Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems-Chapter 279: Potion Auction

Soon, Locke followed Witch Christine and entered private box number 31 together.
Following the green witch into the private box and using Four Seasons Garden's box for bidding had another advantage, which was that he could hide his identity.
No matter what he bid on, it could be attributed to Four Seasons Garden.
And Witch Christine was obviously willing to provide him with such a small convenience.
The interior decoration of the private box was extremely luxurious. The sofa was genuine leather, the tables and chairs were made from special magical plant logs, and they were laden with gourmet delicacies made by flavor masters, all foods that ordinary mortals in the mundane world couldn't access.
At the same time, the temperature and humidity inside the private box were constant, always maintained at the most comfortable position for body surface temperature.
Locke waited in the private box for about half an hour before this giant auction began. The auctioneer was a senior first-class wizard apprentice with 700 mana, and he was also a wizard seed in the Universal Studies direction at Lilith's Cottage.
As an auctioneer, he had to be thoroughly familiar with the basic origins of all auction items.
For a Universal Studies scholar, hosting such a grand auction was itself a relatively major project and could provide considerable experience.
On the auction stage, auctioneer Reagan Thomas said, "Today's first item is a curiosity from the Sunshade Peninsula called the Prophet's Skull. After appraisal by my teacher, Universal Studies Doctor Robert, this skull comes from a plane other than the main material plane, suspected to be from the body of an evil spirit from an unknown minor plane."
"If you sacrifice one of your senses to this skull, such as sight or hearing, you can obtain images related to a certain future outcome of yours. But Doctor Robert believes this is usually a form of deception."
"The starting price for this curiosity is 5,000 magic stones."
Inside the private box, Locke finished reading through the Lichen Shield in his hands, then looked toward the auction venue. He saw that almost no wizards in the auction venue wanted to bid on this curiosity.
Soon, under the auctioneer's pitching, this item failed to sell.
After all, this thing had almost only research value. First-class wizard apprentices would definitely not bid on this thing, and formal wizards wouldn't waste 5,000 magic stones on it unless their research direction happened to be in this field.
Witch Christine said to Locke, "If that curiosity had a starting bid of 1,000 magic stones, I estimate a few wealthy formal wizards would still bid on it."
"But five thousand is too expensive."
"At auctions, sometimes there are some strange and odd things that aren't really useful."
"What do you think, Junior?"
Locke nodded, expressing complete agreement.
Soon, the Prophet's Skull was taken away by several second-class wizard apprentice assistants from the auction, and in its place came a golden helmet.
At the auction venue, they specifically used the spotlight technique from the light magic sub-direction of the Evocation School to shine a light on that helmet. Immediately, a mass of golden radiance flashed on the helmet's surface, like a small sun.
Auctioneer Reagan looked at the auction item list in his hands. After confirming the information was correct, he immediately said, "This is a First Circle level enchanted item, the Solar Radiance Helmet. It's enchanted with a First Circle protective barrier called Solar Guardian, which can form an ultra-high temperature field around the body."
"Of course, activating this First Circle protective magic requires at least First Circle level mental power, so apprentice-level wizards cannot use this enchanted item. Using it may even pose a danger to their lives."
"At the same time, the helmet's own material is the magical alloy Solar Gold, which has the property of converting high temperatures into magical energy, thus being impervious to high temperatures."
"Doctor Robert appraised this piece as coming from an alchemist in the Twilight Border."
"Starting price is ten thousand magic stones."
As soon as he finished speaking, wizards wanting to bid appeared one after another. The magic stone price easily crossed ten thousand and headed toward twenty thousand. After a formal wizard called out a price, the price quickly soared to thirty thousand magic stones.
Witch Christine thoughtfully explained the logic of this situation to her junior Locke. "A First Circle enchanted item with a defensive barrier can be viewed as a small permanent defensive field."
"So while ordinary First Circle enchanted items are priced just over ten thousand, this kind of enchanted item with a defensive barrier, even if the final price reaches fifty thousand magic stones or even higher, I would consider normal."
The green witch said, "Of course, this has nothing to do with apprentices. No one would spend so much money to purchase an enchanted item they can't use. Unless there's a specific gift-giving need, but ordinary wizard apprentices simply couldn't possibly have this much financial power."
Locke nodded, "I see, Senior."
