Days passed by quickly and the Galactical Yearly Auction Event was just around the corner.
Felix spent those days either practicing or conversing with his private agent Emma.
She had already signed the contract and got to work on his Landlord's business emails that he kept ignoring.
Naturally, before contacting anyone, she had to ask first whether Felix was interested in the offer or not.
99% of them were rejected since they were invitations to interviews and Ads that either required him to show his face or the payment wasn't even worth 2 hours of Felix's time.
As for the remaining 1%? It revolved around sponsorship deals.
Felix permitted Emma to accept only brands that were willing to pay 450 million SC+ for each game he had their brand logo on his clothes.
Naturally, not everyone agreed to such a preposterous offer when Emma relayed it to them.
After all, 450 million SC for just a logo appearance? That was too much of a rip-off.
Yet, three brands actually agreed upon the price on the condition that Felix remain contracted to them for three games at a minimum. Plus, he needed to give the brands some shot-outs once in a while.
It might seem like it wasn't worth it of an since Felix's games rarely had above 100 million live viewers, but that was only if we considered live viewers.
The brands weren't paying to be seen live but actually noticed when Felix's highlights get posted on the VRVideos platform!
After all, there were millions of games that were being played daily, no one could invest in watching all of them.
This made the viewership of each gold game always be on the border of 100 million to 200 million.
However, in the VRVideos Platform, the highlights of those games receive billions in mere seconds and if a highlight went viral it could reach up to hundreds of billions of viewers in just a minute!
That's what those brands were investing their money on!
They hoped that in Felix's upcoming games, he does some crazy shit like slaying the Kraken and surfing on lava.
Hence, his videos explode in popularity, which helps their brands get noticed by as many viewers as possible.
Felix didn't care about their wishes and hopes as he was planning to play the games like he sees fit. But, he still accepted the business deals since he needed coins badly for the Auction.
If it wasn't for his desperation, he would have listened to Emma's suggestion of creating his own clothing Landlord brand and wear it in the next games!
He knew that it needed months and months of effort to get his Landlord's clothing Brand ongoing. He needed coins in merely 15 days.
With that being said, Felix still told Emma to take care of his future brand and that he was going to wire her capital to start later on.
He didn't want to give her now since that would defy the purpose of gathering coins for the event.
From those three brands, Felix had earned 1,350,000,000 SC extra, adding to his 15 billion SC capital.
Obviously, it was increased by 2 billion SC or so due to his investment projects coming along but mostly due to the 4th games recordings getting sold.
Yet, Felix still felt that his capital wasn't enough to get the best out of this event.
Thankfully, he still had the Ancient Ruins maps that were ready to be placed in the event.
***
4 hours before the event, In the Androxa House...
Felix was sitting in the living room with a leg above the other.
It was currently 08:00 AM and Felix woke up this early to write an email and send it to the Maganda Chief.
Naturally, he still hadn't accepted the invitation right away so it wouldn't appear like he was thirsty to get inside.
Felix wasn't worried that the Chief would suddenly change his mind since Princess Bird wrote that her father would wait for a response until the last hour before the event started.
"Let's keep it short and simple." Felix murmured while typing a single sentence expressing his gratitude for the invitation and honor to meet with him.
After all, the Maganda Chief was a legendary peak 6th stage bloodliner who was only one step away from getting into the ranks of the strongest bloodliners in the Galaxy.
Not mentioning his influence and Tribe's strength as a whole made it one of the top four entities in the Mariana Empire Territory.
Even though Felix knew that the Chief was aiming for him, Felix still had to show the proper respect.
After editing the email, he sent it and closed his inbox.
Now, he could only head for a shower and prepare himself as there were only 4 hours or so before the official opening.
***
While Felix enjoyed his morning shower, Princess Bird was lying on a bed that appeared like it was made from pink leaves.
The entire room actually resembled a normal teenager room but everything had relations to trees and plants, making it appear somewhat fresh and unique.
"I have been refreshing for over an hour now." Princess Bird mumbled while biting her nails, "Is he really not going to accept the invitation?"
"Let's check again."
After she waited for a couple of seconds, Princess Bird pressed refresh again on her Inbox.
This time, she noticed that a new email had emerged and she got instantly excited about it since she could see that it was highlighted with red.
She swiftly opened it up and read the content with her eyes. "Hehe, of course it's an honor for you to meet my father...Uhmm? That's it?"
Princess Bird was startled when she realized that was the last thing ever written in the email.
She expected that she would get mentioned at least once since Felix had spoken with her during the shuffle Maze.
Alas, she reread the email twice and it was still just a single sentence.
"I guess he forgot about me?" Annoyed, Princess Bird wore her slippers while closing the hologram. Then, she went to her bedroom door that was just a giant square-shaped pink petal.
Immediately after standing in front of it, the petal automatically rolled on itself, allowing Princess Bird to exit her room.
"Good morning Princess Alicia." A pretty short servant greeted with her hands folded together and head lowered.
"Morning Sissy." Princess Bird asked, "Do you know my father's current location?"
"I believe he is at the Royal Bloodline Library." The servant answered.
"Tsk, does he ever leave it." Princess Bird clicked her tongue in criticism and stood on two gorgeous-looking white lotus flowers.
