Chương 18: One Step Left

Mark checked his aura the morning after Amelia being attacked. It was now a much darker color rather than the slightly bright color from before. Killing a person under almost any situation would result in the person's aura darkening. With the aura he had now he wouldn't be able to enter the middle area of Ventus, let alone the inner area.

To Mark's benefit, the auction would take place in a building located at the teleportation line, a place where everyone was allowed.

He looked to Amelia who was awake but couldn't move.

"It's time to get your legs back," Mark said to her.

Amelia smiled and nodded, but then turned to look at him seriously.

"What happened yesterday?" She remembered being kidnapped and the pain she felt, but she didn't know what happened after that.

"I killed them," Mark answered calmly. However, unknown to him, Amelia could see his body tremble slightly as he spoke.

"Let's go, the auction starts in an hour," Mark tried to brush off what he said by changing the subject.

"Okay then," Amelia replied, but she promised herself that she would be able to help him next time.

...

Many people were gathering in front of the biggest building in the teleportation line. This building was used for many public events such as battles, announcements, and, of course, auctions. It was designed to be able to hold a massive amount of people. Even if everybody in Ventus gathered inside, it wouldn't be crowded.

No fighting was allowed for the entire day of the auction. If fighting did break out, then the city guards would detain those that were fighting. With so many people gathered, a fight between high ranking spell users would kill far to many people, so the lord of Ventus prohibited fighting.

Mark and Amelia entered the building and Mark put Amelia in a sat towards the bottom before sitting next to her. It didn't matter where you sat because there was a massive screen hanging from the roof of the three hundred meter tall ceiling, and Mana speakers proportioned throughout the seats.

Mana speakers were a device that would take in a specific Mana signal, ripples of Mana in the atmosphere, and broadcast it as sound. It was one of the many inventions that researches from the Imperial city had created. The screen hanging from the ceiling, however, was created by a researcher from Fallen Embers.

Mark and Amelia had arrived thirty minutes early so the auction didn't start yet. More and more people entered the building, slowly filling the seats. Elves were the only other race that came to the auction other than humans, because they were the only race that didn't have a bad relationship with humans. Still, not nearly as many showed up as the number of humans.

The thirty minutes soon passed, but more people continued to enter. The auction wouldn't wait for everyone to show up though.

A woman walked up to the center of the stage and started speaking.

"Welcome everyone to this auction!" The woman's voice echoed out of every Mana speaker in the building as she spoke. "This auction is being held to help provide resources for the upcoming Tournament of Races, and we welcome all humans here, as well as our Elven friends," she flashed a smile towards the audience, which was also broadcasted on the screen. Her voice was soothing and nice to listen to, which was most likely why she was picked to be the speaker.

"Now let's get this auction started~!" The woman stepped to the side as the spot where she was standing lifted up and out of the ground, making a podium. A hole opened up on the top of it and out came the first item of the auction.

The item, a Medicine, appeared on the screen as it came out of the hole on the podium.

"Our first item for today is the grade 4 Medicine, Mana's Tear. If you take this Medicine when you are below grade 5, it can permanently increase your Mana reserve! The starting bid is two grade 4 Mana stones."

"I'll pay five!"

"Eight!"

"Ten!"

"twenty!"

"Going once!"

"Going twice!"

"Thrice! Sold to the person in seat number 23,485!

...

The items that came after that were cheaper as to allow the weaker members of the crowd a chance to get something. The best items wouldn't appear until the end, but Mark didn't care about any of them because he only came here for one thing. What he was waiting for didn't show up until two hours later.

"This here is a new potion to the market, Limb Regeneration. It is only a grade 3 potion, but it is capable of helping to regenerate limbs! Starting bid is five grade 3 Mana stones. We only have twenty of these available today, so don't miss your chance!"

Mark put his bid into a device next to him which made whatever he put on it appear on the screen. From what he had seen, one should place their bid number based on the grade of the item. Whatever grade the item was would be the currency.

"Fifty!"

"Going once!"

Nobody bid. After all, who would try and bid higher than that when there was still nineteen more?

"Going twice!"

"Thrice, sold to the person in seat number…"

Mark felt his heart beat speed up, as did Amelia. They knew that it would be able to get the potion, but they were still happy when they actually got it. Now they just had to wait for the auction to end and they'd be able to get the potion.

"We'll heal your legs today, Amelia," Mark whispered to her. She just smiled back in return.

They couldn't wait for the auction to end, but that just made it feel like it was going slower, so they tried to enjoy the auction. That didn't work for them though. When they already got what they wanted, they couldn't take any interest into the items that were shown.

Amelia didn't want anything other than getting her legs back and neither did Mark. The very reason why he stayed in Ventus was to heal her legs, so the auction didn't matter to him.

Every else in the auction, however, were having heated bidding battles. There was even a moment where some humans started flaring their Mana at a elf who was bidding. That only caused more argument and anger, so the city guards stepped in to stop it. In the end the elf got the item.

They had to impatiently wait another two hours before the auction finally reached its end. The last item sold for a price unthinkable for them, one grade 9 Mana stone.

Their item was delivered to them through some strange system under the ground which sent the potion to their seats. The potion was limited in the amount it could heal, as Mark had learned after the exaggerated rumors passed. To make sure that Amelia's legs were healed perfectly, he had one last thing to do.