"She's gone," Michael mumbled under his breath. It was a good thing Lailah left the Aqua Palace early. After buying a full skeleton of a dragon, many rogues and nobles might target her regardless of her cultivation stage. She was a big thing in Elon, but in Awor where every prominent family had at least a Fusion stage cultivator, her life would be in danger if she outstayed her welcome. Not to mention the golden prince who failed to buy the dragon skeleton even after trying to use his family background.
"Any plans to buy something else today?" asked Eve.
"Depends on the items," Gaya simply shrugged.
"You have something in mind?"
Eve turned her head to look at Michael,
"No one knows what they will show today. They keep the last day items tightly lid,"
Michael couldn't care less about the auction anymore. Even if they showed priceless items, he simply lacked the coins to buy them. He doubted he could buy something for seven million coins. Besides, Michael came to the auction just for entertainment. Now that he had given the subordinates a road map of what to do, he didn't have anything for himself to do other than pass his time traveling around Awor.
He leaned back, staring at the empty grass field. Michael canceled all the noises around him, including the chit-chatter between Gaya, Eve, and Nightmare. Several minutes later, Rickston finally appeared in the sky.
"Ladies and gentlemen," His raspy voice echoed through the arena. The crowd instantly stopped their chatter almost simultaneously. Silence fell over the arena for a couple of minutes. They all simply watched Rickston look around the ground. A glimmer of satisfaction emerged in the old man's eyes. Finally, Rikcston raised his hand,
"Let the final day of the Aqua auction begin," the sound of Rickston's voice, louder beyond human limit due to the arch energy.
When he dropped his hand, the iron pillar slowly emerged from the ground. To everyone's surprise, they saw a piece of yellowish bone atop the pillar.
"Ulna," Michael mumbled to himself. Although the bone had several chips and looked ancient, there was no doubt in Michael's mind. The bone was an ulna. Whether it belonged to a human or another race member, Michael did not know. Compared to the dragon skeleton, the energy radiation coming from the ulna bone was on another level. If the energy radiated by the dragon skeleton was a pond, the energy coming from the ulna was an ocean.
At the same time, Michael noticed countless runes glow in the ground around the bone. The runes harmlessly dispersed the energy radiation. Otherwise, the commoners below the Core Formation stage would choke to death.
"An Immortal's bone," Gaya gasped in shock. Everyone glared at the bone without moving their gazes. But only a few like Gaya could recognize the bone's origin.
"What's with these people and bones?" Michael creased his brows. This was the second time Michael saw bones startling the crowd. Unknown to Michael, the Aqua Palace sent their treasure hunters to the treacherous ocean and to the Demons grave. Both these places were basically ancient graveyards. They found the dragon's skeleton in the treacherous ocean and the immortal bone in the demon's grave. It was a dangerous expedition. The Aqua Palace lost several powerful men. But thanks to the Arctic hall of Sea Folks, the Aqua Palace had no lack of powerful people.
Unlike the cultivators on the land, the Sea Folks avoided wars. As a matter of fact, the Sea Folks only had one war several thousand years ago. But that war was nowhere close to the great wars the humans, elves, or any other race living on the land had gone through in the number of casualties. Each war put the cultivators on land several hundred years behind the Sea Folk. This was the major reason why the Sea Folks had countless Fusion Stage cultivators while they were such a rare commodity on the land. Many curiously waited for Rickston to explain.
"Ladies and gentlemen. This is an arm bone of an Immortal. It contains twenty times more energy than the dragon skeleton. As some of you might know, that's not what makes this bone, or any bone of an immortal a diamond among artifacts,"
Rickston paused for a moment to let the people guess what made a bone of an immortal so special to the point it would cause war between kingdoms. Michael turned his gaze to Gaya. But before she could answer Michael, Rickston continued.