Then she snapped her finger and the flowers hovered one meter above the branch she was standing on.
After all, her room wasn't in a normal modern building but in a humongous tree that had its branches and leaves touch the clouds!!
This Tree was actually the main Royal Palace of the Maganda Tribe on this planet. It was the only one with this uncanny size as the rest of its brethren and sisters did not even reach 20% of its height.
Naturally, all of those trees were inhabited by the tribe citizen.
It might appear like they were uncivilized to live in trees instead of buildings but this was actually done by choice to keep the heritage and culture of the tribe.
Still, they weren't resistant to the idea of technology as they had included what they could without affecting their lifestyle or changing the appearance of their culture.
For example, there were no hovercars in the tribe but the citizens used hover plants and mounts to move around.
All of this was in actual real life!
Currently, Princess Bird was riding on those two hover lotuses while heading towards the central elevator in the tree that was specifically used just for the royalty.
In her way, she was being greeted constantly by servents, guards, and some distant family members.
As the youngest daughter and one of the three heirs to the Tribe, she was ought to be treated this respectfully by anyone residing in the Royal Tree.
After a while...
She reached the elevator which was just a wooden platform that was connected by long green vines.
Princess Bird stepped inside and scratched a vine next to her like she was greeting a pet.
It wasn't farfetched to consider it so as the vine actually moved based on her gentle touch, appearing like it liked being carrassed this way.
"Viney, please take me to the royal library." Princess Bird requested gently.
Whoosh!
The vines responded to her request by rolling one vine against her waist and then lifting off the elevator, faster than normal technological ones!
Princess Bird didn't seem bothered by her hair flailing everywhere, exposing her hexagon-shaped blue eyes. She kept looking downward at the citizen of the tribe, appearing like tiny ants.
If it weren't for her mutation that gave her eagle eyes, she wouldn't even notice them.
In a minute or two, the elevator finally stopped and the vine unrolled itself from Princess Bird.
She swiftly carried on hovering on a long empty path with paintings of people wearing tribal outfits and cold weapons, ranging from spears to shields.
Under those paintings, there were sentences written in an unfamiliar language. It seemed to be the Maganda language.
Princess Bird didn't bother to glance at those paintings as she had been seeing them ever since she was a child.
All of that due to her father rarely leaving the bloodline Library, forcing her to hang out with him there to play.Soon, she reached a giant gate that was closed shut. It wasn't a gate per se since it was just hundreds of black vines intertwining with each other, making it impossible even to take a glimpse inside.
Princess Bird stood in front of them and shouted, "DAD!! OPEN UP!"
A similar irritated shout replied to her, "I AM BUSY! GO AWAY!"
"NO!" Princess Bird kept yelling, "LANDLORD HAS RESPONDED!"
"COULDN'T YOU JUST SENT A MESSAGE! WE ARE ARE NOT BARBARIANS YOU KNOW?" The Chief yelled from behind the gate.
Princess Bird smirked evilly and shouted, "LANDLORD HAS CURSED YOU IN THE EMAIL. I WANTED YOU TO SEE IT!"
After she said so, the area went quiet for a second before the sound of footsteps resounded from behind the gate.
Shshshshs!
The moment the footsteps got near the gate, the vines started relaxing on each other and slithering back into the tree, hiding out of sight.
This exposed the Chief who was approaching Princess Bird while wearing a nightrobe and glasses. He looked quite solemn and also annoyed at having his reading session getting interrupted.
However, he still went next to Princess Bird and asked strictly, "What did he say?"
Instead of responding, Princess Bird showed him the email while tiptoeing slowly around him.
The moment she saw that he started reading it, she swiftly bolted inside the library while letting out a mischievous laugh.You little!" Vexed, the Chief could only wave the hologram away from his face while walking slowly inside the bloodline library.
One look at it and anyone would understand why the Chief was being referred to as the Bloodline collector!
The library wasn't packed with books only but millions of bloodline bottles from all different shapes, colors that were filled with unique liquids.
All of those bottles were separated from tier 1 common bloodlines to tier 7 legendary bloodlines. They were placed on shelves with a small description written underneath them.
No wonder the Chief didn't want Princess Bird to enter, those bottles weren't protected but placed right there in the open and could be taken anytime.
"How many times did I tell you not to touch anything?" The Chief immediately scolded after seeing Princess Bird opening up a blue-colored bottle from his work desk and smelling it up.
"Is this a new bloodline?" Princess Bird inquired while placing the bottle back.
"Yes." The Chief revealed with a tinge of pride in his tone, "This bloodline belongs to the Legendary tier 6 Monster Eater Beast."
"Ohh!!" Princess Bird exclaimed in astonishment, making the Chief feel quite happy by it.
Although he knew that his daughter knew nothing about the beast or how difficult it was to secure this bottle, he still enjoyed the reaction.
'Heh, works every time.' Princess Bird smirked faintly after seeing that her father didn't plan on kicking her out anymore.
"By the way, did you send Landlord the invitation link for the auction venue?" The Chief asked casually while sitting back on his desk.
"Cough, of course! I am not stupid to forget." Princes Bird answered with a shifty look.
"Sigh, be quick and send it, he must be waiting." The Chief didn't even need to lift his head and look at her to know that she was lying.
