The black book

*Tack*

The auctioneer tapped the desk with his gavel closing the bidding.

"Sold to the gentleman with the number #179 for 1,130 gold Raels!"

It had been almost two hours since the auction had started and all indications were that it wouldn't be long before it was over.

In the time that had elapsed since the event began, the T.M.S Company had auctioned off over 500 items including works of art, extravagant jewelry, ancient relics, elixirs, and magical artifacts.

Of the nearly 500 items auctioned 41 were fourth age relics that Marcus had obtained from the floating island facility. These had sold for a very good price and although the T.M.S Company kept 30% of the money raised, he still made a profit of over 74,000 gold Raels.

Marcus was in shock at this.

The money he had managed to raise that night exceeded the profits that some mid-sized mercenary clans and lesser feudal lords made in an entire year. But as the auction progressed Marcus's recent wealth diminished drastically.

In the days he toured the city, Marcus had tried to get magic items and some spell books to raise his combat power, but there was a problem.

The port city of Neima was part of a small kingdom and wasn't even the largest city in it. So, both the number of mages and magic-related items were scarce. This scarcity of magical goods caused the price of these items to be almost 10 times higher than in other cities.

Even if Marcus had found some enchanted items or magic elixirs, he did not buy them because they were too expensive or useless for him. Thus, Marcus had been left with no choice but to attend the auction to try to get some magical artifacts.

Fortunately, the T.M.S Company had dispatched a good number of magical items, among them some were healing potions provided by the forest church and magical scrolls containing some high-level spells.

Of all the items in the auction, Marcus had gotten a wand that boosted his energy element spells, an orb of dark amplification, rings, necklaces, and bracelets that boosted his physical stats and some enchanted charms.

'Uuugh... I can't believe I spent over 20,000 gold Raels in just one night. That's almost 24 million dollars! If my father or brother found out about this they would probably kill me!' Despite getting what he needed, Marcus still regretted spending so much money.

In his past life, even if he had worked for the rest of his life it was unlikely that he would even get 20% of what he had spent tonight. But he soon shook off these thoughts by saying that this was a necessary investment.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my duty to inform you that tonight's auction is drawing to a close. But before we conclude with the event, we have one last item to present." said the auctioneer.

At that moment, the two black-suited employees emerged from the side of the stage and placed a small glass case on the display table. Inside the glass case was an ancient black book that appeared to be surrounded by magical energy.

"According to our experts, this book is made from the skin, blood, and scales of a black wyvern. We also believe it was written somewhere around the year 200 of our era. The book is written in ancient Arsequian dialect and, such seems to contain information on some level 2 or even level 3 elemental spells!"

Hearing this, all the people in the amphitheater were dumbfounded.

One of the biggest problems the wizards of Genaerrsis had, aside from the lack of meditation techniques, was the shortage of high-level spell formulas.

Although level 0 and 1 spell formulas were expensive, it was still possible to get them. But spells above level 2 were another story.

After the fourth age, many incantation formulas and magic spells were lost or destroyed and, although over time some wizards developed their spells, they rarely shared the results of their research or did so for a very high price.

This caused the major superpowers of Genaerrsis to monopolize most of the magical incantation books so that if a wizard did not belong to a prestigious clan or organization, he had little chance of gaining access to powerful spell formulas.

In fact, it was common for the level of wandering wizards to be much lower than wizards affiliated with an organization because even if their talent was extraordinary, they could not demonstrate their full power because they did not have a good repertoire of spells.

To put it in perspective, even if a wizard of the 3rd realm is capable of using level 3 spells, the wizard could not conjure the spell if he did not know the spell formula and therefore could not use his full power in combat.

Marcus was no exception to this rule either.

'If they're auctioning that spell book it must be because they can't translate it or because it's of no use to them... I can't pass up an opportunity like this!'

Although he had many level 3 spells at his disposal, these were only necromancy spells. As for his elemental magic spells, Marcus only knew 5 spells between level 0 and 1 for the energy element and some level 2 spells of the darkness element. But this was not enough.

Even though his necromancy was powerful, Marcus could not use it in public and also not when it was daytime. So if he wanted to increase his chances of survival in this world, he needed to improve his repertoire of elemental spells.

As for the dialect in the book, Marcus had the [Analysis] skill and still had plenty of WIS left over to learn the language so he didn't worry about this.

"I see everyone is very excited. Bidding starts at 3000 gold Raels!"

*Tack*

The bang of the gavel echoed throughout the amphitheater and a few seconds later, the price for the book skyrocketed.

"I bid 3560 Raels!"

"3690 Raels!"

"3820 Raels!"

"4150!"

"I bid 4425 gold Raels!"

"5000 Raels!"

"5700 Raels!"

The seconds ticked by and the value of the bids got higher and higher. Not even two minutes had passed since the bidding started and the value of the book had already risen to 10,000 gold Raels.

"15,000 gold Raels!"Old Makroft who was in the second balcony of the amphitheater made his bid. Although the old wizard had been stuck at the pinnacle of the first realm he still harbored hope that this book held a clue as to how to heal his wound and if he was lucky he might even be able to advance to the 2nd realm.

But just when it looked like no one else was going to bid...

"I bid 20,000 Raels."

Everyone present was surprised to hear this large sum of money. The person who had bid had been none other than the highest representative of the forest church in the port city of Neima, Catalin Janeva Rostass.

Although old Makroft wanted that book of spells, he did not have enough money or authority to compete against the most powerful person in the entire city. So he reluctantly withdrew from the bidding.

