Coincidentally, Oliver and Xavier had come across each other on multiple occasions and Xavier had been winning most of the time. With every loss it caused Oliver to think that the pressure to prove himself was only increasing.
As for Xavier, he had no idea that he was in a competition with anyone. The reason he was placing a bid on the Master seal was that the Karius family could be considered the weakest of the 3 when it came to beast taming.
So not only was he going to make his family stronger with the item, but he was going to stop any other family from going too far ahead.
"13 million gold coins!" Oliver gritted his teeth as he placed a bid. He had increased the price by 2 million gold coins in hopes that the fear tactic would work.
"14 million gold coins!" Xavier not caring about the price placed a counter bid.
'Fuck him!' Oliver cursed as he placed his final bid. "15 million gold coins!"
At this point, most of the attendees of the auction were wondering if their ears were fooling them. Unless present it was hard to believe that an item with a starting price of 2 million gold coins had gone up to 15 million gold coins.
To many people, it looked like an unreasonable bidding war, but to the top 3 families, it was a battle for control of power. If Oliver Nystrom got his hands on it, the influence of the Nystrom family in Calton city would skyrocket, starting from the beast tide.
With its amplification and all of its abilities being super effective against beasts, Oliver would rake in a lot of reputation points for the Nystrom family.
"15 million going once!"
"15 million going twice!"
"16 million gold coins!" Xavier bided, shattering Oliver's heart into a thousand pieces.
'What if I borrowed from the family? There is no need, I can't compete with the Karius family.' Oliver thought.
When it came to resources, the Karius family was at the top, followed by the Ulrik family, and finally the youngest out of the top 3 families, the Nystrom family.
So even if he planned on seeking assistance Xavier could do the same but even better. Besides Xavier was the direct descendant of the family leader meaning he could easily receive more funds.
"16 million going once!"
"16 million going twice!"
"Gone!" Chief appraiser Langford hammered the gavel on the sound block, announcing the new owner of the Master seal.
With the final item sold, Guild master Walden came onto the stage and gave a speech that marked the end of the auction.
Unlike what many had expected, Oliver Nystrom quietly stood up from his seat and left the adventurer association building like nothing had happened. Many saw it as a sign of maturity, but they had no idea that he had other plans for artifact now in Xavier's possession.
"The item might have been sold for 16 million gold coins, but I will use half of that to get it back." Oliver had a sinister smile on his face as his carriage was driving out of the association and returning to the Nystrom estate located in the southern part of the central region.
From what he knew, Xavier was nowhere close to being a beast tamer, meaning the Master seal would be given to someone else in the family. If that happened and the person was to bind with the artifact, the only way he could steal it was by killing the person.
He didn't want to get his hands dirty or make the case a serious one. So he planned on stealing it while it was in Xavier's possession. Rather he would pay someone to steal it.
Xavier was a demigod from the Karius family, meaning he had destructive powers and not many people could face him head-on. So Oliver needed someone good at infiltration and escaping, and he happened to know a very infamous one that was so good that he hadn't been caught once.
"Since that is settled, the next question would be how to use the artifact without others knowing." Oliver began thinking about multiple scenarios that he could possibly find himself in but finally came up with 2 answers as his luxurious carriage drove into the gates of his mansion.
"When I am with others, I can use the passive ability that amplifies beast tamer spells, thereby not drawing attention to myself." This option meant he would always be on guard and wouldn't have any peace of mind, but from the looks of things, it seemed that he didn't.
"The second option would be to sell the artifact in the black market if the heat gets too much." Oliver didn't like the idea one bit, but he would only use it as a last resort. Besides, it could be considered a win if nobody got their hands on the artifact.
…
Back at the southern wall.
Blake's team was just done with dinner and were moving to the wall for their night shift.
'Seems we are the first…' Blake thought as the 5 of them got into position behind Major Reeves who was still looking beyond the wall.
It was after some minutes later that the other teams had arrived at the wall, and it was then that Major Reeves had finally turned to look at the teams.
"You were just a few minutes from being late. Hope you got all the arrays you need because you will be needing it " Major Reeves said to the teams that had gone back to the magic school to acquire more battle arrays.
They had nodded to Major Reeves's question, but the disappointment on their faces was clear as day to Blake. Just like he had predicted, they had gone in search of the elemental cannon battle array but had failed.
They had no idea that the particular battle array was located on the 3rd floor, which they had no access to you.
"If you had noticed, we had completed both the 2 and 3 lessons, meaning we would be going to treat the 4th lesson right now.." Major Reeves announced.