Chapter 1270 – The Cost of Arrogance

Thunder Island was no longer a secret among the various major powers.

Even some second-rate Guilds with powerful information networks knew about the island.

Various superpowers were frantically collecting Thunder Passes, but these weren’t easily obtainable, requiring a lot of manpower and resources.

Each additional Thunder Pass would allow them to bring ten more experts to Thunder Island. When the contest for Thunder Island’s authority began, the superpower with the most Thunder Passes would have a greater advantage.

Hence, the various superpowers constantly offered to purchase Thunder Passes at a high price, attracting plenty of adventurer teams to sail the Sea of Death and kill sea monsters. Only, there had been no news of any adventurer team obtaining passes even now.

Nevertheless, the Candlelight Trading Firm was selling a Thunder Pass.

It was truly hard to imagine that an upstart Guild’s auction could consecutively offer two treasures that could tempt the various superpowers. Moreover, they had already announced the final item: the Holy City’s slots. How could these major powers not be shocked?

“Now that everyone has seen our second auction item, without further ado, we will begin the bidding at 3,000 Magic Crystals. Each increment cannot be lower than 100 crystals! Begin!” Melancholic Smile announced the starting price.

This price surprised many of the players in the first-floor hall. They all thought it was outrageously high. However, the various superpowers on the second floor made nothing of it. On the contrary, they all felt it was considerably cheap. After all, they normally offered 1,000 Gold per pass.

“Four thousand crystals!”

“Four thousand, three hundred crystals!”

“Five thousand crystals!”

...

As soon as Melancholic Smile opened the floor for bids, the various superpowers, which initially had little interest in the Candlelight Auction, contested madly for the Thunder Pass. These superpowers gave the players in the first-floor hall no opportunities to intervene, raising the price again and again.

Even the participating second-rate Guilds felt out of their league in this auction.

As for the players and Guilds that had scolded the Candlelight Trading Firm for being fraudulent, none of them dared to make a peep.

Eventually, Phoenix Rain won the Thunder Pass for 8,300 Magic Crystals.

“Pavilion Master, are we letting Phoenix Rain have the pass just like that?” Martial Dragon asked curiously.

“It doesn’t matter. Any higher and the pass wouldn’t be worth it. In any case, Rain has ten extra slots. They’re not enough to make a difference,” Nine Dragons Emperor growled, sneering.

After giving the matter some thought, Martial Dragon agreed with his Guild Leader. They had far more slots than Phoenix Rain. Even if she had ten more, the increase wouldn’t be enough to affect the big picture.

Following the end of the second item’s bidding, Melancholic Smile gestured to the image above the stage once more. However, the image remained the same as before. Smiling, she said, “Let’s begin the auction for the third item! The third item is another Thunder Pass! Like before, the starting price is 3,000 Magic Crystals! Begin!”

“What?! There’s more!?”

Gasps echoed throughout the venue.

Thunder Passes were extremely difficult to obtain. Obtaining one was already an amazing feat, yet Zero Wing had another to offer.

Even Phoenix Rain was surprised. Of course, she was also elated.

Although it was only one more entry pass, there was a huge difference between ten and twenty. Fortunately, among the superpowers present, she had the most Magic Crystals to spend.

As soon as the auction began, the Thunder Pass’s price instantly rose to 8,000 Magic Crystals.

Unlike before, the various superpowers paid more attention to the Thunder Pass this time. They, too, realized what kind of consequences they would suffer if another power had twenty additional slots. The competition for the second Thunder Pass intensified.

Eventually, however, Phoenix Rain obtained the second Thunder Pass for 15,400 Magic Crystals. Although the price was astoundingly high, Phoenix Rain felt that the money had been well spent.

Just when everyone believed that the competition for the Thunder Passes had ended, Melancholic Smile pointed at the Thunder Pass’s image once again.