Abashed, Princess Bird hastily entered her inbox and sent Felix an email with the invitation link. After all, the auction wasn't planned to be hosted inside the capital city or any city in that sense.
It was actually going to be held in a private UVR venue created specifically for this event and would disappear after.
Every Galactical Event that would experience millions of guests was always held up in this manner so they wouldn't affect the daily lives of those living in cities.
Naturally, the Chief had only two invitation links. One for him and the other for Felix. Those links could be used only by one person.
However, there was a way to invite more than +1 to the event. Princess Bird was going to attend the event as well by using it.
"Go get yourself ready." The Chief shooed her away after seeing that she was doing nothing but stare at him writing the details of the blue bottle.
"Why do I need to get ready when I will be there as a ghost?" She retorted.
"Are you planning to look bad in front of your crush?" The Chief said, grinning.
Bang!
"Dad!" Princess Bird pounded the table with her fist in anger and threatened, "You better not bring this bullshit when we meet him!"
"Heh, you mean how you spent hundreds of millions to locate him and how you watched every game of his and followed all the news about him?" The Chief kept antagonizing her with a silly grin, "You mean that bullshit?"
"Argh! Leave me alone!" Princess Bird growled at him.
"I am just saying." The Chief shrugged his shoulders, "We might be aiming for him but we are not going to harm him. So, if you liked him, I can work something out to help you."
"You old fart! I am telling mom that you are bullying me!" In the end, Princess Bird couldn't handle the embarrassment and just escaped through the library gate.
"Hehehe, finally some peace." The Chief grinned widely, "Using that lad is truly a good way to get rid of her."
Without further ado, The Chief engrossed himself back in writing the details of the legendary beast in enjoyment.
***
Meanwhile, Felix had just finished his shower and checked his inbox for a replay. After seeing the invitation link, he smiled in satisfaction.
"Queen, please use the invitation link." Felix requested while heading to the kitchen for breakfast.
Currently, he was using the VR Pod, and he wasn't planning on exiting the UVR for the entire duration of the auction event.
'Sir Felix, the event has yet to commence but you have the requirement to receive the auction catalog.' The Queen replied.
"That's what I wanted." Felix requested while filling up the table with food, "Please open it up."
A side hologram had manifested before Felix at his request. It wasn't showcasing the items' names or prices.
Instead, it was just a long list of Auction House names while written next to them the type of the auctioned items.
For example, there was an Auction House that was centered around auctioning only unexplored habitable planets, unexplored deserted planets that seemed to have chances of finding energy mines.
Meanwhile, there was another Auction House that was targeting only clients who wanted to bid for wormhole coordinations that leads to one of the billions of unnamed galaxies out there.
Those coordinations were extremely expensive since having the first rights to explore a new galaxy would amount to an infinite amount of resources, ranging from mines, ancient ruins, newly found races..etc.
Usually, multiple backgrounds combine their capitals to win the bid.
Felix knew that the seller of those coordinations would earn at least hundreds of billions SC and sometimes, the bid could even reach a trillion!
If Felix had the coordinations of any of those wormholes, he would have already sold it and instantly turned into a filthy rich man.
Alas, the only memory he had was ending up using a star suicide wormhole left behind by a bastard SpaceWorm.Usually, many random wormholes around the universe were either leading to an already explored galaxy or burning stars.
This made it too risky to hunt for paths leading to new galaxies with those f*cknig Space Worms committing Star Suicide everywhere.
If those random wormholes found around weren't unstable, no one would be afraid of ending up meeting with a Star since they could send a small empty spaceship to scout ahead. Alas, they get shredded by the spacetime force inside the wormhole.
The explorers couldn't afford to buy multiple tough spaceships to send them to their doom after meeting a star.
Hence, the search for new Galaxies coordinations was the same as searching for a new continent in the Age of Discovery.
One should be willing to face the tempestuous sea to get the riches!
Felix wasn't planning on attending those types of auctions as he wouldn't really bring their utmost benefits on his own.
Instead, he kept scrolling down the list until he found an Auction for just energy stones and mines. He swiftly pressed on it and was met with the list of items placed and their starting bids.
//
Common Grade Elemental Stones:
]100,000 High-Grade Fire elemental stones bundle/Starting Price: 100 million SC.
]10,000 Peak-Grade Lightning elemental stones bundle/Starting Price: 200 million SC.
...
Uncommon Grade Elemental Stones:
]100,000 High-Grade Dark elemental stones bundle/Starting Price: 350 million SC.
]10,000 Peak-Grade Sand elemental stones bundle/Starting Price: 450 million SC.
...
Rare Grade Elemental Stones:
]10,000 High-Grade Gravity elemental stones bundle/Starting Price: 650 million SC.
]10,000 High-Grade Illusion elemental stones bundle/Starting Price: 650 million SC.
]1000 Peak-Grade Illusion elemental stones bundle/Starting Price: 740 million SC.//
Felix couldn't help but drew a deep breath after seeing the starting price of the illusion stones.
He always knew that they were expensive as hell but he didn't think that even in this yearly auction event the price wouldn't get any cheaper!
He understood that the 10,000 stone bundle could potentially reach up to 4 billion SC if he met with a desperate soul contesting against him.
