This middle-aged man was the auctioneer, and after delivering a brief opening speech, he announced that the auction had officially begun.
"Today’s first item is an early work by Mr. Longwen," the auctioneer said as he took out a blue stone. The stone was only the size of a fist, covered with squiggly symbols resembling worms, and emitted a faint icy chill, "This rune, named Chain Freeze, can turn a single-target freeze ability into a chain effect, freezing enemies within a three-meter radius of the target. The starting bid is 10,000 Gold Coins, with each bid increasing by no less than 1,000 Gold Coins."
"15,000!"
"16,000!"
...
The crowd on-site erupted into chaos, especially those Ice Mages, to whom this rune was an item worth spending their entire fortune on.
Huang Yi sat quietly in his private box, watching the crowd below compete fiercely to bid. The Master of Law Longwen truly lived up to his reputation as the continent’s number one Rune Master. The first item in an auction is usually just an appetizer, typically ordinary goods, with the real highlights following later on. However, this time, the auction started with a very good rune, which would turn an individual control skill into a group control ability! If Huang Yi had such freeze abilities, he too would have bid without hesitation.
"100,000." At this moment, from a box on the second floor, a languid voice called out.
Huang Yi subconsciously turned to look at the wall, as the voice came from the room next to his!
As soon as this voice sounded, it silenced every other voice in the venue. When a VIP bidder made a move, it generally meant that ordinary bidders below stood little chance, as their financial resources were not on the same level.
As expected, once the voice emerged, everyone fell silent.
"100,000 for the first time!" Three seconds later, the auctioneer shouted to the crowd.
The bidders below appeared anxiously distressed but helpless, evidently lacking the funds, and thus could only watch as the rune was being auctioned away.
"100,000 for the second time!" The auctioneer looked around once more, but no one spoke up.
"100,000 for the third time! Sold!" The auctioneer finally brought down the hammer, sealing the fate of the rune.
Next, the auctioneer presented the second rune, which was a purple-blue hue, but the symbols on it were different, forming an oval with a water-drop-like pattern etched onto it.
"The second item, another early piece by Mr. Longwen, is this Throttle Rune. It can reduce the magic power cost of any Magic Skill below level 50 by half. The starting bid is 10,000 Gold Coins, with each bid increasing by no less than 1,000 Gold Coins."
Another great rune! Many powerful skills consume a lot of magic power, and with this rune, one’s sustainability would be greatly enhanced. The venue once again exploded into excitement, and since the rune had broad applicability for many classes that relied on magic power to use skills, most there became the target audience for the rune, driving the price up continuously.
In the end, the price of the Throttle Rune was fixed at 180,000!
...
In this way, one rune after another was auctioned off, each with various effects and suitable for different classes. However, one thing they had in common was their high price; they all started at over 100,000.
Huang Yi was slightly disappointed; after all this time, he had not seen a single suitable rune for himself.
"Now, we shall begin auctioning off a batch of flawed high-level runes!" the auctioneer suddenly announced, "Due to the extreme complexity of rune creation, even a top-level Rune Master like Mr. Longwen can inevitably produce works with some imperfections. The following runes were all originally very strong high-level runes, but because they are flawed, their starting bid is the same as the common runes auctioned before."
Those ordinary bidders below immediately perked up, the majority of whom had come specifically for these flawed runes, as they usually wouldn’t be auctioned off at very high prices.
Moreover, their flaws varied from person to person. For a few people, some of these flaws could be overcome through unique methods, making these runes the target of bidding for them. Sometimes, they might even face no competition and could obtain them at the lowest price.
"Firstly, this Ice Seal Rune is the initial flawed high-level rune available," the auctioneer explained, "This Ice Seal Rune gives an Ice Attribute attack skill a chance to Freeze, sealing any object within a 100-meter radius."
"Ah!" The Ice Mages below exclaimed in amazement, as the effect of this rune far surpassed any previous runes; it was almost on par with the Major Skills that were only available after a Job Change!
The auctioneer continued, "The effect of this rune is extremely strong, but its flaw is quite obvious. It can Freeze any object, without distinguishing between friend and foe, even freezing the Spellcaster. Furthermore, once the Freeze effect occurs, the Spellcaster’s Magic Power will be instantly exhausted."
"Sigh!" This time, the Ice Mages present unanimously sighed. The rune was essentially worthless, and moreover, it could bring disaster to the Spellcaster. Without magic power, they would be unable to continue the fight. Unless the Spellcaster possessed the ability to quickly thaw the Freeze and instantly restore Magic Power, the rune’s flaw was insurmountable.
"This Ice Seal Rune starts at 10,000 Gold Coins, with each bid increasing by no less than 1,000 Gold Coins," the auctioneer announced, proposing the same starting price as the previous items.
However, in stark contrast to the previous auction atmosphere, no one bid for this rune, and silence fell over the venue, clearly indicating that everyone was unable to overcome this flaw.
"10,000 Gold Coins," spoke that languid voice from the VIP section on the second floor, just in time.
Huang Yi glanced at the wall again; the voice came from the room next to his, by the same person who had bid 100,000 Gold Coins for the first rune.
It seemed this person must be skilled in Ice Abilities, and very likely belonged to an Advanced Class or even a Rare Class! Or, they might possess some special skills or Treasures capable of overcoming the flaw.
"10,000 Gold Coins for the first time, any higher bids?" The auctioneer’s face was unperturbed as he asked the crowd below.
The audience below remained silent; no one spoke a word.
"10,000 Gold Coins for the second time!"
"10,000 Gold Coins for the third time! Sold!"
The rune was directly sold at a low price, in stark contrast to the others that went for tens or even hundreds of thousands, its price plummeting by dozens of times.
Such is the nature of flawed runes, as they are only suitable for a select few and often go for the lowest amount.
And Huang Yi, too, belonged to that select few.