"The starting bid for the Colored Tuna Brain is 450 gold coins, with a minimum increase of 10 gold coins."
When Joshua announced the starting bid, Myra and Max looked at each other while the two Mages who had come to the city to accompany them took up their positions at the edge of the room.
"450 gold coins... The real value of the Colored Tuna Brain is at least 650 gold coins." Max commented to his sister.
"Our father gave us 800 gold coins to bring the brain to Dryhaven. So let's try to get it." She clenched her fists as she smelled the fishy smell of the piece of tuna.
"But isn't that too little?" Max worried, remembering the previous bids for the 2nd-grade items. "The previously auctioned items have been sold for up to 150% of their fair market value. That means the Colored Tuna Brain could be sold for about a thousand gold coins. That would put us 200 coins in the negative, sister."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. As nutritious and tasty as the Colored Tuna Brain is, few people would pay a thousand gold coins for an ingredient in a dish.
Only fishermen like us will find it valuable. But most fishermen can't afford to pay that much for it, and perhaps we don't have much competition here today." Myra tried to be optimistic.
"I hope so. I didn't think the brain up for auction would be so big. If we'd known, Father would have given us more coins." Max said as he started to sweat.
While he and his sister were worrying about this, the mood in Viscount Symons' VIP room was different.
"Marcus, what do you think about us eating Colored Tuna Brain at your wedding?" He asked his son with a broad smile on his face. "I hear young master Grant is in town. If I take this brain, we might be able to invite a representative of the Grant family to your wedding."
A broad smile appeared on Marcus' face at the Viscount's words.
The Colored Tuna Brain was delicious. It also had great properties that could increase the mana density of even Mages and improve the comprehension ability of all magicians below the 4th stage.
Someone like the Viscount would have to eat a few servings of a meal made from that big brain with over 500 kilograms of mass. But someone like Marcus could get a much more significant improvement with small amounts of that brain!
Therefore, having something like that as the main dish at his and Shelby's wedding ceremony could considerably raise the level of that event and even attract some higher-level powers.
Contacts were all that people like them needed to improve their positions and become more pleasing in the eyes of the king. That could be one more thing for House Symons to achieve the title of Count!
"Really? That would be incredible!"
As soon as the auctioneer signaled the bidding to begin, several people interested in this item made their bids.
"500 gold coins!"
"550 coins!"
...
"630 gold coins!"
"800!"
Within the first few bids, the price of the brain rose sharply, approaching the fair price of the item, until Myra and Max made the last bid, trying to scare off the other bidders.
'Shit! Where did those people come from?' Max looked in the direction of two booths where Low-level and Mid-level Mages had placed half of the bids so far.
Looking at these VIP rooms, he saw how wrong he and his sister had been.
"850 gold coins!" Viscount Symons raised his voice as he raised his bidding board, making his number the first in the race for the sea beast's body part.
'Damn it!' Myra clenched her fists in anger but could do nothing but watch the competition continue.
Vicente watched from his cabin but did nothing, knowing he couldn't help the Bain family at the moment.
'Damn you, Viscount, always in my way! But I'll let you get that brain for me.' Vicente clenched his fists in anticipation of the end of the auction.
"870!"
"900 gold coins!" The Viscount raised his voice, causing his last competitor to finally give up the item.
This auction wasn't just about getting items that are hard to buy in the province or kingdom. It was about having coins, but it was also about having the strength to keep the items you bought.
Stronger people were more confident about spending more of their coins because few would dare to attack them, and their chances of keeping their purchases after the auction would be high.
But weaker people were more reluctant to spend too much of their coins, and at certain prices, they preferred to give up and wait for later opportunities.
Some were interested in other items in this auction. In contrast, others knew that there would be nightly fights outside the theater and that getting some items for 'free' was possible.
Joshua would soon announce the winner of the battle for the Colored Tuna Brain, Viscount Symons, who promised 900 gold coins!
...
Fifteen minutes later, the second 3rd-grade item was auctioned off until the next 3 items of the same grade were announced with the release of the following reports.
This time, some of the resources expected by many of the strongest players in this auction would be on stage to be fought over by the event participants!
That was the case with Fear Anise, Seal of Spirits, and Divine Goblet, which caused the entire audience to discuss them and their high value.
From Viscount Symons to Livia's group, Shelby, Miss Death's representative, and Vicente began to act more excited, all interested in some of these three items.
"These next three items are quite valuable. It looks like a lot of people in the VIP auction rooms are going to join the fight now." Layla commented to Vicente.
"That's only natural. The next item is an important ingredient for making artificial resources compatible with Dark Path magicians, but Light Path followers can also use it to fight their Dark Path opponents.
Next, there will be a fight over an item that can even seal the soul of a 3rd-stage being. It's a valuable weapon for everyone!" Vicente commented, interested in who would take each of these items.
While others around the auction were talking about the same thing as them, the tenth item of the evening appeared on the stage, causing even Torne to feel a little excited in Vicente's space of consciousness.
'Master, this must be the resource the woman is looking for. It really is very strong in terms of negativity!' Torne said as everyone at the auction saw a plant with purple and black leaves appear on the stage.
