The Tenth Item

"Everyone, it's a layered pill made by Sir Gavin of the Alchem Town!" The host's voice reverbated throughout the hall.

As the voice reached the end of the room, the alchemists' eyes widened and people who knew the famous layered pill were startled.

"Impossible, somebody actually copied Sir Alchemist Morgan's layered pill!", Alice was dumbstruck by the revelation.

"It's not a perfect copy.", Edwin said as he narrowed his eyes. "Look at it, it's deformed."

'And it doesn't look like it was made through pill merging.' The boy added in his mind.

"Yeah, it's actually deformed." Alice's agreed at Edwin's observation.

"What do you think, Allen?", Edwin looked over at the shop owner and asked.

"That layered pill is less effective than the normal product." Allen replied.

"How are you sure?", Edwin asked.

"It's a Pine Sight Pill, made from the Elliptic Pine plant which is a primary material to other low-grade illusion miscellaneous potions or pills that could affect people who are at the Mage level. I can see the pill's flaws even from afar. It's only effective to people who are a the level of Mage-apprentices", Allen replied.

"Can you tell me the flaws then?" Edwin requested.

"First of all, the pill is obviously deformed. Second, the method used for layering just decreased the overall effectiveness of the pill. Third, based from my second observation the creator of that pill wasted a lot of resources just to make that one product. Fourth, there is a chance it will easily become defective." Allen finished stating all the flaws; meanwhile, the image of the pill to Edwin further plummeted by the other's criticism, like it degraded from being an eagle to a featherless chick.

In fact, the boy was already disgusted just by looking at it.

"Another question, do you know that 'Sir Gavin', the one who made it?" aEdwin asked.

"Yes." Allen nodded, "He's my senior brother."

"The bidding for this item shall now commence!" The host signalled the start, cutting the duo's conversation.

"100,000 gold coins!" Someone from the audience said.

"500,000 gold coins!" Another person from the audience called out.

"10,000 mana stones!" A figure from one of the private rooms has began bidding.

Next, that figure was followed by other more people in the other private rooms, most of which were with mysterious backgrounds.

The price of the pill finally peaked at 75,000 mana stones.

"Are there any more bids?" The host asked.

The faction representative from the Midea Republic nervously stared below and to the other private rooms if there were other figures that would topple the given price, specially at Allen.

"We can't increase it anymore. It won't be worth it." The representative nervously muttered.

"It's alright. There's still the final object to be auctioned. I heard it's something groundbreaking for alchemists." A person with a more calm composure tried to relax his nervous companion.

"Remember." The calmer man added, "We need an object that we could study how does the alchemy of these Niburgians work. That's our priority."

In the end, the pill was successfully sold out to the folks from the eastern republic.

"Only 75,000 mana stones?" Gavin became disappointed by the result of the auction.

"It's already great for a pill to be sold for that amount. Normal pills at that level can only be bought for hundreds or thousands of mana stones." Mr. Howard said.

"You have a point." Gavin replied.

"I hope sir's decision to auction it won't risk your reputation. It has a lesser quality in terms of its medicinal strength. It will be detrimental to the status of the alchemists in Alchem Town.", Mr. Howard warned.

"Don't worry, nobody would complain. I only want for everyone to know that I am here to participate in the upcoming tournament!" Gavin only shook off the warnings, "Plus, people only tried to buy it because of its rarity and uniqueness."

'Not to mention the original dimwit who knew how to make a layered pill went missing.' Gavin thought. After which, he grinned as he fantasized other contestants in the upcoming tournament would respect and fear him.

However, he still kept his guard up. He expected there would be exceptional people joining in it.

Host: "Ladies and gentlemen. Now it is time for the last item!"

The people from the private rooms and almost all the guests on the balcony and below became eager. Afterwards, another jar containing a pill was placed on top of the table where the 9th item once was.

"Uhh, sir." Mr. Howard's eyes widened, "You should take a look a the last item." He urged Gavin who was with his eyes closed while grinning.

The glass of the private room had a special function. It was enchanted to close in onto the item being auctioned. That's why Mr. Howard was able to clearly see the item although he was only a normal person.

...

"So the news was right. It's indeed another pill, but why is it groundbreaking for alchemists here?" The calmer man from the Midea Republic pondered.

...

"Haha, the informants were right after all!" The faction representing the local government of Ryon City became estatic.

Everyone in this particular room were wearing formal clothes with emblem of the local government on their collars.

"Mi'lord, it looks like you were correct." One of the people looked at the person sitting foremost from them.

"So that means, he's here." The marquis of the Ryon City stood up and approached the window with his back straightened up, his hands behind him like a born nobleman. 

He scanned the crowd, trying to find somebody. He also looked over to the other private rooms, however, he couldn't see anything on the other rooms as all of them including the place where he was standing had their windows magically tinted and surroundings sealed.

...

In another room, there were a group of people wearing robes, of which, the deeper the color of the robe, the higher the rank in their group.

"He's here?" A woman was startled when she saw the pill inside the jar. She was wearing a purple robe with glittery-like designs. With all the designs, her body was like wearing a sun-setting starry heaven. 

Of course, their group came from none other than the Aeoshun Observatory.

"Most likely, our lady." One of the women respectfully agreed.

...

"What is it?", Gavin snapped back into reality and spotted the 10th item for the auction. His visage froze when he recognized what was it.

"He actually came back? The nerve of him!", Gavin's tone turned more frenzied on each word he spoke out.

...

"What's going on with a lot of people looking so dumbstruck in here?" Edwin surveyed around him, noticing almost everybody has their sights fixed onto the pill.

