Second World

Jack contemplated as he tried to absorb Peniel's information. Each class was specific and had its own strengths. It was a good thing that he had the fairy which allowed him to have some considerations before changing class.

'I pity the other outworlders, the elite classes are so diverse. If they make the wrong choice and end up with a class unsuitable to them, that will be really frustrating.'

"Actually, they can simply find out the information about elite classes from the library. It's not like it's a secret. However, they probably will have to join the library's faction and attained higher ranks before they have access to that level of information."

'The library is also a faction?' Jack asked.

"Yep, most of the largest library in a city is run by a specific faction. It is another one of the neutral factions. This faction is called Custodian of Knowledge."

He felt very lucky again to have Peniel. Otherwise, he would have needed to waste much time in the library doing their quests before he could gain the information he was looking for. He supposed guilds would have at least one or two of their members focusing in the library to gain rank and attain access to information.

He didn't think too much about it, his attention was again on the auction as he heard the auctioneer mentioning another technique book. It was a technique book containing an elite skill this time, the restriction was limited to elite classes which branched out of Warrior class. He felt the technique books appearing in this auction heavily favoring Warrior class.

The skill inside the technique book was called Wind Slash. It produced an energy sword of wind element that could strike at enemies at a distance, similar to Sword of Light. But from its description, the damage output should be higher and the attack didn't travel in a linear motion. It went in a curve like a slash, which should make the attack trajectory less predictable. Another point to note was the number of slashes will increase as the skill level was increased.

Jack was very interested in this skill. He looked inside his inventory and saw that his private stash of coins was at 32 gold coins. Although he could not use the skill now, he would be in the future. He listened intently to the bidding as they started. The book was auctioned with an opening bid of 8 gold coins, with bid increment of 1 gold coin. The bid went on for a while until it reached 18 gold coins before the auctioneer started counting with his hammer.

Jack threw his bid at the time at 22 gold coins. The auctioneer did his count again. Another NPC bid 23 gold coins. Jack immediately counterbid with 26 gold coins. This time the auctioneer almost hit the hammer the third time, giving Jack a hopeful thought, when a different NPC call out 27. Jack paused for a moment before gritting his teeth.

Ah screw it! He thought and yelled, "32 gold coins!" He decided to go all out.

The auctioneer went, "going once… going twice… going th–"

"35 gold coins," a sound was heard from an NPC in one of the VIP rooms several platforms away.

Damn! Jack cursed out in his mind. He still lost the bid in the end. That last NPC who bid finally got the technique book.

"Hey, your auctioning special combo method didn't work," he complained to Dylan.

"Go to hell," Dylan simply replied. He was feeling rather complicated though. He had always thought Jack to be those typical gamers who just knew how to fight and level up. He thought that in terms of possession of gold coins, he who had focused on trading would be far superior to Jack. However, when he calculated the number of coins that Jack had spent in his previous two bids, combined with the amount he offered when the last failed bid. The guy had almost double the coins he possessed.

Dylan was utterly at a loss on how the brute had managed to amass such wealth. From their chats when they came to the auction, it was clear that he was an independent player. Unless he was an executive of a guild who had the guild's members collect coins and took a portion of their earnings for himself, then there was no reason that he could have more coins.

As Dylan continued to ponder about this enigma. Jack was already back to his relaxed self. He didn't mind the loss too much, he was only teasing his younger friend with his complaint. He looked at the VIP platform that held the two players. He noticed the two had not made any bid at all since the auction started. Did they not have enough coins?

The auctioneer proceeded with the next item. Different than his previous act, he interestingly gave an introduction first before revealing the item's image, "this next item is a bit special. Why did I say special? Because even our appraisers are not sure of its worth. Now mind you, even though its valuation was unknown, it could still be something worth a fortune. Why did I say that? Because this particular item was something that was excavated from the ruin of an ancient palace, and it was stored inside that palace's king's most innermost chamber, and amongst its other most valuable objects. However, this item was a set, and the one we offer here was only a part of the set."

The auctioneer made a wave at his female assistant after finishing his last sentence, who activated the monolith. The device again formed an image of an item. When Jack saw the image of the item floating above the monolith, he immediately sat upright and activated the red gem beside him.

He had actually forgotten the purpose of his coming to this auction until he saw the image. He now remembered that he was here on a quest. A task from Duke Alfredo to bid for an item in this auction. He was not sure at first what the duke wanted him to bid, but now that confusion had been dispelled. The image floating above the red gem beside him was something he recognized. In fact, he had two pieces of the same type of item inside his bag. That item was the last piece of Fragment of Map.

He had gotten the first piece from Gilbert, a defector from the Cult of Phobos. The second piece was from Duke Alfredo himself for safekeeping. It was Duke Alfredo as well who had asked him to attend this auction. It appeared that the duke had known that this item would appear in this auction, and thus tasked him to attend.

Considering the matter now, marquess Fernando's request for them to wear this concealment coat made much more sense now. The duke didn't want others to know which outworlder that had gotten this piece that was auctioned. After all, the Cult of Phobos might still have some spies within the noble district.

The Fragment of Map was auctioned with the starting price of a pitiful 2 gold coins. No one found it strange since the purpose of it was unknown. There was some hesitation in the air before one of the NPC bid for 3 gold coins. Someone placed another bit after a long pause. The auctioneer was not in a hurry to start his count, since the bid had just started.

The bid for this Fragment of Map was totally unlike the previous bids. It had been going very slow since the start. Probably everyone was having doubts as to who would want to buy something that cannot be used? The item was also just looked like a piece of torn paper that had no aesthetic worth.

Seeing that no one else was bidding when the bid was at 6 gold coins, the auctioneer sighed. He then started counting dispiritedly.

"Going once… Going twice…"

Great, I will be able to buy it at such a low price! Jack was rejoicing in his heart. He glanced at the bag of coins given by duke Alfredo. Apparently, the duke had overestimated the situation. 100 gold coins were way much more than necessary. He wondered if the duke would mind if after he bought this fragment of map, he used the remaining coins to bid for his personal things?

Okay, time to place a bid, Jack thought as the auctioneer's count almost finished at three.

"20 gold coins!"

Jack's hand froze in the air as with his open mouth. The voice that was just about to come out from it was choked to a gasp instead. He turned to the source of the bid. It was from one of the two remote players on the other VIP platforms.

They were interested in it? Jack was startled. His surprise almost made him forget to counterbid as the auctioneer made his count again.