Everyone in the room looked at her when she shouted, which caused her to be a bit embarrassed.
The servant girls looked at Max with sparkling eyes when they saw the spell written by him fetching millions of Mana stones.
Max was also delighted. However, as they say, humans are the most greedy creatures. Max wished someone would raise the bid and give them even more wealth.
In room 23, Janice looked at Jack, who seemed like someone who had lost his soul, with a mocking smile and said, "Sir Jack, if you are lacking in some stones, you can always ask me."
"No, it's alright. There is no need." Jack shook his head. When he came to Ninam city for spirit fruits, he was given a total of 5 million Mana stones which was quite a lot even for a family as wealthy as the Dalton family. However, the family still gave him this much just in case some valuable things appeared in the auction.
Even though Jack could feel the mockery in her voice, he knew if he asked, she wouldn't refuse to help him with a few million stones due to the relationship between the Arasia and Dalton family. However, he knew that even though his family placed great importance on this spell, his family wouldn't be willing to spend more than 5 million for it.
"As you wish!" Janice shrugged.
...
While everyone was in a state of stupor, Siana's clear voice rang out, "The guest from room number 5 has bid 5 million low-grade Mana stones. Would anyone like to raise it?"
After a while, when no one raised it, Siana announced the guest in room 5 to be the winner of the [Destruction wheel] before storing it away.
No one discussed that a spell was sold for 5 million because their attention was focused on Siana, who was going to introduce the last item: spirit fruits. Although they knew that most of them wouldn't be able to compete for them, they were excited all the same.
Siana glanced at the crowd and, seeing their eager expressions, smiled lightly and thought, 'Maybe I should remain here for a few years. It's not bad being the host of these auctions.'
Seeing her standing there without moving, the crowd was starting to become impatient. The elderly elves standing behind Siana wanted to prompt her to reveal the spirit fruits, but an old woman shook her head and stopped them, "Let her be."
After a few seconds, Siana came out of her thoughts and noticing the crowd's impatience, she waved her hand, and three violet berry-type fruits appeared in front of her.
"Everyone, these are your much-awaited spirit fruits. These fruits are capable of raising the cultivation base of everyone below the four-star realm. Those below the three-star realm will have their cultivation improved by two minor stages while those in the three-star realm by one minor stage." Siana introduced the fruits.
When the crowd heard this, those who were already three-star mages were slightly disappointed and thought, 'As expected, the rumours were wrong. It can only help us increase one minor stage.'
They had heard that these fruits were able to raise their cultivation by two minor stages no matter whether you were a two-star or three-star mage, and this excited them a lot. However, now that they found out that it could help increase their cultivation by only a minor stage, it was natural for them to be disappointed.
Many who were representative of the forces they belonged to hurriedly informed their superiors about this. Jack and Janice did the same too.
In room number five, when Max and the company heard that the fruits could only help three-star mages' cultivation by only a minor stage, they were among the rare few who weren't disappointed and were happy instead because this would lower the competition even though only a little bit.
Meanwhile, Siana continued to say, "We will be auctioning one fruit at a time, and the initial bid shall be 300,000 low-grade Mana stones. Each raise shall not be lower than ten thousand stones. You may bid now."
"1 million!" As soon as she finished speaking, Max made the bid. Since he was going to try and acquire all three of them and the competition was sure to be fierce, he didn't want to waste any time by starting at a lower bid.
Those who were prepared to bid around 300,000 were taken by surprise.
However, they soon reacted and started bidding.
"1.1 million!"
"1.2 million!"
"1.3 million!"
"..."
Hearing the bids rising by merely 100,000 at a time, Max was a bit relieved. This indicated that although people wanted the spirit fruits, they wouldn't be bidding as crazily as when they were bidding for his spell.
In room number 23, Jack glanced at Janice and asked, "Miss Janice, may I know how much you are willing to pay for each fruit? If it's more than what I'm prepared to pay, I won't bother making any bid."
Janice nodded and said, "It's around 2 million for each fruit and a total of 4 million. If the bids for them go beyond this, I will give up. You see, my family isn't as wealthy as the Dalton family."
Upon hearing her remark, Jack smiled embarrassedly and turned his gaze away, not wanting to continue this topic and thought, 'It seems I can only bid for the third fruit then.'
Seeing him turn away without boasting, Janice felt strange and asked, "Sir Jack, how about you tell me about your limits too, so I won't make a fool of myself bidding against you."
Jack forced a smile at her question and said, "Don't worry, miss Janice. I won't bid for the fruits you bid for since I only need to buy one for my younger cousin."
In reality, he was told to try and buy two of three fruits in 4 million or, if that wasn't possible, buy at least one in three million. Now that Janice was also willing to bid two million each for the two of them, he dropped the thought of competing against her and decided to go for the second option.
"That's good to hear." Janice nodded and turned her attention to the ongoing auction.
If Max had heard their discussion, he would've gotten a rough idea that the average price of each spirit fruit would be around 2 million Mana stones if nothing unexpected happened.
When the bid reached 1.5 million, each raise was only around 50 or so thousand Mana stones, and this continued to decrease as the price hit 1,7 million.
Seeing this, Jack glanced at Janice and asked, "Miss Janice, do you want to bid for this one, or shall I go for it?"
"Please let me have this one, sir Jack." Janice smiled at him, and before he could say anything, she made the bid, "1.8 Million!"
Jack immediately regretted and cursed himself for trying to be a gentleman and asking her first instead of bidding himself. If he did, there was a chance he could get this one under 2 million, while there was less chance of this happening with the second and third fruit.
A few seconds passed, and no one made another bid which caused him to feel even more regret while Janice's smile widened by the second as she prayed for no one to make another bid.
However, she was bound to be disappointed.
In his room, Max's eyes were trained on Siana. He wanted to wait until after she asked whether anyone else was going to raise the bid or not so. If no one made a bid by then, he would make his move because he didn't want to compete with someone like before.
Rima and the other ladies looked at him with puzzled looks, wondering why wasn't he making a bid even now. However, seeing his expression, they didn't ask anything.
After waiting for a while more, Siana asked whether anyone was willing to raise the bid. However, no one responded to her call. So, she prepared to announce Janice as the winner.
However, just when her lips moved again and just when Janice thought that she had won, Max injected his Mana into the armrest and made his bid, "2 million!"
Janice's expression turned ugly, and she cursed inwardly, 'This bastard. Why didn't he make his bid before? Is he trying to provoke me because I'm in the same room as Jack, and he competed against him for the egg?'
