Master Of None

Walker saw no reason to wait around, he raised a hand with the number card that had been on his seat when they walked in.

"Number seven three hundred starting bid."

"Number twenty five, three fifty.

"Number fourteen, four hundred."

Walker did not expect such a fast paced competition the bidders were already jumping in to the fray.

"Number eighteen, five hundred."

"Number five five fifty."

"Number eighteen, six hundred."

"Number seven- oh number twenty five seven hundred." Walker had been outbid faster than the auctioneer could rattle off the number, this was going to get pricey. However if they thought they could beat Walker so easily that was a problem. He decided to bide his time and watched the three other bidders fight over it. The price soon reached eight hundred and fifty gold. This item was mostly popular because of its ability to store mana, now that the price was high only those who could use the boost it gave and the storage of mana would be left.

"Number seven nine hundred gold." Walker threw in his bid since the pace had slowed down leaving number twenty five left.

"Number seven going once, going twice, Sold! For nine hundred gold to number seven. Congratulations!." The high priest was looking at Walker rather impressed, he had almost thought himself that Walker had given up. But just as he almost places a bid he saw that Walker was tightly gripping the number card and intent;y looking around at those below. He was analyzing the situation and waiting for the moment where his opponent bidder would be willing to give in. 

"The next item will be one of the most unique armors we have ever had in stock. This armor started its life out in the dwarven lands forged and reinforced. There was plenty of trading that placed it in the hands of an elven rune carver and later in ours. This steel mana armor has the ability to attract natural mana and also block strong attacks. The bidding starts at nine hundred and fifty gold." The armor was the one that Su had been looking at with such interest. 

"Su are you sure you don't want that armor? We can have the blacksmith change it I have seen him use some rune carving skills." Walker was sure she may want it.

"No leader, If I use that armor it will not be to its fullest. I do not have the proper skills to use it with natural mana. I can have better armor made from scratch." This did not stop her from ogling the armor from the balcony. Walker told himself that he would make sure to ask the wandering blacksmith about adding some runes to maybe fill its mana storage capability with natural mana. If the blacksmith was able to work his magic it might help Su in the long run. 

Watching the bidding for this armor they could see a few of the well dressed individuals bidding for it. They were wearing the same uniforms that army officers would. This was most likely because any number of their defenders could make use of this armor. Just the reinforcement from the dwarves was enough to keep it at a high priest. However the addition of mana being attracted naturally made it much more tempting. Most people could go their whole entire lives without seeing a piece of equipment touched by two different races. 

The elves and dwarves did not dislike each other by any means but they were far away and when they did come in contact have different cultural values. These two facts made partnerships much rarer. Some people here would bid on it just to keep it in a collection. After some time a larger gentleman that was completely alone was the only person bidding against the army officers. The bidding had gone well past two thousand gold coins. The onlookers were caught up in this bidding war. If any of them were to breathe they just may miss the deciding factor of who may win. 

The larger man stood up after another three back and forth bids. However his gesture was not unnoticed as one of the slightly taller army officers stood up as well. These were the two in competition. They were going to bid until they could not bid anymore. The auction was still early having not even gotten to the new items or the materials or monster parts that would be auctioned. This was incredible to see a showdown so early, eventually the army officers that were seated started to pull at their standing friend, it seemed he was about to go over their budget for bidding. The larger man took this in stride bringing his bid an extra fifty gold higher than the previous bid. The total had reached three thousand two hundred gold, this bid was what ended it. 

There was an audible sight from the entire auction house as the bidding finally ended. The man sat down when his bid was named the winner. The army officers were not too happy but had their eyes left on many other pieces that night. The party was happy their first bid had not ended up in that situation, however since the fire had been lit everyone was getting hungry for more competition. The rest of the auction would become much more lively. This would be good and bad for the party.

The art pieces were filtered through by the auctioneer, most went with out much of a bidding war. Markus Raven was the most notable participant in the art portion taking away almost ten paintings himself. The bidders seemed to be gossiping about his actions on the floor but he paid them no heed at all. 

The next few items also went fast as they were a few weapons and shields that had been on display, surprisingly Su had little interest in the shields after she had looked at them. She had already taken what knowledge she needed from them and was it interested in having one herself. This was due to the simple fact that she was more interested in having the shields that would be custom made for her. 

This was what they had all been waiting for, the items in the pamphlet had all been sold, now they would fall in to the new items that were brought in today and the items that could nit be displayed. 

"Next up we have a large batch of potions created by one of our kingdoms master alchemists. They worked hard to experiment and create this new high health potion with less ingredients. This is a revolutionary formula which still holds the same strength. It is rumored that they used pure water in the potion to boost effectiveness. The starting bid for these potions in a batch of ten will start at one thousand five hundred gold." 

Remey knew instantly that this was the old man's potions. "Walker, don't go bidding on those, they were made by the old man. If you can drive up the price he will be happy. He must be after some extra gold so that he can make sure all the pure water we have is his." Remey said this in a lackadaisical tone but her eyes were locked on the table full of potions. Hearing that he had used the pure water to make a batch of potions that used less ingredients with the same effect was no small matter in the alchemy world.

"You got it, I will throw in a bid here and there to try and keep it flowing." Walker was also impressed by the fact that these potions had been tweaked to use less ingredients with the same effect. Even though his knowledge on alchemy was limited he was no fool that would think they were the same as other high potions.

"Hmm maybe I should bid on those." The high priest was interested in them but Walker had other plans. 

"If you are interested then Remey can take you to meet with the alchemist that made them. He put them up on the auction so he can make some more money before the pure water we are auctioning." The high priest raised an eyebrow and looked at Remey surprised that she had such connections. He himself had only been in contact with a few master alchemists and had a tough time building relationships due to the fact that the church normally relied on mana potions and healing skills instead of other potions. The church was simply not a huge buyer for the alchemy building.

"Yea what Walker said, I can introduce you to him for a deal. Just don't bid and scare anyone off." Remey said this but had a flushed face a bit embarrassed that Walker had worked her connections in to a deal. The high priest looked at her more carefully before smiling and nodding in approval. It looked like he was more than happy to do just that. 

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