Chapter Fifty-Nine: A Delightful Opening (Bonus Chapter for Reaching 2000 Recommendation Votes)

After turning down Emma’s proposal, Chu Yun began reviewing the items for the third and final auction. The highlight of the evening was an extraordinary magical longbow. According to the description, it was a third-tier weapon of perfect quality. Once its effects were activated, shooting an enemy—or even just the ground—would summon a swirling vortex of wind, creating a magnetic field that immobilized foes. This wind field also drew in subsequent arrows and various other ranged attacks, much like a magnet, making it incredibly effective in both battles against professionals and confrontations with monsters.

Many warriors preferred the longbow, as it was among the safest professions—swift, and allowing one to fight from a distance without engaging in close combat. In most adventuring parties, rangers and archers were statistically the likeliest survivors when danger arose.

This auction had attracted a notable number of elves and half-elf rangers, drawn by the rumor that the longbow was crafted by an elven master.

On this continent, the upper limit of mortal strength was the peak of the fifth tier.

In summary:
Tier 0: Ordinary untrained people.
Tier 1: Village-level powerhouses, those acknowledged as professionals.
Tier 2: Town-level powerhouses, professionals of some renown and considerable strength.
Tier 3: City-level elites, respected and treated well even in large cities.
Tier 4: National-level champions, usually the strongest individuals in a city and the backbone of a nation.
Tier 5: Continent-level heroes, the pinnacle of mortal power. To advance further, one must find a way to ignite the divine spark.
Tier 6: Saints, who have ignited the divine spark but whose bodies have not yet become divine.
Tier 7: Demi-gods, who possess both a divine spark and a divine body but have not yet formed a godhead.

Among the descendants of mortals and gods, some are born with divine bodies, but without igniting the divine spark and converting faith into divine power, they are not considered true demi-gods—merely half-gods. Another category soon to emerge are mortals who have absorbed a godhead; lacking both the divine body and the divine spark, their power varies greatly and cannot be measured by conventional tier rankings.

Spellcasters’ ranks were relatively easy to assess, based on the level of spells they could use. For warriors, however, evaluation required practical combat and strength tests.

The continent had enjoyed relative peace for decades, with no saints appearing for a long time. A third-tier weapon of perfect quality was a treasure coveted by countless heroes and certainly worthy of being the grand finale at the most prestigious auction before the Festival of the Goddess of Life.

Weapons of higher tiers rarely appeared on the market. Sellers could easily offer them directly to renowned powerhouses, earning their favor and possibly friendship in return, or the strong would commission master craftsmen for bespoke arms—demand always outstripped supply.

“Thank goodness it’s a bow. Otherwise, just watching would be unbearable, knowing I couldn’t afford it.” Comforting himself with that thought, Chu Yun turned his attention to the spatial equipment.

The difficulty of crafting a space ring was immense, and its price was usually more than ten times that of spatial backpacks or dimensional pouches. Chu Yun’s main target in this auction was a spatial belt. The belt was not only practical, but unlike a backpack, it didn’t have to be carried on the back at all times, nor did it hang in plain sight like a pouch, vulnerable to pickpockets.

Spatial belts were large enough to accommodate intricate magical patterns and other processes, making them a favorite among adventurers and thus widely available. However, the materials required to make spatial equipment were rare, often obtained by mages summoning and harvesting from void creatures, driving up both costs and sale prices compared to other gear of similar tier.

“I should have enough money… unless someone competes with me.” Chu Yun coveted this item, but if the bidding soared too high, he would not foolishly overpay. Although space equipment was rare, more would appear in time.

Besides the belt, he had his eye on a fire-element spellbook. Spellbooks could enhance spellcasting like a staff and also serve as containers for spells. The effect was similar to that of a scroll, but while scrolls were single-use, spellbooks could be used repeatedly.

Spellbooks were also somewhat like spell slots, though spells stored in spell slots could be swapped at will, whereas spells fixed in a spellbook could not be changed once set. The number of spells a book could hold depended on the complexity of their models, and after use, the book needed to be recharged with mental energy.

Generally, a spell cast in full was more powerful than one from a spell slot, a spell slot outperformed a spellbook, and a spellbook was superior to a scroll.

Some magical staves could also hold spells, but these were predetermined by the creator. With a spellbook, one could select and instill whatever spells suited them. This autonomy allowed the user to tweak the spell’s model to their preference, rather than being confined to the enchanter’s choices—offering greater flexibility.

Chu Yun intended to fix the fire-elemental summoning spell into the spellbook. While the summoning process would still be lengthy, he could occupy himself with other tasks during the casting, reducing the risk of interruption during battle.

Compared to spatial equipment, the competition for spellbooks was less fierce. Most mages already possessed their own weapons and would only bid if their equipment was damaged or they were upgrading. Mages were few in number, and spellbooks were not in short supply, so prices should remain reasonable.

Around eight that evening, the auction finally began. The hostess was a seductive fox-woman, a Firefox beastkin, not a slave but the chief auctioneer with full citizenship—extremely popular in Blackstone City.

“Welcome, everyone, to tonight’s auction…” Her opening remarks reminded Chu Yun of a snow fox slave girl named Xia whom he had once met. The more he learned about this world, the stranger it seemed. Xia’s evolution had not made sense at the time. Chu Yun had thought it was a racial trait unique to beastkin, but after speaking with Anna the night before, he realized that was not the case at all.

Something unknown must have happened to Xia—otherwise she would not have left him so suddenly, nor said such strange things.

As he pondered, the auction commenced with its first item.

“As a special treat to open tonight, Blackstone Auction House has prepared a surprise for everyone. This item is not on the listed catalog.” As the auctioneer spoke, she lifted the red cloth from a cage.

The crowd’s eyes widened with astonishment: the cage contained a female dark elf.

Like goblins, dark elves were a mysterious creation—an enigmatic race with no clear boundaries of kinship, shrouded in controversy. Male goblins could breed with females of other races, producing goblins with varied talents—bear goblins, for instance, were immensely strong, while humanoid goblins possessed keen intellect.

Female dark elves, on the other hand, could only produce pureblooded dark elves when mating with their own kind. When they bred with any other race, their offspring always belonged to the father’s race but inherited certain dark elven traits as well—such as mastery over dark elements, night vision, extraordinary resilience, or remarkable longevity…