Chapter 75: The Auction Part 1

“Hahah, finally, the show is starting.”

“Mommy, what’s happening?”

“Order up, please! Another glass, please and thank you.”

“How high do you think the bids are going to go?” 

“Girl, you're already drunk.”

“Way too high man, to the extent that I doubt we will even see a thousandth of it in our lives.” 

“Hehe, just an exciting show, dear.”

“But it’s just an empty room.”

“Sister! Clear my drunken state with your magic.”

“Come on, really? They aren’t going to be that high.”

“You know what you are right, I did underestimate the cost, we won’t even see one-millionth of the bidding prices.”

“Come on, start the auction already!”

The crowd’s excitement had been amped up. Of course, this was only one small area of the city, but other places were realistically like this as well, full of joy and curiosity. 

The large open area below had areas blocked off so that they split segments of public space so that there were different areas for different types of people. The bars were on one end, while the outdoor dining and the open park were on the other. 

(" What a noisy lot ”)

This isn’t even noisy for you.

(" I know, I’m just trying to start a conversation ”)

Espr, I feel like that has been your excuse for a lot of your behaviour recently.

(" What may you tell me to be the reason be wrong with thy voice ”)

Now you are just speaking gibberish. That didn’t even make sense. 

(" Oh deary me, really? I’m just asking what is wrong with me wanting to spark up a conversation with my close companion ”)

I can’t tell if you are speaking more or less bullshit than normal.

(" Does it really matter? ”)

No. I’m just continuing the sparkling conversation.

People were excited; even the people who didn’t have a single stake in this auction were excited, because why wouldn’t they? For the people of Jellannax, not only was this a big commercial opportunity, but it was also a chance to have some crazier fun and relax. Plenty of people had their shops open if they knew traffic would head towards them, but everyone else had time off to spend time with their family and friends.

Oh look, it is finally starting.

Then, finally, the projection changed to show a live view of the auction.

[“Welcome everyone to Nexus Marques on Jellannax station, we thank you all who were able to come in person, and everyone watching across the universe.”]

There was a male announcer in the middle of the large pristine white, red, and gold room. Black glass separated the audience from the wide room. In the centre was a podium where the items would be displayed; currently, the first item had a black box over it to keep it hidden.

Over the next few minutes, the announcer explained the rules of the auction. People from anywhere could participate, but potential buyers on other planets had to deal with the issues of massive delays due to the fact that simultaneously instant communication everywhere across the universe wasn’t exactly feasible. Maybe in one or two locations, they could get set up to work, but that would cause certain customers to be heavily favoured.

After each item would be revealed, there was a two-minute window where people could send in bets before the actual head-to-head auction climb happened.

Besides the standard rules that were explained, no one should cause trouble, behave properly, don’t harass other guests or staff, or attack those who are bidding or have won an item. Once all the standard explanations were done, it was time for the auction to begin.

[“Now! Time for the first item for today’s auction, and it will be one to for sure shock you!.”]

The black box vanished and all that remained was a golden ring covered in a sparkling liquid gemlike pattern that flowed. 

On the side of the screen, a box appeared with the description of the item.

Oh, now that is a surprise.

According to the schedule, the first three days were supposed to be for items certain guests sent in or others had appraised by the auction staff in the weeks prior to the event. And then, only on the last day, would the collection of items created by Craftalot be sold. 

[“Our first item is a late addition by the generous benefactor of the auction today, the golden ring, Golden Elizabeth, crafted by the wizard Craftalot himself!”]

I looked at the screen to read the effects of the ring–once again, the text box was clearly hand-crafted by Craftalot himself.

Name: Golden Elizabeth

Description: Golden Elizabeth is a beautiful ring with a wonderful flowing pattern within it (Which took too long to make but was worth it!). This item is a great choice for personal self-protection or a nice gift (That is secretly protection) for a friend.

Main Function 1: Create automatically, or by user input to create a powerful barrier around the user. This can be a simple overlay over the user's body, or a large sphere or dome. This can also have multiple layers if you want to protect others but also want to protect yourself (Which is very fair).

Main Function 2: It protects the user from poisons, acids, and diseases, and can alert the user if they are facing any physical issues. 

Main Function 3: Can transform into any ring shape or design (Size can only be adjusted up to and below 10% of the original size). 

Side Function 1: Know the location of the nearest 100 people around the user. You have to ask it to show you this information.

Side Function 2: It has a built-in translator for all currently spoken official languages as of 2940 AS. You have to ask it to show you this information.

Golden Elizabeth huh; what a powerful item.

I was giving Craftalot a lot of faith that the barrier would be powerful, and to be fair, that was pretty likely from anything made by him to be bloody amazing. The other features were also pretty nice. I still didn’t know, for the stars in the sky, what the actual difference between Main Functions and Side Functions was. The item ‘Adding A Bit’ made it seem like they were side effects of the main ability, while ‘You Fucked With Me, I Fuck With You!’ side functions were literally to be a normal phone and to always be clean.

(" Can’t say I expected ‘Golden Elizabeth’ to be the name of something Craftalot would make. This train of thought is purely based on the fact that the other two items you showed me were ‘Adding A Bit’ and ‘You Fucked With Me, I Fuck With You!’ ”)

You know what, I have to agree.

The auction went as expected, with people in the crowds going crazy about the ridiculous effects of the item and its weird description. Then, once the bidding war commenced, they went completely wild as the price within thirty seconds went over their yearly salary.

At least the wait until something happens won’t be boring. 

I start there, watching the auction while also enjoying the occasional glance at the starry sky.

Then, after a little bit, I decided to ask Espr a question.

Hey Espr, what do you think about Craftalot?

As Espoiramissa always said, nothing was wrong with sparking up some conversation.

(" Easy one, I don’t respect most humans, most of them are laughable at best. But the efforts of a man who has broken through many of the perceived limits and have created wonders that are genuinely shocking to the people of this universe are certain worthy of some level of respect for his work ”)

Interesting answer. Do you know more about him than I do?

(" Not particularly more; he was not a target of my interest, but my position does give me more to know about what his achievements actually mean compared to you ”)

You know what, I’m not even going to question that, because it is just going to be more cryptic mumbo jumbo that I don’t have the knowledge or context for to fully understand.

The auction continued at a brisk pace, Golden Elizabeth was sold for an amount of money I didn’t think was possible for the first item of a collection ready to be sold. The show and the wide selection of items shown off were quite enjoyable, I didn’t know so many weird things existed.

Either way, once this was done, I could finally go home to my family once again, but first, the show must go on. 

Bobple

Work has been tough, but chapters still have to be made, but besides that, we are nearly at chapter 100! TOTAL, yeah, still 25 chapters away from the actual 100 chapter milestone, but when it comes to total chapters were are at 96, well 97 with this chapter. I need to step my game up, I will try to the post three chapters 2 weeks from now to celebrate that.

Anyway, thanks for reading everyone. Another late night for Bobple signing out.