Chapter 522: Mermen
That must be where the Mermen were located, Michael guessed. Are they participating in the auction, or just watching?
He was kind of excited to see them in person. People had to fight for the items, meaning that if the Mermen wanted to participate in the bidding, then they would have to show off their powers as well.
He didn’t know if Mermen worked the same as humans or demi-humans, so he was curious at what kind of power they had in their bodies.
Should I?
Michael contemplated using his Supreme Skill to peer through the glass and see the Light mana signature in their bodies. It would be easy for him to know which room they were located in if he could see their bodies.
Unable to restrain his curiosity, he activated his Supreme Skill and changed the way he saw the world.
He could see mana clearly. It was as if he was transported in their world and acted as if he was a mana himself.
He looked through the rooms, seeing many different kinds of people waiting on the sofas and looking over the tinted glasses.
Finally, in the opposite room from his, he saw a completely different body unlike anything he’d ever seen before. Their bodies were mostly made out of Water mana! That was how they breathed in land. They automatically converted the Water mana in the air and breathed through it.
And although the details weren’t clear, he could see that their faces closely resembled that of humans. The only difference was their fish scales showing on the edges of their faces. Not only that, but they seemed to have webbed feet and hands resembling that of a frog’s.
But aside from that, they looked like ordinary humans.
He should have known. Of course they weren’t going to be like the cartoons he saw from his previous world where mermen had heads of fishes and used fish bowls full of water to survive.
That’s enough snooping around for now. I don’t want to get noticed by those guys from the Magic Tower.
Anyways, he satisfied his curiosity.
Just then, the door to his room opened and he saw the Rebornian crew arrive with amazed looks on their faces.
"Lord Michael, we have arrived," bowed Sheina.
"Look guys! There’s so many people down there," Zion said as he peeked out from the glass window.
Vivi, Grieve, and Fudge followed suit. The four stooges smushed their faces into the tinted glass to see the auction venue clearly.
"Hohoho! I haven’t seen anything like this in forever...at least, I think so...I don’t know. I don’t have any eyes, hohoho!"
"Yummy emotions," Vivi salivated. "They almost have the same anticipation as when people are waiting in line for the rollercoaster!"
"Guys, someone might see you there," Michael warned them. "Don’t want to spook them. I don’t know how they’ll react if they see an undead 9-star realm skeleton general, a Pixie Queen, a Dragonborn, and a slime all in the same room."
Meanwhile, Jaku already occupied one of the couches for himself and took a nap. Umisu quietly sat beside him, silent and looking forward to Michael’s commands.
"Woah...is this...is this the VIP room?" Max asked out loud.
"Of course! My son deserves nothing less," Lylia bragged.
Michael also invited some of the Vanderbilts for the auction. Why? The more the merrier, as he liked to say.
"Look at all these very important people," Fudge muttered. "This would have been the perfect time to spread my clones and spy on everyone."
"Oooh, if you find one that’s strong, tell me so I can compare myself to them," Zion said.
Michael was about to tell them to settle down, when he heard the sound of a large gong echo throughout the walls.
BONG!
He looked down and saw Barnaby at the center stage, wearing a full white suit that made him look larger than life. A magic circle appeared beneath his feet, which Michael deciphered to be some kind of voice amplification spell.
"WELCOME EVERYONE TO THE ANNUAL BARNABY’S VAULT AUCTION!"
His loud announcement sent waves of applause from the people seated at the ground floor. They cheered like they were a crowd about to watch a world title boxing match. This almost sent Vivi into a frenzy as the emotion from the room reached its peak.
"First of all, I would like to apologize to everyone about the sudden change in schedule. Some of you may deem this as unfortunate, but it is for a good reason.
As some of you may not know, we are given the privilege of being visited by one of our dearly beloved neighbors from the other side of the world: the Mermen from Atlantis!"
The crowd gasped and awed before looking up at the VIP suits.
Of course, the Major Factions already knew about this, so they weren’t that surprised. However, about 80 percent of the Minor Factions were completely caught unaware by the news.
Barnaby kept silent, letting the crowd process and digest the information he just gave them. He knew that there would be lots of discussions taking place within the tinted glasses, especially for those companies who were wholly unprepared from the Mermen’s appearance in the auction.
"Ahem...ladies and gentlemen, the Mermen would like you all to know that they are sorry for the inconvenience they had caused. Because of this, they are willing to give something to the auction that I think all of you would like..."
This time, Michael felt some disturbance from the VIP suites. It looked like even they didn’t know that there’d be a ’gift’ from the Mermen.
"I know that there have been rumors swirling around that the final item of the night will be none other than the Spirit of Old..."
Everyone turned silent, waiting for Barnaby’s next words.
"And I would like to confirm that yes, we are indeed auctioning off 5 drops of Soo during the final part of the auction."
Michael knew that this was the goal for all companies, especially so for the Major Factions.
"But...."
Barnaby let the silence linger. He was a master at capturing the crowd’s attention.
"The Mermen would like to announce that they are willing to give 15 drops of the Spirit of Old as compensation for the inconvenience that they caused!
This will bring the total Soo drops to be auctioned off to 20 whole drops!"
The whole auction venue went into an uproar. Excited shouts, gasps, and even some howling echoed out as every single company got excited from the news.
Even the Major Factions were caught off guard. Alaric, Aerith and the other leaders frantically set up an emergency meeting with their team members to try and formulate a plan on the spot.
The only ones who didn’t look surprised were the Duchess and the royal family. She remained still in her seat, with a half-empty glass bottle of RD Soda right next to her.
"20 drops...," Michael muttered to himself.
He could only imagine what kind of upgrades he could purchase with that many drops.
He could practically turn his Drone into a futuristic doomsday warfare device through the upgrades alone!