Chương 633: Limitless Path Chapter Six Hundred Fifty-Two

The second item of the finale set had the crowd going nuts, though it produced far less interest in Sera and Beth. It was a starship, but what a starship it was; this was the kind of ship that a whole faction could use, one with room for dozens and dozens of people to fly in luxury. It wasn't some pleasure yacht, either, as it was equipped with heavy armor and extremely powerful weapons, not to mention a whole bevy of arrays and magical armaments that really put Beth's cruiser to shame.

Still, especially after Sera had just spent a bunch of both of their money, as Beth was always willing to cover her wife, they wouldn't be bidding on this one. It was, funnily enough, too much ship for them at this point, and a little unnecessary. It was not unnecessary for the fourth floor luminaries, especially during a ship shortage, and the bids were the thickest and fastest of that auction so far.

This was not a ship that was going for orichalcum or even a few adamantine, as was appropriate for a finale item, it was going for neutronium, and yes, certainly more than one. The bidding didn't take very long to reach that range, and it didn't slow much at all even as it pushed into the two coin range and beyond.

It continued to be fast and contentious even without the auctioneer stirring things up for nearly ten minutes, though people had slowed a little in the last two minutes as they started exchanging barbs and jabs with each other. Another way in which Beth missed Selene at the auction; even when she was still an Ascended, she had been frightening enough that none of these guys would mouth off more than a little before she would give them a look or flex her power and they would fall back in line.

Selene's 'replacement' wasn't nearly so stern, or made of such stern stuff, though they were a high-rebirth Ascended, so they shouldn't just be underestimated. Still, they didn't have the same kind of reputation or power that Selene did, and it showed as they were less successful in controlling the bickering from those on the fourth floor, many of whom were of a similar level. Beth tuned it all out after a minute, just waiting for the ship to sell and the next item to come up.

After the initially flurry, many people had dropped out, not from lack of desire, but the kinds of funds they were talking about were hard even for some organizations to source. The way that Beth's team could just gather money like it was rain was highly unusual, and spoke a lot to the dedication they had, in everything that was, not just mercantile efforts. There was a lot more that went into it, but now wasn't the time to dwell on how awesome her team was at earning magnificent profits.

Once the ship was sold, with much exchanging of barbs and vague insults and threats between several people on the fourth floor, there was a very short break, not an intermission, but just enough time to get the details of the ship worked out and to give everyone a moment to reset. After that minute of break, the auctioneer ramped up again and introduced the next item, which was the penultimate item of the whole auction.

Beth thought it might be a bit of a relaxation of the tension to an extent, as it wasn't anything so exciting as a massive starship during a time when starships were in hot demand, but she thought wrong. The item was an array, but not something like what Val might make or work on occasionally. In fact, Beth nearly did a double-take on seeing the item appear, and for two reasons.

Firstly, she was a little surprised that an array, even a powerful one, would go in the same category as a starship or a level one thousand, masterwork spear. Secondly, she was surprised at just how powerful the item was, which went some way towards explaining away her first point of surprise, but it still seemed a bit out of place. That was, until the bidding started, at which point she was genuinely blown away by the frenzy which the other booths and the third floor went into.

It wasn't quite as bad, or as good, depending on one's perspective, as the starship, but this wasn't some throwaway item that was just being used to tide people over for the finale. This was an item of real interest and value, which made Beth examine all the details listed on the tablet in their booth very carefully. The array was a set of ninety-nine array plates, which already seemed excessive, all made of a mana mithril alloy, which also seemed excessive, and designed to be set up around a very large area.

Even with ninety-nine plates, she had to do a quick double-check on the math to make sure she was understanding the footprint the plates covered correctly, and when she was sure the numbers were correct, she couldn't help but shake her head. The array was meant to cover an area of over a thousand square miles, which was ridiculous for any array, but this seemed especially so, considering this was a combination array.

It was meant to do three things all at once, with the functions being interwoven so that they could be selectively or cumulatively activated. It was meant to provide a defense, in terms of providing a shield and barrier that blocked off the whole area, with functions built in to prevent any unauthorized teleports. That alone would have made the array plates rather valuable, but that was just the beginning. The second functions of the array was an illusionary function, one that combined two aspects masterfully.

It could change the appearance of the entire area the array covered, causing it to look different not just to the senses, but to mana senses and skills. At the same time, anyone trying to enter the area, instead of just walking into the barrier portion of the array like it was a wall, would find themselves falling into endless illusions of a dark forest or scorching desert, depending on the surrounding terrain near where the array was deployed.

Without someone with the access token to the array pulling that person out, they would be doomed to wander forever, or until their supplies ran out, at which point things would get pretty awful. All of that was fine, and would make the array valuable, even valuable enough to make it a finale item, but it was the third part that had everyone else going nuts, Beth was quite sure.

The final part of the array, which really had Beth questioning just how it was made and, more to the point, just who it was made by, concentrated mana within the area to provide a clarity of mind to anyone within. It wasn't a massive, overwhelming buff that would dramatically alter a person's mental state or training, but the clarity would allow a person to focus better and understand things in greater easier.

Training in such an environment would see a noticeable increase in returns, to as much as double digit percentage points versus training in a 'normal' environment. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. It was very obvious why anyone would want this kind of array, especially if that person was in a senior position in a medium or large faction, let alone a leader of such a group.

