The Achievement Junkie

The audience was silent. Most everyone there thought it was interesting, but they had nothing to do with it. Plus, they had all come with a purpose in mind and typically only carried enough gold for what they wanted. They didn't want to waste their chances later on something with no purpose.

"Two thousand gold!"

A voice sounded out from the second floor, catching people's attention.

"Very well. Two thousand going once! Going twice--"

"Two thousand five hundred!"

Again, Jack's voice sounded out through the room.

"Two thousand seven hundred and fifty!" That same person on the second floor called out, daring to challenge Jack.

"Four thousand!"

Showing that he meant business and that he would always get what he wanted, Jack instantly jumped the price again. It was like he was daring everyone to try and take what was already his. He wanted that egg and he was willing to pay far more for it if he needed to.

Since Jack proved to be stubborn, that person on the second floor stopped bidding and let Jack have it. Any more and that man wouldn't be able to afford what he wanted in the first place.

"Four thousand going once! Going twice! Sold!"

"Gong!"

Stepping back behind the closing curtains, Eliza disappeared and everyone understood what that meant. The auction was about to begin.

"Yes!" Jack shouted to himself in excitement. "We got it!"

"We got what? What's so special about that fossil?" asked Maura.

He only shook his head and looked her in the eye. "Now not the time to talk about it, later okay?"

It didn't take long for Eliza to reappear on stage, wearing a brand new outfit that was more revealing and accentuated her curvaceous body.

"Everyone, it's finally time to begin the auction!"

That being said, the curtain opened and showed a dazzling chest plate on display. It was bronze, but the workmanship was very intricate. Any young noble would have loved to have it.

"This is a lv. 25 peak-tier chest plate. This is only the beginning, but let's start the auction at four thousand gold!"

"Four thousand!'

"Four thousand one hundred!"

"Five thousand!"

The bids started going wild as the people all chipped in for the first item. These first items would all be catered to those on the first level, that way regular people would be able to come without the wealthy nobles buying everything. The noble's won't buy what they already. Have.

Eventually, the chest plate sold for over seven thousand gold to someone in a booth on the first floor.

When the next item was revealed, the crowd went wild again for the lv. 25 peak-tier sword. This cycle had started and hardly anyone on the second or third floor would be interested in anything for a while.

Maura wasn't like Jack, though. She saw those lv. 25 items and felt that they were really good. It was clear on her face that she liked that sword.

"Don't you already have an amazing lv. 25 frost sword?"

Woken up by Jack's comment, Maura blushed. "Yeah, it's just that I like swords. I was even thinking about asking for lessons from Maynard so I can dual-wield."

"You want to dual wield?" Jack was surprised to hear that the gentle, caring Maura wanted to become a master killer. "If you want to, then go for it. But don't think about using that sword there; it's not fit for dual-wielding. Maybe if you were stronger like your old man, but you should focus on light and fast swords. The frost sword will work, but I guess you'll need another…"

Leaving Maura in suspense, Jack started looking through his [Inventory] tab to quickly search the contents of his storage bracer. Almost a minute passed before Jack smiled and a second sword appeared in his hand.

"Here, this should work for the time being. It's at least as good as the one on stage, but it's lv. 30 and is a short sword, like your frost sword."

"But--"

"And don't worry about needing another lv. 30 sword because that frost sword is special. I'd guess that it's almost a mythic-tier weapon, so it'll do just fine until you reach lv. 35," explained Jack.

At a loss for words, Maura smiled and bowed her head to Jack. "Thank you!" She felt slightly helpless whenever Jack just gave her things without asking anything in return. But if she ever tried to offer something, Jack would just say that those in his party can have only the best weapons.

"Keep your eye on the stage. If you see any lv. 30 armor that you want, I'll get it, okay?"

A silent nod was enough to answer his question. Then, they both looked back down and paid close attention to what items were coming and going.

Sadly, they didn't see any armor fitting for Maura. Since that was the case, Jack would just offer her and the others some decent armor from the spoils of Ponlinne's tomb.

"Next, we have a rare dark type spellbook. Surprisingly, it's peak-tier and came from an anonymous source. However, we can guarantee that no royal family in Kartonia has access to this spell. Now's your only chance to get the only copy in the continent, so the bidding now starts at ten thousand gold!"

The first floor went silent after Eliza's announcement of the price. Everyone on the first floor turned around to watch and see those wealthy and powerful people finally start fighting for treasures.

"Ten thousand!"

"Eleven thousand!"

"Eleven thousand five hundred!"

A bidding war among the second and third floors erupted and the price soared. Before they knew it, the price had paused momentarily at fifteen thousand five hundred.

"Remember, this is your only chance to get your hands on this one-of-a-kind spell!" shouted Eliza, trying to stir up the bidding once again. "Fifteen thousand five hundred going once! Going--"

"I have a question!"

The shout came from the third floor and caused Eliza to pause again as she hoped another bid would come from it. "Yes, go ahead."

"You still haven't given us the name of the spell, why is that?" asked Jack.

With an uncertain smile, Eliza answered, "That's because we don't know its name. We had our mages double-check the quality of the spell, but they weren't able to ascertain the name of this mysterious spell. If it's not a peak-tier spell, in the end, we at the Fat Goose will offer a full refund."

Surprised to see how confident Eliza was in such a mysterious product, Jack smiled again and shouted, "Seventeen thousand gold!"

Everyone was surprised again by Jack's antics. Those who were keeping track of his purchases were going crazy with envy. Including the other two items Jack had bought, Jack had offered a total of twenty-four thousand and two hundred gold. That was crazy!

Even the people on the second and third floors were staring at Jack's room in shock. Who was the man inside there, and why did he have so much money?

The man who had previously bid fifteen thousand and five hundred gold shook his head and said, "Let that young master have it, I'm sure he'll have a good use for it."

"Thank you, sir," Jack replied as well, showing his gratitude to the man for not forcing Jack to spend more than necessary.

"In that case, we have seventeen thousand going once! Going Twice… Sold!"

"Gong!"

Excited that he won another peak-tier spell, especially a dark type spell, Jack relaxed a little more.

"Jack, how much do you plan to spend?" asked Maura, who was even more shocked than the crowd. Today alone she had seen Jack give up more than forty-four thousand gold!

"What's the point of having money if not to spend it? Besides, I'm only getting items that are more than worth their value in gold," reasoned Jack. "If you think that's a lot, I'm willing to part with everything I have on me if I'm able to get everything that I'm after."

When Maura heard that statement, her heartbeat slowed down. She was the only person who knew just how rich Jack was. If he gave up over one dozen chests' worth of gold and platinum, everyone inside the auction house would go into a rage and storm Jack's room in anger.

Little did Maura know that Jack hadn't shown her all of the chests filled with gold, so he still had plenty to spend. And since everything he was determined to get was for the betterment of himself or his party, Jack didn't see it as a loss.

"Next up is a rare medical ingredient from the other side of the world. It's rarely found and even more rarely harvested. Starting at seven thousand gold, we have a vial of life tree dew!"

Jack's ears perked up, as well as everyone else's. "Life tree dew…" Finally, Jack had found the rarest of the ingredients needed for Zariff's antidote. Though it wasn't originally part of the plan, Jack decided that he would get it no matter what.