“And finally, to open the last stage of the auction,” the auctioneer said, pausing for effect. “We have this glorious set of black leather! This matching gothic skirt and corset are interwoven with armored plates, using high-grade and extraordinarily rare metal. Some have questioned the effectiveness of such armor, considering how revealing it is. But the enchantments woven into it more than make up for that, allowing you to travel the multiverse in both fashion and safety. And one need not worry about their shape, as this suit snugly fits any form, thanks to the enchantments placed upon it by its crafter, which will decrease or increase its size as necessary. And to complete the look, it comes with matching knee-high platform boots.”
Talia’s hand shot up immediately.
“Mine, mine, mine!” She squealed.
A couple of other hands popped up, but she countered their offers as soon as they were made. A moment later, Erdek entered the fray, driving the bids up, but gave up shortly after as it was obvious that Talia wasn’t giving up. Which Aaron was grateful for. He really didn’t need to see the goblin in that outfit.
“It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect!” She was positively giddy with excitement as she won the lot. “I can’t wait to try it on.”
“Oh, it’s going to look great on you,” Elmira said. “I can already picture it.”
It was a high-rarity outfit, with good stats, so Aaron didn’t necessarily judge her for buying it. However, it did seem a bit over the top, relative to some of the items that had been sold so far.
“For the next lot, we have a real dragon core! Even rarer than the draconic race, the drakaran, real dragons are the final step in peak evolution. Being an A-grade beast evolution, only the strongest beasts ever reach such levels, and their offspring must spend thousands of years incubating. Thus, their cores are of tremendous value! Shall we start the bidding at 100 points?”
Lord Draxas did not hesitate, their hand going up immediately. Several others joined, but they soon gave up as the price soared. It was clear that Lord Draxas was willing to spend every point to secure it.
“Sold to the kobolds in a trenchcoat!”
“Yes, yes, look, sisters! We have it finally.” Lord Draxas rubbed their hands scaly together. “The catalyst for our evolution. With this, we can finally see our dreams to completion.”
“Well, glad they’re happy,” Aaron said. “I suppose.”
Lord Draxas looked over. “And no, we shall not mate with you, human. I’m sure that knowing we shall ascend to dragonhood has caught your greedy gaze.”
“Oh, whatever,” Aaron groaned.
The next several items in a row all went to the people bidding on the top balcony. Even though the opening bids weren’t actually that much higher than the previous round, it mattered little if the items piqued the interest of those with full coffers, to the audible frustration of the lower balconies.
“For the next lot, we have a real aether rock. This is a tremendously rare Mythical metal. Since this substance can only be sourced from spiritual planes, there are few capable of mining it. Not to mention, this lot represented a considerable chunk of the metal to be refined from the rock. While it can be used for all manner of gear, it is specifically useful and valuable for those who who utitlize aether. We’re starting the bidding at 150 points!”
Aaron couldn’t help himself. He wanted this. He wasn’t even entirely sure what for, perhaps upgrading his gauntlets or even some armor. Maybe both, if there was enough.
Or pants!
His hand shot up immediately, starting the bidding war. And to no surprise, the White Warden entered the battle soon after. It was a back-and-forth between them, but Aaron, in the end, took the victory.
In truth, he was willing to go all-in, if necessary. He knew that there were many with more points than him, and at least this lot was obviously useful.
He also assumed that the White Warden hadn’t been the first to beat the boss; otherwise, he likely would have had points to keep going against him, unless he was holding out for something else. But he had spent a hefty amount on the divine shard.
“Sold, to the man in fabulous shorts on the top balcony for 300 points!”
Aaron groaned and opened his System.
Auction Points: 321
I am definitely getting pants made.
He didn’t have a huge amount of points left, and prices were only getting more out of hand as the final stage carried on. No one wanted to be left holding the bag, so to speak, and so, like the previous stage, top elites started to pay more and more, worried they might miss out.
But Aaron was fine with that. Obviously, he wanted to make the most of his points. And getting one more purchase was ideal. But he was happy with his haul. Even if he didn’t pick anything too special up, between the metal and the spiritual herbs, he couldn’t ask for much more.
Also, since he had brought Zero along as a pet rather than a normal party member and, as such, he had no points of his own to spend, he was quite happy to pick something up for the wolf.
Zero had been both useful, loyal, and rather cute. Who was he to deny the wolf a prize?
Following that, more highly rare materials and items were sold before the auctioneer announced that they were midway through the final round, and would start selling the rarest items available to them.
“For the next lot, we have two unrestricted portal tokens. These allow the holders to pass through any barrier, travelling in and out of their universe before anybody else will be able to. Beware, though! These passes also work for entering divine realms. Which would almost certainly end in your death, even you guys up on the top balconies.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Mo’han was very eager for the tokens, but the bidding went wild.
“Come on! I need this challenge!” He roared as the auctioneer took bids back and forth across the top balconies.
The ability to leave their universe whenever they pleaded would open up all kinds of opportunities to whoever owned the tokens. And the universe-wide barrier wouldn’t lower on its own for a hundred years. And so, it caught the attention of many top elites.
Unfortunately, there were still too many on the top balconies saving all of their points, and in the end, Vardrak the Allseeing and Sharrek the Shade Bender purchased the tokens.
“Bah! That is disappointing,” Mo’han groaned. “I was really looking forward to a challenge. Can you imagine, A-ran? What might we have found out there? Oh well. There must be other means to get hold of such items!”
“Yeah, mate. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
Aaron still had many things to get done on his own world, so he wasn’t immediately worried about missing out. But once Darius was dealt with, getting hold of such tokens would be desirable.