“This is insane! Just how many Thunder Passes do they have?!” The players in the auction venue involuntarily shuddered. This was especially true for the various superpowers in the second-floor VIP rooms.

They could tolerate a single power obtaining one or two passes as it wouldn’t significantly impact the outcome.

However, if the Candlelight Trading Firm sold too many Thunder Passes, the balance would change, affecting the contest.

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Melancholic Smile did not immediately start the next round of bids. Instead, she took three Thunder Passes from her bag, stupefying everyone present.

“How?! How do they have so many passes?!” Nine Dragons Emperor shook as he stared at the three Thunder Passes in Melancholic Smile’s hand.

He found it truly unbelievable that Zero Wing had obtained so many passes. Despite the scarcity of Thunder Passes in the Sea of Death, Zero Wing had five.

The Dragon Pavilion Master previously had only 60 slots more than Phoenix Rain. He could ignore losing the two Thunder Passes, as he still had a considerable advantage over Phoenix Rain even then.

However, if Phoenix Rain won these three Thunder Passes as well, the difference between their teams would be negligible.

This won’t do! I must obtain these passes! Nine Dragons Emperor commanded, “Notify Bell and have him send all our Magic Crystals immediately!”

“Pavilion Master, I’ve already notified him. However, it will take at least ten minutes before they arrive,” Martial Dragon reported.

“Ten minutes?! Damn it! Why so long?!” Regret and anger filled Nine Dragons Emperor’s eyes as he stared at the three Thunder Passes. “Notify Zero Wing’s auctioneer. Tell her that we request a delay!”

Had the Candlelight Trading Firm stated beforehand that such items would be sold, he never would have been caught off-guard.

In reality, Nine Dragons Emperor wasn’t the only person to react that way. Even Guilds such as Pantheon, Miracle, King’s Return, Battle Wolves, and Sacred Temple were caught flat-footed. After all, nobody would’ve imagined that there would be such frightening items offered at the Candlelight Auction. They had prepared only the Lands required to purchase the Holy City slots.

Almost at the same time, the representatives of the various superpowers all reported back to the upper echelons of their respective Guilds, having their Guilds send Magic Crystals over. Aside from this, they also contacted the Candlelight Trading Firm asking for a delay in the auctioning of the Thunder Passes or permission to use other items as collateral.

This scene stunned the various major powers and adventurer teams present.

After all, asking for a delay in the auctioning of an item was a relatively humiliating thing to do, as this would show that one had insufficient funds.

Despite that, the various superpowers of God’s Domain were actually willing to cast away their reputation. It was truly inconceivable.

“Guild Leader, are we going to delay the auction of the Thunder Passes?” Melancholic Smile asked after contacting Shi Feng.

Currently, five superpowers had requested a delay, something not commonly seen. If it were any other first-rate Guild holding this auction right now, they would definitely acquiesce without hesitation.

“We can delay the auction, but tell them that they need to compensate us for the time lost. Every minute’s delay will cost them 300 Gold. They are welcome to delay the auction for as long as they want,” Shi Feng replied nonchalantly.

“Guild Leader, this...” Melancholic Smile’s heart skipped a beat when she heard his answer.

“Don’t worry about it. Just tell them as is,” Shi Feng said, chuckling.

There were only a few days left until the contest over Thunder Island. At this point, practically all Boss-grade sea monsters that could be killed had already been killed once before. Even if one killed the Boss-grade sea monsters that respawned, the likelihood of a Thunder Pass dropping would be very low. After all, only a limited number of Thunder Passes could drop during each contest cycle. The only reason he had managed to obtain so many Thunder Passes was the King-class sea monster he had killed.

If he did not make a killing off these superpowers now, he would be doing that King-class sea monster a disservice.

Melancholic Smile fell speechless at Shi Feng’s words. Her Guild Leader was a little too good at earning money.

However, since it was a command from her Guild Leader, Melancholic Smile had no choice but to repeat Shi Feng’s words to the five superpowers.