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"SIX!" I screamed.

"SOLD!" The Auctioneer yelled out but rightr before his gavel hit the stand, it paused mid-air. "I heard six! The hammer has yet to fall, Ladies and gentleman! Six million! Six million, do I hear a six-point-five? Six-point-five anyone?"

Taking my hand off the glass, I sighed in relief.

"Lock… what is that book that we need it so badly?" Kyrian seemed perplexed.

"It's worth it. You need to trust me on this." I muttered.

"He hasssssn't been wrong yet." Then Skaris cocked his head to the side, thinking. "Excsssept that time he made us go fissssshing."

"I said from the beginning that we might not get anything." The reminder irked me. We'd wasted an entire week on that ship, trying to fish some Cores related to aquatic type monsters.

"Six million is a third of our budget." Kyrian muttered.

"Mr. Lock, how much would you say that book is really worth?"

"Fifteen. Maybe even twenty." I chewed on my lip, watching the auction. "Honestly? I don't know."

Aurora nodded and settled back into her seat, leaving me to my thoughts.

Just who the hell had bet five million on that book? Was there someone else in the audience who knew what that book represented?

…[Players]?

"Someone bid seven! Seven million gold coins folks!"

"Shit." I cursed, reaching out a hand for the window.

"Lock, there's a high chance that someone's trying to get us to waste our gold. Or there's someone with enough funds to outbid us." Even as Kyrian warned me, the Auctioneer got another bid.

"Seven-point-three million! Folks, the VIP rooms are on fire tonight! All these bids are from our VIP rooms! Now, the crowd in front of me, surely you don't want to lose out?"

"Is he allowed to fucking blab like that?" Stole said rudely.

"He didn't explicitly share anyone's identity and everyone knows that there are VIP rooms. He hasn't broken any rules, technically." Kyrian looked quickly at Pol who just smiled and nodded.

Shit, I had forgotten that Pol had been standing there.

I put my hand on the window, and the enchantment came to life in a series of magical circles that surrounded my hand, relaying my message to the auctioneer down on the stage. "Seven-point-five million."

"Ladies and gentleman, Seven-point-five! Seven-point-five million! Do I hear an eight?"

I knew that the Auctioneer was just doing his job, but I hated him whenever he tried to get someone to outbid me.

"Eight million!" He cried out a moment later.

Shit, Kyrian was right. There was definitely someone out there bidding on the book. They either knew what the hell it represented or was some fat merchant collector who wanted it for the prestige.

Then again, I couldn't dismiss the dissemination of knowledge in this place. I'm not sure how many [Players] are in this world. It's not like there's such as thing as a census in MSS, or is there some kind of citizenship marker to tell who's a [Player] and who's not. My point is that there could be thousands of us out there.

And those thousands of [Players] could have made their own parties. Or had children, passing down knowledge about Cores, like in Dibo's case. The fact is that I couldn't be 100% sure that my knowledge of the game was mine and mine alone. Especially in an auction like this where rumors of a valuable item like this was going to bring people out of the woodworks.

'This is just a taste. The stronger I get, the more people I'll encounter.'

That's just the way the game goes. As I gained more gold and influence, the more I'll have to compete with people who are on the same level as me. Especially in a free market setting like this. There's only so many usable Cores on the market and too much demand. In the end, an adventurer should rely on their own hands to get their Cores.

"Damn." Kyrian said.

"Nine million!" Meanwhile, the bid was still going up. "Ten-point-seven!"

Just in case, I had to ask, "What's the credit extension you're allowed to give us?"

"Up to fifteen. We've determined that the Bracers and the Dagger should sell between ten and twenty." Pol answered immediately.

I eyed the window.

"Lock, it's still going up." Even as Kyrian said it, someone else made a bid, this time from the crowd.

"The bald gentleman! There! Twelve million! He bid twelve million!"

I peeked down to see who it was.

The figure was clad in a cloak but the build seemed familiar. Something about the way that person stood up and then sat down. The fluidness of the motions. It didn't help that he'd covered his apparently 'bald' head underneath a hood. But what was interesting was that someone with twelve million gold in purchasing power was down on the first floor, instead of one of the VIP rooms.

I raised a hand to the window, contemplating if I should try to counter the bid.

