Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

"3800!" a young noble scion suddenly stood up, seemingly unable to contain his impatience.

While raising his bid card, he looked around, trying to identify which family was not showing him respect.

As his gaze swept over the crowd and landed on a box to the upper right of the second floor, the color drained from his face upon seeing the bidding beautiful woman, particularly when he noticed the black-haired young man beside her. He immediately sat back down obediently, coughed, and said,

"Cough! Let me straighten my clothes..."

"3900! We have a guest bidding 3900, is there a higher offer?" shouted the chief auctioneer upon noticing the beautiful woman raising her bid again.

Nobles looked at this scene with curiosity. It was extremely rare for someone to rebuff the eldest son of Viscount Hamadi this way, prompting everyone to look towards the source.

Ah! It turned out to be Baron Iron Hammer!

The bidder was Lady Crawley, no wonder...

It should be noted that, according to the rules of the Yakesen Auction House, the second floor boxes minium require a noble of rank to use them, and those nobles without a title could not apply on their own.

In the end, Rein bought the five Mithril ingots for 3900 gold.

This made Rein sigh with relief at a journey not wasted. Even if there were no further gains, just the acquisition of these two rare minerals alone satisfied him greatly.

...

"Next, we have two rare Extraordinary Battle Techniques. To ensure that our guests do not miss out on a Combat Skill they desire, I will reveal the names of these techniques in advance,"

Rein understood the intent behind Idris's early disclosure; it was to intensify the competition.

If the announcement wasn't made ahead of time, many nobles would not hurry to make an offer, always hoping the next Extraordinary Battle Technique might be more suitable and cheaper for them.

But in this case, if the two Extraordinary Battle Techniques belonged to different categories, there would be no undercutting each other; instead, their rarity would make the competition fierce.

Therein lay the advantage of the early announcement.

Fancy a single-handed sword Combat Skill?

Just one, do you want it?

"The first Extraordinary Battle Technique is a lesser-known single-handed swordsmanship guide – 'Outline of Tidal Sword Art,' containing two complete secret techniques," Idris pointed to the red silk cushioned tray beside him.

On the tray rested an ancient parchment scroll, presumably the guide itself.

"The second Extraordinary Battle Technique comes from the late master Kadar Es, 'Kadar's Martial Arts Outline,' also featuring two complete secret techniques."

"Each of these Combat Skills, regardless of which one, can serve as a family heirloom, perhaps inspiring unique secret techniques in generations of inheritance."

When Rein heard the name of the first Extraordinary Battle Technique, he frowned.

Single-handed swordsmanship?

He wasn't very interested.

But when the second Extraordinary Battle Technique was announced, Rein was even more stunned!

Hmm?

Martial arts?

This was completely unexpected.

Surprisingly, there was an Extraordinary Battle Technique for martial arts. Given that nobles who fight using 'Finger Tigers' were extremely rare,

Even assassins preferred lethal daggers or short swords over Finger Tigers.

After considering, Rein quickly made his decision.

If he had to choose, he would opt for 'Kadar's Martial Arts Outline,' not the Tidal Sword Art.

As for the reason?

In the two battles he had fought, his opponents had been much faster than Rein, often putting him at a disadvantage during the fights.

Combat Skills involving Finger Tigers and daggers typically include very agile footwork or evasive maneuvers.

Once mastered, Rein felt they would greatly compensate for his shortcomings.

Another consideration was the price. Clearly, the single-handed sword Combat Skills, being more widely practiced, would inevitably face fierce competition.

Compared to that, there would be far fewer competitors for martial arts.

...

As expected, the bidding for the 'Outline of Tidal Sword Art' was fierce, going over thirty rounds and ultimately sold for eleven thousand gold to a baron.

Whereas 'Kadar's Martial Arts Outline' saw much fewer bidders, just eight rounds in total, and was eventually bought by Rein for four thousand two hundred gold.

The beautiful woman and Jenny exchanged glances, looking at Rein with some perplexity, seemingly unclear why Rein chose the less popular martial arts guide over the Tidal Sword Art, especially given his strong foundation in Dual-Handed Greatsword.

But since the beautiful woman was not versed in martial prowess, she did not inquire further.

-----------------

Soon, an attendant came in with a tray holding the yellow parchment scroll, which was the 'Kadar's Martial Arts Outline' Rein had just bought.

Rein received it with a smile and quickly opened it to read.

"...Master Kadar Es, after observing the attacks of a fierce tiger, gradually created and perfected this martial art, hence, this martial art can also be known as the Fierce Tiger Fist Technique..."