Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 159

Chapter 159: Chapter 49. The Fifth Auction of Devildom (8)

I was actually quite surprised that Ariel could afford six million points. The message window, which popped up when I got promoted to an archduke, suggested that archdukes were rewarded a large amount of points. Based on this piece of information, I had a vague idea that Ariel, too, would be very rich like any other archdukes. Nevertheless, six million points was still a lot of points.

The average points that demons had was three million. I wondered how much Ariel brought up that average.

“Eight million!”

Ariel did not stop bidding. The statue of a boy and a girl on ceiling did not smile; the archduke was not bluffing.

Eight million points was indeed a lot of points, and the archduke would not have called such a price, had she been not sure about what she was doing.

“Could she have figured out the true value of the Quintessence of Fire?”

Despite the information that I gathered using the Mind’s Eye’s, even I was not a hundred percent sure about this item. If I had not made any contracts with the Spirits of Fire, and if I was not interested in the item itself, I would have probably let it go.

Now that the bid was very high, I needed to take some time to think about my next move.

I had to decide whether I should keep going or give up.

Even if I quit now, the Spirits of Fire could not blame me for missing the item. They knew how expensive seven million points was.

Although the spirits looked desperate to purchase this item when it was first presented, none of them cashed in their levels or contracts. Perhaps they were not as desperate as they seemed. If such was the case, then our alliance would only be superficial, even if I did get this item for them. Therefore, I needed to see how desperate they wanted this item before making any further move.

I shrugged my shoulders. Then I looked at Jeeves and shook my head, implying that I would retire from the competition.

Of course, I did not really mean it; I was just checking on the Spirits of Fire. Ariel Diablo had tremendously accurate eyes for items, and she was very interested in the Quintessence of Fire. In other words, that item, which I was not even sure about, must be something valuable and would be worth the price. I did not want to let it go so easily.

Jeeves looked at my gesture, and his face hardened.

The spirit looked at me again desperately as though he was asking if I could try one more time.

I quietly clicked my tongue. If I really wanted that item, I could. However, I could not spend all of my points on that item. I looked back at Jeeves regretfully.

“Archduke Ariel called eight million points! Anyone else? The Quintessence of Fire is one of the nine kinds of fire that the Spirits of Fire worship. I am surprised that customers other than the Spirits of Fire bid such a high price… Anyways, I will count down from five.”

Taking digs at the Spirits of Fire, Deboron resumed the auction.

The spirit mentioned the Spirits of Fire in a very condescending tone, as though they were letting others take their treasure.

Jeeves frowned even harder, but he did not rage. After all, everything was under Deboron’s plan, which Jeeves heard from me, and if he lost control of himself, it would only benefit Deboron and his plan. However, Deboron’s words were true to some extent, and they provoked him.

“What are you going to do, Jeeves?” I thought.

Although I sent Jeeves signs of retiring, I remained relaxed. Crossing my legs and sticking up my chin, I gestured that I did not have any more regrets on this item.

Looking back and forth between me and Deboron, Jeeves could not make a decision. Now he had only two options, which were trading in his levels or making contracts.

“Five, four, three, two…”

When Deboron was about to call one, Jeeves stepped in.

“I will make a contract with you. I, the Monster of Fire, Jeeves, will do it myself.”

Deboron started to smile.

“If you make a contract, Mr. Jeeves, it will be worth a lot. However, you need to make a contract with whomever that can afford over eight million points. Otherwise, you may not be able to bid.”

Deboron slightly looked at Adonis.

The wealthiest person in the auction hall was Adonis, the Spirit King of Darkness. He was the director of the Auction of Devildom, and he must have accumulated quite a fortune for the last four years.

Other archdukes might be able to afford eight million points, but it was a large amount of points after all. No archduke could easily pay such an amount for a contract with Jeeves.

However, Jeeves shook his head and pointed at me.

“Randalf Bruciel, I would like to make a contract with you.”

“…Mr. Randalf has indeed shown some surprises to us. However, we need both parties to come to an agreement. Mr. Randalf Bruciel, are you willing to make a contract with Mr. Jeeves?”

