World Development System

Prince Lukavv who didn't show himself earlier spoke his bid with an authoritative aura, "1.3 Million Gold coins."

Prince Lukavv thought, 'Even if the prices of this weapon lower later on who knows if Sky would even entertain future sales. Looking at the staff I can say that the materials used are rare and hence I doubt if there would be mass productions. I guess John is only selling this now to show off Sky's power and authority to other stakeholders in this region. Anyway, price doesn't matter as it is a good item for high-end magicians.'

John was also quite surprised that his status check took more time to see through some parameters of Prince Lukav.

-Name - Lukav Aelius (The Lunatic Prince).

-Mana - 4000.

-Power - 5500.

-Level - 49.

-Status - Super Healthy (Soul Bound to Blood Demon) (Disfavored by Gods).

-Species - Human.

-Talent - Swordsmanship, High Magician (Arch Mage- Dark, Water, Fire, Wind and Earth Magic), Scheming, High Charm.

-Owns- Leader of Shadow Mercenaries, Contractor of the Red Death Sword.

John was quite surprised as he hadn't detected Prince Lukav previously and noticed him just now.

He thought, 'It seems Prince Lukav has different plans today.'

As soon as John did a status check on Lukav he felt thick killing intent from Lukav for a second which was soon suppressed.

John thought as he looked at Lukav, 'From the looks of it, it seems he too can detect something when I try to do a status check. However I have confirmed 1 thing, they don't know what I am probing. I guess they think I am checking their total mana.'

Lukav deeply looked at John and spoke through mental communication, "Your Majesty John, it is quite rude to try and check the mana power of others this blatantly. Although many people might not detect your probing but I am not one of those as I am quite familiar with Seers trying to poke and see my fate."

John smiled and spoke, "That was rude of me, as this was a new ability which I gained recently so I wanted to see who can detect it and who can't. Please meet me later on as I will certainly give you a good enough explanation."

Justin, the minister of duke Blackwolf too was looking at this bidding from the sidelines but was shocked after watching the arrival of Lukav, he thought, 'Our spies were fooled by him? Duke Blackwolf needs to be informed about Prince Lukav's interest in this magic staff as soon as possible. I too would have bid for this staff if I had enough money and guards now.'

Duke Fredric had an irritated expression but still made his bid, "1.8m Gold Coins."

unbothered by another bid of Duke Fredric, Prince Lukavv watched him once and immediately bid, "2m Gold coins."

In the end, the bidding reached 2m gold coins which was won by Lukav.

"The Ice-fire Magic staff goes to Prince Lukav."

Duke Fredric looked at Lukav for a while but gave up after looking at his determination to win this staff. He thought, 'Lets give up and not offend him. I am sure that John has more of this stuff I will later ask John for more. I just hope that he doesn't butcher my wallet or other resources. Our Icethorn sword just pales in comparison to this sword, this is so embarrassing. Next time, we need a better product to showcase our might and power. Anyway, this Staff is worth the money unlike the arms in the market.'

John then signaled Taylor and spoke to him, "Do you know the financial position of both the princes of Fireabyss i.e. Chad and Bidder here today?"

Taylor thought as he understood and spoke, "Yes, as far as I know, Bidder is richer due to his mercantile activities as well as his close contacts with Merchants so I guess Bidder is richer at least when it comes to outside Fireabyss. In Fireabyss, Prince Chad is able to borrow money from his relatives or other nobles but outside fireabyss he doesn't have any reputation unlike his brother who has business relations."

John nodded and smiled as he spoke, "I intended to give that treasure to Fire-abyss family directly via Ein or our ambassador at the Fire-abyss Kingdom but lets use it this time to teach that guy a good lesson. Since that guy wanted to humiliate me last time lets see his humiliation today. Auction that treasure of Fire-abyss family next. Let's see what sort of tricks he will apply this time around."

Taylor nodded and passed on some instructions which were carried to the auction host.

