Chapter 1238: Finale
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As it was almost useless to outsiders, it was natural for the tears not to be circulated in the market. Hence, it was impossible for Prince Cleve to come up with an appropriate price according to its value in the market. But, just like what Prince Cleve had shared, as the tears could not be manufactured readily, pricing them at 50,000 gold coins per drop was a reasonable move.
In fact, to Lin Li, the price of 50,000 gold coins for every drop of tear was too cheap for a life-changing potion like the Divine Revelation Potion. According to its recipe, every bottle of the potion would require three drops of Siren’s Tears. Together with the other ingredients, its cost would not exceed 300,000 gold coins.
To the general public, 300,000 gold coins was considered a very large number, yet it was nothing compared to the financial strength of the Tower of Dusk. Moreover, not to mention the cost of 300,000 gold coins, a million gold coins would not have been able to match the true value of a disruption to natural order.
“Okay, deal!” Lin Li agreed to the partnership without hesitation. After all, they were still at an auction. There wouldn’t be a need for the partnership if the auction were to end before that. Furthermore, he did not have a bad impression of the Sirens. Who knew if they would have other forms of partnerships in the future? There was no need to be too calculative at this time.
Prince Cleve naturally felt pleased by Lin Li’s swift agreement. He took out a blank contract to detail the deal. After all, he was here to participate in the auction, and did not have many Siren’s Tears with him now, so he could only sign a contract first.
“President Felic, I wonder how much money you are willing to lend me?” asked Prince Cleve after he signed the contract.
Right now, no one could figure out how much external aid Grina’s side had with him. Therefore, Prince Cleve wanted to clarify in case he might need to seek help from more people. Lin Li’s support would definitely make it easier for him to seek more help later on.
Lin Li did not respond to Prince Cleve directly. Instead, he turned towards the auction table and raised the sign in his hand. “350,000,000 gold coins!” he said.
His voice put the crowd in a shock, for no one had expected the new bid to not only break the 300,000,000 mark, but at an extra value of 50,000,000 gold coins. What was even more unbelievable was whom the voice belonged to. It was not from a force with huge status, but from a small force that no one knew.
Grina, who had been feeling a sense of victory, nearly spurted a mouthful of blood after he heard the bid quoted by Lin Li. Although he had the support from the Sea Serpents, their total funds could definitely not reach 350,000,000 gold coins. What else could he use to bid for the heart?
Do I need to approach other forces for support? wondered Grina. Yet, deep inside he knew that it was too late to do so. None of those forces would have the ability to offer so much money as well. Even if he were to approach the other overlords, he would never find a force like the Sea Serpents who would be willing to help. After all, they were in constant competition with one another. Unlike the Sea Serpents, they would definitely not allow the Giant Shark Clan to make use of them so easily.
“350,000,000 gold coins from President Felic from the Tower of Dusk! Anyone else?” asked Grand Duke Vidi fervently as though he was on drugs.
This was when Grina realized whom the new offer was from. He peeled his window and stuck the upper half of his body out of his compartment anxiously. “Impossible! How can he afford to pay 350,000,000 gold coins? I demand that the auction organizers verify his funds!” Grina shouted at Grand Duke Vidi.
Grina’s shouting immediately enlivened the crowd at the auction. To them, the Tower of Dusk was a mere force from the Breezy Plains. None of them had heard of its name before this. And 350,000,000 gold coins was not a small sum. Even though it was a premium auction for the wealthy, there was a high chance for the combined sum of all their wealth to fall short of the amount.
In fact, the participants were not the only ones who were doubting Lin Li’s credibility. Grand Duke Vidi was feeling skeptical as well.
At the same time, Prince Cleve was also dumbfounded by Lin Li’s approach. Didn’t they reach mutual agreement to exchange the Siren’s Tears with funding from the Tower of Dusk? Why did the Tower raise their own sign to bid 350,000,000 gold coins? “President Felic, what are you doing?” Prince Cleve asked in a daze.
Lin Li saw through Prince Cleve’s worry. “Your Highness, there is no need to be anxious. I know you wanted the Heart of All Evil, but I am not sure how much money I need to defeat Grina. So, I decided to take the Heart down once and for all. You can pay whatever you can in gold coins, and can cover the rest in exchange for the Siren’s Tears. Doesn’t this save us a lot of time?” he replied with a smile.
Prince Cleve sighed in relief after hearing Lin Li’s explanation. He was relieved to know that Lin Li did not have the intention to take the Heart of All Evil for himself.
“President Felic?” There was a call outside the cabin.
Lin Li raised his arm to open the door with an invisible force. If it was a guest like Prince Cleve, Lin Li would definitely not have opened the door in such a rude way. Hearing Grina’s shouting amidst the loud discussion among the other participants, Lin Li naturally knew what the visitor wanted to do.
The voice outside the door belonged to one of the people in charge of the auction, and he was here to verify if Lin Li had enough funds to claim the Heart. He was about to enter the cabin when he caught a glimpse of Prince Cleve from the Siren Clan in it. Instantly, he had a clearer understanding of the situation.
However, since he was here, he knew he needed to go through the motions. After greeting Lin Li and Prince Cleve, the person in charge came close to Lin Li. “President Felic, I am Frank, one of the people in charge of the auction. As the bid is too large, we need to verify the funds you hold. I hope you understand,” he requested politely.
