Chapter 1105: Player Auction
Azalea wasted no time as she departed to carry out Izroth's instructions. At least for today, there would be no members of Blue Oasis left in the Kifa Karsts!
Not long after Azalea left, Izroth made a call to Aurora, the person he left in charge of the Mystical Realm Palace.
[System Alert: You have started a voice chat with Player Aurora! To end the voice chat at any time, simply say "Terminate Voice Chat" or open up the player system interface and manually end the call.]
Aurora, "This is unexpected. You are usually not the one to call me first. Did something happen?"
Izroth, "Nothing too important. I just need you to ban entry into the Mystical Realm Palace for all Blue Oasis members."
Aurora, "All of them? This is essentially blacklisting an entire top guild. As your advisor, I would not recommend burning any bridges. Furthermore, this action will also cause the other top guilds to grow restless. Even the most tame of beasts turn savage if you starve them and deny them food. What does that say of a beast who is untamed?"
Izroth, "I have no use for a beast that will bite back whether it's fed or not. I will send you the contract details. Look it over and if you still insist on not burning the bridge, I will follow your advice."
Izroth sent the details of the contract between him and Peaceful Chaos to Aurora. In the end, he hired her as his advisor; therefore, he would not dismiss her advice. That being said, he already knew exactly how Aurora would respond after reviewing the details of such a contract. Aurora, "What kind of contract is this?! Did you seriously accept something - No, if it's you, I assume you were confident in your victory. Still, to think that someone would suggest such a ridiculously one-sided contract-it's obvious that they were trying to humiliate you and the Mystical Realm Palace. People like that, well, nothing will be lost by burning this particular bridge. I will see to it that members of Blue Oasis are no longer allowed to set foot into the Mystical Realm Palace."
Izroth, "Then, I'll leave it in your capable hands. I still have a few things to take care of, so I will excuse myself."
Aurora, "Ah, wait a moment. The thing you spoke of previously, the preparations are almost complete. I'll send you the list of items for confirmation. If everything looks alright, I can set an official date. We need to make this succeed at all costs. After all, it is the first large scale player auction hosted by the Mystical Realm Palace."
Player auctions—just as its name suggested, it was an auction hosted by players who had items or even services to sell. So far, all the player auctions that occurred in RML were relatively small scale. This was due to the fact that top guilds consumed resources like an endless abyss. In other words, they simply did not have the luxury of selling items.
As for organizations like the Seven Dreams Consortium, they were more centered around selling popular items in bulk or securing rare materials at request through outsourcing or trading. This is why they could only host small-scale auctions where only the top guilds and some select big guilds could participate. But, even in those auctions, the Seven Dreams Consortium only had one or two items up for auction.
However, a large scale player auction required several high-quality items that were not readily available. It also needed a "star" item. Something that, alone, was worth making the travel. Plus, it would act as a way to draw in the big spenders and generate buzz.
Izroth had many high-quality items collecting dust in his inventory. While some of them were useful, there were also quite a few that he had no use for. That is why, sometime after he returned from the Ancient Celestial Realm, Izroth messaged Aurora to talk about holding a player auction at the Mystical Realm Palace. He also sent her a list of all the items in his inventory that he was willing to put up for sale.
Additionally, he entrusted Aurora with the task of selecting the most outstanding items among the craftsmen of the Mystical Realm Palace to also be placed up for auction.
This was another way of motivating the craftsmen, giving them a goal to strive toward, and creating a healthy competitive environment.
Of course, Aurora was excited at the idea of hosting a player auction and gave Izroth her full support in the matter. She had been working to put things together for a while now and finally completed the list of items that would be put up for sale.
Aurora, "Truthfully, I did not expect it to be so hard to decide on the list of items for the auction, but the amount of high-quality items was more than I anticipated. The standard rule is around ten items, but I took the liberty of doubling that to twenty. It is our first auction. I figured we should go all out."
Izroth looked over the list of twenty items that Aurora settled on as he gave an inward nod of approval.
'Oh? So, she decided to go with this as the star item, after all.'
Izroth, "There should be no issue with the items you've selected. You may proceed."
Aurora, "Then, I will take care of the final details. Since it is a monumental occasion, I would like for the owner of the Mystical Realm Palace to be present on the day of the auction."
Izroth, "If that is what my advisor suggests, then I shall see that it happens. If that's all, I have some other matters to attend to."
Aurora, "That's all, for now. I will message you the date and time of the auction."
After exchanging a brief farewell, Izroth ended the voice chat with Aurora.
'It saves me a lot of trouble having someone like Advisor Fang Qiu managing the Mystical Realm Palace.'
After reaching a certain point in cultivation in the Seven Realms, Izroth no longer had to worry about material matters like money. If he wanted something, he simply went to get it or created it. He did not have to worry about those around him, as there was no one there.
Izroth knew that he was no longer in the Seven Realms. He also understood that he had many things to protect now.
Izroth quickly found that, in this world, strength alone was not enough to protect those under or next to him. He required money and connections.
'Even if I can survive alone, it would be no different than my time in the Seven Realms. This time... I will make sure those around me grow as well. I will not let them be consumed by this world or any other.'
...
Approximately thirty minutes later...
Izroth suddenly halted his steps as he arrived at the edge of a small cliff and looked down.
"This must be the spring he was talking about.'
Thanks to Hygrin's Great Seal, Izroth's agility was stuck at one for thirty minutes. With such low agility, even if he spent all day moving, he would not make it very far. Therefore, Izroth decided to wait until the effects of Hygrin's Great Seal ended.
Once the effects wore off, Izroth made his way toward the source of the infected mana he
detected.
'As I thought, the infected mana... It's originating from this spring.'
Below the cliff was a karst spring roughly twenty meters across in diameter. The water was a gorgeous mixture of light blues and greens; however, there was a sinister energy that
lingered above its surface.
'Even with my Energy Vision Sense, I am unable to peer beneath the surface of this spring. Just looking around, there does not seem to be any rare materials or monsters here. Does this place truly have something to do with Empyrean and Selene's disappearance?'
Outside of protecting himself and Selene, Empyrean's core objectives were to gather materials and grow his strength. Since there were no rare materials around this area, if this spring did have something to do with their disappearance, it would have to be the result of a monster or hostile entity.
'I won't be able to collect any more information from here. It looks like I will have to go into the spring
itself.'
Izroth jumped down the cliff. The moment his foot touched the cliff face, he activated the skill Wall Walking as he effortlessly descended the cliff.
It only took a few seconds for Izroth to reach the bottom of the cliff and approach the spring.
"This kind of sinister energy reminds me of the shadahi. But, the energy signatures feel different. I
suppose there is only one way to find out the truth."'
Without further delay, Izroth dove into the spring and swam downward.
System Alert: You have entered ![]
[System Alert: Warning! A powerful energy is attempting to invade your body![]