While I was greatly interested in observing the representatives sent by the six other immortal hegemonies, acquiring the immortal pill was something more critical currently; besides, I was equally interested in the pill anyways.
"Twenty-two thousand spirit stones." Said Elif calmly as he also removed the tint from the glass wall, causing the other six people to look at his booth while various thoughts quickly flashed through their heads.
"Hoho, Prince Elif, it's a pleasure to meet you, though I would prefer it was under better circumstances; however, my Heavenly Empire would appreciate it if you could give us face and allow us the Pill. Twenty-three thousand spirit stones." Said the older man shamelessly with a smile, causing all the bystander's faces to twitch.
"Tch, trying to deceive a young boy with your pathetic tricks is quite disgraceful, but I should've expected such shamelessness since it's coming from the Heavenly Empire. Twenty-four thousand spirit stones." Said the beast woman while talking down to the older man, resulting in his face turning sour from the blatant disrespect before a large audience.
"I do not wish to waste time arguing with everyone over such irrelevant matters. Twenty-five thousand spirit stones." Commented the onyx Golem solemnly with a deep voice.
"You aren't the only one; I still have some important business to take care of after acquiring the pill. Twenty-six thousand spirit stones." Said the Atlantean woman, sounding entirely exhausted as well.
"I'm also currently hosting some guests, so let's speed this little auction along. Thirty-thousand spirit stones." Said Elif with a smile, joining the conversation while significantly increasing the price again, resulting in the price becoming truly expensive.
"Tsk, as a child, you should stay out of important business and let us adults handle it, Prince Elif. Thirty-one thousand spirit stones." Said the demon arrogantly, not taking Elif seriously.
"The Demon Sect must feel quite proud of itself for having a member of the older generation oppress someone from a younger generation. However, I suppose when you don't have someone from the same generation strong enough to confront me, they can only resort to bullying. Thirty-two thousand spirit stones." Replied Elif, sounding even more arrogant than the Demon, garnering the Demon's anger.
"That's very arrogant of you, Prince Elif, but for your information, Young Master Aurora had better things to do than to visit the Crown Prince of the Elven Empire." Responded the demon while looking at Elif with squinted eyes.
"Well, that's good for him, but what makes you think, even if he visited my Empire, that I would pay him any mind? Is he not just another stepping stone for me to walk across on my journey to the top? At the end of the day, a stone is just a stone, even if one is a little more durable than the others." Said Elif, overbearingly arrogant, causing the demon to crush the armrest in anger. However, it's not like he could argue back, as almost everyone affiliated with an Immortal, Divine, and Ancient Hegemony has seen the power Elif displayed during the fight against Marley two years ago.
"Thirty-three thousand spirit stones." Said the Demon as he tried to ignore Elif's presence since he didn't wish to die from foolishly attacking Elif while within his territory.
"You're very prideful, Prince Elif, though, with your background and the power you wield, it makes sense; however, from how you spoke, it sounded like you thought no one within the same generation as you was your equal. Thirty-four thousand spirit stones." Said the Atlantean woman as she deeply observed Elif's body language to catch any falsehood.
"Hmm, I see how there might be some misinterpretation, so It would be best to clarify it. I don't think no one within the same generation is my equal; I know no one within the same generation is my equal." Said Elif casually, though his words caused everyone to look at him with a frown; even the Golem was no exception.
"That is quite an arrogant thing to say, Prince Elif. You should know there is always a heaven above another heaven." Said the older man with a frown, seemingly trying to advise Elif, though the glint in his eyes says otherwise.
"What you said is true, but there must always be a limit to something, and currently, I'm the strongest heaven there is. Thirty-five thousand spirit stones." Replied Elif, almost forgetting he was in the middle of an auction from how much they were talking.
"Haa, it seems to be my unlucky day; I, unfortunately, must step away from the auction. Good luck to everyone else, and it was an experience meeting with you, Prince Elif." Said the Atlantean woman as she stood up before vanishing from her booth.
"Seeing how someone has left, I suppose it's about time to conclude the auction. Thirty-six thousand spirit stones." Said the older man.
"Thirty-seven thousand spirit stones." Said the Demon.
