Chapter 1230: Mirage Pearl
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After a small climax that arose because of the high price that the opening item fetched, the auction continued under Grand Duke Vidi’s presidency. The next item that was brought to the stage for auction was not any magical weapon or equipment, nor was it a rare and precious gemstone source. Instead, it was a deed from the Gilded Kingdom.
“The next auction item is the title deed of an island belonging to the Cubos Family,” Grand Duke Vidi said as he projected a map at the back to present the location of the island. He then began to introduce the island in detail.
It was called Star Crescent Island, and was composed of a crescent-shaped main island and several star-shaped satellite islands. The island was roughly more than 100 square kilometers big, and there were two piers. The Cubos Family’s castle was on the main island, along with a building that was meant for the servants to stay in.
Lin Li intended to acquire an island in the Gilded Kingdom so that it could be used as the Tower of Dusk’s residence there. However, the environment of Star Crescent Island did not meet his requirements. One reason was that it was too close to Four Seasons Island, and another was that there were no available resources on and around the island. It could be said that Star Crescent Island was only suitable for vacation, and it wouldn’t bring any profits to Lin Li.
However, for others, especially the nobles and merchants, Star Crescent Island was still relatively valuable. Hence, after Grand Duke Vidi introduced the island, and announced the start of the bidding, many nobles and tycoons began to raise their bidding signs, and there were numerous bids, causing the price to soar to 3,000,000 gold coins.
It was 3,000,000 gold coins, not 3,000,000 copper coins. To put it in context, some commoners had never even seen a gold coin in their entire lifetime. 3,000,000 gold coins was extremely expensive for an island, and even if the island was made of gold, it probably wouldn’t be worth so much money. However, being able to own an island like this near Four Seasons Island was a great honor and glory for the nobles and tycoons.
In the end, Star Crescent Island was auctioned off to a tycoon from the Catfish Clan for 3,600,000 gold coins.
After the auctioning of Star Crescent Island, the people in the auction hall once again regained calm. The next few auction items were precious, but not very outstanding. Thus, they were auctioned off for several dozen or more millions of gold coins after a few rounds of bidding. Among them, the one with the highest value was a magical weapon from the Ocean Dynasty: a longbow made of Starlight Metal and the tendons of a wyrm. As expected, it was auctioned off to Prince Cleve of the Siren Clan.
At this juncture, King Bradlor and Prince Monterey, who were in the royal private room, were extremely bewildered. They were puzzled that the magic scroll that Lin Li had brought, which they thought was worthless, hadn’t been put up for auction yet. Could it be that the value of the scroll is so low that it isn’t even worthy of being a filler item? That’s too mean of them!
On the other hand, the staff of the auction had already sent the Dark Gold Magic Dragon Armor that Lin Li had purchased to the private room that Lin Li and Connoris were in.
The staff of the auction left after the deal was completed. Connoris then took a look at the Dark Gold Magic Dragon Armor with a smile, and said, “This is a good thing. No wonder that punk of the Giant Shark Clan would be willing to offer so much for it. If he finds out that you’re intending to give it to that silly kid Sean as a meeting gift, I bet he’ll be so enraged that he’ll vomit blood.”
Lin Li didn’t think that much about it. He decided to buy the Dark Gold Magic Dragon Armor only because he needed it. If he hadn’t needed the armor at all, Lin Li wouldn’t have specially gone out of his way to place such a high bid on the armor. In his opinion, Grina was far less important than those over 10,000,000 gold coins.
After receiving the Dark Gold Magic Dragon Armor, Lin Li took a closer look at the mageweaths on it, and paid specific attention to the ones that resulted in the formation of the Domain Barrier. In his opinion, the mageweaths were still rather poorly made, and there was still plenty of room for improvement. Of course, that didn’t mean that he had suffered a loss. In fact, it was because Lin Li had been studying the Divine-Smith-level mageweath for such a long time that he could make such a critical judgment. Otherwise, the mageweath would have been perfect to him.
