IRM Chapter 48

The auction venue was built in the very center of the underground city. It was the only building in the underground city that allowed all races to enter while standing upright.

The massive venue was divided into three levels, forming a circular ring that surrounded the central exhibition area, allowing every bidder sitting in their seats to observe the treasures on stage.

The auction held every five years was entirely organized by the dwarven royal family. It was aimed at powerful and influential figures across the continent, and invitations like snowflakes had been distributed to people of status two months ago.

Bard had received an invitation for the second floor, Area A—that was the most superior position below the royal family, where only the most outstanding engineers were privileged to be.

The attendant responsible for guiding them was human. He knew well that dwarves didn’t like being looked down upon, so he kept bowing his waist, walking half a body length ahead at Bard’s side.

Bard didn’t particularly like this manner, and frowned, saying to the attendant, “Just walk normally. Watching you like this makes me uncomfortable.”

The attendant was stunned, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes. He hesitated for a moment, then finally straightened his aching back and gratefully thanked Bard: “Thank you, merciful sir. God will surely bless you.”

“Heh, God is too lazy to bless meddlesome fellows, but unruly slaves indeed need to be managed.” Just as the attendant finished speaking, a sharp, bitter voice came from behind, clearly full of malice.

Hearing this voice, the attendant who had just straightened up turned deathly pale, lowering his head in an even more humble and subservient posture than before.

Ji Chi also turned to look back but didn’t see anyone. He scanned the surroundings, suddenly remembering something, and looked down to see a portly fat dwarf with a string of equally stocky guards following behind.

This fat dwarf’s attire was extremely ostentatious. He wore a bright red felt robe embedded with various gold gems and precious bird feathers and beast fur, making his entire person glitter with golden light and full of special effects. Combined with his height, which was even shorter than other dwarves, if you didn’t look carefully, you’d think it was a walking legendary helmet.

The fat dwarf obviously noticed Ji Chi’s highly insulting gesture. He looked up and scanned Ji Chi’s simple shirt and vest, staring at him coldly. “You human, why aren’t you kneeling down yet?”

Ji Chi looked at him with slight surprise. He knew about the severe class discrimination in this world, but this was the first time he’d heard such impolite words.

For a moment, curiosity overcame displeasure, and Ji Chi couldn’t help but smile. “What, are you too far away to hear me speak?”

“Pfft.” Tang couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He understood that Ji Chi was mocking the fat dwarf’s height.

The fat dwarf’s expression grew increasingly grim. He gave Tang the same look, waved his pudgy hand, and ordered the guards behind him. “Cut off both their legs, cut them down to my height.”

“Anthony, enough!” Bard couldn’t stand it anymore. He stepped forward angrily, glaring at him. “You’re not the only ‘upper-class person’ in this world!”

Anthony laughed coldly. “Walking with you, what upper-class people could there be? Teacher, you really haven’t changed at all these years. Instead of having the mood to protect this trash, why don’t you put more effort into forging?”

Bard’s brows were filled with thick anger, along with obvious disappointment. “Don’t call me teacher. I don’t have a student like you! Anthony, I’ll say this one last time—don’t forget you were once ‘trash’ too! You’re not any nobler than anyone else!”

Anthony’s fat face was full of sinister looks. “But I fought tooth and nail to climb to this position, didn’t I? Doesn’t that prove I’m different? What gives you the right to arbitrarily compare me to that trash?”

Bard stared at him intently, saying word by word. “Don’t you know how you got to this position? Without Fitos, without me, you’d still be toiling in darkness in the mines!”

Anthony didn’t waste any more time continuing to argue with Bard. He looked at Bard emotionlessly and lifted his foot to walk forward.

However, when passing by Bard, Anthony stopped and whispered in Bard’s ear. “Teacher, then you should watch carefully today and see what abilities upper-class people possess.”

He said softly, “I know why you came today. Unfortunately, I also really want the Forging God’s items.”

Bard’s pupils constricted as he suddenly gripped the leather case in his hand tighter.

Anthony laughed heartily and led his grand procession of attendants up to the third floor stairs—that was an area where only royal families of various countries or extremely noble people were qualified to enjoy.

Under the trembling guidance of the attendant, Ji Chi arrived at the spacious box in Area A.

The wall of the box facing the exhibition stage was completely transparent. The room, which was thirty to forty square meters, contained exquisite refreshments and comfortable seats. Next to the seats was a magic circle floating in mid-air—that was for customers to place their bids.

The first thing Bard did upon entering the box was to place the leather case in his hand into that magic circle, then stared at the golden-glowing magic circle with an uncertain expression.

He closed his eyes and spoke to the two people with some difficulty. “Do you… have any spare gold coins on you?”

Ji Chi raised an eyebrow and repeated what Bard had said before. “I have prepared enough gold coins, hmm?”

Tang chuckled softly and said, “Is it because of that person just now? Unfortunately, I left all my gold coins in the group’s warehouse… I only brought twenty to thirty thousand now, better than nothing I suppose.”

