At 251,000 Saint Spirit stones, there was barely any more that Alex could add. If his opponents added a few Saint Spirit stones, he may be able to add a little, but that was it.
Any more and he would lose.
252,000… and he would lose.
He wasn't the only one that knew so. Everyone in the room knew so. They had talked about it and thus they were all patiently, but anxiously waiting for the bidding to hopefully end.
They hoped to the best of their abilities that it did not increase at all.
Seconds passed that lasted as long as minutes for them. The sound in the room became so quiet that they could hear each other's breathing. Every flicker of light from the floating images made their heart sink a bit as they feared it was the number changing.
And yet, the number never changed. It remained the same for an entire minute and more.
There was no indication of when the bidding was going to end at all. They were still not aware of what the ratio of the time was in comparison to the current bid. As the bid it was now, it was minutes.
One thing became clear in this wait, however. Their competition in this bid was also in a bit of trouble.
It was as if the 250 thousand they put down was the final straw and anything more than that was simply idiocracy to spend on a money-spending machine.
Alex was the only one willing to spend more for it. Alas, he didn't have the money for it.
He didn't want to get any more happy, but it appeared as if he was on his way to winning the whole thing. As time passed by, each one of them grew more and more hopeful.
And when the hopes gathered to reach a crescendo, it shattered.
The number flickered and it went up to 252,000 Saint Spirit stones.
The bid increased.
They lost.
Alex slumped on his chair, defeated, dejected. This was not how he wanted to lose. With enough money to start an empire, and yet not enough to even buy an item in an auction bid.
The one that beat him to it was most likely the Queen of the Silver Kingdom too.
The Southern Continent had lost to a single Kingdom of the Eastern Continent. It wasn't fun being reminded of just how weak his own Continent was when compared to the Eastern Continent.
And somehow, his enemy was the Royal family of this very continent.
No one said anything to Alex for a while as they were all staring at the screen where the bid number had changed.
After a minute or so, Pearl finally moved. He placed his paws on Alex's shoulder. "Brother," he called out to him.
Alex tapped his paws without looking back. "It's alright," he said. "You win some, you lose some."
"No, brother," Pearl called out to him again.
"Your Majesty," the others called out as well.
"No, no, it's alright," Alex said as he sighed a little. "It would've been great to get it, but—"
"BROTHER!" Pearl shouted at him after he didn't respond the first two times.
Everyone there was a little surprised by the sudden shout, including Alex. Alex turned around to look at Pearl with a confused face. "What?" he asked.
"Did you count mine?" Pearl asked.
"What?" Alex asked, his mind barely understanding the question.
"My spirit stones. I have a thousand of them. Did you count mine earlier?" he asked.
Alex paused for a moment. His eyes moved around as he tried to recalculate everything in his mind. When he was done with it, his eyes went wide.
"No," he said with a weird look on his face. "I didn't."
1000 Spirit stones. That was the amount of spirit stones that Pearl had in his bracelet at the moment. And it was such a tiny amount in comparison that Alex had completely forgotten about it as well.
The 1000 spirit stones might as well not have existed when the bids were for HUNDREDS of them. And yet with this thousand, they had one more chance.
With this thousand they could bid again.
They didn't have enough for 253,000. But they damn certainly had enough for 252,500. And so, Alex did it.
No one was sure how long had passed since the bid had changed. None of them were sure if they were close or far from the bid ending.
However, none of that mattered now.
They did it and the timer reset.
Now, they sat there and watched.
Emotions from before riled up all of them once again. Hopes did too, but they sealed them. They had been disappointed the last time already, and they didn't want to go through it again.
And yet, that tiny bit of hope always trickled out no matter how much they tried to put a seal on it. No matter what they tried to do with their hope, they still hoped.
They hoped that the number wouldn't change.
They hoped that their opponent didn't have enough spirit stones.
They hoped that their hope wouldn't hurt them again.
And after suffering from those hopes for minutes, they saw the number flash again.
Only this time, the number didn't flash to change. This time, it flashed to note that 252,500 was the amount that had become the final bid.
This time, their hopes were answered.
They won the bidding.
They won the auction.
The auctioneer on the screen smiled wider than she had ever before. "The Mountain Crushing Artifact has been sold!" she shouted for everyone to hear.
"Yes!" Liang Shufen was the first to get up and shout.
"We won!" Whisker jumped second. "Brother, we won."
Yao Ning turned around from her seat with a smile to look at Alex. "Congratulations, Your Majesty," she said.
Alex slumped back on his chair once more. Only this time, it wasn't from being defeated at all.
This time, he had won.
