Chapter 76: Auction

Chapter 76: Auction

A few hours passed by, and soon, a knocking sound came from outside.

Raven slowly opened his eyes and spoke.

"The door is open. Come in."

"Yes, My Lord."

Jacob opened the wooden door and walked in while carrying a Gladstone bag.

He soon arrived before Raven and gave the bag to him. Then, he also took a folded paper from his pocket and a ticket with his name written on it and presented them to him.

"I put the vial for auction and registered two seats for us, My Lord. As for the other items, I sold all the materials for reasonable prices."

Meanwhile, Raven opened the Gladstone bag and noticed two large leather pouches inside. One contained full of platinum coins, while the other contained gold coins.

He first took out the pouch with platinum coins and checked the amount.

"70 Platinum coins, huh?" He then shifted his attention towards the other pouch and asked as he realized it weighed around 5kgs.

"How many gold coins are there?"

"340 gold coins, My Lord. In total, all those items sold for 7340 gold coins."

"Not bad." Raven nodded as he took a gold and tossed it towards Jacob.

Then, he stored the pouches and bag in his inventory and spoke.

"Inform me two hours before the auction begins. Until then, I'll be staying indoors."

"Yes, My Lord." Jacob bowed his head and quietly left the room.

Meanwhile, Raven unfolded the paper and started reading it.

'Item no.1: Phantom Compass

Item no.2: Basilisk Fangs

Item no.3: Thunderbird Feather

Item no.4: Rank-2 Flame Wyvern's Horn

Item no.5: Rank-1 Ice Wyrm's Elemental Crystal

Item no.6: Rank-1 Ice Wyrm's Corpse…

.

.

.

Item no.45: Unknown Key.

Special Item no. 46:????

…

Special Item no. 50: ????

…

'Oh? Among these, Ice Wyrm's corpse seems useful for me.' It was a subspecies of Wyvern and always lived in the frozen mountain region.

[Ice Wyrm is a part of the Dragon species, so you might get some useful ability.] Zera said in his head.

Although he also saw a few more corpses of magical beasts, they were all either with common affinities or not recommended by Zera.

Raven put the list away, entered the memory library, and memorized all the information related to the second circle.

Then, he entered the Mind Space and decided to create the Next Circlet.

Like before, he walked into the Array and chose the next section to construct the Second Circlet. This time, he decided to create the Poison Elemental Circlet and focused on building a similar hexagonal structure. Once he completed the Poison Circlet, it released a dense purplish energy towards the void sky and soon attracted the poison touch spell model before fusing with it.

But Raven didn't stop after completing the Second Circlet.

This time, he chose to construct the 'Luck' Elemental Circlet!

"Hmm, unlike other elements, it's impossible to gather luck just by taking the mana from the atmosphere. The book says one can gather luck only by two methods. One method is to eliminate something harmful to the people or make yourself famous by doing good deeds and using favorability. The more people benefit from you, the higher your chance of getting lucky. Another method is by stealing people's good luck."

[Taking people's good luck can result in backfire, lad. My owner always did that.]

'Before that, I need to know what luck is. How is it possible for such a mysterious power to even exist?' He couldn't help but voice out his thoughts.

[Magic itself is against the common sense of someone with less knowledge, lad. Well, luck can change any unfortunate situation into a fortunate one. It will become an ultimate trump card if you utilize this properly.]

'A Trump Card, huh? I do need many if I want to achieve my goal.' Raven continued reading information about the luck element and quietly exited the memory library.

Then, he entered the Mind Space, wrote down rune words representing luck and fortunes, and started constructing the Third Circlet.

After two hours, he finally completed the Third Circlet and let the golden spell model assimilate into the Elemental Circlet Array.

When he completed the process, Raven felt a sharp headache and was instantly pushed out of the Mind Space.

"What happened?" He opened his eyes and asked in confusion.

[You overused your spirit power. Take a break and continue in the morning.] Zera said.

Only then did Raven look around and notice that the outside had turned dark!

'I should eat something first.' He went downstairs and ordered some food for dinner. He also met Jacob and Stephine downstairs and started having dinner with them.

"Did Selene come out of her room?" Raven asked as he took a bite of a fried chicken wing.

"I came to see her a while ago, but no response came from inside. So, I decided not to disturb her and left, My Lord." Stephine said solemnly.

"Good. When will the auction start?" Raven turned his gaze towards Jacob as he asked.

"They said it will start around 10.30 A.M and end before 6 P.M, My Lord. They also said that after every ten biddings, there will be a break of 30 minutes." Jacob answered while savoring the dish.

'Hmm, it seems tomorrow will be a long day.' Raven talked with Jacob and Stephine and returned to his room. After that, he took out the Frozen Ender and continued to train his spearmanship.

