Five days of that, which was really fifty days, saw them exceeding even Beth's expectations. They hadn't slowed down at all during that time, and had fought up even higher levels until after they hit level one hundred. Even then, they were level one hundred fighting level one hundred eighty or one hundred eighty-five beasts, which still saw their leveling on a rocket pace. When they were done with fifty days of battling, they had both hit level one hundred and seventy. They certainly could have done even more, but they wanted a bit of time to rest and relax before the auction, and they also needed to consign their items for sale.

That was the first thing they took care of after they had rested in the suite for a bit and cooked some food. They headed over to the Seven Lights firm in the late afternoon to take care of their item consignment. One of the nice things about working with the same people multiple times was the quick recognition, as they didn't even have to present their badge before one of the desk workers summoned Azael. He greeted them warmly before leading them back to a negotiation room.

"What can we do for you today?" he asked after they were seated.

"We'd like to consign something for the yearly auction," Beth said. "I hope we can count on your discretion for this."

"Our customer's privacy and business secrets are a top priority of the firm. You can be assured that nothing about your items or any other information will leave our firm, to the point that I will assure you I will personally handle everything about your items to keep the information contained," he said seriously.

"Then we'd like to put these up for sale. I'd suggest doing a single lot, but you guys are by far the experts," Beth said, retrieving the devil essences.

"Ah. Based on your levels, and this, I believe I understand your concerns," he said.

"Glad you catch on quick," Blood muttered, Beth thumping her on her quite voluminous chest with the back of her left hand for being rude.

"We will handle the apportionment of the lot," Azael said calmly, inspecting the pile of devil essence before making them disappear. "I believe you will be making quite a lot of money from this. I explained before that these are extremely rare and valuable; couple that with the frenzy the yearly auction will bring about and you stand to make an enormous profit. Do you know our rules on credit and bidding?"

"We're aware," Beth replied with a nod. "I don't know that we even need anything right now, but we'll definitely bid within our means."

"Is there anything else you need to consign for this auction?" Azael asked them.

"No. We're looking forward to participating and hopefully making a lot of money," Beth said.

"No need to fear that. Unless, of course, something pricey catches your eye," Azael said. "Is there anything else for today?"

"No, we're all good," Beth said, standing as she said so.

"Remember, the auction is the day after tomorrow and starts at nine in the morning local time," Azael said as he led them out.

"Gotcha," Beth said before they arrived at the lobby.

"There may be a line, so I would get here a little early."

"Will do," Beth said before she and Blood left the building.

They returned to the CRA and just…did nothing. Beth was starting on their break a bit earlier then she had thought and didn't even stop by the forge, let alone go up and fight on the arena floor. They passed the rest of the day, and the night, and the next day, and even the next night before getting up early on the third day. It was auction time and they were determined to be there in time to ensure they had a booth and didn't have to sit on the balcony or anything like that.

They wore their CRA clothes and their armor, and arrived just a bit after dawn, finding a few people in the Seven Lights lobby other than the workers at the counter. The people who were there were in fancy clothes, but nobody batted an eye at Beth and Blood in their armor. It wasn't at all passé to show up in combat gear even to somewhere fancy, especially since a lot of combat gear was also rather nice-looking as well. The armor that they were wearing right now, the level one hundred armor they had bought from Jaq, was silver and blue-steel in color, and they wore dark masks that covered their faces. Anybody that was there with a high rarity badge would be able to see that Beth and Blood had done three rebirths at this point, seeing that they weren't just some nobodies. The people who would be on the first floor wouldn't be able to see through Beth, but they would still know she was someone important when she showed her emerald badge to the desk attendants and got the VIP treatment.

That treatment, including being personally escorted to a third-floor booth by a senior member of the firm, had people stepping out of the way and watching on with envy. Azael took them to their booth and made sure there was nothing they needed over what was there before leaving them. There was still some time before the start of the auction and Beth had a huge cup of hunting spice while Blood opted for a bottle of beer. Beth would say something about drinking that early in the morning…if she actually saw a problem with it, and wasn't well-used to it from Baelvyr.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The floor seats filled quite quickly, the lower-ranked members wanting to get in and get a good seat, or a seat at all, before the venue was full. The balconies on the second floor also filled extremely quickly, even though there was still plenty of time before the start, as those were still members below emerald without the qualifications for a private box. Beth had no insight into the other third floor boxes or the fourth floor, but she suspected there were quite a few people waiting on those floors already. The real concern was how many people were up on the fourth floor and just how greedy their appetites were today. She doubted there would be anything small in today's auction, with no bones being thrown to the first two floors to satisfy them, everything would likely be fought over by the third and fourth floor.

When Beth was on her second cup of hunting spice the auctioneer appeared on stage, Pierce not calling the place to order just yet but helping to get things ready. His appearance did signal that the start was quite close, and only ten minutes after he stepped out he started with his usual brisk clap, getting the entire venue's attention. Everyone quieted down instantly, many leaning forward in their seats even before he started speaking, unable to contain their excitement. Blood was already on her third beer and didn't perk up at Pierce's appearance, slouched back in her seat and observing through hooded eyes; Beth had already had to remind her they didn't know what kind of observation the booths were under and she really should keep her clothes on.

"Our honorable and loyal trading firm members and partners, I welcome you to the annual auction!" Pierce began when the room was silent. "For those of you just joining us for the first time, or unfamiliar with our format, allow me to briefly explain. We will be hosting this auction concurrently throughout every trading firm we own, just as the monthly auction is hosted, but the finale items will be universal, offered throughout every firm at the same time, allowing those of you without access to our prestigious fourth floor to view and even bid on such items. The items will be delivered to you, at no additional cost, despite where they may be currently held, even if that were on the other side of the galaxy! With that basic introduction out of the way, what say you all that we get the bids started?"

