Chapter 618 - Auction Event (1)
After parking the car, Elysia and her group entered the ancient herbalist building through the main entrance.
One of the guards blocked them, but Elysia just showed an invitation card without saying anything.
"Special guest on the recommendation of Great Master Wu Yeong-Jin from Busan? Very well, please come in." The guard politely returned the invitation card. He only stopped this group of people just because they were new in his eyes and might not have an invite, but that was just a false alarm.
Elysia just smiled and walked in with her group.
Eun-Hee followed with nervousness as she could see so many important people attending this event.
They entered a grand hall that looked like two floors combined with closed spaces on each side at the top.
"Miss Eun-Hee, do you know how the auction house here works? Are our seats predetermined? How about the VIP room up there?" Elysia whispered as they entered a large hall.
"Uuh, my apologies, but I guess the auction house has the same custom in every country if it\'s sponsored or hosted by the Esper Association." Eun-Hee tried not to look doubtful even though this was her first time participating in this auction.
"Okay, then help me to ask one of the event organizers over there. I want to order the VIP auction room upstairs." Elysia nodded slightly and looked at a person in a black-white robe not far from them.
"Okay, please wait a moment. Come with me." Eun-Hee nodded in understanding and walked in front.
"Fwah, this is like a two-story cinema, Ely. Are we going to sit there, or are we going up to a special room on the second floor? Uhm, we should choose the higher ground instead of gathering with those humans." Sylvia whispered close to Elysia\'s ear while glancing left and right.
"Mm, that was my intention. It would be troublesome if a few random strangers were fussing around, or opening conversations at us from left and right." Elysia distanced herself reflexively because it was ticklish.
"Hmm-mm~" Sylvia nodded with a smile.
Eun-Hee then reported about how to rent a VIP room. The price was relatively high, but Elysia didn\'t mind that.
After making a reservation according to the procedure, a woman in a gray robe was sent to accompany Elysia\'s group to the VIP room on the second floor.
"Err, do you speak English, miss?" Elysia asked their attendant.
"I can speak English, but I\'m afraid to disappoint you because my foreign language skills are not very high. Your translator will help me to translate some details when I have difficulty explaining them in English. Is that okay for you, young miss?" The attendant responded politely. She then opened a door and stepped aside.
"That\'s fine for us." Elysia nodded slightly and entered the room.
The room was like a living room in a typical five-star hotel, but with a long sofa facing a glass wall that clearly displayed the entire hall.
"The auction will start in two minutes. This is the list of items and things that will be auctioned tonight. You can place your bid using this tablet, young miss." The attendant took the tablet screen and tapped it before giving it to Elysia.
"Oh, alright. So, it\'s like an online auction with an internal network, huh. This is interesting." Elysia sat on the sofa and looked through the items on the list. Sylvia and Vanessa tagged along for the sightseeing, while Eun-Hee could only take a peek from behind.
\'Ely, what do you want to buy from this place? The prices of those items will obviously skyrocket at auction, but we only have around one million three hundred thousand dollars.\' Elena asked with some sense of curiosity.
\'Hm, we have some resources from yesterday\'s underwater treasure hunt. However, I would like to see what the Earth\'s experts have to offer. We need to know what they see as valuable and of great value. We\'ll buy some if we think it\'s useful.\' Elysia responded confidently.
\'Oh, so we\'re just reviewing our standards to match Earth. I see, let\'s see what they will bring to the stage.\' Elena nodded in understanding.
\'Mm, some high-quality resources or artifacts is what we really need the most right now. High-quality resources to speed up our power recovery on Earth, and artifacts for self-defense just in case.\' Rhea had a favourable opinion to buy some items with the value for money concept.
"Psst, Ely, there is a peak event here and it seems these three items are what all the participants in this auction are looking for the most. Are we going to participate in the bid?" Sylvia whispered softly.
"If it is within our budget and in accordance with our interests, then yes, we will participate in the bid war. However, our main goal here is to see this world\'s standard." Elysia gave a subtle nod.
"Hmm, you say that as if you are an alien on your own home planet, Ely. Did something happen?" Sylvia was somewhat surprised by Elysia\'s answer.
"..." Elysia was silent for a moment because she chose the wrong words. She was originally from Earth, but she was completely oblivious about espers or ability users!
Her in the past was just like any normal human being, and somehow, her existence was thrown into another world as a savior entity!
"Ahem, I mean, it\'s been two years since I left this world, Sylvi. A lot of changes have happened. I wonder what those experts value as valuable. Oh, look, the event has started. Let\'s see what interesting things we will encounter." Elysia used the ultimate move to change the topic.
"Oh~" Sylvia put her hands together. She was mesmerized by the sheen of light on the stage as the opening began. The host greeted everyone, but it was like random chirps to her ears.
Sessions one and two went on just like that. Elysia, Sylvia, and Vanessa were just enjoying their popcorn while watching a traditional music show on stage.
Each session was always given a short break to rest, and it was filled with mesmerizing music or dance performances.
"It\'s like a theatre, but with an extra auction show. Hey, it\'s already the second session, and they\'re just auctioning off useless stuff at high prices. They\'re literally a bunch of scammers. That little blue ore is even being sought after by those humans. No wonder we got a million dollars just for selling a sack of weird crystals and a small pouch of colorful resource stones." Sylvia took popcorn and threw it in her mouth.
"Uhm, well... They call it spirit stone. Yes, it\'s quite rare and so precious. We have some that are indigo in color, and they seem to be the highest ranked resource because it has the most abundant energy." Elysia looked back at the auction list. They only had one more session before the end of the event with three mysterious items.
"This world\'s power level and resource ranking, hmm... I also need to know about that. Is it possible that you have a comparison parameter, Ely?" Sylvia pondered for a moment and decided to ask.
"Can you see the colorful auras of the espers over there, Sylvi?" Elysia used her sacred vision at a glance. She had been aware of the color of that aura since a few days ago, but she just hadn\'t found out about it yet.
"Yep, it\'s so easy because some of them are so careless to expose their aura. Wow, my magic eyes see the hall down there is enveloped in a rainbow of spectral colors right now. Is the blue color the strongest?
Hey, that little blue spirit stone just now had a price of a hundred million! Were we scammed to sell that valuable thing in Busan for only a million? That old thing, how dare he!" Sylvia clenched her fists in annoyance.
"That\'s a currency difference, Sylvi. They use won, while we are paid in US dollars. One dollar has a value of about one thousand two hundred won. Wait a moment, Sylvi, I will make a power and resource ranking list for you." Elysia took out a piece of paper and made a list based on the aura color she could observe.
White, gray, red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. Then, the highest was probably indigo. However, they had only recently encountered it in the form of spirit stones. No one they had met yet had an indigo colored aura.
"Here." Elysia passed the list to Sylvia.
"Oho-ho, thank you~" Sylvia received the paper with an excited smile.
"..." Eun-Hee just glanced at the two girls\' behavior in silence. The auction attendant glanced at her questioningly, but she only pretended not to notice that gaze.
She had absolutely no idea what language these two girls were using and which country they were from. It was definitely not Japanese or any language she had ever heard in her life!
"Excuse me, Miss Eun-Hee. May I ask you one thing?" Elysia turned back to look at Eun-Hee\'s face.
"Sure, please ask anything you want to know, Miss Elysia." Eun-Hee smiled kindly.
"Is indigo the highest color in power level? What do you know about power level? If you don\'t mind, why don\'t you sit on the sofa with us?" Elysia patted the empty seat on her left.