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n

nThe high price didn't surprise anyone. Although it was an incomplete version of a Secret Art, it's value could not be denied.

nAs a matter of fact, some were even more shocked that the directors of the New Era's Magic Shop were willing to part with this rare technique. With their money and resources, they can surely maximize its content and be used as their own source of power.

nWallace who had learned the first stage of the Secret Art: AOTL and currently learning the second stage, Lightning Break, was even more tempted at this item. He knew just how valuable these Secret Arts are.

n

"10.5 million!

" The bidding war started.

n

"10.9 million!

"

n

"11 million!

"

n...

n

"Wallace, are you going to bid? You look interested.

" Tracy asked after seeing Wallace's face.

n

"Mhm... I'm quite interested but I only have a few million here. I'm more interested in the other item you mentioned a while ago.

" Wallace replied referring to a specific item that was on the list. The two had informed Wallace about the items to be auctioned when they learned that he wasn't aware of the list.

nOnly forty items were revealed to the public to attract customers and the last ten were kept in secret and only the VIPs like them were informed.

nLuckily, as part of being an apprentice to Sir Slaine, he received a significant amount of money. It was supposed to be used for acquiring materials, knowledge, and capital to practice the art of forging mana artifacts.

nAfter a couple more minutes, the Secret Arts was sold for 39.5 million credits. It was taken by a VIP in room number 19.

n

"Now onto the third item.

" The auctioneer continued as a brown pearl with the size of an infant's fist was revealed.

n

"This is a Fairy Soul Bead. Anyone who practices Soul Arts or any techniques that require a stronger soul would benefit from this item! This item is consumable and you can ask some help from a Mage Doctor to make sure that you won't waste this. The base price is 14 million and the buyout price is only 90 million credits!

"

n

"14.9 million!

"

n

"15 million!

"

n

"15.6 million!

n...

n

"25 million!

"

n

"30 million!

"

nAs soon as the base price was revealed, it didn't take long for the participants in the lower floor to raise their bid and reach 30 million in a matter of seconds. No one in the VIP rooms had competed yet until the bid reached 50 million.

nIt's already a huge amount and with this money, you can already purchase top class Mana Artifacts with grade A evaluation.

nTroy Webb's Mana Artifact that was capable of releasing Heaven's Treatment to curse the enemy and heal the allies was sold for a couple of times worth about 50 million credits. It may have only priced to 40 million if not for the limited number of the artifact being sold. Apparently, Troy, who was also the same magician who made the artifact, decided to just only sell 5 copies of it.

nAs the bid reached 55 million, only two bidders remained fighting.

nIt was the VIP room number 7 where Lacus Minerva was staying at and the other was in VIP room number 2.

nIn the end, Lacus seems to be adamant about getting the item as she raised the bid to 70 million.

n

"70 million, Going once, going twice, sold!

" Congratulations number 7 for winning the third item.

" Sylvia was actually quite glad to see this item that can normally be sold for about 30 million had suddenly reached more than twice the amount.

nA few more items were sold before Tracy and Ross joined the auction. Tracy was obviously the richest of the three at the moment. After all, backing her was a business tycoon. She was even the sole daughter at that.

nTracy had purchased an automaton. The name was Sword Magnate II and it was a two-meter tall humanoid combat automaton. It seems that she got interested in these automatons after watching the international competition. She said that she has been purchasing powerful automatons to be used as a reference for her own creation someday. She was dreaming of creating an automaton that could fight against several Adepts at once.

nSword Magnate II was sold for 43 million from the base price of 9 million. The price of these auctioned items was truly expensive. Wallace even remembered those several mana artifacts that the Veritas Group had sold to their Red Town Star. His mother Elaine had only used 100,000 credits and already claimed a handful of mana artifacts.

n

"Automatons isn't really that expensive, the standard was only around 13-15 million credits. It's just that this automaton was a bit special. The one who created this was a dual path practitioner, his name was Keith Mavis. That man was a licensed Arcane Artificer and Adept Mage at the same time. Since he practices both paths, he created his own style of combat and called himself a Magic Swordsman. He made a special sword using his knowledge as an Artificer and compliment it to his identity as an Adept.

