As soon as Leo laid down his expansion plans for the village, all of his advisors were shocked at it. They would have never thought that their new lord had such forethought! As Leo smiled in achievement and at the gaping faces of his advisors he heard the system's voice in his mind.
[Lord Leo, your auction will start in 5 minutes. Please prepare yourself as you will be teleported to a room to view the bets placed on your item]
Leo sighed, turned to his newly summoned followers and advisors and said,"You all go and do what I have commanded, make sure to check with your advisors if you finish your work and have nothing to do."
As soon Leo commanded it, everyone in the room started to slowly leave the recruitment center. Leo turned to Advisors and said,"You three, make sure all the new workers are properly initiated into the village."
The advisors all had different ways of showing respect but all of them responded with,"As you command my lord!" The advisors were surprised to say the least at Leo's performance but were happy to see his growth and the ability to command others without their direct input. It seemed especially clear to Sally, who had been with him a day longer than the others, that Leo was starting to grow when it came to internal affairs and leadership capabilities.
After everyone left the recruitment center Leo heard the system's voice in his head once more.
[World Auction announcement: Auction will begin in 1 minute. All participants, be prepared to be teleported. Friendly reminder, participants cannot bet that which they do not own]
Leo calmed himself and waited to be teleported to the auction hall room. Soon Leo felt a slight fuzzy feeling and when he opened his eyes once more he was standing in a large room made entirely out of wood. The hall was absolutely massive and Leo was standing in front of 10 camera-like objects, likely streaming the current stage Leo was standing on to the many people participating in this auction.
Leo was curious how the cameras operated, but knew that this was likely a system only feature. Something this ridiculously overpowered would be a paradigm shift for any lord, though it did give Leo some ideas.
Leo pulled out the Green grade auction scroll from his inventory and placed it on a small pedestal in the center of the stage. Leo pulled up the chat for the auction, titled just as simply, 'Auction chat'.
Before Leo started the bidding, he decided to put on a little bit of theatrics to appear more favorable to the people. Leo knew that selling the scrolls he didn't need to other lords, could gain him resources that he would otherwise not be able to gain in his little corner of the world. Leo would start this auction off right with a high value scroll that no one else but himself had acquired up to this point, and in the future he would continue to auction off impressive items so that he could gain many more resources.
Leo started his speech, saying,"To all other lords of the world, today I am here to auction off this Green grade advisor scroll, a scroll that everyone is craving. It is not my intention to hog all of the achievements of this world, and so I hope for everyone to get stronger together. I will not be able to help everyone survive from my own hard work alone, no, this is a team effort and in the future I will need allies to pass this calamity we now find ourselves in."
Leo eyed the Auction chat for a second to see the positive reactions of the other lords. Continuing on, he said,"For whoever wins this scroll, since I have already gone through this process, you must assign the advisor as your economic advisor to be able to register your city within the system. This will make your city an official city of the world, as well as unlock other parts of your system and territory. Most people will not know how I created a faith so quickly, and to ease that secret from my mind I shall simply tell it to all of you. Once you officially register your city into the system, you will unlock what is called the '5 Star points'. Faith is one of those points and is a crucial part of your society."
Leo looked at the chat once again, blurring as many typed about the developments that Leo was speaking about. Leo finished his speech by saying,"Many of you haven't asked or don't know yet, but over 900 civilizations before us came to this world, and now they are all dead. Every last lord from those worlds are now buried and gone. We cannot allow this to happen to us! We are proud earthlings! We shall never falter in this face of death!"
Leo noticed the surprise and praise for what he had said circulating in the chat and so he wrapped up his speech by saying,"I believe that is all I have to say for now, let's get this auction started shall we?!"
[Lord Leo has officially started the auction for a Green grade recruitment scroll (advisor)]
[Lords, please input your bets. As more treasures are put up as bets, any insufficient bets will not be accepted. The system will kick the lords one by one once their holdings are not sufficient]
This message caused a little bit of outrage and anger but the other lords who had been hoarding up till this point were sure of their own victories.
[The auction has begun, lords please place your bets]
Leo watched as the chat went crazy, spamming messages and bets, wondering how their system would handle all these people at the same time. Leo stood there, in the center of the auction hall and watched as more and more bets were piled in. He saw a few that piqued his interest, such as the 'Jade Moon Flower' and 'Green grade Leggings (Protection of Vias).
Just as Leo was trying to figure out the auction procedures, and looking over the items bid, the system voice rang out.
