The monthly auction here was clearly of a higher grade than the ones Beth and Blood had participated in before, and the first item was no exception. Likely hoping to get the crowd excited and whet everyone's appetite, the first piece was a level five hundred legendary necklace. It was a very impressive piece, especially considering the minimum level of five hundred, and even moreso when one realized how rare accessories were. Crafting them required a lot of skill, time, and experience, while they dropped more rarely than other pieces from Path-generated content. It was just a shame that Beth and Blood might never be in the market for necklaces, as they couldn't wear multiple necklaces together. It was similar with the even-rarer rings, which could be worn several to one hand, but having too many in close proximity was a recipe for disaster, as some who had tried to fill a hand with enchanted or magicked rings had learned the hard way.

After the necklace sold for an eye-watering ten mithril coins, the auction got started in earnest, with the crowd quite pumped. The trading firm really knew what they were doing, as well, as they intermixed smaller or less valuable lots in to give those on the first and second floors a chance at grabbing something. They maintained the momentum of the big items every few lots, keeping the bigger spenders engaged and interested, with a lot of jewelry appearing in this particular auction.

"Did they rob a jewelry store?" Blood muttered at one point.

"Maybe somebody specialized in it is trying to raise a bunch of money?" Beth replied, herself rather unsure.

"Too bad it's all stuff for way higher levels," Blood grumbled.

"Val did say there were ways to lower or dodge level requirements on items," Beth said.

"They're expensive as hell and they usually only get you between fifty and a hundred levels," Blood answered. "I looked them up the other day and you're not going to wear a level five hundred item at level two hundred, even with tons of money. If you saw something at level three hundred, you could buy it and get the requirement to two hundred, but it's not necessarily that big of a difference."

"Real shame, that," Beth replied with a shrug, turning back to watch the lots fly by.

The first half of the auction sped by, and Beth took some interest in a few items, but she didn't really care that much for any lot that came up. Blood took some interest in two items, but they weren't required things for her, and so she let them go after one or two bids. The standard halftime break came rather quickly, and Beth relaxed and poured a strong, and large, drink for herself. Blood simply made a beer appear from somewhere, her necklace most likely, and tore the cap off with just her index finger. They drank for half-an-hour while the intermission took place, Beth noting that several of the helpers for the auction were on the stage having some kind of discussion with Pierce. As the break came to a close he dismissed the helpers to backstage, waiting a minute before he called the room back to order.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, and my non-Determinant friends, have we got a treat for you!" Peirce boomed out. "We have here, acquired through great effort and expense, a singular item of unparalleled quality. A skill gem for your pleasure, and while it is only a single-use gem, it is an almost unheard-of find. Shall we bring it out and show you all?"

At the crowd's clamoring of approval and desire, one of the aforementioned assistants wheeled out the gem on a small plinth, moving it carefully into position and waiting for Pierce to continue. He didn't disappoint, boisterously speaking on the virtues of the gem and its unparalleled quality, saying, "What we have here is a rare treasure pulled from a lost world, something that appears once every few decades. We were holding it for the yearly auction, but the branch manager himself decided to make this our centerpiece, basing the rest of the auction around it. I don't have to tell many of you regulars, as well, that if this is our centerpiece, there will be even greater things in the finale.

"But enough beating around the bush, as it were. Let me reveal to you the gem now," he continued, gesturing to the assistant as he spoke. "This, my friends, is a single-use, tier seven skill gem. Not only that, it is for the extremely rare, extremely profound Heavenly Lightning, one of the most powerful attacking skills known to exist. There hasn't been a copy of this gem, in any form, for sale in more than two hundred years! Everyone, the bidding for this incomparable gem starts at a lowly one mithril coin, with increments of only ten diamond coins!"

This was, of course, an absolutely unnecessary minimum bid and increment level, which was proved as soon as Pierce finished speaking. The bids started flying at an unbelievable speed, the bidders trampling over each other to get their bids in as if the gem was just suddenly going to disappear. It was the fastest bid war Beth and Blood had yet seen, and she stayed well out of it, not wanting their booth to even make an appearance in such a war. The price shot up to ten mithril, then twenty, then rapidly to fifty, and it wasn't slowing at all. The open seating on the first floor was priced out immediately, and the balcony participants were priced out in but a handful of seconds. The third and fourth floors were in an all-out war, though, with the bid hitting an orichalcum so fast it was a bit mind-numbing.

They just sat and watched as the numbers continuously climbed for ten minutes, the bids only tapering off when the price was at one adamantine coin. It was far more money than Beth had seen thrown around at any time before that, though she did know Jaq had talked about Baelvyr's armor being worth multiple adamantine coins. The skill gem was apparently not quite as valuable as her mentor's armor, as it eventually settled on one adamantine and twenty orichalcum coins.

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The next dozen or so lots were valuable, but nothing like the skill gem, and Beth watched on with only mild interest. She did note a small lot of very rare gems that sold for a nosebleed price of twenty mithril, though they were only slightly better than some of the rubies she had managed to find with Blood and the others. The rest of the lots were rather uninspired and she largely just watched who bid on what and what seemed to draw the most interest out of the things that came up. Weapons and armor were always decently popular, but they didn't have the kind of draw that they might other places. The booming Wayfarer scene on-world meant there were just tons of smiths local who could make some amazing items at reasonable prices. That left more exotic equipment, like rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets to garner much more interest. There did appear to be quite a high demand for uncut gems currently, as the couple lots that came up during the course of the auction sold for exorbitantly high prices.