"Thirty-eight thousand five hundred spirit stones." Said the beast woman, much to the Demons anger, as he quickly stood up and instantly disappeared, not even saying a farewell.
"Thirty-nine thousand spirit stones." Said the onyx Golem, causing the beast woman to release a frustrated sigh as she stood up and said her farewells before vanishing from the booth just like the previous two.
"Thirty-nine thousand one-hundred spirit stones." Said Elif, resulting in the Golem leaving after giving his curt farewells.
"Well, it seems it's just us three. Thirty-nine thousand two-hundred spirit stones." Said the older man while also addressing the quiet dragon who had only bid once.
"Why not leave then and let me have the pill? I'm sure it's dangerous for an older man to venture out during the night; I wouldn't want you to get hurt. Thirty-nine thousand two-hundred spirit stones." Said Elif as he fanned himself with his quạt tay while the older man chuckled.
"I'm still in my prime; however, I should be the one warning you; it's even more dangerous for a child to stay out for long periods of time. Thirty-nine thousand three-hundred spirit stones." Said the older man while pulling his beard.
"Ahh, there's no need to worry about me; I brought my guards with me, so I'll be fine. Thirty-nine thousand four-hundred spirit stones." Said Elif, with perfect timing, as Illumia had just returned after getting the necessary amount of spirit stones.
"Well, it seems like I have nothing to worry about other than acquiring the pill. Thirty-nine thousand five-hundred spirit stones." Replied the older man with a chuckle.
"Thirty-nine thousand six-hundred spirit stones." Said Elif, causing the older man to release a sigh of defeat.
"Haa, you've managed to outbid me, Prince Elif, so I'll have to retire from the auction. It was interesting talking with you, Prince Elif, but I think you should reel in that arrogance of yours as my Heavenly Empire isn't weak; we have our own talented Prince and Princess." Said the older man as he stood up and advised Elif, or possibly threatening him.
"I'm glad to hear such good things about the Heavenly Empire; just make sure to warn those talented Princes and Princess not to move against me when I venture out of my Empire in the future. I'm quite peaceful, so I'd wish to avoid unnecessary deaths if possible." Advised Elif with a smile, though his words only caused the older man to frown before disappearing from the booth.
"So, now that it's just the two of us, will you finally start bidding or what?" Asked Elif as he looked at the booth that the Dragon in human form occupied.
"Forty-thousand spirit stones." Said the Dragon in a deep voice while staring at Elif, something he had been doing since the moment Elif removed the tint from his glass wall.
"Forty-thousand and one-hundred spirit stones." Said Elif, to which the Dragon merely grunted before disappearing from his spot as well, resulting in Elif acquiring the Immortal Pill.
"No other bidders!? Then Prince Elif has won the Immortal Pill! The pill shall be quickly brought to your booth." Said Ace while he, along with everyone else, was still greatly shocked at the sheer amount of spirit stones the Immortal pill sold for.
"Haa, even if it was merely an act, it was still quite intense." Muttered Birger, no longer feeling uncomfortable as the representatives had disappeared.
"Wouldn't call it that intense, but they did make me lose a lot of spirit stones." Said Elif, feeling quite irked at how the auction played out.
"Umm, excuse my lack of knowledge, but what do you mean that was merely an act?" Asked Eyvor, feeling confused about the whole auction that had just transpired.
"The Immortal pill was auctioned off in the Elven Empire capital city. Did you think we would allow someone else to take something so important from us right under our noses? The representatives for the Immortal Hegemonies were merely trying to make the pill more expensive for us, as they wouldn't allow us to acquire it for merely a few hundred spirit stones. Although, if anything, I must say we are quite lucky to have the pill auctioned off in our Empire; otherwise, we wouldn't have acquired that pill." Said Elif, only becoming silent when the human women arrived with the Immortal pill.
With the lady having arrived with the pill, I tossed the dimension ring filled with mid-Immortal spirit stones to her while Illumia took the box with the pill inside.
"Were you also acting earlier?" Asked Elif, though, when he saw how her expression didn't change once after scanning the contents of the dimension ring, he knew he had guessed correctly.