Volume I - Chapter 22: Auction

In the end, the bidding for the stone stopped at a total of one hundred and forty thousand wels, and after that, no one took a step.

"Will anyone raise it? I'm starting the countdown! Three!"

The man on the stage said, extending the number. I decided there was no need to hold back any longer and spoke nonchalantly.

"Two hundred thousand wels."

All eyes turned to me in an instant. The bids for the stone had usually always gone up by around five thousand, but the fact that I had raised the bid by eighty thousand wels at once clearly surprised them.

"C-21 seems to be interested in the stone! Any bidders?!"

The announcer said excitedly. I thought that no one would ever touch it again, but unfortunately, it was not to be.

"Two hundred and twenty-five thousand wels."

Hmm?

When I heard the offer from a table to my right, I involuntarily frowned and looked at the man.

I couldn't make out his face or his clothes because of the necklace, but I could have sworn we locked eyes... Why did he bid?

I don't think anyone in this room cares much about the stone... I'm probably the only one here who knows what it does. So why is this man bidding on the stone?

"Two hundred and fifty thousand wels."

I raised the bid without hesitation, but the other man didn't hold back.

"Three hundred thousand wels."

I still have a lot of money... That's why I'm sure I'll buy the stone, but why is whoever this is doing this? I really have no idea.

"Four hundred thousand wels."

As soon as I said that, the host started counting down, very excited. I don't think he ever thought he would sell this simple stone for such a high price. Truth be told, I didn't think I was going to bid that high either...

At first, I was planning to buy the stone for almost three hundred thousand... But as I said, I have plenty of money and I can get more if I want to. Besides, considering the real value of the stone, I don't mind paying four hundred thousand wels.

If they had asked for a million, I would have gladly given that too.

As the countdown continued, I was actually waiting for my opponent to make one more move. I was almost certain that this person was playing with me and trying to make me spend money for nothing. But for some reason, the countdown ended without any problems, and the stone was sold to me.

I looked out of the corner of my eye at the man who kept bidding against me and felt a strange feeling creeping through me like I was being watched... like I was being targeted by someone in particular. I'm sure I wasn't pissing anyone off, but what is going on behind the scenes, I wonder?

"The mysterious stone has been sold to C-21 for four hundred thousand wels!"

And so the stone was taken out by the staff on the side of the stage and taken back to where it came from to be given to me later. Then the bidding continued and I continued to examine the items.

The order of the items was exactly as I had remembered, but I didn't try to buy any of the items. The reason is quite simple, there is nothing here for me.

Maybe I could have bought the fruit that was sold as the third item to increase my stats, but unfortunately, it was sold for ten million.

Even though I have a lot of money, I don't want to waste it. Besides, I would rather increase my stats steadily but slowly than quickly. Because it's better for both my body and my mind to get used to the new power I'm acquiring.

In this way, the precious items and the millions of wels offered for them continued to come out of the mouths of the people in this hall as if they were nothing, and finally it was the turn of the last item of the auction.

"I would like to introduce today's real favorite and our last item!"

As usual, the staff came from the side of the stage with a covered table, but this time the table looked much more luxurious and nicer.

Everyone's eyes focused on the veiled object, then the host quickly lifted the veil. The object thus revealed was a cube the size of an average Rubik's cube with different motifs on its six sides and emitting a very dense mana around it.

The moment the cube appeared, everyone in the hall held their breath. Because everyone knew what it was.

It was a skill cube.

Skill cubes are one of the things that the system can reward people with after the awakening of the world. They basically contain a skill, and when a person uses the cube through the system, they get that skill.

The cubes emit mana at different intensities depending on the level of the skill they contain, and this cube should be at least an S grade skill, considering that it can emit mana so intense that it can take the breath away from everyone here.

"This skill cube was found by our hunters in an A grade dungeon. Our side suffered great losses in the battle with the guardian protecting the cube, but in the end, we managed to obtain it."

The host smiled slyly.

"The skill inside the cube is an SS grade active skill, Spatial Distortion! The starting bid is five million wels!"

"Six million wels!"

The host had barely finished his explanation when a woman's voice echoed through the hall.

"Ten million wels."

"Sixteen million wels."

The millions suddenly became tens of millions, and it wasn't long before we were up to a hundred million. They had already quintupled my maximum, but the price was still rising.

That was the effect of an SS grade skill, it was obvious what the person who got it could do. Nobody wanted to miss out on something like that, and they were right.

Spatial Distortion is definitely worthy of being an SS grade skill. With it, you can do unimaginable things, such as opening rifts in space to allow physical attacks to hit that normally wouldn't. So the skill is very versatile.

And once Space Magic Mastery is somehow achieved, with enough practice and the right methods, you can do even more impressive things.

Of course, unfortunately, what you can do with skills or mastery in the game is limited only by what is coded in it. So even if the player got the skill and then the mastery, there was only so much they could do.

But now neither I nor this world is limited by the game's code. So the imagination of what can be done with this skill, frankly, excites even me.

"Three hundred and fifteen million wels."

We've already passed three hundred million... I wonder if it's on its way to half a billion?

Everyone kept raising the price little by little and it took about twenty minutes for the skill to be sold... In the end, the skill was sold for about four hundred million wels to someone who nobody knew was.

Well, when someone who uses space magic comes to the fore, it will be revealed who bought the skill, but for now, I'm sure everyone is wondering who it went to.

I turned my head toward the silhouette of the last bidder and studied him for a while. Even though it's impossible to recognize because of the necklace, I know who the person with the spatial skill in the game is. I mean... I know who the person who will 'buy' it later is. I have no idea exactly who that person is.

"This concludes the auction! Thank you everyone for coming, our staff will be with you in a moment for those of you who have purchased items!"

After saying this, the host bowed to all the guests and then left the stage with a happy smile on his face.

Some of them stood up and left the hall, some tried to talk amongst themselves and some, like me, continued to sit alone at their tables for a while.

About two minutes after the auction ended, I smiled when I saw an employee approaching me.

"Please follow me, sir."

The employee bowed and then looked at me. So I stood up and she led me out of the hall, through the corridors, and into another room.

I was in front of a room that no one else entered, and to be honest, I didn't know from the beginning where exactly I was going to get my hands on the stone since the items purchased in the game go straight into the inventory when you leave the auction.

So this was the place...