Chapter 280: Prime Dragon Scale, Secured!
Chapter 280: Prime Dragon Scale, Secured!
In just a few minutes, the bidding war for the first star product swiftly reached its climax.
Shye hasn't voiced out his bid yet, intending to further observe the chaos that was now starting to mellow down; bidders backed out as the product's price slowly escaped the reach of their reserves.
After two more minutes, only eight bidders remain.
"250,000!" Shye exclaimed through the small microphone, his grating voice reverberating across the entire venue.
At this point, Shye, occupying super deluxe room thirty-six, has unwittingly established quite a reputation for himself, given that his annoying voice has made him easily identifiable.
A few of the more observant participants waited for him to make a move, however, since he was quiet throughout the entire seven minutes of bidding chaos, they all thought that his coin reserves already ran low.
Hence, his bid of 250,000 silver coins made everyone shocked and wary, prompting them to wonder who he could be.
He already obtained two top-tier items earlier for a total of 323,000 silver coins in addition to one crappy ornament priced at 5,500 silver coins.
328,500 silver coins isn't a small amount.
Heck, some of the people who considered themselves the "big dawgs" of the auction didn't even have that amount of money in their pockets.
For the guy to still bid 250,000 silver coins after spending such a huge amount…there was no way he was some random dude.
Well…they couldn't be more wrong.
Shye, who currently still had to prove himself through the dog-eat-dog world of mediocre adventurers, had no solid backing.
Everything in his possession, he had to work hard for, proving himself time and time again to obtain such resources, including the huge amount of money he gained through betting on themselves to become quarter finalists of the prestigious Adventurer Academy Competition.
Although the Colzen Seven made the bet look easy and low-risk, it wasn't actually the case.
Betting on themselves, some random students from a mediocre academy, to achieve the top 8 out of several hundreds of academies ranked higher than theirs was nothing short of mental.
It takes an absurd amount of self-confidence to pull such a miracle off.
And now, Shye was enjoying the fruits of his high-risk high-reward bet.
If not for that, he would probably be among the average ones who only had 50,000 to 80,000 silver coins coming into the auction.
Such a false impression worked well in Shye's favor though, despite him not knowing about it.
He had an escape plan anyway so there were zero worries in his heart.
Larzen, hearing Shye's voice once more gnashed his teeth in anger, however, he didn't dare underestimate the loathsome bastard now.
He couldn't help but respect the fact that his current silver coin reserves were inferior to Shye's initial coin reserves.
While Larzen wasn't certain whether this bothersome middle-aged man in super deluxe room thirty-six could still contend for one of the three items, he couldn't help but feel wary of him.
'You greedy bastard…still trying to obtain one of the three (S) tier crafting materials?' Larzen inwardly cursed, gazing in the direction of Shye's room as he intensely grabbed the microphone. 'I'll show you the full extent of my auction budget this time."
"260,000!"
"270,000!"
"280,000!"
As the price went up, the other "big dawgs" of the auction dropped out of contention, shaking their heads in disappointment as they realized that they would have no business acquiring the first two items.
Still, they didn't give up easily.
Most of them crushed communication talismans, trying to borrow money from their friends to increase their reserves and their chances of obtaining the next two items.
And since this is a common occurrence during auctions, it has been decades since the auction houses mastered its processes, building numerous partnerships with various banks to make money lending transactions easier for the auction participants which in turn increases the potential profits of their auction events while the banks profit from transaction fees.
A business procedure in which the sole potential loser is the individual seeking to borrow money.
However, the banks wouldn't personally loan money to just anyone.
An individual would have to sign a contract with the bank before the event should they want to have a reliable backup plan.
On the other hand, there is an alternative way wherein the banks would process lightning-fast, emergency transactions from the loaner for a sizable fee.
As for how the loanee and the loaner would settle accounts, the bank didn't give a single sh*t as they already profited.
That said, albeit "lightning-fast", it would be impossible to process the transactions instantly, hence, this was the best time for Shye to obtain one of the three.
He was unaware of this huge chance though.
Fortunately, he truly liked the prime dragon scale, making him willing to spend all of his remaining reserves on it.
His thinking was quite simple.
The crafting material was sourced from a dragon? It would undoubtedly lead to the creation of a formidable weapon!
Especially in the hands of a master blacksmith such as Meido.
It would be impossible for him to predict whether the other two would be superior anyway, so he might as well take a chance on something that caught his eye without overthinking whether the next ones would be better.
Once the price went up to 290,000 silver coins, Larzen suddenly slowed down, gnashing his teeth in frustration as he exclaimed his bid.
"295,000!"
All he desired was to strangle the living sh*t out of Shye, fervently praying to the Gods and Goddesses for the detestable fellow to exhaust his funds.
And soon.
"300,000!"
Unfortunately, his wish was crushed after hearing the grating voice, once more increasing the bid.
Gritting his teeth, Larzen went all in.
"307,000!!"
Naturally, Shye immediately noticed the strange 7,000 silver coin raise, causing him to smile victoriously as things clicked in his head.
Since 5,000 silver coins were the minimum increment, if Larzen didn't go all in, he wouldn't be able to bid again, capping himself at 305,000 silver coins, hence, Shye was sure that 307,000 silver coins were all Larzen had.
Shye was starting to get anxious as he was nearing his fund cap of 321,500 silver coins, fortunately, Larzen ran out of money first.
"312,000!" He exclaimed, his annoying voice containing a hint of triumphant glee.
*BANG!*
The unfortunate table before Larzen endured a powerful blow as he couldn't resist slamming his hands down upon it forcefully.
Remembering the 20,000 silver coin cost of the VIP room, Larzen regretted his decision.
If only he opted for the super deluxe room, he would've had a bit more funds, possibly allowing him to secure the prime dragon scale.
Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret.
He could do nothing but observe as the star product was meticulously packed into an opulent chest and transported to Shye's room.
Recalling his mission, Larzen swallowed hard; anxiety creeping into his little heart.
He wasn't a novice in auctions, so he understood that the people around him, whom he had previously outbid, now likely had more funds available, perhaps from emergency loans or transactions prepared beforehand.
'It was all because of that bastard!!' he inwardly raged, red-eyed as he shot a fierce glare towards Shye's room in utter fury, imagining what his hateful face looked like.
However, he knew that he had no time to lose, hence, he immediately crushed his emergency communication talisman, asking for emergency funds to increase his chances for the next two items.
Underestimating the detestable fellow, he believed the man had no remaining funds to compete against him, overly confident that the prime dragon scale would ultimately belong to him.
Realizing how wrong he had been, panic invaded his heart and mind as the threat of death loomed over his head.
If he failed to obtain one of the three items, his boss would definitely kill him.
'I'll deal with you later.' he inwardly thought, turning his heightened attention towards the next item as he waited for the bank's notification.