The next two pills were introduced one after another with no gap in between.
Since the two pills were essentially the same, there was no point in introducing them separately.
"It's a shame really," Alex said, looking at the auctioneer presenting his pills. "I can't see or hear people's excitement from here. That is quite disappointing."
"Is it?" Yao Ning couldn't help but ask. "Don't you just like showing off?"
"Of course not," Alex said quickly. "I just like hearing people say nice things about my work." He smiled a little.
The two elders chuckled a little and looked back at the screen where the auction owner's daughter had stopped to let the guests process what they were about to buy.
She waited for a moment and spoke again. "Yes, you all heard it correctly. This pill does in fact improve the Spiritual root of those who eat it. It was created by the same person who created the previous pill that could give you a new spiritual root, so there shouldn't be any doubt that there is a pill out there that can improve it as well, right?"
She smiled and looked around as if looking at everyone. She waited for a moment or two before speaking again, where she started explaining the importance of a strong spiritual root for anyone that might yet be unaware.
Once she was done, she moved on to the actual bidding.
"First, we will be selling the Earth pill," she said. "To start, the bidding will start at 10 thousand Saint Spirit stones. As for how much you must increase it by, there is no lower limit here at all. You can increase it by however much you desire."
"Please begin."
As soon as she said that, the bidding took off. The numbers jumped from 10 thousand to 20 thousand, and then from 20 thousand to 30 thousand in an instant.
In the time it took for one to blink, it increased to 40 thousand and a second later it had crossed 50 thousand.
Everyone had known that the price of the pill was going to be expensive. As for how expensive, they were testing the waters slowly.
The price of the pill increased by another 10 thousand in just a few more seconds and before anyone knew it, it crossed 70 thousand as well.
Alex watched as the numbers flickered through and easily crossed what the Dao pill had brought him.
"Amazing," Liang Shufen couldn't help but say. "So much money. A single pill from here is going to be enough for an entire month's worth of finances for raising our army."
"That's true," Alex said. Even though the cost of raising an army had reduced by an incredible amount after having alchemists and other production houses that work solely for the army, it still cost them quite a bit with the increase in the number of soldiers.
Now, a single pill that was being sold was enough to earn as much as the army's resources for an entire month. That was quite something.
"And it's still going up," Yao Ning mentioned, looking at the cost as it quickly crossed 80 thousand. It improved even more, increasing slowly but erratically.
Due to the way the bidding had no rules, people were placing as many bids as they wanted to which didn't make the numbers look very fun to look at.
82485
83221
85450
86548
89403
90451
When it finally crossed the 90 thousand range, it started slowing down and the numbers changed less frequently.
Alex and the rest watched as the changes dropped even more around 95 thousand and started to improve only once in a while.
The amount was so high that it would take a while for the bidding to come to an end, so people had time to bid more.
The numbers grew still, but each time it did so, Alex and the others believed it would be the last time.
"97643. Just a little more and we'll reach 100 thousand," Elder Liang said. "Just a little more." She was more excited about the whole thing than Alex was.
As the number continued to grow, Alex felt something in his storage space vibrate. He quickly looked inside and pulled out a talisman.
It was the Emerald King.
"Your majesty, this is your pill, correct?" he asked Alex. "I wish to buy it, but I'm running out of money. Would you mind lending me some?"
Alex was a bit surprised at the message. "It is indeed mine," he said. "I'm surprised you came to me for money. Why not the Crown Prince or the other kings?"
"Because you are the only one right now that isn't bidding on the pill at all," the man said. "You are the only one I can ask."
Alex chuckled a little. "I'm trying to save for the final treasure, though," he said. "Do you have any suggestions?"
"How much do you have?" the man asked.
Alex looked at his elder and asked how much they had. After getting the number, he couldn't help but feel a little bad.
"Close to 70 thousand," he said. "I thought I was saving a lot, but I never realized how high it could go."
"With that amount, I doubt you could get the next item at all, your majesty," the Emerald King said.
Alex couldn't help but nod. "In that case, would you mind lending me your money instead?" he asked. "I might end up needing it now."
"My money?" the man looked at the screen at the growing number that reached so close to 100 thousand."
"I don't have much, your Majesty," he said. "I'm already taking money from the Silver Queen, who doesn't need either of the next two pills. I myself only have about 60 thousand."
Alex thought for a bit. "How about this?" he said. "Don't bid anymore, and instead I will sell you the pill for 50 thousand Saint Spirit stones instead."
"Really?" the excited voice of the Emerald King came through the talisman. "Thank you, your majesty. I will hand over the 50 thousand right now."
Alex nodded. "Thank you," he said and put the talisman back before looking up at the screen.
"What was that about?" Elder Yao asked.
"I got myself an additional 50 thousand Saint Spirit stones. We now have 120 thousand for the next item that will come up."
"Oh!" the Elder couldn't help but be surprised. "Great! I think we'll definitely need it, maybe even more."
"More?" Alex was surprised. "Just what is being auctioned— No, don't tell me."
He looked back at the pill that was being sold and looked forward to seeing where it went from there.
As if gaining new life, the bidding jumped, crossing 100 thousand in an instead. The number changed again, going up to 101 thousand.
"They're dealing in thousands now," Alex observed. "I wonder if they got financial help from somewhere."
"Either that, or they decided that they weren't going to buy the next two items," Elder Yao said. "A few people definitely made a bit of compromise here."
"I think so too," Elder Liang said as she excitedly watched the numbers go up even more.
103
104
105
106
107
The climb was slow but consistent, it only slowed down when it reached 110 thousand. Then, the climb became a little more infrequent.
It increased a few more times, arriving at 120 where the waiting between the bidding got atrociously long.
People had to wait for a whole minute before 120 changed to 121. Then a while later, it went up to 122.
No one knew when it was going to stop at all now. As it increased so slowly.
123 came and people waited for more. When it looked like that was going to be the last one, it changed to 124.
That made the next wait even more excruciatingly long. However, it still changed to 125.
The wait after 125 was just as long, if not longer, making everyone believe that it was the last one, but not being able to confirm that.
In the end, it turned out it was indeed the final bid as the pill sold for 125 thousand Saint Spirit Stones.
Alex's eyes were wide in surprise by the end. He had never expected his pills to sell for so much. This was an incredible amount of money.
And he could only imagine what the next one was going to be sold for.
The next one was the Water pill, which had a different set of people that had waited for it when the Earth pill was being sold.
This had a different set of buyers and as a result, the bidding war for this one was quite a lot as well.
In the end, after nearly 30 minutes of bidding, the pill ended up getting sold for 128 thousand Saint Spirit stones.
That was another incredible number that surprised Alex. In total, just two of his pills had made over 250 thousand Saint Spirit stones.
If he could only use those Spirit stones in the auction, that would've been incredible. However, he could only use what he had, and nothing else.
As a result, the next and final auction was going to be quite difficult for certain.
The auctioneer smiled at everyone and announced. "Up next, we will be bringing out our final item for the auction. Please look forward to it."
Alex watched the screen as something giant was brought out from inside hidden under a cloth.
Even from the cloth, however, he could see the shape of the item.
"Is that a furnace?" he wondered. "Or… a Cauldron?"
