Auction (Part Two)

Solaya and Veldrian chatted casually, her gaze fixed on the entrance downstairs. As the auction drew closer, more and more people entered the venue. Solaya spotted many familiar faces in the crowd.

"Are you sure your divine power won't expose me?" Even though she knew that people outside couldn't see inside the private room, Sorea still instinctively moved away from the window when she saw her two brothers enter.

Veldrian sat down in Soleria's original seat, looked at the people below and chuckled: "I knew they were coming all along. Don't worry, I don't think you'll be discovered."

"How did they end up here?"

“They said you would definitely come here; you couldn’t possibly stand idly by in the face of a monster horde.” Veldrian leaned back on the sofa, picked up the red wine beside him, poured it into a stemmed glass, and handed the glass to Sorea. “Would you like a glass, dear?”

Upon hearing Veldrian's question, Solaya felt thirsty and instinctively reached out her right hand to take the cup. Just as she was about to touch it, Solaya suddenly realized what was happening and quickly withdrew her hand. Veldrian had been waiting for this moment, grabbing her right hand and examining it closely. Solaya's expression changed, and she immediately kicked Veldrian away, pulling her right hand back.

“I thought you hadn’t used your right hand lately to make people believe your story more, but the more I thought about it, the more something seemed off. Sure enough, it all came out. What happened to your right hand?” Veldrian’s voice was calm, but the panic in his eyes betrayed his anger and regret.

Sorea looked at her right hand and coldly replied to Veldrian's words, "None of your business."

The previously relaxed atmosphere between the two vanished without a trace.

Veldrian knew he had angered Soraya again, but he had to say it: he could not tolerate Soraya being harmed without his knowledge.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the long-awaited auction is about to begin."

The auction began on time amidst the silence of Sorea and the other person, with Olsen, wearing a mask, taking charge of the auction.

"I am Olsen, the president of the Bounty Hunters Association. I know everyone is eager for the auction items, but before the auction begins, I would like to say a few things to you. With the support of several major empires, our association, the Knights' Guild, and other major churches have decided to take a different approach to dealing with the monster tide this time."

Olsen had black boxes labeled with the names of various factions brought in and placed in the center of the auction house.

"Boss, please tell us what to do! We're still waiting to bid on something!" The first to speak was a burly bounty hunter.

"That's right!"

"Can you hurry up?"

After someone spoke up, a series of urging voices immediately rang out in the arena.

Seeing that everyone was getting impatient, Olsen finally spoke: "We invited several demigods with experience in creating inscriptions and totems to create these boxes in front of you." Olsen pointed to the black box in front of him and then pulled a ring out of his pocket.

"In a moment, someone will distribute these rings to you. These rings can record the level of the out-of-control monsters that each of you eliminates and calculate your points. The factions, individuals, and groups that eliminate the most monsters will receive our mysterious reward."

Hearing that there would be a mysterious grand prize, the noise downstairs grew louder and louder, with everyone expressing their desire for the prize. The few people who had been urging the auction the loudest had completely forgotten about the auction and were now speculating even louder about what the major empires would bring out.

Seeing the chaos below, Veldrian chuckled, and Solaya looked at him in confusion.

"Humans are truly amazing creatures. They are facing a terrifying beast tide, yet all they see is the reward. They even encourage internal strife among humans. It's laughable."

Solaya, however, had a different view from Veldrian: "Only competition can create motivation." Seeing that Solaya was finally paying attention to him, Veldrian didn't want to upset her any further and didn't say anything more.

The auctioneer finally brought out the items for auction. The items in front were just warm-up items, such as healing potions and some low-level weapons. None of the 'big shots' in the upstairs private rooms made a move on these items; only the casual patrons sitting on the benches downstairs were bidding fiercely.

Watching Louis downstairs recklessly bidding overpriced items despite Yu'an's advice, shouting with joy when he won and yelling angrily when he lost, Sorea rubbed her forehead, her face full of black lines.

Veldrian laughed heartily, "Aya, our Louis is still a child at heart. Don't worry about it. It's not much gold anyway, just treat it as a way to appease a child."

"But it's really embarrassing. You believe my older brother will call someone over to yell at him in a bit?" Sorea covered her face.

Just as she expected, knights soon approached Louise from the penthouse box, and the auction house finally brought out some valuable items for auction.

"This is a knife, said to have been forged by a legendary dwarven blacksmith. The starting bid is 250,000 gold coins." The beautiful auctioneer diligently introduced the item before her.

Suddenly, the bounty hunter who had spoken first when Olsen started talking stood up: "You have to let us try it out first before we know how powerful it is!"

