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"Ladies and gentleman, first up, we have the [Cloak of Lightning Resistance]."

"So they're introducing relics first." Kyrian's eyes were glued to the windows, trying to get a better look at the items being introduced.

"Ah, please, allow me." Pol, who returned a little after the Auction began, went over to help.

And he had returned with 8 million gold in credit.

Apparently his higher-ups had two other Authenticators take a look at Doror's Gauntlets and Daggers. After a long discussion, our credit threshold was set at 8 million gold.

And to think that back in Miltus, Skaris, Kyrian and I used to save money by eating bone soup every day.

How time flies.

"Feel free to spend a bit." I said.

"Really?!" Stole bounced up and down. "How much? How much?!"

"Use your best judgement."

Aurora glimpsed over but didn't say anything.

Pol walked over to the window and placed two hands on it. He dragged his fingers in opposite directions, like he was holding a box and pulling the corners apart. Then to Kyrian's utter amazement, the window zoomed in on the auction floor like I'd just zoomed in on a smartscreen.

"All the windows in our auction houses are outfitted with this enchantment." He bragged.

I'd bet everything on the fact that whichever mage invented this enchantment knew exactly what a smartphone was.

"Oooh, what's that?" Stole took a seat next to the Mage, munching on an apple.

As if the auctioneer heard Stole's question, he started again. "This particular item hails from the Samak Desert. We believe its origin to be of orc, most likely from the Samak Horde."

Skaris and I shared a look. We kept listening.

"Kyrian, could you zoom in a little more?"

Even before I finished, Kyrian had stretched the screen on the tiny item.

Hung upon a coat rack was a filthy looking cloak.

"As expected, this cloak has [Lightning] elemental properties. Perfect for Mages who focus on Lightning Cores. Otherwise, for those looking to hunt beasts that breathe thunder, it can serve to bolster your defenses. The bidding will start at a 1,000 gold."

Stole whistled. "1,000 for that piece of cloth?!"

"2,700."

"...What?"

23,700." I repeated. "That's how much it's worth."

Stole scoffed in reply. "Yeah, right."

"No adventurer worth their own salt will pay more than 3,000 for that." I shook my head, feeling everyone staring at me. Even Doror. "It's just not worth it."

"How so?" Stole looked skeptical.

"Most monsters that wield lightning and are placed around the Free Trader's League are grade 10. None of their Cores are worth more than a few thousand. Maybe 10,000 at most. 20,000 if you really push it. But back in Miltus, when I was browsing for Skaris' Core, there were a bunch of them, which drove down the prices even more" I shrugged. "And it's not like the Cloak grants immunity to lightning. It's a small boost at best. Relics like that should be only bought when you have gold to spare."

What I had left out was the fact that this cloak only offered a 5% boost to [Lightning Resistance]. There were so many better items that could drop from Grade-10 monsters, the caveat being that the drop rates were atrocious.

Considering the fact that the minimum amount that [Special Fields] decreased your resistance was at least 10, it wasn't a huge boost. Especially for Beastman, who automatically got a 15% resistance boost to all elements the moment they got Stage 1 of [Evolution].

Actually, this cloak was probably really only useful for Beastman tanks, in my opinion.

"2,000 gold!"

"2,300!"

Even as I explained, the bidding war had started.

"Then shouldn't it be worth even less?" Surprisingly, it was Aurora who asked.

"Hmm. Probably because it's probably from the Samak Horde. My guess is that you can hand it off to a beginner adventurer. The only real use would be to have an easier time hunting low-level monsters that use lightning. Maybe a rich noble will buy it for one of his Knights in training. Or a nephew adventurer."

"Sold! At 2870 gold! To the gentleman in the back!"

"What the fuck." Stole swore, staring at me. "No way."

Another item came on bid. Nothing fancy, a small ring that provided a minor boost to the [Smell] stat.

"Hm. Maybe 1,500. Depends on who's in the crowd really." There's not really a use for these minor use accessories, especially for Wayfinders or Pioneers. That class is so dependent on your Race, Racial Trait and Cores that small trinkets like this barely made a dent. In a word, talent was the deciding factor.

'If Stole wasn't around, I'd have bought it for myself.' In a pinch, it could've been useful.

"Sold for 1600!"

"Close enough." I said.

