Stygian Mage

The next item on the list was a shield. And from the information Soren had received, this was one of the items that a Family surnamed Derosa was aiming for. He didn’t know what was so special about this shield; its description didn’t explain much about it. But when the host announced its initial price and the minimum increment, Soren knew for sure that this item was not common.

“The starting price of this item is set at 2500 Mana Crystals and the minimum increment is set at 200 Mana Crystals.” The host pointed at the big screen and said.

And the bidding war for this item started.

The first bid went up just 2 seconds after the start—3000 Mana Crystals.

The host was also aware that this item was expected to be sold for a large amount so he was excitedly anticipating the big jumps in the bids. And his expectations were met perfectly as the bids on the screen started jumping every second.

By the time Soren decided to take part in this bidding war, the price of the item had gone up to 6000 Mana Crystals. From what was happening in front of him, he could tell that he was not the only one who was planning on spiking the price of the items. Clearly, the other people who had bought the information about those Families were not planning on backing out. This fact became Soren’s advantage; as now, he didn’t have to take on those Families all alone. Given that, he was obviously not going to sit around and do nothing. And so, he also put up a bid without thinking too much.

His bid went up—6500 Mana Crystals.

It would be a lie if he said that he was not worried after seeing his bid on the big screen. His heart rate had increased a lot as he inputted his bid on his screen panel. The fact that his bid could become the final bid was something he had already taken into account when deciding on doing this. But even if he was prepared for it, he was still not immune to the uneasiness it brought him. Of course, this was not the only concern he had; the expected Family’s retribution was something that constantly lingered on his mind as he continued on with his plan.

But just after Soren put up his bid, the next bid went up as if washing all his concerns away.

Next bid—7100 Mana Crystals.

And then the next bid soon after that—7500 Mana Crystals.

But just as this bid went up on the screen, a huge pressure suddenly covered the hall and the people sitting in there like a mountain over their heads. The Non-Initiators in the hall started gasping for breath as they felt the huge pressure pushing them in their seats. The Rank 0 Initiators fared better than them but were still unable to move their body freely. Soren also felt this suffocating pressure pushing him down as he resisted against it. He was all too familiar with this kind of experience; this pressure was created by the aura released by a Rank 1 Initiator. And most probably, this Initiator was much stronger than Faron, or he likely had Earth as his main attribute.

As Soren was trying hard to adjust and fight back against this pressure, another pressure suddenly came like a wave and spread throughout the hall. This sea waves like aura washed away the previous pressure like it was nothing. The next moment, everything went back to normal like what happened before was just a dream.

But the people sitting in the hall knew that it was not a dream. Everything that happened was a reality. And many people, including Soren, also knew the reason behind what happened; it was a warning.

…

After everything went back to normal, the auction started once again. Of course, the timer on the screen for the bids hadn’t stopped just because of what happened. So, by the time people once again paid attention to the item on sale, the timer had already gone down to 3 seconds. This time though, no one increased the bid rashly anymore. As time went down to 1 second, the bid changed once more; seemingly from the Family that wanted to buy it.

New bid—7700 Mana Crystals.

The pressure from before had made the audience quite hesitant and afraid. They knew they were not in any immediate danger, yet they were reluctant to fight against the Family for this item. This was what that person had intended for when she released her aura and pressured everyone in the hall. Sure, she was pushed back violently by someone stronger than her from the ‘Myriad Items’, but she had already achieved her purpose.

And as she had expected, no one came forward to fight for the bid as the timer went down to 0.

“Congratulations to the one who won this bid. Now, let’s move on to the next item on the list.” The host repeated his words like what had just happened was of no concern to him. Of course, as someone who was much stronger than any of the Initiators present there, he really didn’t put these small fights in his eyes.

…….

The next few items were auctioned off without any unexpected happenings. Although one of the items being sold was something that a Family wanted, this time, very few came forward to spike its price; Soren was one of those few. Soren was willing to do it not because he was fearless, but because from what happened before, he had realized some things about the situation with the ‘Myriad Items’ and the Families.

He could tell that the Initiator from the ‘Myriad Items’ was much stronger than the ones affiliated with the Families around here. So, he was pretty sure that they were completely safe, at least till the auction was over; of course, unless they somehow pissed off the Initiator from the ‘Myriad Items’ side. And as for what would happen once he got out of there, that part hadn’t changed from before. He was already prepared for it once he had decided to take actions against the Families. It didn’t matter if he backed off now, they would still come after him; given they buy his information from the ‘Myriad Items’ first, of course.

As time went by and more items were sold, the rest of the people also realized this fact, and soon, everything had gone back to how it was. Every item that a Family wanted was spiked by many people. They kept this up in a consistent manner and didn’t back off no matter what. They had realized that they had already messed with the hornet’s nest; now, all they could do was to keep it up till the end.

..……

“Congratulations to the one who won this bid. Now, let’s move on to the next item on the list.” The host repeated his words once again as if completely oblivious to the bidding fight going on between the Families and the Rogue Initiators.

“The starting price of this item is set at 1000 Mana Crystals and the minimum increment is set at 300 Mana Crystals.” The host continued with the auction as the new item’s image came up on the big screen.

It was a Spell Vessel.

Its details were up on everyone’s screen panel and were also present up there on the big screen. The spell contained in it was a Defense Spell; something that Soren was aiming to buy in this auction. This item was one of the targets he had chosen. He didn’t have the details of this spell before but now that he knew what it was; his desire for it went up another level.

