Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Hill flipped through the Treasure Booklet, unable to suppress an ambiguous smile.

In Silvermoon City, there were many Elves and Half-Elves, bringing numerous seeds from various corners of the world, some of which Hill had only heard of.

Today, he had indeed seen them all.

Hill believed that even within Silvermoon City, the only one who might know a thing or two about his identity would be Elaströ.

But at most, she knew that Hill might be a powerful Mage from another world, a being that surpassed Legends and could approach the source of Toril Magic.

Facing such a Hill, Elaströ would probably prefer her subordinates to think of Hill as a Half-Elf with a substantial background.

That made these seeds rather interesting.

The auction's staff had clearly recognized Hill as a Nature Mage and had placed these items in the first few pages.

Nature Mages, most of them liked collecting seeds.

However, if Hill hadn't thought about buying all the plant seeds he lacked, those behind the scenes at the auction could probably pin down which forest he came from.

Hill flipped through nonchalantly, it seemed that the current City Lord's people were indeed behind this auction.

Elaströ also indeed did not share some secrets told to her by the Goddess of Magic.

Unfortunately, Hill had the simplest solution, to buy everything.

He had never been a frugal Mage.

Then Hill saw some plant seeds and seedlings from underground.

He would definitely purchase these, as these plants genuinely interested him; he had always found it a bit difficult constructing an underground plant cycle in Teraxil before.

These underground plants, once properly cultivated, could easily create an underground ecological cycle without sunlight.

This must be the result of The North's recent efforts to drive out the invading forces of the Zholar Elves.

Hill called over the steward: "Bring me a set of all the seeds in this booklet, each set is 10 seeds, right? That few? Then bring me ten sets!"

"These from the Zholar region, bring me 100 sets."

"This… These are all Magic Plant seeds!" the steward stammered, "The pricing is calculated as though they're the same level as Spellcasting Materials."

Hill glanced up nonchalantly: "The more I buy, the more Mithril you get, right?"

The steward quickly shut his mouth and turned to leave the room.

The steward actually came to dissuade Hill from buying everything, did he really think about saving Hill some money?

It seemed this steward held a not insignificant status, at least understanding the significance of placing the seeds at the forefront.

Hill flipped past a few pages of Magic Materials, and then many Magic Books appeared.

It seemed his action of scanning books in the bookstore yesterday had also been noticed.

Hill looked for a while, then decided to give up.

What he needed was either knowledge passed down from Great Archmages or the latest university research outputs.

The books here were very expensive, but the Spells weren't particularly rare.

Hill needed extensive and profound knowledge, not to purchase antique books.

He directly flipped past those pages.

Then, he couldn't help but frown, seeing nothing but pure gemstones of all types.

Watching the steward walk in holding a tray, Hill swiped his fingers from top to bottom: "Gemstones, the purer the better. Why are there only a few of each type?"

The steward looked pained and said, "Honorable guest, it's not that I am evading, but these gemstones are extremely limited in quantity."

"Then it depends on how much Mithril you want to exchange!" Hill said innocently, "It's not me who wants the exchange; surely I shouldn't need to worry about how much you need, right?

The price of these gemstones, along with those seeds, probably wouldn't even exchange for a fist-sized piece of Mithril, right?"

"A fist-sized...!" the steward murmured, lifting his fist and trembling, "Do you need anything else?"

Hill flipped a few more pages, glanced at the so-called weapons and armor, High-Level Magic Robes, and shook his head: "Such things, they are of no use to me anymore."

Unless they are Divine Artifacts, otherwise, Hill had no need for any weapon equipment, couldn't he create his own?

No matter what the auctioneers behind the scenes intended to probe, it all lost meaning under Hill's fist-sized Mithril; without hesitation, they abandoned their scrutiny of Hill and delivered dozens of pure gemstones by type.

Hill pondered the reactions of these people, understanding more or less that it must be Elaströ who needed the Mithril, and urgently.

Even though he held many minor grievances, the current Lord of Silvermoon was still a deputy Elaströ could trust, he wouldn't let his own actions affect the Supreme Lady's major affairs.

Hill readily accepted all the gemstones, took out two fist-sized pieces of Mithril, then requested the auction house to compensate the difference with Gold Coins.

Suddenly, he remembered that if he was to go to the Undead Swamp area, he needed to buy some supplies.

Any Kind Deity wouldn't stop those in danger or difficulty from seeking refuge in their temples, Hill must prepare a tavern in Agleya that allowed passersby to stay overnight and a hall for the impoverished to briefly lounge.

These ordinary supplies must be stored in abundance as even the kind-hearted Hill knew not to provide too good food for those seeking help; handing out a potato would suffice.