Kyrian frowned. "Close enough? In what world is that just 'close enough'? You pretty much got it on the dot."

I caught a glimpse of Aurora taking a deep breath and fixing me with a stare so intense that could have melted stone.

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While the crowd was still hot from the previous bidding, the Auctioneer quickly wheeled out the next item; a pair of worn gloves.

"This item was procured specifically for our adventurers, especially our Bladers. With it, you'll find sword strikes to be more precise, maces to hit harder and your shields to be right where you need it to be!"

"Mister, do it again." Stole urged.

I looked at the leather gloves and before the first bid could go up, "11,000."

"11,000? It looks like trash! Atleast the ring was pretty!" She exclaimed.

"The bidding will start at 5,000 this time!"

"Mr. Lock, may I hear your reasoning this time?"

"Mmmm." This one was hard to describe without going into detail about the [Handicraft] stat, as well as the related Cores and the general market trend. It's not like I had a good idea about the market, Aurora had a way better idea about that. But after playing the game for 14 years, I had a general idea of how Monster Population, Spawn Rate and Drop Rates affected the adventurer's market.

"Well, it's definitely less situational than the Cloak from before," I ventured, drawing out the sentence. "You could take it with you on any hunt. And it's not a jewel either. It's something that you could use for a long time."

Items that raise [Handicraft] are pretty rare. Despite the low +1 boost that the [Beginner Blader's Glove] provided, it was still worth more than something situational like the Cloak from before. Item for Bladers tend to be more expensive as a whole anyways.

"Can it be used by Shielders as well?" Aurora murmured, looking at the gloves.

"In theory. Better shield placement for one. If the Shielder is doubling as someone who occasionally attacks the monster, it can help them pinpoint a weak spot and strike it accurately. Won't make a big difference though."

"2,500!"

"3,000"

"5,000! Going once!"

"Heh. Looks like you were wrong though." Stole pointed at the Auctioneer.

That was weird. A [Handicraft] item going for 5,000 gold?

I shrugged. "Maybe it's not worth that much to people. If it were me, I'd pay 11,000 gold."

"How do I bid?" Aurora asked Pol.

"You just press here and enter the amount you want to bid."

"Going twice!"

Then Aurora pressed her palm against the window. "5,100."

"We have a new bidder! 5,100! Any takers? 5,100! 5,100!"

I looked at Aurora, but she wasn't looking at me.

"5,100! Going once, going twice, going thrice and sold!" The gavel struck with a resounding thud, signaling the end of this particular big. "Our first sale of the night to our VIP section! Of no, I'm afraid I can't reveal who!" He wagged his fingers as if talking to a naughty child.

"...Aurora?"

It wasn't just me. Kyrian was staring at her, frowning in confusion. Even Skaris, still sitting at the snack table, stopped shoveling food into his mouth to stare.

"Um… Sis?" Stole asked in the ensuing silence.

I knew what everyone else was thinking. Aurora never made rash decisions. Impulsive decision making on the fly? That's me and Skaris. Kyrian and Aurora were the calm ones. The ones who thought things not.

Not… not impulsively buy something.

Aurora kept up that usual blank expression. "Mr. Lock said the glove is worth 11,000. Yet, it was only going to be sold for 5,000 gold pieces. By buying it at 5,100, it was a sale deduction of 53%"

"Yeah, but we don't really need it." I started.

"Perhaps. But this way, we save money."

Skaris frowned, not understanding the logic. He opened his mouth as if to say something, shook his head and went back to eating.

"Ms. Aurora, I understand that it was a good deal. But it was still money that we did not need to spend. So in the end–"

Aurora shut down Kyrian's attempt at an explanation. "I would not expect you to understand, Mr. Kyrian. However, the logic is sound. What would have cost 11,000 cost only 5,100. Therefore, our party has saved 5,900 gold." She took a breath, "Besides… you're the one who told us to use our best judgement. Mr. Lock."

"I… see?"

"And next up is this beautiful brooch! We've found that this brooch has a special ability. Once you channel mana into the crystal over here…"

As the Auctioneer moved onto the next item, one of the attendants brought up the glove for us. We made room and it was handed off to Aurora.

Taking the item, she held it up to the light. "A little bit of oil and it'll look good as new."

"I can help with that, Lass."

"Your help is much appreciated."

We all turned back to the auction.

