Chapter 1245: Practice Piece
On the other hand, King Bradlor initially intended to berate Grand Duke Vidi to vent his anger, and also to give an explanation to those who were shocked. However, when he saw that the Jellyfish Clan placed a higher bid so soon, Bradlor had no choice but to set the matter aside for now, and wait until the auction was over before settling scores with Grand Duke Vidi.
“350,000,000 gold coins!” exclaimed Hegel of the Octopus Clan, even more determined to get the magic scroll after he saw its power. In fact, he didn’t even ask Harquess to bid on their behalf, and instead stood in front of the window of the private room to place the bid personally.
Apart from Lin Li, the creator of the magic scroll, there was probably no one else in the auction hall who knew the value of the mageweath better than Hayes and Hegel did. It could be said that the magic scroll would be as useful to them as the Immortal King’s Divine-Smith-level mageweath was to Lin Li as it acted as a guiding light to the Divine-Smith-level for Lin Li. Not to mention a few hundred million gold coins, even if they were told to pay using half the sea area of the Octopus Clan, they wouldn’t hesitate at all.
“360,000,000 gold coins.” When placing that bid, the Jellyfish Clan had already hesitated a little. Even though the terrifying power of that magic scroll was extremely appealing to them, they could only sense the ma.s.sive power in the magic scroll. After all, their talent was in pharmaceutics.
Sensing the hesitation of the Jellyfish Clan, Hegel didn’t want to continue dragging it further. Immediately afterwards, he exclaimed, “400,000,000 gold coins!”
This time, the people in the entire auction hall got into a sudden uproar. The Heart of All Evil had previously already set the highest record price in the history of the auction. To their surprise, the record was soon broken again by a magic scroll that everyone had questioned repeatedly. Everyone was also in disbelief of the price. After all, it was just a magic scroll in their eyes.
The Jellyfish Clan finally gave up, and Grand Duke Vidi had also recovered from the shock. He raised the wooden hammer in his hand, and loudly addressed the crowd, “400,000,000 gold coins, Great Monarch Hegel of the Octopus Clan has offered 400,000,000 gold coins! Are there any higher bids? 400,000,000 gold coins, going once!”
Of course, there weren’t going to be any higher bidders. Apart from the fact that the magic scroll wasn’t worth that much money in their opinion, no one present could afford so many gold coins, either.
Grand Duke Vidi asked thrice in accordance with the rules of the auction before finally lowering the wooden hammer in his hand onto the table with a loud thud. He then declared, “Sold! The new owner of this magic scroll ‘Mount Tai’ is Great Monarch Hegel of the Octopus Clan!”
It was as if there was a sudden storm in the auction hall, and everyone sprung up from their seats while applauding and turning to look at the private room of the Octopus Clan. On the one hand, they were congratulating Hegel for successfully obtaining the magic scroll, and on the other hand, they were congratulating the auctioneers for breaking the record. Besides, everyone had a hunch that the price of this item was not only unprecedented in the history of auctions, but also a record price that no one might be able to break in the future.
However, at this point, Grina was on the verge of flipping the table and smas.h.i.+ng things in the private room. Watching the magic scroll of his enemy getting sold for a sky-high price of 400,000,000 gold coins was definitely not an amazing feeling. Grina could imagine how smug Lin Li would be when he faced the latter in the future.
With the sale of the last item, the auction drew to an end, and Grand Duke Vidi made a speech to thank the crowd before officially calling it a day. The people in the auction hall also began to leave one after another, but as they were leaving, they were discussing excitedly with each other the birth of a new record that they had just witnessed.
Lin Li and his company were also ready to leave. The money that he would get from the auctioning of the magic scroll would be calculated and paid to him when the staff of the auction house visited him at the Tower of Dusk’s emba.s.sy in the future. However, soon after he got up and led Connoris to the door, he heard a knock on the door from outside the private room. It turned out to be Queen Halleleah and Prince Cleve.