Tang spoke nonchalantly, took out a magic bag that looked very high-grade from his black clothes, and casually threw it into the magic circle.

The magic circle flashed with golden light, swallowed the magic bag, and disappeared.

Bard thanked Tang, but his worries didn’t decrease. He pinched his tightly furrowed brow. “Yes, that person just now was my former student… I didn’t expect he also knew about the God’s armor set. He’ll definitely do everything he can to bid for the treasure map. I might not be able to compete with him.”

Ji Chi walked to the magic circle to observe curiously while asking him. “Aren’t you his teacher? Why does he have more money than you?”

Bard sighed deeply. “I’m not very obsessed with money. I thought my savings over the years would be more than enough, but if it’s Anthony, he’s always been crafting equipment for the royal family. I really can’t guarantee I can beat him…”

Ji Chi nodded and pointed at the magic circle asking, “This magic circle is used to mortgage assets, right? Can it calculate the value of other treasures?”

Bard knew that Ji Chi possessed a pile of legendary items that were even more valuable than the treasure map. But as an engineer with his own principles, he was unwilling to use others’ legendary items to exchange for his own interests—even though the person seemed completely unconcerned about it…

Damn, it was so frustrating!

Bard suppressed the frustration in his heart and shook his head. “This magic circle only automatically calculates gold coins placed inside it. Even gold coins placed in containers can be calculated, but it can’t assess the value of items… The dwarven auction relies entirely on the gold coins in your hands.”

“Ah, I see…” Ji Chi understood. He tapped his finger on the magic circle, then turned and walked away from it.

Seeing this, Bard lowered his eyes with some disappointment. He had thought Ji Chi would have some gold coins… But thinking about it, who would carry hundreds of thousands of gold coins around for no reason?

Don’t look at how rushed their time was to attend the auction, but this grand event had been set up and promoted half a year ago. The venue was now magnificent and bustling with voices. Even from the box, they could feel countless gazes feverishly focused on the central exhibition stage.

In just a few minutes, that exhibition stage would present treasures that were difficult to find in the world to everyone.

Ji Chi came to the front of the box, overlooking the entire grand venue, and reached out toward the transparent wall. Sure enough, before his finger could touch the solid surface, it was bounced back by an airflow—it was a wind barrier.

The barrier also seemed to be covered with a layer of light magic. From inside, one could clearly see the exhibition stage, but couldn’t peek into the scenes of other rooms.

Just as he began to marvel at how useful magic really was, the lights in the venue suddenly dimmed, leaving only the flames burning on the exhibition stage.

On the bright exhibition stage stood a portly dwarf wearing a magnificent, heavy golden crown—he was the king of the dwarven nation.

The king listened with satisfaction to the tsunami-like cheers that erupted in the venue, raised his hand and pressed it in the air. When it became quiet again, he spoke unhurriedly. “Distinguished guests, welcome to the dwarven underground city! The dwarven city-state is famous for forging and takes pride in artifacts! Today is the underground city’s once-in-five-years forging grand assembly. I wish everyone can obtain their desired treasures at this grand assembly!”

After the venue erupted in excitement again, the dwarven king slowly walked down from the exhibition stage, leaving all the heat to the treasures that were about to be displayed.

This auction would last an entire day. The first items to be auctioned were various dazzling rare materials.

Things like ten-thousand-year ice magic crystals from outside the Northern Fortress, white rainbow wood growing on the Yura Peak, and freshly shed teeth from dark night dragons in the heart of the Dark Night Forest…

The first few items Ji Chi was quite familiar with—he had quite a few in his own backpack—but the last one made people very suspicious.

Because Ji Chi had heard in the Demon King’s castle that when their little master had dominated the Dark Night Forest back then, she had exterminated several species inside—including the unfortunate dark night dragons.

So even an event of this scale couldn’t avoid counterfeit goods?

Bard seemed to sense his confusion and was silent for a moment. “That’s right, the most important thing about auctions is luck, whether it’s the early bidding or later personal authentication… The slightest mistake can make people lose everything and waste all their efforts.”

“I’m also gambling this time,” Bard couldn’t help saying. “That treasure map has a high probability of leading us to find components, but it might also just be a piece of waste paper… All of this is possible.”

Hearing this, Ji Chi smiled. “So, a mascot is very important, right?”

Bard turned his head away and didn’t want to speak. It wasn’t because of Ji Chi’s shameless teasing, but because what was about to be auctioned next was the highly anticipated treasure map.

Bard’s profound gaze fixed motionlessly on the exhibition stage. Even Tang, who had always been unreliable, straightened up slightly.

The auctioneer responsible for introducing the treasures was human. Every auction item could be described eloquently in his mouth, but this time, he only calmly narrated, “This is a treasure map. It’s said to mark the whereabouts of a legendary item.”