" Tracy explained after Wallace asked her why would she go that far for this automaton. Ross then further explained seeing Wallace was still a bit listless.

n

"I heard about that story. This Magic Swordsman had learned a lot of swordsmanship style after traveling around the southern continent, but he was unable to reach the apex to any of them due to his practice of other styles. He could only set his eyes to automaton. It was said that he created different automatons to impart those different swordsmanship styles.

"

nRoss continued to explain that because these automatons only follow the instructions it received, they made perfect materials for Keith to help him and his legacy to continue.

n

"I see... You know a lot, huh.

" Wallace muttered after hearing the short story. He confirmed that this information was also within Avalon's data. It was only left untouched because Wallace never encountered a situation before where this information will be required.

n'I guess... I'll ask Avalon later to tell me some interesting stories like these. That man might even be a relative.' He thought after realizing that this information should be a common sense to those who love to read the history of their magician's path.

nAfter a few more items were sold, Ross had then decided to purchase an item for his own but it seems that someone was also aiming for the same thing.

nThe Thenril Glory Armor Forging Manual contains the method to create a powerful armor that could defend even against the modern Heavy Auto Turrets. The manual was an heirloom of the declined Shaw Clan. Their treasury was seized in the past decade and the items within were circling around the black market until it reached this auction.

n

"Why are you interested in this?

"

n

"Mhm... I'm more interested in learning the method to process Thenril than the method to create the armor.

"

nTracy and Wallace nodded after hearing Ross' answer. Thenril alloy was approaching the level of Ancient Abyssal alloy. But this alloy seems to be very rare already.

nSince Ross was interested in this, he definitely possesses a handful of this alloy.

nThe base price of the manual was only 13.5 million because of the rarity of the materials required to create the armor. But even so, someone was still competing with him. She was a young lady at the lower floor surrounded by two bodyguards.

n

"35 million!

"

n

"35.1 million!

"

n

"40 million!

"

n

"40.1 million!

"

n

"45 million!

"

nThe lady was increasing her bid by 5 million. Ross frowned as he still needed to purchase a very important material later on. He was even planning to buyout that item once it appeared to avoid any mishaps. Apparently, during buyout process, whoever had first raised the buyout sign wins. Although the item would be so overpriced, that would suffice if you truly needed it.

nRoss can only give up on this item. But Tracy only smiled at this and offered her help.

n

"45 million... Going once,--

"

n

"50 million!

" The price lit up from room 27 where the trio was at.

nInside the room.

n

"Thank you, Tracy. I'll repay you once I sold my Mana Artifacts.

"

n

"That's okay. Thank me once we got this. Anyway, we'll be in the same academy in the upcoming semester. So just take care of me.

"

nTracy smiled sweetly which made her female bodyguard have a double look at Ross.

nSylvia was again laughing internally for selling this almost unusable manual for a high price. She looked at the lady competing. Her male bodyguard seems to have whispered something to her which made her forfeit in this bidding war.

n

"50 million. Going once, going twice, sold! Congratulations number 27 for winning the 11th item.

"

nThe auction continued and some of the other items that were sold during the event were Memory Crystals containing fighting techniques, Combat Arts for Battle Mages, Magic Structure Crystal containing incomplete Magic Jammer, a chunk of Refined Orient Burr, there was even an unconfirmed treasure map. With all of these precious materials, what surprised Wallace was the 17th item which was extremely familiar to him.

n

"This is a Mirror of Trace made of an extremely rare Ancient Abyssal Glass. As you all knew, the artifact made of that material can normally be used only 3 times! But look and behold at this artifact! It can be used 6 times. Unfortunately, 2 charges were already used so you can only use this for four more times. But fear not! This item was also identified to have improved greatly that it could even reflect Grade 4 Mana spells that were cast by an Adept! You can use this for defense or even for your own research. The base price is 18 million and buyout price is only 110 million!

"

n