The auctioneer's words made the crowd shudder.
"Only two buyers?"
"Ten potions? That's all?!"
"Nobody touch it! IT'S MINE!"
Doing his best to hide his smirk, Sandor finally announced the starting price. "All five potions will start at twenty-five gold coins, with a bid increase of five gold minimum! Let's begin!"
"Fifty!"
"Fuck! Doubling the price right at the beginning?!"
"It's that perverted old man! It's time for you to make way for the young ones, old fart! Fifty-five!"
"Sixty!"
"Seventy!"
"Eigh-"
"One hundred!"
The price skyrocketed again. Among the few thousand people, there were a few that had some 'personal difficulties' and this new Stamina Potion was exactly the thing they yearned for the most.
Of course, they would bid their life-savings just to feel whole again.
"Oh man, I wish I knew how to make Viagra pills, I would become a millionaire almost instantly!" Gerald quietly lamented.
But this was good too. When he would eventually introduce the Stamina Potion to the market, people would already know of its effects and he would get many more customers from far and wide.
The second round of bidding ended soon after, with the five vials being sold for two hundred and twenty-five gold coins! Gerald could only release a loud sigh.
The second batch was also sold quickly, the price reaching two hundred and ten gold.
Even the old alchemist marveled at the insanely high prices the potions received.
"That mysterious master of yours must be a great man! Every single of his potions can create so much excitement, I am in awe!" he said to Gerald.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Gerald decided to change the conversation to one about the auction items.
"Next item on the list: Sound-transmission Rune!" the auctioneer on the stage shouted and a young female assistant brought two palm-sized gray stones on a silver platter.
"I'm sure many of you sirs know this object, but let me introduce it just in case!" Sandor spoke loudly, "It is a magical artifact created by the genius Space Mage…"
"Hehe…"
Gerald suddenly heard a quiet chuckle beside him, and swiftly turned around, only to see the alchemist Ashbrew trying his hardest to stop his laughter.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
The old man wiped out his tears of laughter and took a few deep breaths to calm down. "Oh, my boy, not many people know, but when I was still a youngster I knew that 'genius' they are talking about now."
"Oh?"
"Yes, and let me tell you, over the decades the story of his discoveries became crazier and crazier! Originally he wanted to create a Runestone that could create small portals for transporting goods, but he was so incompetent he failed completely! Hehe…" Edon Ashbrew started chuckling just thinking about it.
"Instead of creating one small portal, he created thousands of them!"
"Thousands?" Gerald asked doubtfully.
"Yes, thousands!" the old man shouted. "Thousands of tiny and unstable portals! They can only stay open for a few minutes at a time and if you try to send something solid through, you only get dust and sand on the other side! Hoho, haha…"
He went on to explain how that Space Mage 'genius' tried and failed hundreds of times until he eventually gave up and pretended that he created a liquid-transmission rune.
Too bad nobody wanted something that could only transfer a few liters through space, so his creation was deemed useless.
That was until he realized you could send sound through. Only then did people recognize the value of his creation, even if that wasn't the first intended use of the Rune. Or second.
Anyway, the sound wasn't even that good. You had to shout loudly for the person on the other side to hear you over the sound of micro-portals collapsing in on themselves. The voice became distorted and sometimes completely impossible to understand, with just enough energy to send one message through.
But it was still better than nothing, so people bought it for a few hundred gold coins. The two Runestones were linked together and could only communicate with each other.
"It's a cool idea I guess, but I would prefer a phone in this case…" Gerald murmured. He was not that interested in a useless magic item like this one.
There was another armor that was sold in the auction. It was made of bronze and reinforced with runes, making it stronger than iron. Unfortunately, it paled in comparison with the Minecrawler Armor so the price barely reached a hundred gold.
What brought back more excitement, however, was an enchanted sword. It was made of beautiful white gold with Wind Crystals on the handle and a Water gem on the pummel.
It sparkled in the light and gave off a feeling of elegance and class. It was perfect for a delicate prince.
"White-Gold Leaf-Blade! Ladies and gentlemen, just look at this blade! It is straight and sharp, with Runes reinforcing its body and edge! It's a sword that will never dull or rust, all while carrying massive amounts of Mana in these gems! It once belonged to a true Elf from the West!" Sandor introduced the leaf-shaped blade.
Although not many humans used Wind or Water magic, just the enchantment was enough to make people fight over it.
Gold was usually quite soft, but with the reinforcement and sharpness Runes, the blade became a status symbol as well as a great weapon!
"The price starts at two hundred gold, and the minimum bid increment is twenty! Let's begin!" Sandor Rosecloud announced.
"Three hundred!" someone immediately shouted.
"Three-fifty!"
"…"
"Five hundred and seventy!"
"…"
"Eight hundred!"
The price immediately skyrocketed as expected. The price of the magnificent sword was originally worth five hundred gold coins, but the Auction House decided to lower it so more people would be willing to bid, and in turn, inflate the demand.
And it worked! The final price reached just over a thousand gold coins, making the auctioneer Sandor grin from ear-to-ear.
After the debt was paid, the auction continued. It was finally time for the Potion of Focus.
Once again, only ten vials were to be sold, but this time they were five pairs of two.
"This is also a potion that came from the mysterious alchemy master! It is called a Potion of Focus! In our tests, we have confirmed the details of the effectiveness of the potion, which is…" Sandor went on to explain the effects and duration of the potion while inflating the already unbelievable results.
He even told the story of the alchemist Edon Ashbrew, of how the man almost went mad from the amazing effects and refused to be paid in anything but the amazing potion. Of course, he made it sound much better while leaving the identity of the man in question shrouded in mystery.