Chapter 238 Time To Bid
The eyes of everyone in the crowd widened as several suddenly threw their hands into the air, bidding plate in hand.
"550!" The first student spoke up, excitedly raising his voice.
"555!"
"560!"
Many others raised the bids by small amounts, as one voice shut those small bidders up.
"600!" Geld exclaimed as he raised his plate.
"700!" Israthel suddenly spoke as well, challenging Geld by raising the price by 100 right off the bat.
The auctioneer began to speak away as he saw the prices change so quickly.
"We have a 710! A 720 over here! Wait! Now the max bid is 750!"
He began pointing to randoms in the crowd as the price soared higher and higher.
Israthel gritted his teeth and raised his plate into the air for one final time, hoping it would be the final one that he had to do. "850 Riftstones!" He announced, silencing many more bidders.
For a few seconds, silence spread throughout the banquet hall, giving Israthel a sense of confidence as he looked around in joy. However, his grin quickly turned upside down into a frown as he heard the following words...
"1000 Riftstones!"
Linus lifted his plate into the air, as a hush fell over the crowd even more so than before.
"1100!"
The crowd was shocked to hear this, as they turned to look over at Geld, who had raised his plate.
"1250."
"What in the world!? Godfrey of Veridrake has finally decided to speak up and has added 150 Riftstones out of nowhere! Where will it go now!?"
Geld put his plate down after this. There was no way he was going to bid close to 1500 Riftstones for an item that didn't even have a full description yet.
"That item sounds very useful, but it also has many downsides. I'm stopping here," he said to his table.
"1285!"
Linus battled Godfrey's bid. As the rest of the hall silenced themselves, Linus and Godfrey began to bark out higher and higher bids.
"We have an astounding bid of 1300 from Drake! Oh, wait, another victor, 1310 from Creyuun! But that's not all, has Godfrey got any more Riftstones in those pockets of his? And he does! He raises the bid to 1350!"
The two raised their plates aggressively as they stared each other down with furrowed brows of seriousness. Every split second, they were raising their plates now. Finally, their ruthless competitiveness came to a surprising clash as they raised their bidding plate at the exact same time by coincidence.
In unison, they both shouted: "1500 Riftstones!"
They both paused for a moment after this, as did the crowd, as did the auctioneer.
'I wanted to save for the final item, rumored to be 'that' thing... but this mysterious pendant might even be more valuable. I need to get it. Still, I can't go much over 1500.' Linus mused, panting slightly.
'Damn brat... how is he still going. I will get this item no matter what. Even if I have to spend all my Riftstones, goddamit!' Drake also panted lightly.
They were in a trance of competition, in a daze focused on only themselves. As they both took in a deep breath to announce their next bids, another voice suddenly cut through the silence.
"I'll take it!" Lyrian suddenly said with a smirk on his face, raising his bidding plate.
"Huh?" Linus suddenly said in confusion, turning towards Lyrian with a raised brow.
"Huh?" Godfrey did the same.
"Huh?" The auctioneer seemed to also be lost in the competition between the two MVPs and almost forgot his job for a moment.
"Huh!?!" The entire crowd suddenly looked at Lyrian, who eagerly stared at the pendant.
'It must be my lucky day... Sure, this item may have a bad side to others, since they need to correctly match their shadows to another person and all that jibber jabber. But for me... all I have to do is use my Shadow spell.' His eyes lit up, as his grin grew wider.
"S-sold... to Lyrian Theageld." The auctioneer said, almost in a state of shock. It was as if no one believed him at first, with his calm tone. No one made a peep, still not convinced.
Suddenly, the auctioneer broke free from his daze. "I-I mean, SOOOLD, to Lyrian Theageld!!" He yelled, as the entire crowd looked at Lyrian, paused for a second... and then broke out into a loud applause.
Both Linus and Godfrey dropped their bidding plates in disappointment. They had been so lost in themselves, that they had completely forgotten about Lyrian's free choice.
"Great choice, Lord Theageld." Geld suddenly exclaimed to Lyrian with a genuine smile on his face. "I would have done the same."
Lyrian smiled politely in response.
"I just want to ask one question, however."
"Go ahead."
"Why didn't you spend your Riftstones thus far? You know... the best place to spend it, if anywhere, is here in the school auction. It doesn't happen often, and when it does, items that are better than any other product in the academy campus city are shown..."
Lyrian didn't know this, so he was slightly surprised to hear it. Still, he wasn't convinced that he should spend his Riftstones.
"I don't know how to get them efficiently yet. To be honest, I barely know how I earned the majority of them in the exam..." He was truthful.
Hearing this, Geld suddenly broke out into a small laugh. "Well, good thing the prodigy of the Fortune Sector is here at your disposal! Lord Lyrian... there are many ways to earn Riftstones, but in my opinion, the most efficient way is... by hunting creatures and selling their cores and materials."
Hearing this, Lyrian leaned back slightly and curled his brows inwards in surprise. "Huh? No way... is it really that simple?" He inquired, taken aback.
Geld nodded, simply laughing in reply. Alten couldn't help but tease the boy as well.
"The next item will start at a bid of 400! The Beast-King's Diadem! A powerful magic item that can be equipped onto your very own Spirit Creature. With it, their power increases by a large amount!"
Before literally anyone, even Linus or Godfrey could raise their plates, Lyrian's hand swiftly flew into the air.
"800 Riftstones!"
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