Those over 10,000,000 gold coins shouldn’t have gone to waste! Lin Li came to a conclusion after looking at the mageweath. He then put the armor into the Ring of Endless Storm before turning around to continue looking at the auction stage.
At this time, there was already another very eye-catching auction item on the auction stage, which was something rather large. It was a spherical item that was more than two meters high, but was not as clear as a crystal ball. Instead, the interior seemed to be a little cloudy. If one looked carefully, they would be able to see that the clouds in the sphere were moving continuously like the clouds in the sky.
“I reckon some of you must have already recognized the next auction item. In that case, I won’t keep you in suspense anymore. Indeed, this large crystal is precisely the Mirage Sphere of the Mirage Beast, which was a great ocean overload of the ancient times. The level of this Mirage Sphere is already close to the Sanctuary-level, and it can create a mirage as huge as Hopra City,” Grand Duke Vidi introduced the large Mirage Sphere behind him to the crowd on the stage with some excitement in his tone. Of course, he wasn’t exactly excited, but rather he just wanted to set the mood.
As expected, the crowd under the stage immediately had their interest piqued after hearing Grand Duke Vidi’s introduction. Some had heard of the prehistoric Mirage Beast, while some hadn’t. Hence, the exchange made the auction hall rather noisy all of a sudden.
It was said that in ancient times, there were countless powerful and terrifying existences in the Endless Ocean, just as there were countless prehistoric magical beasts in Anril. Some examples included the Nine-headed Sea Dragon, the prehistoric Barbarous Whale, and the Ancient Black Tortoise, which were all existences that were at the level of the ocean overlords. They were in fact superior to the ancient wyrms and Titans.
On the other hand, the prehistoric Mirage Beast was the overlord of the overlords at that time, and things like the Nine-headed Sea Dragons were just its food. It was said that the Mirage Beasts’ talent was to create an illusion out of thin air, which was impossible to escape. Anyone who got trapped in it would end up being devoured by the Mirage Beast. Besides, as the Mirage Beast continued to grow, the illusions it created would change too. The range of the area it enveloped would also change. The larger the range, the more confusing the illusion.
Once the Mirage Beast broke through to the Sanctuary-realm, the illusions it created would become real and even stronger than the Domain Worlds that Sanctuary Masters created. They would basically form the prototype of a Divine Kingdom. Like Sanctuary Masters in their respective Domain Worlds, the prehistoric Mirage Beasts were like gods in the illusions that they created, in which they could manipulate the laws at will.
At this stage, the illusion could no longer be called an illusion, because everything within it was real yet unreal. It was unreal because it was imagined by the Mirage Beast, but it was also real because it truly posed a lethal threat to the enemies. In their illusions, the Mirage Beasts could not only create powerful magical beasts, they could even create bizarre labyrinths and countless magic gears and magic traps that were beyond imaginable. It was all created from their imagination.
The Mirage Beasts’ power to create illusions was hidden in the Mirage Sphere. If someone could obtain a Mirage Sphere, they would be able to stimulate the power within it through some special means, and create an illusion according to their imagination. However, the power of the Mirage Sphere could no longer be increased, and the level of the illusion that could be created would be limited to the level of the sphere. It had nothing to do with the user. Hence, regardless of whether the user of a Legendary-level Mirage Sphere was at the Legendary-realm or Sanctuary-realm, the effect would be the same. The level of the illusion would remain unchanged.
According to Grand Duke Vidi, the Mirage Sphere that was being auctioned now was at the peak of the Legendary-level, and its power contained a hint of the Sanctuary-realm power. Most Mirage Beasts would be reaching adulthood at that level. After reaching the Sanctuary-realm, it would truly be an invincible existence.
However, even with just a trace of the power of the Sanctuary-realm, the illusion created by the Mirage Sphere would definitely have power that was not to be belittled. Perhaps the entire illusion was fake, but that trace of Sanctuary-level power could condense some truth that made it difficult to guard against.