Then, he freshened himself up and went to sleep.

…

The next day morning,

It was around 8.30 A.M.

A knocking came from outside as Raven prepared to attend the auction. At that moment, he wore a black double-breasted coat, a white vest, and polished black shoes and also covered his head with a top hat. He also put the monocle on his left eye and moved towards the wooden door.

A middle-aged man with a tall stature and a woman in her thirties with lustrous black hair stood outside the room and seemed to be waiting for him. Jacob wore a Chesterfield coat over his formal attire and covered his half-bald head with a bowler hat. On the other hand, Stephaine wore a housemaid dress and looked simpler.

"Did Selene come out of her room?" Raven asked.

"Not yet, My Lord. But she placed a note outside her room saying she succeeded in constructing two spell models. From the looks of it, she will come out before evening." Stephaine answered.

"Oh? That's good." Raven took out two gold and a few silver coins and gave them to Stephaine.

"While we attend the auction, buy some necessary food items for our travel. I don't want to eat the food prepared by the railway." In truth, they gave dry bread, boiled vegetables, and eggs, but Raven didn't like any of those.

"But even if I buy food items, it will spoil in a few hours, My Lord," Stephine said with a forced smile.

"Haa. Buy some salted beef, bacon, and smoked meat. We can cook them ourselves using the railway's kitchen." Raven waved his hand and started walking in the corridor.

Jacob and Raven soon went to the first floor and quietly left the Inn. They then took a carriage and headed towards Moon Street, where the Seven Calls auction house was.

They soon arrived at the Seven Calls auction house, a towering, ornately designed building with pillars of polished marble and large arched windows. Guards dressed in black, with golden emblems of a seven-pointed star, stood at the entrance, their eyes scanning anyone who walked closer to the building.

Raven scanned them as the carriage moved closer towards the compound gate and muttered in shock.

"They put Radiant Knights as mere gatekeepers?"

"Second Son of Lucus Thornevale is the one who oversees this auction, My Lord. So, it's quite normal for Radiant Walkers to be gatekeepers. When I met with the Manager yesterday, I felt an overbearing pressure. I'm damn sure his strength is above Expert Rank." Jacob said.

"We shouldn't attract too much attention then." Raven nodded in understanding and opened the door.

Jacob and Raven stepped out of the carriage and, without a word, made their way to the front. As soon as they opened the door and entered the foyer, a tall man with slicked-back hair and a sharp gaze greeted them with a deep bow.

"Welcome to the Seven Calls auction house, gentlemen. How may I help you?"

"We are here to participate in the auction." Saying so, Raven took two tickets from the inventory and showed them to him along with the badge.

Meanwhile, the black-haired man checked the tickets and nodded.

"Your reserved seats are ready, sir," the man said smoothly, gesturing toward a side entrance reserved for guests.

"Would you like me to take you directly to the auction room?"

Raven gave a curt nod, and they were escorted through a luxurious hallway decorated with paintings, velvet drapes, and golden chandeliers.

As they entered the auction hall, Raven's eyes immediately darted to the elevated stage at the center, where a large podium stood. Seats were arranged in a semi-circle around it, with balconies above for VIPs.

"Your seat numbers are F12 and F13, Sir." The black-haired man said as he pointed at the sixth row of seats.

After informing them, he turned around and left the auction room.

Meanwhile, Raven and Jacob approached their seats while walking past a few people and soon sat down.

As time passed, more and more guests entered the auction room and soon sat on their allocated seats.

The auction began around 10.30 A.M.

The auctioneer, a portly man with a handlebar mustache and a smooth, practiced voice, took to the stage.

"Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen!" The auctioneer's voice boomed through the grand hall, instantly quieting the crowd's chatter. He smiled broadly, his mustache twitching as he scanned the sea of faces. The hall was packed, with merchants, nobles, Knights, and Walkers all seated, ready for the auction to begin.

"Today, we have a spectacular selection of items thanks to the discovery of Agith Ruins—rare, powerful, and some... mysterious items have been unearthed," he said, his voice laced with intrigue. "So, without further ado, let us begin."

The lights in the room dimmed, focusing on the auctioneer as a small team of assistants wheeled out the first item. A black compass with a faint glow rested on a velvet cushion, displayed for all to see.

"Our first item is a Phantom Compass," the auctioneer announced. "This compass does not point north but somewhere deep in the woods. Although Thornevale members tried to explore further using it, they had no choice but to give up due to some causalities. Alas, we suspect that this mysterious compass might be a key to some treasure chest. The starting bid is 500 gold coins."

Whispers rose in the crowd. Raven leaned back in his chair, quietly touched the monocle, and activated it.