Auction

The seating arrangements of the auction were such that ordinary people would sit on the general seats provided. Those who put objects whose base price was 40,000 gold or more would sit inside a single common protected booth. Along with them were also VIP guests each of who seat inside separated special booths. There were only 10 special booths. Among them, only 3 were luxury booths reserved for the VVIP guests. Besides these, there was another big luxury booth reserved for the organizers.

Anya and the boy shared a special booth. They were awarded such due to the items they had submitted for the auction and Anya's identity of being General Shire's daughter.

On the stage, the woman said, "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today we are holding our 50th annual auction. You may find many rare and valuable items which are not easily found here. The true value of items can only be found by the fated. With that let us begin the auction. Let the fated man win!"

Then she bowed and said, "Your host today, is not me. I will only be an assistant today." The people started a commotion.

Standing straight, "Settle down everyone. Though, the auctioneer is not me the beautiful Ms. Aqua today, the one who is will definitely be to your liking."

Aqua pointed behind the curtain and exclaimed, "Presenting the lovely young miss of the Qin clan, Ms. Qin Xia!"

From the red curtains, a beautiful black haired girl came out dressed in white robes.

"Welcome everyone! My name is Qin Xia. I will be your host today for the 50th annual auction. As you know, my family is one of the organizers of this auction. So, I am representing them today." Qin Xia said with a sweet smile.

In the booth, the boy who was trying this new liquid called Coca-Cola Anya introduced to him, spat out the soft drink and stared at the stage. Anya who was beside him brought out a tissue and wiped the spilled coke.

"What happened? Didn't you like the coke? I can get you something else if you want. Sprite? Fanta?"

Coughing, the boy shook his head and replied, "No, I like it. It's just that I saw that girl before. She's an idiot. Why is she here?"

"Xia-er is an idiot? How? Also, where did you see her?"

"Qin Xia is an idiot who thinks running is a punishment."

Anya stared blankly at the boy. "Running around the camp for 10 laps IS punishment. Not everyone is a monster like you!"

"But..."

"No buts. Keep quiet and watch the auction."

On the stage, Aqua had left the stage and Qin Xia had already brought out the first item. It was a plain looking silver bracelet which had the symbol of a tyrannosaur engraved on it.

"Our first item is a spatial equipment. As everyone knows, spatial equipment are made by high ranking cultivators for other cultivators. They cannot be used by non-cultivators like us. But, this prototype space-bracelet was made by Rex Corp. for non-cultivators!"

The crowd exclaimed at this but were somewhat doubtful.

"It was made by copying the methods of cultivators using modern technology. It allows us to access a compressed space where we can store things. It takes a sample of the owners DNA so it can only be used by the owner. As this is a prototype, the spatial-band or so they have named it, only contains a small space of 50 cubic centimeters. It is also not completely stable and has a shelf life of 2 years. The perfected space-band will only be available to the public after 5 years. So this is your chance to own your own spatial equipment."

They started to believe the host after this explanation and started to get excited. Who cared if this was only 50 cc and would only work for 2 years. This was a spatial equipment that they could use!

"Okay, the starting bid for this is 5,000 gold. Every bid must have an increment of at least 500 gold."

Immediately calls of bids came. Very quickly, the price had risen to 17,000 gold.

In the booth, Anya and the boy kept quiet. They didn't show much interest to the prototype.

"30,000!" came a call from the special booths. This caused the noisy stands to quiet down suddenly. If one of the VIPs wanted something, they couldn't compete with their wealth. They also wouldn't want to make an enemy of anyone who could be a VIP in this auction.

"30,000 going once."

Silence.

"30,000 going twice."

No one bid.

"30,000 going thri..." "40,000!" came a call in a rough voice from another booth.

"41,000" came the call from the previous booth.

"41,500"

"42,000"

"45,000" came a young voice from another booth.

Both voices quieted when they heard this new competitor.

"Okay! 45,000 going once."

"45,000 going twice."

"45,000 going thrice."

Seeing that no one was making anymore bids, Qin Xia said,

"Sold! You can make payments and collect your goods at the end of the auction."

The boy was a bit surprised with the high price that the first item in the auction went for. He was also curious about the last bidder.

