Finally, the auction started. Up in front was a stage that had a spotlight right in the middle for the host to introduce the items being sold for the night.
The guests were seated in curved sofas that comfortably faced the stage. Each had a table and a number sign on a stick that they could raise to indicate their intention to bid on an item.
The nearest they were to the stage, the most prestigious the bidder was. At the very front was reserved for none other than the Young Master and his lackeys. They sat comfortably with full view of the items that they wanted to bid on.
Behind him were successful entrepreneurs and businessmen, there were also some royals from a nearby kingdom, there were high-ranking officials like the mayor and the chief deputy of the police also making an appearance at the auction. It was a gathering of obscenely rich people.
At the furthest seat nearest to the door was Zoran. He was shrouded in darkness as even the lights were not designed to penetrate that far from the stage.
For the first part of the auction, the items that were displayed at the start of the night were exhibited. The first item was a pair of earrings that was made of red rubies encased in Adamantium. It was a hot topic for aristocrats.
"3,000 Liongs!"
"5000!"
The host accepted all the bids until finally, the final bid was accepted. "7000 Liongs, sold!"
Zoran let the items fly by with no intention of bidding on anything. Such things like earrings, jewelry, and other relics from the past was not something he was interested in.
"Next in line is this beautifully crafted Obsidian Skull Crusher sword made by a genuine Volcanist from abroad!"
"10,000 Liongs, sold!" For cultivators like the Young Master's lackeys, swords were a necessary tool they needed as extra protection. After all, mages like them were weak in close combat.
Even rare weapons forged by master blacksmiths like the Volcanists from the collection of islands in the Ring of Eruption were not something Zoran would ever use. After all, the body is all a Physique cultivator ever needed.
Even if he was in need of a weapon, no metal like Obsidian or Adamantium could ever compare to the strongest metal ever, Silverune.
"AH!"
Pain filled Zoran's mind as if a pin penetrated his brain. It even forced him to let out a small groan, a feat that even the Supreme Beings could not muster out of him even if they destroyed him with every Law in the Universe.
Some guests heard his groan and turned to look at him, only to quickly ignore him once they found out that it was the peasant.
Zoran's head was filled with confusion as he tried to understand why his mind ached unlike anything he ever experienced. He was simply thinking about the items in the auction when all of a sudden, this phantom pain plagued his mind.
Was it because of the Silverune?
ZZZTTTT
There it was again. The pain penetrated deep into his subconscious like a proverbial zap of electricity. The mere thought of the word 'Silverune' elicited pain that discouraged him from even thinking about it again. How could this happen?
From what he remembered, he obtained the Silverune along with the Silver Bleeding Diamond. Its value today is considered to be the same as scrap metal, but in the future when it was discovered how to mold this liquid substance, it trumped the hardness and endurance of any metal—even Adamantium.
When he fell into the Miasma, he thought that the Silverune disintegrated like his clothes and even the Silver Bleeding Diamond. But when he came back to the surface, he remembered that the Diamond hid behind his skull while his body regenerated.
So, if the Diamond was able to survive the Miasma, then so could the Silverune. That was the most obvious conclusion. However, Zoran searched his whole body to find the glob of silvery liquid to no avail.
He searched his veins, his internal organs, his blood, and even his bone marrows. Nothing. He thought the Silverune was truly gone after that.
But.
ZZZTTT
When he now tried to search his body more thoroughly, a mysterious pain in his brain accompanied him. It was as if his subconscious was warning his neurons from even trying to form a connection to try and remember where the Silverune was placed.
There were many mysteries that joined him in his regression: the mantra, the laws, and now this.
But the fact that there was an enigma surrounding the existence of the Silverune only served to further make Zoran believe that the Silverune survived inside his body. It didn't disintegrate in the Miasma.
However, for some reason, his body prevented him from trying to find it. However, like the mantras and his regression, this denial must be for a reason. It must benefit him in some way.
So, Zoran put the thought of Silverune to the back of his mind. He tried to forget it.
By the time he was contemplating on the Silverune, the auction had passed by. More than half of the items had already been sold and more money had been transferred over just now than the entirety of wealth in the Garbage District.
Many aristocracy's bought jewelry for their wives, wealthy cultivators bought themselves new heavenly weapons that boosted their strength, and the auction profited more and more from their lavish spending, to the host's delight.
"Next on the block is this relic from the Old Age. This is the book from a mysterious author called Nightingale. It details indecipherable words and depictions of the human body."
The host showed a book that has seen the test of time. The book cover was wrinkled with the bottom half ripped out from natural disintegration from years and years of use. He then showed a few pages to the guests, with pictures of humans with strange dots on their bodies that seem to be illogical in the eyes of doctors and physicians.
"Although the contents of this book is deemed to be incoherent, its value remains on the fact that it is a relic from the Old Age."
Zoran stood up and stared at the book in the host's hands. He had heard of the name 'Nightingale' before, but he didn't think that THE Nightingale would come up here in this backwood place. Although that name was hidden in the history books, Zoran knew that she was the pioneer physician at the time, regarded for her ability to cure any internal ailments—either physical or mental.
But that was not all.
In voluntate mea ad verum aquilonem intellectus procedet.
Those words once again spurred him into action. It was urging him to grab this book for it somehow contained a secret that could grant him tremendous power!
But before he could place a bid, someone got to it first.
"10,000 Liongs," said the Young Master.