Chapter 451: Potions Worth Fortunes

The excitement created by the Verdant Crown of Asterion had barely settled when Master Orwin Pell returned to the center of the stage. Twenty-eight million gold coins for a single Magic Staff had changed the atmosphere inside the Grand Auction House.

Guests who had initially arrived expecting an interesting evening in a newly established organization were no longer treating the auction casually.

Representatives from the nearby minor noble Houses had begun sending servants away with hurried messages, several merchants were quietly calculating how much additional gold they could access before the night ended, and even Edmund Krail had stopped merely recording prices.

The treasures appearing on the stage were becoming increasingly valuable, and everyone had begun wondering what the Adventurer Guild had deliberately saved for later.

Orwin allowed that curiosity to build before striking his wooden hammer against the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have concluded the weapon and equipment portion of tonight’s Grand Auction. Those who purchased something, congratulations. Those who spent twenty-eight million gold coins, I sincerely hope you enjoy explaining yourself tomorrow morning."

Master Theron Vael, the Mage who had purchased the Verdant Crown, raised his cup and answered with a satisfied smile. "Master Orwin, if anyone questions me tomorrow, I’ll have a Gold-Rank Magic Staff to help me ignore them."

The hall broke into laughter.

Orwin smiled before gesturing toward the attendants waiting behind the curtains. "Our next treasures are different. A fine sword may serve a Warrior for decades. Proper armor may save its wearer a hundred times. A Magic Staff may accompany a Mage through years of cultivation. What comes next may disappear within minutes of being used, and some of you will still spend fortunes obtaining it."

That statement immediately caught Iris’s attention.

Two attendants walked onto the stage carrying a small blackwood chest. Unlike the weapon cases, the chest could easily be carried by one person, yet both attendants handled it carefully before placing it on the display table.

Orwin opened the lid and removed a narrow crystal bottle containing a thick crimson liquid. Golden flecks drifted slowly through it, almost like sparks suspended in blood.

Several experienced Knights straightened immediately.

Orwin raised the bottle. "Crimson Dragonmarrow Elixir. Rank: High-Grade. Tonight, the Adventurer Guild offers two bottles, auctioned separately."

A murmur passed through the room.

"The primary ingredient is the Blood Marrow Fruit," Orwin continued. "An exceptionally rare magical fruit known to grow in soil saturated over long periods by the remains and blood of powerful draconic monsters. The fruit absorbs tremendous vitality from its surroundings, and when refined properly with several supporting ingredients, it becomes the foundation of the Crimson Dragonmarrow Elixir."

Leon leaned forward, his earlier amusement disappearing.

Orwin looked toward the Knights before explaining, "The elixir temporarily floods the body with powerful vitality. It assists in repairing accumulated damage within muscles, strengthens weakened mana pathways and greatly increases the body’s ability to endure the strain created during a Warrior’s breakthrough."

That was enough to produce immediate whispers.

A scarred Knight near the front raised his hand. "Does it guarantee advancement?"

Orwin shook his head. "No. Let me make that perfectly clear before anyone spends their family’s inheritance and later blames the Guild. The Crimson Dragonmarrow Elixir does not create talent, does not provide enlightenment and does not guarantee a breakthrough. If your foundation is insufficient, drinking this will not magically turn you into a Grandmaster."

Several people laughed, but the Knight remained focused.

Orwin continued, "What it can do is reduce one of the greatest dangers during advancement. When a Knight forces the body beyond its current limits, failure can tear muscles, damage mana pathways or leave injuries that require months to recover from. The vitality contained within this elixir allows the body to endure far greater strain while repairing damage as it occurs."

Leon slowly nodded. "So it’s most valuable to someone already approaching a difficult breakthrough."

Orwin turned toward him. "Precisely, Captain Drakar."

A Knight seated nearby immediately asked, "How long does the effect remain?"

"Several hours after proper consumption, although the exact duration varies according to the Warrior’s strength and physical condition," Orwin replied.

He carefully returned the bottle to its stand before raising his hammer. "The opening price for the first Crimson Dragonmarrow Elixir is two million gold coins."

"Three million!" someone shouted immediately.

Orwin laughed. "Apparently two million offended someone. Three million from Sir Hadran."

"Four million!" another Knight called.

"Five million," the Iron Fang representative answered.

The bidding exploded.

Unlike the Gold-Rank equipment, nobody needed to consider whether the weapon suited their fighting style. Every Knight approaching a difficult advancement understood what the elixir could mean.

Even those who didn’t personally need it knew someone who might.

The first bottle eventually sold for nine million three hundred thousand gold coins.

Then Orwin brought out the second.

Boren stared in disbelief when the bidding immediately passed five million. "They just watched an identical bottle sell for nine million."

Irene kept her attention on the auction and replied, "Which means everyone who lost the first one now knows this is their last chance tonight."

Boren’s eyes widened. "That’s evil."

Irene finally looked at him. "That’s an auction."

The second bottle sold for eleven million.

Orwin allowed the victorious buyer to receive applause before the crimson bottle disappeared backstage. Then another chest replaced it.

This time, the liquid inside the bottle was pale silver-blue. Seven tiny points of light seemed to drift through it whenever the bottle moved.

Iris was already writing.

Orwin noticed her and smiled. "Master Mages, I believe you’ve recovered from losing the staff."

Iris stopped writing long enough to answer, "Some of us haven’t."

Master Theron laughed from his seat.

Orwin lifted the bottle. "Seven-Star Spirit Dew. Rank: High-Grade. Two bottles will be auctioned separately. Its primary ingredient is the Seven-Star Moon Lotus, a magical flower found in mana-rich wetlands and known to bloom only beneath rare arrangements of the night sky."