The host of the auction looked at Prince Chad then made a wicked smile as if gloating to see his doom and then presented the next item.

"Our next item will certainly please those who appreciate Culture, History and Arts. It has been said that Fireabyss kingdom has produced many eminent Demon mages. But there is one such mage of the Fireabyss family who changed the way they fought after his research on their blood magic to boost the constitution of Demons. That's right, The revolutionary mage from 500 years ago, Cromwell Fireabyss. We present you the Cromwell's Scythe. Though this Treasure is rusted and doesn't have enough power but it still has value as a cultural artifact. The authenticity of this treasure has been done by our appraisers. As for the source, it was sold to us by one of the merchants who chanced upon this treasure, not knowing the origin or worth of this treasure. We normally wouldn't auction this type of treasure and were going to send it with the Fireabyss Diplomat but since there are two Prince of Fire-abyss family we were in a dilemma and hence have decided to auction it. We hope that the Fireabyss family is the final owner of this scythe. Prince Bidder, Prince Chad, your men can come up and check the Scythe for authenticity."

Prince Chad had a sullen look on his face as soon as he heard the auctioneer while Prince Bidder was quite happy as he signaled some of his men to go and check it.

Prince Chad thought as he looked venomously at the auctioneer who gave him a pitying look, 'It seems this particular auction is a scheme to plot against me this time by that Upstart King. Looks he is quite petty when it comes to the matter of face and love. Even if I rage and claim it as a fake treasure then Bidder will buy it and present it to Lord Father which will anyway determine its authenticity and this will make me lose face. And if I try to buy it that too is a losing game since I might not have enough funds to compete against that dirty blooded asshole.'

After looking at Chad's look, Chad's advisor then spoke, "Milord, it is better if we don't do a bidding war as he will eventually win right now. We are not in the Fireabyss capital and it is hard to arrange more funds immediately. Make an excuse that as it is a family heirloom it won't look better if both the brothers fight for it and since he is anyway your older brother then use his older age to your advantage in the narrative building in the upper class that you wanted to give him face."

Chad looked at the advisor and then spoke, "This plan might have been feasible if only Bidder and I were competing but look at that guy Lukavv over there. Have you forgotten about him? I am sure he too will bid to make Fire-abyss family lose face."

Chad's advisor looked at Lukavv and immediately understood and murmured in low voice, 'Thorn family's daughter Apo.."

Chad rebuked him immediately in a harsh manner, "Don't even speak her name. Do you want us killed over here? Just see his frigin killing intent. I am sure he won't give face to anyone when it comes to that event. Have you forgotten that previously he killed Eldest brother Verzallon's right-arm i.e. Demon General Bell in cold blood as he mocked both of them and talked about their conspiracy in open with ministers of Aelius? He along with Aelius ministers who mocked them were all killed brutally. Just some new low leveled ministers and servants were spared so that they can spread the news so that people know about the consequences. Hmph, Bell was quite unlucky that Lukavv was also spying that day. Anyway, it was good for us since Verzallon lost his men. Though many might not know but Thorn family currently is supporting Prince Lukavv from behind the scenes and hence I am being neutral in dealing with them. This was confirmed by one of my elite spies in the Thorn family and hence my stance for a few years now. I guess most of the powers might already know this but you have to consider this in mind. Anyway, I will deal with this matter my way."

"500,000 Gold coins."

Without waiting for others to check the treasure. Prince Lukav immediately made a bid without shaking any eye-lid.

He spoke with complete derision on his face, "Why do you guys even bother to check when you can't believe the validity of John's own auction? John is someone who will prefer losing money rather than lose face in such an event with so many big personalities. Hmph."

Prince Bidder was the first to react as he too immediately made his big bid in order to deter others from participating in it immediately.

He thought, 'Prince Lukav words are quite on the mark. I shouldn't even have bothered and immediately make my bid.'

"1.3 Million Gold coins."

