The Auction

A few minutes later, Isdell arrived in front of the Shellborn auction house, a large building where anyone could rent a hall out to auction items. She stepped out of the car with her escorts and entered the large building, currently devoid of people. Isdell couldn't imagine there being anything good at an auction held on a Tuesday. Then again, it could also be an auction for illegally obtained items, in which case they could be quite valuable.

"Good morning miss Delheim." The receptionist greeted Isdell, no doubt recognizing her from the many times she had come here before. "There's supposed to be an auction for artifacts and skill books." She asked the receptionist. "Yes. hall 4. It begins at eleven." She gestured up one of the large fancy staircases on either side of the reception hall. "Thanks. Have a nice day." Isdell said before making up the stairs.

Getting up the stairs, a challenge in itself for her, and walking down the hall, Isdell and her escorts arrived at the door leading into the auction hall. It seemed she was the first to arrive and so the butler waiting in the hall directed her to one of the front tables and registered her for the auction. "The auction will start in 75 minutes." The butler said before leaving Isdell to her devices.

The hall was set up with about 32 tables with 8 in a row on each step which slowly lead down towards the center stage, two of Isdell's escorts sat with her while the other three stood around the table, all of them making sure to not block the view of the stage. Isdell began messing around on her phone for the next 75 minutes and as she did, 17 other groups arrived. After taking a look at the other groups Isdell didn't expect to be outbid since none of them showed signs of being from a wealthy background.

Eventually, the auction started, and the hostess, a beautiful woman in a revealing dress. Considering she started using illusions, Isdell imagined she was around level 5. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. The auction will now begin." She greeted everyone elegantly.

The first item she introduced was a big sword enchanted to be unbreakable and weightless. It got sold for $32 000 to someone who seemed like he was from the army's sealed world branch. The second item was a necklace that gave 3 extra mana points. Isdell placed a bid on it for $3 000 but didn't consider it worth anymore so it got sold to a sketchy guy in a dark robe at the back of the room for $5 000.

There were a few more items that were somewhat cool or useful but not worth much. "Now, for the items, you've all been waiting for…" The hostess began, pausing as the item was rolled out on a trolly. "Miss. Isdell, the chief of personnel has been looking for one of those." One of Isdell's escorts whispered in her ear. The item being auctioned was a skill book for a C-rank Appraisal.

Of course, any kind of Appraisal item or skill book was highly sought after. "Bids start at $100 000 and must increase by no less than $2 000." The hostess announced. Since the general value of C rank skill books was $120 000 and any kind of appraisal skill books could go up to $230 000 Isdell felt $350 000 was a good price to start at. "Three hundred and fifty thousand," Isdell called out.

"Three hundred and sixty thousand." Someone else called out.

"Three hundred and seventy thousand." Another called out.

Isdell was annoyed there was such competition but understood it was the natural value of a skill like appraisal which provided information on any target you looked at. "Four hundred thousand, forty thousand," Isdell called out, which seemed to be enough. The host called the magic words and the book was handed to one of Isdell's escorts.

"The next item is an E-rank summoning skill book." The hostess explained. 'A summoning skill book? That could be kind of fun.' Isdell thought, deciding to place a bid. "One hundred forty tho-" Isdell tried to call, only to be immediately outbid. "FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND!" The man in the dark robe yelled out, slamming his fist to the table. 'HUH!' Isdell called out in her head, along with most of the people in the auction hall. "Five hundred twenty thousand." Isdell bid without reason. "SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND!" The man in robes yelled again, clearly, he really wanted it despite its value not being that high.

Isdell was about to concede when her escort whispered into her ear again. "I believe that man may be a demon worshiper. The government will reimburse people through tax for interrupting the operations of demon worshipers in any way." He explained briefly. Isdell was aware of this doctrine, but since it was the first time she had ever encountered a possible demon worshiper she had almost forgotten about it.

"Seven hundred thousand," Isdell called out again. "ONE MILLION!" The man in dark robes somehow managed to yell even louder.

"One million ten thousand."

"ONE MILLION ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND!"

"One million one hundred and thirty thousand."

"TWO MILL-" The man started to yell only to be loudly stopped by the man sitting next to him. "Sir! You can't, we don't have the finances and even if we could bid higher, that's the granddaughter of the Delheim Corporation's founder and CEO. We would need billions to outbid her." The person next to the dark robe man practically begged him. With that, the bidding war was over and the summoning skill book was once again handed over to Isdell's escort.

A few more items were auctioned, but none of them were of particular interest to Isdell or to her grandfather's corporation. Hence the only other item she got was a gold bangle that could restore 5 mana in a day, for $220 000 which was higher than she would have thought since the dark-robed man blew the price up. He seemed to be bidding for any mana-related artifacts or skill books. Isdell could occasionally feel him glaring at her but wasn't bothered since her escorts would all glare back when he did, warning him against any stupid ideas.

Soon enough, the auction ended and everyone began filing out one by one. Isdell made sure to avoid going before the old man in robes so she didn't have to run into him. Soon enough though, after transferring the money to the auction house, she was back in the reception hall walking out the entrance. "Was that guy in dark robes really a demon worshipper?" Isdell asked her escorts and all of them unanimously agreed it was very likely.

Getting back into the car and telling the chauffeur to take her back home, Isdell asked the bodyguard next to her for the summoning book she had bid for. The skill book was a blue leather cover with a golden insignia and frame around its edges. She contemplated for a moment whether she should read it or hand it to her grandfather to find a use for, then decided why not.

Isdell opened up the skill book and began reading, the words disappearing as she did so. The book was just about the essence and origin of summoning magic but even so, its words seemed to put her into a trance and only snapped out of it once she had read the entire first chapter. "We've arrived." Her escort sitting beside her said once she finished the chapter and Isdell realised they had been parked for quite some time.

"Ah. Sorry, I should have waited to read it." Isdell apologised, getting out of the car. "Not a problem at all miss Isdell." The escort assured her. Apparently, she had taken around half an hour to read the first chapter, looking at the book again though, all the pages up until the second chapter were blank. Isdell excitedly opened her status and took a look.

Isdell Delheim

Age: 18

Level: 3 0 / 500

Strength: 0.1

Stamina: 0.5

Vitality: 2.3

Sight: 2

Mana: 5 / 5

Skills: [ Magic D ] [ Ailment Immunity F ] [ Summoning E ]

Curses: [ Weak body ( permanent ) ]

Isdell couldn't help but smile at the new addition to her status. She handed the skill book back to her escort before entering the Delheim building just as the clock hit 1 pm.