Chapter 281.2 – This is just the start!
“Could it be that the little fellow has some other great figure helping him in secret?” This time, Tumo Assassin was unable to make the slightest sense of this. There were many times that he had wanted to personally walk down to accompany Darwin and Musk, however, he resisted his urges in the end. After all, he was observing the auction in secret and suddenly appearing would clearly be deliberate.
In the midst of the venue, Ma Dong seemed to have also recognized the capabilities of the two and hastily invited the two to their seats. Indeed, there was no connection between the two and Old Potter, with them only recognizing each other. After exchanging nods in greeting, the two automatically took their seats at a small table allocated to them without speaking to anyone else. In the adventurer base, when the mysterious “Fate Master” had previously asked them to come and find Ma Dong, Darwin had only needed to quickly check the understand the situation. The little actions of the Assassin Family could not escape Darwin’s faze, it was merely that he had chosen to ignore them. Indeed, their goal was the golden stone slab. Even if it was a joke by the Fate Master, they needed to treat his words seriously. Although this Ma Dong may not have any relationship with the Fate Master, they would still give him for the sake of giving face to the Fate Master.
The two gazed at the platform in the front, clearly showing great anticipation for this auction.
A few of the elders who were secretly helping out in the action began to whisper to each other. As the time for the auction to begin drew near, they exchanged a few Skylink messages with Tumo Assassin on the second floor. Quickly, an old man hobbled over as he rushed up the back of the stage and replaced the slightly nervous auctioneer who was already there.
This old man was also an auctioneer. Walking up the platform, he gently shook his bell, causing the clear sound to ring across the platform.
“First of all, the Assassin Family welcomes all the distinguished guests. This old man is Tony, and I will be your main host for the Giant Axe auction.” The old man faintly smiled, before cupping his hands to pay respect towards Darwin and the others sitting in the front rows.
“It’s actually Tony Assassin who is hosting…”
Quite a few people recognized this old man. He was the chief representative auctioneer for the Assassin Family, and had considerable fame and prestige within that circle. Usually, he would be in charge of quite a few auctions over in the Saint Mongol City. It was already exceptionally rare for him to personally hold down the fort. The only reason he had rushed over was due to the predetermined auctioneer being unable to cope with the aura radiating from Darwin and Musk. Indeed, his appearance became the cornerstone that weighed down the entire auction grounds. This was certainly a trait possessed by only specialized auctioneers who have seen it all. Although the Assassin Family could not be compared with the ten great families, they were not so weak to the point of having stage fright in front of them. Being a family of assassins, they had a certain connection with the underground world, experiencing various kinds of events, some in broad daylight and others that could not see the break of day.
After a few opening sentences to ease the atmosphere, he immediately started on the main event.
The entire flow of the auction was rather clear and all of the auction items were provided by Teslan and Ma Dong. The first part of the event was filled with miscellaneous objects that were auctioned together. The main reason for this was to spice up the atmosphere. Naturally, these items were not ordinary, however, the special performances from Teslan and Ma Dong would show up at the end. Only then would it be the grand finale that both sides have spent their hearts and souls to prepare.
The first item was a sixth grade fire nucleus.
“The very first item is a ‘Fire Energy Nucleus’ supplied by Mr Ma Dong. It comes from a scarlet scaled earthfire beast.” As Tony introduced the item, a beauty dressed in a uniform carried over a tray on which a transparent box sat. A small ball of fire that contained a nucleus seemed to float inside. It had the attribute to continuously emit the fire element, causing it to be incomparably scorching to one’s eyes. From a single look, one would assume that it was a little miniature sun.
“This is a sixth grade Fire Energy Nucleus certified by Saint Mongol City’s energy association. The purity of its energy is judged to be grade 2A, with the density being grade A. The degree of completion is 99.69%. The final evaluation is set as a grade 2A fire attribute energy nucleus.” During his introduction of the item, Tony displayed the certifications pertaining to its specifications. Raising the tray into the air, the elegantly dressed lady walked back on forth on the platform, doing her best to allow everyone a clear view of the item. “The starting bid is 3 million credits, with the lowest increment being a hundred thousand.”
The very first item was already a high grade. An Energy Nucleus was a completely different thing from an Energy Crystal on the forehead of every mutated beast which represented the energy aggregate of their grade. Unlike this, an Energy Nucleus would only appear on extremely unique mutated life forms, and was formed from distinctly characteristic elemental attributes. They have considerable value and were in rather huge demand for research of special domains and absolutely could not be replaced by Energy Crystals.
Other than that, it was extremely difficult to obtain an Energy Nucleus as once a mutated beast died, it took an extremely short amount of time before its Energy Nucleus would dissipate away. Therefore, it was generally extracted when the beast is alive. Furthermore, the method of preservation was also extremely special. At this moment, the transparent box that held the Fire Energy Nucleus was an extraordinary construct. An Energy Nucleus that was able to obtain grade 2A was even rarer. The starting price of 3 million was a great bargain and although it was definitely not the final price, it had already caused quite a few people to salivate.
In addition to the few great figures in the front, there were already people striving to outdo one another.
“3.2 million credits!”
“3.3 million!”
“3.8 million!”
The bidding voices continued to rise in succession.
The guests that were invited over weren’t just merely observers and showpieces. Aside from especially great figures like Darwin, there was no difference from them to any other people who had casually walked to take a look. The motive to invite these guests over was for them to spend money. This involved the competition between Ma Dong and Teslan, as their earlier contest of human connections was only the first phase. The ultimate factor was whether one side was more willing to spend to spend for the side they rooted for, and how much money each side spent. That was truly the test of human connections. As for the auction items, that was just another contest factor.
This Fire Energy Nucleus was one of the main harvests of the adventure squads that the Ma Family had sent out, showing that they still possess quite good luck.
The price rapidly rose to around 6 million, already reaching the black market price range. The bids didn’t stop there, however, as they continued to rise and rise. The faces of the people that Ma Dong had invited were big, they truly had loads of money and every single one of them were local rich men. Although their faces were not on par with those great figures, they did not have any pressure in spending money. Although there was some slight dread towards the human connections that Teslan possessed, the appearance of powerful alliance members like Darwin made their courage and confidence grow by ten fold, such that the government officials on Teslan’s side could not help but start to sweat.
The atmosphere in the grounds was blazing, and slowly transitioned into a comfortable stage.
The great figures sitting at the front clearly did not care about this prelude. John and the others continued to observe Darwin and Musk, although the two simply watched the show leisurely. From time to time, they would exchange a few words, before shooting glances at the side towards Old Potter and Ma Dong.
This auction had shown Wang Zhong a whole new world. From the beginning, the Fire Energy Nucleus was already an extremely high grade item in his eyes. This kind of special capability was extremely important for special ability users. The energy contained in it was alive, and had an extremely powerful strengthening effect towards one’s special ability. Since he already possessed a fire attribute special ability, Wang Zhong could already feel the intimacy towards the Fire Energy Nucleus.
At the final price of 5 million, our student Wang could only salivate at the thought of it.