MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

"I told you guys," Andrei said, his laughter resonating throughout the room.

The first stage of the auction had ended, and the group was able to buy 70% of the stuff on their list, albeit most at the buyout price, but paying a bit extra was never a concern.

Andrei swiftly opened the two mystery boxes he purchased, revealing that the first one contained several items with a combined value of less than a million white flame coins, with the majority of the items mostly easily available. 

However, he reassured both himself and the others that he still had a second box to unveil, and to say his blind pick paid off handsomely would be an understatement.

The box gave a single item, a small stone, pitch dark in color, that had a smooth surface, and at first, everyone besides Alex felt it was money wasted, with Andrei saying that they scammed him, but he knew it was skill tome.

The skill that Tome held was named Spaciel Blink, a legendary grade skill that had no restriction of race, class, or Rank, making it a unique skill that anyone could learn.

It would be near impossible to find a skill of similar use case, even if one was willing to pay tens of millions of white flame coins.

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Spatial Blink: Allows the user to mark someone or someplace, and when they desire, they can shift their surrounding space and appear at that location in an instant if they have enough mana.

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The skill was similar to his Temporal Beacon skill, and from its description, it speared better as it marked an individual that would move freely.

But as Alex had never tasted such a thing, he was unsure if his skill could or could not do a similar thing, but that aside, the skill was truly valuable even for an Elemental Ruler.

The skill could not only be used to help someone but also to travel and escape, and after he told the group of its usefulness and worth, Andrei had the biggest laugh, as he felt relieved at not wasting money.

"Andrei, Your legacy is purely a strength type, so you should learn this ability, as it would be a great addition to your arsenal of skills," Alex said, happy with the lucky windfall.

"Brother, It's not my style to run away from a battle, but I will take it if you say so," Andrei said as he put the stone into his inventory for the time being.

The second stage of the auction would begin in three hours, and the items would be available in a few minutes after all the individuals in the first layer were teleported out.

The items in the second stage held things of much greater value, as there were epic and legendary potion recipes, legendary items, blueprints of state-of-arc machines, battle puppets, pulse canons, mage towers, and even information on sensitive topics.

The third heart of the Beast Monarch was also available for sale, with many incomplete and complete legacies, and there was a lot that Alex wanted to buy with known and unknown values.

As the competition was going fierce, Alex had a budget of 80 million white flame coins, but he was not too keen on spending all of it as the things of real, unique value were going to be present in the third and final stage.

As the group didn't need any items or already built weapons of war, they focused on buying rare materials, potion recipes, forging blueprints, and items of such rare nature.

But while it kept them from the fierce bidding battle, it put them head to head with figures with deep pockets, so most items were bought at buyout prices or in fierce bidding wars with a few victories.

Alex bought the majority of things he wanted, spending close to 62 million white flame coins, and with that, the second stage came to an end.

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"Ladies and Gentlemen, now we begin the final phase of the auction, and all I say is, may the bids soar, and fortunes find their new homes in the hands of the highest discerning bidders," 

"Bidding knows no bounds, and to preserve the excitement, I won't disclose the number of items. Consider each item as the grand finale, bid to your heart's content, or until your pockets echo emptiness,"

"Let the thrill unfold," Hadraniel said, his lively voice echoing through the stadium.

"As is our tradition, we cannot commence the true auction with anything less than a noteworthy item," Hadraniel said, pointing to his right, and instantly, a giant square which was more than three meters in width and a bit over two meters in height hidden under a dark cloak.

Hadraniel snapped his finger after building a bit of anticipation, making the cloak vanish, revealing the giant transparent box with a giant blazing red heart with bulging veins vastly different from a human attached to it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you the heart of an early middle-stage Elemental Ruler Pyropteros Rex," Hadraniel said as the ingredient information and its price came on the screen.

The heart was a legendary ingredient, and while it was not on a similar level as a Law core of a creature, it was the second most valuable ingredient in the creature, and even the most wasted potion made from it could give even an elemental Ruler great benefits.

The heart also belonged to a variant of the dragon, who had the bloodline of ancient dragons running through him, making it vastly more superior and expensive than another ingredient of a similar scale.

The starting price was 10 million white flame coins, with a minimal increment of 1 million, but the first bid was 30 million, and it quickly rose to 110 million, which was close to all the funds Alex had for the final phase.

Alex had 266 million, a vast amount of liquid funds, and it was all he had left from what he earned in the past few months from the domain, so while it would be nice to acquire the heart and give it to Andrei after his Fourth Rank promotion, but he didn't have the funds to buy it.

The heart sold for a whopping 230 million, and as Alex expected, it was bought by the Red Dragon clan.

The following item was a peak legendary sword made by the current Dwarf king, and as it was an excellent blade, it was sold for 10.2 million coins.

The trend continued, and valuable and unique items came for sale one after the other, with Hadraniel shining as auctioneer, hyping the crowd by describing the history and usefulness of every item.

Alex was not interested in buying any weapon, as he had plenty of good ones resting in the treasury, nor did he need any overly expensive potion, as he probably had the world's finest alchemist favor, so the first hour and a half were spent without bidding on a single item.

Hadraniel, having sold the items, potions, ingredients, and so on, started to bring out items of unknown origin and use cases, from weapons to ingredients, maps to ancient written scrolls.

The first item Alex bought was a sealed legacy item related to dragons, which he knew how to unlock, and following that, he bought one more complete legacy, spending a total of 41 million coins.

The auction was reaching its conclusion, and it was moment Hadraniel started bringing things of the best value. 

As Alex had yet to see the mysterious dragon slave girl among the tens of figures sold, he were also keeping his eyes peeled and was considering buying her if his guardian saw any worth in her.

The very first item that Hadraniel brought after saying that few items were left was a pair of simple-looking curved knives, dark crimson that appeared a shade pitch dark.

As the information came on screen, Alex's eyes flashed as memories of a particular set of knives flooded his mind, putting a smile on his face.

'Joer Wrath,'

'There is no doubt in my mind these knives belong in the set of six Knives of Doom,' Alex thought, his heartbeat rising as he kept staring at the normal-looking set of knives.

Alex had picked a set of knives in a private sale held by Duke months ago, which he thought belonged in a set of six knives with broken capabilities and of mythical quality.

Yet alone, those throw knife sets were useless, with all their skills barely useful, and so the set he had were collecting dust in his inventory as he didn't understand where to find the second set of knives to test their legitimacy.

However, now it all changed, as the set that made the player who held them a feared person and gave the knives the title of broken item were in front of his eyes, and he couldn't help but feel that fate was guiding him to acquire the set of knives.