The Auction continued without any problems.
The next item to enter the stage was a protective necklace. This necklace when used will form a protective barrier around the user.
It can protect against 10 attacks from Tire 1 realm and 100 or more attacks from Tire 0.
So what are Tire 1 and Tire 0?
Different races have different methods for advancing in power, for example, some races don't form a mana core but a mana heart, however, the range of power is almost the same. This way a certain range of power is classified into their respective Tires.
Halfway till the Mana core realm is in Tire 1 while the realm below the Mana core realm the 'Mana Apprentice' realm is classified as Tire 0.
Protection Artifacts are common constructs that Artificers make and they are costly, ranging from 1 to 10 Mid-grade-mana-stones for Tire 1 protection.
But...
"70 Mid's!!" Cain's shout echoed through the building.
The Audience had their mouth agape. The boy was not just stupid but also brain dead, who in the right mind would spend this much for petty rivalry? Now the audience had some idea of what was happening.
An old man even coughed up a blood puddle- with this much money, he could buy 6 no 10 houses.
Camila slowly sneaked out of the auction house, embarrassed- her failure as a mother will haunt her for her entire life if she kept on watching any further.
However, what really dumfounded the audience was Tom's acting.
"No, NO! Why are you doing this to me?! I really wanted that *Sob" Tom's fake cry reverberated, the people young and old felt like rolling their eyes, even a baby would feel something wrong with Tom's acting but not Cain.
"HAHAHAha~" Cain laughed mockingly he was a genius after all who could match him?
A little girl asked her father if she should get this world's version of popcorn, and the father replied with a Yes- this was high-level entertainment.
Cloe pocked Tom with her little fingers, "Shouldn't you stop? I think Cain is not feeling well today." Cloe did not know Cain's real character so she felt that there was something really wrong with him. She respected and feared Cain but all that fell into the abyss when she saw how Cain acted here, so she simply refused to believe something that was before her and tried to talk Tom out of his silly acting.
Tom turned around to face Cloe, his eyes narrowed like a predator, he bend a little and looked into her eyes, "Why do you support him?" Tom's voice was calm but his eyes were judging.
Cloe quivered under his gaze "I...Don't support him...I just have some respect for him."
Tom raised her chin staring deep into her eyes, "The respect you have for him is in the past. Now you are my girl and the only one you respect shall only be me."
Say that to any girl on Earth and you shall get dumped, but this isn't Earth is it?
Tom's aura fluctuated, from within his soul a dark wisp emerged mixing with his mana, this instantly suppressed Cloe's bloodline core. She felt like he was some god standing in front of her, the avatar of pure and raw power this was what she saw.
"Do you understand?" Tom asked looking deep into her eyes with unmasked obsessiveness.
Cloe may be a bookworm and she indeed looks like she did not give much importance to strength, but in fact, she does. Some people say that a woman's heart is selfish, it may indeed be true or not, but the majority want what everyone else wants, even though undeserving.
Tom is not saying that Cloe's heart is selfish or not, but what society does will have a great influence or better not make up one's mind and these core features will also be carved into one's genome as generations pass.
So, what is the core of this society?
Strength and status!
Tom is showing his strength via his bloodline purity and that he is not some weakling that didn't have enough power to protect his women. He was giving assurance to her that he is not what he seems on the outside, giving her a sense of mysteriousness but in the end of the day, he was still pissed that his girl was respecting some other guy when he was here. Tom was a little obsessive, but he couldn't help it.
On one side he never actively seeks girls and on the other side he is a little obsessive, kind of contradictory, but that was his nature.
"Do you understand?" Tom again repeated.
"Y-yes." Cloe strutted while answering.
Tom let go of her face. She stared disbelieving at Tom, her mind a mess, a few moments ago she felt as if being in the presence of a mighty being. The sheer purity of the dark power emanating from Tom made her question reality.
Anna looked smugly at Cloe, this was the person she birthed into the world, in her opinion memories were just memories and blood runs thicker than any memory. Even so, she could still sympathize with Cloe, she was in the same state a couple of days ago- utterly dumbfounded.
While Anna and Cloe were in their own world time still passed and the Auction still continued.
Various items were brought and Cain bought them all with 20 times their initial worth- all because of Tom's amateurish provocation.
In total Cain spend over 300 Mids surprising even Anna and now she knew this boy was wasting the count's fund not Camila's, After all, no sensible person would allow this.
A massive crowd was attracted due to the commotion and of course, the Auction house only let people in who paid a certain price, otherwise the place would be full of people.
The people were really curious about the kid who was madly bidding and the kiddo who was provoking him, but unfortunately due to the one-way mirror implemented with the help of runes a big obstacle was present in their way toward the pursuit of truth.
Many speculated that Auction management was pulling a prank on the audience.
The people had their thoughts but the Auction still continued and it soon reached the final phase, the last three items.
The next item was a bow. Tom and Cain both fought over it and this time Tom didn't push it, the reason being Cain's hesitant voice and Tom knew he was approaching the end of Cain's resources. However, Tom had his priorities straight, he didn't require a bow nor did Anna, for Cloe, he didn't know but her physique didn't look fit for bow-wielding, a gun would most probably fit her the best.
The bow was not a gun so he didn't push Cain till the breaking point to get a useless item and selling it back would incur great losses.
Whooo!
The crowd cheered when the next item was introduced into the stage, and a lot of comments were also heard.
"Oh my..." a mif was impressed.
"So cute!" a girly exclaimed.
"Look at its tail, so fluffy." The father with the little daughter accidentally drooled on his daughter's head.
No, it wasn't an item that was being auctioned, it was a being. A girl walked behind the anchor lady she had light blue hair she looked like she was 16. A collar was on her neck and a leash was attached to it as the lady gently pulled her into the stage.
But that was not what made her unique, she had a wolf-like light blue tail just above her butt. A pair of equally beautiful cat-like fluffy ears perked up and stood with pride, her feet similar to that of a cat.
Seeing the crowd of people her ears defensively dropped as she was gently guided into the stage.
"Catkin" Tom muttered.