Meanwhile, the ones who didn't know what was going on had curious gazes latched onto their faces.

"You're kidding, right?" Alice showed a weird look to Edwin.

"No." Edwin shook his head like an innocent little boy.

Alice: "..."

"Alright, so the pill that the host is currently presenting is Sir Alchemist Morgan's layered pill." Alice explained, "People who really know Sir Alchemist Morgan's unique creation, the layered pill, are petrified because it's akin to a holy artifact of the alchemist."

"Ohh..." Edwin dawned upon the realization, "I didn't expect that a lot of people know about that pill."

"This is an auction hosted by the Alchemist Union. Most of the guests who attended likely knew what is happening in the alchemists' circle and would probably find out about sir's greatest creation." Alice further clarified.

"Hahaha, this is such a wondrous day for me!" An old man cloaked in an alchemist robes laugh heartily amongst the crowd, "I can't believe I'd be seeing such a treasure again in all my life! That means Sir Alchemist Morgan is here!"

"Truly is a wondrous moment!" The alchemist beside him also shouted happily.

"Master, who is Sir Alchemist Morgan?" A little boy wearing a kiddie alchemist robes asked the older person beside him, "They seem to be happy of him."

"Listen closely, I'm about to tell you a very important story that took place a few years ago." The kid's master's mood became melancholic as tears slowly flowed down from his eyes.

A cheerful noise then rose among the rest of the crowd, of which, the clamors mostly came from the alchemists attending the auction.

"Our sources indicated that this pill wasn't sold by the great Sir Alchemist Morgan." The host declared, "However, the management guarantees that he was the one who concocted it!"

The clarification of the host, nevertheless, didn't decrease the excitement of the attendees.

"When will the bidding start!?" One of the guests passionately screamed.

"Start it!"

"Don't waste your damn time looking at us! Begin now!"

"Begin it!"

Numerous urges from the people were hurled towards the host as if he's the public enemy number one right now.

Feeling a bit inwardly wronged he thought, 'It's not my fault you people are suddenly in a hurry.' After which, he said out loud. "The bidding shall start, now!"

"One-hundred thousand mana stones." Somebody from the private room bidded. It was from a faction of the Mendia Republic.

"Two-hundred thousand mana stones!" The lady from the Reverent Observatory declared. Then she thought, 'I won't let you outsiders get the hand of that pill.'

"Three-hundred thousand mana stones!" While returning to his seat, the marquis of the Ryon City calmly stated with his voice reaching up to the corners of the hall.

Once again, the people down below were astonished by the lightning-fast increase of the bidding price.

"Those rich factions, hais."

"I wish I was rich as them, hmph."

"Same here."

"Four-hundred thousand mana stones!" One of the alchemists below shouted.

"Whoa what? He has that large amount of money, yet, he's not inside one of those private rooms?" One of the guests was surprised.

"Probably because he's being humble." The person beside him whispered.

In the auctions of Ryon City, one could inquire a private room during the said events when they had enough monetary treasure like gold coins or mana stones.

Additionally, one's prestige could also be used to acquire a private room.

"I should have never attended this time, oh if I only knew in this occassion that there are a lot of extremely rich people present here." Another guest commented as he looked up towards the private rooms.

'The items this time is so valuable, no wonder those big ones are here.' A guest depecrated in his mind. It would never dare to say such things out loud.

Meanwhile at this point, the price of pill skyrockted up to 800,000 mana stones.

"This..." Edwin didn't know what to say as he watched the spectacle of throwing bids between the higher members of the society from their respective private rooms.

"825,000 mana stones." The marquis bidded.

"850,000 mana stones." The faction representative from the eastern republic said.

"Those outsiders, they must not get their hands on that pill!" The marquis slammed his fist on the armrest of his chair.

"Calm down, sir." One of his subordinates started to massage his shoulders.

"Sadly, I couldn't spend more mana stones. I still need them to build-up my Mana Hearts." The city leader sighed in disappointment, and then he looked towards the room of the Aeoshun Observatory astrologists, 'It's up to them now.'

"875,000 mana stones!" The lady from the observatory stated.

"900,000 mana stones!" The faction representative raised their bid again.

As the woman was about to utter a higher price, one of her men stopped her from doing so. "Forgive me ma'am, but 890,050 mana stones is all we have in this trip."

"Really? Then does somebody in this room have excess mana stones?" The lady asked.

"No more, miss. That 890,050 mana stones is everything we have summed up, including our own money with us." Another of her assistants replied respectfully.

"Can somebody contact the observatory here? We shouldn't let those outlanders obtain it!" She asked.

"I'm sorry miss, I already tried contacting them some time ago, but it seems the communication here is blocked."

After that reply, she could only collect herself and muttered, "Hais, maybe we would lose such a treasure to those people?"

Afterwards, she calmly said, "This is such a humiliation."

"Are there any more follow-up bids?" The host asked. "The bidding shall be final in five, four, three..."

"1,000,000 mana stones." A last second bid entered the fray.

Everyone looked to the direction of the origin of that voice, and spotted the highest private room in the hall.

As the person from the Midea Republic was about to raise the stakes again, however, the calmer man beside him prohibited him from doing so.

"We won't be able to beat their bids how much we wanted to in this place.", the man said.

The marquis and the lady let out a faint smile as they said, "The Alchemist Union."

"The Union?", Gavin curiously looked at the highest room.

Allen silently looked up. He knew the recent bidder came from the Alchemist Union.

The host let out an obvious shocked countenance when he heard the Alchemist Union participating in the bidding. 

When he regained his composure, he immediately started the countdown and the merged pill was finally sold to the Union.

It also marked the end of the auction.