Walking through the streets of the city with Snowlily at his side, Thomas made the occasional stop to purchase food that smelled good or drinks that looked tasty. It was a habit he had formed to purchase street food whenever he was walking from place to place. It was always nice to have a warm tasty snack just sitting inside of his inventory waiting to be eaten. Bonus, Snowlily appreciated it too. He could just imagine what it would be like inside of her inventory once she took a human form. He expected it would be nothing but meat.

It took some time, due to his frequent snack stops, but they eventually made it to the auction house. Thankfully it was still pretty early in the afternoon and the auction was still going strong. Once inside, Thomas rented his numbered paddle, number 369 and made his way to the second floor where the auction was taking place. The room was rather large, large enough to fit at least a thousand people comfortably. At the moment it was actually about three-quarters full. Given the number of his paddle, he didn't expect the place to be so full. When he looked closer he saw that the paddles didn't seem to be distributed in numerical order. One of the paddles he spotted had a number of over one thousand.

He quickly found a spot near the back with two open seats next to each other and made his way there. Once he and Snowlily were comfortable, he began to pay attention to the auction. The current item for sale was a weapon, a halberd. It looked decent but he was completely uninterested in having it for himself. He did, however, pay attention to the bidding for the weapon. It had a rarity of Uncommon and a fire enchantment attached to it. The current bid for the weapon was over fifty-five thousand gold and still going up quickly.

Thomas glanced at the weapon with his 'All Seeing Eyes' and wasn't impressed. The halberd was made of plain steel and enchanted with regular mana crystals. Now, he was no snob and knew that his Transmutation was akin to a cheat ability that let him work with materials others would go to war for. Still, he couldn't help his dislike for the workmanship of the weapon. It was poorly made and looked cheap in his eyes. He could clearly see dents on the axe blade portion of the weapon where the blacksmith had hit the metal too hard and dented it too deeply. Thomas would have never sold something with such a flaw. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Way back when he was new at crafting he sold all kinds of garbage just to get enough money to buy his next set of supplies. That was nearing two decades ago though. With his current level of skill and expertise, he refused to sell something like that halberd anymore. He would rather melt it down and start over again.

The halberd was finally sold for a little over sixty-thousand gold and the next item was brought out. Thomas focused as the auctioneer began to speak, "Up next we have a case of high purity Mithril that was smelted by a master blacksmith in Kafla. According to our appraisal, the purity reaches almost ninety-percent!"

There were some 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the crowd as the case was brought out and opened for all to see. Once the case was opened everyone could see ten bars of glittering Mithril sitting pretty. Thomas took a single glance at the bars of metal and zoned out. High purity Mithril was excellent for most people but for him, the purity didn't matter at all. He paid no more attention while the auctioneer espoused the virtues of purer Mithril to get people even more excited before the bidding began. Once it did the price of the ingots began to skyrocket. Thomas paid attention to that portion of the auction. If he wanted to be lazy or found himself in need of easy money, he could buy some low purity Mithril and cleanse it a bit before reselling it.

The ten Mithril ingots sold for five thousand gold. It didn't seem like very much but a regular Mithril ingot available outside only sold for two hundred gold. The ten ingots sold for over double the value of a regular ingot. If Thomas made it into a business that would be a profit margin of over one hundred percent. The auction continued as more weapons and armor were sold off to the highest bidder. Only one auctioned item caught his attention. A partially purified mana crystal. It had a purity of just ten percent. Compared to most mana crystals that had a purity of one percent or less, ten percent was huge. It caused a bidding war that ended with the mana crystal selling for just under one hundred thousand gold.

Seeing the fierce bidding war for the mana crystal, Thomas changed his mind about selling a completely purified one. If one with just around ten percent purity went for over a hundred thousand then one with fifty percent purity would likely go for significantly more without drawing excessive attention. He could also only sell one. If he sold more it would bring a little too much attention to him. Selling the mana crystal was all about amassing funds for his future endeavors. When he was no longer restricted by how much he could carry he would start spending gold like it was water in a desert. His couple of million would be gone in no time at all. There was also concern about how much it would cost to build his own U.L.T.R.A. Something like that probably had a hefty price tag attached to it.

As the auction continued, Thomas found himself growing bored. The items being sold did little to rouse his interest in them. As he was thinking about leaving the next item for sale arrived at the stage. The auctioneer smiled as he introduced the item, "Up next we have some raw ore for sale. These several pieces of ore have been appraised and found to be Truesteel, a rare variation of natural steel with no elemental influences present within it. Weapons made of Truesteel are harder and retain their cutting edges even when pushed to their limits. The bidding for the ten pieces of ore will start at five thousand gold!"

The first bids were immediate and fierce. Thomas ignored them for now, he would get in on the bidding when it began to slow down a bit. He saved his breath and instead activated his 'All Seeing Eyes' to get a better understanding of the ore.

Item Type: Truesteel Ore (Raw) Rarity: Epic Quality: Average Description: Truesteel is steel that has been naturally formed deep within the core of the planet. When properly processed it becomes stronger than man-made steel. This piece of ore hasn't been influenced by outside elements leaving it in its purest form.

