Ultimately, the set of martial skill was won by the delicate-looking woman from Seat 57 for 3,800 small gold coins. The auctioneer was very pleased with this price and happily concluded the bid for the second item.
The auction that was happening today was not a particularly special one where there was a long list of rare or special items. There were only five items on the auction schedule today. However, the audience was larger than usual today because of the people that had come to the city for Five Year Institute's annual testing day.
Mo Yin's item was placed third on the auction list, right after the set of martial skill.
"Alright. Our next item is something that is appearing in our auction house for the first time."
The white-dressed lady held up the soft brown little birds. They were each placed in their own glass container and was nestled on a cushion.
"This is an artifact called 'Wind Carrier'. As everyone can see, this artifact is built on the appearance of a small bird. Although it is inanimate right now if you can give it a drop of your blood then not only will it follow your orders but it will also come to life and behave no differently from a real bird."
"Its main function is to deliver messages but it also comes with wind attribute defensive enchantment. It can form a wind element barrier and the strength of the barrier that it creates is directly proportional to its owner's strength. That's right, this is an artifact that can grow along with its owner! To some extent, it can even develop some intelligence! We have received permission from its creator and Wind Carrier will only be sold by our auction house. You won't be able to buy it anywhere else!"
The crowd in the audience murmured amongst themselves. The messenger function by itself was that impressive, after all, there are magic creatures with similar functions. However, the other attributes of this Wind Carrier artifact made them astonished. The wind attribute defensive barrier was already extremely attractive but the rest?
They have never heard of an artifact that could level up with its owner! Some people had doubts about whether this was true or not but this doubt was soon clear away. Emerald Corps' impeccable reputation wasn't there just for show. It was an honest business, not a black hearted shop aiming to rip people off. If Emerald Corp. says something about an item, most people would believe it unless proven otherwise.
"The starting price is at 6,000. Everyone, please place your bid."
Hands immediately shot up in the audience. Everyone was curious about this new artifact, even those who didn't bring much money would occasionally put their hand up to see if they could get lucky.
The price climbed until a person from Seat 118 called out, "15,500 small gold coins."
The voice that had called out the price belongs to a child. He was about ten and had fair skin along with fluffy, pale golden hair. His green eyes were vibrant and lively and underneath the corner of each eye was a tiny mole. Overall, he looked very sweet and angelic. Beside him was a young man with similar features to him, presumably a family member.
The young man didn't stop the younger boy from bidding and just sat there silently with a doting look on his face.
No one made a move after hearing the price that the boy had called out.
"15,500 going once, 15,500 going twice."
The auctioneer paused for a second to give people a chance to make any last-minute decision. When it was clear that no one was going to make a bid anymore, the auctioneer closed the bid.
"The first Wind Carrier has been sold for 15,500 small gold coins. Congratulations to Seat 118 for winning the bid."
"The bid for the second wind carrier will begin now. The starting price is the same as before. Everyone, please place your bid."
The crowd in the audience once again placed their hands up in the air but before anyone could even say anything, a voice called out again:
"15,500!"
Everyone: "..."
F*ck! Why is it Seat 118 again? Didn't he already get one? 15,500 is not a small number ok? It's 15,500 gold, not 15,500 coppers!
Some of them don't even have 15,500 X 1 in their entire savings let alone 15,000 X 2.
The auctioneer was very professional and immediately said with a bright smile, "That's 15,500 going once, 15,500 going twice. Congratulations once again to Seat 118 for winning the second Wind Carrier."
"The bid for the third one will now begin…"
"15,500." The little boy on Seat 118 quickly raised his hand up again.
"..."
The audience looked towards the man sitting on Seat 119 who appears to be the Seat 118's guardian.
Hey brother, is it okay to let your family's child spend this much?
He didn't even increase the price by the slightest bit.
Is he mocking them because he knows exactly how deep their wallet goes?
Half of the audience thinks that the boy is making a fool of himself and won't be able to pay the bill after eating. The other half were blinded the style of a wealthy tyrant.
The man on Seat 119 didn't do anything. He only sat and watched with a small smile.
When the auctioneer announced the starting bid for the fourth Wind Carrier, everyone waited for Seat 118 to once again snatch it up but surprisingly, Seat 118 didn't seem to have to intention to bid this time.
This rekindled the rest of the audience's hope.
"8,000 small gold coins."
"9,100!"
"10,000!"
When the price had reached 13,000, the rates of bids slowed down until eventually, it came to a standstill at 15,000.
"15,000 small gold coins, going once going twice. Congratulations to Seat 16 for securing the last Wind Carrier!"
Unexpectedly, the one that won the bid was Seat 16, the middle-aged man that had bid on the second item but lost.
The middle-aged man from Seat 16 let out a sigh of relief. He had brought with him only 15 large gold coins which is exactly 15,000 small gold coins.
The middle-aged man from Seat 16 had given up the second item because he felt that it would be wiser to save his money in case a better item came along.
Indeed, his foresight was right! He could almost imagine the uncomfortable look on that woman's face right now. If he guessed correctly, the amount of money that she had brought with her should be slightly more than what he had brought with him but she had already bought the set of martial skill for 3,800 small gold coins.
The middle-aged man from Seat 16 leaned back on his chair contentedly. It was worth it coming to this auction today.
The bids for Mo Yin's artifacts neatly wrapped up and the fourth item was brought up. The fourth item required two people to push up and was hidden by a dark cloth.
"Now for the fourth item. I'm sure that a majority of you already have an inkling on what it could be."