Jeeves was asking for eight million points, and it sure was a burden to me. The main auction had not even started, and I needed to be careful about my expenditure. Otherwise, I would be broke when other good items were presented.

After thinking for a moment, I came to a conclusion and smiled.

The contract with Jeeves, the Monster of Fire, was more than just a contract.

It was a good opportunity to build a strong relationship with the Spirits of Fire. Through the strong relationship, I wanted to accomplish more achievements, which no one had done before.

In the long run, such an opportunity was worth eight million points.

“I will close the deal.”

[You made a contract with the highest Spirit of Fire, Jeeves, who is also known as the Monster of Fire.]

[This contract becomes complete when the “user” purchases the Great Quintessence of Fire.]

[Depending on the points, which was used to purchase this item, you may earn some rights to use “Jeeves the Monster of Fire” as you will.]

Several message windows popped up at once.

The message windows informed me that I could use Jeeves as I wished for the points that I spent in this contract.

“How much are you going to call then?”

Ariel Diablo called eight million points. Everyone must have thought that I would call nine million for the next bid.

“15 million.”

“…Are you sure?”

Shocked, Deboron asked again.

I nodded.

The price now doubled. Everyone was surprised at the price, but I called it for a reason. The higher the price was, the more binding the contract between me and Jeeves would be.

I wanted to play big. If I could use the Spirits of Fire according to my will like my monsters, I would gladly pay fifteen million points.

Jeeves ranked fourth out of all of the Spirits of Fire. If he moved, the other spirits followed. In other words, by using him, I could effectively use other Spirits of Fires like my monsters.

“Archduke Randalf Bruciel has called fifteen million points. Anyone else?”

No one called for a higher price.

Deboron’s announcement made me realized that I was now an archduke.

“I like it,” I thought.

I could not help but snicker.

A count was suddenly promoted to an archduke. Such a sudden change could be confusing, but Deboron, an experienced host, did not make any mistake.

“Aren’t you being too greedy, Randalf Bruciel?”

Ariel asked a sarcastic question.

I did not even turn around. Not only were we close enough to joke around but she was also a bit awkward.

Therefore, I chose to ignore her and deal with the situation.

“Congratulations. Archduke Randalf Bruciel takes the Great Quintessence of Fire!”

Deboron took a sneak peek at me. At first, he doubted if I made a deal with other spirits. The doubt had turned into assurance.

“He doesn’t have any evidence, and he can’t blame me for anything,” I thought.

Without any evidence, the spirit could not do anything. Furthermore, I did not break any rule, so he could not kick me out from the auction. By the time the Spirits of Darkness, including Deboron and Adonis, secured the evidence that I made a deal with the Spirits of Fire, the war would break out. During the war, they would need me even more; the spirits would desperately need more points from me.

In the end, Adonis and Deboron would not be able to take advantage of me but also could not forsake me.

Jeeves looked at me and slightly bowed gratefully.

“I don’t know if he will thank me later, too,” I thought.

I was going to take the fullest advantage of the contract with him. No item alone would cost fifteen million points.

I wondered if Jeeves would be still grateful after I completely exploited him and his fellow spirits.

Deboron, who was slightly nervous, spoke again.

“The next item is… the Quintessence of Origin.”

“Then…”

I slightly smiled again.

I had been waiting for this item so long.

Now it was time to take the points back from them.

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“Fifteen million points.”

“Seventeen million.”

“Twenty million!”

“…Mr. Adonis takes the Quintessence of Origin.”

All the demons in the room had observation skills, and they did not need Deboron’s explanation about the Quintessence of Origin. The item did not have any hidden options, so all of the demons knew everything about it. Many of them wanted the item, and the competition went on.

The Quintessence of Origin would make one breakthrough his or her limits. Everyone knew how important breakthroughs were and how valuable this item was. The archdukes continued to bid until around ten million points. Above ten million, it was a competition between Adonis and me.

Both of us had much more points than other archdukes had.

