Chapter 1272: Starry Sky Auction
The Sword Saint went crazy after confirming that he couldn't spit the poison out. He rushed to the members of the supervision team, planning to snatch the Golden Crown Potions they were carrying, but unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to take more than a few steps before two large stone hands appeared from under his feet and restricted his legs.
"You have 2 minutes and 22 seconds left."
Lin Yun was looking at the Sword Saint with a calm expression as he kept counting down.
The Sword Saint's expression crumbled as he watched his skin darken.
"It wasn't my plan, I swear it's not my plan! The Great Elder sent me, I was promised a large amount of natural resources as long as I managed to frame the Gilded Rose…
"Save me! Save me! I said everything! I don't want to die, I'm still young! I still have the opportunity to advance to the Heaven Rank! I don't want to die here… Give me a bottle of Golden Crown Potion, I'll pay for it, I'll pay double its price…"
The Sword Saint admitted that he had come to frame the Gilded Rose in front of everyone, and his confession caused an uproar. There were two Artisans, six Heaven Rank powerhouses, and seven Master Alchemists unaffiliated to the Gilded Rose watching this event, and everyone knew what truly happened.
"Forty more seconds."
Lin Yun kept counting down as the Sword Saint was going insane.
"The Hughes Family, I come from the Hughes Family, I'm Bushi! Delind's Three-Hours Curse was given to me by the Great Elder. That corpse of an Expert Swordsman was picked up randomly, I don't even know him.
"Right, there is also that guy, Wilhelm, that member of the supervision team. After poisoning that guy, he immediately gathered the medicine supervision team.
"Save me, save me, I don't want to die! I said everything, give me a bottle of Golden Crown Potion…"
Halfway through his sentence, the Sword Saint's expression greatly changed and he started puking blood as his vitality rapidly weakened.
One of the members of the medicine supervision team had a nervous expression, which was quickly replaced by resolve as he released a Wind Blade towards the Sword Saint. Unfortunately, the Wind Blade scattered before reaching the insane Sword Saint.
Lin Yun had spat out a rune and completely sealed his mana.
While the crowd was gaping at the series of events, blood was already pouring out of the Sword Saint's mouth like a small stream.
His skin had also thoroughly turned black. Some parts of his body were darker, and some were lighter, forming black circular patterns of some sort. He only had a dozen seconds left.
The supervision team members finally regained their wits and recalled that this was an important witness. If the witness died, they would be unable to explain the mistake of the medicine supervision team. More importantly, one of their own had participated in this event. This was a huge scandal.
One of them took out a Golden Crown Potion and frantically poured it over the crazy Sword Saint. The latter stopped spitting out blood less than five seconds later, and his pitch-black skin regained its natural color in ten seconds. He looked very weak, as if he was about to breathe his last.
After five more seconds, the crazy Sword Saint's weak body rapidly recovered. He looked no different from a normal person, and even the swollen pustules were fading away, exposing his original appearance.
Some people immediately recognized him.
"Eh!? Damn, it really is that thieving Bushi! That damned guy still owes me thirty purple golds. I didn't expect to see him here."
"That guy is an infamous scoundrel who doesn't hesitate to steal, rob, and blackmail, but I didn't expect him to dare pull something like this. He really has big b*lls! Those b*stards of the Hughes family have been insufferably arrogant these past few years, all because they are backed by the Rodney Family…"
Although Bushi had recovered, he was now lying on the ground with extreme fear visible in his eyes. To this kind of scoundrel, there was nothing more terrifying than feeling death slowly approaching.
Nothing else needed to be said; the facts were proven. The person that said that the Gilded Rose's potion was highly poisonous confessed in order to get a bottle of Golden Crown Potion once he was poisoned.
The onlookers weren't completely stupid. Once he was poisoned, the first thing he relied on was the "poisonous" Golden Crown Potion.
The medicine supervision team took Bushi away while the confiscated Golden Crown Potions were naturally returned to the Gilded Rose. They even used purple golds to pay for the Golden Crown Potion they'd used.
Lin Yun didn't really care about this matter, since the situation displayed how formidable the Gilded Rose's Golden Crown Potion was. The villain who framed the Golden Crown Potion ended up begging for it when poisoned because he knew that it would save his life.
Moreover, someone on his deathbed completely recovered in fifteen seconds and didn't seem to be in a weak state afterwards. Everyone saw it.
There was no need to question the potency of the Gilded Rose Potion. The sales of the potions increased by 30%, and the stock of Golden Crown Potions was emptied on that day. Moreover, the price of a Golden Crown Potion was 200,000 purple golds! These weren't the gold coins of the Andlusa Kingdom. Every single purple gold was worth at least nine golds!
