Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 479: Oli’s First Auction

... clap, clap, clap...

“Well said.” Satisfied with that answer, Oli lightly clapped and nodded. “In that case, I’m willing to offer you and your family more. As for whether the others will join us for the new moon auction... I wouldn’t be against it. But so much will happen that I’ll only let them join if they agree to the same conditions as you. And I don’t yet know if I want to offer that to them.

“But we’ll get into those details later. For now, let’s relax and enjoy the auction. It should be starting soon.”

The duo chatted for about half an hour and even ordered a couple more appetizers while they waited. Oli also used the time to skim through his new moon auction catalog, but it was fairly short and incomplete since it was still suns away.

By the time the lighting in the room dimmed and the stage was readied for the auction to begin, there were still a few reserved seats unfilled in the lounge section. Thinking it over, Oli and Fulkar supposed those people weren’t attracted to anything but the final items of the day.

However, there was someone that caught Oli’s attention. In one of the bestial lounge chairs was a huge cat with an extra long tail. The cat’s expression was both focused yet somewhat bored as it looked down at the stage.

“Oliver, is something wrong?” Fulkar asked, seeing Oli turned around for so long.

.....

“Hmm... I don’t think so. Just thought I saw a familiar face,” replied Oli, surprising Fulkar. “But I was wrong. Just a beast from a species I’m familiar with.”

Oli looked back at the stage as the curtain was moments away from being opened one final time. But his mind lingered on that Long-tailed Lynx. *Karos... And he’s with a couple of humans. I guess he’s here for the qualifier. I wonder if he-*

‘He doesn’t know about you,’ Eeole answered Oli’s thoughts.

*... Well, there will be plenty of people I have to face. If they happen to be familiar... so be it. At least they won’t be a complete mystery to face,* thought Oli.

Fwoosh! Dong...

As the curtains were thrown open a loud yet muffled bell rang through the auction hall.

“Ladies! Gentlemen! It’s time for the auction you’re all waiting for!” The auctioneer returned to the stage with his microphone. “I hope you’re ready, because we’re diving straight into the first item!”

Some stagehands wheeled out a covered cart and stepped aside during the bidding. At the same time, the auctioneer snatched the cloth cover and ripped it away before storing it. “Here we are! As always, we’ll start this auction off with a bang! Before you, we have a peak-elder spear, handcrafted with a fully embedded fire core. With this, anyone wielding fire essence would be able to go toe to toe with any peak-elder beast! And the bidding will start at three thousand gold!”

“Three thousand five hundred!”

“Four thousand!”

Voices called out from the seating and lounge sections as the bidding had already begun.

Fulkar was amazed at seeing such an item come out first. But Oli laughed under his breath when he spotted Fulkar’s lingering stare. “You don’t wield fire, do you?”

“No... I’m just a little envious, I guess. I want my weapon as soon as possible,” remarked Fulkar, returning to his usual calm demeanor.

“Five thousand!”

“Five thousand two hundred and fifty!”

“... Five thousand two hundred and fifty gold going once! Going twice! ... SOLD!” shouted the auctioneer, pointing at the winner’s lifted marker.

Dong...

The auctioneer smiled and motioned for the stagehands to whisk the spear away while another group brought out the next cart. “On to the second item. Behold, a high-elder shield with an embedded earth core!”

Those in the lounge section reacted less and less to the incoming items as they varied from low-elder to high-elder goods. They weren’t completely uninterested but they had come for the last half of the auction. It was the lower sections that were all over the first batch of items. A war seemed to break out between the seated and the standing sections for every item that was carted out.

Oli paid close attention to the decorum of the auctions. As the final lounge seats gradually filled up, Oli deduced that arriving late was of no consequence and was likely a common occurrence. He also kept an eye on a few particular people in the lounge section. Like Karos’s group, there seemed to be some younger cultivators gathered in another part of the lounge section. There were also good odds that other teams were hidden among the masked patrons. So Oli paid attention not to the patrons but to what they bought.

