Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 156: Alex’s and Dim Dim’s First Auction Adventure [Part 2]

Alex joined the fun by bidding on a few items. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t win anything since the price would always spike above his means, and he was on a tight budget.

Little did he know that, in one of the VIP Rooms of the auction house, someone was paying close attention to him.

’Peasant,’ thought Caspian, Chuck’s brother, as he watched the young man downstairs once again fail to win an item he was bidding for.

Although everyone was wearing a mask, the little white bun resting atop a mop of silver hair gave Alex’s identity away.

It was impossible for Caspian to forget those who had wronged him, especially Dim Dim, who had openly defied him.

’I almost got in trouble with the Headmaster because of these mongrels.’ Caspian gritted his teeth in anger.

Unfortunately, the Velvet Vault was a special organization he couldn’t afford to mess with. He might be from a Ducal Family, but the auction house was managed by the Royal Family of Avalon.

Anyone who dared to cause trouble within its premises could forget about ever entering it again.

As Caspian cursed the pair internally, Alex sighed for the umpteenth time. Bidding on a budget was more difficult than he had assumed.

Dim Dim, on the other hand, was having fun. It held Alex’s number and raised it whenever the young man made a bid.

Although Dim Dim felt a little down that they hadn’t managed to win anything, it didn’t let the disappointment get to it. After all, it understood that this was just how an auction was conducted.

”And now, we have another special item to show everyone,” said the lovely hostess, Anya, with a smile. ”We will be completely honest—we have no idea what this item is. However, we have still decided to auction it because its owner is in need of money.”

Two ladies pushed a small cart up the stage. As usual, the item was covered by a velvet cloth.

When Anya took it off, Alex’s eyes widened in shock. If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, the item was that thing he had only managed to obtain three times in his entire gaming career!

That item was a rainbow-colored gem. It gleamed like the eye of a cat.

In the eyes of ordinary people, it looked like a colorful gem. Something that collectors could add to their collection and display proudly to friends and peers.

While Alex couldn’t confirm if the item on stage was indeed the same item he had only seen thrice as a player of ELO, he was ninety percent sure that it was called the Eye of Kaleidos.

Just to be certain, the young man opened his Arcana Shop and checked the consumable area.

Sure enough, the Eye of Kaleidos could also be purchased there for a whopping 300,000 Arcana Points.

”As you can see, this gem is truly one of a kind. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Anya admitted. ”There will be no starting price, so feel free to bid as high as you wish. However, all bids must increase in increments of ten gold coins.”

What Anya didn’t tell the audience was that the Velvet Vault wanted to get rid of the gem as much as possible.

Their in-house appraiser had stated that although the gem looked colorful and mysterious, it couldn’t be made into jewelry or other accessories.

At most, it was priced at 100 gold coins.

Anything higher than that would be a profit for them.

Somehow, the audience must have realized something was off despite Anya’s favorable description. The moment she declared the start of the bidding, no one made any bids.

Even the gem collectors hesitated because the gem looked like a cheap knockoff of the gems in their possession.

Sure, it might look beautiful, but even glass could be made beautiful in the hands of an expert.

Some even smirked, convinced that the item must be a fake. They didn’t plan on bidding for it because they might get ridiculed by their peers. Instead, they waited to see which poor fool wanted the item.

Alex, who had no idea why no one was bidding, asked Dim Dim to raise their number and bid for ten gold coins.

”T-Ten... gold coins.” Anya did her best to prevent her smile from faltering because this was lower than the price that their appraiser had assumed. ”Is there anyone else who would like to bid? Anyone?”

Unlike the previous bids, where the beautiful lady would hasten her call to close the bid, she was looking at everyone, as if desperate for someone to bid a higher price.

As if the heavens decided to answer her prayer, an arrogant voice came from one of the VIP Rooms.

”A hundred gold coins.”

Caspian didn’t want Alex to have his way. The rich brat joined the bidding ”war” out of spite. He didn’t really need the gem, but a hundred gold coins were still within reasonable bounds.

”One hundred and ten.” Alex then asked Dim Dim to raise their number, which it obeyed.

”One hundred and fifty,” Caspian sneered. ”Do your best, peasant.”

Some of the people inside the auction house chuckled, while some simply smiled lightly.