Some of the fourth floor luminaries, Beth was pretty sure, were the leaders of groups that might have a few tens of thousands of people, which might sound like a lot, but building comfortable housing for that many people, even for a few hundred thousand people, within a thousand square mile area would be quite easy and there would be plenty of room left over.

A large faction, a group that controlled a whole planet, might not be able to fit everyone they wanted inside such an array, but they could still pack a lot of people inside, and use access as a reward for services rendered. The bidding was fiercer on this item than the starship, though the winner of the starship did curse Seven Lights and ten generations of their ancestors, having just spent every single penny they had on the last lot.

Such was the way of it with auctions, as jumping on a good item might preclude one from getting a great item, though if that person had spent everything they possibly could on the starship, they weren't getting the array, which went for close to double what the starship had sold for. It was, if Beth was remembering correctly, the most she had seen paid for an item at a Seven Lights event, and the most she had seen at any auction so far, which was saying something.

That item cleared the way for the last item of the day, and Beth was really curious now what was coming up. At least some of what was for sale, including some or all of the finale items, would be posted ahead of time, which made a lot of sense. Posting things ahead of time could generate a lot of buzz around the auction and make sure a lot of big spenders were interested in showing up with fat purses ready to secure that perfect item.

This year, the finale items had not been advertised, not directly, just hinted at, and the starship and array disks had clearly been massive hits. The advertising had worked very well, just getting the interest there without giving the game away, and now would be the moment to capitalize on all that furor.

The item was not wheeled out, as it wasn't at the location Beth was at; the whole thing ran so smoothly ninety-nine percent of the time that she sometimes forgot it was a simultaneous auction across multiple branches of the firm and not just her favorite location. This was one of those times where the item was at a different location, which also happened with the starships, but this item wasn't so large that it needed to be housed elsewhere, it just wasn't physically present where Beth and Sera were.

What was on the display was a band of crystal, a ring, and the displayed stats didn't seem all that impressive at first. Sure, it was a level five hundred ring, but after the level one thousand spear Sera had grabbed earlier, even a level five hundred ring, where accessories were rarer and more powerful than armor and weapons, didn't seem that impressive.

At least, not until the special ability or special effect of the ring was examined, at which point even Beth could clearly understand why the ring was able to be placed as the final piece of the finale. The ring had the ability shatter dimensional barriers, or, to put it another way, it allowed the wearer to move between spaces, any spaces, as they willed. With the way the description was worded, there was basically no limit to where the wearer could walk, and Beth quickly understood what it really meant.

Someone wearing the ring could step into an already 'closed' dungeon instance without being part of the group. They could step through the barrier between dimensions, in much the way Mortaine could with his magics, without having a lick of understanding of dimensional mana or theory. Given enough power, and the people bidding on it were certainly not weak, someone could move basically anywhere, teleporting or traversing as they pleased, without limit.

It made even Beth's Ideal, at least in its current state, look rather weak by comparison, which is both why it was the last item of the yearly auction and why now two people on the fourth floor were cursing Seven Lights and anyone else they could direct their ire at. The starship and the array would be of enormous help to a faction, but this was an item that could elevate a single person to a whole new level, given that the person was at least somewhat strong themselves.

What person didn't have that little spark in their heart that desired power, that leapt to greed when they saw something that could drastically change their strength and their fortune? Funnily enough, as the bidding exploded and everyone went wild, whether from watching and egging people on, or participating themselves, Beth thought it was just about they only item Seven Lights could have wheeled out that held little interest for her.

Sure, her Ideal wouldn't give her quite the same ability to break through dimensional barriers and such, or not quite directly, but she could do many of the same things the ring's special ability provided for, just in slightly different ways. And that was just considering now and into the near future; further on, she could do way more and, if she were being honest, she was already thinking about making Manumitted.

The ability that one needed to master to get their, the Oneness that Zane had talked to her about a little, certainly when combined with her Ideal, would render the ring entirely useless. Now, Manumitted was still a very long distance away, even for her and her team, but it made the ring hold little value in her eyes; she could do a good portion of what made the ring alluring right now, and she would eventually cover all of it just with her power set without needing any items or external augmentation.

Maybe if their team didn't have her or someone like her, she would be much more interested, but for now, she was happy to watch the excitement and enjoy Sera's company. She had been thinking earlier about big ticket items, and this now became the biggest ticket she had seen yet, already breaking her own observed record just one item later.

The ring went for an astronomical eight neutronium coins, something she hadn't expected even based on how powerful it was, but she supposed she was still underestimating just the kind of value people would find in such an item. Getting an item that stored things or even let one teleport wasn't all that hard, but this went way, way beyond those uses of spatial mana.

It wasn't even a spatial artifact but a dimensional one; thinking about it in that light, it made more sense that people were scrambling to spend the fortune of centuries of life, or even millennia, to purchase it. Even if one didn't go into nefarious uses, of which there were a few, just the things Beth could think of in two minutes of bouncing ideas off Sera promised wealth and power for the person with the ring.

Ironically enough, if the person was an Ascended, and if they didn't acquire something to extend their life or increase it to immortality, that ring might even pop up again in a few centuries.