“I will have my people look into it immediately,” Mo’han said.
In the next lot, Elmira spent most of, if not all, of her points on a set of runes. They were like stone cards, and apparently she could add them to her own rune deck, which was interesting, since it was also a Skill.
“For our next several lots, we’ll be selling off abandoned storage lots from Centurion Prime! Their contents might be junk; they might be treasure; you just never know,” the auctioneer said. “High-level adventurers and toilet cleaners alike call the magnificent planet home. Could the next lot have belonged to an A-grade adventurer who never returned from a quest? Or Kolarg, the ass goblin working for an ungrateful ogre?”
As the bidding began for the storage lots, the prices were all over the place. But one thing was clear: everything was getting more and more expensive.
If I don’t spend these points, they’ll be worthless.
Voidrin bid for the next one, and it went for 250 points, up from the previous 220. A moment later, Ikran grabbed one too, stealing it for 275 points.
“You think it’s worth the gamble?”
“Dunno, pal,” Voidrin shrugged. “But I needa buy something. Besides, it’s kinda fun, don’t ya think?”
Aaron nodded and threw his hand up.
“You’re getting in on this, too, A-ran?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Sold! The storage lot goes to the man in stunning shorts for 320!”
Mo’han excitedly threw his hand up for the next one, and moments later, they called the sale of the final storage lot for 380 points.
“Exhilarating, right, A-ran?. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s inside,” Mo’han grinned and rubbed his six hands together.
I'm getting the sense that Mo’han has never gambled before.
It was a risky purchase, he knew. But things were getting so damn expensive, and there was a very real chance he would get left with a bunch of points he couldn’t spend. In fact, the risk factor was the only thing keeping the storage lot prices down. Besides, who knew? Maybe he’d get lucky.
Wait, I hope that doesn’t mean we need to get to Centurion Prime to cash in.
The following lots were various elemental cores. Apparently, they could be used by anyone wanting to attune themselves to an element. But there was more to it than Aaron had originally realized.
Voidrin explained that most who wanted to master an element started by confirming their affinity, which would increase their power with a specific element, while potentially weakening them to others. But affinity didn’t alter one’s core. It wasn’t necessary to alter your core, and many didn’t. But if you truly wanted to master a specific element, then attuning your core to that element was vital.
And elemental cores were essential to achieving that.
To Aaron’s surprise, Lagora picked up a light core. He hadn’t taken her for someone who would use light elemental powers. She seemed like more of a brute, not to mention an ogre.
Huh, interesting choice.
As the auction started to wind down, it seemed that he had made the correct gamble. He wouldn’t have been able to afford anything else besides some less-desired elemental cores, which he didn’t need or want.
There were also a bunch of special evolutionary fruits that went on sale. Their purpose was to push people in a specific direction. Again, he wasn’t interested in becoming a titan or some other highly prized race, even if they did potentially come with more power. He had his own path to walk.
“And finally, it is time for the grand finale!” The auctioneer roared. “This lot is truly special! We have obtained one of the greatest treasures of the multiverse. This is not something you can simply find. The coveted A planetary upgrade core!”
The curtains opened, and a blinding light made just about everyone in attendance reel back, and most of the lower levels were forced to the ground, unable to even sit in the presence of the core’s aura.
“That thing, it’s so dense,” Aaron muttered, reflexively holding the rail as the aura pushed down upon them.
“With this Divine-grade item, you can turn your world into an Alpha World. With an Alpha World, rise above the rest and become the hub of your universe! Spawn the highest-grade materials and strongest monsters outside of the divine planes themselves! There is almost no treasure equal. Nothing is more important for those who wish to reach out and touch the stars! If you have points remaining, this is what you want!”
The bidding was fierce, with many dropping out in seconds as the lightning-fast auctioneer shouted out bids one after another. The price quickly climbed higher and higher until it topped out at 1200 points.
The auctioneer gave them ample time to counter, but it was clear that nobody else had the points to do so.
“Sold to the man in the top balcony,” the auctioneer pointed. “Take a good look. I have a feeling they’re going to be influential.”
“Mark Manifold?” Aaron said as he looked over.
“You know that guy, A-ran?”
“No,” Aaron shook his head. “But I remember seeing him before the final boss.”
As light reflected off the man of mirrors, he seemed to distort. Flickering and glitching, appearing to be sitting on one seat, then another. Aaron actually looked away for a second. It was oddly hard to keep his gaze focused on the man. He was obviously one of the greatest talents of the multiverse, but he had been a little unassuming, and Aaron had kind of forgotten about him. Perhaps because, outside of his strange mirror effects, he was a very ordinary-looking human man.
If anything, Casryn had the most intimidating aura after Mo’han, and because of that, he had thought that she and her party were the first to finish the dungeon.
But obviously, he was wrong.
Okay, didn’t expect that.
Whether Mark Manifold was the strongest in their universe already or not didn’t really matter. If he turned his homeworld into an Alpha World, his growth would gain an absolutely gigantic boost.
This… isn’t ideal.
It was clear that they couldn’t get too comfortable with their current power levels. There were monsters out there.
Aaron looked across at Mo’han, but of course, the asura was as cheerful as ever.
“You hear that, A-ran? An Alpha World. HAHA! Glorious! It shall make his defeat at my hands all the sweeter! I say, this has really got my blood going! We’re going to have some real competition come the tournament!” Mo’han cheered, looking over with a wide grin.
“Yeah, mate. Be careful what you wish for.”
“And that completes our auction! Please standby. We shall soon transport you all back to your respective worlds!
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