"20,000 gold Raels! Anyone bid more?" no one responded "Then, sold to his holiness Catalin Janeva Rostass for..."

"21,000 gold Raels!" A trembling voice responded before the bidding closed.

Everyone present turned in surprise only to see Winston who had the bidding paddle in his hand and the masked wizard in front of him, who remained calm.

Everyone in the amphitheater and VIP balcony was amazed at the audacity of this wandering wizard, even Catalin arched an eyebrow. What Marcus had just done was the equivalent of challenging the greatest force not only in the entire city but in the entire Austra continent.

"24,000 gold Raels" Although Catalin was surprised that someone else would challenge her, she soon lost interest and upped the offer. Even if Marcus was stronger than an average wizard, he was still no match for the church.

" Twe...25,000 Raels!" But regardless, on Marcus' orders, Winston raised the bid again, though he stammered a little.

'Is he crazy?! Does he think he can compete against the church of the forest?! All he's going to do is make a fool of himself in front of all these people!' Winston approached Marcus and spoke quietly " Mr. Edevane, I think it would be best..."

"Winston, if you want to tell me what you think you can wait until the auction is over. Until then, keep bidding!" replied Marcus in a stern tone.

At such a response the manager kept his comments to himself and just followed Marcus' orders.

"29,000 Raels!"

"Thi-32,000!"

"37,000 Raels!"

But despite the dumbfounded stares of the audience, the bidding continued and before long the price for the spellbook had reached the impressive sum of 50,000 gold Raels.

Catalin bit her lower lip, she was furious. Since she had reached the pinnacle of the third realm, except for her superiors, no one had ever dared to challenge her. Losing this spellbook to some random wandering wizard would be an insult to her person.

But just as the young woman was about to bid again, the middle-aged wizard standing behind her stopped her and whispered something in her ear.

"Excuse me, your holiness, but if we keep raising the bid, even if we get the book, not only will we have spent all of tonight's profits, but we will also be using the money we are supposed to give to headquarters."

"You want me to retire after coming this far?" Catalin whispered with an annoyed tone.

"Please your holiness, it's only a second-level spell book. Even if we get it, it will still take a long time to translate and we don't know if the spells are complete. It's simply not worth the price."

Although it bothered Catalin, he had to admit that 50,000 gold Raels for a mere second-level spellbook was an exorbitant price. Besides, it was better to have her pride hurt than to face the wrath of headquarters.

So Catalina closed her mouth and withdrew from the bidding.

"So... If no one else bids... "There was a certain nervousness in the old auctioneer's voice. But since he noticed that no one else was bidding he simply went on with his work.

*Tack

The bang of the gavel against the desk echoed throughout the amphitheater.

"Sold to Lord Edevane for 50,000 gold Raels. Congratulations sir."

****

I'm an idiot! How could I be so stupid?! Even if it was a level 3 spell book, it wasn't worth it!'

As the luxurious carriage guarded by half a dozen horsemen moved through the cobblestone streets of the technical district, Marcus increasingly regretted his actions that night.

After the auction ended, Marcus hurried to collect his winnings and the items he had gotten that night and 30 minutes later he was gone.

At that point, he began to regret his decision. Even if the book contained some level 3 spells, 50,000 gold Raels was still a ridiculously higher price than normal.

But in addition to having spent almost all of his money, he had also defied and offended the most powerful person in the city in front of all the great elites of the region.

If Marcus' presence before the auction was conspicuous after tonight everything would be even worse.

'Well, what's done is done... I just hope things don't get much worse. But...'

Marcus put these thoughts aside and looked at the huge fracture he had made in his left arm. Very slowly a small amount of necrotic energy began to flow down his arm and within minutes the fracture was gone.

'This is no time to worry about stupid things...More importantly, I have to figure out how to control my emotions' He thought and remembered that he had almost lost control that night.

After Marcus reincarnated as a skeleton, the emotions he had from when he was a human were totally out of control.

While trapped on the floating island, he had always been abnormally calm even in life and death situations. At the time he hadn't paid much attention to it and thought he had simply adapted to the situation very well.

But since he had escaped from the island, his emotions had become a mess.

Sometimes when Marcus fought in the jungle, he would go into a murderous trance and not stop until all his enemies were dead or he suffered an incredible amount of pain that snapped him out of his trance. And since arriving in the city this had only gotten worse.

Sometimes he would experience sudden panic attacks, have moments of rage, or simply feel hatred for any human being he passed on the street regardless of age, gender, personality, or social status.

Although in his past life Marcus had not been the calmest person in the world, he was also not one of those people who would beat up any child or elderly person he met on the street just because he thought they were annoying.

The only explanation Marcus could come up with was that after having encountered living beings, his undead nature had awakened, which caused him to feel deep resentment and hatred for all living creatures. And although it was not so serious at the moment, it was more than obvious that little by little his condition was getting worse.

Even if Marcus was willing to do anything to survive, including killing people, he could not let his undead nature take control of his mind. If he did he would be no different than a rabid animal without the ability to reason.

Furthermore, he was also unwilling to make himself an enemy of all mankind by not having self-control.

"Excuse me Lord Edevane, but we have already arrived at the place you indicated."

A few moments later, the carriage stopped and the leader of the riders, Cristian Viel, spoke.

The coachman opened the door and Marcus stepped out of the carriage. In front of him was a huge red brick and wood building three stories high. At the entrance to the building hung a wooden sign which had the name of the place written on it.

[Hadrif Treikar's Blacksmith and Weapons Shop (Property of the Giant clan).