Chapter 1134: Points Auction (Part 2)

Vera waited for a breath before raising her paddle. “Two million.”

The hall went quiet for half a beat.

Two million—this price already shut out the vast majority whose points were limited.

Jonathan turned his head to glance at her, as if trying to judge from her face whether this was just testing the waters, or if she truly meant to fight to the end.

Annabelle still wore that faint smile, unhurriedly adding another round. “Two point four million.”

Vera didn’t hesitate, raising her paddle again. “Three million.”

Jonathan’s fingers tapped lightly twice on his knee, like he was calculating.

A moment later, he spoke. “Three point five million.”

Vera looked at him, her expression barely changing. “Four million.”

At this price, quite a few people in the hall turned their gaze over.

Four million points already far exceeded the final of many lots.

Jonathan was silent for several breaths, then raised once more. “Four point five million.”

Vera almost didn’t pause. “Five million.”

Annabelle finally turned her head, and for the first time looked at Vera seriously.

She didn’t follow immediately, instead letting her gaze circle once between Vera and Jonathan, then gently shaking her head and putting her paddle back on the jade stand.

She knew very well that Ancient Vine Marrow was a nice bonus for her, but for Vera, its value was not the same.

An opponent like this wasn’t someone you could scare off with price alone.

Jonathan’s face remained calm, but Duke noticed that the hand resting on his knee had already tightened slightly.

He hesitated much longer before slowly speaking. “Five point five million.”

Vera met his gaze and raised her paddle. “Six million.”

Her motion of bidding was like mentioning something utterly commonplace; even her breathing didn’t falter.

Jonathan gave her a deep look and finally didn’t add further.

He gave Vera a very slight nod, counting it as conceding.

Annabelle lifted her wine glass and, from across half the hall, gave her a faint smile.

“Six million, does anyone bid higher?” Noah’s voice rang out in the quiet hall.

A moment later, the silver hammer fell. “Sold.”

Vera slowly leaned back against the chair, a trace of extremely fine green light still lingering on her fingertips.

Duke turned his face slightly toward her. “Not a low price.”

Vera shook her head, her voice very soft. “This is the thing I want most. Miss it and there won’t be a second one. The fourth floor is where points truly show their value; keeping them, there’s nowhere else to spend them anyway.”

Duke didn’t say more, just turned his eyes back to the gold platform.

As the next few lots were sold one after another, the atmosphere of the auction had gradually heated up.

Someone repeatedly raised the price for a piece of Abyssal Demon Iron, and someone else argued until their face flushed red over a few drops of Elf Ancient Spring Essence.

Duke never raised his paddle, simply leaned back in his seat; occasionally he lowered his head to say something to Vera, but his gaze never truly left the gold platform.

Noah’s voice suddenly sank a little. “The next lot: a Fire Attribute Divine Fragment.”

All the murmurs in the hall stopped in that instant, as two Elf Attendants pushed a small obsidian cart to the center of the gold platform.

There was no crystal box on the cart, nor any silver bindings, only a crimson fragment about two fingers wide, floating within a ring of extremely faint golden rune light.

The surface of the fragment looked as if wrapped in a thin shell of molten rock; on closer inspection, the shell was covered in cobweb-like fire patterns. Each strand of fire pattern brightened and dimmed slowly and regularly, as if a miniature sun were sealed inside the stone.

Even those standing farthest away could feel that the air had gained a very slight scorching breath, like the heat drifting from the depths of a blacksmith’s forge.

Duke’s Spiritual Sea moved first. He hadn’t actively tried to sense it—rather, the fragment itself was like an extremely fine fiery thread, lightly touching his Fire Element Rules across nearly half the hall.

He pressed down that burning feeling, his face showing no change.

“Starting price, one point five million.” Noah said.

The hall fell quiet for a moment, then a Wizard seated in the back row raised his paddle first. “Two million.”

Very soon, a second person spoke. “Two point six million.”

