The ground beside the auctioneer opened up as usual, and a uniquely crafted golden stand emerged from underneath.
"It’s finally time." Damon muttered staring at the stage.
"This golden antique you see here is dated back over ten thousand years ago. The seller said they got it in a secret ruin."
"I... never said that." Damon stared in disbelief. When he had been asked where he found it, he had clearly said he wasn’t obliged to say.
"And it also has a nice calming effect, so it would do well in your study." The auctioneer continued.
Now Damon didn’t know if the thing had a calming effect or if it was just the auctioneer exaggerating as usual. All he knew was that it wasn’t an artifact– that much he was sure of.
"The starting price will be set at a 100,000 gold knotts!"
Damon’s eyes finally lit up.
"Let’s see how much it can fetch." he muttered.
"110,000 gold knotts!"
"140,000 gold knotts!"
"150,000 gold knotts!"
In the blink of an eye, the bid had already increased by 50,000.
As the bids increased, Damon quietly watched, sometimes even adding more fire to it.
"200,000!"
"VIP room 24 bids 200,000 gold knotts!" The auctioneer announced cheerfully. "Anyone else?"
"250,000!"
The sudden increase of 50,000 gold knotts left the others considering whether to continue to bid or not.
"250,000 from VIP room 17!" The auctioneer was gladdened. After all, the higher an item sold, the higher the house’s cut, and the higher her bonus would be.
"250,000 gold knotts going once!" The auctioneer paused, waiting for anyone else to intervene.
"Come on." Damon muttered in anticipation.
"250,000 gold knotts going twice!" she looked around at the audience.
"Going...." The auctioneer opened her mouth again to seal the deal, but was cut off.
"300 aether stones!"
"Yes!" Damon almost jumped out of his seat.
"We’ve got a 300 aether stones bid from VIP room 24!" The auctioneer skipped. "It seems they are determined to take it home."
"300 aether stones going once!"
"300 aether stones going twice!"
"Going thrice!, and congratulations to the person in VIP room 24 for obtaining this antique.
"Yes! that’s what I’m talking about!" Damon cheered. The only money he currently had on him were only four silvers. But after this he was dirt poor no more.
Aether stones were were minerals imbued with aether. They were usually found in places where aether is especially concentrated, or where there is an aether vein running through the earth at a particular area.
Over time, that aether vein turns the earth around it into an aether stone mine. Each aether stone the size of a thumb, is valued at a thousand gold knotts each, so they were extremely valuable.
Aether stones functioned as the batteries in the core of an enchantment or sorcery. They were the reason why mere inscription could be lighting up, warming, or cooling a house.
"I’ll be damned." Damon’s jaw hung in disbelief, still reeling from the price. Minus the treasure Auction House’s commission, he was still going to get 285,000 gold knotts, or 285 aether stones.
After that, Damon sat down with rapt attention, and kept watching the auction, maybe something would come up, something that he could buy. The list he of items he was given, didn’t have any explanations on what the items were, just pictures of them.
And he was right, because very soon, an item the size of a rugby football came up on stage.
"This here, everyone," the auctioneer raised her voice. "Is a little artifact, called the pocket ship. It is called that because it is an airship you can stuff into your pocket... literally."
The audience burst into laughter.
"This artifact has an enchantment that allows it to change it’s size, at the owners will, is faster than a regular commercial airship, and also requires less aether stones to operate. It’s full size is about 18 to 20 meters long, and it has a two storey building on top. The starting price is set at 30,000 gold knotts."
"I must get that!" Damon muttered to himself. With it, travelling the human domain would be a lot easier. He hadn’t exactly been satisfied with the commercial airships he had to travel in since his exile. And getting that airship would change the fact that he had to get into trains to make his way to his destination, after exiting an airahip.
As the bids increased, Damon quietly waited until there were only two people bidding.
"60,000 gold knotts!"
"65,000 gold knotts!"
"70,000 gold knotts!"
