Sorry, the automatic update didn't work—just found out when I got back. My apologies, no groveling today.
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With this, Matthew Merlin could finally be given a satisfactory answer.
More importantly, with this successful partnership as a start, this prodigiously talented master alchemist will likely make Blackhorn Auction House his first choice in the future. That’s the real reason for Kadgar’s delight—every auction house dreams of working with someone who could step into the master alchemist’s realm at any moment. And in such partnerships, a genuine friendship might even be forged.
A friendship with a future master alchemist...
All these possibilities made Kadgar feel cheerful just thinking about them. He slowly raised the auction gavel in his hand.
"Three million gold coins, first call. Three million gold coins, second call..."
"Kadgar, please wait a moment." Just as Kadgar was about to declare the sale, a young mage hurried into the hall.
The newcomer was Mason, Monty Family's eldest son, not yet thirty but already a Grand Mage.
"Alright, it seems the Monty Family needs a moment..." Kadgar’s eyes nearly crinkled with laughter at the words—of course he had no reason to refuse. He watched Mason enter the VIP suite, cracking a few jokes to stall for time.
Because Khadgar knew that if Ryan entered at this moment, he was bound to bring a new offer...
Sure enough, the new bid appeared quickly.
"Four million gold coins. Our Monty Family is willing to pay four million for these two alchemical potions."
...
The moment that price was announced, the whole hall fell silent. Every face was written with disbelief—some people even dug at their ears, wondering if they'd misheard.
Four million gold coins—'astronomical' couldn't even begin to describe it. In the history of Blackhorn Auction House, there had never been such a staggering price. This far exceeded the real value of those two alchemical potions. Not even a true Master, let alone someone merely approaching that level, could fetch four million for such items.
The doors to the Monty Family’s VIP suite were tightly shut, but every eye in the hall was locked on them, as if trying to see through those closed doors and glimpse what was happening inside.
Why had the Monty Family, who’d been silent all along, suddenly thrown out a shocking bid of four million after Mason arrived?
Madness. This was pure madness...
Facing such a crazy price, even the famed Silvermoon Mercenary Company from Stormhold couldn’t compete. Seth stood there, wooden-faced, raising his hand to bid several times but always letting it drop at the last moment. Finally, he just opened his mouth and, with a look of regret, said, "I give up."
"Four million gold coins, first call. Four million gold coins, second call. Four million gold coins, third call—sold! Congratulations to Chairman Monty of the Twinmoon Trading Company, who has won a bottle of Volcano Elixir and a bottle of Phantom Elixir for four million gold coins."
Kadgar brought the auction gavel down hard, announcing the successful conclusion of this auction.
But at this point, no one cared about that anymore. Everyone was speculating what on earth had gotten into the Monty Family—why would they pay such a terrifying price for two alchemical potions?
It wasn't just outsiders who thought so—even inside the Monty Family’s private box, some were wondering the same thing...
"Seriously? Just two bottles, and we spent four million gold coins?" Mason sat there staring at the two alchemical potions delivered by Blackhorn Auction House, jaw dropped. Four million gold coins—just for these two? If the man sitting in front of him wasn’t his own father, Mason might have reached out to feel his forehead, to check if he’d come down with a fever...
"What do you know?" Maybe because he’d just secured the potions and was in a good mood, Monty didn’t get angry at Mason’s questioning. He simply glanced at Mason and said, "These are for your uncle."
"Uncle?" Mason, usually fearless, actually turned pale when he heard that word.
Outsiders might think Monchi, who runs the Twin Moon Trading Company, is the most important person in the family—or that Ryan, destined to become a Magus, is their future hope.
But only the three men sitting in that private box knew—the Monchi family's true support wasn’t Monchi or Ryan, but Monchi’s younger brother, far away in the Black Tower.
Aside from a handful of people in the Monchi family, almost no one in Stormwind City knew Monchi actually had a younger brother named Solan Monchi. He’d been taken away by the Black Tower mages at birth, and hadn’t even returned when their father died. It’s been almost fifty years now; most who knew the truth are buried in the earth, and this has become the Monchi family’s greatest secret.