Yet, he was still planning on getting them since there wasn't going to be another opportunity to push himself to a 100% illusion affinity rating.
Although he might not be able to use it, he had enough coins now to afford to buy them on the side unlike before.
"Sigh, it's costly as hell to work with a rare element." Felix lamented while closing down the hologram. "Hopefully, there might be some illusion bloodlines in the auctions to purchase."
Felix wasn't really planning to enter the 2nd stage of replacement with illusion primogenitor bloodline since he knew that it would take ages to gather the necessary amount to reach 99%.
However, with the capital he had, he could totally afford to buy whatever illusion bloodline he found and extract the primogenitor essence from them.
He could collect the essence like that on the side while using another uncommon element for his 2nd stage of replacement.
With this method, he might actually collect enough essence to attempt using the illusion primogenitor bloodline in his 3rd replacement or 4th!
This method wouldn't have really worked before for Felix when he was broke and never had enough coins to spare for a long-term side-project like this.
"Let's check the bloodline auctions."
Felix went back to the previous list and scrolled down until he spotted three Auction Houses that would showcase only bloodlines in the event.
He chose one and scrolled down the long list of bloodline bottles. Naturally, there wasn't a single bloodline below tier 4.
If the bloodline was tier 4, it got either a legendary rank or a rare element such as illusion.
It didn't take long before Felix had located the first illusion bloodline.
After seeing that the starting price was 380 million SC while it was just an epic tier 4 bloodline, he couldn't help but click his tongue in disgruntlement.
Alas, he could only suck it up and mark the bloodline in a notepad with the name of the House.
He then carried on searching like this for either illusion bloodlines or epic tier 6+ sand bloodlines.
It took him at least 15 minutes before he finished marking more than 4 bloodlines that he could contest for.
There were naturally even more than this number but Felix still needed his coins to buy other things.
"Alright, let's check on the prices for Ancient Ruins Maps." Felix wished, "Hopefully, there aren't many of them so my babies could be contested against even more."
wasn't hard for Felix to find who was responsible for selling the ancient ruins maps since there was only one Auction House doing so in the event.
Alas, Felix's hopes were shattered after seeing that more than 30 ancient ruins maps were planned to be auctioned in the next seven days of the event.
This high number was quite understandable since the guests were allowed to place their own ancient ruins maps just like Felix planned on doing.
Those were added to the original number posted by the auction house itself.
"At least, the starting bids aren't shabby."
Felix was comforted when he saw that tier 7 ancient ruins maps had 1 billion SC starting bid.
This tier was supposed to be the least desirable due to the insurmountable difficulty to explore the ruins.
Meanwhile, those with lower tiers like tier 1/2/3/4 were placed at 2 billion starting bid.
"I should garner at least 20 billion SC off my maps if I was unlucky." Felix concluded so from the starting bids and his map tiers.
He was positive in earning this since he was planning to ensure that all of his ruins were still unexplored yet!
He would be stupid not to take advantage of this information by including it in the contract to increase the price.
The bidders would believe it since if they found that the ruins were explored, Felix would be required to pay them back their money plus 50% extra.
But Felix didn't have to worry about it due to his future memories.
After he marked the Auction House name, Felix carried on his planning by checking on other auctions.
He spent at least two hours until he finally created an efficient plan for the next seven days.
However, the Chief's existence was probably going to mess up his planning.
After all, Felix couldn't just ditch him and do as he pleased when he got this opportunity only due to him.
That's beyond disrespectful and even if Felix decided to go for it, he could still get his invitation link revoked by the Chief since he was just his +1.
"Since he invited me to buy me over, I can drag him around the auctions that I want to visit and he probably won't complain about it." Felix murmured without a hint of embarrassment.
'Shameless! You truly don't deserve to be invited anywhere.' Asna said in a chiding tone.
"I didn't ask him to invite me though." Felix said as he shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
Felix did appreciate the invitation, but that didn't mean he was going to lower his head to the Chief and follow him like a dog in the event.
If it was going to be like that, he wouldn't even bother to accept the invitation!
"Not much time left."
Felix glanced at his bracelet and stood up. He opened the VR store and picked a nice formal suit and a randomized face disguise.
He wasn't planning on wearing a mask since a random face disguise was more than enough to stop anyone from seeing his real face.
The only reason he was wearing that hoodie in the games was to keep that sense of mystery that might attract more fans than just using a random face that wouldn't be approved.
One should never underestimate the players' exterior in terms of bringing more profits.
***
One hour later...
Felix stood up from the couch and requested the Queen to activate the invitation link after he noticed that four hours had gone by since he woke up.
This time, the Queen didn't deny his entry but straightaway started the teleportation process, which was naturally free of charge.
As usual, it didn't even take a second before Felix's body got reconstructed back again.
However, this time he wasn't teleported inside a white circle within the teleportation company but in front of an enormous wide open wooden gate.
It had more of an earthling Chinese style of decoration as it was red and had orange lanterns hovering around it.
Felix didn't teleport right in front of it per se but on a long staircase that was leading to this gate.
He had opened his eyes to the sight of peak white mountains, clouds, and chilling wind caressing his cheeks gently. Even the smell was fragrant like he was standing above a field of Stargazer Lily flowers.