"95,000 gold knotts from VIP room 11!" The sudden increase of 25,000 gold knotts forced the other person into silence.
"Going once! The auctioneer jeered. "Going twice!"
"110,000 gold knotts!" Damon voiced out.
"We have 110,000 gold knotts from VIP room 13!"
"Going once!" "Going twice!" The auctioneer paused for a bit. "Going thrice! and sold to the person in VIP room 13!"
"I got it." Damon cheered himself. With the purchase of this artifact, his wealth was now down to 175,000 gold coins.
After that, the auctioned continued, and Damon stopped paying attention anymore. His mind went back to what happened at the institute earlier today.
-------------------
Morning, 14 hours earlier.
Damon woke up from his slumber, had his bath, and took off to the cafeteria. It had been three days since he last attended any class. All his focus had been on training, so he hadn’t seen any of the main characters for the past three days. The only person he’d seen was Dion who came to his check on him the day before.
Though, his training had finally bore fruit.
"Status!" he called.
====Status====
Name: Damon Darkfell
Race: Human
Age: 18
Title : Third prince of the Darkfell empire.
Rank : Eta
Strength : Eta
Agility : Eta+
Stamina : Eta
Aether capacity : Theta-
Luck : Delta-
Charm : Alpha
Techniques: Aether reinforcement (Master), Darkfell royal sword style (Master), Mirage steps (Master).
Unique physique : Nexus prism physique (Omega rank.)
– initial ability: One of many [Create reflections of yourself to confuse foes. The strength of your reflection depends on the amount of Aether spent. You can seamlessly swap places with any of your reflections.]
----------------
His non stop training had finally yielded effect. Both of his techniques had gone from expert mastery, to the master mastery. But Damon knew he wasn’t going to be seeing them improve again for a long time.
Either way, he was going to attend class today. When he got to the class, it was already almost eight o’ clock, so the class was mostly full.
The moment he pushed opened the classroom door, every eyes came onto him as usual, but most quickly lost interest and looked away.
Alistair offered him a nod, to which he nodded back, Delilah simply glared at him and looked away, and so did Rose. Anastasia though winked teasingly at him, to which he gave her the middle finger, and she simply laughed.
Yep, turns out the middle finger was also a thing in this world. Who would have thought that it was a universal language? Certainty not Damon.
Damon ignored her and walked up the stairs sharing a high five with the grinning Dion who was sitting on the third step, before reaching his seat.
The moment his ass touched his seat, instructor Black entered the class.
"How convenient." Damon snickered. He had hoped to at least get some moments of solitude before he was disturbed, maybe rest his head on the table for a little while.
"Before we start," the moustached instructor began. "I have an announcement to make. The next coming Monday and Tuesday, you’ll be having a mock exam, at a simulated environment." He paused taking in the class’s reactions.
-"Woah, I’m so excited!" A student exclaimed.
-"What’s it going to be about?" One of the more sensible students asked.
-"I bet it’s about a fight." someone commented.
"Enough! let me finish!" the moustached man shouted. The class quieted down at that. The students knew better than to continue.
"The mock exam is going to be a war between the three first year classes. The Alpha, Beta, and Delta classes, each against the others. It will last two days, Monday and Tuesday. And as your homeroom instructor, need I say that it’s a must for you to win? Do you understand me?!" he bellowed.
"Yes sir!" Most of the students chorused.
"Good, let’s continue." The instructor nodded, turning to the massive scroll.
’What the fuck is this supposed to be?!’ Damon meanwhile was baffled. ’This shit didn’t happen in the novel!’ he thought with an urge to almost pull out his hair. The next event that was supposed to happen after Spira city’s event was the mid terms. So where did some mock exam tunnel out from?
’It must be me and that girl’s doing.’ he concluded. Anastasia’s and his presence must have caused the deviation.
"Aiiiiish!"
*************
HERE’S TODAY’S Chapter!!! AND DON’T FORGET MY POWER STONES!!