Soon, several more auction items came onto the auction stage. Some failed to sell, while others were frantically bid on. Christine obtained a special rare potion called Soul Potion. The raw materials for this kind of potion had long gone extinct in all major wizard communities and couldn't possibly be purchased through normal channels. Only at Lilith's Cottage's super potion auction might one be able to bid for it.
After Christine spent fifty thousand magic stones to obtain the Soul Potion, she became much happier. "Great, now I can begin preparing for mental power vaporization."
"I've been stuck at the ordinary formal wizard level for many years."
Christine said to Locke, "Junior, aren't you going to bid on something? The wealth in your hands isn't less than a formal wizard's."
Locke smiled at Christine, "I just haven't encountered the right thing yet."
Even to Christine, Locke didn't plan to tell her he was preparing to break through to formal wizard.
The fewer people who knew about this kind of thing, the better.
Most people currently still thought he was only at the stage of understanding permanent defensive fields, still far from the point of attempting to break through to formal wizard.
Witch Christine glanced at Locke and smiled, "I see. That's right. Auctions mainly depend on a kind of affinity."
"You can only purchase when you encounter something that catches your eye."
At the auction venue, auctioneer Reagan said, "The next item, well, some wizard apprentices might want it quite a bit. This is a One-Time Spell Inscription Knife from the Blue Nile Basin wizard community."
An enchanted item in the form of an invisible scalpel, existing between illusion and reality, was carefully brought onto the stage by a second-class wizard apprentice.
Inside private box 31, Locke's gaze immediately locked onto that spell knife. If he remembered correctly, the so-called one-time spell inscription knife should be a specialized technology unique to the Blue Nile Basin wizard community.
It was a magical item that only emerged when a small direction of the special Necromancy School was developed to its extreme, so it was rarely seen in other wizard communities.
This thing could help wizards better inscribe First Circle magic on their souls, improve success rates, and during this process, have almost no risk of damaging their own souls, completely avoiding the common soul injury stage that occurred when breaking through to formal wizard.
That usually required this formal wizard to recuperate for about five years before they could escape the soul weakness stage.
After auctioneer Reagan briefly introduced this item, he said, "The starting price for this item is 5,000 magic stones."
"If any of you have students who need to break through recently, you can purchase this item for them. The cost-effectiveness is really very high. Bidding begins now."
Locke directly wrote down his bid price in the private box.
Soon, auctioneer Reagan on stage received a note passed over from the private box side. The bidding logic in private boxes was different from bidding in seats. There was no need to raise a paddle or call out a price. One only needed to write down a note in the private box and have a waiter deliver it.
Extremely elegant.
Reagan paused, "It seems there's a powerful wizard in this auction who's determined to obtain this item."
"Fifteen thousand magic stones, first time."
"Fifteen thousand magic stones, second time..."
Some of the first-class wizard apprentices in the auction venue who had originally been tempted by this thing now extinguished their thoughts.
If it was a few thousand magic stones, they would still dare to follow, but if it was over ten thousand magic stones, it completely exceeded their financial capacity.
After all, this special magical item wasn't a key item for breakthrough, just icing on the cake.
So ordinary first-class wizard apprentices simply couldn't possibly spend money to compete with Locke.
If they blindly bid and Locke didn't follow the price, they would be finished. No one could renege at Lilith's Cottage's auction.
Some formal wizards had originally planned to bid. After seeing Locke's bid of ten thousand magic stones, several formal wizards also wanted to act and bid down this item.
But after they noticed the bidder was from private box 31, and private box 31 was Four Seasons Garden's regular private box, these First Circle wizards immediately extinguished their thoughts, not wanting to conflict with a formal wizard from Four Seasons Garden who was clearly determined to obtain this item over this item.
A formal wizard looked puzzledly toward private box 31, "I remember the First Circle wizard in private box 31 is the green witch, right? She's still so young, and her students are all still young. No one should have breakthrough needs in the near future."
"Strange."
"Could it be that the green witch has some relatives or friends who need to break through to formal wizard recently? Forget it, I'll still give Four Seasons Garden some face."
On the auction stage, auctioneer Reagan said, "Fifteen thousand magic stones, third time!"
"Congratulations to the wizard in private box 31 for obtaining this spell knife. Shortly, we'll have someone specially deliver it to your private box. You may request at any time that we appraise the item you've auctioned once for free to ensure there are no problems."
"Alright, next is the next auction item..."