The Primal Hunter

Jake alternated between meditating and diving into knowledge from Sagacity of the Malefic Viper and reading the book on the Pollendust Bees. He found the knowledge in the books severely lacking compared to Sagacity, and in some places, just wrong.

First of all, it explained how to awaken the egg and birth the Pollendust Bee Queen, and the method was just horrible. Insects differed from many other races because they didn’t really have a natural growth period as, for example, humans had. Instead, the Queen would be born at level 100 and hold the power of a D-grade from the moment it hatched.

According to the book, one just had to infuse enough mana into the container to awaken the Queen as all the necessary materials to do so were already included. While that was technically true, it was also a shit method. Why the hell would Jake just be happy with a normal Pollendust Bee Queen? No, he would do a nice and big ritual first. It would be a bit like what he did with Sylphie, though he seriously doubted he could repeat what happened then.

Throughout his studying, people had come and gone, and by now, the booth was full again as it was soon time for the legendary Auction to begin.

Sultan and Miranda had both come over to him as they chose to stay near. The reason was simple enough… so they had sources to borrow from. If an item popped up and Jake couldn’t afford it, he sure as hell was going to nicely ”ask” Sultan for a loan. Though he kind of knew it was more for Miranda to borrow from them in case something Haven needed popped up without her having enough funds. Haven – as a city – was honestly kind of poor. Miranda charged extremely low taxes and spent most of what little they did earn on paying people. Apparently, the primary source of income was Sultan, due to Miranda imposing some extra charges on the man, based on the agreement for him to stay and operate out of Haven.

”Anything you two are looking for?” Miranda asked. ”With us keeping the Supreme Illusiary Defense Array Disc for Haven, the only thing we really needed has been found. But I will naturally keep an eye out.”

”Many items auctioned off may be something that can bring a way bigger return in the future once Earth matures a bit, so I am searching for that,” Sultan answered.

”Bow,” Jake stated. He just wanted a damn bow, okay?

And as the timer reached zero and the intermission ended, he would hopefully finally have a chance to.

System Announcement:

The fourth phase of the Auction has now begun, where all legendary rarity items will be sold off. All items will be listed with a set minimum bidding price by the seller, as well as a potential buyout price, allowing anyone to instantly buy the item.

There are a total of 109 listings of legendary items for sale during this fourth phase of the Auction. These items will be posted one at a time in two-minute intervals. Note that for the remainder of the Auction, all bidding will be visible to all event participants.

All items will be auctioned off immediately once active bidding ends. If any item does not receive any new bid for at least ten seconds, it will be sold to the highest bidder. This phase will at most last until one hour has passed from the final listing being posted. Any item not bought at the end of this phase will be returned to the original seller.

The first item will be posted in two minutes.

Jake read the rules and saw that for the first time, there were changes. First of all, the bidding was now far more active, and it wasn’t all about sitting on an item for hours on end trying to keep the top offer, but now one had to actively bid. It was far more like a regular auction.

The anonymity was also gone, so now Jake knew who to go beat the living shit out of if they dared fight him on any bow. Actually, this part was probably the most impactful when seen from a political point of view. Even Jake could instantly see that.

”This changes things,” Sultan said as he took out his book, and he saw Miranda also take out what looked like a recording device. ”Seeing what factions buy can give insight into their current states and what they need, but perhaps more importantly, it will allow us to subtly spot who are allies based on if they bid against each other.”

”Does that mean anyone not bidding against me is an ally?” Jake asked sarcastically, finding the sentiment a bit silly. It was just as likely that the reason they didn’t bid was just that they couldn’t afford to or didn’t need it.

“You misunderstand… it is to spot those who do bid against each other. I believe many will use this as a tool to sow belief they are not allies by visibly displaying conflict through bids, while in actuality, it is quite the opposite. Naturally, this will not fool the more insightful ones, but many here are not politically minded, so it will help sway the perception of the masses,” Sultan explained, Miranda nodding along as if what he said made perfect sense.

Jake kind of saw the logic. Be an independent faction and bid against the Holy Church? You have just shown all the D-grades aligned with you that you truly are independent and dare stand up to the big bad Church, while in actuality, it is all just a show while working with the Church behind the scenes.

