The Evolution of a Goblin to the Peak

Souta, Amanda, Yenxa, and Gragas went to the auction site.

The Crimson Auction.

This was the most famous underground auction in the whole city. It attracted a lot of wealthy and powerful people because of its rare treasures.

The group wore masks to conceal their appearance. They could use their parasites, but they didn't do so because the people from the hidden base witnessed their parasite abilities.

Although those people wouldn't recognize the parasite if they just used it to cover their faces, it's still better to be careful.

Also, most of the people in the auction were wearing masks to reduce the risk of other people knowing their identities. It was one of the written rules of this auction.

The outside appearance of the auction was dull, and it looked like a normal passage. But the space inside the passage was like a giant maze. It lives up to its reputation as the largest auction house in the city.

"We are here,"

Gragas said as he took a seat in the back rows. They weren't VIPs, so they couldn't get a private room.

Entering the auction house was easy thanks to Gragas. Gragas was a regular, and he had a pass. He could easily get Souta and the rest some passes so that they could enter the auction without paying.

After all, an S-rank expert was still a powerhouse even if he didn't have an organization. People would respect him for his strength.

That's the privilege of a powerhouse.

Souta, Amanda, and Yenxa sat on the seats beside him.

Souta smiled under the mask while glancing at Gragas. He didn't tell Gragas about Amanda, as it was still too dangerous.

"This is pretty big..."

He muttered while looking at the people around him.

Thousands of people were waiting for the auction to start. It definitely lives up to its reputation.

So what kind of items will appear here aside from the soul weapon?

He was quite interested in what he would find.

While he was deep in his thoughts, he heard Gragas' cold voice.

"Hey, don't use your monster energy here? It would be dangerous if people discovered that you were a monster. Thousands of guards would surround us, and most of their strength is in Disaster and Extermination Realms."

Gragas said while looking at him with fierce eyes. He had to avoid that situation, no matter what happened. His strength wasn't enough to fight hundreds of Extermination Realms.

"I know. You don't have to worry about me. If someone discovers me, then you can quickly attack me to clear your name."

Souta replied to Gragas.

Amanda just listened to their conversation.

Soon, the auctioneer appeared on the stage, and the whole place turned silent. Everyone knew that the auction would start, so they focused their attention on the stage.

The auctioneer gave a welcome speech for a minute before he started the auction by bringing the first item on stage.

The first item was just a rare blue-grade whip.

The second item was a spell book that contained a tier 1 spell.

The third item was an orange-grade gauntlet.

The fourth item was another spell book, but this time the spell that could be learned from it was a low-grade tier 2.

What surprised Souta was the ninth item. The ninth item was a monster orb of a third evolution stage monster.

It was sold for five thousand platinum coins.

The auction continued, and various materials—spellbooks, combat arts, potions, armors, and weapons—appeared before Souta's eyes.

Soon, the soul weapon appeared as the second-to-last item.

"Here is it. The famed soul weapon of a witch. The witch that owned this soul weapon was an Annihilation Realm." The auctioneer slowly explained the details of the soul weapon and its origin.

"Oh? So that's the soul weapon..."

Souta muttered with an amused look. The soul weapon was a piece of a white handkerchief. It looks ordinary and dull, but it was within his expectations, as the owner of this handkerchief was dead.

Other than the owner, no one would be able to use the soul weapon. So it's pretty much useless for everyone in this place, but they would still buy it for collection or study it.

A soul weapon was a super rare item, after all.

Wealthy people would display it in their houses and show it off to their peers.

"Let's start it for 1,000 platinum coins."

The auctioneer said this as he fully displayed the soul weapon in front of everyone's eyes.

Souta turned his head and saw that Gragas had a determined look on his face. His passion to create equipment similar to soul weapons never left his body. He wanted to accomplish it, no matter what happened.

"You can go all out. You have my money, so don't worry. Tactics... You don't need it."

He said it with a faint smile on his face.

"I owe you one," Gragas said before he shouted, "Ten thousand platinum coins!"

Everyone turned their heads when they heard Gragas' words. They didn't expect that someone would instantly raise the price of the item this much.

Before they could regain their posture, someone from the VIP room raised the price.

"Eleven thousand platinum coins!"

Gragas narrowed his eyes as he glanced at the VIP room.

"Twenty-five thousand platinum coins!"

He gritted his teeth as he knew that this amount of coins was huge. It would be enough for him to buy tons of rare materials to forge high-grade weapons and armor.

'That's all the money that I brought to this continent. It already exceeded the market price of a soul weapon by several times.' Souta said inwardly.

He didn't expect this at all.

He thought that Gragas would be able to buy a soul weapon for five thousand coins. The price of a soul weapon from an Annihilation Realm shouldn't be higher than the price of a monster orb from a third evolution stage monster.

Luckily, the person in the VIP room gave up. Twenty-five thousand platinum coins were a huge amount, even for wealthy people.

Souta glanced around and found that most of the people were paying attention to their group. But their gaze immediately disappeared as soon as the last item was brought out.

The last item was the main event.

It was a spirit fruit called "High Phaseless Fruit." It looks like an apple, but its color is unusual. It was black, but it would turn white the next second. Then it will turn black again.

Souta raised his eyebrows when he saw this fruit. It was outside of his expectations to find a super-rare spirit fruit in this land. Even in the Imperium, various noble families would mobilize their forces just to get their hands on this fruit.

The High Phaseless Fruit could only be found in a place where light and darkness blend together. It was an extreme environment where light and darkness attributes collided, creating a unique place.

Only people above B-rank could handle the extreme energy of this fruit. This fruit was one of the fruits that could give light and darkness attributes to the person who ate it. If the person has light and darkness attributes then that person will have an innate body.

But Souta didn't have a plan to acquire it. He doesn't have any money in his pocket. Also, he already has High Phaseless Fruit in his collection.

He had 79 spirit fruits and herbs that he acquired from the legacy, and High Phaseless Fruit was one of them. But acquiring another wasn't a bad thing.

Unfortunately, he didn't bring enough money with him.

Sigh...

He should've investigated the items before coming here.

Souta could only watch as the High Phaseless Fruit was sold for fifty thousand platinum coins and three sets of orange grade armor.

"I wanted it for myself..."

He muttered as he glanced at Gragas. They will return after they retrieve the item that they bought. This auction was pretty interesting.

"Let's go."

Gragas stood up and said something to Souta's group.

"Okay."

Souta nodded, and he followed Gragas. Amanda and Yenxa simply followed him without saying anything. The auction this time widened Amanda's worldview. She didn't think that she would be able to see rare treasures at an auction.

The group arrived backstage to find the auctioneer. They stated their identity to one of the guards, and the guard led them to a room.

Suddenly, the ground shook heavily, and the sound of explosions erupted. The mana in the air also got heavier.

Boom! Boom!

"What's happening?!" Amanda quickly stood up.

Yenxa quickly stood beside Souta, and her mana oozed out of her body.

Souta looked up and felt the explosions caused by mana. He also felt that a strong barrier had enclosed the whole area.

"It seems that someone has started a fight," he said to Gragas. He was curious, as Gragas still had a calm expression. It seems that he wasn't bothered by the explosions above them.

"This always happens after the auction, but don't worry, the guards will handle it," Gragas explained.

Then cracks appeared on the door as flames burst forth in their room like a tsunami wave.

Boom!