Taunts were very common inside the auction house, especially when rivals or enemies ended up bidding on the same items.

Although his face couldn’t be seen, many assumed that Alex was a young man.

The voice that was challenging his bid also belonged to a young man, causing many audience members to assume that the two knew each other.

”Dim Dim.” Dim Dim narrowed its eyes as it looked at the balcony of the VIP Room where the annoying brat was getting in its way.

The Dim Sum God told Alex that the one bidding against them was Caspian. Alex suddenly felt his head throbbing.

”Caspian, stop being a pain in the butt,” Alex retorted in an attempt to intimidate the young man who held a grudge against them.

”This is an auction house, and money does the talking,” Caspian replied, not even bothering to hide his identity. ”If you don’t have the money, then scram!”

”Who says that I don’t have the money?” Alex scoffed. ”Let’s see who has more pocket money! You or me!”

”Bring it on, peasant!”

”You’re on, you twat!”

”Dim Dim!”

This was confirmation for the other audience members that the two young men indeed knew each other. They decided to lean back and enjoy the show.

”Three hundred!” Alex declared.

”We have three hundred!” Anya already managed to reach the auction house’s target price for the Eye of Kaleidos, so she decided to hype things a bit between the two rivals. ”Going once... going twice...”

”Five hundred!” Caspian announced.

Five hundred gold coins was his limit, but he still acted every bit as arrogant because he didn’t want to appear weak in front of Alex.

”Five hundred and twenty!” Alex said with a pained expression.

Seeing his reaction, Caspian was sorely tempted to raise the price a bit more. However, he was also worried that Alex had reached his limit just like him.

If he ended up winning the useless gem, wouldn’t he be the one on the losing end?

”Hahaha! You can have that useless gem!” Caspian mocked. ”Say bye-bye to your five hundred and twenty gold coins!”

Anya felt a bit sorry for Alex, but since no one had made a counterbid, the Eye of Kaleidos was finally sold for the price that the young man had declared.

Alex sighed loudly, making sure that everyone saw his look of depression and desolation.

He then stood up and shook his head helplessly, looking every bit like a defeated bidder who had allowed his temper to get the better of him, resulting in a costly mistake. This was, after all, a common enough sight at the Velvet Vault.

The people watching him head to the other room to collect his bid sympathized with him.

What they weren’t aware of was, the moment Alex closed the door behind him, a smile that was as unhinged as Lloyd Pr*ntera’s appeared on his face.

””Kukuku!””

Alex and Dim Dim both cackled like third-rate villains. Like Alex, Dim Dim was well aware of the true value of the Eye of Kaleidos.

After securing their item, the two headed back to the academy as quickly as possible.

Only when they were back safely in their room did Alex take out the jewel from his storage ring and admire it with a satisfied expression.

’It seems that the people of this world don’t know how to use this thing,’ Alex mused. ’Good for me. I have gotten something with an astronomical price for only five hundred and twenty gold coins.’

The Eye of Kaleidos was one of the most sought-after items in Endless Leveling Online.

Why?

Because the rainbow-colored cat’s eye was actually a treasure map!

But it wasn’t any ordinary treasure map.

The treasure that could be found using this map was guaranteed to be either a Unique or Legendary Item!

Sometimes, you could even get more than one of them!

In Arcana, items were ranked Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, Unique, Legendary, or Divine.

This proved how precious the Eye of Kaleidos was. After all, a Unique Item could be sold for tens of thousands of gold coins.

Some Unique Items could even be sold for hundreds of thousands.

Legendary items were considered priceless, but they would sometimes appear in Auction Houses, where they would be sold for tens of millions of gold coins.

Alex couldn’t help but chuckle as he stared at the gem in his hand. The reason the Velvet Vault had been unable to gauge the true worth of the Eye of Kaleidos was that the previous owner and staff didn’t have the special key needed to activate and use it.

Alex didn’t hesitate to purchase the rainbow-colored key from the Arcana Shop for five hundred Arcana Points.

It was a small investment for something with a huge return on investment. Without much ado, he inserted the key into the center of the gemstone, where the cat’s eye effect was located.

A moment later, a beam of light shot out from the gemstone, displaying a projection.

The young man and the Dim Sum God looked at the map that appeared. They couldn’t help but gasp because the map that was being shown on the projection was none other than Frieden Academy!