Instead of pretty hostesses presenting the product while alluring everyone with their charms, a dignified old man was standing on the podium while describing the wares that some servants were placing on a small table.

"Dakahsha tail, only forty coins!"

"Fifty!"

"Fifty-five!"

"Sixty!"

"Sixty once, sixty twice, sixty sold!"

"One-hundred twenty, once, twice and sold!"

Being in possession of Bonger, I was sure that even at such distance, I would be able to a.n.a.lyze the items being sold. Sadly, that was not the case. No matter how much did I try to force this greedy part of mine, there was simply no response!

"We are eager to present you a spirit stone of the first grade! As long as you try it once, no amount of blood tonics will ever satisfy you! We are auctioning them in batches of five, and the starting bid is five hundred coins!"

Oh? While I can"t a.n.a.lyze the items on the stage, the description of the wares piqued my interest.

"My friend over there, what can you say about those stones? Are they worth their price?"

With the betting heating up instantly, I figured out I have some time for a small inquiry.

"Sir, while they are not the most priced commodity for today"s auction, they are the staple for every respected auction house. While they can reach up to two hundred fifty coins per single stone, I would recommend to bit up to two hundred. Any more would be just a loss."

Why is he giving me such kind of advice? Isn"t it in his best interest to convince me to bid as high as he can convince me to? I guess he isn"t telling me the full truth, but it"s not like I can get any loss here. 

"Bet two hundred for me."

With the bidding slowly reaching eight hundred, a small light appeared in front of the gla.s.s panel separating our lodge from the public.

"We have one thousand! Who"s gonna bid more!?"

Compared to previous increments of five, a sudden rise of forty times that amount seemed to scare off my compet.i.tors. 

"Thousand once, thousand twice and sold!"

With the knock of auctioning hammer on the stool right under his arm, the price was set and the small sack with the stones swiftly disappeared from the desk.

"You will be able to retrieve your items upon exiting from the auction house."

Smiling amiably, Ham instructed me about the procedures. While I kinda expected for the items to appear in front of me right away, I guess that all those novels that I read were just making things up. Why waste time and energy to create a complicated system of teleportation circles, automated paying and so on, if you can just have the guest collect their wares after the auction ends! 

Regretfully, the next hour pa.s.sed without anything interesting auctioned down. While there was quite a bunch of ancient techniques, historical scrolls or treasure maps, it all came down to one thing. They weren"t of use for me!

Techniques and scrolls? Oh please, the paths from the system are way more effective than what I saw Eve doing! Treasure maps? While they might be interesting, the chances that they lead to anywhere interesting were minimal, and they required a lot of time to follow! With the intention of getting into the ranks of some kind of middle sect, there was no point in wasting my money on them!

"Just before our main dish for your great appet.i.te, we would like to present you a Heavenly Naranakai Stones!"

With a short break to build up the tension in the hall, the dignified old man raised his hand. Within his palm, placed on an intricately sewed wrap lied the seven stones that I offered to the female back then. Sadly, with close to zero reaction from the crowd, it appeared that I won"t make more money than the initial offer of the auction house.

"The starting price is set at a thousand coins as per the request of the seller, with the increments of fifty. I will have you know that this generous man is sitting somewhere amongst the crowd! Each of the stones will be auctioned separately, so Sirs needs to be smart with your strategy! Let"s the bidding commence!"

Despite all the hype that this old man was obviously trying to build, no offers followed his words. Just as I resigned myself to the fate of being left with almost five thousand, I saw someone raising the hand amongst the crowd in the seats downwards. 

"One thousand fifty!"

"Eleven hundred!"

"Eleven hundred fifty!"

In one second, as if waiting for the tension to reach the climax, the people all over the place started raising their hands frantically, hoping to have the last word!

"Twelve hundred!"

"Fourteen hundred!"

As soon as the first bid was announced, everyone couldn"t stop their madness. It was as if this stone was some kind of a treasure! Didn"t they know that I got them from a mere mortal enlightenment area monsters? How could they be so stupid!

"Ham, what is even so special about those stones? It"s not like they are hard to acquire if you want to know where to look for them!"

With the rush for those jades already in place, there was no need for me to hold my information to myself. Recalling from the system announced, one could store quite a bit of energy in them and then set how quickly said energy would be released. In other words, it was just a battery! What"s the point of getting so excited about something so simple!

"Sir, while they were initially used to store energy, they can also be used to drain the energy from various traps and formations. A lot of scavengers and treasure hunters are using them as lockpicks."

So that"s the case! While they weren"t of any use for me, human intelligence managed to find other uses for those stones! But it also makes me wonder, what kind of treasures one can find with those maps. Was I mistaken to just outright ignore them?

"Seventeen hundred, sold!"

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