Read Novel Full Chapter 1505: Buying the map
Chapter 1505: Buying the map
Everyone present in the auction house knew this map was cursed. The amount of blood shed because of this map was just too much. In the end, it had proven to be a wasted endeavor.
They had all given up hope of deciphering it.
However, hearing Kent and Inaya converse, something told them the handsome young man actually knew what he was saying. After all, the Cult of Wisdom had revealed that the map is inscribed in the Hexa-Spiral 360 Paradox Grid.
It is one of the ancient cryptographic patterns that had long since gone extinct. They claim it was too complex to understand, so over time, many stopped learning it.
Hearing Kent mention the same thing and even add more context told them he knew something about it. However, they did not rack their brains over it since they knew it was not as simple as he made it sound.
"Are you insinuating you can solve the Paradox Grid?" Inaya asked, her expression flat.
"The Paradox Grid involves complex computations, for sure. I will not beat my chest and say I am an expert at solving them; however, I can say I will solve this map.
Also, the patterns here point to a place called..." Kent paused and looked around. Seeing hundreds of eyes locked on him, he smiled and said:
"It leads to a place called Death Valley."
"WHAT"
Be it the people present, Inaya, Ainna, or even Lady Tilly the auctioneer, they all exclaimed upon hearing what Kent said.
"Kid, are you sure?" a man inside VIP Room 5 asked, his expression brightening after the previous frown he’d worn when the starting bid had only been raised by 10,000.
It appeared he was the one who put up the map for sale.
"Yes. It is inscribed in some weird runic text right where the sticky black ink is. This map leads there. However, as to where the treasures are, I would have to decipher the map, which will take a couple of years, a hundred years at most.
That said, I had no plans of venturing to such a dreadful place, so when I decipher it, I will probably release the information to the entire world. I have reasons to believe everyone would love to know where the treasures are hidden."
"Treasures?" This time, it was Inaya who asked. "Are you saying there is more than one treasure?"
"Yes. There is a reason why the owner of this map used the Hexa-Spiral 360 Paradox Grid. Each grid leads to a destination, so since there are 360 grids, we can assume there are 360 treasures. That said, there can be fewer, but definitely not just one.
Once again, if and when I decipher it, I will know more. On that note, I place my final bid at 600,000."
Many turned and looked at Inaya, who took a sip of her drink. After a few minutes, she nodded at Lady Tilly, who nodded back.
"The map is sold to the gentleman in VIP Room 13."
"Thank you, fairy. I will be sure to decipher it and tell you one location just for being generous to me today."
Inaya smiled and replied, "Generosity comes in many forms, kid. Enjoy it while it lasts."
Kent nodded, but then a frown appeared on his face.
In his mind, her words hinted at what would happen when he deciphered the map. Also, he now believed that, once it was known he could decipher the map, his life might be in danger.
Knowing this, he made one move that caused many who were planning to kidnap him and force him to decipher the map for them to smile bitterly.
"Lady Tilly, since I am still growing up, I will trouble you to send the map to the Cult of Wisdom. Tell them the one they have been searching for will come for it in the next 20 years."
"I understand."
This way, even if they kidnapped him, there would be no map to decipher. Kent smiled and raised his glass at Inaya, making her aware he had resolved all kinds of dangers she had hinted at.
She just smiled and took another sip of her wine.
Inside VIP Room 3, Ainna said to Inaya using telepathy...
"What was that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why were you flirting with this scumbag?"
"I was not flirting with him."
"Oh, you sure did. I saw how you smiled at him. While a bit narrowed down, it was the same way you used to smile at him back then."
"You are reading too much into everything, Ainna. I did not flirt with him."
Ainna said nothing afterwards. She turned to look in Kent’s direction only to see him staring at her. She locked gazes with him for a few seconds before turning away.
By then, the second item was brought to the stage. It was a flower-type herb, and judging by its fragrance alone, it was not lower than a Tier 25 herb.
"This is a Tier 26 intelligent herb called the Solar Flare Dominion Flower. It can be used as an enhancer herb for every flame-related pill.
Luckily, though rare, a generous alchemist decided to auction it with a starting bid of 100 million spirit stones. You can raise the bid by 1 million spirit stones."
"200 million."
"300 million."
"500 million."
.
.
.
"1 billion."
The bid was quickly raised to a billion, and it showed no sign of stopping there. Kent looked long and hard at the herb, but despite telling himself that buying and saving it for the future made sense, he ultimately decided against it.
He had already made his presence known. If he were to get into the bad books of these immortals and demigods, he might just end up dying in all kinds of mysterious ways.
Fallon had already informed him of what Lady Annette had told her, so he was being extra careful.
In the end, the herb sold for 24 billion spirit stones. That amount is enough to sustain a medium world for billions of years.
They use low-grade spirit stones. A hundred of those is one medium-grade spirit stone, and 100 of those is one high-grade spirit stone. This means one high-grade spirit stone is equivalent to 10,000 low-grade spirit stones.
Twenty-four billion high-grade spirit stones are more than enough to cater to their needs for all eternity. Yet it was spent casually to purchase just one herb.
Kent shook his head and focused on the next item. It was a god-grade cultivation technique that would benefit yin-type cultivators. As one would expect, the bidding war among the lady cultivators at the auction was fierce. In the end, it sold for 10 billion.
The next item was also brought out: a green shard said to contain divine essence. Naturally, the blacksmiths around fought over it, and in the end, one of them bought it for 13 billion.
More items were brought out and sold for staggering amounts of spirit stones. Through it all, Kent remained quiet, sipping only on his wine.
He had no use for any of the items at present, so he made no move to bid on them. In his mind, one day, when he gets to the level where he will need them, he would not hesitate to bid on them.
So he relaxed and waited for something he could actually use. Finally, after the 10th item was sold, the item he had been informed about before the auction was finally brought out.
It was a green-handled knife that looked more like a dagger. Both the handle and blade were decorated with runes. The moment his eyes landed on it, a smile formed on his face.
The Spirit Brush was finally revealed.