A bit like how politicians will talk about helping the lower class while receiving bribes from lobbyists to make life worse for them. AKA, shady shit Jake didn’t want to take part in or waste brainpower thinking about.

What he would instead focus on was getting the items he wanted. Then Miranda could deal with the annoying stuff as always.

Oh, but he would still mentally note those who bid against him. You know, for future reference.

Jake was ready as the first legendary item appeared… and it was kind of a spicy one right off the bat.

[Statue of Heroic Might (Legendary)] – A statue created from valuable stone by an A-grade sculptor to display the true might of his race. Gazing upon the statue will grant you Heroic Might, temporarily making you less fearful and reducing the effect of certain negative mental afflictions. Touching the statue will permanently increase Strength by 100 as you embrace the heroic power within. Any activation of the statue drains its energy. Once all energy is used, the statue will need to be reinfused or lose all effects.

Now, Jake’s gut reaction was to bid ten million as, quite frankly, the statue looked awesome. It reminded him of those overly buff 80’s action heroes, and the guy was wielding two massive axes hoisted over his shoulders to boot, looking like a certified badass. However, when he was instantly outbid, and the price went to twenty million and then instantly jumped to fifty, he stopped.

The actual statue was… not worth it. At least not to Jake. The Heroic Might effect looked great, and Jake could see it be useful, but not for someone like him. In fact, it probably would not even work with his Pride according to how he knew skills tended to work.

As for the permanent Strength? Well, that was also great… except it went into the same category as consuming elixirs. The 10 Willpower he got back in the Challenge Dungeon did, too, after all. So, what was the purpose of the statue, and what made it legendary?

It was how many could use it. And when Jake saw the top bidders, it also made sense.

One party was Sven from Valhal, and the other was someone Jake was told was the trade manager of Sanctdomo. Two others also showed great interest, and according to Miranda, both of those were independents.

The Court of Shadows did not bid, and the Risen also dropped out early. Yet, the item still went to over three hundred million before the bidding really began to slow down. In the end, the statue was sold for three hundred and eighty-nine million Credits, and just in time as the two minutes had passed and the next item appeared.

[Orrery of the Godless One (Legendary)] – An orrery made by a man who refused to acknowledge any gods during his life but only viewed the celestial concept as worthy of being recognized as divine. This orrery will passively map out all nearby celestial objects and give insight into their basic properties. This effect is entirely passive and cannot be altered by outside means, and may take a significant amount of time. This effect bypasses all attempts to hide or mask these celestial objects done by anything below divine-level skills.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Jake exclaimed without thinking much, getting the attention of everyone in the booth. He had to admit, he was kind of excited to see others bid on it and how much it would go for.

“Damn, ya got some good stuff. Selling that cube thing?” Roman asked as he walked over. His move seemed to be a catalyst as everyone in the booth began to gather around Jake, Sultan, and Miranda.

“Nah, Haven keeps that,” Jake answered as the others took seats around him. He kind of understood why… he doubted anyone else could afford to buy anything. Well, besides Arnold, who Jake saw summon that giant Railgun of Silver Light from before, and now sat in a corner playing with it.

“Bets on how much it will go for?” Roman then asked.

Sultan looked at the man as he smiled. “Sure. A million Credits?”

“Mate, that’s like my entire net worth. I’ve been spending!” the man said with a laugh. “But sure! Closest wins!”

The price was already climbing and had reached twenty million as Roman made his guess. “I think It’ll go for two hundred million!”

Sultan, on the other hand, smiled. “Well, then I guess two hundred and one million.”

“Yo, that’s just damn slimy!” Roman yelled.

“Two hundred and two,” Felicia suddenly spoke up, getting a nasty look from Sultan. She just shrugged in response. “You didn’t say others couldn’t participate.”

Jake ignored the squabbles of the poor as he saw his potential earnings climb more than ten million at a time. Soon, the price reached a hundred million. Then a hundred and fifty. Jake also saw who was bidding, and to his surprise, it was borderline every single large faction. The Holy Church, Risen, Valhal, Court of Shadows, and quite a few smaller factions too.

