Confirmed. Linking the host to the bidding room.

This was the most efficient way for everyone to bid on the same item, apparently. It would link the minds of all of the interested parties and then you could make a higher bid than the current one with just a thought.

The system would add your bid or reject it depending on your merit points, making it a far simpler process than a normal auction. At least, a normal auction hosting over two-hundred million people.

The current bid for the MXII 2nd Generation Full-dive Virtual Reality Capsule: 825,000 merit point.

"It's already up by over six-hundred thousand... Damn. It's popular," Daz mumbled.

Rose had a conflicted look on her face and she clearly wanted to say something to her brother, but she was aware of how stubborn he could be, especially when he had that look in his eyes. Considering that, she just sighed and let the matter rest for now.

'... I'll go to two-million. That's my hard cap. I need to buy other stuff too, plus, I need points to make more points between this and the next auction probably,' Daz decided.

The minutes ticked by, and soon, the bids started to get slower and slower until they finally stopped.

The current bid for the MXII 2nd Generation Full-dive Virtual Reality Capsule: 1,565,000 merit point.

It was interesting to Daz that you were only allowed to bid on this item in denominations of five-thousand. As he was waiting for the next bid, Pheldorapod adjusted a few of his monocles and addressed the crowd.

"It would seem that we are getting no further bid on this lovely capsule. A shame. Well then, for one-point-five-million-and-sixty-five-thousand, merits points, the capsule shall be sold! Going once! Going Twice! Going-"

Daz finally made his move.

"Oho! Pardon my hastiness. It would seem we have a new highest bid of exactly two-million points!" Pheldorapod exclaimed with nothing but joy oozing out of his very being.

His body practically shook as his insides turned pure red. "Well, well, well... The bid has been increased to a grand sum of Three-million points! That, my dear guests, is fifteen times more than the starting bid! How exciting! How thrilling! How electrifying!"

Daz knitted his brow. "Fuck." He crossed his arms and tapped his foot against the floor a few times. 'Damn it. Well, I have three of them, and I really do want that machine for her... It's probably not wise, but my instincts aren't telling me to stop. They're entirely neutral, so it shouldn't make a difference, yeah?'

"System, I'll use one of my golden tickets. They're for situations like this, right?" Daz asked.

Confirmed. If you use one of your [Golden Tickets], you shall be challenging the host who currently has the highest bid. Should they decline the challenge, you shall win the item free of charge. Should they accept, you must fight them, however, should they defeat you, you will be forced to pay a sum equal to their bid. And vice versa, should you win, they will be forced to pay you the sum of their bid.

Also, the auction master has the right to say anything about either party should a challenge take place to build up the crowd's excitement. This can be used as a good opportunity to advertise the host.

Confirm the usage of a [Golden Ticket]?

Y/N

"Daz. You shouldn't do that. You'll regret it in the long run," Rose said. She knew it was falling on deaf ears, but she at least wanted to earn the right to say 'I told you so' when the moment came.

Daz turned his head towards her and smirked. "Let your big bro get you your birthday present, okay? I couldn't give any fewer fucks about any later consequences, and my instincts agree."

With that said, he confirmed the ticket usage. Almost immediately, his body disappeared.

Vanessa could feel herself tearing up. "Isn't he a cool big brother? That was so many points just for a toy! Not to mention whatever he just did." Obviously, the naive girl didn't quite understand how incredibly useful something as advanced as that piece of tech would be for someone in Rose's shoes.

Lyle hummed knowingly. "It looks like he's appeared on the stage along with a short girl about his own age. The competing bidder?"

Daz seemed to have a mildly surprised look on his face before it returned to passivity while the girl seemed initially confused as she stared at his face.

Pheldorapod was practically vibrating at this point with sheer elation. "My, my, my! What a situation we have here, my good people!"

He called for the robots to cart the VR capsule off of the stage. Once that was done, he spoke once more. "We have a very special situation on our hands here, good people of Earth!"

With a tentacle each, he gestured to Daz and then the girl. "The young man here has used the special item, a golden ticket, while the girl, she accepted the challenge instead of conceding the item to this fine gentleman!"

Waves of voices rippled through the crowd. Most of which were asking if Daz was Davido Hamilio. Thankfully for Daz, that spreading misconception was quickly cleared up.

"Now, before I explain the rules of what is about to happen, how about we have some introductions for our lovely participants?" Pheldorapod asked in a very showmanly manner.

He pointed all of his free tentacles to Daz and raised his voice ever so slightly to add some oomph to his introduction. "On our left, we have the challenger, Daz! He is an incredible man! Shall we state his grandest achievements so far, hmm? There are a whopping four! That's right, good folks of Earth, four!"

Nobody seemed to really grasp the significance of this, which only made the octopus even happier.

"Let's go from the least impressive to the most. To start us off, Daz here has evolved a total of three times and is the tenth Archreaper to have ever existed since the system's beginning all of those aeons ago! And this is despite Earth's tests only having been going on for two cycles!" The crowd was starting to finally see the importance of these achievements. "Indeed, and that is the least impressive of the four! Such a mysteriously capable young man, if I might say so myself."

The longer this was going on, the more the girl opposite Daz's face was getting paler and paler. She was gritting her teeth and it was upsetting her how little he was reacting to seeing her.