"Not a bad choice for a venue this time."
"Indeed, I disliked last year's venue since it was held in a dome underwater and I am quite a claustrophobic person."
Felix's engrossment in the peacefulness of the atmosphere was shattered apart after more and more guests started to get teleported right next to him.
Unlike him who was standing alone, they came in twos and were chatting together loudly.
Most of them had their real names placed right above their heads, making it obvious that no one was afraid to hide his identity in this event.
Yet, Felix managed to recognize only one of them. That's because he was a super famous high elo player who was pretty active in trending news due to his scandals.
As for the rest? He had no clue.
Just as Felix wanted to climb the stairs and follow the herd, he received a message from the Queen, 'Sir Felix, if you want to directly teleport inside the venue, you can do so.'
'No need.' Felix shook his head and carried on climbing the stairs while enjoying the view.
Alas, he barely took two steps before his bracelet started vibrating. Felix glanced at the screen and noticed that he got a new email from the Maganda Chief.
He opened it up and read it with his eyes. It was just a single sentence, informing him that they were waiting for him behind the red gate.
'They?' Felix knitted his eyebrows, 'Don't tell me others are going to join us.'
Felix forgot to consider this since he believed that the Chief would utmost secure a single invitation letter that allows him to bring +1.
'It seems like I am going to meet with his friends.' Felix smirked, 'Whatever, I will drag them all with me.'
After climbing for a couple of minutes, Felix had finally reached the wide-open gate and was met with an inconceivable sight that took his breaths away.
Buildings of all shapes and sizes were carried by floating rocks, appearing like palaces in heaven. Each one of those buildings did their best effort to be as unique and distinctive as the rest to attract the most attention.
Felix eyed the nearest building to him and saw that it had floating stones, leading to its gate that was guarded by two lions statues.
They were sitting on their paws with their jaws wide open, appearing like they were roaring at the rest of the buildings.
"Lion's Gate Auction House." Felix read what was written on the golden board that was affixed above the auction gate.
He could see that multiple people were already jumping from one floating rock to another, aiming for the gate.
Meanwhile, some of them simply floated there with their hands folded behind their backs.
Just as Felix wanted to switch his vision to another auction building, he felt that someone had tapped his shoulder.
He turned around and saw a middle-aged man, smiling faintly while looking at him. He was wearing a brown robe that had an Hexagone eagle in its chest.Felix knew who he was without needing to guess since the man had his name written above his head.
"Good afternoon, Chief." Felix bowed his head respectfully and said, "It's an honor to meet you."
"The honor is mine." The Chief said with a warm tone.
Felix could see that the Chief was inspecting his face without attempting to hide it. Yet, Felix didn't exhibit feelings of nervousness or worry at being found out.
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He just kept a polite smile affixed on his lips while taking glimpses behind the Chief, wondering why no one was with him.
The Chief noticed his bewilderment and facepalmed lightly, "My apologizes, I thought my daughter gave you permission to see her."
'Daughter?' Felix got even more baffled by what he heard.
However, soon he understood what the Chief meant after he received a message from the Queen, 'You have been given direct permission to see a holographic image of Princess Alicia. Do you accept?'
'Uhmm, Alicia? Is she one of the two oldest daughters?'
Although Felix didn't know who she was, he still decided to accept.
Alas, he regretted his decision the moment he saw the infamous little devil, wearing an elegant black dress while having her yellow bangs moved to the side, exposing her gem-like eyes.
Felix wasn't fooled even a bit by her cute appearance as the horrors he heard about her in his previous life were still fresh in his mind.
"Landlord, we meet again." Princess Bird said smugly.
"I wish we didn't." Felix murmured to himself, but he still presented his hand for a handshake. He was in the presence of her father and there was no need to provoke her.
"Are you making fun of me?" Princess Bird's eyebrows arched in irritation, "Can't you see that I am just a hologram?"
"Oh right, you don't possess an invitation link." Felix said casually while withdrawing his hand back.
"Bastard! That's because you are f*cking using it!" Princess Bird snapped loudly, uncaring about being in public.
She knew that besides her father and Felix no one else could see her. She was exactly like a wandering ghost who's here to only look and not interact.
That was pissing her off especially when Felix was using her own invitation link and lowkey bragging about it.
She wasn't the only one who visited the event in this form as most of the guests had brought their +2 in this manner to let them attend.
This 'ghost' feature was only allowed in private spaces if the owner gave his permission.
Naturally, everyone could sense those ghosts if they got too close to them.
If they were annoyed by it, a simple request from the Queen would force those ghosts to go away lest they end up being kicked out from the event.
"Father, I don't thi...Father?" Princess Bird was left stunned after seeing that the Chief had suddenly disappeared.
'Where did he go?' Felix was also confused by this as he didn't expect that the Chief would take off abruptly like this.
Soon, he received his answer in an email that was sent to him by the Chief, ]Alicia will be accompanying you while I am dealing with some matters. I will catch up with you guys later. Have Fun![
Felix's eyelids twitched as he kept switching his vision from the email and Princess Bird who was looking everywhere like a child who lost his parents in a carnival.
'He totally meant to ditch me with his daughter. But why?' Felix wondered, 'Does he think I will hit it off with this spoiled brat?'
