Chapter 1244: Actual Value
However, this scene was baffling for those people in the hall because Grand Duke Vidi had already said that it was a Master-level magic scroll that could probably be bought with just 10,000,000 gold coins, yet the current bid price had exceeded 100,000,000, which got the people wondering if the big shots were out of their minds.
All of a sudden, the hall was filled with the sounds of various discussions, and some even connected Bradlor’s behavior to the embarra.s.sing incidents that happened to the Gilded Kingdom previously, thinking that the Gilded Kingdom was again trying to curry favor with Felic, the president of the Tower of Dusk. Of course, their speculation was right, but only pertaining to Bradlor’s initial behavior and intentions.
Now, Bradlor was completely enthralled by the power of the magic scroll. Even though he did not have a deep understanding of the scroll, he wasn’t worried that he might be spending too much on something inferior, because the Octopus Clan was also vying for the magic scroll.
However, it was not an easy thing to s.n.a.t.c.h the magic scroll from the Octopus Clan. In terms of financial power and resources, the Gilded Kingdom was definitely far ahead of any other Sea Clan. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have had a foothold in the Endless Ocean.
However, compared to the Sea Clans, Bradlor had many more concerns. Strictly speaking, the Gilded Kingdom did not belong to him alone, nor did it entirely belong to the royals of the kingdom. For example, the senatorial families in the kingdom also held significant status and authority that would allow them to overthrow the royals if they joined forces.
Hence, if Bradlor wanted to spend a large sum of money on the scroll, he could either take the money out of the royals’ treasury or hold a debate with the senatorial families and ministers to decide whether or not to dip into the financial reserves of the kingdom. Not to mention whether the ministers would agree to use the kingdom’s money, the fact that it was an auction meant that there was no time for them to hold a parliamentary debate before coming to a decision. Hence, Bradlor could only use the money from the treasury of the royals.
On the other hand, it was different from the Sea Clans. Although the Sea Clans also had councils consisting of elders, they were mainly involved only when the matter concerned the survival of the Sea Clan. Otherwise, the Great Monarch of the Sea Clan would usually call the shots and have the final say. For the Sea Clans, the royals did not have a treasury separate from the national treasury, so they could spend money without as many scruples and concerns as Bradlor did.
“160,000,000 gold coins!” The Octopus Clan offered a new price, raising it by another 20,000,000 gold coins.
Besides, before Bradlor could respond, the Jellyfish Clan, which hadn’t partic.i.p.ated in the bidding at the beginning, placed a bid of 180,000,000 gold coins. The Jellyfish Clan were known for their forte in pharmaceutics, and could be considered the pharmacists of the Sea Clans. Running a lucrative business in the pharmaceutics industry, the Jellyfish Clan was definitely not inferior to the Octopus Clan in terms of financial power.
The bidding for the magic scroll had initially already reached the cooldown period. Yet, the Jellyfish Clan suddenly intervened and joined the bidding too. However, that was not the end. After the Jellyfish Clan placed their bid, a merchant who was said to be representing the mysterious eastern continent also joined the bidding. In the blink of an eye, the price of the magic scroll exceeded the benchmark of 200,000,000 gold coins.
In the opinion of the crowd at the beginning, the magic scroll was just an item that had only one function, so regardless of how rare it might be, they all thought that it would never exceed the price of the Heart of All Evil no matter how high it was pushed to. However, it now seemed that although there was still quite a large gap between the current bid for the magic scroll and the final transacted price of the Heart of All Evil, the momentum of the price increase was not to be belittled.
However, when the bidding price was pushed all the way to a price point that was nearing the 300,000,000-gold-coin mark, the bidding began to come to a halt. Bradlor had already given up on bidding for it because 300,000,000 gold coins was beyond what he could afford, and there was no time to hold a discussion with the kingdom to decide if they could use the funds of the national treasury. After a long hesitation, the merchant from the eastern continent also no longer raised his bidder sign, because he felt that the magic scroll was not worth his entire budget regardless of how powerful it might be.