Lin Yun didn't care too much about these matters, but three announcements and research results were made public by the Starry Sky College the next day.
One was released by the Starry Sky College's supervision team which included a detailed analysis and explanation of the Golden Crown Potion. Unfortunately, due to the scandal of the supervision team, many people doubted the veracity of that report.
The second one was published by Assistant Dean Zeith. He apologized to the Gilded Rose for what happened with the supervision team on behalf of the Starry Sky College. Moreover, the Hughes Family became permanently blacklisted by the Starry Sky College, and none of their members were welcomed in the territories or stores of the Starry Sky College.
With that strict announcement, the Hughes Family would have trouble doing business in the Odin Kingdom in the future, especially in the field of alchemy. The black market might be their only option.
The third report surprised everyone, yet everyone believed it because it was written by Gurrig House, the Artisan of the House Family whose field of research was plants and potions.
It described the effects of the Golden Crown Potion in a very impressive manner. All the tested lesser poisons were cleansed. Moreover, all the poison samples of the House Family were tested at least once and also ended up being cleansed.
Furthermore, the Golden Crown Potion could also increase the user's poison resistance. Hundreds of poisons would be completely ineffective against the user within a week of use, and after seven days, the user's resistance to poisons would still be significantly improved.
Of the three reports, everyone was convinced by Gurrig House's. It was because Gurrig was living in a world of alchemy. Everyone thought that he had a weird character, and whoever suggested that he had been bought would be spat on.
"Idiot! Do you think Gurrig can be bought? Do you have brain damage?"
The Great Elder of the Rodney Family spat at the man who came to report. He almost kicked his face when he mentioned that Gurrig House might have been bribed.
Even if they were enemies, the Great Elder wouldn't believe that Gurrig, someone who hadn't changed in close to a millennium, would be bribed. That could only mean one thing: The results of the report were true.
Wilder's face turned as black as charcoal when he heard the news.
"That moronic Hughes Family. Is this how they handle things after telling us to trust them? They actually admitted to framing the Gilded Rose in public! Are the Hughes a bunch of brainless maggots?
"Abandon the Hughes Family, sever all connections. We can't let these idiots influence our family. Let's set aside dealing with the Gilded Rose for now, Neverwinter City's Starry Sky Auction is about to begin.
"This decennial auction is an opportunity to reveal our family's power. At the same time, it's also an opportunity to land a blow on the Gilded Rose. Is the item to be delivered to the auction ready?"
The Great Elder nodded and looked at Wilder with slight dread.
"It has been chosen. The part of that Destruction Black Dragon's Magic Tool we previously obtained was delivered to the auction. That thing doesn't have any usable value, but it's definitely a valuable research subject. It's the kind of thing alchemists are fond of.
"Our family has already thoroughly researched that thing. Unfortunately, it's just a raw piece of material that has already been forged. Moreover, it's only a portion of a magic tool, and an unimportant one, so all it's good for is research…"
Wilder nodded.
"Get a hold of the list of auctioned items as fast as possible." Wilder left after giving his command.
The Great Elder sighed as he watched Wilder's back.
'Wilder is getting more and more arrogant and tyrannical… I really don't know if that's a good thing. Will our Rodney Family really grow more powerful if he leads us? Strength isn't what makes our family more influential…
'I'm afraid that the outcome won't be good if we continue to stand against the Gilded Rose. An Assistant Dean personally wrote a report… Even that eccentric of the House Family wrote one. The Gilded Rose might not be as easy to handle as we thought.
'Their alchemy techniques, especially the potioneering ones, far surpass ours. For that damn Gurrig to actually write a report… This matter might be troublesome.
'Of course, it's not that complicated. From Gurrig's research, the Golden Crown Potion is made with a never-before-seen plant. There is simply no clue as to where that new plant can be obtained, so he can only use this opportunity to sell a favor to the Gilded Rose…'
Lin Yun nurtured the Golden Crown Grass in his Demiplane, so this plant simply didn't exist in Noscent. No matter how great Gurrig's knowledge of plants was, he didn't have the means to thoroughly analyze the potion.
After being framed, the Gilded Rose's business flourished even more. The Rodney Family had worked hard, only to advertise the Gilded Rose.
The Gilded Rose developed smoothly. The first eight of the thirty-eight planned branches were already open for business and were doing pretty well. Lin Yun's comprehension of the Laws was rapidly progressing, and his research of truth runes was still ongoing.
A few days later, the Starry Sky College sent an invitation letter.