'Whatever, It's even better this way.' Felix grinned widely while walking forward, uncaring about leaving behind Princess Bird.Wait for me, you prick!" Princess Bird floated after him in a rushed manner, worried that she would lose him in the crowd.
Thankfully, she was just a hologram, making it easier to enter through the bodies of people in her path.
After she caught up to Felix, she floated beside him and threatened, "Father gave me the rights to kick you from the event if you didn't listen to me."
"Ghosts have no rights in this event." Felix said casually while glancing around him in fascination.
"I dare you to repeat it!"
He completely ignored Princess Bird's 2nd tantrum and just kept enjoying the bustling atmosphere that made the event resemble a festival.
Since every individual here wasn't to be provoked or offended, no one threw his weight around.
Felix could see that everyone was queuing patiently to enter the auction houses without raising a farce.
Soon, he spotted one of the auctions that he marked in his notepad. He swiftly brought it out and read the items that he wanted from this house.
After seeing that they wouldn't be auctioned until the evening, Felix closed down the hologram and skipped past the hovering glass stairs leading to the auction's gate.
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'I should place the ancient ruins maps first before focusing on buying stuff.' After deciding so, Felix requested the Queen to show him the path towards that establishment.
The Queen manifested a holographic red arrow that was pointing forward. Felix kept being guided by this arrow until he reached his destination.
Just like the rest, this auction was also floating high above the sky. Its design was unique as it appeared like a can of coke with its long spherical shape.
Currently, many guests were either floating towards it or stepping on spherical golden balls that took them to its gate.
Without further ado, Felix floated with the pack and waited in a somewhat small queue.
Immediately after his focus was broken, Princess Bird's annoying rattle resounded in his ears, "Why did you pick this auction? Are you planning on buying something?"
Felix cleaned his ear nonchalantly while continuing to ignore her. He hoped that if he didn't talk to her she might get bored and leave him alone.
He already got rid of the Chief and it would be even better if he got rid of Princess Bird as well.
Soon, his turn had arrived and Felix stepped inside the building.
The moment his foot was set inside, the space had expanded immensely, showing Felix a wide lobby leading to multiple doors and was packed with guests.
"What can we do for you sir?" An elegant receptionist stood before Felix with a polite smile.
"Give me your UVR ID." Felix requested without fanfare.
Understanding what he meant, the receptionist swiftly forwarded it towards him and Felix added her in his contacts.
He then sent a mental message from the Queen, 'I want to place some stuff but I need you to sign an NDA contract before exposing their names.'
'If it's like this, then please follow me.' The receptionist sent another message while guiding Felix towards one of the many closed shut doors. 'I am not responsible for those matters but Sir Hecarim would take care of your needs.'
Knock knock!
She knocked twice on the door and pushed it slightly, she then said politely, "Sir Hecarim, I have brought you another guest."
"Thank you darling, you may leave." The receptionist bowed her head politely towards Felix and walked away after hearing so.
"Please Come in."
Felix didn't dilly dally in front of the door any longer after receiving permission. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, he then closed it behind him.
Only after so, did he focus on Sir Hecarim who was sitting behind a long desk that had no legs.
It was placed on the floor and for a good reason since Sir Hecarim was actually a four-legged man!
He was half a human and half a horse!
Even the human upper-body didn't resemble normal humans due to different displacements of ears and the shape of the nose.
His ears were on top of his head while his nose appeared just like two nostrils without a bridge.
Adding to his brown fur and hair that spread all over his body, and it became a certainty that Sir Hecarim was from a different race.
"It's truly a pleasure of mine to meet in person a member of the famed Centaur Race." Felix greeted courteously.
Felix wasn't surprised by meeting a member of the Centaur Race since he knew that the Human Race was giving some sort of a visa to enter the Milky Way Galaxy, unlike most races.
They only need to not have criminal records and some capital to help them sustain themselves. Just like Looby who was from the Goblin Race.
"I don't deserve such respect." Sir Hecarim smiled politely and gestured with his hoof for Felix to take a seat.
Felix went and sat on a soft cushion that was more comfortable than even seating on normal chairs.
"I have been informed of your situation by that lass." Sir Hecarim said in a soothing tone while forwarding his ID to Felix.
'I apologize for the inconvenience.'
Felix sent this message as he forwarded the NDA contract to Sir Hecarim. Felix had to take such precautions since Princess Bird was literally breathing down his neck.
She was seeing anything that he did and he didn't like that one bit.
Thankfully, Sir Hecarim was a good sport as he signed the contract in a jiffy and started talking business by using the Queen messaging system.
'I am hoping that your establishment can help me auction five new Ancient Ruins Maps.' Felix said straightforwardly.
'Five at once?' Sir Hecarim raised his eyebrow in surprise and a bit of skepticism.
He didn't expect Felix to have that many since he could see that he was using a disguise.
Random disguises were easy to spot by those professionals who spent decades of their lives looking at them.
In the eyes of Sir Hecarim, anyone that bothered to use a disguise in this yearly event was without a strong background to lean on.
Felix made it extra obvious by conversing using the Queen and also signing an NDA contract.
