The Innkeeper

Chapter 1793: Auction IV

"Hey Mary, there’s no record of who submitted the Ventura coupon into the auction. Do you have any idea how it could have entered into the list?" Lex asked her faithful assistant mentally.

Mary, who was on stage in front of hundreds of millions of guests, showed no indication of any disturbance as she mentally responded to him.

"It is entirely possible that it is a system thing. In the same way you just leave the system to distribute your black keys through the system, someone may have used a system to distribute those coupons," she answered, just as she finalized the sale of the coupon for a ridiculous 70 million MP!

The fact that the coupon was only effective for someone who hadn’t yet begun to cultivate made that price even more ridiculous, but there was no shortage of heirs and holy children and such who would be groomed to the best of the ability of whatever organization or power they represented.

Lex narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. He didn’t like the fact that there was something happening within his own Inn that he had no idea about. There wasn’t much he could do about it though.

"Do you think we should open up some kind of training facility for kids here at the Inn?" Z asked as he watched the coupon disappear from the stage. "I mean, we already have a daycare. It’s the next logical step, to be honest."

"We can look into it, but we’d have to limit the races we accept," said Lex offhandedly. "Humans, devils, dwarfs and the sort are easy. A few beasts too, but besides that, we wouldn’t be able to responsibly guide and teach children."

"Hmm, maybe in that case we could make an obstacle course..."

Lex paid attention to the conversation, but now a part of him was paying greater attention to the auctioned items. One item slipping in without his notice was a sign that unexpected things could happen. He was anticipating problems during this auction anyway, so he had to be vigilant.

Yet nothing amiss happened. Mary easily went from items focused towards Foundation level cultivators, all the way to Golden Core and then Nascent Soul cultivators. Another two days had passed by during this time, and the first segment was coming to a close.

Yet the closer the end came, the more Lex expected something to go wrong. His instincts were warning him of trouble, but they were more focused towards the second segment.

It was Lex’s own experience that told him that the first segment, which held the most public attention, would not end so easily either.

"Alright folks, up next we have something really interesting. We have the body of a Quantum Chameleon that suffered soul death. It is a beast with an incredibly rare and powerful bloodline which allows for teleportation through means other than the use of space laws. Considering the perfect condition of the body, which can still be used for soul possession, it can be the perfect vessel for someone searching for a new body. Or, its unique bloodline and body can make exceptional ingredients for crafting, alchemy or anything you can have a use for.

"We will begin the auction for the Quantum Chameleon at a starting price of 80 million MP, with a minimum raise of 1 million MP. Please note, the seller has also stated that you can exchange Purple Jaded Wood for every 10 million MP instead of paying directly. We will now begin."

ASpy: Did we really get a quantum chameleon before quantum computing? #imaginethat New Bid: 80 million MP!

DuckDetective33: There is something amiss about that animal, and I must get to the bottom of it! New Bid: 83 million MP!

CosmicSunburn: Are we really buying animals out here? Sheesh, you all need to get a life.

CosmicSunscreen: Teleportation through quantum entanglement is so based! New Bid: 100 million MP!

The bids were rising quickly, and the chat was just as active as it usually was, when Lex picked up on something. It was subtle, and only because Lex was paying close attention to the auction, watching for something to go wrong, that Lex picked up on it.

The chameleon, who was supposed to be dead - at least in soul - trembled. The body was still alive, which meant its bloodline was still functional. Right in the middle of the auction, beside Mary, the chameleon trembled and activated its bloodline ability.

Having already caught onto it, Lex could have stopped the bloodline. Instead, he activated his mental ability in full, causing the flow of time to seem to slow down to a crawl. In less than a second, Lex scanned the body, studied the bloodline, determined what it was about to do, and gained a full understanding of the situation. Instead of stopping it, though, he simply gave Mary a heads up.

He could have prevented the issue from occurring in the first place, but when Lex scanned the person causing the issue, he saw it. He saw the same errors he saw when he scanned system users.

That should have caused him to be even more vigilant, which is actually why he allowed him to follow through with his actions. If Lex blocked him using the powers of the system, it might cause a clash which might reveal his own system, and Lex didn’t want that. Instead, handling it himself, or through one of his workers was a much better solution.

After all, the culprit was only a Level 1 Heaven Immortal.

"Hold the bids folks, it looks like this item comes packed with a little drama," Mary said, an amused smirk on her face, as she looked at the chameleon just in time for its bloodline to activate in full.

All eyes were drawn to the animal, surprise and shock spreading quickly as something unexpected happened. One moment, the chameleon was there, standing still with dead eyes. The next, there were two chameleons, both identical, with one living and one dead.

"Wait!" the living chameleon exclaimed. "This is my sister! You can’t do this!"