"Daz's second achievement is quite the feat! His territories, yes, that's right, he is the lord of a base and the ruler of two cities, well, those cities are the homes of four champions of the higher gods! Along with those four, it is also the home of three champions of the lesser gods!" Daz turned to look at the octopus and frowned. "Oho, would you look at this! Daz himself isn't even aware of how many champions he rules over! How interesting!"

'Two more higher gods' champions? There's Mu and Crusher, then me, Ellie and Rose for the lesser gods' champions... Hmm... maybe they're hiding in Gem Kingdom?' Daz shook his head. 'I'll have to get Lyle to investigate this when he can.'

Those in the crowd who knew of the champions of the gods and were previously looking down on Daz were suddenly far more wary of him.

"Now, the next achievement is quite special. Young Daz here has actually managed to strike up a deal with a very powerful player who is invested in Earth's tests. In this deal, he essentially ran off with a fortune without being forced to give anything in return!" Again, only a few people were picking up on what Pheldorapod was saying, which only made him happier. "Without boring you with the details, good people, anyone who joins Daz's base shall be awarded one-hundred-thousand merit points up front as well as gain access to the Midechhe Travelling Bank in his base."

One-hundred-thousand merit point was definitely a lot, that was for sure when it came to the more regular survivors, but no one understood why this was ranked higher than the two prior achievements. Was it really that special?

"Ah, I forgot to mention, but the interest rate for stored merit points at that bank is a whopping twenty-percent! Of course, that only applies to the one in Daz's base," Pheldorapod said mischievously.

Instantly, the whole auction hall was filled with exclamations of awe and shock.

For those who lived in a base that had a merit-point bank, half a percent was normal for the interest rate while five-percent was the absolute limit for the most expensive bank that a base owner could purchase.

On the other hand, for the normal survivors who were familiar with interest rates before the apocalypse, twenty-percent was just unreasonably high. With that, wouldn't they be able to amass a fortune of points like those that fought off the monsters did were they to belong to his base?

This was exactly the reaction that Pheldorapod was hoping for and it was why he loved the golden tickets so much. Usually, those who owned golden tickets had such amazing achievements. Sure, it was fun announcing high rankings for the ranking lists and basic details when someone of any worth bought an item, but it was only with achievements like this that he could really rile up the crowd.

"Ahem, to gather all of your attention once again, good testees, please allow me to announce young Daz's final and most incredible achievement," Pheldorapod requested humbly with that powerful voice of his.

The hall - and presumably the other halls linked to the stage via whatever magic and technology Rose had claimed it was using - all quietened down.

"Thank you." He adjusted his monocles and stood seriously before he said, "Daz's final achievement worthy of note is... one that I am not allowed to announce! Isn't that just unbelievably excellent? Even with all of my authority over the system, I am not allowed to know of nor announce this achievement beyond the fact that it exists! Truly spectacular!"

Only a very minute amount of people were actually impressed. It was understandable since after hearing the prior achievement, this one sounded a lot more like an empty boast.

"Ahem, anyway. Moving on to our other contestant! The challenged!" Pheldorapod said as he gestured to the young girl who was maybe a couple of years older than Daz.

She was slightly shorter than him but far better looking. She had a neatly tied brunette side-ponytail, and despite how upset she looked, she still somehow managed to make herself appear charming. Of course, Daz himself showed no reaction at all to her.

"Unfortunately, this lovely young woman has no achievements of any note," Pheldorapod announced sadly.

He didn't even bother to state her name since the system was entirely neutral in regards to her. He wasn't sure why, but the system seemed to like Daz. It did choose favourites during every test of its and those people tended to become significant players after their tests were over, so Pheldorapod had felt a need to butter up Daz a bit by exaggerating his achievements and adding some flair to them. However, he felt no such obligation for the girl.

Still frowning, she crossed her arms over her chest, propping up her breasts before she said, "Are you still not going to at least say 'hi' to me, 'Daz'?"

Extending his right hand, Hamson's brand shined before the shovel appeared. "Why should I? Let's get this over with. Pheldorapod. I assume you need to start our challenge, right?"

"Of course, Daz." Pheldorapod bowed very briefly before he said, "The conditions for victory are to either make your opponent no longer able to fight or to have them surrender. Any and all skills are allowed. May the best testee win!"

The woman looked like she was about to cry at Daz's coldness. "Are you really not going to at least greet me?"

Daz held Hamson and stood in a relaxed manner. "Again, why should I?"

"Because I'm your fiancée!" she yelled in response. Thousands of murmurs spread throughout the crowd. Most of them were thinking that she was just trying to use some sort of manipulation-based skill on him, but some believed her claim and were very confused.

Daz shrugged. "Ex-fiancée. I have no idea why you want a VR capsule. Probably because my father wants it, right?" The girl flinched. "Thought so." He sighed grandly before adding, "Well, you can tell him to stay out of my way. I want nothing to do with him."

"B-But-"

"Take out your weapon, Aila," Daz demanded coldly. "I don't want to beat you when you're unarmed."

She bit her lip adorably before she said, "I-I'm coming to Fort Skip, you know?"

"I don't care. Do what you want. Just don't try to needlessly involve me with that man. I will never love you nor will I ever marry you," he replied. "Take out your weapon."