The Path of Ascension 8: A LitRPG Adventure

24

In the enchanting area, the number of databases for sale was staggering, covering fields as disparate as civil engineering and veterinary care. She added a number of Tier 15 and under rune catalogs to her slate of things to get for Matt, but her attention was drawn to some of the Sect modification scrolls that somehow hadn’t been bought out by the Sects themselves. That was quite the find, and she homed in on a scroll for modifying [Analyze] before bringing it up to the merchant with the cybernetic eyes.

April listened patiently as the woman talked about how the scroll would describe how to modify [Analyze] into an enchanting workhorse, giving incredible detail on the mana flows within an object, but she had to prevent herself from cackling as the merchant continued to say how the first stage of the modification would drastically increase the maximum cost to nearly nine thousand mana per use. Yes, for a normal enchanter, that was quite the drawback, but she happened to know someone who wouldn’t mind that tradeoff. Keeping her face steady, she haggled the woman down to throwing in a few enchanting skills at a discounted price to make up for the shortcomings of the skill modification, before finalizing the deal and walking out feeling like a bandit.

Her next few stops were uneventful, and she was able to translate a portion of her remaining credits into a variety of skills and tools for potions, cooking, and resource collection. Nothing terribly exciting, but the suite of skills would give them a better basis for taking their crafts to the next level.

With that taken care of, April made her way to the main auction room. Unlike most of the auxiliary auction rooms, which she’d been visiting throughout her time at the moon, this one was reserved for the biggest-ticket items, was held once every three months, and always had the best stuff. Fortunately, most of her auctioned items had either already sold or were slated to appear during this auction.

That latter data point earned a smile from her, and she opened up the ‘Review Me’ page of the auctioneer she’d hired and gave him a five-pointed star. She had plenty of money, and most of her shopping was already done.

If there was anything excellent for her charges, she’d be able to afford it.

She settled into the auction floor, finding a booth toward the middle of the rows of chairs. Strolling onto the stage was a man wearing a shiny silver bodysuit with the MinkallAuctions logo on each arm and on his chest, like some kind of parody of the Guild woman seated next to her.

“Goooood evening, ladies and gentlemen, noble beasts, and mighty dwarves! I am Erik Voltax, and I will be your presenter and auctioneer for this auction, brought to you by MinkallAuctions: your one stop shop for the grandest treasures the Forge has to offer! We have a wonderful selection of items for you this month, courtesy of the first waves of delvers emerging victorious from the depths of Minkalla! If you haven’t already been able to download the bulletin for today’s auction, please see an attendant! They will be happy to help you with any problems you may have. As always, we ask that you restrict your sphere of awareness to just your booths. A full, detailed breakdown for every item on sale is linked through your bulletin, and if you have any concerns about the veracity of the items you purchase here today, please contact the customer support line, whose contact information may also be found in the bulletin. And just as a reminder, all bids are final and you will be expected to settle your bill before leaving. As a courtesy notice, our lovely neighbors are often surprised at the conversion rates we offer for foreign currency, and we encourage you to check them and ensure you possess sufficient Corporation Credits before placing your bid. For more details, see our customer disclaimer which can, once again, be found linked to the auction bulletin.”

With a clap, the lights around them cut off—pure showmanship, as anyone here and with the funds to buy anything would be able to see in the dark as though it were bright sunlight—and spotlights illuminated the stage as a podium rose from the ground.

“We will begin our auction tonight with a Tier 14 void bracer, capable of sending out a Void Bubble Shield, currently cataloged as [Bubble Shield NM8-FF-CVZ1079]. It’s mana hungry but serves as a nigh-impenetrable shield around the caster. Bidding will begin at one megacredit. Perfect if you have a loved one thinking about heading into Minkalla in the near future.”

It wasn’t useful to her, so April leaned back and watched the opening bids fly. Nothing appealed to her that much in this first wave of items, as they were all Tier 14 items primarily aimed at incoming teams trying to get the best gear they could before entering Minkalla, but it was still useful to gauge the mood of the crowd.

It didn’t take long before her first item for sale here appeared onstage, a Tier 14 mace with an extension enchantment on the haft that could extend out to a full seven meters, and an enchantment that empowered any metal-aspected skills cast through the weapon by thirty percent, or twice that if they were also delivered by the weapon.

She had other items that came through and were sold, each adding a tidy sum to her credit account, but it wasn’t until the natural treasures started coming out that she really started paying attention again. The first item on the docket was certainly starting off strong and sent murmurs through the crowd despite the muffling enchantments liberally lining the booths.

A Leaf of Eternity.

The natural treasure was one that could grant the digester an extra two thousand years of lifespan and represented a chance for many of the desperates to avoid Minkalla altogether by outright tripling their lifespan.

The bids eventually settled on a truly astronomical number, well beyond her total proceeds thus far. Her own natural treasures didn’t sell for nearly as much when they came up, though the Deep Prismatic Agate was a clear forerunner in that respect. It single-handedly managed to cover the cost of any two or even three of the natural treasures she’d bought earlier.

Eventually, the growth items took the stage. There were a couple clearly from Minkalla, sitting at Tier 14 already, but most were imports from outside the system, as seen by their lower starting Tiers. They were ready for bonding to either rich delvers who just exited, or rich delvers who wanted to place a finger on the scales of fate and choose at least one item they could take into the depths with them.

The first promising item was a chain mail shirt that increased the power of all elemental transformation skills—[Body], [Form], and [Spirit]—and while the price swiftly grew past what April was willing to pay, now she was on the hunt.

A growth shield that could be mentally controlled as though affected by an animation spell caught April’s eye, and she put in a few eager bids before calming herself. Liz had used a shield toward the end of Minkalla, yes, but that was in large part due to her missing arm, and April didn’t want to affect the girl’s fighting style in such a dramatic way as to introduce an entirely new tool to her arsenal. Fortunately, she was quickly outbid by a green-bearded dwarf and so didn’t need to deal with Luna’s displeasure at bringing back an ill-suited growth item.