The Achievement Junkie

"It's finally time to show off the best of our amazing items!" the auctioneer announced. "Remember, today we will only be exchanging for items, as gold is too difficult to measure these items value."

Those on the first floor wanted in anxiousness. They had no hope of getting any of these items, so they wanted to just enjoy the show.

All of the nobles on the second floor looked up to the third floor. Hoping that they could somehow get one of the items that will be for sale, they knew it would be hard with so many royals present.

Everyone on the third floor looked at a single room. They all had an eery feeling that the rest of the auction would be determined by whether that man wanted something or not. And they all wanted to know what his budget was.

If they had any clue of the outrageous purchase Jack had made within the confines of his room, they would've given up on the auction.

Jack just watched as he normally did. He wasn't interested in the first batch of items, but the mystery items that each auction house had prepared. His hopes were to find mythic-tier and legend-tier items.

"First up, we'll sell a plethora of lv. 60 and lv. 65 items, both peak-tier and holy. After that, we'll get into the mystery items to finish the auction," added the beautiful woman on stage. "Now, here's the first item, a peak-tier lv. 60 bow! Who will make the first offer?"

Some nobles on the second floor made the first bid but were quickly passed by the people on the third floor.

"Jack, what are you getting today?" asked Keela.

Eliza chimed in as well, "Yeah, what are you after now? Haven't you already gotten everything we need?"

"I'm not sure. I'm just waiting for the mystery items, to be honest. I don't care about any of these items," answered Jack.

Argyle sighed, "You really are hard to please, aren't you? Do you know how many people would shrivel up in anger if they heard what you just said?"

"Well, it's true. I've already traded away a peak-tier lv. 70 item, will they have anything worth that much?" replied Jack.

"I'm sure there will be such items. There aren't many of them, but the royal families typically own lv. 70 items that have been passed down for a long time. So, if they find something they really want, they might trade those away for something more suitable to them," explained Argyle. "Don't think that you won't have any competition when it comes to getting the best items today."

"We'll see about that. I'd like some competition," laughed Jack. "By the way, how come you didn't know that cloak was a legend-tier before? Is there no way for you to measure an item's value?"

"Well…" Argyle scratched the side of his face. "For things like spells, we still have a way to measure them, since there are still some mages that have such level spells. But for manufactured items and weapons, we can only guess since we don't have any records of how mythic-tier and legend-tier items are made."

"Hmm… So that's why… I guess that makes things easier for me, I hope."

"After this, can you help me categorize our special items in storage, Jack?" asked Argyle.

"Special items? But I've already combed through your storehouses and couldn't find any."

"That's because the most special items are either on my person or with Baral at all times," answered Argyle. "If you could help us categorize the items, it would be a huge help."

"... I don't know… Then I won't be able to get my stuff for cheap."

Argyle laughed until he saw how serious Jack's face was. "Seriously?!"

"Of course I'm serious. I may have a lot of money, but I don't have an infinite supply of high-level items. If I had to trade for fair value, then I'd have spent almost have of everything I own on the cloak alone," stated Jack, startling Argyle and getting Eliza to giggle.

"Sorry, Father, but I'm with Jack on this one," added Eliza. "We'll need all the items we can get and that would definitely affect us down the line. Besides, Jack needs his wealth to revive the Leisure Guild."

"Not you too, Eliza…" groaned Argyle.

Jack looked back to see Eliza smiling at him. He blushed slightly but he quickly looked away and paid attention to the auction, even though he wasn't too interested.

A few lv. 60 peak-tier items were sold quickly and a lv. 60 holy weapon was on display now.

All the royals bid like crazy to get their hands on it. They glanced at Jack's room, glad that he hadn't made a sound as of yet. It was their hope that he either ran out of money form his ridiculous spending and they could get the items they really came for.

The holy staff was exchanged for a lv. 70 high-tier item in the end, but none of the royals were upset. Up next were more of the items they wanted and most of the kings would personally be able to wield lv. 65 items.

Like before, Jack only watched but he didn't do anything.

Those in his room were no longer paying attention to the auction. Maura was making breakfast as Keela was helping Lina prepare things for the meal. Rydel and Maynard were enjoying their three-day drinking fest with Argyle, making the most of it before they had to return to their arduous traveling.

Eliza was massaging Jack's back while he waited for the mystery items to come out later. That's when Daliea approached them and asked, "Eliza, can you teach me?"

"About massages? Sure!" Eliza smiled and backed away from Jack. "I'm sure Jack won't mind, so come on over. I'll guide your hands at first and walk you through it."

"Thank you!" Daliea showed a shy smile and let Eliza start teaching with the silent Jack as a test dummy.

Time flew by as the party was occupied with their own things.

Soon, everyone was gathered around to enjoy a delicious brunch prepared by Maura and Keela with Lina's help flipping some lopsided pancakes.

"Thanks, ladies!" Jack nodded to the chefs before he and the others started serving themselves.

The atmosphere in the room was light and friendly, very different than what was going on outside in the auction hall.

"I'll offer a peak-tier lv. 70 weapon!"

"I'll also offer a peak-tier lv. 70 shied, and I'll add a mid-tier lv. 70 sword."

"Add a mid-tier lv. 70 breastplate to my offer!"

Two royals were in a heated bidding war as they both wanted the lv. 65 holy item.

The auctioneer stared at both displays for a moment before she said, "We'll give preference to the mid-tier shield and the peak-tier morningstar."

With an angry grunt, the losing royal shouted, "Make it a high-tier shield!"

"Then we'll prefer your offer. Will there be any more changes to the offers?" asked the auctioneer as she stared at the other royal's room.

There was no response, but the items on their display disappeared, showing that they had given up the bid.

"Going once! Going twice… Sold!"

"Gong!"

"That was our final item before we bring out the mystery items. In one hour, we'll start the next auction promptly," stated the auctioneer as she vanished behind the closing curtain.

After that, she hurried away behind the stage and entered a room where she found two of the three head managers. "Where's Baral?"

"This doesn't concern him. We wanted to inform you that there will be a change to the listed mystery items," explained one the manager from Celestial Crane. "This isn't because of you, it's because of that mystery patron."

She relaxed a bit more when he said that. "Is it because he didn't bid on a single item today?"

"That's exactly why," the manager from Golden Haven replied with a grunt. "We mentioned the idea to Baral, but he said they won't be making any changes. Apparently, they knew he would come and have already prepared some items for him but didn't warn us about such a high spender."

"True, the last time someone spent anywhere near as much was when the association founder personally shopped over a decade ago," added the auctioneer.

"For that reason, the value of the items will skyrocket near the end. Don't be too hasty to accept offers without our approval. Most of these items you've never even seen so you'll have no clue of how much to sell them for," stated the Celestial Crane manager. "Do you have any questions for us?"

"Do you have the new list?" asked the woman skeptically, finding it hard to believe that she couldn't evaluate the new items properly.

She was handed a large piece of parchment and glanced over it. Very quickly, she got caught up quite a few different items. "Are we really selling all of this?"

"Make sure to memorize that list and the descriptions we've added," replied the Celestial Crane manager.

They then left her alone to study the new items and inform the owners of the updates.