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Chapter 630: Lailah Alden’s wealth
Chapter 630: Lailah Alden’s wealth
Chapter 630: Lailah Alden’s wealth
"Eight million," One of the elders in the Hunt family VIP room said in a raspy voice. Unlike Michael, they were raising the bid by almost a million.
"Eight point one million," Eve mumbled under her breath. As she expected, Michael put in an eight-point one million bid. Luckily this time, the golden prince did not outbid Michael. Instead, everyone remained silent.
"Eight point one million. Going once," Rickston looked around everyone but did not hold any expectation to receive another bid.
"Going twice, going thrice. Sold to the gentleman in Voldigards room," Rickston exclaimed. Personally, Michael disliked Rickston revealing everyone's identity. It paved the way for rogue cultivators to ambush them. At first, Michael thought the auction would be anonymous. However, he was proven wrong.
Michael exhaled deeply.
"Why did you buy that?" Eve asked. Her voice was full of curiosity.
"I have a feeling it might be of help to me in the future," said Michael nonchalantly. Since Michael was a convincing liar, Eve didn't doubt his words. After all, Michael couldn't say he bought the ice core to upgrade his doom bringer.
"Oh," Eve nodded. A young girl entered their room with a space ring a while later. The Aqua Palace showed its wealth by giving a space ring like a paper bag. After Michael transferred the eight point one million using his paycube, the young girl bowed, handed over the space ring, and left the room.
Michael inspected the space ring though he didn't dare to take out the ice core outside. It might be useless, but the ice core was cold enough to the point it would chill their bones. Putting the space ring inside the system storage, Michael focused back on Rickston. After buying the ancient ice core, Michael's mood was elevated. Under everyone's gazes, Rickson waved his hand. But instead of an iron pillar as before, something else emerged from the ground.
Countless gasps resonated throughout the arena. Even Michael's eyes went wide as they could. It was the skeleton of a dragon. Compared to the skeleton, Rickston looked tiny. The dragon's skeleton cast a large shadow on the ground. Everyone in the arena trembled just by the sheer size of the skeleton. The skeleton radiated a weak purplish smoke from its bones. When Michael looked closer, he noticed the several runes carved in the bones. Somehow he felt like they weren't man-made.
Under everyone's stunned gazes, Rickston began to describe the dragon skeleton. Judging by the energy radiation around the skeleton, the dragon was at the Fusion stage level 10. The skeleton reminded Michael of a Fusion stage cultivator's skeleton he saw in the Nether Realm. At that time, the youngsters, including Noah, had to share the skeleton. With the help of the system, Michael managed to get the femur, the largest bone in a body for Gaya. A simple human femur was enough for Gaya to advance five levels within a few months.
What was in front of them was not a mere human skeleton but a dragon's. Furthermore, it was in complete form. Anyone who buys the skeleton could significantly increase their power in a short amount of time. One small in the dragon's body was several times bigger than a human femur. So Michael could only imagine how long a cultivator would be able to absorb the energy from the skeleton.
"Ladies and gentlemen. This is a skeleton of a Royal Dragon that roamed the lands three hundred years ago. According to our experts, It died in the tribulation during its breakthrough to the Half Immortal stage. Despite being buried under the ground for three hundred years, the skeleton still possesses pure Celestial and Arch energy. So I don't have to tell you about having a pure energy resource such as this skeleton at your disposal. It could turn your hall into a well of energy. If you have this skeleton, you won't have to worry about bottlenecks in your life," Rickston exclaimed. There was a tinge of jealousy in Rickston's voice.
"The starting price of the skeleton is three hundred million," Everyone who heard the extravagant amount shuddered.
"Three hundred and twenty million," before the people could begin to murmur, the voice of the golden prince swept across the arena. Since Michael knew he wouldn't be able even to reach the skeleton, he decided to lean back, have some grapes and enjoy the auction.
"Four hundred million,"
To Michael's astonishment, Gaya raised the bid to four hundred million.
"Aelia, what the hell are you doing?" Eve's eyes were filled with shock and fright.
"Let's have some fun," Gaya giggled. Her devilishness stupefied the elders completely. They were about to rebuke when the golden prince placed another bid.
"Four hundred and fifty million,"
"Five hundred million," Gaya raised the bid again. She was confident the nobles would go up to a minimum of eight hundred million. Knowing Gaya, Nightmare remained silent as he knew there was no point arguing with her. Moreover, Nightmare felt a little pity for the dragon. After all, the dragon was one of his kind.
