The days passed quickly. Leo tried breaking through organically over these days but he could never surpass the limit by himself. He simply could not draw in the aura by himself and the aura from the pills wasn’t helping him actually make the circle. He didn’t know how it helped Clarice with her breakthrough, but his body was different.
The only way he could think about to breakthrough was to buy the Swift Ascension Pill at the auction. So when the day of the auction came, he was very excited. He had bought himself better clothes to wear so that he wouldn’t seem out of place there.
He told Daphne he was going out for work and went to the auction. While he was wearing nice clothes, he also had a lavish cloak he bought for 10000 Starcoins that covered his face. He didn’t want to be seen by anyone powerful who might also want the pill.
After getting ready, he set out to the auction hall. When he got there, he saw that the tower was closed. Since the auction was their biggest priority at the time, they didn’t even bother opening the tower to the general public.
As he walked forward, he saw that he recognized one of the people there. It was the mage that was guarding Aurora. She wasn’t with him, so he assumed that she went back to the academy.
He quickly pulled up the cloak to hide his face. There was more than one person doing it, so he didn’t look too out of place. He slowly went along with the crowd to the entrance. When he got there, he showed his card and entered the tower. He was given a paddle with the number 44 on it. He took it with him into the auction.
Inside the tower, everyone was led to the first floor. For the first time, he would see the floor. He had never been and wanted to see what the noble experience was like. When he got there, he saw that the place was completely repurposed into an auction hall. There was a podium on a stage on one side and a huge seating arrangement facing it.
Leo walked toward the general admission seating and picked a seat in the corner. He had the book that contained information about every product in his hand. He was planning on reading it while the auction was going on to understand how much each product was worth and why it was worth that much.
The auction commenced very shortly after everyone entered the hall. He was one of the last ones to enter, so he didn’t have to wait for long. An old person came to the stage. This was someone that he recognized. It was the same person who appraised his Beast Cores. He was the person who was overseeing the auction.
“Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am going to cut to the chase. We have some amazing products here today. We will start the first session of today now!” He said.
As he said that, two beautiful girls brought in the first object that was up for auction. It was a beast core. However, unlike the normal beast cores that Leo normally saw, this one was filled with so much magical energy that he knew it was extremely powerful.
“The first item for auction is the Beast Core of a 4th Circle Magical Beast! This beast core is from the Shadowfang Wolf, an Early-Stage 4th Circle Magical Beast. It was subdued by a group of adventurers from Eldridge City. The bidding starts at 3 million Starcoins.”
Leo shook his head. He knew that the core was out of his budget instantly. He was curious as to how much it would actually sell since it was the first item.
“3 Million.” Someone’s paddle went up instantly. The auctioneer announced the bid and looked for a raise in the price.
“3.1,” another person raised their paddle. The bids started coming in. Meanwhile Leo was reading his book to learn about the item.
The Beast Core was not supposed to be consumed directly. It was the most inefficient way to use the magic in the core. The more efficient way to use that magic was by condensing it into a potion. Mages who could do that were called alchemists.
The Shadowfang Wolf’s Beast Core could be used to make a potion called the Shadowmeld Elixir. Not only did it enhance the mage’s magical strength by a little, but it also increased their ability to manipulate shadows. This meant that if Leo took that potion, his proficiency in using the Shadow Step would most probably jump a level or even two.
That level meant a lot of difference when you were jumping from Advanced to Master proficiency. The power of the spell would double. And this increase was only for a 2nd Circle Spell. For higher-level mages, the increase would be so much power that it would be more than worth a million Starcoins.
The price quickly went to 7 million Starcoins and stopped. While the potion itself would be worth in the tens of millions of Starcoins, just the Beast Core couldn’t hit that price. The person who bought it would have to find an alchemist and hope that they can make the elixir for them. This was a long process that would take a lot of money and required connections.
Leo saw that the person who bought the core was in the VIP section which made sense. He sighed. Even though he could use the core and the potion, he wouldn’t be able to afford even the normal core, much less hire an alchemist.
“Sold, for 7,300,000 Starcoins to the man in VIP Box 3! We will now move to the next item.”
The two assistants quickly moved the item away from the stage and brought in a new item. This was also a beast core. Leo also noticed that the assistants were actually Apprentice Aura Knights, explaining their speed in moving the items. This just showed the power of the Thousand Treasure Tower.
They had the best products in the city and they hired Aura Knights to simply bring it onto the stage.
The new Beast Core was only from a 3rd Circle Magical Beast. He guessed that the first item was only that rare because it was the first item. He looked at the book and saw that the starting price of each item was slowly going down.
He sighed in relief. He was afraid that he wouldn’t even be able to buy the item he came for if they were all in the range of the first product.
“This is the core of an Emberhorn Stag. It is a Late-Stage 3rd Circle Magical Beast. Let the bidding start at 2 million Starcoins!”
The auctioneer tried to boost the item but Leo tuned it out. He wasn’t too interested in it since that wasn’t what he came for.