Anin, the Dwarf ambassador too joined the bid this time around and spoke with a smile, "1.5 Million Gold Coins. I think this treasure just from a cultural and historical perspective will look good at our national museum."

Chad then spoke to Bidder via mental communication, "If you need more funds then you just need to ask aloud in front of others. I have 2.5 million gold coins in reserve for this trip."

Bidder immediately ignored Chad and then spoke to John via mental communication, "Milord, I hope you can give me face and dissuade Prince Lukav from the bidding. I will give you a satisfactory deal later on."

John nodded as he thought, 'Anyway, we currently don't have a channel to sell our goods at Fireabyss apart from Bluesea Duchy and the Fireabyss Blackmarket. Also making connections with other important figures will be useful. Ok, lets give a try to Lukav since this connection can give me long-term benefits.'

John then spoke to Lukav via mental communication, "Prince Lukav, I would like to give you a bit of good advice with regards to this scythe. There is no research value in that scythe with regards to Magic or Fighting techniques. This Scythe only has cultural value since it was the first scythe used by Cromwell Fireabyss. I would also like to mention that the next item will need a lot of funds and it is an item worth great value since its production will be very low i.e. 100 every year and only 10 will be auctioned every year."

Lukav thought as he heard John, 'True, he wouldn't have bothered to auction this item if it had any value in terms of magic research. John's domain is anyway bringing out new technologies and access of business to these technologies will be beneficial for me in long term. Anyway, this time only these two kids Chad and Bidder are present here unlike Verzallon or Felix so even if I make them lose face it won't be much to Fireabyss or that brother of mine.'

Lukav smiled a bit but scoffed and spoke, "So what if I need to spend some more gold coins, making Fireabyss lose face will be worth it. I have anyway been given a good loan by your Sky Central bank for 5 million gold coins for our new business. However, it looks like this scythe really does not have value in regards to blood magic as I too can't feel anything so I will give you face this time since you helped me with Ballistas to bring that mouse out of his hole during the last battle. However, you better present me a worthy item in our meeting this time."

John smiled and nodded to Prince Lukav and then informed Bidder via mental communication, "Prince Bidder, you better give me a good answer later on since I barely managed to calm down Prince Lukav and make him agree to my demands."

Prince Bidder didn't have any hopes on his request but after hearing John's answer he was quite surprised and nodded to John and made his action.

As if showing his determination, Bidder spoke with an authoritative tone which surprised everyone including the diplomats and Lukav, "2.5 Million gold coins."

After looking that no one was making his bid, The Auctioneer spoke, "2.5 Million one, 2.5 Million two... 2.5 Million three. The Cromwell's scythe here goes to Fireabyss Prince Bidder."

Chad had an angry face as if he had eaten a fly and lost face after looking at Bidder and his inability to buy the national treasure currently.

Chad muttered, "Anyway, it is better that I didn't bother bidding and lose more face."

Chad's advisor spoke, "Yes, Milord, we will make sure that this auction doesn't stain your reputation."

The Auctioneer presented the next to everyone present.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, This time we have a new item for everyone which will certainly surprise and satisfy everyone present here. Our Sky research center has recently made a new pill. It is called the Blood-Bone Marrow cleansing pill. Its effects are as follows:

1. It regenerates any missing parts of a living body i.e. Bone, flesh and blood regeneration. It can be applied to all species regardless of race.

2. It cleanses the Blood and Magic Meridians of the body which can help you in increasing the Magic power as well as improving the quality of Magic power. This also improves the physique of your body.

However, please mind that it won't help you in eradicating diseases or curses. Nonetheless, this is our best item today. You will also have to mind that only 10 such pills will be auctioned every year due to the scarce and high-end resources required to make this pill. Today we are auctioning all the 10 pills of this years quota in a batch of 2 so in total there will be 5 opportunities for people present over here to buy. The base price of these 2 pills is 1 Million gold coins."