[Round 1 of bets is over. Highest current bid is a 'Soul Dew']
[2.6 Billion lords are unqualified to continue competing, and shall be kicked]
The surprise in the chat was chaos, as none of the lords had expected the auction to work in this way. Many complained about their luck and fortune as more and more lords dropped out of the auction, forced by the system, Leo looked at the number sitting at the bottom of the page, noticing it was only at 572 million people rather than the 3 billion+ that it was at before.
Leo sucked in a bit of air as he realized that the system had cut off a large chunk of the lords.
[Round 2 will now begin. Please place your bets]
Just like before Leo watched the chat explode with bets, watching these lords who had good luck throw a lot of resources at this auction. Leo smiled slightly as continue to see the treasures that he lords were pulling out to gain this scroll.
[Round 2 of bets is over. Highest current bid is a 'Lantern Sheep flock' and a 'Moonlight Flower'"]
[410 million lords are unqualified to continue competing, and shall be kicked]
Leo was still a little astonished at the ruthless efficiency of the system, and waited for the next round to begin.
[Round 3 will now begin. Please place your bets]
The process went much quicker this time as the longer this process went on, the fewer lords there were. Leo knew that he would most likely gain some high quality Green grade items, possibly even Blue grade, but it shouldn't be any higher than that since it hadn't been long since the game had started.
Just as Leo was beginning to get a feel for what he might get, the 3rd round was over.
[Round 3 of bets is over. Highest current bid is a 'Lantern Sheep flock', a 'Moonlight flower', and a specialty building blueprint]
[Many lords can no longer participate, thus only 3 lords will remain to bid on this scroll]
Leo was surprised that the same guy who won the second round also won the third, but he supposed that it was possible that this guy really wanted this scroll. He was betting his entire treasury stock gained over the last few days on getting it most likely. Leo grinned madly, loving the current development.
[The final round of bets is now starting, remaining lords please place your bets]
Leo held his breath in anticipation for the person who would win and gift him fabulous treasures. Personally Leo was hoping that the previous guy won so he could gain that specialty building that he saw. Leo was really curious about it, as even with his luck he hadn't run across anything of that nature, and he was probably the luckiest person on this planet!
[Final round of bets is now over. Kicking the other 2 lords who did not win]
[Summoning winner to the auction hall]
Before Leo could even question what the system meant by that, a man appeared before him, wearing some silk clothes that made him look extremely regal and elegant. Leo noticed the man seemed to be asian, and that compared to himself was quite handsome in appearance.
Leo waited for him to gain his bearings after the teleportation and said,"Welcome, to who do I owe the pleasure of speaking with?"
The asian man smiled, bowed deeply and said,"Lord Leo, my name is Lin Yue. I come from across the great sea, my homeland is China, in the Guangdong province."
Leo nodded his head and handed the scroll he had auctioned to him. The man took the scroll from Leo very carefully, as if he could break it easily. Leo asked Lin Yue,"What was the final bid that made you win?"
Lin Yue chuckled and said,"Well, you see, I gained a special unit scroll of the Blue grade, however my recruitment center is Green grade and it was JUST upgraded through a quest. It will probably be a long time before I am able to gain another upgrade scroll for it, so I decided to part with a specialty unit, on top of everything else."
Leo watched as the man paused for a moment and then Leo heard a notification from the system.
[Lord Leo has sold the Green grade recruitments scroll (advisor) and gained a 'Lantern Sheep flock', a 'Moonlight flower', a specialty building blueprint, and 1 Blue grade recruitment scroll (Special Unit)]
Leo was surprised and flabbergasted that he actually got both a specialty unit and a specialty building. Moreover, the person he had hoped would win, actually did, giving him some of the treasures he had been eyeing for a while!
Leo smiled after collecting himself and said,"Lin Yue, We may be far apart, however I would like to propose something."
Lin Yue, still delicately holding the scroll, asked with a puzzled expression,"What is it Leo?"
Leo replied,"After you have established your city, send me an Alliance invite, I feel like we could help each other out greatly in the future!"
Lin Yue had a slack jaw expression but caught his composure and quickly said back,"Of course Leo! I would be honored! To our beautiful friendship as allies!"
Leo could feel himself starting to teleport as the fuzzy feeling was back, so he simply responded,"I look forward to it."
Leo then teleported away as Lin Yue was left in the auction hall for a moment longer than Leo. Lin Yue said to himself since he was alone,"With Leo as an Ally, I might be able to become the true emperor mandated by heaven! I can't wait to rule over New China!"
Lin Yue was teleported away as he started to formulate a plan in his mind.