Chapter 70: Ocean Melody Starfield Grand Auction

The auction house was packed by the time they arrived.

It was a single vast chamber, domed and tiered sky-high, with a thousand audience seats arranged in a wide arc that curved around a floating auction platform suspended at the center. The platform hovered without support, slowly rotating so every angle of every item could be seen from anywhere in the room. Soft white light pooled over it. The rest of the hall sat in deliberate dimness, keeping all eyes on the stage.

Elder Shaila had paid for their seats well in advance, securing six spots together in one of the better tiers for Rudrean, Aelira, Lyra, Rivera, Ryzen, and Isalyn. Isalyn had bought her own spot days earlier, on the very first day they arrived in the city, the moment she learned the group would be attending the auction. She had no intention of missing it, and she had no intention of sitting anywhere but beside them. She settled into her seat now with her veil drawn and her aura folded away, just another bidder among a thousand.

"Ten minutes," Lyra said, checking the placard on the armrest of her seat. "It begins soon."

The seats around them filled steadily. The murmur of the crowd built into a low, constant hum, the sound of a thousand wealthy people pretending they were not all here to outspend one another.

Isalyn went quiet behind her veil.

Her senses, fully restored and sharp as ever, had begun cataloging the room the moment they sat down. Not by sight, but by the weight of the auras around them and the voices threading through the crowd.

’There are some serious people here,’ she relayed quietly. ’At least four Phase-6 Ascension experts. That means big shots.’

’The Ascension stage seems to be very different from the Soul Tree stage and the two below it.’ Rudrean was curious.

’The Ascension lifeform stage has a total of ten phases. Phase-5 and Phase-10 are the toughest to break through, but they also give big boosts. So these four Phase-6 Ascension experts are likely representatives of powerful forces.’

’How powerful?’ Aelira asked. ’That bastard Romen’s family... how powerful is it?’

’The Velkar family’s current leader is at the Phase-10 Ascension stage. But they have old monsters at the frontline who are above that.’

’Damn, the trash got a pretty strong family.’ Aelira cursed.

Rudrean was a bit worried. ’Such a powerful family will indeed bring trouble if they discover the real perpetrators.’

’We’ve made sure that no one was watching us, and we ended them quietly and quickly. It’s fine.’ Isalyn smiled.

A chime sounded through the hall.

The hum died down at once.

A woman walked out onto the floating platform, tall and composed, dressed in deep auction-house formal wear, her voice carrying to every corner of the chamber without seeming to rise at all.

"Honored guests. Welcome to the Ocean Melody Starfield Grand Auction. We thank you for your presence, and we will not waste your time. Let us begin."

She raised one hand.

A pedestal rose from the platform, and on it sat a small ornate bottle of dark crystal, sealed with a stopper that crackled faintly with contained energy.

"Our opening lot," she announced. "A bottle of ten High-Grade Tier-7 pills. The Flumbox Raistar Pills."

A ripple ran through the crowd.

"For those unfamiliar," the auctioneer continued, "these are destructive attack pills of the highest grade. Upon activation, each pill seals a fixed region and floods it with concentrated destructive lightning and resonant sound, devastating everything caught inside. A single pill is capable of completely erasing a peak Soul Tree powerhouse, no matter what defensive technique they have, and of annihilating a defenseless Phase-2 and below Ascension powerhouse." She let that settle. "There are ten in the bottle."

The murmur sharpened into something hungrier.

"Starting price. One hundred and thirty-five Tier-7 Mana Stones."

Bids began immediately.

They came from the upper booths, voices smooth and unhurried, the kind of casual confidence that belonged to people for whom Tier-7 Mana Stones were a rounding error. The price climbed in steady jumps. One hundred fifty. One hundred eighty. Two hundred.

Rudrean and the others did not move. They could not. Tier-7 stones were so far beyond their pockets that bidding would have been a joke, and a dangerous one at that.

’Tier-7 stones,’ Ryzen muttered under his breath. ’I have never even seen one.’

The Flumbox Raistar Pills sold for two hundred and forty Tier-7 Mana Stones to a voice in one of the highest private booths. Isalyn quietly marked the aura and said nothing.

The second lot rose on the pedestal.

A scroll, sealed in a slim protective case, its surface shimmering faintly with woven mana script.

"A Tier-7 Arcane Martial Art scroll," the auctioneer said. "The Glacial Sovereign’s Lament. A complete inheritance art focused on absolute-zero domain control. Suited to practitioners of ice, water, and related advanced elements. Starting price, five hundred Tier-7 Mana Stones."

That one drew a different kind of attention. Complete inheritance arts were rarer than raw destructive power, and the bidding turned sharp and competitive between two of the upper booths before settling at one hundred and seventy stones.

Then the auction stepped down a tier.