'Please don't think of me as disrespectful or anything, but is there a way to verify that you truly possess five ancient ruins maps?' Sir Hecarim sent this message while bowing his head slightly.
'I am willing to sign an insurance contract with the standard terms.' Felix said.
He already spent a hefty amount of time reading about the auction deals so he wouldn't get ripped off or have his maps rejected.
'That's reassuring to hear.' Sir Hecarim smiled again, feeling quite content by Felix's confidence in his maps.
He also wished for them to be real since his establishment would be earning 1% profit from each auctioned map and as the one who was going to seal the deal, he would be getting 0.05% commission from that.
May I know the names of the ruins and their tiers?'
'Tier 3 Fuji Ruins, Tier 4 MoonStaff Ruins, Tier 4 Sankrir Ruins, Tier 6 Devil Cult, and Tier 6 Dreamworld Ruins.' Felix said them like they were placed at the top of his tongue.
'Not bad at all.' Sir Hecarim's eyes shone with light after hearing that three of them were of a lower tier.
He knew that he would earn a lot in his commission if he secured this deal for the house.
However, the real shock had yet to come as Felix mentioned after, 'I can sign a guaranteed contract, entailing that all of those ruins are still unexplored and filled with treasures. Even the tier 6 ruins.'
'Impossible. How can he be certain about it?' Sir Hecarim frowned his eyebrows with a skeptical glance.
He knew that it was only possible to make such a guarantee when one had explored the ruins and seen the treasures.
But if one could reach that far, why bother even sell the coordination of the ruins?
He understood that those people willing to sell the coordination was because they lucked out on them and they felt that it was less troublesome to get coins for the coordination instead of hiring a mercenary squad or invite close friends...etc
So many problems could occur when doing it without professionals. Sir Hecarim had guessed that Felix was in the same situation. He had the information but not the resources to explore them.
But this all changed when the guarantee contract was brought up.
Now, he had no idea what to think of Felix and if this whole deal was just a prank by one of his colleagues since none of this made sense to him.
However, he still decided to accept it instead of doubting Felix and kicking him out.
'Are you sure about your decision?' Sir Hecarim warned solemnly, 'Do understand that if the client who bought your map found nothing in the ruins, the penalty wouldn't be easy to stomach.'
'Thank you for the concerns but I know what I am doing.' Felix snapped his finger and three contracts were abruptly manifisted before Sir Hecarim.
They were the three contracts that he wrote for this negotiation! One was for insurance, another for guaranteed treasures, and lastly, one for the entire deal.
Sir Hecarim brought one close to him and started reading it carefully. Felix didn't say anything else as he just remained seated waiting for Sir Hecarim to finish.
It took almost two hours before Sir Hecarim lifted his head and started questioning Felix about the terms.
'You wrote that the explorers needed to be wearing AP bracelets and especially the one who possessed the coordinations.' Sir Hecarim nodded his head in approval, 'This will ensure that no trickery will occur during the exploration to cheat you out of your money.'
As Felix said, he knew what he was doing. All the terms written in those contracts were worked by him and a professional contract writer who got paid to see through the loopholes and close them.
The Guarantee contract did have quite a few loopholes and the most dangerous one would be exploring the ruins first without wearing bracelets.
Then, when the real client explores them while wearing the bracelet, he would show the Queen that ruins were empty of treasures unlike what he was promised.
However, rarely would anyone try to pull those tricks off since it was hard to fool the Queen when she was literally in people's minds.
Still, it was better to take precautions.
Felix was confident that the ruins had treasures within them since Asna looked it up in his memories and saw that all of them were proclaimed to have bountiful treasures.
Meanwhile, Sir Hecarim kept asking questions on each term that brought his interest.
Questions ranged from when Felix's map would be auctioned and what's position would be given in the auction. Were some of them were going to be placed near the end, marking their importance and such or not?
Felix was satisfied by some answers and some he wasn't pleased by. But, this was how negotiations were supposed to be. He couldn't be winning them all.
This back and forth Q&A finished after three hours.
'Would you like something to eat?' Sir Hecarim offered while rubbing his eyebrows with a stalk of his brown hair, controlling like it was part of his limbs.
Unreactive to such a sight, Felix shook his head and said, 'I still have an auction that I need to catch up to, so let's conclude the deal first.'
'I see.' Sir Hecarim nodded his head and brought the contracts close to his face.
Without hesitation, he signed all three contracts next to Felix's name. There was still an empty spot for the client to sign as well.
After seeing so, Felix brought out the notepad where he wrote the coordination of each ancient ruins map and sent it to Sir Hecarim, who got quite excited after reading them.
Naturally, since he signed the contract he was forbidden from sharing this information with anyone. Even the auction owner didn't have the right to know the content of this deal.
This would make the entire transaction include only Felix, Sir Hecarim, and the buyer.
'Good, good!' Sir Hecarim bubbled in his mind, 'I will earn at least 40 million SC from this.'
'I want to sign another contract for early payment.' Felix abruptly sent this message.
'Oh?' Sir Hecarim asked, 'How much do you want for them?'
'Give me your minimum estimate of their total price.' Felix said
Sir Hecarim thought about it for a second and said firmly, 'The worse price they could bring you would be 21 billion SC.'
'Oh? That's a bit higher than I anticipated.' Felix's eyes beamed in elation.
