The Primal Hunter

Jake alternated between meditating and diving into knowledge from Sagacity of the Malefic Viper and reading the book on the Pollendust Bees. He found the knowledge in the books severely lacking compared to Sagacity, and in some places, just wrong.

First of all, it explained how to awaken the egg and birth the Pollendust Bee Queen, and the method was just horrible. Insects differed from many other races because they didn’t really have a natural growth period as, for example, humans had. Instead, the Queen would be born at level 100 and hold the power of a D-grade from the moment it hatched.

According to the book, one just had to infuse enough mana into the container to awaken the Queen as all the necessary materials to do so were already included. While that was technically true, it was also a shit method. Why the hell would Jake just be happy with a normal Pollendust Bee Queen? No, he would do a nice and big ritual first. It would be a bit like what he did with Sylphie, though he seriously doubted he could repeat what happened then.

Throughout his studying, people had come and gone, and by now, the booth was full again as it was soon time for the legendary Auction to begin.

Sultan and Miranda had both come over to him as they chose to stay near. The reason was simple enough… so they had sources to borrow from. If an item popped up and Jake couldn’t afford it, he sure as hell was going to nicely ”ask” Sultan for a loan. Though he kind of knew it was more for Miranda to borrow from them in case something Haven needed popped up without her having enough funds. Haven – as a city – was honestly kind of poor. Miranda charged extremely low taxes and spent most of what little they did earn on paying people. Apparently, the primary source of income was Sultan, due to Miranda imposing some extra charges on the man, based on the agreement for him to stay and operate out of Haven.

”Anything you two are looking for?” Miranda asked. ”With us keeping the Supreme Illusiary Defense Array Disc for Haven, the only thing we really needed has been found. But I will naturally keep an eye out.”

”Many items auctioned off may be something that can bring a way bigger return in the future once Earth matures a bit, so I am searching for that,” Sultan answered.

”Bow,” Jake stated. He just wanted a damn bow, okay?

And as the timer reached zero and the intermission ended, he would hopefully finally have a chance to.

System Announcement:

The fourth phase of the Auction has now begun, where all legendary rarity items will be sold off. All items will be listed with a set minimum bidding price by the seller, as well as a potential buyout price, allowing anyone to instantly buy the item.

There are a total of 109 listings of legendary items for sale during this fourth phase of the Auction. These items will be posted one at a time in two-minute intervals. Note that for the remainder of the Auction, all bidding will be visible to all event participants.

All items will be auctioned off immediately once active bidding ends. If any item does not receive any new bid for at least ten seconds, it will be sold to the highest bidder. This phase will at most last until one hour has passed from the final listing being posted. Any item not bought at the end of this phase will be returned to the original seller.

The first item will be posted in two minutes.

Jake read the rules and saw that for the first time, there were changes. First of all, the bidding was now far more active, and it wasn’t all about sitting on an item for hours on end trying to keep the top offer, but now one had to actively bid. It was far more like a regular auction.

The anonymity was also gone, so now Jake knew who to go beat the living shit out of if they dared fight him on any bow. Actually, this part was probably the most impactful when seen from a political point of view. Even Jake could instantly see that.

”This changes things,” Sultan said as he took out his book, and he saw Miranda also take out what looked like a recording device. ”Seeing what factions buy can give insight into their current states and what they need, but perhaps more importantly, it will allow us to subtly spot who are allies based on if they bid against each other.”

It was just as likely that the reason they didn’t bid was just that they couldn’t afford to or didn’t

belief they are not allies by visibly displaying conflict through bids, while in actuality, it is quite the opposite. Naturally, this will not fool the more insightful ones, but many here are not politically minded, so

You have just shown all the D-grades aligned with you that you truly are independent and dare stand up to the big bad Church, while in actuality, it is all just a show while working with the Church behind

will talk about helping the lower class while receiving bribes from lobbyists to make life worse for them. AKA, shady shit Jake didn’t want to take part in or waste

he wanted. Then Miranda could deal with

those who bid

ready as the first legendary item appeared… and it was kind of

– A statue created from valuable stone by an A-grade sculptor to display the true might of his race. Gazing upon the statue will grant you Heroic Might, temporarily making you less fearful and reducing the effect of certain negative mental afflictions. Touching the statue will permanently increase Strength by 100 as you embrace the heroic power within.

Jake’s gut reaction was to bid ten million as, quite frankly, the statue looked awesome. It reminded him of those overly buff 80’s action heroes, and the guy was wielding two massive axes

but not for someone like him. In fact, it probably would

the same category as consuming elixirs. The 10 Willpower he got back in the Challenge Dungeon did, too,

it. And when Jake

was the trade manager of Sanctdomo. Two others also showed great interest, and according to Miranda, both of those

Court of Shadows did not bid, and the Risen also dropped out early. Yet, the item still went to over three hundred million before the bidding really began to slow down. In the end, the statue was sold for three hundred and eighty-nine million Credits, and just in time as the two minutes had

celestial objects and give insight into their basic properties. This effect is entirely passive and cannot be altered by outside means,

in the booth. He had to admit, he was kind of excited to see others

His move seemed to be a

that,” Jake answered as the others took seats around him. He kind of understood why… he doubted anyone else could afford to buy anything.

much it will go

as

that’s like my entire net worth. I’ve been spending!” the man said with

had reached twenty million as Roman made his

the other hand, smiled. “Well, then I guess two hundred

damn slimy!”

look from Sultan. She

fifty. Jake also

made him think the price would go insane, but it slowed down when it hit a hundred and ninety. Yet two were still bidding – the Risen and the Church – as the price climbed above two hundred million. Sultan groaned a bit as Felicia won the bet, and Jake was all-smiles as it reached two hundred and forty million before no one else was bidding. In the end, the Risen

caused by the items getting auctioned off like this… he got his money instantly. Two hundred and forty million Credits – minus one for Sultan – appeared in his inventory

Sultan said as he paid Felicia without saying anything more. “A bit over what I

shouldn’t pay Felicia and the wonders

[Staff of-]

did see it as rather interesting, and it looked very suitable for a healer to use. So it also made sense when the eventual winner turned out to be Eron, who happily spent a hundred and seventy million on it. He didn’t know that the guy even used staves, and chances are the lunatic just wanted to