"Only a weapon made of Immortal bone can kill another Immortal," A simple short sentence from Rickston had caused countless gasps in the arena. Those who thought an Immortal could not be killed were completely in shock, including Michael. Granted, an immortal would be completely immune to aging, sickness, and injuries. After crossing the tribulation, each step into the Half Immortal stage would have a body that's free of all the above. However, that didn't mean they were invisible. Standard weapons leave no cuts as their bodies were simply too strong. But the only weapon capable of killing a Half Immortal or an Immortal was a weapon made of an Immortal's bone. contemporary romance
"What makes the immortal bone a treasure counted by many is," Rickston raised a finger,
"Only a weapon made from an Immortal bone could kill another immortal,"
A strange feeling of disappointment emerged in Michael's heart. Michael's min momentarily went blank. What was the point of calling them Immortals if the Immortals could be killed? Michael did not have any answer to his own question.
"System, do I need an Immortal bone to kill other Immortals?"
[The host can choose between various weapons and blueprints in the system store. There is no need for you to look for bones unless you have too much money and far less intelligence]
Michael creased his brows, hearing the ridicule in the system's voice. He initially thought the Immortals could not be killed and only he could slay them with the help of the system. Then, however, he was proven wrong. According to Rickston, anyone with a piece of Immortal's bone could slay another Immortal.
"You won't find a little piece of Immortal bone, let alone a large piece such as this. It's something even the Aqua Palace could get once a century, if we are lucky,"
Upon hearing Rickston, many shuddered. They silently gasped. Many who sat in the first row felt their heads throb. Despite the runes, the leaking radiation still affected some people. Hence, Rickston cut his description shorter than he initially planned. He knew the elders from the prominent families didn't need any more explanation.
"The starting price of this Immortal bone is four hundred million,"
"Five hundred,"
"Six hundred,"
"Eight hundred,"
"One billion,"
"One point three billion,"
"One point five billion,"
The bids continued to rise rapidly. There was no pause between each bid. None of the elders seemed to let go of the bone.
"Two billion," Gaya shouted from the room.
"Two point two billion,"
As Michael expected, someone else quickly counter-bid Gaya. Silence fell over in Voldigards room. They all stared at the rising bids in utter disarray. Even when they were in their prime, forking out five billion was not a simple thing. The minutes passed fast. What started at five hundred million climbed so high that the golden prince bid six billion for the bone. After losing the dragon skeleton to Lailah due to a lack of coins that day, the golden prince brought all of his wealth with him.
Michael looked at the auction, feasting on the grapes beside him. Whenever he threw a grape into his mouth, someone raised the bid by three hundred million.
"Where do you think they got this bone?" asked Michael.
"Demons grave would be my bet," said Eve.
"Demons grave huh?" Michael nodded. After completing his studies in MAzeroth, Michael could visit the Demons grave. With the system at his disposal, the most dangerous place in the world might become his treasure trove. Imagine how rich he would be if he found an Immortal Skeleton. While Michael was in deep thinking, the bid of the bone finally began to slow down.
"Eight billion," The golden prince's voice resonated in the arena.
"Ten billion," Suddenly, an elder from the Hunt Family surprised everyone by raising the bid by two billion.
"Hunt Elders," The golden prince initiated a conversation with the elders. Before his words, Michael didn't know the ones who counterbid the prince was the Hunts.
"If we counterbid each other, we can go till tomorrow. Why don't we split the bone in half?" Upon hearing the golden prince's words, many trembled. Even Rickston stared at the prince's room with wide eyes. For a few moments, the auction stopped as silence took over the arena.
Many hoped the Hunt elders would ignore the golden prince so they could see a battle between two monstrous powers in Awor. They were the people who hated auctions with no battles and deaths. But to their shock, the Hunt Elders agreed.
"Only if we can also split the final bid," An elder with a raspy voice spoke. Just like that, the Aqua Palace lost billions. Allowing two bidders to communicate was a massive weakness in the auction process. Michael would make the auction anonymous if he were to open an auction house. That way, no one could sway the auction using family backgrounds or shady deals. But Michael admired the prince for striking such a deal instead of using his family background to threaten the opposition or pour more gold coins into the bid.
With this deal, he got half a bone for five billion. Although the golden prince had gold coins, the Hunt family was not inferior to the empress or the royal family. They both had almost unlimited gold coins. After all, the Hunts controlled countless businesses and connections with the Sea Folks themselves. As a matter of fact, they owned five gold mines in the Ozer continent alone.
Finally, the Immortal bone went for the price of ten billion, although it could have simply crossed past fifteen billion.
done.co