The many bidders made him think the price would go insane, but it slowed down when it hit a hundred and ninety. Yet two were still bidding – the Risen and the Church – as the price climbed above two hundred million. Sultan groaned a bit as Felicia won the bet, and Jake was all-smiles as it reached two hundred and forty million before no one else was bidding. In the end, the Risen bought it.

This was when Jake learned something else caused by the items getting auctioned off like this… he got his money instantly. Two hundred and forty million Credits – minus one for Sultan – appeared in his inventory to Jake’s delight.

“Pretty good,” Sultan said as he paid Felicia without saying anything more. “A bit over what I expected, actually.”

To the background noise of Roman trying to argue he shouldn’t pay Felicia and the wonders of shared finances, the third item appeared.

[Staff of-]

Jake wanted to curse but held himself back. It was a fucking staff made for blood magic and manipulation of life. Jake did see it as rather interesting, and it looked very suitable for a healer to use. So it also made sense when the eventual winner turned out to be Eron, who happily spent a hundred and seventy million on it. He didn’t know that the guy even used staves, and chances are the lunatic just wanted to experiment.

The next few items weren’t interesting either. Well, okay, they were interesting, all legendary items tended to be, but they were not anything Jake wanted. Eight items in, the first piece of wearable equipment appeared.

[Cuirass of the Immortal (Legendary)] – Rings of blessed metal link together to form armor that can block nearly any blow. Created by a master armorsmith by pouring in his own life, he created his magnum opus as he died, fulfilling his dream of creating armor to make its wearer immortal. Should the wearer ever face death, the cuirass shall show its true worth. Allows the wearer to survive even if health falls below zero, instead fully refreshing the wearer, filling all resource pools, and removing any afflictions and negative effects, returning the wearer to their prime. This can only occur once, and the cuirass shall join its creator and turn to dust afterward. Enchantments: ImmortalRequirements: Soulbound.

Jake stared at it a bit, and while he thought it looked awesome, he wasn’t sure he thought it worthy of the legendary rarity. It was just an automatic super health potion or something like that. However, the reactions of the people around him were entirely different.

“This should be the most expensive one yet,” Sultan said.

“Very likely,” Miranda agreed. “It is hard to put a price on such an item.”

The others also nodded, and Jake had to admit… they were right. The second it appeared, Jake saw it jump to a hundred million, then two hundred million, and soon it was above half a billion Credits. Looking at the situation a bit logically, Jake could see how powerful it was based on how it could even remove negative effects, which likely even included periods of weakness after using a boosting skill. The fact that the top bidder at half a billion was Carmen only reinforced this.

“Didn’t know Carmen was that rich,” Jake commented. As far as he knew, she did not like to borrow from her faction, so he wondered if she had just struck it rich in prior phases or any of the legendaries sold earlier were hers.

“If you have items up for sale that are yet unsold, you can use those as guarantees. If you are still lacking in funds at the end of the event, the second highest will get a chance to accept it at that price. If no one does, the original buyer can keep it but get a negative Credit balance. Of course, the system has limits on this, but I believe she should have at least two legendary items up for sale and isn’t poor, to begin with,” Sultan explained.

“How have I not heard of this?” Jake asked. Was the system that shit at explaining rules?

“You would know if you tried to bid over what you had,” Sultan answered. “I did it as a test in the very first round to discover this, and as long as you show the intent to buy an item but is unable to afford it, the system will inform you.”

“Kind of makes sense?” Jake said, shaking his head as he just returned his attention to the cuirass. In the end, it went for six hundred and two million Credits, which quite frankly was insane. Jake thought, having nearly two billion himself. Carmen ended up being the final buyer, Jake seeing how it made sense for her. She was a real beast with all her boosting skills, and if she could do that twice? That would be quite something.

Jake had found it a bit funny that Eron also bid on it, considering he could repeatedly revive himself anyway, but it was probably just for research purposes. Either way, Jake was ready for the next item as he suddenly thought of something.

“You did research on upcoming items, right?” Jake asked Sultan.

“I did,” the man confirmed.

“So… is there a bow?” Jake asked with hope in this voice.

“Without being aware of everything there will appear, I do believe I have heard there is a crossb-“

Jake nearly broke the rule of no violence during the Auction at that very moment.