A Bloodline Mage from the Golden Continent seated in the left front also raised his paddle. “Three million.”

Rodrick likewise bid, calling out, “Three point eight million.”

Jonathan and Annabelle, however, made no move, as if still waiting.

The power represented by a Divine Fragment was something you could not refuse, no matter which Elemental Rules you cultivated.

The Fire Attribute Divine Fragment especially so: sealed within it was a complete rule remnant left behind by a fallen God. Even though it was only two fingers wide, it contained a trace of true core law belonging to a Level 4 or even higher Divine Status.

For all Level 3 Mages who had not yet condensed their Divine Status, this was a clearly visible, within-reach path forward.

The fifty who mainly cultivated Fire Element Rules could benefit directly; even those not of Fire Element could use it to drive a qualitative change in their own Rule Spark, or ask a higher existence to refine and analyze it, stripping out the portion suitable for themselves. Some people simply wanted to bring the Divine Fragment back to their organization—this alone counted as a rare resource.

Precisely because of this, so many people had their eyes on the Divine Fragment at the same time.

“Four million.” A lean Wizard from the East Coast spoke, pulling Duke back from his thoughts.

Rodrick quickly followed with another move. “Five million.”

Someone still wanted to follow, but their tone was clearly weaker.

After two more rounds of bidding, the price was pushed up to seven million. The bidder was a middle-aged Wizard in a gray-gold Magic Robe, from the Scavvy Continent, obviously very prepared.

When he called seven million, the hall stayed quiet for quite a while.

“Seven million, anyone higher?” Noah asked.

“Ten million.” Duke raised his paddle.

His voice was like a piece of red-hot iron dropped into a still pool of water; all gazes snapped toward him.

The gray-robed Wizard who had bid seven million changed expression; his lips moved, but in the end he didn’t add.

Rodrick also pressed his hand down on the jade stand, his eyes like he wanted to carve two chunks of flesh out of Duke, but he too didn’t raise his paddle.

Ten million was already beyond many people’s points limit.

“Ten million, sold.” The silver hammer fell.

Dozens of lines of sight landed on Duke; everyone understood that as long as Duke made a move, he could instantly lock the price.

Duke was first on the points leaderboard, and among the current seventy-two, the only one who held absolute pricing power.

As long as it was something he truly wanted, others didn’t even have the qualification to keep raising.

Over the next few days, the Starlight Hall was packed every night.

Duke didn’t miss a single session, nor did he ever disappoint.

By the end of the sixth night, all six Divine Fragments had fallen into his hands, each firmly stopped at ten million, without a single exception.

When the Wind Attribute Divine Fragment was brought up, someone still tried to probe, pushing the bids to a little over five million.

Duke waited only a short while before raising his paddle and calling ten million.

No one followed.

For Earth Attribute, several Wizards from Bloodline Clans exchanged glances and gritted their teeth to push it to six million; Duke again flattened it with a single bid of ten million.

For Water Attribute, Jonathan and Annabelle no longer raised their paddles.

The Light and Dark fragments were separated and auctioned as the finale, with fiercer competition than the previous ones. The Light Fragment was driven up to eight million, and the Dark Attribute Fragment even surged past nine million, but each time Duke calmly raised his bid just before the silver hammer fell, pressing the price back to ten million.

Six Divine Fragments, six times ten million, six hammer falls.

By the end, the moment Duke raised his paddle, a very low wave of sighs would automatically ripple through the hall, like many people simultaneously abandoning a certain unrealistic fantasy.

The others also spent large amounts of points on their respective targets.

Leon eventually succeeded in bidding for the Abyssal Demon Core, and Edmond picked up a few supporting materials with poor cost performance.

Morris still fixed his eyes only on that Frost Giant Dragon rib, silent and unassuming, until the final day when he took it in one move.

Since the Blazing Dragon Heart Marrow, Valentine rarely made another bid, while Audric had seemingly vanished into the depths of the manor, hardly even coming out for meals.