Anticipation built up again as Hana’s expression brightened.
She continued, "This next item,"mis my personal favorite."
As she spoke, her gaze moved subtly toward a blonde-haired girl seated in the third row, giving her a barely noticeable nod.
The blonde-haired girl was Danice Peyton, and she was one of only two people at this camp who possessed a Resonator.
Kieran reached into the box one final ti and carefully lifted out a small book, no larger than his palm.
He handed it to Hana, who raised it high above her head so everyone could see it clearly.
"This, is sothing like a mini grimoire!" Hana announced. "Within its pages are spell instruction sets that I personally worked to acquire from a few guilds in Grayfort City. Each spell’s geotric pattern has been ticulously inscribed inside for study and replication."
The casters in the audience beca visibly intrigued.
Hana smiled at their reaction before she continued, "In here, are a total of 7 spells."
She paused for dramatic effect.
"Two Tier 1 spells, one Tier 2, one Tier 3, two Tier 4 spells...and the last one is a Tier 6 spell."
Gasps erupted throughout the crowd and eyes widened in shock. Several students turned to their neighbors as if to confirm they had heard correctly.
Bettie’s mind was completely blown.
No one easily gave out their spells in this world. Not even low-tier ones.
Spell instruction sets were guarded fiercely by guilds and families alike unless they were common enough to have been passed around so much that they lost their rarity, like Fireball.
But this was a Tier 6 spell.
That was unheard of.
Hana continued speaking over the murmurs, "The Tier 6 spell was specially granted and written by the Vice Guild Master of Black Heart Guild herself, Miss Bernadette Foster."
She paused again, letting that na settle in before adding with a knowing smile:
"And with that information alone, I’m sure so of you can already guess what elent that Tier 6 spell falls under."
Bettie whispered in astonishnt beside Ethan, "The space elent..."
Miss Bernadette Foster was famous for one thing; her mastery over different spells of the space elent, even though she wasn’t a reawakened caster.
That alone made her one of the most powerful individuals anyone could contend with in this entire city.
Ethan was genuinely intrigued now.
He had learned enough about magic over these past few weeks to understand just how rare and valuable space elent spells were.
Right then, Ethan began noticing subtle hand movents happening between several students.
Coin pouches were being passed discreetly from one person to another under seats and behind backs. Both Belsorth and Mallory students were guilty of it.
He shook his head and thought to himself, "And here I was trying to keep to the rules."
Everyone wanted this mini grimoire. Even students who didn’t have the talent level required to cast a Tier 6 spell were still eyeing it greedily.
For so people, it wasn’t even about being able to use it right now. It was simply about owning a Tier 6 spell instruction set. That alone held imnse value for future study or resale.
Beside him, Bettie drew the ropes on her pouch closed with a resigned sigh and muttered, "It’s pointless to even bother trying."
Ethan turned toward her briefly but said nothing. He simply waited for Miss Hana to open the bidding.
Because he wanted this too.
-
Miss Hana raised one hand high above her head and declared;
"Starting bid is 60 gold!"
"150!" soone shouted from the back.
"170!" another voice countered almost instantly after.
Then Danice’s voice ca from where she sat in front, "300."
The crowd went silent for just a mont at that enormous jump in price.
Then Ethan called out, "320."
Several heads turned toward him imdiately in surprise.
Anna chuckled softly and whispered, "Goodluck Mallory girl..."
Bettie didn’t look too surprised though. Of course Ethan would want a grimoire with a Tier 6 spell inside it.
A subtle smile crossed her face as she thought quietly to herself, "Please win, Stark."
Another student called out, "380!"
Danice responded imdiately, "450."
Ethan countered just as quickly, "460."
Danice shot him a sharp look before raising her voice again, "550."
"560," Ethan replied calmly.
At this point, most other students had been completely tapped out financially and could no longer afford to keep up with these escalating bids.
Danice grit her teeth but pressed forward:
"650."
"660," Ethan said simply.
It kept going on this way for several more rounds until finally Danice called out, "1,150!"
There was a brief pause as everyone waited to see if Ethan would counter again or finally back down.
Then his voice ca through once more "1,160."
Danice looked pretty much annoyed now. The fact that Ethan only kept raising the bid amount by such small incrents each ti felt intentional, like he was deliberately being a pain in the ass just.