“No problem, sir. Please come up and try it out, and let the other guests see it too.” The female auctioneer maintained her perfect smile even when faced with a skeptical guest.

The massive bounty hunter walked step by step toward the auction stage, took out his knife, and slashed his own arm.

The wound was so bad that you could vaguely see the white bone underneath, and blood gushed out immediately, but the bounty hunter's expression remained unchanged. He just laughed loudly, "A good knife, a really good knife. I will definitely take it down in a moment." After saying that, he prepared to return to his seat.

Just then, Hugh, who had not shown himself all day, emerged from the shadows and stopped the bleeding bounty hunter.

“A very skilled healing inscription mage has just arrived at our association. You are one of the most valiant hunters in our bounty hunter association, and I would like to ask her to treat you.” Hugh said, glancing at the private room where Soria and Veldrian were.

“Darling, this is aimed at you. I didn’t expect they would hire a plant to test you.” Veldrian said to Sorea while sipping his red wine.

Sorea stood up, preparing to leave: "Didn't we know we were going to test me? What's meant to happen will happen. Are you sure I won't be recognized?"

"Of course I'm sure."

Once again confirmed by Veldrian, Solaya resolutely flipped over and jumped out of the window, landing perfectly.

Sorea glanced at Hugh with a half-smile, while Hugh smiled and nodded at Sorea as if he hadn't done anything.

Solaya ignored him and lifted the big man's arm. A dazzling green inscribed totem array rose from her back, and as the totem moved toward the wound, the bone-deep injury healed in less than a minute.

Upon hearing that someone possessed healing powers, Dagmore suspected that this person was Soraya, but when Soraya appeared, her different aura and the different colors of her runes made him shift his gaze.

Even if Veldrian hadn't covered for Soraya, Dagmore and the others wouldn't have imagined Jane and Soraya as the same person, as their temperaments and habits were vastly different.

Veldrian covered Soraya's original blue power with his green wood attribute power, making it even less likely that people would suspect that Jane was Soraya.

"Hahaha, this healer is truly amazing! What's your name? I, Gray, will invite you to the tavern for a drink later." The bounty hunter, impressed by Soria's skill, laughed and patted her on the shoulder.

Hugh removed Gray's hand: "Ms. Jane, please forgive our rudeness. We just wanted to show your skills to others."

No one present was a fool. The auction items weren't something just anyone could see. Looking at the healer who had been called down, everyone roughly understood the Bounty Hunter Association's intentions: either to show off or to test the waters. Judging from Sorea's expression, it was clearly the latter.

"Everyone, everyone." Hugh clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention to him. "Someone just asked us if non-attack mages wouldn't get rewards. I can tell you clearly that our calculation method is different for different classes. For example, Ms. Jane next to me gets one point for each heal she performs, and ten points for healing a seriously injured person. As for the other classes, please go to our association to pick up your handbooks after the event."

"good!"

"That's a great idea!"

A burst of applause and cheers erupted. Amidst the applause, Sorea, who had been acting as a tool, was finally able to return to her private box, but Hugh followed behind with a bright smile.

"Ms. Jane, thank you so much for your help today. This is a ring for you. The points for the treatment have been deposited into your account, and the association will give you the payment later." As soon as Sorea sat down on the sofa, Hugh showed the Bounty Hunter Association the greatest enthusiasm in expressing his apologies.

"It's alright, it's all for the development of the association," Sorea said with a forced smile.

Pretending not to understand Sorea's sarcastic tone, he said, "Yes, it's all for the association. I'll bring over the ring for the person next to you later."

Sorea's lips twitched at the abrupt change of topic. Upon hearing Hugh's words, Veldrian smiled even more brightly than Hugh: "Lord Hugh, there's no need to give me a ring. I'm Jane's little lover, and I'm entirely supported by her. It would be so embarrassing if I had zero points if I gave her a ring!"

Hugh was stunned with embarrassment. He never expected that someone would so blatantly say that he was useless. He laughed awkwardly twice and left immediately.

After a minor hiccup, the auction downstairs became increasingly expensive, with the competition intensifying. Many people in the upstairs private rooms also participated in the bidding.

After a weapon sold for a million gold coins on the field, Sorea couldn't help but gasp: "I only brought a million gold coins, and with the association's, it's only two million. We don't need to participate in the subsequent auctions."

“Who said that? You can buy whatever you want,” Veldrian said confidently.

Sorea couldn't see any gold coins on Veldrian's person: "You have gold coins on you right now?"

"No, they're all piled up in the Emerald Sea, nobody wants them."