“Hold up, are you doubting our credibility?” asked Prince Cleve defensively. He knew that Lin Li was helping himself to claim the Heart of All Evil. How could he let Lin Li be subjected to such accusations?
Immediately, Frank broke out in a cold sweat. Now, he was 100 percent sure of the partnership between the Siren Clan and the Tower of Dusk. If it was only the Tower of Dusk, he could have used the rules of the auction to back his request for the fund verification. The involvement of the Sirens made it tricky to do so.
Frank bowed hastily while he wiped the sweat off his face. “It’s a misunderstanding, Prince Cleve! I’m just going through the motions. How could we not trust your credibility? I’ll return now!”
Frank did not dare to stay any longer. After saying a few words of apology, he sped out from the compartment without looking back, and relayed the information to Grand Duke Vidi, who naturally had nothing to say. While it did not sound easy to produce 350,000,000 gold coins despite their partnership, no one dared to doubt their credibility.
Grand Duke Vidi gestured to everyone to remain silent as he walked back up the stage. “It has been verified. The president of the Tower of Dusk, Felic, is fully qualified to participate in the auction. Thus, we will continue with the auction for the Heart of All Evil! The latest bid is 350,000,000 gold coins, does anyone have a higher price to offer?”
Vidi’s words sent the crowd into an immediate silence. Grina was extremely furious. The calmness of the Sirens at Vidi’s announcement could only mean one thing—they had partnered up with the Tower of Dusk. Grina could not believe that his efforts had all gone down the drain.
Bam! The wooden hammer Vidi’s hand landed heavily on the table. “Congratulations to President Felic of the Tower of Dusk. You have won the bidding for the Heart of All Evil with a price of 350,000,000 gold coins!” he announced loudly.
Very quickly, the Heart of All Evil was transported to Lin Li’s compartment. While it was Prince Cleve who proposed to leave the heart with Lin Li until he retrieved enough Siren’s Tears to exchange for it, his proposal was rejected by Lin Li, who had already formed a good impression of him. Lin Li let Cleve directly return to his room with the Heart of All Evil.
Prince Cleve was naturally grateful for Lin Li’s gesture. In addition to promising to deliver the Siren’s Tears as soon as possible, he also expressed his desire for further cooperation with the Tower of Dusk.
At this point, it felt like the auction had ended. Just when the crowd was prepared to leave, Grand Duke Vidi let his men bring another item up the stage, and hooked the curiosity of the crowd once again. How could the Heart of All Evil that was worth 350,000,000 gold coins not be the finale of the auction? May there be anything better than the Heart?
However, their curiosity soon dissipated with the Grand Duke’s announcement. If not for Vidi, they would have left the scene.
“The next to be auctioned is from the Tower of Dusk—a magic scroll created by President Felic!” Grand Duke Vidi announced the origin of the item loudly. With that, the venue burst into a cacophony of noises.
There might be greater excitement if it was an item which Lin Li had brought to the auction. That was because it might mean that it was a work of some Guru of Inscription from the ancient era. The knowledge that it was created by President Felic did not help to sustain the audience’s interest at all. They were already certain that the magic scroll was not something of value without even looking at it.
Everyone knew that no one in the whole of Anril would be able to compare to the Octopus Clan in their expertise in magic scrolls. There would probably be some interest in the item if it was from the Octopus Clan. No one believed that a young human being could have a potential comparable to the Octopus Clan, however.
In the royal compartment, Bradlor from the Gilded Kingdom was equally confused. “What’s going on? Didn’t that stubborn Vidi say he would never leave that for the finale?” he asked as he turned to look at Prince Monterey.
Initially, Bradlor was expecting Lin Li’s magic scroll to appear before the Heart of All Evil. Seeing that it hadn’t appeared before that, he’d thought Vidi had decided against featuring it at the auction. Fortunately, he had tried to please Lin Li with Heldanos’s artwork earlier. If not, this item would definitely send him into a great dilemma. He did not expect such a huge twist at the end.
Monterey was full of confusion as well. “Your Majesty, I am bewildered too. I remember Grand Duke Vidi being very firm in his response. Did he change his mind? I don’t think he would want to leave the scroll to the finale to mock Felic!?” he replied dumbfoundedly.
Prince Monterey’s last words jolted the thoughts of Bradlor as both of them glanced at each other knowingly. It would not matter if the scroll was left out of the auction, as Gilded Kingdom had already tried to show their friendliness through Heldanos’ artwork. They were worried that Grand Duke Vidi wanted to settle his personal grudge by mocking Lin Li with the scroll.
Moreover, this was not unwarranted speculation. The out-of-the-world bidding for the Heart of All Evil made no other item in the auction suitable to be placed in the finale. Not to mention the ultimate value of the scroll, it was suspicious for anyone to bring the scroll out at such a timing.
However, it was impossible for Bradlor to prevent it from happening. The item had been placed on stage. It was a reality that the scroll had become the finale of the auction. Bradlor really hated this thought. He really had the urge to hand Grand Duke Vidi and give him a whipping. How could the grand duke go back on his words with such an unforgivable act?
Grand Duke Vidi really felt unjust when he heard the heated discussions and sensed the blatant accusations of his character. Who would have thought that no inscriber had the ability to decipher the power of such an ordinary-looking magic scroll? He even had to let people bring the scroll out to a special space for a test trial. It was only a while ago that the testers returned with an unbelievable report regarding the scroll.