After the special event ended, some people left the auction house with a deflated look. It seems like they've lost a lot.
Many guests could be seen taking a seat, waiting for the next item to be auctioned.
Roy was in the seventh private box with a beautiful woman on each side.
Their allure was ignored. He was sitting in silence, but because he had a thoughtful look on his face, Arlo could tell that he was thinking about something.
'I already have a runic stone of invisibility. I haven't used it in the past because I didn't have a need to. It's still in perfect condition. The second one will just eat the dust if it stays with me. What should I do with it?'
AD
After thinking for a while, he handed it over to Amelia.
"Why are you… giving me this?"
"Because it can protect your life. You'll become invisible to others for ten minutes when you pour ten wisps of mana into it. That means you'll have a sizeable window to escape from danger."
"Thank you for caring about me and bestowing me this!"
Because of his generous nature, Roy earned thanks from Amelia.
The other two rune stones obtained from gambling were put aside in his subspace without anyone's knowledge..
Although he had several rune stones, he was only planning to keep the following: 2×Complexity, Painful Healing, and Invisibility.
AD
Alfonso's voice reached his ears from the stage.
"This is the second last auction item. It's called the Elixir of Ascension. I believe that everyone doesn't know its function. That's understandable. It was taken out of the "Hidden Realm." Only three such elixirs were found by the empire. The seller was kind enough to explain its effect. It'll increase the size of your Magic Sea or your inner world without causing any problems. And by that, I mean an increase of 1000 points in the mana or aura storage capacity is expected even if yours is already the size of a peak Rank-1 Mage or a Peak-level Weapon Master! This elixir's starting price is 438 thousand gold coins."
The sound of biddings started rising from the private boxes and filling the auction house.
"500000!"
"650000!"
"800000!"
Amelia swallowed nervously and turned to look at Roy, "Why are they willing to pay so much for it?"
Roy replied, "Because it's a direct ticket to uniqueness. An Awakened can reach an undefined level of the Weapon Master Stage. The same goes for Rank-1 mages. It's not strange for its price to go beyond a few million."
Just a minute later, someone bid an unbelievable amount for it.
"8 million!"
Pin-Drop silence.
Quietness replaced the noises in the auction house.
AD
"It looks like no one is rich enough to outbid her," Julian said.
Arlo corrected him, "Well, there is."
"Who?" Julian asked.
Arlo pointed at… himself. "Me!"
"You're bluffing."
Arlo ignored his disbelief and turned to look at Roy. "Do you want it?"
Roy replied, "Only a fool would not want it. I was planning to rob it. But since it's my future sister-in-law who is going to get it, I won't."
"You like it so much?" Arlo said, "Then… I will get it for you."
Hearing his words, Roy's eyebrow raised in amazement. 'Is he being serious?'
Everyone thought that no one could outbid her.
"10 million!"
To their surprise, someone did!
Who was it? They couldn't see because of the privacy barrier.
"I will step out of the bidding since Uncle-in-law wants it. You can have it." This was said by Bernice. And It was enough to reveal the identity of the person who outbid her.
Arlo chuckled, "Lass, you're still to marry into our family."
"I've already taken him as my husband, and I always get what I want," Bernice said confidently.
AD
The Elixir of Ascension was sold to Arlo at the price of 10 million gold coins. It was brought to him by Gaynor. He picked it up and placed it close to Roy like it was a mere candy and not an item he had spent s sizeable fortune to obtain.
"Are you secretly a merchant?" Roy asked as he stored it in his subspace.
Arlo didn't decline nor accept.
"Badulf only has half of my talent as a businessman. Yet, he is among the top thousand richest men of the empire. How rich do you think I am?" He questioned back.
Roy thoughtfully replied, "Probably less than him. I have only ever seen you lazing around. A man living a relaxed and retired man can't possibly make as much as a hard-working man who is good at commercializing things."
Arlo didn't feel offended by his words.
"It's true that I have been lazing around after the war. I've indeed been living my dream life. No, it should be better to say, I've been my life like a dream. But it's for a good purpose."
Furthermore, he admitted that he was exactly as Roy judged him.
"And… what purpose might that be?" Roy asked.
AD
Arlo replied, "You wouldn't understand even if I told you. It's too complex."
The last item to be auctioned was the Parasite Killer.
It was purchased by the Daughter of Achlys at a considerable sum.
Why did she purchase it?
Well, there was a risk of an alchemist reverse-engineering, mass producing, and commercializing it in order to earn a fortune.
If the Parasite Killer becomes available in the markets, there'll be nothing stopping the branch families from regaining freedom from the main family.
The main family will lose control over the others and become considerably weak.
For that to not happen, they took it for themselves.
This elixir will most likely be wasted.
The auction ended. The buyers took what they paid for and came out of it one after another.
"We'll cross paths soon."
Before leaving the auction house, Bernice said these words to Arlo and smiled at Roy and Julian.
Seeing her going away, Arlo shouted, "I hope we don't."
Roy promised he saw her almost tripping.