The auction lounge was a gilded nest of excess, with lavish carpets woven with silk and gold-thread, incense lingering with a soft, intoxicating scent, and servants moving swiftly between guests, ensuring wine never stopped flowing.

  It was a place for the elite, where nobility and wealth mingled, measured by the weight of their purses and the arrogance of their smiles.

  It didn’t take long before trouble found him.

  A voice—sharp, high-born, and laced with a veneer of contempt.

  "Tch, a beggar found his way in? How unsightly."

  Yun Jin turned slightly, his eyes settling on the speaker.

  A young man, flawless blonde hair, meticulously styled, gleaming under the chandelier light like spun gold. His clothes were an embarrassment of luxury, deep sapphire robes woven with streaks of gold, encrusted with embedded gems, each one probably worth the price of a small estate. The sheer extravagance of his outfit made it clear—he wasn’t simply wealthy.

  He wanted everyone to know he was.

  Luthier Veldorne.

  Yun Jin knew his name because of the giant gold necklace he was wearing.

  Luthier’s eyes, a piercing icy blue, narrowed with poorly concealed irritation as he took in Yun Jin’s simple, travel-worn garb.

  "I knew this auction had lowered its standards, but this is a new low." He scoffed. "Do you even have an invitation? Or did you crawl in through the back door like a rat?"

  Yun Jin barely spared him a glance.

  "I’m here to buy things. If you have a problem, ignore me. Was that so hard?"

  The sheer indifference in his tone sent a visible twitch through Luthier’s jaw.

  "You—!"

  A hand rested lightly on Luthier’s shoulder.

  "Young Master, this is neither the time nor place."

  The bodyguard.

  A woman stood beside him—tall, armored, and visibly dangerous.

  Her presence contrasted starkly with Luthier’s excessive luxury. No silk, no unnecessary embellishments. Just practical silver armor, form-fitting but maneuverable, built for function over flair. A heavy, serrated greatsword rested against her back, the hilt worn from use rather than decoration.

  Her ashen-gray hair, tied in a high ponytail, swayed slightly as she shifted her stance—relaxed, but coiled with quiet readiness. Unlike Luthier, she wasn’t underestimating Yun Jin.

  Luthier, ignoring her silent warning, let out an irritated breath.

  "You’re ruining the atmosphere just by standing there."

  Yun Jin tilted his head.

  "Then turn around."

  The words were delivered with perfect calmness, but the smirk in his tone was impossible to miss.

  "If you don’t want to see me, just look away."

  Luthier’s expression cracked.

  "You—Do you even know who I am?!"

  Yun Jin’s brows twitched.

  The sentence.

  It always came down to this sentence.

  Do you know who I am?!

  From noble heirs, prodigies, arrogant young masters—it was a line that seemed ingrained in their very being.

  Many of the surrounding nobles were already shaking their heads, their gazes full of mockery and disdain as they sided with Luthier.

  Yun Jin exhaled.

  He had been in too many of these encounters to entertain them anymore. He glanced around, considered his options, then did the most effective thing he could do in this situation.

  He walked.

  Without a word, without even acknowledging Luthier’s outburst, he simply turned his back and walked away.

  "Hey! Where the hell are you going?!"

  Yun Jin didn’t bother looking back.

  First, they wanted him gone. Then, they were upset when he actually left.

  Luthier’s hands curled into fists, his expression darkening.

  "Find out who he is. I’ll teach him a lesson later."

  Serra’s eyes flickered with hesitation.

  "Young Master, this is an auction event. This isn’t the best place—"

  "Do you know who I am?!" Luthier snapped, his voice rising. "I am Luthier Veldorne! Son of one of the Great Seven Merchants!"

  Serra let out a quiet sigh before giving a small bow.

  "Then we’ll handle it after the event."

  --

  The sheer extravagance surrounding him was beginning to sink in.

  The price of some of the exilir placed on the shop listing are even on the 50,000 to 1,000,000 called froze dragon tear elixir rank A.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Do I even have enough to bid on anything valuable?

  More concerning was the possibility that something truly important—something that could help save Merlin—might show up in this auction. If that happened…

  He needed more funds.

  Without hesitation, Yun Jin turned and walked back to Ashley.

  She noticed him approaching and gave a polite, professional smile.

  "Can I register items for auction?"

  Ashley blinked before responding cheerfully.

  "Of course! The auction is still open for entries. You can register items up until it officially begins."

  Then she added, almost as an afterthought:

  "But we only accept items ranked C or higher."

  Yun Jin nodded.

  "That’s fine."

  He reached into his pocket—at least, that’s what it looked like.

  In reality, he was pulling from his storage space, but to any observer, it appeared as though he simply retrieved a small item from his sleeve.

  With a swift motion, he presented [Soul Stone (Empty) (Rank A)], [Dimension Shard (Rank B)] he had acquired yesterday.

  Ashley raised an eyebrow, but before she could say anything, he considered for a moment—then reached into his storage again.

  A second item appeared in his hand.

  [Tear of the Void Orga (rank S)]

  Ashley’s face drained of color.

  She stared at the shimmering black-and-silver droplet, suspended in an almost ethereal glow, before her eyes flickered back to Yun Jin.

  "A-Are you sure?"

  There was a hesitation in her voice now—a nervous tremor.