The only remaining contenders were the Jellyfish Clan and the Octopus Clan, both of which were whales of the Sea Clans. However, they, too, began to hesitate a little when they saw how exaggeratedly high the price had soared.
At this point, it was almost time for the final winner of the auction to be decided. Besides, the price of nearly 300,000,000 gold coins might be a little lower than the final transacted price of the Heart of All Evil, but it was definitely considered a remarkable record in the history of auctions.
As the host of the auction this time, Grand Duke Vidi should by right be very satisfied to have auctioned off the magic scroll and the Heart of All Evil at record-breaking prices. However, when Grand Duke Vidi saw that the bidding had somewhat come to a standstill, he developed a crazy thought. Why can’t the transaction price of this magic scroll be higher than that of the Heart of All Evil? Everyone knew that the power of the magic scroll that he had shown them just now was far from the maximum power of the magic scroll. In that case, how ma.s.sive must its full power be, they wondered.
Although there was an appraisal report of the magic scroll on the table, the maximum power of the scroll was not stated on the report. The only information about the power was that it would be increased geometrically as it was unrolled further. Hence, Grand Duke Vidi wanted to take advantage of the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier to let the people at the auction see just how powerful the magic scroll was and gauge for themselves whether it was worth 300,000,000 gold coins.
In fact, at the end of the day, it was all because Grand Duke Vidi hadn’t been able to vent his anger. No one would be able to stomach getting humiliated and taunted, and take it as if nothing had happened. Not to mention, Grand Duke Vidi was a n.o.ble who had always been respected by everyone.
At this moment, the Octopus Clan’s bid had already reached 290,000,000 gold coins, and the Jellyfish Clan seemed to be showing signs of giving up. However, Grand Duke Vidi did not follow the usual practice of asking if there were any higher bidders. Instead, he picked up the magic scroll, and said to the crowd, “Everyone, I might have shown you some of the power of the magic scroll, but I believe many of you still think that it’s not as functional as the Heart of All Evil, and isn’t worth as much as the Heart of All Evil. Therefore, I hope that I can have the chance to show all of you the full power of the magic scroll so that you may evaluate its actual value.”
Of course, Grand Duke Vidi did not do that purely to vent his anger. On the one hand, he was feeling very curious about the power of the magic scroll, but if he auctioned it off now, it would be difficult for him to see the power of the magic scroll. On the other hand, he was also trying to incite another round of bidding by exhibiting more details.
Grand Duke Vidi’s words caused yet another uproar in the auction hall. After all, the crowd had kind of seen the power that was contained in the magic scroll, and they didn’t understand why Grand Duke Vidi wanted to display it again. In particular, Harquess of the Octopus Clan was furious because he was already so close to getting his hands on the magic scroll. Yet, Grand Duke Vidi didn’t follow the rules.
In a fit of anger, Harquess stood up and was ready to protest against Grand Duke Vidi. However, Hegel and Grand Elder Hayes unanimously stopped Harquess. Looking at the stage, Hegel said, “Let him showcase it. After all, the two of us haven’t seen the mageweath on the scroll yet, and we’d like to see if it’s worth it or not.”
When Hegel and Grand Elder arrived, Grand Duke Vidi had already ended the display of the magic scroll, and what they knew about that magic scroll was all they had heard from Harquess. Although they could tell that Lin Li’s attainment in the field of inscription was extremely high based on the mageweath, that didn’t mean that the magic scroll was really impressive. After all, Masters of Inscription could also draw such mageweaths. In case it was just an ordinary magic scroll, the hundreds of millions of gold coins would be spent in vain.
Since even the Octopus Clan didn’t oppose it, the others who had withdrawn from the auction naturally wouldn’t have much of an opinion. Seeing that no one was objecting to the proposal, Grand Duke Vidi grabbed the magic scroll, and slowly unrolled it to display it to the crowd again. With the previous experience, Grand Duke Vidi switched on the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier before unrolling the magic scroll. Hence, the magic scroll was soon presented in the same position as before.