As for his own cultivated crops, there's no way he would casually feed them to passersby, not even sell them. Those could almost be considered a longevity elixir for ordinary folks.

Hill had no intention of building a city; it all depended on what decisions Agleya would make in the end.

Hill glanced at the auctioneer below, who was shouting at the top of his lungs. It seemed the auction was drawing to a close.

The highlight of the auction was a luxurious mansion located in the Nobles' District near the Silvermoon Palace.

The nobles of The North were nearly going mad over it.

Elaströ had now moved to the back palace, unbelievably close to the mansion in a straight line distance.

If the Supreme Lady took an interest, she could directly see everything inside that mansion.

Hill, holding a large bag of Gold Coins he had reclaimed, clicked his tongue in wonder. Is this what they call the romance that bankrupts one just for a returning glance?

The auction ended quickly, the final price of that property being not much different from the dock warehouse Hill had bid on.

This surprised Hill a bit at the trust and worship The Northerners had for Elaströ, considering Hill himself had paid more than five times the expected amount. The dock warehouse would normally sell for about 100,000 Gold Coins, and that Worshipper of Valkin bidding 200,000 was basically bullying with money.

A normal merchant wouldn't knowingly conduct a losing business; toward the end, they were merely trying to save face as much as possible.

Many people, however, did not want Valkin's reach to extend into Silvermoon City. If a Valkin outpost appeared in the warehouse district, it could easily lead to businesses like loan sharking and even casinos starting to appear.

For Silvermoon City, which primarily embraced a Kind Alignment, nobody wanted to see such things happen, but Elaströ had once declared Silvermoon City open, welcoming anyone.

There were even Semi-Zholar Mages serving as professors and deans at the university in Silvermoon City; as infamous as Valkin's reputation was, it was still better than Zholar's.

They couldn't show that they were unwelcoming.

Hill figured that those two chambers of commerce were just buying time for Silvermoon City, otherwise they wouldn't have competed with him up to over 200,000 Gold Coins.

Thus, Hill's intervention came as a pleasant surprise to many, suggesting there was an enemy of Valkin present!

No one could say anything about that; it was just Valkin's bad luck.

As the auction ended, people started to leave, all seeming eager to exit.

Hill, with sharp eyes, spotted Lynn; he was blending into a large group of people walking out the front door.

There were a few people Hill thought he had seen in the hotel courtyard.

It seemed, indeed, that no one was causing trouble for Lynn.

Hill wasn't worried about someone causing trouble for Lynn in Silvermoon City, for here stood the Grand Temple of Miliel, the God of Singing.

Anyone with the capacity to offend Miliel would certainly come directly for Hill instead.

On the other side, the followers of Valkin remained in their box, so Hill did not move either.

He didn't really have anything he wanted to do, so they could just endure it!

It was just a matter of patience, and being proficient in meditation, Hill was not afraid of this.

In less than an hour, they couldn't stay put any longer.

Only then did Hill leave gracefully.

He knew that he was expected by someone standing at the auction house's first-floor staircase.

Was Hill afraid of him seeing his own appearance?

Of course not, Hill intended to make him stand below like those stewards waiting for Hill to appear.

If you have ill intentions, you better see if you have the skills to execute them!

Looking at the gold-dressed young man glaring furiously at him, Hill spoke lightly, "Valkin can't even save himself now, let alone his lackeys.

With so much money on you, how much could you preserve under Mask's men?"

"Don't spout nonsense! My lord and the mighty Mask are absolutely not enemies!" the young man's face darkened for a moment, quickly realizing that he had yet to deny Hill's initial comment, "My lord is fine! He just plans to stay in the Divine Kingdom to promote to Intermediate Divine Power!"

Hill slightly widened his eyes before quickly regaining his composure.

If Valkin really thought he would soon be able to promote to Intermediate Divine Power, it could only mean he had struck some deal with the Chromatic Dragon Queen.

Such as the Dragon Worship Church.

Hill didn't say anything more; Valkin had already alienated most deities and lost the favor of the Will of Toril World because of it.

If she mingled with Evil Dragons further, Valkin would be more miserable after the luster of the Dragon Disaster faded in a year.

Lower Rank falling to minimal was almost inevitable.

At least, the Sun God Lansendel had actually occupied much of Valkin's Divinity, adding one related to transactions with Gold Coins wouldn't be much.

It's all glittering gold; who's to say it couldn't belong to the Sun God's possessions?

As for whether Mask was an enemy of Valkin, Hill thought he might as well step out and see for himself.

The moment Hill stepped down, he immediately sensed those twisted shadows outside the auction mart.

Compared to Hill, who might have almost spent all his money, those Valkin worshippers who competed to the end were the actual targets of these at least Level 17 thieves.

That was at least 500,000 Gold Coins!