Chapter 46
"Guest, please show the tickets and verify your identity," the guards pointed towards a screen where Oliver scanned his smartphone.
The auction had issued tickets months ago, and only those with the tickets were allowed to enter.
After successfully scanning the ticket, one of the guards politely pointed him towards a direction inside.
Oliver was not too impressed by the scanning system; he had seen plenty in his previous life. These tickets had sensors embedded into them that would help authentication.
Of course, there was a chance that someone would steal your ticket and impersonate you.
There was no biometric information required to participate in the auction house to maintain their guests' privacy and background.
If you let your ticket get stolen, then you are simply not worthy enough to enter the auction house!
Not to mention, the person who stole the ticket should also have enough wealth to even dare to dream to bargain in the auction.
"Sir, please, this way." A woman called out to Oliver who walked towards the woman in staff clothing; she handed him a white metallic plate with the number 69.
She smiled and explained, "Sir, this is your ID number until you leave the auction house. If you wish to bid, then simply raise this plate up or tap on it thrice. You will be allowed to bid the amount."
He took the metallic ID plate with the number 69 and asked, "Where can we store our belongings?"
He wanted to store his bag outside since he knew he wouldn't be allowed inside otherwise; the guards would look at every item the guests had brought along if they wished to bring it inside.
"For that, you can use one of the lockers for public use, or you can pay to get a private locker. The latter being more secure and spacious."
He looked at her speechlessly; even in the auction house, they were trying to make profits.
He sighed as he realized the rich big-shots would directly get themselves the private safe, but he decided otherwise.
First of all, he didn't intend to waste money on the private safe considering the public locker was just equally safer due to its location and the guards outside.
Secondly, if there was an emergency, he could directly access his public safe without needing a middleman to get to the private safe.
"I'll take the public locker."
"Definitely, please follow me."
After placing his bag inside the locker, he was finally ready.
"Let's begin."
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The main hall was dark and spacious; there were multiple seats arranged in front of a huge stage.
When Oliver reached the hall, there were already multiple people seated inside.
Just as he stepped foot inside, his body felt a slight invisible pressure from all sides. He felt as if he was being pressed down by something invisible...
He took a deep breath and slowly adjusted to the invisible pressure. He had already expected a room filled with strange and mysteriously powerful people to be like this.
No sooner did he enter, he felt multiple gazes on him.
In the dark, many exorcists were slightly curious about this new arrival with a strange mask and cap.
The reason for their curiosity was simple; they were unable to feel his strength.
Many openly sent espera waves to sense his level but in the end were puzzled when they were unable to feel anything from him.
Some had a strange expression as they felt that this mysterious boy was stronger than them so they decisively withdrew their espera.
Many followed the suite and withdrew their espera; it was a known knowledge that constantly trying to probe someone with espera was considered rude and offensive to the party as it was akin to violating their privacy.
And none of them wanted trouble with someone stronger than them.
Oliver also realized this thanks to his deep knowledge about the culture and other stuff from the novel, but he could still feel some lingering gazes.
He followed the direction, and his focus fell onto the second floor of the hall; there were many small balconies over there that were hidden by darkness.
Literal darkness... it was evident that they were using devices to harness darkness element to provide the cover before the auction begins.
What a privilege!
He could himself sense that all the gazes that mostly still remained on him were from up there.
Those balconies were attached to private rooms behind and were specially assigned to VIPs.
It could be seen that even among such a powerful gathering, there were VIPs which told about the strength and influence they had.
He felt slightly annoyed by their persistent gazes.
In the end, he directly used [Cosmic Void Gaze] and started looking towards each balcony one by one where he felt the gazes from.
With the [Cosmic Void Gaze], he saw all hidden details, the other party was as clear as an elephant in a crowd of humans.
'Sure enough, they are VIPs… each of them is dangerously strong.'
He felt goosebumps looking at the cluster of espera radiating from the individuals; it was wild and fierce, ready to claw at the enemies. All these people were definitely expert exorcists.
There might be exorcists as high as Rank-2 present today!
This showed how precious items were going to be today!
As Oliver looked at each person back with [Cosmic Void Gaze], he felt them swiftly retracting their gazes back. He was using the intimidation, albeit suppressing it significantly.
He could not force too much or his energy will deplete quickly and he would become more vulnerable.
It was how this world worked; unless you showed others your power, they would continue to bully you and think of you as a pushover.
It did not mean that you have to directly jump into fights with others but to show them that you are capable of countering them and handling them if necessary!
Hiding his strength always would not favor him in any way; he was not a coward but a cautious person with his safety as his first and foremost priority.
As he looked at them one by one, they all withdrew their senses.
Satisfied, he took his seat among the many others.
Naturally, he was not allowed to have a private chamber to himself since he was not actually that strong nor was he a registered VIP in today's auction.
It was just that he could intimidate others easily with [Cosmic Void Gaze], nothing more nothing less.
The VIPs who were all repelled by him earlier were stunned for a moment; they had been expecting him to be a distinguished individual like themselves but in the end, they saw him taking the seat on the floor below among the normal guests.
What did this mean?
Did this mean that they were countered by someone weaker than them?
Of course not!
It simply meant that he was a hidden expert!