The battle had nearly grown into a full blown crisis. Although the situation kept getting worse and was about to develop into a messy scuffle, Sheyan seemed unconcerned and merely stood still. Only after his teammates had killed all the hostile soldiers in giant exoskeleton armour did Sheyan change his previously arrogant att.i.tude. He spread his arms and said with the vague hint of a smile on his face, "It"s about time the test ends, right, prince? If we keep on killing, we"ll go out of control."
Sheyan"s voice was not that loud, but for some reason, everyone in the base, including the monitoring soldiers in the underground bunker that could resist even nuclear radiation, could hear him clearly. That was actually another function of the sensory threads. They could transmit sounds to places that they extended to.
"Hahahaha!" A voice, which obviously came from a loudspeaker, burst into laughter. After that, a large rotorcraft flew over from behind the lofty mountain, escorted by eight other aircrafts. A vivid, fiery red emblem of a phoenix was painted on the rotorcraft. It was obviously a dedicated aircraft of the royal family.
Prince Pombaru made his appearance at last.
The current Prince Pombaru was wearing a large, fiery red cloak, seemingly to cover up his frail body. His eye sockets were more sunken than before, yet his gaze had become even deeper. It was incredible that a young man in his twenties would have such dark eyes, like ghostfire in winter.
Therefore, he did not give off the impression of a ruler of an Empire, but more like the chief of the FBI or the head of the military instead, because the monarch who ruled over billions of planets should not look so eerie and sinister.
When Party Ace boarded Prince Pombaru"s aircraft, the first thing they saw was a large screen showing an aerial view projected from a satellite. Upon closer look, it was actually depicting this very place. The holographic projection showed that there were at least three light-based particle cannons and five tactical missiles aiming at them. With the push of a b.u.t.ton, the place would turn into a sea of fire.
This was no doubt a discreet demonstration of power. The prince was telling them that he was not powerless against them; with the push of a b.u.t.ton, he could blow them up into smithereens! Of course, things like this could not be laid out in the open, but it was a necessary display. If one had no way to tame a beast, one would be devoured by the beast.
The meeting with Prince Pombaru could not be considered pleasant, but surprisingly, there was no open confrontation. Of course, this may very well be because Prince Pombaru had held back and did not ask what he really wanted to know. The prince did seem to have the intention of holding a long conversation either. After exchanging some pleasantries, he let a female Major General under him receive them. The woman was socially adept, the kind of person that would laugh gracefully before speaking. She gave Party Ace an excellent welcome.Only after settling down did Sheyan find out that the army they fought before was not an army under Prince Pombaru, but under his third brother instead. By using only two spies, he managed to pull the s.p.a.cecraft Party Ace took into his scheme. If Party Ace was strong enough, Prince Pombaru would be able to greatly weaken his third brother"s power, and because it was an incident caused by the contestants, his third brother would not be able to do anything about it. If they were not strong enough, then they did not have much value to him, so he would not lament their deaths. The most he would lose were two spies.
This kind of behaviour was sinister and materialistic to the extreme. From this matter, Sheyan found that Prince Pombaru may have an imposing air, but his means of doing things were quite low. To be honest, a head of state who ruled over an empire should take a grander approach than to scheme and plot in such a calculative manner.
The way to run a country is to treat the people with sincerity, to do great things with sincerity. If a king takes the conquest approach, he should be ambitious, grandiose and have the courage to devour the heavens. If a king takes the developmental approach, he should be generous and amiable, and even have a greed for peace and pleasure. But if a king is suspicious, calculative and indulges himself in the game of power, he will only become a king of failure.
Of course, Sheyan himself had little talent in ruling – he probably would not even make a good president – so he could only silently criticise the prince in his mind.
Party Ace stayed there for a few days and had even seen the famed Granite Beasts, but Prince Pombaru did not make a second appearance. It made sense, because Prince Pombaru was indeed a busy man, but for some reason, to Sheyan, Prince Pombaru and his men felt like a young woman who had tasted the forbidden fruit for the first time and was anxiously waiting for her period to come.
One day, after breakfast, Sheyan received a message through the Nightmare Imprint, telling him that the Black Arrow was about to be auctioned off. Sheyan, as the owner, had received the highest standard of invitation to attend the auction.
Right after receiving that message, Sheyan immediately called back.
"h.e.l.lo, is that the Miner? Have they agreed to my conditions?"
"Your conditions are too harsh. You only want to trade and not sell, you only let the auction house take the lowest amount of commission, and you also asked them to display it as the first item but auction it last..." the Miner on the other end replied with a wry smile.
