Chapter 35

As Khadgar's words fell, the entire venue suddenly fell silent. This eerie silence lasted for about three minutes before it exploded with noise!

"Heavens, Annihilation Hell!"

"Is it really Annihilation Hell? I didn't hear wrong, did I..."

Annihilation Hell, according to legend, was a spell created by the last Heaven-tier Mage of the Third Dynasty to combat the Abyssal Demons. This spell was known as the only Extraordinary Spell, and in that era, it almost overturned the entire magical system.

However, after the Third Dynasty, this spell was completely lost. Rudolph fell in the Twilight Battle, and this sole Extraordinary Spell was buried with him. Despite the efforts of countless mages over the following thousand years, no one could bring this world-destroying spell back to life.

No one expected it to appear at the Black Horn Auction today...

Indeed, this Extraordinary Spell was already incomplete, as previously mentioned. No matter how powerful a mage was, they couldn't cast the spell with just this fragment of the incantation. However, for those present, this wasn't really important. Even if it were a complete Annihilation Hell, it would still be an Extraordinary Spell, a power that mortals shouldn't possess.

What truly mattered was the knowledge contained within this incantation. It was the legacy of a Heaven-tier Mage, and even a single character would inevitably hold boundless mysteries.

"Next, this incomplete Annihilation Hell incantation will be auctioned starting at 50,000 gold coins, with each bid not less than 5,000 gold coins."

The starting price was 50,000 gold coins, the same as the price Lin Yun paid for the Water of the Styx. However, unlike Lin Yun, who was mocked by the entire venue for his purchase, the 50,000 gold coins for Annihilation Hell immediately sparked a bidding frenzy.

"60,000 gold coins!"

"70,000 gold coins!"

"100,000 gold coins!"

...

In just one minute, the price of the incomplete incantation had soared to 100,000 gold coins. And it seemed this was just the beginning.

The 100,000 gold coin mark was quickly surpassed, followed by 150,000 and 160,000. At 250,000, the bidding paused for a moment to catch its breath.

But then a new round of competition began, with insane bids one after another. The incomplete Annihilation Hell incantation was pushed to 500,000 gold coins.

What did 500,000 gold coins mean? When Rog Merlin opened a Gilded Rose on Triumph Street, he spent only 100,000 gold coins, from purchasing magical materials to hiring alchemists. In other words, the price of Annihilation Hell was enough for Rog Merlin to open five Gilded Roses on Triumph Street...

For this incomplete Annihilation Hell incantation, the mages in the venue had almost gone mad. At this Black Horn Auction, there were nearly a hundred mages and dozens of High Mages, and even a few Archmages. Their desire for Annihilation Hell was incomprehensible to outsiders. This was the legacy of a Heaven-tier Mage, an unimaginable treasure for any mage.

Among so many mages, Lin Yun was probably the only one who wasn't tempted...

Because for Lin Yun, the value of Annihilation Hell was really small. He had at least ten spells of similar power in his mind, all of which were complete. What Lin Yun was currently troubled by was not how to master these spells, but how to reach the level required to cast them.

In other words, the four materials for the Mana Baptism were far more important to Lin Yun than Annihilation Hell.

So Lin Yun was very relaxed, watching the spectacle with a carefree attitude, and even hoping in a somewhat dark way that the bidding would be fierce, so he wouldn't have to compete for the remaining three materials.

The many mages at the auction did not disappoint Lin Yun. The 500,000 gold coin bid only made the venue quiet for a moment before another voice came from a private box.

"600,000 gold coins."

This bid came from the Sage Tower, and the long-silent Salaman finally made his move.

After this bid, the venue fell silent again, and this time it lasted longer than any previous silence.

600,000 gold coins was a true astronomical price, especially when it was Salaman who bid it. The names of the three giants of the Sage Tower were a legend in the eastern part of the kingdom. Even the most powerful forces could not ignore the existence of these three Archmages. When Salaman bid this price, other mages had to consider the Sage Tower's reaction if they wanted to continue bidding...