After reading the letter, Lin Yun casually put it away.
The Starry Sky College and a few major forces jointly organized an auction every decade. Items that wouldn't appear normally, items unknown to many, items with unknown effects, and other special items would appear at the Starry Sky Auction.
This invitation both served as a guest invitation, as well as a seller invitation.
When Lin Yun accepted the invitation letter, he casually took out a thing he had used to practice his newly researched truth runes. That item was novel enough and formidable enough. Moreover, no one other than Lin Yun could duplicate or dismantle that item to study it, and thus, he didn't care about selling it. Lin Yun didn't mention that he had crafted it himself and only said that he had obtained it by accident.
Neverwinter City soon became noisy. People from all over the Odin Kingdom came to participate in the Starry Sky Auction, some even came from other kingdoms.
On the eve of the auction, the Starry Sky College sent Lin Yun an illustrated handbook containing the list of auctioned items.
Lin Yun quickly found several things he needed among these, and two of the items even made him knit his brows, but he couldn't be certain just from looking at the illustrated handbook.
People from the Starry Sky College arrived on the day of the auction and guided the guests to a huge building. From outside, it appeared to be a round building over fifty meters in height with very tall floors. It was like a huge opera house with a large number of seats on the first floor. The second floor and the third floor were composed of private rooms arranged in a circular pattern and overlooking the ground floor.
The Rodney Family walked from the side as Lin Yun's group arrived at the entrance.
"Patriarch, that's Mafa Merlin, and next to him is the overseer of the Gilded Rose, Faleau," the Great Elder whispered in Wilder's ear.
Wilder's expression became unsightly and his gaze darkened instantly. His eyes turned blood-red, and half of his cheeks showed signs of metallic transformation.
Wilder took a few seconds to calm down before fiercely glaring at Lin Yun's back.
'B*stard Andlusan country bumpkin, just wait until I get the things I need, then you'll die an unsightly death. Not a single person who offended me is still alive! You are dead!
'Only the strong can compete. What qualifications does the Gilded Rose have to compete with our Rodney Family? You are just a bunch of ants meant to be stepped on.
'The ancestor already confirmed that this guy is just a lucky b*stard who got the occasional attention of the Great Astrologian due to the truth runes he researched. He isn't actually related to the Great Astrologian.
'Damned country bumpkin, cherish what little time you have left. The wealth of the Gilded Rose belongs to me, Wilder Rodney!'
Wilder revealed a cruel smile as he recalled the information he just received and calmly walked towards the auction hall.
After getting inside, Lin Yun discovered that the auction house was at least three kilometers wide. Aside from the private rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors, the seats on the 1st floor were arranged in a very loose manner. More importantly, there was a Heaven Rank Sealing Barrier arranged. Everyone would be unable to use their power there. Even a Sword Saint would have his Aura suppressed and his strength decreased by 90%.
But this kind of sealing was very user-friendly. They couldn't release their power, but they would be able to momentarily burst with their full power if they were suddenly attacked. Moreover, there were special arrays used to distinguish guards, allowing these guards to keep their strength. Every single guard had to go through meticulous selection and was completely reliable.
After all, the Starry Sky College wasn't the only one in charge of this Starry Sky Auction. There were several large forces even more influential than the Rodney Family. They wouldn't allow any problems to appear, and no one would dare to cause trouble in the Starry Sky Auction.
After half an hour, all those who should have arrived had arrived, and those that had yet to arrive would be blocked at the entrance as the gates were shut.
The person presiding over the auction was a 3rd Rank Heaven Mage that Lin Yun wasn't acquainted with. More importantly, that person was also an Artisan known for his knowledge. There were very few things he couldn't recognize.
"I believe many people here know me… I'm Howard. I'm very happy to once again host the Starry Sky Auction. Let's cut to the chase; the first auctioned lot is a piece of Elemental Amber. It has an outer diameter of 33 centimeters and an inner diameter of 29 centimeters. It has a regular shape and is of the highest quality. It can stock a 9th Rank Extraordinary Spell, and its power would reach the limit of a 1st Rank Heaven Mage. The starting price is 30,000 purple golds…"
Lin Yun was surprised by the fact that the opening lot was a piece of Elemental Amber. After all, the value of auctioned items would keep increasing until the finale. The later lots would be better than the previous ones. Although this starting lot couldn't be said to be particularly good, it wasn't bad either.
Elemental Amber didn't have a great value to Heaven Rank powerhouses, but a big piece of such high purity was something that could only be seen once in a few centuries. It was very suitable as an opening lot.
To be continued