Perhaps because they had already made preparations in advance, the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier this time was much stabler than before. Although it still seemed to be under great pressure, it was no longer shaking and looking like it was on the verge of crumbling. Seeing this situation, Grand Duke Vidi put his mind at ease, and continued to unroll the scroll.
At this point, Great Monarch Hegel of the Octopus Clan and Grand Elder Hayes were staring intently at the magic scroll in Grand Duke Vidi’s hands, as if their entire souls had been drawn to it. As they observed further, the expressions on their faces became impatient as they seemed to be wis.h.i.+ng that they could grab it immediately and study it.
Harquess was not at such a high realm yet, and he couldn’t tell much from the magic scroll. Hence, he stared at his father’s and the grand elder’s expression for fear that they had made a mistake in their judgment.
However, at this very moment, Hegel and Harquess had a sudden change in expression, and ma.s.sive octopus phantoms appeared behind them in unison. At the same time, the tentacles that were formed from mana appeared from the s.p.a.ce behind before drawing mysterious mageweaths towards the auction stage below the private room.
He’s not going to s.n.a.t.c.h the magic scrolls, is he!? Harquess was shocked, and he turned to look at the auction stage, only to see that Grand Duke Vidi had already unrolled half of the magic scroll, while the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier, which was resisting the power of the magic scroll, was covered in a large number of cracks, as if it might collapse at any time.
Next, there was a series of loud explosive sounds coming from the auction as ma.s.ses of dazzling bright lights emerged from the huge golden pillar that held up the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier. The phantom of eight wyrms emerged from the golden pillar, and looked up to the sky with a loud roar, as if it was the end of the world.
At this moment, the mageweaths drawn by Hegel and Hayes had already fused into the magic barrier that was about to shatter to induce a force into the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier.
At the same time, the Sanctuary powerhouses of several other forces had also struck at the same time. Several powerful Sanctuary-level defenses piled up below the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier. However, the Sanctuary-level defenses were actually not as powerful as the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier. After all, they still couldn’t combine their respective defensive forces. Due to the fact that they were using the power of the mageweaths, Hegel and Hayes managed to use mageweaths to strengthen the power of the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier.
Hence, under the powerful pressure of that magic scroll, the sounds of the magic defenses shattering resounded throughout the venue. The Sanctuary-level magic defenses were simply as fragile as eggsh.e.l.ls that could barely sustain the burden for a second. The only thing to be thankful for was that there were many Sanctuary powerhouses, and even if each of their mageweaths could hold up for only a second, they could still buy some time.
Grand Duke Vidi, who made this change, was a little dumbfounded at this point. He originally intended to slowly display the power of the magic scroll and then put it away when they reached their limit. However, he had obviously overestimated his ability to control, and when that happened, he froze right on the spot.
“d.a.m.n it! Vidi, what are you doing? Hurry up and put that thing away!” King Bradlor was about to go mad. The people present were all important figures of their respective forces, such as the princes of the Sea Clans and the presidents of trade unions. If anything happened to them, the Gilded Kingdom would become the public enemy of the Endless Ocean.
Bradlor’s roar finally made Grand Duke Vidi sober up a little as he hurriedly put away the magic scroll that he was holding. However, even so, the power that had been released wouldn’t vanish immediately. Under the pressure of that terrifying power, the eight wyrms that were manifested from the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier finally vanished in thin air while wailing. That meant that the Eight-Ocean Dragon G.o.d Barrier was collapsing too.
Upon sight of such a situation, the Sanctuary powerhouses who were present didn’t dare to procrastinate at all as they continuously released layer after layer of magical defenses to resist the residual terrifying power of the magic scroll. After a few minutes of stalemate, the power of the magic scroll was finally blocked.
“320,000,000 gold coins!” Before everyone could snap back to their senses, the members of the Jellyfish Clan immediately placed a higher bid. Clearly, Grand Duke Vidi’s approach was effective as the terrifying power that the magic scroll displayed made the Jellyfish Clan, who had originally planned to give up, join the bidding again.