"I HEAR TWENTY!"

An eight million jump.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The clamoring crowd settled down. Compared to the previous bids, the jump was way too sudden.

Even I lowered my hand, feeling the finality of defeat settle in my heart.

"Going once, going twice, going thrice, Sold! To our VIP customer!"

I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and melted into the seat. My palms were sweaty and the chair had an indent on the armrest from the moment when I squeezed it too hard. I flexed my palm, clenching and unclenching a few times.

"Too much competition." Kyrian shook his head. "That was intense."

"The person who outbid the first time," I muttered, feeling a sense of dread settle in the pit of my abdomen, swirling and churning. "He raised the our bid of two million to five million. I have a feeling it's the same person who raised it from twelve to twenty."

"How can you be sure?" Aurora was listening but her eyes were already glued to the next set of items.

"A guess. That person, I think he was actually bidding." They were taking the book away. Fuck, if I could get the identity of the purchaser, maybe I could talk to them or something. "Whoever that person was, they were trying to dissuade the other buyers from bidding with the price increases. Letting them know that he had a lot more money and he wasn't about to penny-pinch on that book."

Aurora turned her head and her eyes met mine, "I'm sorry, Mr. Lock. It sounds like you really wanted it."

I couldn't bring myself to tell her that the book was a way for her to learn [Aura]. Especially not when I knew that things might turn out like this.

"...It's not a big deal. There will be others." I sighed.

"There's a high chance that Turina has an interest in artifacts like that." Kyrian was trying to cheer me up, "Maybe the person who bought it is an emissary from Turina. Sent to recover such relics. After all, studying such relics can reveal a lot about a people's history."

'You have no idea.' but I didn't voice it out loud.

I should've known that moment that the Auctioneer hinted that Turina was hoarding these books. Whether it was purely due to what Kyrian said or my suspicions, that Turina knew exactly what these books were, the fact was that I didn't have it. And that pissed me off.

There's times when I feel unstoppable in this world. And there are moments like this where I learn that I'm not real special. Some invincible character with endless supply of gold and crazy IQ. I'm just me, a slightly above adventurer who knows a few tricks.

"And finally, Ladies and Gentleman, the main portion of the event! Cores!"

Skaris walked over. "Kekekekeke… It issss my turn."

He was right.

Me, Skaris, Stole and even Aurora. All of us needed new Cores.

I took out the slip of paper, careful to keep it out of anyone else's view. I couldn't keep track of everyone's build in my head on the fly. Afterwards, I was going to have to burn this, for obvious reasons.

It was a list of my Party's Cores.

Skaris

[Bool Dokkaebi] - Grade 8

A: Sticky Flames

P: Playing with Fire

[Inmyun Ho] - Grade 5

A: Hand in Hand

P: Two Hands are Better than One

[Ifreet] - Grade 7

A: Blooming Conflagration

P: Burn! Burn! Burn!

For Skaris, the issue was two-fold. His build was all about synergy. We had him absorb the [Inmyun Ho] Core out of desperation back then. But considering that he was at stage 3 of his [Evolution] now…

'The passive for the [Inmyun Ho] is useless at this point. Then again, he still has two Core slots empty. I can worry about replacing the [Inmyun Ho] later.'

You might be surprised to see how strong Skaris was even without a huge number of Cores. But like I said, Beastman makes the best elemental bladers in the entire game. But as I always say, MSS is all about match-up compatibility. The same Beastman Blader might end up doing less damage than a Human Tank using [Aura] against a monster who has the right combination of resistances.

Although [Aura] doesn't do as much damage, there's nothing it can't hurt. This is one of the fundamental reasons that MSS encourages party formations.

Aurora

[Lesser Umibòzu] - Grade 7

A: Capsize

P: Overcarry

[Revenant Knight] - Grade 5

A: Perfect Guard / Perfect Retaliation

P: Ghost Buster

[Stone Golem] - Grade 8

A: Stance Recovery

P: Stone Skin

[Cheonma] - Grade 5

A: Mass Fetch

P: Catch Me if You Can!

Aurora's Core combination wasn't bad.

I only needed to replace two.

