic set. It would be foolishness to doubt the weight of these fellow's pockets.
"500,000 platinum. Everyone, please give me some face and allow me to play with this thing for a bit."
When Draco's voice sounded out, people initially intended to bid further because of their interest, but stopped when they heard his shameless words.
Please give you face? You, are you retarded? Can we even see your face that you're asking us to give it to you? We were all bidding fairly, what do you mean by give you face? Now continuing to bid would seem as if we were disdaining you, giving you reason to be offended! What the shit!
Shizura didn't make the same mistake as before when the voice from that room sounded out. "500,000 platinum going once! Going twice! Sold!"
Draco immediately received his reward with a filthy smile. What a way to cheat the system! He might have bid for the egg but ultimately given up! After all, he only had 600,000 platinum and a little more. He had spent 87,000 platinum on the token and arrow, leaving him with 513,000 platinum.
That was why once it reached 500,000 platinum for the egg, he had to suppress the bidding using his status. If the people down there saw that they had given face to a Rank 1 fellow, they might just bash their heads on the wall instead of making trouble with Draco.
Draco himself didn't stick around for the pointless banter. He immediately blinked out of the room with Eva, leaving a shocked Aide standing there. She felt her heart drop when she noticed Eva had left, but chided herself. She wasn't up to standard. Could she compete with a powerhouse like Draco?
The Aide just hoped Draco would drop by again so she could see that beautiful face…
That wistful expression was interrupted when she felt a pain on her neck. She rubbed that spot to feel a certain wetness on her throat that was a bit sticky. When she brought her palm to her face and saw the red liquid, her mind clicked instantly.
Naturally, she screamed and fell on her bum. She'd had such a close brush with death that she still didn't even know how it happened or why she was still alive.
As Draco and Riveting Night, who had once again worn her hood, spawned in the City of Light, Draco looked at her with a strange gaze. Riveting Night lowered her head and nudged Draco to move on in a slightly bashful way.
Draco found it weird that she would spare someone who had seen her face, even if it was a naive young girl. Draco was sure that no trouble would arise from this as he had seen the flow of her mind, but Riveting Night shouldn't have been able to do same. It meant that she had decided to run the risk of trouble developing by sparing the girl.
They used the Portal Center to return to Cario City, noticing that it seemed a bit more lively. Instead of investigating the cause, the Evil Duo continued by blinking to the clearing in which the Aether Mine existed. There would be plenty of time to snoop around for information, but if something happened to the Aether Mine while they were doing that, no tears could assuage the ensuing regret.
Draco pulled out his Settlement Building token and mentally selected the area he had chosen previously.
｢Would you like to build your settlement here? Y/N｣
Draco once again chose yes.
｢Settlement has the following factors;
- Level ground: -10%
- Abundant resources: -20%
- Nearby water source: -10%
- Guild land: - 50%
- Conflict heavy zone: +40%
- Hi?/ep [ERROR] M3$e: +5000%
Base construction cost: 10,000 gold
Discount: 9,000 gold
Additions: 504,000 gold
Final cost: 505,000 gold
Build? Y/N｣
Draco selected yes and expected the the building to commence. Unlike real life where construction took a huge amount of time, settlements were built instantly. This didn't apply to towns and cities though, just basic tier 1 settlements.
｢Special Requirement met: Divine Item
Would you like to make this settlement your Divine Foundation?｣
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