Sovereign of the Ashes

Five days later, Sein led Yuri to the largest building in the center of the Monique Black Market.

This cylindrical building towered over a hundred meters, supported by thick marble columns that encircled it.

The architecture, reminiscent of liberal coastal styles, featured subtle modifications that set it apart from the coastal cities Sein had previously visited.

A half-naked mermaid statue stood at the building’s center, while various corners featured decorations inspired by the culture of aquatic races.

Such design elements suggested a connection between the Imperial Pearl Auction and these aquatic races, leading Sein to wonder about their possible investment in the auction.

“Let’s go in,” Sein said, taking the lead with Yuri close behind.

Entry to the auction required a fee of ten magicoins—a significant amount, but not without purpose.

If participants made purchases, the ten magicoins would be credited toward their auction spending; otherwise, they served as the admission fee.

Given the unique items being auctioned, spending ten magicoins to broaden one’s horizon was hardly a loss.

The admission fee served as a filter for its participants. While full-fledged mages and ranked knights found it easily manageable, only wealthy magic initiates could barely afford it.

With the storm season drawing to a close, this event marked the year’s final auction. It promised not only a large turnout but also a selection of exceptional items.

Missing this auction would mean waiting until next April for the Monique Black Market to reopen.

At the entrance, Sein paid twenty magicoins for himself and Yuri, who was also counted as a participant.

Despite this, privileges for full-fledged mages like Sein included better seating on the second floor with an unobstructed view and fewer seats.

“What’s the deal with those upper floors?” Sein asked, nodding toward the levels above as an attendant guided them to their seats on the second floor.

While their seating was on the balcony, the upper levels featured boxes, offering more privacy.

“Those are reserved for our VIPs. However, with a deposit of a hundred magicoins, you could also access those levels,” the female attendant responded respectfully.

Sein could tell that the female attendant was not a pure-blooded human. The appearance of her ears suggested she might be a demihuman or its hybrid.

The Imperial Pearl Auction was clearly well-established, as evidenced by its significant investment in training a group of both beautiful and handsome attendants.

In the end, Sein handed over two hundred magicoins to the attendant. That amount was hardly an issue to him. Besides, his visit to the auction was not solely to track the potential activities of black mages but also to bid on items for personal use.

In the five days leading up to the auction, he thoroughly explored most of the Monique Black Market and spent about a hundred magicoins on various trinkets.

The black market, having operated for years, indeed boasted a comprehensive array of resources.

Given that the Imperial Pearl Auction was the largest in this black market, Sein anticipated it would present an even wider array of valuable items.

The female attendant, who had not yet reached the life level of Rank One, did not show surprise when Sein paid the hefty fee of two hundred magicoins. After all, she was well-trained in decorum.

With increased respect and warmth in her eyes, she arranged for Sein and Yuri to be seated on the fourth floor, where there were fewer boxes.

Despite the height, Sein’s vision as a Rank One being ensured he could comfortably participate in the auction proceedings.

There were several floors above the fourth floor, reserved for the “VVIPs”.

Although Sein’s wealth qualified him to be seated on those floors, he preferred to maintain a low profile.

Sein arrived relatively early at the auction. After his arrival, it took nearly half a day before the crowd in the auction house below began to settle down.

The balcony seats on the first floor were nearly two-thirds full with more than four hundred participants, mostly magic initiates, with squires making up less than a quarter.

This distribution highlighted that mages tended to be wealthier than knights.

Surprisingly, only about a dozen knights and mages occupied the second floor.

Sein was skeptical of the sparse attendance at the final Imperial Pearl Auction for the year. He surmised that many knights and mages, much like himself, were likely occupying private boxes on the upper floors.

Despite being a newcomer to the auction, Sein had gathered enough information over the past few days to learn that the auctioneers were typically Rank Two or Rank Three grand mages.

This year, the auctioneer was an elderly man in a yellow mage robe.

Although he was a Rank One mage, his mild aura, and kind appearance suggested he was approachable and possibly easy to deal with.

The Imperial Pearl Auction managed to outshine the Monique Black Market with its abundant resources and sheer volume of items.

After an engaging introductory speech, the auction quickly commenced.

In front of Sein was a crystal ball provided by the auction house, which displayed an overview of the items up for bid.

Given the large scale of the event, it was scheduled to last five days, with items organized in ascending order of value.

Items suitable for initiates made up about seventy percent of the listing. Sein had little interest in these and merely glanced over them.

His attention was primarily on items suitable for knights and mages of Rank One and above.

As expected, among these were magic initiates and squires, explicitly presented as auction items.

According to the crystal ball’s descriptions, they were unregistered individuals from the Blackhaven of the Western Archipelago.

The auction assured bidders that, provided they did not expose their acquisitions and kept them discreetly in their laboratories, neither the divine towers nor the orders of the knights would be able to trace these individuals.

The bidding for these black magic initiates and squires were competitive, with prices ranging from five to twenty magicoins, depending on their capabilities and appearances.