As the light on the exhibition stage brightened again, an ancient, worn scroll lay quietly on red velvet cloth. The fire seal at the scroll’s opening was marked with a standard seven-pointed star, and the deep red wax seal was intact.

As soon as this item appeared, the entire venue was in uproar.

Although there was indeed a very small probability of auctioning counterfeit goods, the fact that a treasure could enter the venue proved it was most likely genuine.

However, at this moment, probability was secondary. The word “legendary” was enough to ruthlessly seize everyone’s rationality!

How many years had it been? How many years had the Demon Sword Continent not seen news of legendary items! And today was their closest encounter with legend! Everyone present might very well witness history!

The auctioneer didn’t waste words and directly announced the starting price. “Starting bid, one hundred thousand gold coins!”

“What? One hundred thousand! This is the craziest starting price in auction history, right?”

“Of course! Didn’t you see what that is! A legendary item! Those people up there must be determined to get it!”

“Sigh, yes, this kind of thing, we can just look at it…”

Many people cast envious and reverent gazes toward the third floor of the venue. Without surprise, one of the boxes up there would have the honor of obtaining this legendary treasure.

The first floor of the venue didn’t have a single bidding voice. The remaining gold coins in their magic circles weren’t even enough for the starting price, let alone raising bids. They could only gaze longingly at the exhibition stage.

The second floor had a few scattered voices, but they were quickly crushed by the overwhelming bids from above.

The price quickly climbed to 1.5 million gold coins—an amount that an entire auction might not reach!

Only Bard’s box on the second floor continued to bid. He was already becoming anxious, and the old dwarf couldn’t help but leave his seat, standing in front of the wind barrier with his hands clasped behind his back, constantly wringing them.

Tang also put away his smile. He closed the communication array in his hand and said seriously to Bard, “Master, I’ve already sent people to bring all the remaining gold coins from the branch, but there are only three hundred thousand. This is the limit of what I can do now.”

Bard didn’t even have the presence of mind to say thanks at this point. He nodded and glanced at the quiet magic circle—when the bid exceeded the amount inside, the magic circle would mercilessly emit red light and directly terminate the qualification to bid on the current item.

Bard paced anxiously in place. “I thought three million gold coins would be enough… That was all my savings from five hundred years…”

“Two million gold coins!” Before he finished lamenting, a box on the third floor directly raised the price by a full five hundred thousand!

Bard suddenly looked up at that box, his eyes blazing with anger.

With bidding at this level, everyone was cautiously adding bit by bit, and such a large price jump—besides Anthony, Bard really couldn’t think of anyone else who would be so arrogant!

Bard’s guess was correct. At this moment in the luxurious third-floor box, Anthony was swirling a glass of fruit wine exclusively supplied by the Elven Forest royal family, a mocking smile hanging at the corner of his mouth as he looked down at the box on the second floor across from him.

Although he couldn’t see clearly inside, with Anthony’s familiarity with Bard, he didn’t need to think to know that he must be jumping around in there.

Anthony sighed. “Such a pity, I can’t see the teacher’s desperate struggling expression. It must be as ugly as those commoners, right?”

He counted on his fat fingers. “Hmm, I know that old guy well enough. He only carefully crafts equipment three times a year, and the little trinkets he makes during rest time he half-sells, half-gives to commoners… After all these years, he probably only saved up about three million, right?”

Anthony chuckled to himself and turned to instruct his attendant, “Next time directly raise it to 2.5 million. I want to see Bard carefully and cautiously raising bit by bit, then desperately discovering—that no matter what, he can’t surpass me! Hahahaha!”

Tang left the venue midway to retrieve the three hundred thousand gold coins his subordinates had brought.

He returned to the box and placed the heavy money pouch into the magic circle, turning to ask Bard, “What price has it reached now?”

Bard had pulled his chair in front of the barrier and sat down, his gaze distantly fixed on the brown treasure map, his voice carrying a hint of bitterness. “It’s already at 2.9 million… That bastard must be toying with me! But I have no choice, I have no choice anymore…”

As soon as he finished speaking, a bid of three million came from above. This was already very close to their affordable limit, but Anthony’s bid still seemed effortless.

Bard buried his aged face in his palms and sighed deeply.

“How can there be no choice?” Seeing that the old dwarf was about to become depressed on the spot if he didn’t speak up, Ji Chi coughed and said with a smile, “You have a mascot here, what are you afraid of?”

Bard didn’t even have the energy to be angry anymore. He wearily glanced at the small storage pouch at Ji Chi’s waist and said hoarsely, “Can a mascot conjure up a million gold coins out of thin air?”

Ji Chi smiled cheerfully. “Only a million? You have too little confidence in me as your mascot, don’t you?”

Ji Chi stood up from his seat, took the bidding communication array from Bard’s hand, and said softly into it, “Second floor A12, bid six million gold coins.”

Tang: “?”

Bard: “??”

Anthony: “???”

(TL: 吉祥物 (jíxiángwù) = mascot; lucky charm)