He totally believed in Sir Hecarim's estimate since he was a professional who was doing this for years unlike him.
'Are you satisfied with the amount?' Sir Hecarim asked.
Immediately after seeing Felix nodding his head, Sir Hecarim sent a prewritten standard contract that was always used for this kind of deal.
Felix had already read one previously and everything was the same besides small differences. The contract's gestation entailed that Felix would be receiving an initial payment of 21 billion SC.
When his products get auctioned successfully, the house would deduct that amount from the final earning and send Felix what's left.
If the estimate was wrong and the maps ended up getting sold cheaper than 21 billion SC, Felix would be required to pay back what he owned.
After Felix overlooked a loophole, he signed it and kept a copy of it.
Ti-ring!
]You have been wired 21,000,000,000 SC from The Aquatic Auction House.[
Felix smiled widely after seeing the notification emerge in front of him. He never got wired such a large amount at once and it felt excellent to see those many zeros in his bank account.
Felix's ego even started to inflate after knowing that he currently possessed 36 billion SC total.
In his eyes, with this amount, he would finally be joining the whales in this event and compete with them for jaw-breaking treasures.
"This was quite a pleasant deal." Sir Hecarim spoke out loud for the 1st time in those couple of hours.
Princess Bird who was sleeping peacefully above Felix's head opened her eyes groggily at the abrupt sound.
"Likewise Sir Hecarim." Felix proclaimed with a satisfied smile while standing on his feet.
He bowed his head politely and said one last time, "Let's meet again someday."
Then, he turned around and opened the door of the room. He closed it shut after he heard Sir Hecarim's polite response.
"What did you sell?"
Princess Bird asked for the millionth time while floating in Felix's front, trying to block his path. Alas, Felix treated her like air and floated right through her.
"Stop ignoring me you prick!" She cursed while chasing after him.
'She is truly the living incarnation of you Asna.' Felix fired shots without care.
'F*ck off, don't compare me with that whiny kid.' Asna cursed while glancing at his situation from her bed.
'Just saying.' Felix shrugged his shoulders as he glanced at his bracelet.
Upon seeing that there was only 15 minutes before the auction for energy stones begin, Felix stopped fooling around and requested the Queen to show him the way.
Like before, an arrow that was pointing forward emerged in front of Felix and he swiftly floated in that direction.
"Argh! Stop dragging me around! Tell me where are we going at least!"
"Nope!"
***
A couple of minutes later, Felix was sitting in a packed noisy auditorium, appearing like many baby spiders stacked together from high above.
From a single glance, anyone would guess that at least thousands of people were sitting in this curved auditorium facing a well-lighted stage.
Obviously, there were VIP rooms but they had been already taken by individuals who came way earlier than the rest.
In this Yearly event, there were no prebooked VIP rooms for the guests.
That's because everyone had weight on their words and actions, and it wouldn't be fitting to give some rooms and others not. Hence, the rooms were taken on a first-serve basis.
That's only for those types of open auditoriums.
Since Felix was quite late, he ended up getting teleported in this chair that was right in the middle of the auditorium.
Honestly, no one seemed to complain about sitting close to each other since everyone was considered a worthy peer.
If those individuals were placed in an auditorium filled with commoners, their reaction wouldn't be this cool.
Peng Peng!
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Belverian Auction House."
After hearing a greeting from an elderly white-haired man who had manifested in the center of the stage, the chatter quietened down.
"I am just here to welcome you and wish that you enjoy your time under our hospitality." The elderly man smiled gently as he said so. Then, he disappeared again.
But this time, a holographic image of an other-worldly beauty had emerged in his place. She had an expressionless face as she glanced at the people who had their focus placed on her.
"I am the Queen AI and I will be acting as the auctioneer." She said with her usual monotonous voice.
It was a bit unusual for Felix to see the Queen while she speaks but he didn't react much since he knew that her body and face were fake.
It was known knowledge that the Queen had never been seen before. Hence, every race had its own self-created versions of how the Queen would look like.
In this case, she appeared like a goddess with her artificial beauty that was too perfect to be true.
"Let's begin."
Without further ado, she displayed the first auctioned item which was just a bunch of pitch-black stones bundled together. They kept emitting dark waves ceaselessly.
Those weren't added animations but the stones were truly capable of doing so in reality!
The reason why...
"The first bundle is 500 High-Grade Death Elemental Stones." She added expressionlessly, "The starting bid is 500 million SC..."
Before her voice could even trail off, noisy chatter broke off in the auditorium followed by a vicious war of bidding.
"600 million SC from room 15."
"670 million SC from the seat 199."
"710 million SC from the seat 1788."
She kept calling the bids clearly, even though only a few individuals
...
"999 million SC from room 70."
"999 million SC from room 70 going once...twice...Sold."
Clap Clap!...
Felix joined the applause as well but his eyelids kept twitching at the sight of the last bid for only 500 High-Grade Death Element stones.
Heck, he knew that those stones weren't going to be used for anything besides research purposes or as a material.
Yet, the price still reached one billion and this made him sweat a bit at what was waiting for him when the illusion stones make an entry.
'Dear Lord, have mercy on my wallet.' He prayed in his mind while easing down on the applause like the rest.