The spell’s name was ‘Withering Wood’; it was a Wood Element Spell.

The basic description given was: ‘A Defense Spell of the Wood Element. This spell can also act as a substitute for a Healing Spell.’

Although the description didn’t explain everything about it, it was enough for Soren to know that it was a powerful spell.

A Defense Spell that could act as a Healing Spell.

That fact alone was enough for many Initiators to fight hard for this. Of course, Soren was also amongst those who were ready to fight for this Spell Vessel. This spell was the only good Defense Spell that he had found after looking for it in the stores. Not only that, but it also fulfilled his need for a Healing Spell; maybe it could not beat a proper Healing Spell in pure efficiency, but this was all that Soren could use for now, given his attributes.

Healing Spells were mainly of the Light Element, which was something that went against his attributes. They also came in Water Element, Wood Element, and even Darkness Element, but those were quite rare and were not sold in the stores so easily; especially in this backwater area.

This Spell Vessel was of Wood Element; an Element which didn’t conflict with his attributes. Of course, it didn’t compliment his attributes either; it was in a neutral relationship with his Elements.

Given these facts, Soren was even willing to use all the Mana Crystals he had just to buy this.

…

The first bid went up on the screen a second after the bidding started—1500 Mana Crystals.

Then the next one—2000 Mana Crystals.

And the next one—2500 Mana Crystals.

The bids appeared one after another on the screen, beating the previous one with a margin. Soren also participated in it but he wasn’t able to put up a decisive bid no matter what; his bid was beaten every time he placed it.

……

After continuing for a while, everything slowed down as the people participating in this bidding war kept pulling out. By now, only the ones determined to buy this Spell Vessel were in the game.

The recent bid went up on the screen—4300 Mana Crystals.

Every new bid knocked out some of the participants from this bidding war. But there were still a few people left that were willing to increase the bid once again to get this item. Soren, of course, was one of them.

A few seconds after this bid was placed, a new bid, Soren’s bid, went up on the screen—4600 Mana Crystals.

Soren’s heart rate had increased quite a bit by now from the rush that he was feeling from these bidding wars; especially when the item to be auctioned was something he needed.

He kept staring intently at the big screen in the middle of the hall, waiting for a new bid to come up. The timer went down one second after another. But in Soren’s mind, those seconds felt more like minutes. He wanted it to become zero instantly, but it was not listening to Soren’s wishes at all and just kept going down at its own pace.

As it reached 3 seconds, a new bid went up on the screen, crushing the excitement that was starting to build up in Soren’s mind—5000 Mana Crystals.

Soren looked at the new bid as he gritted his teeth in frustration. But this was not enough to stop him; he had already decided to buy this Spell Vessel even if he had to use all the Mana Crystals that he had. This new increase in the bid had only irritated him; it didn’t stop him from putting up his own bid to beat the current one.

The new bid, Soren’s bid, went up—5600 Mana Crystals.

The timer was once again reset to its starting position and started going down, second by second. This time, Soren fared a little better than before as he was slowly getting used to this feeling; he was slowly learning how to cope with these kinds of feelings. He patiently waited for the timer to go down while checking out the remaining Mana Crystals he had. He had already planned to use most of it, if not all, in this auction. Using those Crystals to buy something that would increase his strength was much better than just keeping them with him.

After this item, there were two more things that he wanted to buy from this auction. One was a sensing type of spell, and the other one was actually a skill; a movement type skill. The thing that attracted him to that skill was that it was one of those uncommon skills that needed only Mana. Unlike other skills which used Stamina, or Stamina and Mana combined, this one only needed Mana. It was a very suitable skill for a Spellcaster. Moreover, what made Soren want it, even more, was the fact that this skill was of Darkness Element; an Element which he was very ‘familiar’ with.

By the time these thoughts made one round in Soren’s mind, the timer had gone down to 2 seconds. Very soon, it went down to 0 and Soren became the winner of the Spell Vessel without any problem. After paying for this item, he would be finally left with 13300 Low-Grade Mana Crystals.

“Congratulations to the one who won this bid. Now, let’s move on to the next item on the list.” The host’s voice once again resounded in the hall with the same words.

………..

The bidding war went on as the items on the auction list were sold off one after another. Soren did take part in some of them to spike the price of the items that any Family wanted, but he kept it to a very minimum. He only bid against them once or twice and then gave up. This was because as the items were being sold off one after another, more and more people stopped bidding against the Families; the most likely reason behind this was that they got what they wanted, so they stopped going against the Families. Soren was also planning to do the same but he still had two more items that he wanted to buy, so he had to keep this up for a little longer. On the other hand, he had used this chance to pay for the Spell Vessel with his ‘Myriad Item’s’ card secretly so that was one thing done.

…

“Congratulations to the one who won this bid. Now, let’s move on to the next item on the list.”

…

“Congratulations to the one who won this bid. Now, let’s move on to the next item on the list.”

…

“Congratulations to the one who won this bid. Now, let’s move on to the next item on the list.”

…

…

…

And finally, the item that Soren wanted was up for auction.

This was also a Spell Vessel. The spell contained in this was a sensing type spell which fell into the Support Spells category, same with any healing type spell. This spell’s name, as written in the description, was Elemental Sense.

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