MTLNOVEL Chapter 323: Financial Problem?
When Daniel asked his question, Serys went silent and didn't reply. In truth, she didn't know how much budget they had either.
If it were about gold coins, they could easily spend billions if necessary. However, this was about Chaos Crystals—each one held immense value for the forces backing them.
She sighed. Was brute force really the only way to reclaim that weapon?
"It seems like avoiding a conflict won't be possible," Daniel said with a sigh. Reading this girl's thoughts through her eyes was easy—especially when she wasn't trying to hide them.
"Probably, but we should make a call and ask first," Serys nodded, pulled out her communication talisman, and contacted her master.
Daniel also took out his talisman and contacted Lana. It took a moment for her to answer.
"What is it?" a beautiful feminine voice echoed in his ear.
"Well, there's a bit of a problem…" he got straight to the point and explained everything to Lana.
"A Chaos Crystal? That could be troublesome," as expected, she frowned too.
"What should we do?"
"The most we can offer is three Chaos Crystals. If it goes higher, use the second plan," Lana replied after thinking for a moment and ended the call.
Daniel glanced at Serys, who seemed to have finished her call as well.
"My master said the limit is six Chaos Crystals."
"Lana said three," Daniel replied, and both of their expressions relaxed a little.
In total, nine Chaos Crystals might actually be enough to buy that weapon without trouble. After all, there weren't many forces across the continent that could spend that kind of money for a single weapon.
Daniel was a bit surprised that the Magic Tower was willing to spend twice as much as their guild, but on second thought, it made sense.
The Central Magic Tower was one of the oldest powers on the continent—it was expected that they could spend more.
Then, they turned their attention to the auction.
While they were talking, the weapon auction had already started, and a few people had placed bids. The current bid was at 3.5 Chaos Crystals.
"Is there no higher bid? We're talking about a semi-divine weapon here! You may never get another chance like this again!" Mr. Crow's voice echoed through the hall.
With every word, he tempted the participants to push for the purchase—and it wasn't a lie.
This was a real semi-divine weapon—possibly one of the strongest in its class.
"I'm willing to pay four Crystals," a voice from one of the VIP rooms called out.
"Thank you for the 4-Crystal bid from Mr. Goat," the host said with a smile.
"Hmph, only four? I'm offering six Chaos Crystals," another voice from a different VIP room responded.
This one caused quite a stir among all the participants. So far, the price had been rising in increments of 0.5, but someone suddenly raised it by two.
"What kind of force can casually pay six Chaos Crystals?"
"Maybe they're from the Valenberg family? Or the Elthanor Royal Family, or maybe even one of the continent's major powers?"
"Valenberg sounds likely, but Elthanor? Don't you know the chaos going on in their empire right now?"
Speculation ran wild among the attendees, all curious to see who would win the auction in the end.
However, contrary to expectations, the bidding slowed down significantly and returned to 0.5 increments.
"You think it's time we enter?" Serys asked Daniel inside the VIP room while looking at him.
"Right now, the bid is at 7.5 Chaos Crystals, and it's clear that 99% of the participants can't keep going. Now it's just between two—Mr. Goat and Lady Phoenix," Daniel replied.
"Honestly, it seems like they can't go much higher either. It's a good time for us to step in. Raise it by one Crystal."
Serys nodded and placed the bid.
"Oh? Lady Rabbit finally placed a bid! The price has gone up to 8.5 Chaos Crystals," the host said with a bright smile.
He actually had a good impression of this Lady Rabbit—whenever she participated, the selling price of items always went way above expected.
But something strange happened. Before anyone else had a chance to bid, the same VIP room voice came again.
"Huh? Lady Rabbit placed another bid? We're now at 9 Chaos Crystals," Mr. Crow muttered in confusion—even he didn't expect that.
"What happened? Why did she bid again? Doesn't she know how auctions work?"
"Maybe she's just showing off her wealth? She's basically saying, 'Only I can beat myself.'"
But they didn't know—even Lady Rabbit herself was confused why she had to bid again. She stared at the man in front of her, puzzled.
"Don't look at me like that—it's a strategy. We can't go any higher, but we needed to create the illusion that we could."
"I see… but do you really think they'll fall for that?" Serys asked, shaking her head.
She didn't think the two remaining rivals were idiots — besides, they had already reached the limit of what they could afford.
Daniel didn't reply right away. Instead, a smile appeared on his face—a smile hidden beneath his black mask.
He already had a rough idea of the identities of the other two individuals. How? Simple — he had secretly sent his Fallen to check out the other VIP rooms.
Even though their faces were hidden under animal masks and it was impossible to tell who they really were, Elarion had still managed to gather a few clues about their true identities.
Elarion could move through shadows, and the walls of these rooms weren't enough to stop him.
One of them clearly wouldn't be able to continue, and as for the other one… Daniel actually wanted this goat-faced guy to win the auction.
Contrary to what Serys believed, his plan had changed. But there was no need to mention that for now — he'd explain it to the girl later when the time was right.
For now, it was time to piss off this goat a little.