Tirus and Lewis both safely reached the Albos city.
After a few days, In the auction hall,
Tirus had taken a seat in the V.I.P. room while Lewis was standing next to him, as his status as a rank 1 magi was too low to sit alongside Tirus.
In the center of the grand auction hall stood a bearded man who was 4.3 feet (1.31 m) in height and was wearing a purple robe with peculiar patterns. A necklace, which seemed to be a magic item, hung on inhumanely short his neck.
"Greetings to all those who have come to attend today's auction. My name is Jeff, and I'm going to be your host." He said while bowing slightly, his gentlemanly demeanor which contrasted his boorish appearance brought forth a look of surprise on many magi's faces.
Then, an item covered with a red cloth magically appeared beside him. His eyes brimmed with pride as he removed the red cloth, revealing a gigantic red skull.
"Today's first item is skull of a peak rank 3 magical beast, the silver hilly bear, this beast had extraordinary defensive capabilities and its skull is still emitting high-energy radiation, the best thing about it is that it's not damaged at all.
The starting bid for this is…50 million magic crystals."
"I bid 55 million magic crystals."
"60 million…"
Soon, many magi from the V.I.P. section started bidding for the skull. However, Tirus wasn't among them.
'It's simply not worth it.' He thought. He currently had over 800 million magic crystals which he was given by the organization solely for the items stated in the missions, so he didn't dare to use that money.
As for buying it with the money from his own pocket? He simply thought that it was just not worth it. After all, it wasn't as if he had an unlimited supply of magic crystals.
"The bidding ends, the gentleman in room number 342 has bought this skull for 83 million magic crystals." The short host said in a voice that travelled to all the magi present at the moment.
"Now for the next item…" Time passed by like this, there were many items which intrigued Tirus, but not enough for him to want to buy them.
After an hour, the moment he was waiting for had finally come.
The host was holding a white colored bracelet.
"This item is a peak quality high grade magic equipment, it has an effect of attracting the energy particles its wearer has the highest affinity with, thus resulting in great aid in their cultivation.
While one wears this, as long as they stay in a single place for a long enough time, that place would automatically become an energy pool effective for even hydro phase magi." The host explained the features of this high grade magic equipment, which caused clamor to erupt among the magi.
Magical tools had several grades and ranks.
Between the magical tools and the magical equipment, the increase in quality was immense.
"The bidding will start at 90 million…"
"95 million…"
"110 million…"
One by one, all the magi started bidding at prices much higher than the previous bidder in order to demotivate them.
"250 million magic crystals." Lewis announced their bid after getting Tirus's permission.
"Who is this magi? How can he spend so much?" A young looking official magi murmured in astonishment but was soon met with the reprimand of another magi who seemed to be his senior, "Shh, shut up you idiot! Think before you say anything, of course they are representing some high-level organization."
"Oh...sorry uncle." The young magi apologized while scratching the back of his head.
"250 million, once, twice, thrice... Sold!" The host announced and number 221 appeared above the bracelet.
Seeing this, both Lewis and Tirus had elated expressions on their faces.
The next item was the eye of the ancient dragon, which emitted morning star level radiation.
"The bit starts at 170 million…"
This time, the starting bid was much, much higher than before, but Tirus wasn't short on money and kept bidding until it reached the price of 550 million magic crystals.
"Sold to the magi in room number 221."
Even though this money wasn't spent from his own pocket, Tirus still felt a little heartache while spending so much money.
"Now, time for the final item." The host was seemingly quite excited before he announced the final item's name.
"This final item is a box made entirely of the rare green steel. There's a lock on it that hasn't been unlocked by anyone. The researchers say that it's almost 2,000 years old. The starting bid is 10 million magic crystals."
'This item…hm' Tirus rubbed his temples, closed his eyes and poured spiritual force into his dark prophetic heart.
'It's worth it!' Flames of excitement burned in his eyes and he started bidding with, of course, his money.
After a few minutes,
"Sold to the one in room no.221 for 23 million magic crystals."
'Good.' Tirus felt relieved for being able to buy this item for such a low price.
Although this item was sold alongside high-grade magical tools and equipments, but nobody would want to spend tens of millions of magic crystals on a mystery box.
To be continued…