When the auctioneer began speaking, the entire space in the Oceanic Market fell silent. At that moment, it was even possible to hear a needle falling to the ground. All the eyes in the auction house were focused on this sword that no one dared to say anything before the auctioneer.
In his room, young Darell was grinning from ear to ear as he thought to himself, 'Hehehe, this sword will be mine. Nobody in this place can outbid my Silva family!'
The auctioneer then proceeded with his presentation. "As most people know, a low-level grade-2 weapon requires a minimum level of 40 to use. And for this sword as well, the lowest level you need to have is 40. Below that, it would be of no use to you as you won't be able to use it."
"And even if you have reached the minimum level required, it is challenging for someone to get their hands on weapons like this in our kingdom under normal conditions."
This was particularly true for the northern region of the Central Continent, where the highest powers were at level 59. This was a limiting factor since for a blacksmith to forge a grade-2 weapon, they themselves would have to be between levels 40 and 59.
As for forging grade-2 weapons, low-level ones need blacksmiths between levels 40 and 48, for medium-level they would have to be between levels 49 and 55. And for the high-level weapons, they required someone with spiritual energy equivalent to a Spiritual King, ranging between levels 56 to 59 at least.
This irregular differentiation between these classifications was due to the amount of energy that the blacksmith could handle. The higher the level of the weapon, the greater the power it would need during the forging.
That was why it was challenging to find many grade-2 weapons being sold around, as in this auction made by the Oceanic Market.
The number of low-level grade-2 blacksmiths was not small, but they sold their weapons to several hundreds of people which were many times higher than their own number!
Blacksmiths of medium-level grade-2 were still rare. As for the last step… their number did not exceed 15 in the entire northern region of the Central Continent!
Because of all these reasons, having a grade-2 weapon was something that most cultivators at the General Spiritual stage could only hope for.
In fact, in many cases, even the Spiritual Kings had to be content with medium-level grade-2 weapons because there weren't many better than that in the market.
As for the prominent families, usually, they had one or two high-level weapons, but that was all, while the rest would be low-level ones.
Such was the lack of this resource that Minos did not inherit any grade-2 weapons even from his father since Albert Stuart was a subordinate of the royal family. And so, after Albert's death, the Brown family claimed his spiritual weapon.
"Well, we're not going to mess around too much and waste our time. The previous owner of this weapon decided to dispose of it for their own reasons. However, we can assure you that this weapon is in excellent condition."
"As for its minimum bid, the previous owner requested that the trading be done with medium-grade crystals. Therefore, the initial price will be 200 crystals, with a minimum increase of 20 crystals," said the auctioneer, with an expressionless face and his arms behind his back.
Soon after, someone made the initial move. "220."
"240."
"300." The young master of the Silva family shouted from his room.
"320." Minos also made his first move.
"340," Darell said with a nervous expression on his face. He couldn't believe that someone had as many medium-grade crystals as he did.
However, there was a limit to how much he had as well, a total of 400 crystals of that degree!
Minos then calmly bid again, "360."
Darell Silva then couldn't take it anymore. "380! Friend, I am the young master of the Silva family, so give me a face here."
After his announcement, many people started to talk in the common area of the hall.
"Wow, I never thought that someone of such status would be here today," someone said surprisingly.
"Hmph, what a despicable thing. He's using his family's status to get the sword," another man said disdainfully.
"He's only doing what he can to get the weapon. If I were in his place, I would do the same," said a young man in the middle of the group.
While everyone was discussing the presence of the young master of the Silva family, Minos remained as calm as before and he was thinking. 'Oh! The young master of the Silva family, you say… I don't give a damn.'
When many began to think that the auction would end this way, a voice came from the previous VIP chamber saying coolly.
"400!"
Everyone in the hall was silent after that.
"Is he truly going to challenge the Silva family?" someone asked in disbelief.
"Perhaps he is a member of a power as big as the Silva family..."
When Darell heard Minos' bid, he nearly vomited blood. 'Who is this bastard?' he thought to himself.
"It seems that this young master doesn't care about my Silva family at all. Can you at least tell me what power is behind you?" asked the young master Silva.
'Hmph, if you are a nobody, then I will just kill you and take that sword by force.' he added in his heart with an evil look on his face.
While everyone was thinking about the possible response of the big shot from room 3, not a word was heard. Minos had completely ignored the member of the Silva family.
'Tell you where I come from? How much stupid do you think I am?' Minos thought as a smirk appeared on his face.
After a while of such silence, the auctioneer ignored the fact that the young Darell was left in a vacuum and then said, "Any higher bid than that of the gentleman in room 3?"
At this point, Darell Silva was steaming with rage when he turned to protector Philip with a grotesque expression. "Find out who that person is as soon as possible!"
The auctioneer then said with the same empty expression as before, "Well, since there are no more offers, the 'item' will be sold for 400 medium-grade crystals to the gentleman in room 3."
After that, a young receptionist at the auction took the sword placed in a metal box to Minos' room.
"Okay, that's it for this time. The Ocean Market expects guests to come back whenever possible. In one month, we will have a new round of auctioned items."
He then sighed and said. "The auction is officially over!"
...
Inside room number 3.
"Young master, disregarding that member of the Silva family can be very problematic for us," Corporal Pyke alerted Minos with a concerned face.
"Don't worry about it now. Even if he finds out who I am, he will likely assume that I spent all my father's inheritance on that sword," Minos replied calmly.
"Therefore, he will not involve the top echelons of the Silva family. He will probably want to act on his own and attempt to take the sword after he kills me. This must be the most likely course of action for him.
However, with the protection provided by the Oceanic Market and our departure for Stone Island at dawn, even if he does find out about our identities, by then we will be far away from here," Minos added with a playful smile.
"And even if he follows us to Stone Island, I am still confident that we will emerge victoriously."
After hearing this, the soldiers who were with Minos breathed a sigh of relief. Unlike their young master, they did not like fights and exciting things.
Subsequently, the grade-2 sword was also delivered through a unique space that was on each door of the VIP rooms. This was a mechanism to ensure that the low-ranking employees of the Ocean Market did not have any contact with such special clients.
This is because such groups were often prone to passing on sensitive information. With measures like this, the Ocean Market would, at least, somewhat hinder the criminal actions that could occur after a valuable 'item' was sold.
After checking the sword for a moment, Minos stored it in his spatial ring and led the group out of the large building where the auction had taken place.
Exiting the building by an exclusive exit, Minos and his group walked for some time before they reached their hotel. They intended to wait for a few more hours before embarking on the maritime part of their journey to Stone Island!
…
While Minos' group was resting, in another hotel on the other side of the city, three people were present. They were two protectors and the young master of the Silva family.
"Shit, shit, shit," Darell was furious with what happened at the auction. He had missed such a golden opportunity of acquiring a crucial weapon for his future plans.
"Young master, do not worry much. Philip will find out about that person soon and when this happens, we will act accordingly," reassured a strong, tall man, who was dressed in silver armor.