“President Felic, may I ask if it’d be convenient for you to spare us some time?” Prince Cleve asked courteously after he saw Lin Li.
If someone was around, their jaw would drop at this juncture. Prince Cleve was not only the prince of the Siren Clan, but also a dignified figure of an extremely high status in the Endless Ocean, whereas Lin Li was only the president of a small, nameless force of the Breezy Plains. Their status was simply worlds apart. The fact that Prince Cleve was being so polite to Lin Li was beyond their imagination.
“Queen Halleleah, Prince Cleve, please come in!” Although Lin Li was not flattered and surprised, he had a better impression of the two of them. While inviting them into the private room, he said in a relaxed tone, “I’m really sorry, this is someone else’s turf, after all, and I have nothing to serve you. Please have a seat.”
Lin Li knew that the Siren’s Tears that he wanted would definitely not be delivered to him at this time, so Queen Halleleah and Prince Cleve were clearly there for another reason. It happened that he also had plans to cooperate with the Siren Clan, so he decided to just take the opportunity to discuss it.
“President Felic, congratulations for having your magic scroll sold at a record price. I doubt anyone will be able to break that record in the future!” After Prince Cleve got seated, he first congratulated Lin Li for the sale of his magic scroll at the price of 400,000,000 gold coins. Of course, more importantly, he wanted to bring up the topic that he would talk to Lin Li about later.
As soon as he heard Cleve mention the magic scroll, Lin Li knew that the other man’s agenda probably had something to do with mageweaths. Hence, he said with a faint smile, “I was just invited by Bradlor to put something up for auction. I’m quite surprised that it managed to fetch such a high price too. You two probably aren’t here just to congratulate me, right? It’s not our first time crossing paths, so if there’s anything, feel free to let me know, Prince Cleve.”
“President Felic, pardon me for being blunt, but did you really create that magic scroll?” After hearing what Lin Li said, Prince Cleve decided not to beat around the bush anymore, and simply asked the question that he was the most concerned about.
Even though Grand Duke Vidi had just said that the magic scroll had indeed been created by Lin Li, Cleve still found it hard to believe.
In fact, there were many people at the auction who had the same doubts as Prince Cleve, and perhaps only the people of the Octopus Clan would believe that the powerful magic scroll had been created by a young man like Lin Li.
The vast majority of people were more willing to believe that Lin Li had simply taken the work of a certain legendary Master of Inscription, and claimed it to be his own in order to enhance his reputation. That was the only way they could convince themselves and justify the fact that the magic scroll was sold at a final price of 400,000,000 gold coins.
Lin Li didn’t show the slightest bit of displeasure after hearing Prince Cleve’s question, and simply smiled nonchalantly. “Haha, I’ve just gained some knowledge from studying mageweaths recently, and I happened to be invited to the auction by King Bradlor, so I decided to put this scroll that I created during a practice session up for auction.”
Lin Li was telling the truth, but it would seem unbelievable to others that a practice piece could be auctioned for 400,000,000 gold coins. Even Prince Cleve could not help but look at his wife Queen Halleleah after hearing those words.
The female Sirens were all masters of manipulating mental strength who were extremely sensitive to fluctuations in the mental strength of humans. In other words, they were like walking lie detectors, and the mental strength fluctuations of others could not escape their senses at all. Although Queen Halleleah didn’t come here with the intention of being Cleve’s lie detector, but to show her respect for Lin Li, it didn’t stop her from checking if Lin Li was lying or not.
However, the results caught Queen Halleleah by surprise because Lin Li’s mental strength fluctuations seemed vast and boundless.
Among the many Sea Clans in the Endless Ocean, the female Sirens, who were natural-born masters of mental spells, had ma.s.sive mental strength that very few people could compare to. On the other hand, Queen Halleleah, who was the strongest existence among the Sea Clans, had unparalleled mental strength.
However, although it was only a simple contact via mental strength, Queen Halleleah’s mental strength, which she had always been proud of, seemed like a small boat in the boundless sea compared to Lin Li’s mental strength fluctuations. It was extremely difficult for her to withdraw completely.