The auction always took a bit of time, but the moment finally came for the big finale. Pierce rather excitedly introduced the first of the items, a sword that required level one thousand to equip. Beth did the math in her head rather quickly, figuring out that if the changes to minimum and maximum level remained constant, somebody would need to have done at least forty rebirths to get to one thousand as their max level. If somebody wanted to get to one thousand and have that still not be max, they would need even more rebirths. Overall, it meant the first of the final items of the day was a sword that only a peak Ascended would even have a chance of using. This was also strictly the domain of the fourth-floor participants in the auction, as nobody on the third floor could use, or afford, the sword. The bidding was not as intense as for the skill gem, but a small war did take place, pushing the price to forty orichalcum before the fight ended and the sword was sold.

It was some measure of the wealth present just on this world as compared to even Luttraine, as the finale items of this monthly auction were truly breathtaking. The sword was followed by a ring that required level eight hundred and could triple the strength of any attack-type skill twice a day, as well as grant a ton of stat increases. The ring was then followed by a special type of gem that had been refined by an alchemist of at least the Sage level that had transformed it into an item that gave a five percent boost to all attributes. Such gems often had restrictions, such as only being able to use one of each kind of them once ever in one's life, but they were more than worth it. Someone who had five thousand or ten thousand in multiple stats right before a rebirth using the gem would be carrying over hundreds of extra points after the rebirth was done.

The gem was followed by the last and greatest piece for that month, a sphere very similar to the cube Beth had used to boost her skill to platinum while evolving it. This sphere, however, could boost a skill all the way up to orichalcum with no downsides, other than the time it would take the person to adjust to the new skill, which might happen if the skill was evolved when it upgraded a rank anyway. The sphere guaranteed two ranks of evolution all way up to platinum, while it would only have a chance if the skill it was applied to was diamond to upgrade it to orichalcum, with a much greater chance of upgrading it to mithril. The sphere was hotly contested by quite a few personages on the fourth floor, Beth remembering Azael saying that even getting skills to adamantine by the peak of Ascended was rare. An Ascended getting their hands on such an item and using it to upgrade a mithril skill directly into an orichalcum skill with a high chance of evolution would be of enormous value, and that showed in the final price of one adamantine and sixty orichalcum coins.

Beth and Blood rested for a moment before leaving, not wanting to get caught up in the initial rush of leaving the building with the crowd from the lower floors. It was as they were waiting that Azael showed up to ask them about how the auction went, saying, "I hope the auction today was to your liking?"

"It was, but we really didn't see anything that we needed at this point," Beth replied with a slight nod.

"That is a shame, but the yearly auction in a few weeks will be far larger, with far more on offer. I assume you will want to attend?" he asked.

"Of course, we'll be there. Is there a limit on when we can turn in items?" Beth asked.

"You have all the way until the day before the auction starts to turn items in to be placed on sale. I will warn you that the average value of the pieces for the yearly auction is extremely high; even items that would do well in the monthly auction might be outright rejected for the yearly auction," he said.

"Good to know. Speaking of turning in items, would you be interested in buying some stuff we have in bulk? Not for the auction, but you guys do flat purchases, right?" Beth continued with more questions.

"Certainly, we can arrange for that. Would you like to make the transaction now?" he asked.

"Yes, if you or someone has time," Beth replied in the affirmative.

"Of course. Follow me, please," Azael said. He led them out of the box on the third floor of the auction venue and through the complex to a room very similar to the one from last time, though Beth's senses and keen mind for direction told her it wasn't the exact same room.

"Now, what can I do for you?" Azael asked, making sure they were seated before sitting across the large, low table from them.

"Honestly, just a bunch of junk," Beth said with a slight shrug, causing Azael to raise an eyebrow. Beth gave a nod to Blood, and the two of them starting pulling out most of the 'junk' they had on hand. An awful lot of it was from the dungeons they had run as part of the competition, consisting mainly of weapons and armor of uncommon or rare rarities and ranging from level one hundred fifty to two hundred fifty. They didn't really need rare items at the two hundred fifty range as they had their epic armor sets as well as good weapons. Blood might never need a weapon, and Beth's sword and gauntlets were still more than good enough for her current needs.

Azael watched calmly as they filled the table from edge-to-edge with a vast assortment of equipment and consumables. They had gotten their hands on quite a few low- and mid-level potions and healing pills, most of which they didn't really need. They kept several copies of the best of the lot in their necklaces, but they formed a small mountain of lower-grade consumables on one side of the table.

"Let me call in two of the younger appraisers to assist me with this. It will be valuable experience for them," Azael said, leaning back and making a steaming cup of tea appear in his hand. "Would you care for refreshments?"

"I'm fine," Beth said with a slight shake of her head.

"Can I smoke in here?" Blood asked.

"I would ask that you refrain, more from concern of tainting the consumables. Even stored in containers, some of them can be…delicate," Azael said with a very slight frown.

"Then I'm fine," Blood grumbled, making a beer appear before snapping the top off with her thumb.

They waited for just under two minutes, Azael more than content to sip his fragrant tea in silence, before there was a hasty knocking at the door. At Azael's command to enter, the door was quickly flung wide as two young women practically fell over themselves to enter the room. They were brought up short right after entering, though Beth wasn't sure if that was from Azael's single impeccably arched eyebrow, the huge pile of loot on the table, or the presence of Beth and Blood as customers, watching them with slightly bemused looks. The two young women straightened up immediately and not-so-subtly brushed their clothes off, giving proper greetings and bows to Azael before greeting and bowing to Beth and Blood, though they didn't use their names. The tall man seemed content to take another sip of his tea and leave his brow perfectly arched, staring at the two women and letting them stew for a minute while he considered them. Beth had to hide a huge grin as the two started fidgeting almost immediately, the second into the room casting her gaze down to avoid Azael's stare while the first woman's eyes didn't seem to know where to land, darting between Azael and Beth and the pile of items on the table.

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