Rio went straight to mediating as soon as the attendant was gone, a hint of disappointment on Leona's face
Fifteen minutes passed before Leona woke up Rio, alerting him that his desired item has been brought out
After being alerted, Rio stood up from the couch and sat on the mini throne, looking down at the auctioneer
"The next item on the list is a very exclusive piece of equipment made by an Accomplished Refiner, The Stealth Cloak, able to mask your entire being, from your mana to even your scent, starting bid is 10 High Spirit stones"
"15!"
"25!"
"30!"
'Hmm, it must use a lot of complex and sensitive runes in order to make it' Rio thought
"Master? Should I put down a bid?" She asked curiously with a glint of anticipation on her face
Makes sense, the more her customer spends the more remuneration she also gets
"Not yet," Rio said whilst waiting for the bid competition to die down, but before that could even happen
"100 HIGH SPIRIT STONES!" The voice came from another private room beside Rio's
the voice was a decent volume, but it rang bells in everyone's ears as if he were shouting at their eardrums with the world's largest megaphone
"100 HIGH SPIRIT STONES! any higher bids?" The auctioneer shouted
Silence filled the room that you could even hear a pin drop
"Going Once! going Twice!…"
"Add ten to the bid" Rio instructed Leona and as expected as soon as Rio finished my sentence
"110!"
Everyone looked back in that direction and then turned to face their pairs
"Ugh, these rich pricks really enjoy"
"They got it easy, they can just get what they want"
They threw out insults to the people in the private rooms to comfort the sore hearts and broke pockets
"110! Any higher bidder?" The auctioneer smiling ear to ear sensing a bidding war
"150!" From the same bidder as before
"Add 10 more" Rio said expressionlessly, Leona's face was anything but expressionless
"160!"
"200!" Another call from the room beside
"Who is that bidding?? An annoyed expression plastered on the person's face
"Add 10 more"
"210!" The auctioneer and Leona smiling to the point it looked creepy
"300!"
Before it was a female voice but this time the person shouted himself this time, but the clear sound of pain was mixed with it
"Add 10 more"
'Ahhh, I hit the jackpot today' Leona's heart was doing jumping jacks as she called out another bid
"310!"
Everyone is exasperated, 300 High Spirit Stone, they probably couldn't even get that much in their lifetime, yet they're using this amount to buy a robe, oh, how unfair life is
"310! Any higher bidders, any higher bidders" The auction looked at the other secret room hoping it would continue but alas all that filled the room was silence
"310! Going once, going twice, SOLD!"
A repeat of one person taking and another giving was seen and not long after my fresh robe was here
Black base color, with silver designs, and outlining, it didn't have a hoodie, so Rio could wear this every day without looking suspicious
"Next on the list is…The Amulet of the Damned Aegis, it is said with this amulet, you will be impervious to external curses and sickness, protecting you from any illusions or mind traps…The starting bid starts at 50 High Spirit Stones"
"55!"
"60!"
"70! I must get this!"
"400!" The voice from the room across
"At least lean into it, what's the fun in that" an unhappy person broke the silence with a loud mumble
"Why would I need to wait for your poor peasants to fight over something you know you can't afford, stop being delusional" The voice sounds cynical
"That voice sounds familiar," Rio thought but couldn't put his finger on it
However what distracted Rio from this though was a strange connection between him and the amulet, as if it was calling out to him
'System'
Name: Amulet of the Damned Kannur
Ability: ???
Description: a shred of consciousness from the Exiled Black Dragon Kannur
'Black dragon? Do you mean like Tiamat? What's something like that doing here, it doesn't even look like they know what that is and just named some random name with a random story
"400! Going once! Going Twice!"
"Bet 500"
"900!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Everyone was silent and dumbfounded, the auctioneer was dumbfounded, the bidders were dumbfounded, the people in the secret rooms were dumbfounded, even Rio in his room was dumbfounded…everything that was happening right now at this moment can only be described with one word…DUMBFOUNDED
"Who told you to bid 900??" Rio yelled at her
"Did you not say bid 500 more?" She said scared
"More? Where did you hear me say More? I said Bid 500 PERIOD"
Leona was overjoyed with Rio bidding and successfully winning the robe, but she was now accustomed to Rio saying "more" at the end of his sentence she mistook it as him saying 500 more
"Even if you mistakenly hear me say more, should you not double check your hearing if tell you to put 500!"
It was quite a mess, the amount has already been called out for everyone to hear and that counts as an official bid, there's no recalling the bid
I sighed while I massaged my eyebrows trying to calm down and not murder this woman
'Count to five
*Breathe in, Breathe Out*
'1'
*Breathe in, Breathe Out*
'2'
This continued until he hit five, he looked at the woman scared in the corner, confused about what to do
'Yeah, that didn't work, I still want to slice her up and send her parts to each person she knows whether its friends, family or even extended relations, the more people she knew the better since I would split her more'
After the murderous thoughts were running rampant in Rio's mind
Leona could feel the bloodthirsty killing intent being exuded from Rio's eyes but this time there was a tinge of red in the purple iris
She immediately started kowtowing, thinking her life was over, she closed her eyes and started kowtowing, praying that he wouldn't take it to the extent of killing her
Rio is indeed a VVIP so he wouldn't get in much trouble if he killed her but it would be very damaging to his reputation and people may even start to spread rumors saying is a murderous psychopath so Rio didn't actually plan to act on his thoughts
Rio took a breath in and out and convinced himself that it saved time from the others competing, which slightly calmed his frustrations
"9-9-9-900! High Spirit Stones, any higher bid, only some mumbling insults towards Rio were heard and the Auctioneer concluded it 'SOLD!'
The typical routine of taking and giving happened, however, this one caught my eye and perked my attention
I was distracted by the knock but realized it was probably my item, so I told Leona to go get it, after recovering my item, the strange connection got stronger, I'll check it out later but let's focus on the current bid As the auctioneer unraveled the cloth and introduce the item