The minimum amount needed on hand to be eligible for a premium buyers' booth is 25 gold coins. In comparison to my stash, it isn't much, but to the average citizen, it's quite a lot.

Even well-off level D Class hunters would be lucky to make even 5 gold a year. Most of the population could only dream of surpassing this rank, and that's back in the Vice Region. The salaries of upper-middle-class families hardly breach 10 gold coins. With average meals costing just a few bronze, and a rented room less than a few silver a month, 25 gold is an absurd amount to be spending on art or gear at an auction.

Considering this, I'll need to come up with an alias. No normal citizen would come walking in here with hundreds of gold.

The guide casting a sound and sight barrier around us waits patiently.

Chester is the first to take off his mask, pulling up his status and telling the man all the necessary details.

Meanwhile, I change my numbers on my status to look strong, but reasonable at the same time. I end up leaving my advanced fire magic as well as special grade body hardening active for the man to see. They're strong skills, but not incredibly rare to the point where I'd look like a unique talent.

Along with this, I change my level to 439 and my name to Thorne Darkwood. It's the first idea that comes to mind and feels fitting to my altered appearance.

I flip the blue text screen toward me and take the mask off my face to reveal a face similar to that of a battle-seasoned Dark Continent native underneath.

"My occupation is a mercenary, and my budget tonight is well over 25 gold."

I reach under my red cloak and into a secret spatial magic portal to pull out one of the money bags. There's nearly 100 gold in one of these.

"I'm looking to buy a few items to aid me in my work. Weapons or crystals that catch my eye."

His eyes gaze upon the bag of gold but hardly react. The man is a professional. He writes down a few things on his tablet, nods, then motions for us to put our masks back on before taking the barrier down around us.

"Very well. Chester, it's good to see you back here again. I hope we didn't catch you too off guard. The new identification requirements are for premium buyers only because of a few unique items brought in tonight. If you'd like to stay completely anonymous, just keep in mind that the top two listings may be monitored post-purchase."

Chester nods, and then the man turns to me.

"Thorne, I hope you find your time at the auction tonight successful. It's wonderful to see new rising talents in Sector 4. With your budget, I'm sure you'll find exactly what you're looking for."

He shows a kind smile, then turns.

"Please, right this way."

We're led up the narrow corridor about three-quarters of the way until our guide unlocks a sturdy wooden door. It clicks open, and we walk through.

My eyes widen through the black ceramic mask as I take in the view.

The door leads to a small balcony that looks over a sea of people. With red velvet couch-like seating and a thin golden privacy curtain with the option to close off the entire curved edge of the booth, we walk into the premium seating to look down at the stage below.

Our guide hands us a silver lightweight paddle with the number 12 in bold black lettering on the front of it.

He bows.

"Again, I do hope you enjoy the event tonight. I'll be your representative and the only one who knows the identity paired with your number paddle. Please do meet me in the entrance hall after the auction to pay for the items you've won."

The subtle green mist from my lie detector skill activates as I try to decipher his words about our identities. It seems they really are confidential, as far as this man is concerned. He speaks the truth.

The door closes behind him with a click, and I let out a sigh of relief that I wasn't even aware I was holding in.

As we sit down on opposite sides of the booth while taking in the view around us, the lights in the wide-open auction house begin to dim.

There's an echoing click as the stage below has a bright white light shine upon it, then a well-built Solaran man in a royal blue suit walks out from behind the right side of the platform to make his way up toward a podium at the front. There's an empty display table in front of him.

His voice rings out clearly as if he's speaking right in my ear.

"Welcome, all. I hope you enjoyed the pre-auction events and made your purchases on the overflow of items outside."

The room is silent with all eyes on him.

"But tonight, this is the event you've all been waiting for. One of the largest Solaran-hosted auctions to date; with 189 individual parties here and 12 premium buyers, I'm sure we're in for quite the show."

Another bright white light flicks on, and a beautiful woman in a shimmering red dress walks out with a collection of silver daggers all floating around her body in a circle. The stage light reflects off the blades in a dazzling display.

"We're not here to waste your time, and I'm sure you're all eager to start the bidding, so I'll keep my introduction short. The top 30 items have been appraised by our board and will be presented to you all today in ascending order of value. Some of which are rare high-grade battle weapons only available to the elite, while others are unique artifacts that have never seen the light of day."

Some oohs and ahhs come from the crowd as the woman places the swords in the display case in front of the speaker using an ability similar to my telekinesis, not touching any of the items with her hands.

"No matter who you are or where you come from, there is only one rule tonight. Whoever pays the highest price may take the item home. Now, let's begin."

My gaze starts to wander around the event hall after appraising the daggers to see they're a set of 5, all with 20-50% Strength and Agility Buffs. A great item set for a C-Class squad, but far under what I care to pay attention to right now.

People begin bidding in increments of 10 silver on the floors below as I appraise my real competition: the other Premium Buyers.

There is one booth below the one Chester and I are sitting in, and two more columns of dual booths to the right of us on the same side of the auction hall, moving further away from the stage. Out on the other side of the room, I see 6 more premium buyer parties filling the other booths in an identical fashion.

Some have their curtains closed, while others peer out to observe the crowd and event just like me. None care to bid on the item set being offered now.

The announcer's voice rings out as I concentrate back on the main event.

"Sold! To the man up front, buyer 103. A bid for 91 silver has won the set. What a wonderful start! Let us continue the auction!"

The red-dressed woman continues to bring weapons and artifacts out, and the bidding numbers get higher and higher. Even bundles of extremely rare potions like the gold and blue ones Chester pushed us to save pass by. As the items get pricier, fewer and fewer people make offers.

However, there are still a lot of back and forths happening down below. Well over a dozen listings go by.

I hardly bat an eye until the 16th item of the night finally piques my interest.

The announcer speaks up as my eyebrows raise.

"Now, we've hit the halfway point. This is where the real fun begins. To start the second half of our night off right, I'll be bringing out one of the stars of the show. A truly unique collection of magic stones. This will surely turn the heads of our highest esteemed collectors in the house tonight."

The woman comes walking out from backstage with a dozen large emerald-green stones floating above her head. They give off a powerful mana-imbued glow. Activating my appraisal skill, I find each of them labeled [Serpent King's Essence] with between 600k and 700k MP available for absorption in each of them.

This bundle alone is almost 8 million MP.

My heart starts to speed up, and I lean over the edge of the booth just slightly to get a closer look.

This is exactly what I've been waiting for. This being the middle point of the event, one can only assume the strength of the stones will only go up from here. If I can land a reasonable price for a few sets of these during the auction, it will be a great success. We'll get another serious upgrade, and I won't have to worry as much about my teammates in the heat of our future battle.

I whisper under my breath, "Finally, we're getting to the good part."

As soon as I subconsciously let out a wide grin and get ready to raise my paddle, a young man across the room in the Premium Buyer booth labeled number 1 raises his own.

"I'd like to start the bidding at 25 gold."

His shimmering silver mask and sharp blue eyes are visible even in the dim light of the auction house. With a tall stature and bright blond hair, sporting a light grey suit, I suspect he's no more than 30 years old.

Cursing under my breath at his overly inflated starting bid, I do a full scan using inspect and appraisal.

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[Lv. 824]

Active Items:

[??? Access Denied]

Active Skills:

[??? Access Denied]

Buffs:

[??? Access Denied]

_________________________

The results are not what I was expecting to see...

Whoever this is, it looks like he's my real competition tonight.