The crowd response was enthusiastic and Beth had to admit, Pierce was a consummate professional. He wore a wide smile and both that and his natural body language appeared open and genial, inviting and at the same time excited. If it was an act he was putting on and he found the duty onerous in any way, one simply couldn't tell from listening to his speech or watching his body language. With a gesture, the first item appeared from the side of the stage, carried by two attendants on a small tray and covered with a cloth. They set the tray on a table beside Pierce with relieved sighs as he started explaining the item.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, and my non-determinant friends, the first item we have for you today is rather special. As an interesting and intriguing opening, we have brought out an unidentified item for you. But wait, I can hear you exclaim, why is the item in such a state and why would we be interested in it? Let me explain! This item contains a mysterious power, one that I am sure you will be able to feel once it is revealed. On top of that, despite its small size and relatively plain appearance, it carries immense weight. I do not mean to disparage my companions, but there is certainly a reason it took two of them to carry it onto the stage, and that reason doesn't even include low STR stats, let me tell you! Now, I will show you the item and then we can discuss the bids, yes?"

Pierce stepped over to the table and pulled the cloth off with a flourish, revealing a dark gray stone that was almost black. It was a cube not a whole lot bigger than if Beth curled both her hands into fists and held them together. Upon closer inspection, there was a single symbol or glyph carved into each face of the cube, though Beth didn't recognize any of the ones visible from the third floor. She used her eye powers on it to try to get any more information and she could tell that many others, particularly on the third and fourth floor, were doing the exact same as she could feel the weight of all the gazes and strength of the mana moved despite not being at or near the focus. Unfortunately, it seemed that her powers weren't any more special than whatever the trading firm had used that was unable to get any information on the object as she got nothing but question marks back.

???????? ??????????

{???????????????????????

???????????

??

??????????}

It was quite a few question marks, which might be significant, but it didn't really tell her anything at all. The name was all question marks and showed up as white, which raised a bit of an interesting question; was the item of the common rarity, or was her eye power so low that she couldn't even get the question marks the proper color? She thought about that as Pierce gave everyone a few more moments to inspect the strange item and ponder over it. She could palpably feel the use of power in the air reach a peak and then sharply decline as even the fourth-floor guests tried their hands at seeing what the item was. None of it worked that she could tell, if the discontent mutters coming from all the way up through the third floor were anything to go by.

"Yes, yes, esteemed guests, it is a real mystery, is it not? Now, we understand this piece is a bit vexing, and the woman who discovered it only asked for us to set a reasonable bid. We found the background of the piece, which was found in the remains of a dead star, quite intriguing, so we decided it would be a fun opener for the annual auction. Our starting price is five diamond coins and the minimum bid is twenty-five platinum coins. Would anyone like to start our bidding?"

The piece certainly had intrigued a few people, maybe even more than the Seven Lights auction organizers thought, as bids rolled in. They weren't massive bids, but the price rose by diamond coins rather quickly, though it already slowed when it hit the mithril coin price. Bids continued to trickle in for a minute, and Beth was tempted to put in an offer, but she thought they still had too much random crap on their hands as it was. She didn't want to go spending mithril coins on something they had no use for and couldn't even Identify. The cube eventually sold to someone on the third floor for only a few diamond coins more than a mithril coin, and the two attendants had to come back out to carry the tray off the stage.

The next few items weren't anything Beth or Blood were interested in, but they showed just what level the yearly auction was at. That opening was a way to ease into things with a bit of a lower-valued and strange bid, but considering that 'low value' bid was over a mithril coin, that also set the tone. The second item was a sword that could practically match the level one thousand sword from the previous monthly auction, while the third item was an extremely rare tier six skill, though it was a one-time use crystal. Even so, that crystal went for almost as much as the tier seven skill from the auction the month before. Beth had already gotten the idea by that point, seeing that every piece or lot at this auction would be extremely high on the value scale.

Items rolled by, either out of their price range or of no interest, until just before the first of two intermissions. This lot was of interest to them, not because they needed or even wanted it, but because it was theirs. Beth was also quite happy with how much Pierce talked it up, despite it only being a handful of materials, before doing a big reveal. She had to say, the man had quite a talent for the stage and the auction, and he got the crowd quite excited for something Beth considered rather plain. Then again, maybe her perceptions were rather skewed because of the ease they had in acquiring the material, as the crowd absolutely exploded at a lot of thirteen devil essence being sold together. Pierce had asked for a staggering minimum bid of fifteen mithril coins and Beth had been nervous for all of one second as he was explaining the bid, but she really needn't have worried. As soon as Pierce was done talking, the crowd went totally insane, throwing out bid after bid, ramping up the price by one or two mithril coins at a time. Even the second floor had participated at first, showing that the desire for the item was enough to get people to bid all they had on it, as Beth doubted a second-floor patron would have much more than fifteen or twenty mithril at very most.

Beth just sat back in the quite comfy chair, her grin growing ever wider as the price climbed ever higher. Twenty mithril. Twenty-five mithril. Thirty mithril. The bids were frenetic for a very long time before slowing, but that just let the big players step onto the field in full force. Devil essence was far more valuable, and in far more demand, then Beth had really understood. The fourth-floor players started ramping the price, hurtling towards an orichalcum coin at a rapid pace. Not only did it approach an orichalcum coin, it breached it before even the fourth-floor reached their limit, the bid slowing at one orichalcum and ten mithril. It didn't fully stop there, but continued to one orichalcum and fifteen mithril before nobody else was interested. Beth was practically cackling with glee in their booth, having seen their wealth increase by almost fifty percent in the span of a few minutes.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.