Moreover, due to the fact that it was not created with a mageweath or array formations, breaking the illusion using some law was almost impossible. It could be said that such a Mirage Sphere was definitely the best item to use for guarding one’s residence. Even the best thieves in the world might not be able to leave the illusion.
Hence, after Grand Duke Vidi introduced the Mirage Sphere in detail, and announced the start of the bidding, the people in the hall immediately got into a bidding frenzy again. The starting price of the Mirage Sphere was 5,000,000 gold coins, but the crowd managed to increase it to 10,000,000 gold coins in the blink of an eye.
However, as the price increased, some people had no choice but to withdraw from the bidding. After all, more than 10,000,000 gold coins was not considered a small sum for the vast majority of people. According to the rate of the increase in price, the final transaction price of the Mirage Sphere should probably be at least 20-30 million gold coins.
Although the power of the Mirage Sphere was coveted by many, it wasn’t a must to get their hands on it for most people. After all, they had been living fine without the Mirage Sphere all these years. Simply put, the Mirage Sphere was the icing on the cake, and if one was wealthy, it would be fine to spend a large amount of money on it. However, there was no need to.
Soon, those who were still continuing to bid for the Mirage Sphere were those from the major Sea Clans. Apart from them, there were also the representatives of the three human kingdoms, the Ledin Kingdom, the Felan Kingdom, and the Rotterdam Kingdom. There was also Archbishop Englos of the Brilliance Shrine, who was likewise placing bids and pushing the price up.
“20,000,000 gold coins!” When the bidding began to cool down, the prince of the Thunder Eel Clan, Manson, finally placed a bid of 20,000,000 gold coins.
The frenzy began again, and the bidding that had slowed down a little began to get heated again. It increased all the way to 29,000,000 gold coins before slowing down again. Although there was only a small difference between 29,000,000 and 30,000,000, the guests at the auction couldn’t help but think about the consequences of paying over 30,000,000 gold coins.
That was the strange thing about human mentality. Each increment in price seemed to be a threshold to be crossed, and those who managed to cross it would have to compete with others until they reached the next threshold.
Hence, if one went past the 30,000,000 gold coin benchmark, they would basically have to consider if they could afford nearly 40,000,000 gold coins.
“This Mirage Sphere is actually so valuable. However, it’s just meant for the creation of an illusion. Even if it contained a trace of Sanctuary-level power, it wouldn’t cause much impact on the Sanctuary powerhouses,” Connoris said in disdain as he looked at those who kept raising their bids.
Indeed, just as Connoris said, the illusion created by the Mirage Sphere was just an illusion, and only when the sphere reached the Sanctuary-realm would everything in the illusion become real. Only then would it be a formidable, lethal weapon. It was just like the massive difference between a Legendary-mage and a Sanctuary Master.
Not to mention dealing with Sanctuary powerhouses, the illusion created by this Mirage Sphere would be far from enough to deal with Connoris. That trace of Sanctuary-level power would not be able to do the slightest damage to Connoris’ perfect body at all. The remaining illusions were not lethal, either, so Connoris would be able to break through easily.
However, Lin Li shook his head with a smile, and said, “Aren’t you usually quite smart? Why do you refuse to use your brain after you’ve gotten the perfect body? Look at these people who are bidding.”
Besides the overlords of the Endless Ocean, the ones who were bidding belonged to the three human kingdoms, which were very large forces in Anril. Of course, apart from them, others probably would not be able to afford tens of millions of gold coins.
Connoris looked at those people, only to realize that a few wealthy tycoons did not take part in the bidding for the Mirage Sphere. The few tycoons were not any less wealthy than the major Sea Clans and human kingdoms. In fact, legend had it that they were rich enough to afford an entire kingdom.
Clearly, the remaining ones who were still bidding were not doing so because of the price. In that case, it was because of the function of the Mirage Sphere. Connoris immediately figured out the reason, and said, “Indeed, that ability of the Mirage Sphere will come in pretty handy in war.”
Indeed, the illusion created by the Mirage Sphere could not pose a threat to Sanctuary powerhouses, but there weren’t that many Sanctuary powerhouses in this world.