"Lot three," the auctioneer announced as a new pedestal rose, this one carrying a sealed jade slip. "A Tier-6 pill recipe. The formula for the Verdant Renewal Pill, a high-grade healing and vitality restoration pill with super effectiveness for Soul Tree stage experts. It works on Phase-1 and Phase-2 Ascension-stage experts with fifty percent effectiveness. Of particular interest to alchemists and to any clan maintaining its own healing supply. Starting price, sixty Tier-6 Mana Stones."

Lyra leaned forward very slightly at that one, her cat ears perking up, though she made no move to bid.

She liked recipes not because she was an alchemist, but because she could inspire her own item crafting by seeing how the recipe used combinations of materials to produce its effects.

Because her item-crafting talent didn’t just use ores, but everything with attributes and powers to craft items. She especially wanted healing recipes, which were rarer, and she didn’t have any formula to create items with Tier-6 healing power.

But she didn’t have the money.

The Verdant Renewal Pill recipe sold for ninety-five Tier-6 stones to a quiet bidder near the floor.

"Lot four." A long case rose, and within it lay a suit of layered armor, deep green-black, etched with flowing earth-element formations. "A Tier-6 defensive artifact. The Mountainbearer’s Mantle, a full-body armor set with reactive earth reinforcement that hardens under impact. Starting price, seventy Tier-6 Mana Stones."

The armor went for one hundred and ten stones after a brisk back-and-forth between a beastfolk bidder in the middle tiers and one of the floor seats.

Then, finally, the auction reached the range they could actually participate in.

"Lot five," the auctioneer said as a small ornate chest rose and opened itself, revealing a cluster of glowing seeds nestled in dark soil, each one pulsing with a soft golden light. "A Tier-5 natural resource. Six Sunheart Lily seeds, a cultivated spirit plant whose mature blossoms can be refined into mana-purifying elixirs, or planted to enrich the mana density of a private estate. Starting price, eight Tier-5 Mana Stones."

Aelira’s eyes lit up. "Those would be perfect for the mansion garden."

"You guys have a mansion with a garden?" Ryzen was surprised.

"Yep. We have a mansion. It has a garden. Therefore, we have a mansion garden, and it deserves nice plants." She raised her hand. "Ten."

"We bought one to live in right after we arrived at the institute." Rudrean smiled.

A bid came from across the hall. "Twelve."

"Fifteen," Aelira returned without hesitation.

The other bidder hesitated, then let it go. The auctioneer’s light-gavel came down.

"Sold. To the guest in tier six for fifteen Tier-5 Mana Stones."

Aelira sat back, entirely pleased with herself.

"Lot six," the auctioneer continued, and a slender weapon rose into view, a curved dagger of pale silver-blue metal with a single softly glowing gem set into the pommel. "A Tier-5 weapon. The Whisperedge, a precision dagger forged to channel wind and sound elements, favored by scouts for its near-silent strikes. Starting price, six Tier-5 Mana Stones."

Lyra watched it rotate on the platform with a craftsman’s eye, then quietly shook her head. She could make better. She did not bid.

The dagger sold to a hooded figure in the lower tiers.

"Lot seven." A small floating crystal tablet rose, its surface flickering with a contained spell diagram. "A Tier-5 spell scroll. Mirrorfront Cascade, a defensive water-element spell that layers reflective barriers capable of returning a portion of absorbed force. Starting price, five Tier-5 Mana Stones."

’That one is decent,’ Isalyn noted. ’But you already have better defensive options through your paths. Save your stones.’

They let it pass.

"Lot eight." A sealed vial of shimmering liquid rose, deep amber shot through with floating motes of light. "A Tier-5 potion. The Clearmind Draught, which temporarily sharpens perception and mental processing, valued highly by those training new techniques or Combat Arts. Starting price, four Tier-5 Mana Stones."

Lyra’s hand went up before anyone else’s. "Four."

A short flurry of competing bids pushed it briefly higher, but Lyra calmly raised twice more and took it at nine stones. She tucked the registration token away without explanation. Nobody asked. If Lyra wanted a perception-sharpening potion, Lyra had a reason.

The lots continued to climb back upward in tier as the auction built toward its centerpieces, the truly valuable items reserved for the latter half of the night, where the bidding would once again leave their pockets far behind.

But there was still one item they were all waiting for.

The Geofray Starviel Clay. Their own contribution to the auction, the 10-star material from the Secret Realm, slotted somewhere in the high-value back half of the program.

Aelira leaned over to Rudrean with a grin.

"Now we get to watch our own treasure make us rich," she murmured. "I want to see exactly how much these big shots are willing to bleed for it."

Up in the higher tiers, behind their masked auras, the serious bidders were settling in for the same back half.

The auctioneer raised her hand for the next lot.