The corners of Sheyan"s lips curled into a smirk. "Is that right? Well, if they"re unwilling, we can just call this whole thing off."
The Miner sighed. "I know that you have your own plans, but the auction house also has their conditions. They can forego the commission, but even if a deal can"t be reached, the Black Arrow must stay with them."
"So I can"t use it even if I want to?" asked Sheyan jokingly.
"They"ll return it to you after three rounds of auction – if it hasn"t been sold by then," the Miner obviously knew Sheyan would ask this question and already had the answer prepared.
"Two rounds," negotiated Sheyan.
"If two rounds, the auction house will take 5%. That"s the bottom line," the Miner replied right away.
"Deal," Sheyan nodded, but he quickly frowned again. "But you should have heard of my current situation. My mother Realm is evolving. How can I get to the auction?"
"The flesh armour on you has this function. Besides being unable to return to the Realm, you can return to the real world, go to the auction and so on." The Miner frowned and asked, "Don"t tell me you haven"t you tried any of that?"
Sheyan tried it out, but he soon remarked in doubt, "It doesn"t work."
"That"s probably because it"s out of energy," the Miner replied.
"How do I charge it?" asked Sheyan with a frown. "Um, there"s no USB port or power cord on the armour."
"Just soak it in water," answered the Miner while looking at Sheyan with a contemptuous gaze. "Seriously, how do you even survive up to this point. The armour will automatically decompose the water and extract the hydrogen as energy."
Sheyan: "...."
***
The auction this time was not much different from the last one Sheyan attended. His vision blurred, and before he knew it, he was already transported to a venue about the size of a basketball stadium. Hundreds of people were seated around the venue, but he could not see their faces clearly. This time, Sheyan did not had to pay to attend, and he was directly sent to one of the boxes. His box had a great view, and when a valuable item would be put up for auction, he had the priority to get an early look at its properties.
During the last auction, Rocky, a Major General, was able to cause such a ruckus among the crowd. Sheyan was a side character in that auction, but he was already a Lieutenant General now. It truly felt like an eternity ago.
As per his request, the first auction item would be the Black Arrow. Therefore, as soon as the auctioneer stepped onto the stage, he sent the auction house into an uproar.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please be informed that a powerful weapon will make its appearance in this auction! It is a miraculous weapon that stands above its peers. Yes, it"s a divine artifact! Please welcome it onto the stage!"
The Black Arrow made its appearance in front of the crowd. Compared to the dazzling glow of a legendary weapon, the glow of the divine artifact was soft and gentle, yet no one could ignore it! Instead of the blazing tyranny of a legendary weapon, it had a natural grace and elegance. This kind of temperament, which kept its sharp edges hidden within, was the exclusive characteristic of a divine artifact.
Sounds of gasps and whispers rose among the crowd. If the Black Arrow could only be used as an arrow, its value would not be very high, because not everyone had a good bow and had exceptional archery skills.
However, the Black Arrow could also be used as a one handed weapon, which made it very enticing to a lot of people. Moreover, if a person had enough Strength and could learn the Berserker"s advanced ability "Weapon Throw", they would also be able to fully utilise the Black Arrow. After all, the "Weapon Throw" advanced ability was quite common.
Therefore, although not everyone in the audience was moved, a small portion among them had gotten very excited. But when they eagerly awaited for the auctioneer to announce the starting price, he instead told them the last thing they wanted to hear.
"Unfortunately, the seller is only willing to trade it for other items. He will not accept things like utility points and achievement points. The seller is in need of rare minerals and the body of Aladdin"s Magic Lamp. Please take note of this."
Everyone frowned, but at the same time, countless messages were sent out. No one could tell for sure how many people were in communication at this moment. That was exactly what Sheyan wanted. The divine artifact he flung out was like a core; anyone who wished to have it would start to move around this core, forming a vortex around it. At first, those who fell into the vortex were those directly involved with the divine artifact, but towards the end, the vortex would grow so large that others would involuntarily get sucked inside too.
When the auction had proceeded halfway, the auctioneer was suddenly summoned offstage. When he returned, he calmly said, "Just now, an item was entrusted to us to be auctioned off. Please take a look."
Next, what appeared before Sheyan"s eyes, and the eyes of everyone there, were the words "Aladdin"s Magic Lamp Body". The auctioneer then announced the starting price.
"The starting price is 5 million utility points, with a minimum increment of 1 million utility points for each bid!"