Murim Recurve

"Beware!"

"2021, 617, 922…" The auctioneer lady read the contents of the piece of paper that had one word and a set of numbers. As she read through them all, she frowned, 'Isn't this the seat numbers? Just who sent this?'

She was wholly confused, feeling fear at this mysterious individual that was able to send her this paper chit without her knowledge. It was unnerving. Though, she took a second glance at the contents of the chit, immersed in thought for a moment before returning to the stage, 'For whatever reason, someone sent me this. First, let me observe their seats and see if something is amiss.'

She thought, looking around the auction house as usual, but was subtly marking the seats that were mentioned in the paper bit. As for the paper bit, she kept it in her pocket for now.

Then, without any change in expression, she cheered on like usual, "Now, the next item is something a lot of you might be interested in."

As a young Harmoniser pushed forth a large trolley, she pulled its blanket, revealing the item within. There were four hammers within, each in different colours. Upon displaying the hammers, she didn't even need to say anything as the crowd stirred.

She could hear a lot of them taking in a sharp breath in shock, smiling, "Right, just as you have guessed, these are forging hammers. They were Magic Artifacts themselves and have been made in such a way only the face of the hammer head emits Elemental Qi. These four hammers are one of the items sent by the capital."

"Each hammer represents one element. It is clear based on their colour. You can use it to forge Magic Artifacts. The hammers will be sold separately," She announced with boisterous laughter, "This is one of this auction's main items. We'll first start with the Fire Qi Hammer. Starting price is 1200 RuQi."

Everyone who had relation to the fire element was stirred up to the extent they even planned to spend all their money to obtain the hammer. After all, it was a tool used to forge Magic Artifacts.

Normal tools were useless and couldn't even damage the Elemental Qi Essence. So, only a hammer containing Elemental Qi of the respective Elemental Qi Essence was able to process it. But even then, it needed stringent requirements.

After all, its quality had to be superior to the Magic Artifact being forged. Otherwise, it would cause wastage in the Elemental Qi Essence and even result in a subpar item. Moreover, if they had the hammer, they obtained the qualifications to create Magic Artifacts using the Elemental Qi Essences they obtained.

This way, they didn't have to spend fortunes to obtain any Magic Artifacts. At present, each Elemental Clan only possessed one such hammer. And hence, when they were working on a Magic Artifact, they couldn't use it on another.

With a second hammer, they could forge at twice the pace, obtaining the qualifications to equip more of their members with Magic Artifacts in times of need. It would result in a qualitative change.

Therefore, the moment the price was announced, everyone bid with an increment of 1000 RuQi directly, displaying the sheer value it possessed. Moreover, everyone wished to obtain the hammer for themselves.

If they possessed the hammer, then all forging duties of Magic Artifacts in their Clan would fall into their hands. This meant their status in the Clan would be second to the Elders, on par with the Clan Head. It was way too sweet a deal to be missed upon.

Moreover, since all the Elemental Qi Essence would go through their hands to be manufactured into Magic Artifacts, this meant none of the Clansmen would try to get on their bad side. It was not to mention the sheer profits they could make within the Clan itself.

Even otherwise, in their free time, they could forge some elemental weapons to generate more profit. The hammer would become their family's heirloom, making them one of the pillars of their respective Elemental Clan.

Moreover, if they had some talented younger generation that was able to comprehend three units of Elemental Qi per year, and if said child matured into a powerhouse, they could even become the Clan's central pillar. In the future, the Clan Head would only be born from their family.

The advantages were long-term. So, the eyes of everyone among the audience were laden with greed, including the Clan Heads. None of them had any intention of missing this opportunity. After all, there were four Elemental Clans per city.

And in their state, there were three cities in total. It was not to mention the Four Great Clans serving under the Royal Clan of each city. And, there might even be the case someone from the Royal Clan of the three cities might be among the crowd, just waiting to obtain this to elevate the status of their family in the Royal Clan.

So, the competition was tough right from the start.

After looking for a moment, Re'Kha didn't even have any intention to participate. Obtaining the hammer didn't give her any advantage, neither now nor during the future. She never had any interest in forging, so she didn't bother with it and just looked at the heated bidding with interest.

She also diverted part of her attention on the suspicious people among the crowd, noticing that they too were bidding furiously. But they were giving up one after another as the price exceeded the amount they had brought.

Re'Kha was also interested in the change in behaviour of Ki'Nua who was sighing in relief while patting her heart. She also seemed to look around from within her box, trying to sense for something.

Re'Kha didn't know the details, but her interest was garnered, wondering the reason Ki'Nua spent that much fortune in buying the mural that probably didn't have any use for her.

When she tried to sense it, all Re'Kha could perceive was a wall of blank space. And judging by what the auctioneer lady had said, it was coated with Earth Qi. So, even if Ki'Nua had been enthusiastic about such murals, spending 3600 RuQi on it was too much.

After all, it was way too much money. And considering her past interaction, she seemed like an individual who was well aware of the value of money. So, her actions didn't make much sense. Besides, Re'Kha had some more suspicions.