"That should be Young Master Zhang from the Zhang clan. The Zhang family is a family of cultivators. But Zhang Ming, the young master cannot cultivate due to a unique body type. The clan spent a fortune to let him cultivate. But, his body seemingly rejects Qi. He always wanted spatial rings and Master Zhang had even hired a Grandmaster Crafter to make him a space ring. But, even that could not be used by him. Now, that there is a spatial equipment which could be used by non-cultivators, Zhang Ming will try everything in his power to obtain it. Knowing that, the other two who most likely wanted to buy it to gift him the equipment would not continue bidding when he took action himself."

The boy nodded in understanding and kept watching the auction.

Item after item was auctioned. Among them were various strange items. Such as a space satellite, a tank, an authentic pill cauldron, a vibrating sword, a private jet, a pill that increases body strength, a wind bow of a wood elf, a custom mobile phone made of a special metal which can withstand the attack of a spirit severing cultivator and lots of other products. Qin Xia didn't have to advertise or promote the products as they were all sold for high prices and also because she didn't have much experience with this.

"The next item is gold blood. This rare medical panacea can cure most wounds and diseases. It also increases the physique of a person along with being an alchemy ingredient. We have with us 5 bottles of gold blood of 15ml each starting with a base price of 10,000 gold. As usual, minimum increment is 500 gold. Start bidding."

The blood was sold with prices of 46,000 gold, 50,000 gold, 55,000 gold, 80,000 gold and 100,000 gold respectively. The first two went to the ordinary members with the third being won by someone in a mixed booth, the fourth by someone from the Qin family and the last was won by Zhang Ming after a bidding war with someone from Rex Corp.

The beast skins were sold as a set to Glamour, a large clothing company for 300,000 in total.

The total Anya and the boy would receive was 567900 after 10% cut for the auction. The auction house would round it up to 568000 gold.

"Our last item of the day is a special pill. This was sent to us anonymously and might not even be from the human race." Aqua brought out a shiny bright purple ball which had inscriptions covering it on a tray before presenting it to Qin Xia. The pill was in a crystalline bottle.

"The name of the pill was not given. But its effects are to allow any living being to recollect all their memories they had in their life and will have in the future, vividly. It also largely increases the strength of one's soul. As you know, the soul is a concept which is not widely understood even by cultivators. Items which can positively affect the soul are even rarer. Also this could be the only pill of its kind on Earth. There is no starting bid."

For a moment, there was no answer. There was no one who knew much about the soul among the crowd. To them this pill was useless. The memory recalling ability was more so as with the increase of training, a person's memory also improves. As such this pill, no matter how rare, was actually useless to them. Why would anyone buy it? This was also the case for the VIP guests. To them, an item which could improve their soul was valuable. But it might also cause negative issues to the consumer. Besides, the seller was anonymous. So they wouldn't be able to get compensation if there was really something wrong with it. Qin Xia shook her head as if she had no expectations that this item would sell even though it was saved as the last item.

"500 gold?" one person asked jokingly.

"500 gold going once"

"Oi! I was just joking. I rescind my bid."

"That is against the rules of our auction. 500 gold going twice."

"No stop it. I'm not paying 500 gold for a useless pill!"

"500 gold going…"

"500 gold 1 silver." Was heard from the booths.

Anya looked surprised at the boy beside her before realization hit her.

Qin Xia didn't seem to mind and continued,

"500 gold 1 silver going once

500 gold 1 silver going twice

500 gold 1 silver going thrice

Sold!"

The crowd looked at the booth mockingly while the person who had bid first looked grateful.

In another booth, a handsome young man sat guarded by powerful cultivators on all four sides. He wore a gold colored robe and currently, his face carried with it a faint frown.

"Sylvester, check out the person who bought the last item. Though it may seem as if he bought it to help the commoner or for fun, I believe that he has some actual use for it. Also investigate the person who submitted the beast blood."

"As you command young master."

This person was Zhang Ming. Even without the ability to cultivate, he is a fearsome opponent with outstanding intelligence.

On the stage,

"And that concludes today's auction. The bid winners and item submitters are to come to the counter to obtain their prize. Good afternoon everyone."

With that Qin Xia left the stage.