Several Mages began whispering.

"When properly refined, Seven-Star Spirit Dew calms disturbances within the mind caused by exhaustion and prolonged spellcasting. It improves concentration during meditation, accelerates mana recovery and assists a Mage in maintaining finer control over mana for an extended period."

Iris immediately raised her hand. "Does the effect strengthen mana capacity or merely improve control and recovery?"

Orwin checked the appraisal record before answering her directly. "The Guild has found no evidence that it permanently increases a Mage’s natural mana capacity. Its primary benefits concern mental clarity, recovery and control."

Iris nodded approvingly. "Good."

Lucan looked down from his box. "Why did that answer make you happier?"

Iris glanced toward him and replied, "Because exaggerated claims are useless. Knowing exactly what something does is more valuable than pretending it does everything."

Sage smiled. "You should write that somewhere."

Iris held up one of her notebooks. "I already have."

Orwin cleared his throat dramatically. "If our resident researcher permits me to continue selling the product, the opening price is two million five hundred thousand gold coins."

Iris raised her paddle. "Three million."

Boren stared at her. "Again?"

Iris kept her eyes on the potion. "I can afford three million."

Lucan leaned over his railing and asked with obvious amusement, "Can you afford four?"

Iris slowly looked upward. "Lucan, if you bid against me for something you don’t need, I will spend the next month explaining every flaw in every expensive object you own."

Lucan immediately lowered the paddle he had begun raising. "I withdraw from this conflict."

Leon laughed loudly enough for several surrounding Knights to join him.

Unfortunately for Iris, the other Mages weren’t nearly as cooperative.

Three independent Mages and a representative from a nearby Mage circle entered the contest. Iris remained until six million five hundred thousand before finally lowering her paddle with visible reluctance.

The first Seven-Star Spirit Dew sold for eight million two hundred thousand, while the second climbed to ten million after two Mages refused to surrender.

Then Orwin stopped.

The attendants removed the previous chest, but nothing immediately replaced it.

The pause drew everyone’s attention.

When another attendant finally appeared, he carried a much smaller case covered in protective inscriptions. He placed it carefully upon the center of the table.

Orwin didn’t open it immediately.

"The first four potions offered tonight were High-Grade," Orwin said, his earlier humor fading. "The fifth and final potion is not."

The room became quiet.

Orwin opened the case.

Inside rested a single bottle containing a luminous red-gold elixir. Even through the glass, faint motes of crimson light rose from the liquid before disappearing.

"Phoenix Vein Rebirth Elixir," Orwin announced. "Rank: Superior."

Silence followed.

Iris stopped writing again.

Leon stared at the bottle.

Even Edmund Krail leaned forward.

Orwin continued, "The primary ingredient is the Ashen Phoenix Orchid, an extraordinarily rare magical flower said to grow only in land repeatedly scorched by the flames of extremely powerful fire-aligned monsters. The flower absorbs vitality from burned earth and stores it within its roots and petals over many years."

A grey-haired Warrior near the rear suddenly stood. "What does it heal?"

Orwin looked directly at him. "Severe internal injuries. Damaged mana pathways. Long-standing cultivation wounds that ordinary healing methods struggle to repair."

The Warrior’s face changed.

Orwin continued more carefully. "It cannot regrow a missing limb. It cannot resurrect the dead. It cannot restore someone whose body has completely collapsed. But according to the Guild’s appraisal, a Warrior whose advancement has been crippled by old internal damage may recover enough to cultivate properly again."

The atmosphere changed completely.

Nobody laughed.

The grey-haired Warrior slowly sat down.

Sage understood why immediately. Every organization built around Warriors eventually accumulated people whose bodies carried the price of their lives. Knights injured during failed breakthroughs.

Mages whose mana pathways had been damaged by spells they couldn’t control. Veterans who had survived battles but never truly recovered.

The Phoenix Vein Rebirth Elixir wasn’t simply offering strength.

For someone, it could return a future they had already lost.

Orwin allowed the silence to remain before speaking again. "Opening price: five million gold coins."

"Ten million."

The immediate bid came from Edmund Krail.

Several heads turned.

"Fifteen million!" a noble representative shouted.

"Eighteen million," called the grey-haired Warrior who had asked the question.

The Iron Fang representative raised his paddle. "Twenty million."

Boren’s expression changed.

The numbers continued climbing.

Twenty-five million.

Thirty million.

Thirty-four million.

The earlier treasures suddenly seemed almost restrained.

The grey-haired Warrior remained until thirty-seven million before his hand finally began trembling. He looked toward the potion for several seconds, jaw clenched, but didn’t raise his paddle again.

Edmund Krail did.

"Forty million," Edmund announced calmly.

The hall fell silent.

Orwin looked around the room. "Forty million gold coins from Master Edmund Krail. Do I hear forty-one?"

Nobody answered.

Orwin waited.

"Forty million once."

Silence.

"Forty million twice."

The hammer fell.

"Sold! The Phoenix Vein Rebirth Elixir goes to Master Edmund Krail for forty million gold coins!"

Applause rolled across the hall, although Sage noticed that several people weren’t clapping. They were staring at the potion as it disappeared into its secured case.

Edmund simply leaned back in his seat.

Sage couldn’t tell whether he had purchased it for himself, someone important to him, or purely because he understood its value.

That uncertainty made the man more interesting.

Orwin waited until the stage had been cleared before stepping back behind the podium. His smile gradually returned as five attendants appeared behind him.

Each carried a locked treasure case.

Orwin looked across the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have now concluded the potion portion of tonight’s auction."

The five cases were placed across the stage.

Several Warriors immediately leaned forward.

Orwin rested both hands upon the podium.

"We will now proceed to the Skill Stones."