"4001 Blue gems going once, going twice, sold" Elsa announced as Hal became owner of the golden fan.

It truly was a picture of elegance.

"So, who is the fan for?" Lucile asked in a would-be casual voice.

Hal narrowed his eyes with a smirk,

"Why? Are you curious?" He asked and Lucile shook her head,

"I'm not. Forget I said anything" she frowned.

Hal chuckled,

"What if I told you the fan was for you, Would that make you smile?" He asked.

Lucile snorted,

"I don't need you buying something for me. I can carry my own weight." She said just as another item was rolled out and the bidding began again, this time with Hal being uninterested.

"I'm sure you can a carry your own weight. That's why it would be a gift. A gesture" he said.

Lucile looked away and remained quiet.

"The fan isn't for you but I can get you something. Something special." Hal said with a smile.

Lucile looked over at him again,

"I don't want it."

"Okay then" Hal said and returned his attention to the auction.

Lucile's eyes widened slightly as she noted how easily he stopped pestering her.

She found she was annoyed but could not really pinpoint the exact reason for that feeling.

Meanwhile,

More items were brought out and they continued to get bidded for with the consequence being the presence of a bright and wide smile on the Sheik's face.

Now Hal was having a lookout and although futile, he was doing so to find the supplier of the mutating technique.

It was during that look around that he spotted someone familiar among those in the crowd.

It was the brown-haired man he had seen in the Black pub when he was sourcing for information. The only one in the room at that time who he had been wary of.

Since he had been drinking in the pub, Hal had not put him as part of the dignitaries that were in Black lagoon for the auction but since he doubted somebody else pulled his exact same stunt, this man must have been invited as well.

Or maybe he was a supplier...

At that time, the next item was wheeled out onto the stage and it was a flower glowing a faint blue color.

Elsa pointed at it and began her description but from the expressions of many in the crowd, Hal knew the flower was not that obscure.

He could have checked inside Grimoire for the information but found it unnecessary since Elsa was about already explaining what it was,

"This is a gem flower. Its name comes from its similarity with the Blue gems. The similarity being its very violent energy which is only a few degrees milder than the blue gem but should still not be absorbed by anyone.

So you might ask, why is it out in display to be sold.

Well, the sale is mostly directed to the alchemists in the room as well as those with access to alchemists because with the proper supplements and diluting agents, it can be used to create an entire batch of breakthrough pills essential for breaking through bottlenecks.

The bid will start at 20000 Blue gems."

Hal then checked within Grimoire for the flower itself but found that the description was all the Artifact contained.

He was not discouraged though because he would not require purchasing any other supplements or polluting agents since he was more than sure his body could refine the energy within that flower.

He smiled brightly as his eyes twinkled,

"Now this, I want" he said just as the bid began but he was in no hurry to jump in.

There were Alchemists in the room who wanted the gem flower and there also many others who were ready to pay alchemists for the creation of the pills they needed.

Needless to say, pending the eventual rollout of the mutating technique, this was the hot commodity.

"22000 Blue gems" called a bidder but he did not get the chance to relax at all as someone else placed a bid,

"24000 Blue gems!" Called the deep voice and Hal's head swiveled over to see it was none other than Ehrlich.

This was his first bid if thee night and from the way his eyes shone, Hal knew it was not to maintain a cover but because he wanted it.

The price continued to climb and before long, the flower was valued at 35000 Blue gems.

At this point, many were already giving up. After all, if they spent that much on a single ingredient, they would still need to purchase the rest.

The bidding crowd was thinning and it was boiling down to the ones who wanted it the most.

However, right before the end, there was a late interjection by none other than the young man everyone had noticed for his frustratingly small addition to bids,

"35001 Blue gems" and immediately, no one wanted to bid anymore.

Well, almost no one,

"36000 Blue gems" Ehrlich called out.

Hal sighed and decided his style of frustrating his bidding opponent might not work this time around, so he might as well get serious,

"36500 Blue gems" he said and the surprise was clear in the eyes of the crowd.

So, he could bid like someone reasonable, they thought.

Meanwhile, Ehrlich glared at Hal as the bid reached 40000 blue gems and he wondered why Hal had so much and if this was really about maintaining his cover as having come there for the auction.

Whatever it was, Ehrlich was already feeling close to his limit and made one last play which was to catch Hal's attention and mouth for him to 'let it go'.

Hal's eyes widened and he nodded while making a gesture to tell Ehrlich to remain calm which he did before Hal yelled out his next bid,

"45000 Blue gems!" He said and Ehrlich gaped while he wondered what the hell was going on.

Hal then raised his hands to show him a subtle thumbs up that had the man nearly clawing at his hair.

'You just outbid me and you give me a thumbs up as though you misunderstood my request which I know you did not. What a shameless bastard!' He exclaimed in his mind while Elsa began,

"45000 going once, going twice, sold"

With that, the flower was wheeled out of sight and put along with other purchased materials to be picked up and paid for after the auction.

After that, despite Ehrlich's disappointment and Hal's satisfied expression, the auction continued and other items were brought out until eventually, after three hours since the auction started, it was finally time for the main event.

It was time for the mutating technique and as a chest was wheeled out to the outside and opened to show a scroll, someone else joined Elsa on stage.

Someone Hal recognized as the brown-haired man who had drunk in the pub.

He looked over to Ehrlich who sat up and shrugged off his disappointment as this was what he was here for.

He had finally found out who the supplier of the Mutating technique was and it was enough to rejuvenate him.

Hal sighed and shook his head at this anti-climatic end to his mission. He was a little peeved as his input seemed unnecessary now.

Now that he thought about it, since the Princess was capable of getting Ehrlich invited, then she must have been able to take care of it all without him.

This was first and foremost a test to gauge his capabilities and while it ended without him actually giving the information of the supplier, he hoped it still counted as his win.

Ehrlich stood up suddenly and retrieved ready drawn runes from his spatial ring.

Runes Hal recognized as having being drawn by the princess herself and had been the type used to restrain and knock him unconscious.

She must have done something to it though because Hal could sense it was already active with Astral energy and would not require Ehrlich to activate it with Cosmic energy which would have been impossible for him with his cosmic Aurora realm cultivation.

A part of Hal wondered how she had done it and still kept the runes in stasis despite being activated.

Anyway, it was clear Ehrlich was not interested in waiting for the end of the auction to capture the supplier or whatever they planned to do to him.

Ehrlich was going to take action now.