“Now, it’s time to get serious yet again!” Eventually, the auctioneer brought out the next peak-elder item now that they were about halfway through the daily auction. Those in the lounge section got curious again as the cover was thrown off and the auctioneer described, “Here, we have a set of peak-elder gauntlets. Each has been imbued with an earth core and each gauntlet is a custom peak-elder weapon on its own! So, the starting bid will be five thousand gold.”

“Five thousand!”

“Five thousand two hundred and fifty!”

“Six thousand!”

Aggressive bids filled the lounge and seated sections. All the while, it was the first time that Oli was personally intrigued by an item.

“Seven thousand five hundred!”

“... We have seven thousand five-”

“Eight thousand!” Oli shouted and lifted his marker.

But the previous bidder, a human sitting near Karos, glanced at the masked Oli and immediately bid, “Eight thousand two hundred and-”

“Nine thousand!” Oli’s bid cut the guy off, but Oli didn’t so much as turn to face his supposed opponent. Oli kept a calm demeanor while staring at the gauntlets. Even if he didn’t use them personally, they would be a great weapon for his clan.

The auctioneer smiled the moment Oli made his first bid, and even wider when Oli dominated the other bidder a second time. As a higher-up in Icicle Palace, how could he not know about Oli’s recent appraisal and transaction, especially when he was about to sell some of the items they bought off the mysterious youth?

“... We have nine thousand gold going once!” shouted the auctioneer, eager to see more. “Going twice-”

“Nine thousand two hundred-”

“Nine thousand five hundred!” Again, Oli cut off the other bidder, not giving them any room to speak up.

“Nine thousand five hundred gold going once!” The auctioneer stared at the unmasked youth, spotting the irritation on their face. “... Going twice!”

“Ten thousand!” shouted the young bidder, attracting a lot of attention as the first person to throw out a five-digit bid.

“We have ten thou-”

“Ten thousand five hundred!”

The bidder in Karos’s group was infuriated yet completely deflated by Oli’s immediate bid.

But the auctioneer was absolutely elated. “We have ten thousand five hundred going once! ... Going twice! ... Sold!”

Dong...

A lot of eyes fell on Oli as everyone was curious about just how much money the masked bidder had. Those in Karos’s group were especially curious about Oli, considering how their teammate lost the weapons they had specifically come to get. That teammate was leering at Oli in rage and frustration. He showed no signs of actual hostility but he needed a target in order to vent his anger and irritation, so he chose the person that had outbid him. And with the help of their table’s silent formation, he started to verbally besmirch the masked Oli in an attempt to calm down.

Oli, on the other hand, was unfazed by the whole thing.

“Wow! You really did make a killing from your deal,” Fulkar laughed uneasily, realizing how much money Oli had spent that day alone.

Eyeing Fulkar, Oli laughed as well. “Oh, that was nothing.”

“...” From Oli’s genuinely jovial tone, Fulkar could tell that Oli truly thought nothing of the bid. And that left him even further shocked. “Well... It just shows that I made the right choice, finding a new, powerful backer.”

Oli didn’t say anything in response but he smiled and nodded. He liked people like Fulkar. They were easy to predict since they acted on logic, and being raised as a businessman meant Fulkar would prioritize benefits and gains over personal pride. Taking note of that yet again, Oli kept watching the auction despite the next few items not catching his attention.

Some peak-elder items were now popping up among the mid-elder and high-elder items, showing everyone that they were starting to move into the more expensive half of the auction.

Soon, They were only bringing out high-elder and peak-elder items. And the first perennial item finally appeared.

“Ladies! Gentlemen! Here we have it, our first perennial grade item of the day!” Everyone eyed the cart, which was covered in a cerulean blue cloth with silver embroidering along the edges. “I hope you’re all paying attention because this isn’t just our first perennial grade item. This is our first of four perennial grade items on sale today!”