"Six hundred million," The Hunt family elder raised the bid by a hundred million calmly as though it was a small amount.
"Seven hundred million," Once again the golden prince raised the bid. Judging by the tone of his voice, Michael knew the prince wouldn't back down without a fight. He threw a grape into his mouth and watched the auction unraveling before him.
"Seven hundred and fifty million," The Hunt family elder exclaimed in his raspy voice. The following minutes passed with the golden prince and the Hunt family bidding against each other. In a few minutes, the bid for the dragon went from three hundred to nine hundred and fifty. Such an extravagant amount shook everyone. When the bid reached one billion, the Hunt family elders stopped bidding. Everyone, including Michael became jealous of the golden prince for nabbing valuable items like candies.
"One billion once, twice,"
"Two billion," a melodious voice resonated in the area. Her voice was like music to her. Unknowing to many, a smile formed on their faces. Except for Michael, Gaya, and Nightmare, none recognized the voice, not even the golden prince.
"Wow," Michael's brows arched up. He knew Lailah was rich, but he had never thought Lailah was a freaking billionaire, not even in his dreams. Science fell over the arena. Everyone looked in the voice's direction.
"Two point three billion," The golden prince did not back off that easily. Those close to the empress knew she valued artifacts and relics more than gold coins. As a living Immortal, she had accumulated thousands of princess artifacts throughout her lifetime and hadn't slowed down yet. Only a few who were close to the empress knew the secret vault filled with countless artifacts. Once he brought the dragon skeleton to the empress, the golden prince had no doubt she would award him with something priceless. However, his funds were not unlimited. Once the opponent goes past four billion, he would be forced to stop bidding. No matter one's status, the Aqua Palace had strict restrictions on the payment. In case he failed to pay the servant with the gold coins, he would not only be banned from the Aqua Palace for life but also serve fifty to sixty years in a prison built on the southern continent.
"Three billion," Lailah wasn't playing either. She raised the bid to three billion without blinking an eye.
"Who is she?" Eve couldn't help raising her brows in shock.
"Three point five billion,"
"Four billion," Lailah reached the golden's prince's last line.
People didn't even gasp at that moment as they were all totally dumbfounded.
"My lady. The entire Gondolin will be in your debt if you be kind and let go of the skeleton," The golden prince finally used his family background to persuade Lailah to stop bidding against him.
Once she agreed, the prince planned to raise the bid to four point one billion. At that time, the dragon skeleton would be his. At Least that's what the prince thought. Contrary to his expectation, Lailah did not even respond. Knowing Lailah, Michael knew the prince has a better chance of negotiating with the mountain troll than her. It seemed to Michael that the dragon might be the reason for Lailah's appearance. He remembered Gaya saying something about a Fusion Stage cultivator needing a massive amount of energy to enter the tribulation before reaching the Half Immortal stage.
Judging by the vast amount of energy radiated by the dragon skeleton, it was possible that Lailah wants the dragon skeleton to substitute the energy requirement. But Michael wondered whether the dragon skeleton was worth the price of crossing the golden prince. Even though Lailah was a Fusion Stage cultivator, she belonged to no major power while the golden prince had the backing of an empire behind him. So unless she had the backing of Maxim Barnes, it was not a great move to go against the golden prince, to be honest.
Seeing no response from Lailah, Rickston had no choice but to continue the auction.
"Four billion once, Four billion twice…" Rickston paused for a moment, leaving a short amount of time for the golden prince to negotiate. But the golden prince decided not to negotiate anymore so he could save his face.
"Sold to the lovely lady in the VIP room of Thusia,"
The golden prince's silence churned a bad feeling in Michael's gut. However, it wasn't Michael's responsibility to save Lailah. She made the decision to go against the golden prince and in case the golden prince decided to retaliate, she had to face the consequences. As far as Michael was concerned, she wasn't a little girl that needed saving.
After the dragon, several other artifacts, including a few legendary spell scrolls got auctioned, but none of them interested Michael. He could buy unique legendary spells from the system store itself. There was no need to waste his gold coins. When the daylight slowly dimmed out, Rickston finally stopped the auction.
"Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for participating in the Aqua Auction. Tomorrow will be the last and final day of this year's Aqua Auction. Believe me. There are plenty of surprises for you tomorrow. So please be sure to attend the auction tomorrow. Until then, have a nice and safe day, "