Of course, not all mages would consider this.

"650,000 gold coins." A voice also came from a private box, raising the price of Annihilation Hell by another 50,000 gold coins. After bidding this price, the voice added provocatively, "I'm truly sorry, Salaman, but the Ash Tower is also very interested in this Annihilation Hell incantation."

The response was a violent cough, followed by a higher bid: "700,000 gold coins."

"800,000 gold coins!" Perhaps to continue the provocation, or perhaps angered by the other's attitude, the mage from the Ash Tower immediately raised the price by 100,000 gold coins as soon as Salaman finished speaking.

This time, the private box of the Sage Tower fell into a brief silence. After a moment, Salaman coughed and bid again: "830,000 gold coins."

But soon, the mage from the Ash Tower made another bid.

"900,000 gold coins!"

A violent cough came from the Sage Tower's private box, but no new bid appeared...

Seeing this, Lin Yun couldn't help but shake his head. It seemed that this incomplete Annihilation Hell incantation would fall into the hands of the Ash Tower. Although the Sage Tower stood at the peak of Thousand Sails City, it was not as wealthy as many people imagined. The vast number of mages required a constant flow of gold, and it was not easy to suddenly come up with a million gold coins.

However, this might not be a bad thing for the Sage Tower. 900,000 gold coins was really too high. If it were a complete incantation, it would be different, but this incantation was clearly incomplete. Even if they obtained it, they couldn't recreate its former astonishing power. All they could do was glimpse a bit of the wisdom of a Heaven-tier Mage from this incomplete incantation.

In Lin Yun's view, this was really not worth it...

"Wait, what is that..." As Lin Yun shook his head in sigh, his gaze happened to sweep over the scroll containing the incomplete incantation, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

The magical aura emanating from this scroll seemed a bit abnormal...

This discovery immediately made Lin Yun frown. His eyes fixed on the scroll, examining it from top to bottom. The first thing he noticed was a scorched mark at the bottom of the scroll, which was likely the true reason for the incantation's incompleteness. Lin Yun also noticed that despite a thousand years of wear, the characters on the scroll were still crystal clear, showing no signs of blurring.

Just from this, Lin Yun could be certain that the scroll was written with Eternal Ink. Only Eternal Ink could resist the erosion of time, and no matter how many years passed, the characters would remain unchanged.

But the magical aura of Eternal Ink should not be like this.

The scroll itself possessed no magical power, and the magical aura it emitted was abnormally weak. Any normal mage would probably not notice this subtle difference, but Lin Yun was different. In that vast, decaying library, he had seen countless scrolls written with Eternal Ink. The unique magical aura was deeply etched in his mind. At this moment, he knew immediately that this was not the magical aura of Eternal Ink.

But if it wasn't Eternal Ink, what was it?

This magical aura was very special, giving Lin Yun a sense of vitality. He had only seen a similar magical aura on some Spirit-bound Magic Items.

Right, Spirit-bound Magic Items!

This time, even Lin Yun didn't dare to be careless. He quietly chanted a spell and cast a Life Detection.

Indeed, there was a faint life aura emanating from around the scroll. Although it was weak, the sense of vitality was unmistakable. At this moment, Lin Yun was almost 100% certain that this was the aura of a Spirit-bound item.

However, it wasn't a Spirit-bound Magic Item, but a legendary Spirit-bound Component!

Like Spirit-bound Magic Items, Spirit-bound Components possessed a certain degree of spirituality.

However, the spirituality of Spirit-bound Magic Items was granted by alchemists and was fixed from the moment of their creation, stable and powerful but with no potential for growth. Spirit-bound Components, on the other hand, could not exist independently. They had to be attached to other magic items, and the stronger the attached magic item, the faster their spirituality would grow. In the history of Noscent, there were a few famous Spirit-bound Components that, when they reached their limit, had power comparable to Extraordinary Magic Items.