CHAPTER 41 – The Auction Building.
CHAPTER 41 – The Auction Building.
"So that's the building where Auctions are held huh," Alex spoke while looking at a dome-like building with interest.
Imagine a big, round building with a curved roof like a giant bubble or a ball cut in half and placed upside down. It's called a dome, and that's what the Auction building looked like.
This dome-shaped auction building is like a huge room with a roof that curves all the way around, making it look like a giant bubble.
Inside, people gathered to bid on things like art, cars, or other valuable items, but the main attraction was always the raider-related items.
The dome design helps sound travel so everyone can hear the auctioneer, and it gives the building a unique and impressive look.
As Alex observed the Auction house and he seemed interested in it, Alice and Ann didn't share his interest. They had seen the Auction building so many times that for them it's not that unique anymore.
Their interest, however, was on another thing, something that they didn't know was possible. The three of them were standing in the Air, at least 200m above the ground.
Even if that wasn't something to be surprised of as there are some Raiders who can fly in the Air, even Alice can if she uses a considerable amount of mana.
But none of them could do what Alex did. They had been travelling for three hours in this manner, and if that didn't surprise you enough then they covered the distance that takes planes at least 10 hours in just three hours.
This showed just how useful Alex's instantaneous regeneration was. He could use the moves that other people used as their trump cards, that too without worrying about running out of fuel.
"Why have you never told us that you could fly as well?" Alice asked as she looked at Alex with a questioning look.
She knew how advantageous it was to have someone with flying skills in their group, so, Alex being able to fly was a good thing.
But she needed to know that he could fly so that she could use it to their and the guild's advantage. Ann also had the same expression as Alice, though she had a pondering expression as if thinking about something. But then, they were dumbfounded for a second when they heard Alex's reply.
"You never asked me?" Alex replied while tilting his head towards them. If they asked him if he had flying ability then he would have told them about it, after all, it was just an ability he created with his control over wind.
He used the wind to push their bodies at a very fast speed, while he shielded their bodies with a barrier made of wind so as to not get their bodies torn apart by the high-speed wind.
Alex's running speed alone might be close to the speed of the sound, let's not talk about his abilities that are total cheats. He didn't even name this ability as it was just an ability he created for convenience.
They didn't need to waste money on buying plane tickets, they could reach their destination faster, they could have a better view of everything, and they could move around without leaving any traces on records.
The last point was something they needed to do for today if they needed things to go as Alex had planned.
"All right, let's see if these guys are as capable as they are said to be," Alex spoke with a smile and took out two masks, one red and the other black for both Alice and Ann to wear.
Alice and Ann broke out of their stupor after they heard his words and they started adjusting their postures. They were dumbfounded before because Alex's reply was weirdly true, after all, they never asked him, so, why would he just tell them everything?
However, for now, they decided to throw those thoughts out of their minds and focus on what was ahead of them.
If things went as Alex had planned then they were going to get at least 2 or 3 months to prepare themselves for whatever the Raiders Association was planning for them.
"Un." X2 n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Both of them nodded and wore the masks, and the masks were nothing special, they were just some cool-looking masks with no function whatsoever, other than hiding their faces. It was not like they needed anything else for whatever they were going to do.
"Let's go then," Alex spoke as he took out a golden mask with intricate designs over it, and this one looked better than Alice and Ann's masks.
He slowly descended in front of the Auction building along with Alice and Ann, but no one seemed to have noticed them, not even the motion-sensing cameras.
After all, he was using mana along with his guise manipulation to make themselves invisible and mana was something that even the greatest of scientists with the best technological equipment can't get a read on.
"You remember what your role is right?" Alex knew that they would not forget their role as they didn't have anything special to do, but he still asked.
His question caused girls to look at him with embarrassment but they still nodded their heads. Even if the act they were going to perform was not needed, they were still doing it just to be safe.
"Follow me, I will lead the way," Ann spoke directly averting the topic so as to not get themselves more embarrassed, and she was successful as both Alice and Alex nodded their heads.
Ann took it upon herself to lead them to the office of the Auction building as she was the one who came here more than Alice and she knew this place better than Alice. Alice being the guild leader can't just move for every matter even if she is free, that's just how much importance that position had.
As they moved towards the main office Alex kept observing the items hanging on the walls or put on display. He could already see many traps hidden on those items and every trap needed some kind of magical sequence to unlock.
This showed that either the manager was extremely cautious and diligent worked for the security of the building and the items or the people behind the Auction house just placed that much importance on this place.
As for who was the one behind the Auction programme, it was the Raider Association. They were the ones who handled the Auction house and it is also said that the Leader or the Manager of the Auction would have been the most powerful raider the Association had if Stephan was not the undisputed first place.
The Raider Association provided a platform for everyone to sell their items while providing confidentiality and protection to the seller. However, those on top knew that confidentiality and protection were only on paper, in reality, it was just a way to gather people's trust.
It was completely a lie that they provided confidentiality and protection, but the statement in the contract was tampered with a bit and it was changed to providing those things only till the item is sold.
There were even some cases where some raider went inside the Auction building only to never return. However, the real thing that showed the Association's nature always happened the next day as the Association would somehow find a top-ranked item in an unexpected gate.
The public knew nothing about this topic as the Association never lets any news slip, but the guild leaders had their way of getting this information, so, they knew full well how the Association worked.
Just as they were about to reach the office of the manager of the Auction….
"Hm?" Alex felt something, something he didn't think he would feel in this world. But it was not something he could not deal with; In the worst case, he would have to buy some item from the system by selling one of his abilities.
(Author Note: He can sell things just the way he buys but it works on a different principle than normal systems. Here if he were to sell some ability that he had, then the ability simply gets locked and he would not be able to access it, in return it gives him the amount of system points he would need to unlock them.
Now, he can either unlock the ability he locked and return it the way it was or he can use the SPs to buy a new ability which means unlocking another ability. He can just gather the number of points needed to unlock the ability again by completing quests or killing enemies.)
"What's wrong?" His voice caused Alice and Ann to stop and look at him.
"Nothing, it's just that things might not go as we had expected," Alex spoke and listening to his words both Alice and Ann tensed.
But before they could say anything, they felt their heads being patted and they looked at Alex and even though they could just see his red eyes, they could feel that he had his signature relaxed smile on his face.
They had somewhat gotten used to Alex's charm so now they didn't blush like they used to but their cheeks were still pink under their masks.
"I just said that things might not go as we planned, but did I ever say that our plan will fail?" As the meaning of Alex's words settled in their minds, Alice and Ann finally relaxed with a smile.
"Let's go, we need to finish this fast so we can move to the next phase of our plan," Alex spoke.
Alice and Ann nodded their heads, and then they exchanged a look with embarrassment clear in their eyes.
Then they looked towards Alex and moved closer to him, getting in their acts.
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