To Ethan though, there was simply no need to jump the bid amounts dramatically just to prove he could afford whatever final price ended up being called.
The Belsorth students began giggling quietly amongst themselves. They knew full well there wasn’t any chance in hell Danice was going to win this bidding war against soone like him.
The bidding continued climbing higher until Danice finally announced, "1,450!"
Ethan responded, "1,460."
Then Danice stood up from her seat, looking visibly frustrated. She pointed directly at Ethan and said boldly:
"Can I please ask the auctioneer to confirm whether this fellow can actually pay up his bid, or if he’s just inflating the prices?"
Percival took personal offense at that. "Who does the stuck-up chick think she is?"
But Ethan said nothing but stare back at her.
Miss Hana gave an awkward smile and leaned toward Kieran, whispering, "This student of yours..."
Kieran cut her off by saying, "Stark."
She turned her head toward him, sort of confused.
"Ethan Stark," Kieran said.
A sudden realization hit Hana. "As in... Stark Industries?"
Kieran nodded.
Her eyes widened in shock as sturned back toward Danice and nodded politely before saying. "Please go on with your bid, Miss Danice."
Danice’s eyes went wide. "What?!"
The thing was, just like Danice and Miss Hana along with several other Mallory students, they only knew Ethan as the guy who saved so students inside the breach zone yesterday.
They hadn’t gone into any depth with background checking beyond that.
Danice took a deep breath and called out the final amount she could put up, "2,000 gold!"
The crowd gasped in shock, but once again Ethan’s response ca calmly, "2,001."
There were a few giggles, and Percival laughed outright, unable to contain himself.
Yeah, this part was absolutely intentional.
Ethan had decided to raise his bids by exactly 1 gold grit from here on out. That way, when Danice finally hit her limit, it would feel like she lost by not having just 1 more coin.
It was insulting that she publicly questioned whether he could pay for his bids. So he was getting back at her for it.
She yelled in frustration:
"Urgh!"
Miss Hana wasn’t happy about this either. There was a frown her face as she glanced toward Danice, her favorite student.
She had told Danice about this item being part of the auction much earlier, which was exactly why she gave her that subtle nod when first introducing it.
But there was nothing more she could do now.
Miss Hana cleared her throat and began the final countdown: "2,001 gold grits going once..."
There was silence.
"Going twice..."
Still nothing.
"Sold to the bidder from Belsorth, for 2,001 gold grits!"
Ethan had won and Kieran walked over to collect paynt.
But instead of handing over cash, Ethan pulled out a small slip of paper and wrote on it quickly before handing it over.
It was a billnote.
Billnotes were accepted forms of paynt for large sums, since not everyone would be carrying overt two thousand gold in hand.
Kieran accepted it without issue and handed Ethan the mini grimoire in exchange.
Bettie had a cheerful smile, genuinely happy that he won it
-
The murmurs and pained faces of Mallory High students filled the canopy stand.
"This is ridiculous," one Mallory student muttered to his neighbor.
"They cheated," another said bitterly. "There’s no way this was fair."
A girl whispered to her friend, "I had to ask my brothers and father for money... and I’m going ho with nothing."
On one side of the canopy, Dante watched silently. He hadn’t participated in the bidding.
Wilson Heydrich, who also hadn’t participated, turned his head upward and looked around for a mont as well.
There was growing tension over the place as students waited for Miss Hana and Mr. Kieran to finish their whispered discussion at the front.
Even those two seed to be in so sort of disagreent.
Hana leaned closer to Kieran, "This doesn’t feel fair to my students. In an auction like this, over 90% of the items went to one side."
Kieran kept his tone calm. "We had rules that everyone agreed to follow, Miss Hana. It’s no one’s fault that the majority of Mallory students decided to hold onto their money for the special items and got outbid."
After a short deliberation, Hana sighed then turned back toward the crowd with a pretentious smile on her face as she addressed the students:
"So, the auction event has co to an end. Please, students, kindly leave the—"
Suddenly, an angry voice yelled, "This is bullshit!"
Everyone’s heads turned imdiately toward the source.
It was a Mallory werewolf, with a frustrated look and clenched fists.
____
A/N: Kindly support with Powerstones and Tickets! Bonuses accrued
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