Chapter 897: Open Auction
Date- 3 April 2321
Time- 15:56
Location- Sun Blossom City, Card Creationist Association, Auction house
"Here in Sun blossom city every half a year for the last two decades, the Card Creationist Association has been conducting auctions of its most priced card collections gathered or created by us over the period of six months. I would not be wrong to call this auction our city's tradition as card apprentices from all over the blossom district come to participate in this auction," Cheng explained the history behind the half-yearly auction held by the Sun blossom city's card creationist association.
After freshening up in our lodging Cheng wanted to lead us to his banquet but finding the flyer for the half-yearly auction in the hotel lobby I decided that the banquet could wait and decided to visit the auction held by the card creationist association.
I know Cheng and his family were holding the banquet on our arrival as a good host and as a good guest, I did appreciate Cheng's hospitality but I wanted to attend the half-yearly auction of the sun blossom city to check on the current trend of the market. I didn't expect much from a card auction in a third-grade city like Sun blossom city but I have never been to such a huge card festival. This could be a bit eye-opening and allow me to gauge the market in third-grade cities. And not to mention I had not been to an open auction in this world. It seemed to be a good place for me to take a small break from my day-to-day life and just enjoy myself surrounded by various cards.
All these reasons apart what actually caught my attention about the auction was the item card advertised on the auction flyer, the energy sword. This item card was the main attraction and flagship item of the auction. The moment I read the description of the energy sword card I decided that I should own one of these swords, no- I wanted to own all 9 of the energy sword cards that would be auctioned in the auction.
The auction was selling 9 energy swords as its flagship auction item of this half-yearly auction, the reason why they were selling energy swords instead of one was that if there was only one energy sword then the wealthy card apprentice will compete, and knowing this, average card apprentice would have no interest in it. Making the whole point of using the energy sword card as the main attraction to advertise the auction moot. So if there were 9 energy sword cards instead of one then the average card apprentice stood the chance of winning the bid on one or two energy sword cards, which would ensure the inflow of both rich and well-to-do card apprentices to the auction. Making the auction appear as if it was a great success. If it were any other auction this would not be the case but this one was different.
One has to remember this auction had become the tradition of the sun blossom city, no less than any other festival. Therefore unlike the sophisticated auction which asks for a minimum bank balance limit to attend the auction here in the half-yearly auction of the sun blossom city anyone could attend the auction, even if they did not plan to buy anything. After all, the idea behind this was to celebrate the variety of cards like a festival. Therefore to the public's eye, an auction's success would be dependent on the highest bid made during the auction and the size of the crowd.
Using these two factors to measure the success of an auction was not the correct way to judge the success of the auction but to the public who did not know the actual price and the profit margin of each item these two were the only way they could judge the success of an auction not to mention the free publicity of the auction by the people who attended the auction. Giving a higher social standing to the card creationist association of the sun blossom city over the o
ther card creationist associations of the blossom district. Therefore it was very important for this particular public open auction to retain as much crowd as possible. Hence they did not spare any expense on the advertisement part.
As this open auction was one big huge public event, it would be the perfect place for me to contact Roy and for my Sin squad to sow a calamity daughter gem in James Cheng. Making the open auction held by the card creationist association of the sun blossom city a perfect place for me to spend my time while I wait for all the pieces of my plan to fall in place and prepare to launch an attack on the Circle's branch in sun blossom city.
"Master Wyatt, if you are interested in those cards then I arrange to get one of the energy sword cards for you," I don't know what Rami had told James Cheng about me but this guy was going out of his way to help me. I did not hate it but he was trying too hard and it was painful to watch, not to mention he always spoke about his family. The more he spoke about his family and friends the more I got to know him as a person. And it was getting hard for me to act indifferent towards him.
"That would be great but I don't just want one energy sword card I want all nine of them," hearing that James was willing to open the back door for me to buy a single energy sword card I informed him that I wanted all nine of the energy sword cards.
"This," Hearing my demand, James Cheng's face turned awkward and he was speechless as what I asked of him was not within his limits. If he were to give me all the energy sword cards then what would he tell the public which came to try and bid for an Energy-sword card?
"Say no more, I understand your dilemma. Your words alone were a gesture of your goodwill. I will bid for all the energy cards," I said to avoid putting James Cheng in an awkward position.
Soon Rami and I entered the Auction house through the VIP gate, on the red carpet, under the direction of Cheng. Rami and Cheng were well-known figures, so the local paparazzi showed a lot of interest in us. Thankfully the security reacted quickly allowing us to enter the auction house without any complication.
"This way gentlemen," said Cheng as he led us to a different location from where the crowd was located.
Seeing this I could not help but look at Rami in doubt, who explained, "Master Wyatt, there are two venues for the open auction, one for the regular people which was more of a museum than an open auction for the people who just came for sightseeing and did not plan to make a bid. While the second venue was for the VIP, the true ballers of this auction who bid a fortune to get what they want."
This was not the first half-yearly auction Rami attended, as one of the founders of this auction two decades ago Rami knew everything about this auction. Therefore he knew that there were two different venues for the VIP and Commoners in the auction house. When the auction time was up the bids made in both VIP and commoner areas would be tallied and the item would go to the highest bid. This arrangement felt wrong to me but considering the unwritten jungle rules of this world I was not surprised that they would so openly discriminate between the rich and humble. I did not bother to explore my thoughts on this issue any further as it would not do me any good and I did not stand to gain anything from doing so.
Seeing Rami and Cheng enter the auction house a lot of eyes fell on us, and many came forward to greet the two. Some even threw a curious gaze toward me trying to figure out who was the teenager next to the two of the most influential figures of the sun blossom city. Their whispers to my viltronian ears were clear as if they were speaking standing next to me. But thankfully I had Hive AI which coul
d help me dampen my super senses and comfortably adjust to crowded places.
Seeing Rami and Cheng were busy returning greetings to people they don't even know, I decided to search for the 9 energy sword cards and place my bids for them. Then go around looking for any other card that would manage to catch my interest. But seeing me leave on my own, Rami and Cheng ignored the crowd greeting them and followed behind me, making the already curious public more curious about my identity. For a teenager to make the head of the medical card association of blossom district and head of the card creationist association of the sun blossom city follow behind him, then the identity of this particular person should not be simple.
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