No one had expected Reuben Saruman to let go at this time.
Sitting in the hall were leaders of the city’s forces; how could they not see that Little Merlin was already a spent bullet? From the previous unstoppable momentum of a 100,000 increment to the last dying struggle of a 20,000 increment, everyone knew that this was all the cash the Merlin Family could offer.
At this time, even an addition of 10,000 would be enough to completely crush the Merlin Family, but Reuben Saruman did not do that. He watched Kevin’s gavel fall and let the stunned Little Merlin bring home the last ten bottles of Arcane Magic Potion.
“Deal! Congratulations, Mr Evan!”
Until Kevin announced that it was a done deal, Little Merlin still stood there, dumbfounded. The feeling was too complicated; it was like a battle between two archmages: one saw that his mana was exhausted and struggled to unleash an icicle at the last moment, but as a result, the icicle stabbed the opponent right in the heart…
It was as if having survived a disaster, and Little Merlin was immersed in it for a long while…
Little Merlin did not realize what was wrong as Reuben Saruman turned around to leave.
When Reuben Saruman passed by the last row, he dropped a word to Gerian without a look back. “You owe me a favor!”
On hearing these words, the old and the young sitting at the last row couldn’t help but laugh. This fellow, who did not even recognize his own kin, was indeed good at forbearing—just like Gerian said.
In the face of the Guild of Magic that was at its height of influence, he had wisely chosen to take the initiative to befriend them.
And the way he demonstrated his friendly intentions was simple and straightforward. For this auction, the greatest benefit was undoubtedly to maximize the value of Arcane Magic Potion, forcing out the bottom line of the Merlin Family with an astounding price. This alone was enough for the Guild of Magic to owe him a debt of gratitude.
But on further thought, this was like a magic show. It looked like dancing on a tightrope, but in actual fact, it didn’t involve much risk.
He had created an aggressive momentum at the beginning, and at the end, he crazily got to an increment of 100,000, forcing the breath out of Little Merlin. But he was desperately calculating all along, figuring what was the exact bottomline for Little Merlin. Finally, he succeeded in pushing Little Merlin to stake all he had with a bid of 800,000.
Little Merlin had won the Arcane Magic Potion at last, but Reuben Saruman had won the favor of the Guild of Magic.
And the risk he had undertaken was not that high as he had imagined.
Even if he had miscalculated, he’d only have had to buy ten bottles of Arcane Magic Potion with 800,000 gold coins. It might be a little expensive, but he could still win the favor of the Guild of Magic nonetheless. The most foolish person would not reject a generous buyer, much less a shrewd person like Gerian.
The Merlin Family could only envy. Since the battle between Old Merlin and Gerian, there was no possibility of any partnership between the Guild of Magic and the Merlin Family. But it was still possible for the Saruman Family and the Mannes Family. The patriarch of the second family had chosen to take the wise path, though he had taken a slightly different approach…
Regardless, the Guild of Magic indeed owed the Saruman Family a favor. Though upon careful thought, it would seem that this favor was a rather cheap one…
The auction finally came to an end. The old and the young had brought out 33 bottles of Arcane Magic Potion and harvested over a million gold coins, 100 sets of excellent magic equipment, and a Guild of Magic at the peak of its power.
After this auction, everyone was clear that the Guild of Magic would be the single most powerful force in Jarrosus. Regardless of the 11 mage families or the six underground forces, no power would be able to contend with the Guild of Magic.
The leaders of the forces sat in the guild hall with different expressions on their faces but the same thought in their minds. Some of the clever ones were already planning in their heads how to hold on to the Guild of Magic. Even the slightly slow-witted ones were reminding themselves to control their men when they got back. They were not to approach and provoke any guys in Jarrosus City who were wearing long robes…
The follow-up work could not be sloppy for such a grand auction like this.
The leaders of the major forces who had attended the auction had to be served well. The gold coins they sent would need someone to count, of course; meanwhile, the 100 sets of excellent magic equipment sent by the Mannes Family should be open to the guild mages to apply for. All the matters were in a mess, and just thinking about them would make anyone’s head ache.
However, the old and the yound took their hands off all of it and dumped the matters to Kevin. They openly hid in the reception room on the grounds of having something important to discuss.
The important thing they meant was to divide the spoils.
To these jerks, the dividing process was undoubtedly filled with joy and pleasure.
One million five hundred and forty thousand gold coins were divided into two shares. The Guild of Magic would take 300,000 and the remaining 1,240,000 would all go to Lin Li. After all, for this auction, the herbs and work were all provided by Lin Li alone. The Guild of Magic had merely lent him the space, so it would be perfectly justified to give him the bigger portion of the pie.
Moreover, there was the 100 sets of excellent magic equipment…
“This is your crystal card, that 1,240,000 is in it. You must keep it well. It’ll be big trouble if you lose it.” Gerian tossed him a translucent crystal chip with a few small letters etched on it with star sand. Lin Li took a look and realized it was the name he used in Anril.
“How do I use this stuff?” Lin Li was a little perplexed. He knew that the crystal had a memory function and was often used for recording after being processed by magical means such as magic spells and sound image. But, he was puzzled by a thin crystal card like this…
“I really don’t know how Andoine has taught you…” Gerian was full of disdain. “Glittergold’s crystal card can be used anywhere in Anril. There’s a Glittergold Bank in every city in general; if you need money, you can withdraw it directly. Surely you wouldn’t want to carry the gold coins around? That’s over a million we’re talking about. If melted into a golden ball, it’d be as tall as a house, can you even carry it…?”
“Oh…” Lin Li carefully put away the crystal card and took out the deep silver necklace from his pocket.
“The Enigma Sapphire is yours, the necklace is mine.”
With a slight use of strength, Lin Li pulled out the Enigma Sapphire from the necklace. He tossed it to Gerian without even taking a look at it. Although storing mana was a powerful ability, to Lin Li, it was not really of much use. If his almost-infinite mana was exhausted, one more piece of Enigma Sapphire would probably make no difference…
Gerian received the gemstone cheerfully and then leaned in for another look. He asked curiously, “What exactly is this necklace?”
“Deep silver, something you don’t understand.”
“…”
After coming out from the reception room, Lin Li dived into the guild’s alchemy lab before he could catch a breath.
He couldn’t wait any longer now that he had the deep silver in his hands. He really wanted to know the kind of magical power a gold bar coated with deep silver would possess…
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