Thomas rubbed his chin as he contemplated buying the Truesteel. It was definitely interesting and he was sure he could find something to do with it. His problem with the material was that it was steel. Steel is made primarily of iron with a few additional elements like carbon added to it to make it stronger. This meant he couldn't purify the Truesteel. If he tried he would likely just end up with purified iron. He decided to buy it anyway. Even if he couldn't purify it with his Transmutation he could still work it inside of a forge until it reached a high purity. On top of that, even as raw ore, it was Epic rarity, it just might be possible to push it to the next rank if he treated it properly.

With his decision made he focused back on the bidding and was surprised to hear that it had already reached over seventy-five thousand gold! The price was still rising but the bidding had slowed down dramatically. Seeing how high the price had climbed gave Thomas a slight understanding of how rare Truesteel was. He calmly lifted his paddle and entered the bidding war at seventy-six thousand gold. He was immediately outbid by a sweaty fat man calling out and raising the price to seventy-eight thousand. Within just a few bids the price shot to one hundred and one thousand gold with Thomas in the lead. The fat-man glared at Thomas but conceded the bid in the end.

With no further bids from the fat-man, Thomas won the item. His paddle number was marked down as the winner along with the amount of the bid before the auction continued onto the next item. Thomas started to stand up to leave as the auctioneer announced, "Up next we have a single bar of Orichalcum for sale! Bidding begins at fifty thousand gold!"

Thomas instantly sat his ass back down and waited. The bidding for the bar of Orichalcum was even more fierce than the one for the Truesteel. Before Thomas could even activate his eyes to get a read on the bar the price had jumped to over one hundred thousand gold and was still climbing rapidly. The auctioneer was having the time of his life as he continued to call out the ever-increasing price of the metal.

Item Type: Orichalcum Ingot Rarity: Legendary Quality: Above Average Description: Orichalcum, also known as the 'Metal of the Gods', is the ultimate mana conductor. Even as an impure ore it can conduct mana better than any other metal. It is highly sought after by mages for their staves or other mana focusing devices as well as warriors for its excellent durability and sharpness when turned into an enchanted weapon. No matter how it is used, items made of Orichalcum are greatly prized for their power.

Purity: 35.23%

Thomas was dazed for a few seconds after reading the description of the ingot. Even at just thirty-five percent purity, it was already at Legendary rarity. If he purified it to one hundred percent how powerful would it become?! He immediately decided he had to have it and jumped into the bidding. In just the short time he took to examine the ingot its price had further increased to over two-hundred and fifty thousand gold. It didn't stop there and continued to climb. The bidding continued for nearly twenty minutes and only slowed down when the price exceeded seven hundred thousand gold. Even Thomas felt his heart bleeding as he continued to bid away half of his remaining fortune.

Once the bidding breached eight hundred thousand gold it died down drastically. The bidding was between only three individuals, Thomas, the fat-man, and a dignified older looking gentleman. Just judging from looks, Thomas expected the gentleman to be a noble of some sort. Given that the fat-man was sending threatening glares in Thomas's direction while the gentleman just continued to politely bid, Thomas had a much better impression of the gentleman. The bidding slowed further when the fat-man finally gave up and left only two survivors of the bidding war. Thomas was determined to win the Orichalcum, even if it cost him all of his currently available funds.

Finally, the bidding stopped at nine hundred and thirty thousand gold for the single bar of Orichalcum. The auctioneer was in heaven and already counting the profit for the auction house. Meanwhile, the older gentleman just gave a polite nod to Thomas to congratulate him on his winning bid. Thomas smiled politely in turn while inside he was regretting his impulsiveness a bit. Nearly one million gold spent on a single ingot of metal. Still, seeing the bronze-colored ingot that would soon be his, after a trip to the bank, brought a smile to his face. He was already planning on how he would use it in his upcoming firearm.

The auction continued but no further items caught his attention and he soon left the auction house. When he left, he kept the paddle inside of his inventory. He would need it as his identification when he returned to claim his prizes. In total, he'd spent over a million gold on just two auctions. It was painful for his wallet but it seemed like it would all be worth it. Especially after he purified the Orichalcum ingot to one hundred percent. He wouldn't use the whole thing at once and planned to treat it a lot like he treated the Sunshine Gold. Just use small amounts of it to enhance the items he made.

With little else to do for the day, Thomas made his way to the bank and withdrew the one million thirty-one thousand gold for his purchases. The goblin that was in charge of him at the bank seemed disgruntled about the sheer amount of gold that Thomas was withdrawing all at once. It didn't say anything but it was definitely giving Thomas the stink eye while watching the coins disappear into his inventory. Such a large number of coins took up a huge amount of space but he wouldn't be holding onto them for very long.

With the funds collected, Thomas returned to the auction house and claimed his purchases. Watching all of the coins leave his possession sucked until he received the box containing the Orichalcum ingot in all of its glory. He tossed the Truesteel ore into his inventory without care but the Orichalcum... As soon as he had the box he opened it and double-checked the contents. Seeing the brass colored metal and confirming it was the same one he saw during the auction filled him with joy. It took a large amount of his self-control to not head directly back to the Adventurer's Guild to experiment with it.

He gazed reverently at the ingot for a while longer before putting it away inside of his inventory and returning his paddle to the auction house for a refund on his small deposit. After spending so much money he suddenly felt that the measly few gold for the paddle was worth getting back. With everything done, he left the auction house and made his way to the inn to get some dinner before he would log out for a short time.