I did not really want this item, but I participated the auction, just because I wanted to make Adonis pay a lot more than he could. As a result, the spirit ended up paying twenty million points for the Quintessence of Origin.

[You will receive twenty million points.]

Similar to how a contract was made effective immediately, the price of auctioned items was deposited immediately.

Adonis grinded his teeth out of anger, and I could hear it from a distance.

The spirit looked at me as though I was a traitor, but I was unfazed.

Adonis approached me with hidden intention in the first place. Both of us formed an ally only because we wanted to take advantage of each other. Therefore, I did not betray him, even though we competed with each other in this round of auction.

“There is only one winner, and the rest are losers. Adonis, you also know that whoever takes the lead would be the winner in the end,” I thought.

There would be only one winner in the end. In other words, there were no eternal allies.

Whomever that I allied with would eventually have to betray me, in order to become the final winner. Should I be betrayed at some point, I would rather make my moves before that moment came, so that I could increase the chance of becoming the winner.

The auction continued, and an item called “Hyacinth’s Bow” came out.

“That is the item that we, the Spirits of Water, lost,” Kerpy told me.

In addition, he volunteered to make a contract with me before it began.

He had seen how Jeeves had to make a contract with me to purchase the Quintessence of Fire. The spirit must have thought that this round of auction would be more or less the same as that of the Quintessence of Fire; the price of the item would soar, and he would eventually have to cash in his levels or make contracts with other rich demons.

Kerpy seemed to have made up his mind to make a contract with me, and he made a wise decision.

[You will now make a contract with one of the highest Spirits of Water, Kerpy.]

[This contract is completed when the “user” purchases the “Hyacinth’s Bow.”]

[Depending on the points that you spent on purchasing the aforementioned item, you may earn rights to use Kerpy, the Spirit of Water.]

Unlike the round for the Quintessence of Fire, this round went smoothly without much competition.

This round was about to close at seven million points, but then I stepped in and called my bid.

“Fifteen million points.”

Although it seemed that I was paying a large amount of points during the previous rounds of auction, I would eventually get those points back.

However, the Spirits of Water and the Spirits of Fire did not know about this, and they believed that I was trying my best as their secret ally.

Then it was my turn to sell my items, and I decided to sell the skill book for the Lazy Sword, which I had purchased in the Achievement Store. As the name of the skill said, one would use his or her sword very slowly in this swordsmanship.

Despite the seemingly uselessness of the swordsmanship, the skill was an epic grade. Of course, a high grade did not guarantee that the skill would be good. In fact, this swordsmanship was two levels lower than that of Highendall. Although I knew about this, I decided to purchase the skill book, because I thought that Ariel Diablo would have never heard about this swordsmanship.

Based on my previous experiences, I knew that the archduke was an avid fan of different swordsmanship, and she always wanted to learn something new. I wanted to take advantage of her traits and sell this skill book to her.

And I was correct.

[You will receive 3.5 million points.]

For the rest of the items, I used a similar strategy as I did with the Lazy Sword. I analyzed the other demons’ habits, and I presented items that would intrigue them. Based on this strategy, I could sell everything that I had prepared for this session of auction.

Those who purchased my items did not know that the items, which they bought, were mine. Had the demons known this, they would have not purchased those items, because they did not want me to get rich.

Thanks to the purchases, I had now more than fifty million points in my pocket.

I had forty million in the beginning and spent thirty for buying the Great Quintessence of Fire and Hyacinth’s Bow.

However, I recovered twenty million by selling the Quintessence of Origin and the rest of the items that I had prepared. In addition to this, I earned another six million points as a reward for getting promoted to an archduke.

While I was raking in points, the other demons ended up spending a lot more points than they had expected in this session, which was an auction for individual items.

“It seems that only a few demons earned points during this session,” I thought.

There were other demons besides me, who also earned points through this auction session. However, none of them earned more points than I did.

“The auction for individual items is over. We will take a break for two hours and proceed with the main auction.”

The auction for individual items had ended.

When Deboron lowered his head, the light, which brightened the auction hall, disappeared.