It might've been just me but I think I saw a faint blush creep up from Aurora's neck up to her cheeks. It could've been the light.

I hope I was wrong, because I saw something else in Aurora's eyes.

Happiness.

Like the type of Happiness when my mom used to go shopping.

…Oh no.

***

"You can leave it over there."

She gestured over to the growing pile of items on the table.

"Ms. Aurora. Perhaps you should…" Kyrian trailed off, catching a look that Aurora shot him.

It wasn't quite anger. Closer to annoyance. Kind of like the look that my girlfriend used to shoot me when I asked her did she really need so much stuff.

The kind of look that makes boyfriends and husbands shut up and go into the living room, turn on the TV and shake their head.

"Mr. Kyrian, rest assured, I am perfectly aware of our finances."

I sighed.

Granted, we had about 8 million gold. The stuff that Aurora bought wouldn't even make a dent in the money, not until the Cores and real Gear came out. But she kept buying these small little trinkets that didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Things that improved her build in minor ways.

And somewhere along the way, Stole got into it too. Stole was much more aware of my growing worry though, and only opted to buy one or two things.

"Mr. Lock?"

She didn't even need to finish the sentence. I already knew what she was asking for.

"...8,700. I think. Atleast, that's what I'd pay."

"You should be an [Authenticator], Mr. Lock." She said without even looking at me, paying attention to the bidding. "The fact that you could guess how much an adventurer would pay for things without even getting an accurate look at the market book and just from the auction house's descriptions is impressive."

Yes, [Authenticators] in this world needed to do lots of references and research. The test required extensive studying and memorizing lots of patterns of items. But what I was doing was intrinsically different. [Authenticators] determined the intrinsic value of an item and in a sense, they set the market. I was doing rough calculations of how much use I could get out of an item.

So there were times when my valuations were way off. Especially when it came to items that were collectible.

Like now.

"Sold! For 15,000 gold! To the gentleman in the back!"

Aurora shot me a disappointed glance.

"...Sorry." For what I was apologizing, I didn't know.

Meanwhile, I organized what information I had about my companion's Cores. I took a look at the memo I scribbled in front of me.

[Tortured Spirit] - Grade 8

A: Share the Load

P: If only I had a Body

[Royal Oni] - Grade 4

A: King's Guard

P: Artisan of Battle

[Ujo] - Grade 7

A: Hateful Wound

P: Arcane Masochism

[Shadow Mimic Wolf] - Grade 3ish.

A: Sadistic Kleptomania

P: All Mages must Die…

Of all the Cores I had, I was unsure of the Shadow Mimic Wolf the most. I knew the names of the abilities, but the grading was a guesstimate at best.

Still, I still only had four Cores. I'd grown by leaps and bounds in the gear department, but it was high-time that I got my fifth Core. Only when I got my fifth Core, could I say I finally entered the mid-game and start hunting appropriate monsters.

'Granted, my build is pretty overpowered considering the time I've been in this world.'

As I looked down at the note I wrote down with the list of Cores for my party, the Auctioneer's next announcement caught my attention.

"And introducing the last accessory-type relic from our catalogue for the night!" The Auctioneer quickly unveiled the item. "It's a book, rumored to have been written by one of the Founders of the Great Houses. Perhaps the First Emperor of Turina himself!"

A small journal, bound in leather and worn with age. The title on it was illegible, but there was no mistaking it.

"Perhaps it's a journal. Perhaps a map! Or even a recipe book! But there's only a few left in the world and trust me when I say this, you will not see these books outside of Turina."

A hush fell over the audience.

"For all the collectors out there, this one's for you!" He slammed the gavel. "Starting at 600,000 gold pieces!"

"700,000!"

"780,000!"

"One million!"

The book called [Knight's Journey], that when deciphered could be used to learn [Aura].

"Lock, is that…"

"It is." And without looking at the others, I placed a hand on the window. "Two million."

"Two million! We have two million!"

I sat back, waiting for the other bids.

It was a collectible to them. How many people in this world would know the book's true value?

" Lock, is this book truly worth it?"

I tried not to look at Aurora. "It is."

"Going once! Going twice!"

It's just paper and ink. That's all. Maybe–

"Five million! Someone just bid five million!"

…Oh shit.

"Going once! Going twice!"

Fuck.

"Sold!"

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