  Ashley had seen powerful artifacts before. She had appraised treasures that could alter a person’s destiny. But to see these items, presented so casually…

  She swallowed.

  At its core, the auction’s trade structure divided all items into three classifications:

  Materials – Raw ingredients, essential for crafting, alchemy, or blacksmithing. The most common and generally the cheapest category.

  Consumables – Items with direct effects on the user—elixirs, enchanted stones, high-grade pills. Their price varied wildly based on their potency and scarcity.

  Equipment – Weapons, armor, and artifacts. The most expensive, as they held permanent value and could define a wielder’s strength.

  Even within the same rank, prices fluctuated dramatically depending on usability, rarity, and demand.

  And Yun Jin had just casually placed three items in front of her that could ignite a war.

  Ashley’s fingers traced the gleaming silver shard, its jagged edges shimmering with faint, translucent light.

  [Dimension Shard (Rank B)]

  Her breath hitched. A spatial magic material.

  If this were just a Rank C shard, it would be valuable enough for minor teleportation formations or space-pouch enchantments. But at Rank B…

  This was not just a commodity—this was an artifact component.

  Crafter obsessed over storage rings, spatial artifacts, portable strongholds—and this shard was an irreplaceable ingredient in their creation.

  At Rank B, it wasn’t just capable of forming a pocket of space—with the right forger, it could construct a portable house.

  Enchanters, blacksmiths, artifact crafters—every major trade faction would fight for this.

  It was already enough to draw powerful bidders.

  But it was the second item that made her hands shake.

  Ashley’s fingers hovered just above the jet-black stone, a deep, glassy sheen reflecting the candlelight.

  She didn’t need to touch it to know what it was.

  [Soul Stone (Empty) (Rank A)]

  A vessel for souls.

  Her throat felt dry.

  Soul Stones were among the rarest crafting components in existence. They weren’t just a summoning ingredient—they were the foundation of sentient magic weapons.

  And this stone was empty.

  That made it even rarer. A blank slate for a new soul imprint.

  Half the cost of any high-rank enchanted weapon came from Soul Stones alone.

  Her fingers twitched. She had already been thrown off balance by these two items.

  And then he had placed a third.

  The final object shimmered with a faint, celestial glow—an iridescent droplet, suspended in air as if resisting gravity itself.

  For a moment, Ashley’s vision blurred.

  Her breath caught. She blinked, forcing her gaze to refocus, but the artifact’s presence felt almost too vast for her to fully grasp.

  She exhaled slowly.

  [Tear of the Void Orga (Rank S): Instantly upgrades a Light Affinity by 1 rank.

  If the user has no Light Affinity, they immediately acquire Rank C Light Affinity.]

  A cold chill ran down her spine.

  This wasn’t just a treasure.

  This was an artifact.

  An artifact capable of awakening Light Affinity—widely considered the rarest affinity of all?

  That alone would make it priceless.

  But then—there was the second effect.

  [If used on someone who already possessed Light Affinity, it would upgrade it by one full rank.]

  Her pulse quickened.

  Affinity-enhancing items were exceedingly rare, their existence more myth than reality. Most people spent a lifetime refining their elemental affinities, struggling for even the smallest improvement.

  This wasn’t just a rare artifact—this was a game-changer.

  A Rank A Light Affinity user… could ascend to Rank S.

  And Rank S?

  This was the kind of item that transcended personal ambition.

  It wouldn’t just attract mages, priests, or scholars.

  It would draw entire factions. Kingdoms. Shadow organizations willing to kill for it.

  Ashley’s fingers tightened against her clipboard as a realization sank in—

  The kind of chaos this artifact would unleash would be catastrophic.

  Ashley stared at him, still pale.

  She didn’t dare voice just how ridiculous this offering was. If word got out that someone had casually handed these items over…

  'Who just sells something like this?!'

  She had met many powerful figures before arrogant nobles, wizard prodigies, even imperial family.

  But Yun Jin?

  He was… different.

  There was no hesitation in his decision. No signs of reluctance. He had powerful artifacts in his hands, ones that could shake entire factions, and he handed them over as if they were nothing.

  Ashley had no words.

  She could only force herself to remain professional, though she still couldn't hide the slight tremble in her hands as she reached for the items.

  "Are you absolutely sure you want to put these up for sale?"

  Yun Jin, calm as ever, nodded.

  He wasn’t unaware of the value of these items.

  But he had his own reasoning.

  I already have my own living Void Orga.

  Compared to that, a single tear meant little.

  Besides—

  If he wanted to make sure Merlin woke up, he needed resources. He was willing to lose a short-term fortune if it meant securing the means to help his friend.

  Ashley’s fingers trembled slightly as she secured the three items in a protective barrier.

  Then, without wasting a second—

  "Wait here."

  She immediately turned and strode off.

  Less than a minute later, two figures entered.

  The first was an elderly man, dressed in deep crimson robes, his eyes shrewd and piercing—one of the auction house’s head appraisers.

  The second was a masked woman in a midnight-blue gown, her aura suffocatingly heavy—someone with real authority.

  The woman’s gaze locked onto Yun Jin with sharp intensity.

  She hadn’t even introduced herself yet.

  But Yun Jin could already tell—this was the person truly in charge.