Chapter 536: 5 drops bidding
Everyone’s eyes were glued at the platform that slowly levitated from the ground. Barnaby took off the red veil concealing the item, revealing a small vial the size of a small finger. Its contents were barely visible and made it seem like it was empty. After all, there were only 5 drops of Soo contained inside it.
But of course, just those five drops were enough to make the entire territory of Metropolis crazy. Even the Major Factions looked on at the vial with desire in their minds. And if they were allowed, they would have used their enormous resources to take it for themselves.
The fact that they could buy it through gold coins and not Sand Dollars was enough reason to bid an extravagant amount of money for it.
Barnaby spread his arms wide and panned his vision through the six layers of Private Suites in the auction.
"I believe in giving people a chance. I know that the Major Factions want this vial for themselves, but I know that this would lead our other companies unable to catch up.
That is why I am limiting the bidding to only those who are in the Minor Factions and below. The Major Factions are disqualified from entering!"
This made a lot of people happy. The less-than-successful companies who wanted Soo but knew that they wouldn’t have the resources to fight a heavy auction battle against the Major Factions were immediately grateful for Barnaby’s announcement. Finally, they had a chance at getting those few drops of Soo!
Of course, no one was more thankful than the Rising Six. Without the Major Factions, they had the best chance at getting those drops.
"One... two... three... BID START!"
As soon as Barnaby finished his sentence, knocks continued to ring throughout the auction arena. The original bid of 100,00 quickly turned into 1 million just from a few seconds of knocking.
"2 mil! 2 mil!"
"Oh, we got 3 million now. Nope, 5 million!"
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"Come on, come on! Keep ’em coming. 7 million!"
For about 90% of all the companies in this auction, this few drops of Soo was the last thing that they could realistically get for the night. After all, the only things that were left in the auction were the automobiles and the other 15 drops of Soo. For sure, those items would get swept up by the Major Factions.
Because of this, most companies decided to go all out and try to bid for the Soo drops for as much as they could afford.
"10 million! We got 11 million!"
Barnaby was starting to feel tired as he continued to announce the bids, so he decided to increase the minimum bidding necessary.
"I will now only accept biddings with 5 million increments!" Barnaby shouted.
But despite this, the frequency of knocks didn’t lower at all. People kept bidding and bidding that there was practically no difference at all.
"Wow! 50 million bid from the Mountain Movers!"
Some groans echoed through the crowd.
"The Rising Six has finally shown themselves..."
"Ah, I can’t keep up anymore! I didn’t think they’d increase it so high so fast!"
At this point, about 50% of all the companies were forced to drop out. They’d have to dip into their savings if they wanted to compete, and it looked like the price had no indication of stopping its growth.
"55 million, offered by the Spice Vise!" Barnaby announced.
"Oh, another bid by the Crocodile Leather company. 60 million!"
"Do I hear 70? Do I hear 70? 70 offered by the Pyramidic Cuisine!"
Despite their cooperation to obtain the Pixie Dust last time, it looked like the Rising Six were back at it again as competitors and rivals. They kept bidding back and forth, increasing the price so much that only 20 companies were able to compete.
"As expected, they’re the only ones that can compete for this Soo."
"I should have known. They’re the most desperate to get it."
"Yeah, they’d be able to increase their ranking if they do. Maybe we’ll even see a revised ranking of the Rising Six after this auction!"
The price of the Soo had now reached a staggering 100 million gold coins. The bidding had finally come to a point where the knocking finally took a break. Barnaby could finally breathe properly now that there were a few seconds between bids.
"150 million, bid by the Pyramidic Cuisine!" Barnaby exclaimed. And seeing as the bidding had finally stopped, he gave everyone one last piece of warning.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, because this is not a normal bid, and is something that I arranged myself, the rules of the auction will be a little bit different this time around.
There will be no bidding for the amount of fighters in the game. All participating companies will need 5 ordinary fighters to compete for them in one part of the Pocket Dimension. Five is needed because it corresponds to the five drops of Soo that are currently up for auction.
Next, the winner of the highest bid will be able to dictate the amount of Maugnetics allowed inside the Pocket Dimension. All subsequent matching bids will only have to submit 90% of the highest bid to participate in the game."
Barnaby’s announcement completely changed the whole premise of the auction. Normally, having the highest bid of an item gave them no advantage whatsoever. That was because other people would have an equal bid for it to participate in the game.
But now, there was a direct advantage on being the highest bidder.
And the fact that companies could bid 90% of the highest bid to participate in the game meant that there would be more competitors in the end.
KNOCK!
This time, Beau from the Pyramidic Cuisine submitted another bid.
"200 million!" Barnaby exclaimed.
At this point, everybody thought that the Pyramidic Cuisine would finally win the bid.
But if there were any observant people in the crowd, they would notice that one company hadn’t yet submitted their bid.
The Reborn company was strangely silent.
Meanwhile, Michael finally raised his hand and knocked on the tinted glass and submitted a new increased bid.
"HOHO! 300 million, offered by the Reborn company!"
As soon as Michael’s bid came through, many people immediately got intimidated. His dominant display of wealth was still very much imprinted on their minds, and it looked like he would try to do it for this item as well.
"They’re really rich!"
"With this, only the Rising Six can compete with him."
"It’s amazing that such an unknown company can even make the Rising Six unable to catch up in terms of wealth!"
After this large bid, Barnaby began counting down.
"300 million... going once, going twice... DECLARED! For any company that wants to participate in the game, you will have to bid 270 million for the item!"
Immediately, six knocks resounded throughout the arena.
Michael would have to fight the Rising Six.
"Amazing! Now because of their highest bid, the privilege of setting the number of Maugnetics in the game comes to the Reborn company!"
Of course, Michael knocked only once on the tinted glass.
Barnaby nodded, taking "It is decided! There will be only one Maugnetic and five officers per company allowed in the Pocket Dimension. Companies, please prepare your fighters!"