Chapter 86: Auction (Part II)

"Oh, so the nobles who want to buy back their own treasures come here to participate in the auction; William III has preserved his face without losing his substance, what a great method!"

Sinuoli knew that in history, this William III would replace the foolish Dieter IV to become the new Emperor of the Empire of Man, and from then on, his family would hold the throne for a century, until the last hammer-wielding Big 'Un of humanity, Karl-Franz.

The atmosphere of the subsequent auction changed from the previous gunpowder-filled tension; the auctioneer began to only announce the names of the lots without much introduction. "One expensive watch," "one suit of high-grade breastplate," and so on, popped up one after another. At the same time, he dropped the gavel very quickly, as if afraid that someone would increase the bid.

Regarding this business delivered to their doorstep, the Jinzun Chamber of Commerce did not intend to offend a large group of human nobles for the sake of a little extra commission.

Many of the bidders below simply bought at the starting price, and the few with obvious value only saw two or three bid increases; judging by their accents, the bidders were likely not people of the Empire.

Seeing that the bidders, the auction house, and the lot providers had reached a tacit understanding, Sinuoli suddenly lost interest; he lay on the sofa and began to doze off, as the high-intensity mental labor these days had left him extremely exhausted.

Suddenly, he discovered that the system had a notification message, and Sinuoli sat up abruptly. Since his transmigration, the Artifact Treasury System, which had been sealed away, had actually reacted!

At the same time, "One rare meteorite iron bar! Starting bid fifty gold coins!" the auctioneer's voice rang out. Looking at the lot introduction in his hand, the auctioneer shook his head inwardly; what on earth was this! But he did not resist this kind of work where he didn't have to use his brain and just had to read from the script to get a commission.

"Fifty gold coins once! Fifty gold coins twice!" The auctioneer was somewhat surprised. "How come no one wants this item? Could it be that the family that originally owned it has died out? But it's not strange for a family that treats an iron bar as a family heirloom to have no descendants."

"Quick! Quick, help me bid!" Sinuoli shouted at Tomi, fearing that his voice would be recognized and add variables.

"Fifty!" Tomi did not ask further and immediately spoke up.

"This thing actually looks a bit like a product of us Dwarfs," the auctioneer thought to himself, but as usual, he said nothing more. After looking around the hall and finding no one wanted to follow, he dropped the gavel directly.

Soon, the door of the private room was knocked, and after Tomi paid for the goods, he brought a tray to Snuori.

"Cousin, you seem to recognize this thing? What is its use?" Tomi looked at the object and asked curiously.

The other Dwarfs in the room also crowded over; they passed around this somewhat curved meteorite iron bar that seemed to have been polluted by Greenskins, but even the long-lived and well-informed Eternal Hammer Guard could not see any clues.

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Left Half of the Tongs!" The moment Sinuoli held the iron bar, the system popped up such a notification.

"Nothing, I just feel it's a bit interesting!" Sinuoli gave a perfunctory reply; he did not want to let the secret leak out.

This was the Rune Smith's Tongs of Thurni, one of the two most famous Artifacts of the God of Rune Smiths.

He guided the first generation of Rune Smiths to use tools like the tongs, allowing them to become comfortable and capable when forging the most powerful Rune Weapons.

This Artifact was lost in the Mortal World for some reason; it was a necessary condition for performing the Ultimate Thungni Rite, and at the same time, it had the ability to gather the Winds of Magic like the Doom Anvil, thus it could speed up the cooling rate after using Runes.

However, unlike the Doom Anvil's characteristic of lowering the enemy's spellcasting ability, this Rune Tongs could disperse the gathered Winds of Magic to surrounding friendly forces, enhancing their attack power and armor-piercing ability.

Sinuoli was extremely happy about this unexpected joy; although it was just an ordinary iron bar without the other half of the tongs, it undoubtedly made a good start for his journey to retrieve the Artifacts.

Sinuoli recalled that this thing was originally in the Mist Mountain, and Gulu's Waaagh also started from there; it was very likely that some Greenskin brought it all the way to Reikland and it was finally captured by William III's troops.

They felt that this object was somewhat extraordinary, but not knowing its specific function, they sent it to the auction and it fell into his hands.

Although he knew that such a good thing could not happen again, Sinuoli still listened to the rest of the auction with rapt attention.

"Everyone, next is our finale lot; I believe many of you here came for this!" The auctioneer was already tired after talking for the whole night, but he still forced himself to keep his spirits up.

"A Dragon Egg, a real giant Dragon egg, from Aisuoluolun Senlin!" As he spoke, the auctioneer pulled down the red cloth covering the lot, revealing a huge egg.

Sinuoli knew that this egg, needless to say, was a Forest Dragon's; they were a group of giant beasts living in dense forests, possessing the ability of poisonous breath.

Like all Dragons, they were born with wings on their backs, possessed the ability to fly, and could also terrify any enemy with weak willpower.

Before the customers below could speak, the auctioneer answered the question in their hearts in advance: "Our Jinzun Chamber of Commerce guarantees with a thousand years of reputation that this is a live egg!"

"Starting bid three thousand gold coins, each increase must not be less than one hundred!" The auctioneer opened the curtain for the bidding.

"Four thousand!"

"Five thousand!"

The rapidly soaring price soon excluded competitors with insufficient financial resources; the remaining people were likely all capable of taming Dragons.

If tamed properly, with the lifespan of a giant Dragon, protecting a family for five or ten generations would be no problem at all!

"Five thousand five hundred!"

"Five thousand six hundred!"

The growth rate of the price slowed down, and the auctioneer also began to try to further mobilize the atmosphere; just at this moment, only a loud "Boom—" sound was heard!

The roof of the underground auction hall was directly lifted off; amidst the falling sand and stones, the guests present were stunned for a moment before they reacted and began to hide everywhere.

Sinuoli, who was in the private room on the rock wall, was not greatly affected by this wave of attack; he looked up, only to be horrified to find that he could not see the moon in the sky!

The sky was full of winged creatures; the most conspicuous were a huge Forest Dragon and several giant eagles, their spread wings obscuring the moonlight.

"Daring to offend Aisuoluolun Senlin, you Dwarfs, I will make you pay the price!"

"Be patient, Araloth, my sister, restrain your desire for slaughter!"

Two voices rang out in the night sky, one cold and one gentle.

"Twilight Sisters!" Sinuoli said to himself.

They were the chief handmaidens of the Wood Elf Queen Ariel, who was also the incarnation of the Elf Mother Goddess Isha. They rode the huge Forest Dragon Ceithin-Har to fight for their Queen.

Thanks to He Ren Mo Xiang Yi, Tie Jia Yi Ran, and Xin Zhi Huo for the monthly tickets, and even more thanks to book friend Long Xing Hua Xia for helping me look up relevant information.

Promoting the book friend group again.