Except for [Revenant Knight] and [Cheonma], the rest of her Cores were shit. The only boost that the [Lesser Umibòzu] really offered was the [Overcarry] passive, which let her hold her colossal shield and lance without much trouble. But eventually, her [Physical] stat would let her do the same anyways.

For the same reason, [Capsize] would be useless. The monsters we hunt would either be too nimble, so that even if [Capsize] did work, they'd just get back up, or the opposite: their [Physical] stats would be too high. [Stone Golem] was shitty too.

Aurora never told me which Cores she had. But after fighting alongside her for so long, I'd figured it out myself.

'So Skaris has 2 Core slots open with 1 Core to replace later. Aurora has 1 Core slot open with 2 that I want to replace. Skaris needs a utility Core for movement and Aurora needs something that synergizes better with her [Cheoma] and [Revenant Knight] Cores.'

Then there was Stole.

[Red Cap] - Grade 6

A: Concentrated Aim

P: 20/20 Vision

[Nine-Headed Swan] - Grade 9

A: Bounce Shot

P: Light as a Feather

[Six-footed White Hare]

A: ....Run. DUN-DUN.

P: Peaceful Encounter

This was Stole's combination of Cores. Except for the [Six-footed white Hare]...

Oof.

The synergy with each other wasn't bad. I mean, [Bounce Shot] and [Concentrated Aim] works well. But Stole didn't need either passive.

'Yeah, going to have to get her to replace these two later on too.'

Thankfully, Stole had a spare Core slot as well, since she went through a Sanctification after we met.

So two for Skaris and one for the girls.

And I didn't want to replace Cores yet. Replacing Cores isn't just for the abilities. You have to make up for the lost stats, and as I keep mentioning, I had to start keeping in mind the [Mental] stat. Things like [Anger], [Jealousy], if those got higher and higher, my party would break down. It's not too much of an issue, because there are ways to mitigate those. The problem is the Supply of Cores.

Sometimes, you have to make do with what you have. And that means compromising.

Back when it was a game, it wasn't a big deal if one of my party members went off the rails. Just kill them, sell their gear and hire a new party member. Simple.

In here…

Well, I didn't want to think about that.

'Let's just see what cores are available today.'

"Ladies and gentleman, we have a special treat for the first Core!" Four men wheeled a cart over with a fancy cloth over it, which the Auctioneer pulled off. "Core of the [Hellhound]!"

"Hellhound? That's not a monster I've heard of." Kyrian peered in.

I sucked in a breath. "Ragnia Mountain, Second Zone, near the First Zone Boundary. They live within the volcano, bodies are made entirely of flames."

Standing almost as big as the [Cheonma], these monsters lived in packs. With a body made entirely of Flames, their flame resistance was off the charts. Which is funny, because these guys are one of fundamental Cores for anyone trying to get a Fire-type build going.

"What are we waiting for? We musssst bid!"

"No…" I shook my head as my heart rate began to drop.

"What? Why?!" Skaris demanded.

"It's green." I shook my head. "We need a white and green one."

Aurora zoomed in on the glass to get a closer look. Lo and behold, it was entirely green.

"Feh…." Skaris spat but didn't look too upset.

He used to get extremely upset but after waiting and I got him the [Ifreet] Core, he saw how strong he'd become. So he waited.

Despite being the Green one, it still sold for 933,000 gold pieces.

"933,000…" Stole's eyes were wide open.

I explained, "Some cores can go for tens of millions. Maybe hundreds for the rare ones. It's not really about the grade sometimes, but about the rarity."

Lord knows, the rich nobles of this world kept grabbing Grade-10 Cores with the [Beauty] stat attached. Those could possibly go for tens of millions.

A few more Cores came and went. All fire-type Cores.

"Ssslaveborn."

"Ssssh, it's here." I said, seeing the Core.

"This core belonged to a monster called [Nyeolbi (녈비)], a grade 5 Monster. Watch out, though! This is a rare monster that doesn't show up near the Jayu States! Apparently, it only appears in select dungeons!"

Not only was this Core on the list, but it was also the right color. Pure white with what looked like black feather markings.

"The bidding will start at 500,000."

"Don't go in right away, Lock." Kyrian advised.

Listening to his advice, I held my hand until it looked like the [Nyeolbi] Core was about to be sold.

"Going twice…"

"1,100,000."

"Sold!"

Got one.

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