In the 19th round of the auction, Sir Joshua presented everyone with the second most valuable item of the evening, a mineral with a volume of more than 2 cubic meters.
As he unveiled the large, bluish, and partially gray rock that glowed in the colors of the rainbow, he revealed what the penultimate item was.
"This is Ekacrinite, an extremely rare mineral normally found in the Hungry Canyon."
The moment the origin of that mineral was mentioned, everyone at the auction opened their mouths in surprise, realizing it came from one of the most powerful areas on the continent, located in the central part of the Polaris Empire.
The Seidel Kingdom was located in the southeast of the continent, one of the most common areas of these lands, bordering the ocean to the east of the continent and two other states.
However, 90% of the Seidel Kingdom's border was with a single state, the Chutha Dynasty, which was also part of this southeastern region.
The central part of the continent was very far from this area of Scott Province, so much so that news from there didn't even reach here.
Such a place was just a distant name that young people learned when they studied the Polaris Realm map or when adults talked about special items.
Almost every high-level special item originated from one of the states in the central or western region of the continent, so older or powerful people would talk about such places whenever they dealt with high-level items. Another time someone in that place would think of such an area was when they thought of powerful sects and clans because the strongest on the continent and the headquarters of the Congregation of Revelation were located there.
For this reason, when everyone at the auction heard about an item from this special place, they became more interested in it.
The last two items in the auction had their reports sent to the VIP rooms after the presentation, so no one there expected something so unique to be presented now.
The auctioneer continued. "As you can imagine, this is no ordinary mineral. Coming from the most important area of the continent, it is naturally valuable.
In fact, it contains some of the strongest metals on the entire continent!
This piece of rock, weighing about 9 tons, is the smallest part of a 50-ton rock that the kingdom recently received from one of its contacts. But even though it's the smallest and least condensed part of that rock, this one is still valuable to even the best 3rd-stage blacksmiths.
Given its size, it can be used to produce dozens or hundreds of artifacts, depending on the blacksmith's skill and the type of project.
Due to the properties of this ore, any item made from it will have a great ability to absorb mana and conduct powers based on the elements of the blacksmith who uses it.
Any item made with the metals from this rock will have a greater resistance and durability than those made with other materials, which will naturally increase the final value of these artifacts since they will require less maintenance.
Therefore, the starting value for this rock is 1,400 gold coins, with a minimum increase of 50 coins." He announced as people like Benson and Henry began to get agitated in their VIP rooms.
'This rock is magnificent.' Vicente thought to himself, imagining that such ore would be very useful for him and Benson to develop the robotic armor they had begun to study.
As he thought this, Benson looked toward Henry, his great rival in the local blacksmith's association.
'That bastard... I hope he's not competing with me. This item could be essential for Vicente to complete my first project.' He thought as he saw his rival with a smiling expression, obviously interested in the ore.
But not only the blacksmiths there were interested in the ore in question. Noble or wealthy powers often bought valuable materials, even if they didn't have the professionals in their families to use them.
But that made sense. Wasn't it better to take valuable items off the market and be the only one with the means to create incredible artifacts with such good materials?
A family that managed to win the battle for that item could negotiate a small amount of ore with a blacksmith, hire his services to create any type of item they desired, and still maintain the exclusivity of the resources made with that material.
For this reason, it was not uncommon for non-specialized powers to purchase valuable materials from certain specializations.
When the bidding began, more than 10 people were bidding on the item.
"1,500 gold coins!"
"1,550 coins!"
"1,700!"
...
"2,150 coins!"
"2,200 gold coins!" Benson shouted as five other people, including Henry, continued to compete with him.
Soon, the highest bid for the ore reached 3,000 gold coins when Benson finally withdrew from the dispute, as that was his coin limit.
Vicente couldn't help his master because no matter how interesting the item might be to them, he had priorities with his family that wouldn't allow him to spend so much on something that wouldn't be of much use in the short term.
Vicente had about 20,000 gold coins worth, counting everything he owned. But the Mazzanti family was currently costing him about a thousand gold coins a month in wages.
In addition to wages, he had to invest in materials and growing opportunities for more than 100 people, from his soldiers to the family's professionals, like Casey and Lukas.
On the other hand, the family currently earned less than a thousand gold coins, as they were still suffering from old contracts and had not yet begun to profit from the operations left behind by the Defiant Tyranny or the Scarlet Syndicate.
So he couldn't afford to spend more than three months of his family's business like this!
But he understood his master's frustration, and he couldn't help but feel nervous as more bids pushed the price of this ore up.
Then Henry made another bid. "3,400 gold coins!"
With that bid, no one else made a better offer, and soon, the auctioneer ended the penultimate contest.
With item number 19 sold to Henry, it was finally time for the auction to enter its final round, the most important of the evening for everyone there.
After this round, it would be time for the event to end and for the winners of each round to collect their items in the theater's collection area. Then, the busiest night in the city for months would begin!
Sir Joshua would soon present the final item of the evening.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the final round of bidding for the evening.
I present to you the most valuable item of this event, the Necklace of Innocent Flowers, a defensive item at first glance, but also something capable of increasing its wearer's elemental affinity with the elements of the Light Path!"