On cue, the staff took off the cloth and a large iron cage was revealed. Inside, a black beast paced back and forth. It had a sleek ink coat, crystal blue eyes and resembled a large feline. On its head were six pointed ears, three on each side of its head.
"This is a fully matured Moon Panther, ten years old. It's a young adult full of vitality. It had been fully tamed and trained but haven't formed a contract yet."
Mo Yin took interest in what the auctioneer had said. It seems that apart from abilities, there were other ways to form contracts with magical creatures. Mo Yin wondered how this kind of contract differed from Shen Xiaotong's ability.
The Moon Panther was fairly popular among the bidders. Buying a fully grown magic creature has its own ups and downs. A fully grown magic beast would usually require less attention and care than infant magic creatures. After buying it home, it could immediately be put to work instead of sitting around as a rice bucket for a couple of years. However, if one was patient and raised a magical creature from its infant stage, the tact between owner and beast would be much better.
The Moon Panther's starting price was 7,000 small gold coins and in the end, it was bought by Seat 32 for 12,000 gold coins.
The last item on the auction list was an armor vest. The material that was used to make the armor was the scale of a two-hundred-year-old Sea Serpent.
The reason this item was placed last was because of how rare Sea Serpents are. Of course, the scales themselves also have amazing attributes.
If worn, not only does it protect against basic elements such as fire, water, lightning, wind, and earth, but it also has decent healing effects.
The faces of the people in the audience went green. The starting price for the Sea Serpent scale armor was 25,000 small gold coins. Sea Serpents really wasn't easy to find. One may be spotted very half a century and even if one was found, gathering enough scales to make an armor was extremely difficult. The strength of a Sea Serpent was nothing to scoff at.
Actually, 25,000 could be considered cheap. The higher-ups of Emerald Corp. had decided to set the price at a slightly lower range because the age of the Sea Serpent was only two hundred years old. Two hundred for a Sea Serpent was considered to be pretty young and the older the Sea Serpent was, the more effective their scales would for materials.
The auctioneer said, "Will any be placing a bet?"
The audience fell silent. To be honest, the only one that had enough money to even consider buying it would probably be the little tyrant sitting in Seat 118. The rest of them could just barely afford to buy a scale off the armor ah…
The boy from Seat 118 didn't seem interested in bidding for it though.
"25,000."
People in the audience were shocked. Someone else actually placed a bid? A hidden wealthy brother!"
The person that had voiced the bid was from Seat 99. The person wore a hood that covered the face. From the sound of it, the person was a male.
"Seat 99 has placed a bid of 25,000. Does anyone want to counter this price? No? Then congratulations to Seat 99 for winning the final item for today!"
"Everyone that has bought an item, please head to the backstage to pay for them."
After the auctioneer signaled the end of the auction, the audience below the stage began to disperse. Some people left straightway while some stayed behind to discuss the events from today's auction.
Knock knock.
The door to Mo Yin's private room sounded.
"Come in."
The door opened and a person walked in. It was the attendant from before.
"Miss Mo, this is a card that contains a total of 58,425 small gold coins. The auction takes fifteen percent of the final price but since we are business partners, we only deducted five percent."
Mo Yin smiled and took the card. "Give my thanks to your bosses. I look forward to working with them again in the future."
The attendant nodded his head, "Of course."
Now that the auction was over, Mo Yin turned to leave. Now that she had money, she was going to buy some supplies.
Although Five Year Institute provides students with food, housing, and training resources, Mo Yin should still bring some basic necessities with her. She also needed some more materials for crafting.
As for how she got the materials to make the five little birds?
…When there is no money there is always some other means.
Mo Yin walked around the street market and found a shop that sells everyday products. She looked around and found a suitcase that wasn't too expensive.
Toothpaste, toothbrush, towels, etc.
When Mo Yin finished gathering her things, she brought them to the register. The total amounted to one small silver coin.
Did she need to buy a set of clothes? She tossed the one that was ruined by the seawater so she only has this one set that she was wearing right now.
But Five Year Institute issues uniforms…
After debating it for a while, Mo Yin still decided to buy an extra set of clothing.
"Boss, could you get that down for me please."
In the tailor store, the different kinds of fabrics were hung onto the wall for display. The ready-made clothing was hung onto a rack up Mo Yin couldn't reach it with her current height.
"..." She felt a little sad.
The Boss Lady of the tailor shop came up to Mo Yin and looked at where to was pointing at. The fabric of the clothing that Mo Yin had chosen was ordinary and so-so. It cost 10 large copper coins.
The Boss Lady saw the plain monotoned robe that Mo Yin had chosen and pursed her lips.
"Ai, auntie sees that your looks are not bad, why not pick something nicer to wear? A little girl like you should wear flowers and vibrant colors."
The Boss Lady sniffled, "You can only wear them when you're young you know."
The Boss Lady glanced at Mo Yin's face again. En, still a child but pretty enough. Definitely a good seedling. The Boss Lady's eyes burned with passion.
The beauty of youth is meant to be admired!
The Boss Lady pulled out a pastel pink dress with cherry petals on it.
"How is this? Auntie thinks this will suit you better."
She then pulled out a white shirt with large white buttons and a soft graft skirt.
"Ohh. This one! This one."
The Boss Lady smiled from ear to ear. This is the most fun that she had the entire day.
Mo Yin made a polite smile, "No thank you, just the one that I pointed to please…"
"I insist!"
"..."
Mo Yin sighed.
She placed the suitcase that she had just bought onto the ground. Using the suitcase as a stepping stool, she reached out for the set of clothing that she wants.
Mo Yin picked up her suitcase and dusted it off. She then paid for the clothing before silently leaving the store.
She just wanted some clothes.
Troublesome.