173 Auction Part 3 (1/2)
Wallace twitched his mouth after hearing Sylvia's announcement.
A Mirror of Trace that can be used twice the number of times compared to standard one was something he had also made.
Even, Tracy and Ross was surprised at this.
”That description...”
”Wallace, did you teach someone else on how to do that?”
”No.You're wrong, Ross. That's definitely his creation...”
The three were only aware that there's a Mirror of Trace to be sold since they have a copy of the list but it's description, origin, and prices were not disclosed at all.
”That's surprising... Can you confirm whether it's really yours?” Ross glanced at Wallace who was also intently looking at the item on the stage.
There's no doubt about it. It was really his creation.
He remembered that he made this item especially for Ray Penber. The latter ultimately used the Mirror of Trace to win a close fight against Lawrence from the Mystic Gate Academy. Lawrence specialized in wind elemental spells coming from Archon and Royal Magic Series.
As he was about to defeat Ray Penber using an exclusive magic spell of his Mana Artifact, Ray brought out and activated this Mirror of Trace to win the match.
”I didn't think that it would be expensive.” Wallace mumbled softly but the other three had clearly heard it.
”That's what you're thinking? Shouldn't you ask why it is even here?” Ross could only sigh after seeing that Wallace doesn't seem to care that his creation was being sold without his knowledge.
”19.5 million!” As the three chatted about the Mana Artifact, the bid didn't stop from increasing.
”19.7 million!”
”19.9 million!”
***
”It's not that I'm uninterested to learn about the Mirror of Trace's backstory or how it ended up here, it's just that I've already realized it before.” Wallace replied to Ross.
Tracy was just silently listening to the two. Her bodyguard instead refilled the cup of tea on Tracy's hand. There's a tea table in front of them where they could enjoy a high-class tea as a perks of being a VIP within the shop.
The 50 items would surely take a lot of time to be sold and there would be a break once the 30th item was auctioned off so some food and beverages were included in the room.
”You've realized?”
”Mhm... The Mana Artifacts we are producing during local tournaments, class competitions, academy competitions, and even international competitions were being handled by the organizers. They called it partial telling that it was because they've provided the materials. Anyway, due to the bountiful rewards they are giving from their competition, it is being overlooked.”
”N-now that you said it... But normally, these organizations would not be interested at the materials made by students who didn't even have a license yet.”
”That's what I thought so too. Anyway, it looks normal for them to take all the creations after the competition since it's being done by all of the other organizers as well. But think about it, if a large company organized an Artifact Forging Competition and give some enticing prizes, they could attract talented Magic Engineers and make them use their secrets and keep it on their own. They can reverse engineer some products if they could and learn from it.” Wallace stopped explaining as he let Ross and Tracy imagine what can be the benefits of owning the contestants creations.
”I get it now...” Tracy who was silent just now joined their conversation. Ross was also nodding to himself and asked his final question.
”Then, how do we avoid this?” Ross has been planning to join some local tournaments outside the TMAC to gain fame and money. But it wouldn't feel good to have the organizers learn his secrets.
”Well, I did it during the competition at Montego.” Wallace said as he explained how he tampered the core of his automaton during the competition to avoid leaking his Magic Structure.
***
”29 million, Going once, going twice, sold!” Congratulations number 247 for winning the 17th item.” Sylvia announced as she waited for the 18th item to be brought on the stage.
”That level of Mana Artifact should've been sold for around 35 million.” Ross muttered after seeing that the Mirror of Trace was sold to business representative at the lower floor.
”There's no helping on it. The Magic Engineer who made this Mirror of Trace wasn't named. They couldn't just blindly follow the auctioneer's enticement. Although they don't doubt the shop's appraisal ability, they don't believe that an unknown Magic Engineer deserve to have higher than 30 million credits on their artifact.” Tracy replied to Ross and continued after sighing.
”If they said that it was made by a student without a license, it may even decrease the value of the item. So it's important to have a level fame in this industry, if you want your items to be sold in the right price.”
The two young boys nodded in agreement to Tracy's words as the 18th item was brought out. It was a bottle containing black liquid. Around this item was a black miasma reminding Wallace of the intruders in his property. The police investigating the case should have a lead about the real culprit's identity but was kept hidden from him.
”This a synthesized Hallowed Eyes' potion. Hallowed Eye is one of the Sealed Mana Artifacts capable of producing multiple Berserk Potion just by absorbing the natural Mana. This synthesized version of potion here is the same with the Berserk Potion of Hallowed Eye but have some heavier negative effects... The base price is 4 million credits and buyout price is only for 30 million credits.”
Before anyone could raise the price, a white sign had suddenly lit up. It came from the lower floor.