Over a decade ago, Solan had returned to Stormwind City once. After a long talk with Monty, he took Ryan away. Years later, Ryan came back—a Grand Mage, not yet thirty.
Monty’s feelings about his younger brother were complicated—a mix of unfamiliarity, awe, and even a little fear, because Solan represented a power Monty couldn’t begin to imagine.
But Monty knew that even if one day everything the family owned was burned to the ground, as long as Solan was alive, the Monty Family could be rebuilt overnight.
Monty never doubted a single word Solan said. If Solan told him to acquire the house left by Roger Merlin, he’d immediately call on Fario. Now that Solan wanted these two alchemical potions, Monty offered the astronomical price of four million gold coins without hesitation.
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"Uncle... What did Uncle say?"
"Don’t ask questions you shouldn’t."
"Yes..."
After shooting Mason a glare, Monchi finally sat down, his gaze slowly settling on the two alchemical potions...
Rog Merlin was already dead, and the Goldspark Trading Company had collapsed.
Now it was time for the Monty Family to step into the alchemy business...
This was the real reason Monty spent four million gold coins on those two alchemical potions...
The Monty Family had wanted to take over Stormwind City's alchemy market for years. At first, Roger Merlin and his Goldspark Trading Company kept them out. Now that Roger Merlin was dead and Goldspark had fallen, their ambition to swallow the city's alchemy market only grew stronger by the day.
For this, Monty had written dozens of letters to Solan, hoping for support from the Black Tower. But unfortunately, Solan had his own difficulties and never gave Monty a definite answer.
Until just now...
The sudden appearance of two alchemical potions made Monchi realize this could be a chance. He immediately had someone notify Ryan to tell Solan about the potions. Sure enough, after Ryan described them, the potions caught the attention of the Black Tower’s upper echelons.
Then, Ryan brought Solan’s instructions to the auction, and the price of those two potions shot up to four million gold coins...
For Monty, support from the Black Tower was what mattered most. Compared to that, four million gold coins was nothing. If he could take over Goldspark's alchemy market, Monty would risk everything—even bankruptcy.
Monty knew all too well the staggering profits of the alchemy business...
"By the way, Ryan..." At that thought, Monchi suddenly remembered the Gilded Rose, another alchemy business, and called Ryan over again. "Keep an eye on the Gilded Rose for a while. I have a feeling that Merlin kid is up to something."
To be honest, Monchi hadn’t really paid much attention to Lin Yun at first. Even if he reopened the Gilded Rose, even if he sent a ninth-level mage packing, Monchi didn’t think it mattered. A tiny Gilded Rose, a mere fifth-level mage—Monchi could crush him like an ant with a flick of his wrist.
But today, Monchi suddenly felt a little uncertain...
At first, when that kid spent fifty thousand gold coins to buy River Styx Water, Monchi only worried some other power was interfering, making it harder for him to get that house. But then, when he fought Monchi for the Redflame Fish Oil, he threw out a bid of 1.2 million gold coins. That was no joke—1.2 million! Even Rog Merlin would have struggled to come up with that, and a few months ago, Matthew Merlin couldn’t even pay back eight thousand.
At this point, Monchi was certain—there was definitely something up with Matthew Merlin.
Now Monchi was fully on guard. He’d never paid attention to the little Gilded Rose before, but that couldn’t continue. Nobody knew better than Monchi what happened to Rog Merlin at sea. If he let the Gilded Rose and Matthew Merlin grow unchecked, he’d regret it sooner or later.
Thankfully, thankfully, there was still time...
After giving Ryan his instructions, Monchi’s gaze fell once more on those two potions. Since the Gilded Rose was in the alchemy business, once those two Grand Alchemists arrived, he’d uproot them from the market entirely...
Monchi fell into deep thought, while Mason stood by anxiously. What now? The auction had been over for ages, but his old man still looked set on lingering. If this kept up, that Merlin kid would vanish, and Mason wouldn’t get another chance to teach him a lesson.
Mason worried and pondered for ages before finally finding an excuse to slip out.
Of course, it wasn’t that Mason had come up with some brilliant excuse in a pinch—Monchi was just too busy plotting against the Gilded Rose to bother with him at all...