How can he have such ma.s.sive mental strength?! Queen Halleleah was dumbfounded. She imagined that only G.o.ds could have such ma.s.sive mental strength. Yet, the person who owned it was a human who was only in his early twenties!
With that thought in mind, Queen Halleleah couldn’t help but take a few more glances at Lin Li, only to feel like she couldn’t figure him out at all. What kind of man is he? He became a Sanctuary powerhouse in his early twenties, and has achieved so much in the field of inscription. Yet, he even has such a terrifying mental strength. Is he still one of the humans I know?
Queen Halleleah’s mental strength inspection could not be detected by ordinary Sanctuary powerhouses at all, but Lin Li not only had ma.s.sive mental strength, it had also been refined by the Immortal King. Hence, he managed to detect it upon first contact. However, Lin Li didn’t expose Halleleah, and merely smiled at her.
At this moment, Prince Cleve also discovered his wife’s strange reaction, but male Sirens were not proficient in the field of mental strength and mental spells, so he naturally wouldn’t know how shocked his wife was at the moment.
Fortunately, Queen Halleleah soon recovered from the shock, and looked at her husband with a nod of her head to indicate that the mageweath was indeed created by Lin Li. Although she did not detect whether Lin Li was lying at all using her mental strength inspection, when she thought about Lin Li’s great and boundless mental strength, she instinctively felt that Lin Li wouldn’t lie about it.
This is such a rare genius! His ma.s.sive mental strength is comparable to the G.o.ds, so who can be certain that he doesn’t have such high attainments in the field of inscription!? After discovering that matter, Queen Halleleah’s considerations were no longer about the issue of mageweaths, but the hope that she could cooperate more with Lin Li, who was a great genius that didn’t seem human at all.
Prince Cleve did not know what his wife was thinking, but after receiving her confirmation, he finally told Lin Li about the favor that he needed from him. “President Felic, the thing is, I knew that you must have extremely high attainments in inscription when I saw your mageweath. Well, we managed to get the Heart of All Evil with your help previously, but in order to optimize its power, we still need a mageweath to match it. Therefore, we came here this time in hopes that you could create a complementary mageweath for the Heart of All Evil at your convenience.”
Hearing this, Lin Li also completely understood their intentions. In fact, it was just a trivial matter for him. Besides, through his contact with Prince Cleve, he also had a good impression of the Siren Clan, and intended to cooperate with them. Hence, he didn’t pretend and simply nodded. “Oh, I see. It happens that I also yearn to visit the vast, beautiful ocean. Once I’m done with handling the matters here, I’ll find some time to visit you.”
Lin Li was not trying to suck up to them. Apart from the beauty of the female sirens, the Siren Clan shared many similarities to the elves in various aspects, which was the reason that they were called the elves of the sea. One of the aspects was the construction of their living environment. In the Endless Sea, the Sirens were located in the Star-Crescent Sea, which was famous for its beautiful scenery, and wasn’t inferior to the Emerald Forest of the elves.
Prince Cleve and Queen Halleleah felt extremely proud after hearing Lin Li’s words. Of course, they were mostly overjoyed that Lin Li had agreed to help. Prince Cleve suppressed the joy within him, and stood up to say to Lin Li, “Alright, President Felic, in a few days we will deliver the Siren’s Tears that you wanted—”
Halfway through Prince Cleve’s sentence, there was a sudden violent tremor coming from the ground. At the same time, they also felt a ma.s.sive and aggressive aura coming from Helena Port. They were now in the Gilded Kingdom’s capital, which could be considered the safest place in the whole Gilded Kingdom. Yet, there was such a bizarre change, which was simply unbelievable.
At this moment, Lin Li didn’t have the time to say anything at all. He hurriedly walked out of the private room. The people in the auction hall were also walking out of the auction hall one after another in a bid to find out what exactly had happened.