The auction hall was large enough to hold several thousand people, yet even it didn't feel like it would be enough seats the hall began to bustle with streams of people filing in as the date of the Auction drew near.

The hall was shaped similarly to an opera theater.

The layout of the hall's main floor consisted of a square stage in the middle surrounded by floor seats on three sides, with the first row of seats being between twenty and thirty feet from the stage.

This was the seating area for the average participant, and it could fit around ten thousand.

Though calling them average was a bit of a stretch considering that you needed both a significant amount of money, as well as Tier 9 strength to even attend events such as this one.

Above the floor seats was the middle seating area. 

A level dedicated to the even more affluent individuals which sat around a thousand.

The people sitting here were either those approaching Tier 10, backed by or represented a high-ranking power, or possessed enough wealth to feed all of Western Zeln for decades.

Above the middle seats were the private rooms which numbered around fifty in total.

They were occupied by true bigwigs.

People who either represented or lead a top-tier power, had put up one of the World Grade or higher items being auctioned off, or had reached Tier 12.

David was in one of these rooms with his entourage and watched the rest of the attendees from up above as they bustled about finding seating and making pleasantries.

The lights soon began to dim and the crowd settled down, as the MC made her way out of the curtains which hid the back region of the stage from view.

As per usual when it came to the Pendragon Auction House's Centennial (Empyrean) and above Auctions, Morgana's second eldest daughter and fourth child overall, Edith was the MC.

She wore a similar outfit to Astrid's as it was the uniform of The Pendragon Trading Firm and bore the trading firm's emblem emblazoned on the back of the gloves.

And much like her sister, she was a woman of great beauty.

She was tall and had a voluptuous figure.

Her slightly wavey hair was auburn in color with dark roots, and she had a cream-colored complexion.

Her oval-shaped face featured, pink-lips, pale green-blue eyes, and a few freckles which highlighted her facial contours and gave her an innocent yet valiant sense of beauty, and eyebrows with an almost non-existent arch.

As she walked into his line of sight on the stage below, the following information appeared in his field of view.

[Name: Edith La Fey Pendragon

Age: ???

Race/Species: Humana

Rank: 12

Level: 67

Profession(s): ???

Vitality: ???

Divinity Reserves: ???

Strength: ???

Defense: ???

Agility: ???

Speed: ???

Stamina: ???

Intelligence: ???

Health: ???

Life Span: ???

Divine Armament: ???

Inherent Abilities: ???

Affinities: World, Transmutation, Summoning, Malestorm, Anti-Impact, Frost Flare]

Once again the information he could gather with a causal glance was very limited.

As he reflected on what he could see she began to address the audience.

"Good afternoon everyone. This auction will include seven hundred Ancient Grade items. Three dozen Legendary Grade Items. Nineteen World Grade Items, and seven Divine Grade Items."

Her words caused a certain sensation amongst the crowd as the items involved in this Auction Rivaled those available at some of the most impressive Stellar Auctions the Firm Had held in the past.

(Narrator: The Firm was a typical pseudonym for The Pendragon Trading Firm which is still used even to this day.)

But what she said next caused an even bigger sensation amongst the crowd.

Even David lifted his brows in surprise as a smile of anticipation spread across his face.

"But this year's auction will be a little different than in previous years."

"After the main event, we of House Pendragon would like to take the opportunity to auction off a bundle of items which includes shares in The Firm."

Following that she waited for the sensation to somewhat dull amongst the crowd before continuing to begin the auction.

"Now that that is out of the way let's begin."

With that, a staff member came forward from behind the curtain with a silver platter in hand.

When he was beside Edith he removed the lid and Edith introduced the item.

"Our first item is a ring of the Ancient Grade. Known as "Dragon's Might" our appraisal has revealed that it has the ability to quadruple the strength and double the healing factor of any Ancient Garde (Tier 9) Being or lower. With the benefits being halved for Legendary Grade (Tier 10) Beings and virtually nonexistent for any ranked higher than that."

(Cheat Sheet: Ancient Grade = Tier 9, Legendary Grade = Tier 10, World Grade = Tier 11, Divine Grade = Tier 12, and Transcendent Grade = Tier 13.)

"The bidding will begin at 10,000 Rose Spirit Coins. Increases must be made in increments of 500 coins."

