82: The Lost Era

“This intelligence does seem to have some accuracy…”

In the private room, Li Ke’s eyes flickered slightly.

According to Morgana’s intelligence, cubicle 303 was precisely the location of the Claus Family.

Furthermore, in that intelligence,

the Claus Family’s budget ceiling for this Arcane Secret Treasure was indeed around 820 gold crowns.

“These old guys are really rich.”

Li Ke was somewhat amazed.

The financial resources of these old True Blood Nobles were truly astonishing.

One must know that the former Charles Manor’s annual output was only about twenty gold crowns.

Now, he had annexed the entire Xilin Town, and with various industries combined, his annual income was probably just over a hundred gold crowns.

Yet, this small Arcane Secret Treasure before him was equivalent to seven or eight years of income for his entire territory.

Not to mention the final few Finale items, for which the Claus Family had even made a budget ceiling of over a thousand gold crowns…

However, fortunately,

Li Ke had purged several noble families, acquiring their accumulated wealth of many years.

Especially the Ironwood Family, whose storeroom contained particularly deep savings.

All in all, he had over two thousand gold crowns in his possession, which could barely be considered a small capital.

......

On the auction stage,

Lalmo successfully warmed up the crowd with the first item.

The next few items were mostly antiques and art collectibles, such as poetry collections by legendary bards or paintings by great artists…

Li Ke was completely uninterested.

There was, however, a high-grade Demonic Energy gem with a magnificent luster, similar to the Hesera Gem Li Ke had obtained before.

For him, it was a decent energy crystal.

Unfortunately, the price was too high, making it not cost-effective.

Li Ke tried bidding twice, then decisively gave up.

“Ladies and gentlemen!”

On the high platform, another exhibit covered with a red cloth was raised.

Lalmo repeated his trick, pulling off the red cloth with a flourish.

The gray Mist dissipated, revealing an ancient-looking snuff bottle.

On its dark golden body, a grimacing, eerie-looking two-headed figure was depicted.

The pigments were dark and mottled, as if they had long seeped into the bottle, which exuded an ancient and old aura.

“This antique comes from the Lost Era, buried by history!”

Lalmo lowered his voice a few octaves, deliberately adding a hint of mystery.

“According to research, it originated from the ancient Yidizhi civilization and is 20,000 years old.”

Before he finished speaking,

Lalmo’s tone became more impassioned:

“After a long passage of time, it is still remarkably well-preserved, truly an extremely rare and peerless collection!”

However,

this time, the reaction in the auction hall was quite subdued.

After a moment of silence,

voices of guests gradually emerged from the private rooms,

“Lost Era? That cursed era?”

“I heard that products from that era are all tainted with ill omens.”

“Do you, Mist, even dare to sell such things?”

In the private room,

Li Ke raised his eyebrows slightly.

Some fragmented memories from soul-searching surged forth.

This world indeed had the concept of eras,

in order: the Lost Era, the Dawn Era, the Heroic Era, the Dark Era,

and now, the Divine Court Era, with the three great Divine Courts suspended above all else.

As for the Lost Era, due to its extreme antiquity, almost no information remained.

Only some ancient documents vaguely mentioned that it seemed a tremendously brutal Divine War had occurred in the Lost Era.

Countless deities had fallen, space and land had shattered, creating a large number of lost planes.

To this day, many sealed ancient Secret Realms are products of the Lost Era.

For a long time, a saying has circulated among the populace:

items from the Lost Era generally carry an ominous aura and will bring misfortune to people.

Other Clairvoyance might not care too much, but Bloodline Nobles, who are already afflicted by the strange Bloodline Disease, have always kept their distance from such items, wishing to avoid them at all costs.

“Mist, of course, knows that everyone has some taboos regarding items from the Lost Era.”

Seeing the lukewarm atmosphere, Lalmo began to explain,

“But this antique was consigned by a distinguished Arcanist.”

“It is precisely Your Excellency, the great Arcanist who previously sold the “ring of silence”, so the source can be guaranteed to be clean.”

“After our appraisal, this antique is indeed in excellent condition, and no suspicious energy aura has been found on it.”

“Mist can lift the restrictions for everyone to inspect freely!”

Lalmo waved his hand, and a layer of Mist shrouding the high platform silently dissipated.

The antique snuff bottle lay quietly on the black velvet cloth, emitting an ancient and old luster under the lights.

Several faint auras, transmitted from the private rooms, subtly swept over the snuff bottle.

Li Ke also released a wisp of spiritual sense, preparing to take a general look.

He certainly had no interest in collecting antiques; he was merely curious about that mysterious Lost Era.

However,

the moment the aura shielding of the snuff bottle disappeared!

An anomaly suddenly occurred!

The Red Dust White Bone Nail, nurtured within Li Ke’s body, suddenly vibrated violently.

“Buzz!”

It abruptly rushed out from his Dantian, circling around Li Ke.

On the White Bone Nail, the phantoms of Three Aunts Six Grannies Nine Ghosts appeared, their nine different faces showing expressions of extreme terror, as if they had encountered some kind of natural enemy.

Li Ke frowned, forcibly circulated his magical power, and brought the Red Dust White Bone Nail into his hand.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, sensing the chaotic thoughts transmitted by Three Aunts Six Grannies Nine Ghosts.

A moment later,

Li Ke roughly understood the reason.

“You mean, a powerful ferocious spirit is dwelling in that snuff bottle?”

The Red Dust White Bone Nail trembled even more violently in his palm, confirming his guess.

Li Ke soothed the White Bone Nail and put it back into his body.

He released another wisp of spiritual sense,

silently passing through the private room’s Mist,

cautiously probing the antique snuff bottle.

The spiritual sense carefully swept over the snuff bottle, detecting no abnormalities.

He tried to penetrate his spiritual sense into the bottle.

The inside of the bottle was empty, still with no abnormalities.

This seemed to be just an ordinary, albeit very old, snuff bottle.

At this moment,

Lalmo, seeing no one questioned, continued loudly:

“I believe everyone has their own means of inspection, and also understands the credibility of Mist. This antique absolutely has no problems.”

“If there are friends who don’t mind the rumors, you can certainly treat it as an excellent collectible!”

“The starting bid is twenty gold crowns, with each bid not less than two gold crowns!”

Afterward, a few guests bid sporadically; they should not have been Bloodline Knight, and the overall enthusiasm remained low.

The price of the antique snuff bottle slowly rose from twenty gold crowns to twenty-eight gold crowns.

“Thirty!”

Li Ke’s eyes flashed, and he called out the price.

After his bid, the venue quieted down again.

For a long time, no one bid.

“Thirty gold crowns, once!”

Lalmo said slowly,

“Thirty gold crowns, twice!”

Still, no one bid again.

“Thirty gold crowns, thrice! Sold!”

Lalmo brought down his hammer, making the final decision.

“Congratulations to the distinguished guest in private room 207, this excellent collectible is yours!”