Chapter 58: Bloodline Cravings (All Chapters Fixed)

Hearing the dismissive comments from the crowd, the elder in yellow forced a stiff smile. ’’This half-mask is indeed pretty useless; its only selling point is the five hundred years’ age. I hope it can sell for a decent price. Of course, if it doesn’t sell, I can’t do anything about it. The first two rounds of bidding already made me look good—it all depends on what happens now.’’

"This is—" In the VIP room, Igris’s body went rigid.

His dual-colored eyes locked onto the broken mask on that stone table. He didn’t blink. He didn’t breathe.

Then something happened.

Deep within his veins—something ancient and dormant ’surged’. It was like a slumbering beast had been struck by lightning. His asura Bloodline suddenly pulsed as his blood thumped hard against his chest.

Like a dying star collapsing in on itself, the blood in his veins twisted and churned, dragging his consciousness toward that broken, filthy half-mask on the stage. Every cell in his body screamed one singular word, "possess!"

Igris’s fingernails dug into the armrest of his leather chair, carving deep grooves into the beast hide.

His knuckles turned bone-white. A thin sheen of cold sweat erupted across his forehead, and his jaw clenched so hard he thought his teeth might crack.

’Calm down. Control it.’

He forcefully suppressed the bloodline’s frenzy, suffocating the roaring inferno in his veins through sheer willpower. His breathing was ragged, but his face remained an icy, unreadable mask.

But internally? Internally, Igris was trembling.

’’What the hell was that?!’’ His heart slammed against his ribs like a caged animal. ’’My Asura Bloodline has never reacted like this before not even once. But a broken, half-destroyed mask from five hundred years ago makes it go absolutely berserk?’’

He stared at the stage, his mind racing at lightspeed.

’’There’s something inside that mask. Something my bloodline recognizes."

A dark, predatory gleam flickered in Igris’s eyes.

He didn’t know what the mask was. He didn’t know who shattered it, or why it had been sitting in a dusty corner for five centuries. None of that mattered.

What mattered was that his asura Bloodline craved it.

’’I’m taking that mask home. No matter the cost.’’

"Now, the bidding starts! The starting price is twenty thousand gold. Each bid should be at least one thousand gold more." The elder in yellow looked around the silent hall, and yelled after taking a deep breath.

The auction plaza went completely silent.

"I call twenty-one thousand gold!" It was an elder in his seventies, with a grey beard and an old-fashioned black suit.

Someone in the crowd recognized him immediately. He was one of the top antique collectors in Dellas—a reclusive eccentric who had a great obsession with oddities. He displayed them in his private mansion, and no one—not even his own family—was allowed to lay eyes on his collection.

In the VIP room, Igris didn’t rush to bid. He leaned back in his chair, forcing his body to relax. If he went all out with the first bid itself, it might draw unnecessary attention. People like Eeon and Lionel were already watching him.

The whole plaza was dead quiet. No one else was willing to bid.

The elder in yellow knew it was time to loosen up the atmosphere. "Twenty-one thousand gold! Who wants to bid a higher price? Don’t forget, this half-mask might be part of a high-rank relic! Even if it doesn’t have its spirit anymore, you never know what secrets could be hidden inside it. Besides, five hundred years is a long, long time!"

The whole auction plaza remained silent.

Right then, Igris raised the board in his hand. "Twenty-two thousand gold."

"Excellent! Someone placed a higher bid! Good eyes! Who wants to go higher? This is a one-time opportunity!" The elder in yellow looked extremely excited, his voice booming with theatrical passion.

"Thirty thousand gold." This time, it wasn’t the old collector. The voice came from Eeon, sitting three rooms away from Igris.

Lionel, who was sitting beside Eeon, looked curious. "Brother Eeon, is this half-mask really that important?"

Eeon said casually, "Not really. I just want to buy it as part of my collection. It’s pretty cheap, after all."

’Thirty thousand gold! Someone increased the price again!’ The elder in yellow sounded practically euphoric. The price had already reached his target. Even if no one bid higher, he would already be quite satisfied.

The old antique collector raised his board once again. "Thirty-one thousand gold!"

"Thirty-two thousand!" Igris followed up immediately, his voice calm and steady—completely belying the storm raging inside his bloodline.

Eeon sneered. "Forty thousand!"

The old collector sighed and lowered his board. "I’ll give up. Although it’s something I’m interested in, it’s definitely not worth that price. I might as well go buy some other antiques."

"You should’ve given up ages ago," the Player sitting beside him said while laughing. "It’s only half a mask. Why bother spending that amount of gold on it?"

"What do you know? Every antique has its value for research."

"Alright, alright. I don’t know anything about this stuff, unlike you."

In the VIP room, Igris’s brow furrowed before he raised the bidding price to forty-one thousand gold.

Caleb turned to him, his fat face scrunched in bewilderment. "Igris, what’s wrong? There are still tons of valuable treasures coming up! There’s no need to waste your gold on that crap! Do you really think you could find something from that broken mask? The half-mask is only worth the price of scrap metal!"

Igris’s eyes never left the stage. "Since we’re at an auction, I should at least buy something, right?"

"Hehe. I can’t understand you sometimes." Caleb shook his head, utterly defeated.

"Fifty thousand!" Eeon raised his board again. That amount of gold was nothing to him. He had been an inner Student for years, completing hundreds of missions and amassing a fortune that even mid-level families couldn’t compete with. Fifty thousand gold was pocket change.

The elder in yellow could feel his heart about to jump out of his chest. He couldn’t truly believe that the half-mask which had been sitting in a dusty corner for all these years would be bid up to fifty thousand gold! It was way beyond what he had expected—and it seemed like the two bidders were still planning to continue.