As soon as she finished bidding a a sort of frenzy took place amongst the floor-level seats as they placed their bids.

It quickly reached 50,000 where it began to plateau before settling at 64,000.

A similar process was conducted seven hundred times before Edith moved on to the Legendary Grade items.

All of the Ancient Grade items were sold for somewhere between 60,00 and 90,000 Rose Spirit Coins.

There were several items among them that caught David's attention but he didn't bid on them as his interest was fleeting.

The first of the Legendary items was a spear with a starting bid of 10,000 Amethyst Spirit Coins and a final price of 63,000.

A few more items were quickly sold before a staffer pushed forward a trolly that had a Demonic Beast egg on it.

(Narrator: This might be a good moment to note that Demonic Beasts are a Category of Devaum containing a fusion of Demon and Deva Bloodlines.)

The egg was two feet tall and one and a half feet wide at its widest section.

Its shell possessed a metallic sheen and possessed interweaving streaks of purplish-blue and green-brown.

As the staff member pushed it forward Edith introduced it to the crowd.

"Next up we have the egg of a Garuda."

"As I'm sure most of you know, due to the conflict between the Garuda's Demon and Berserker Bloodlines they find it extremely difficult to reach the Legendary Tier. And that despite their inborn strength, which is on par with that of Giants, and their Inborn Affinities for the Destruction, Malestorm, Explosion, and Void Elements, they are often ranked as an Ancient Grade Bloodline."

She paused for effect before continuing on, "But we believe this egg is deserving of Legendary ranking due to the identification of an Angelic Bloodline existing within the embryo it contains."

Her words caused something of a sensation in the crowd as they realized that the presence of said Angelic Bloodline would create a balanced ecosystem within the creature and allow it to reach the Legendary Rank with ease.

Perhaps it would even achieve the World Rank.

One must understand that there were only a few dozen Divine Ranked Beings and several hundred World Ranked Beings within all of Western Cornith.

Just about every force in existence would kill for another combatant of such a level to elevate their overall battle prowess.

Especially one as skilled and competent in battle as a Garuda.

As the crowd came to grips with the situation, Edith once more spoke, "As such, we have decided to set the starting bid at 70,000 Amethyst Spirit Coins with a 1,000 coin minimum increments for any subsequent bids."

As soon as she finished speaking the first bid was cast with numerous following it.

David was also very interested.

Though it wasn't because of Edith's words.

It was due to both the results of his own appraisal as well as a sense of connection he felt to the creature lying dormant inside it.

[Name: N/A

Age: Egg (5 days 7 hours and 12 minutes until hatching)

Race/Species: Devaum -  Angel of Destruction (Sub-Bloodlines: Garuda (Demonic World-Suppressing Ape, Berserker (Sukah)), and Angel (Throne))

Rank: 3

Level: 94

Profession(s): N/A

Vitality: ???

Divinity Reserves: 50 Million/50 Million Strands

Strength: 15 Million

Defense: Indestructible 

Agility: 8 Million

Speed: ~ 9 Million

Stamina: ~15 Million

Intelligence: ~70 Million

Health: 100 Million /100 Million

Life Span: Infinite

Divine Armament: Shroud of Eternal Darkness and Corona of the Dark Sun

Inherent Abilities: Blessing of The Heavenly Will (Passive), Sustained By the World (Passive), Infinite Growth (Passive), Transformation (Active), Ultra-Regeneration (Passive), Immortality (Passive), Invulnerability (Passive/Active),  Assimilation (Active), Empower (Active), Deprive (Active), Devour (Passive), Rebirth (Passive)

Affinities: Erebus, and Dark Sun]

 

As he ruminated over the results of his appraisal he actively channeled Divinity into his eyes and activated the full effect of his Eye-based Inherent Abilities, causing the flow of time to seemingly slow drastically as his processing speed increased exponentially.

Doing so allowed him to see the bindings of fate related to whatever object he was looking at, as well as peer into its past present, and future, and investigate every aspect of its existence.

The only downsides were the amount of Divinity it burned through, the strain it placed on his mind and the fact that it took the unpredictability out of life.

When he observed the egg in such a state he quickly came to a conclusion and murmured, "I must have her."

He then dramatically reduced the flow of Divinity to his eyes and returned them to their passive state.

After he did so he made the first bid of anyone in the Private Rooms.