303 Bidding War (1/2)

Even a major force would suffer from using such a large amount of money. Besides those so-called Millennial Families, no one could intervene in this competition.

At this time, almost everyone stopped breathing. Although the bids came less frequently, they knew that this was the most intense part of the auction.

This was the climax.

Whoever gave up first would lose the priceless Star Gem.

Everyone was focused on the auction, stretching their necks to gaze at the two private rooms, waiting for the final bid to appear.

”8,500,000 gods.” After a minute of pondering, the voice from the central private room spat out a price.

Then, everyone watched as Hanson Charlotte came out of the northeastern private room with a calm expression. He put one finger up as he said, ”Ten million golds. I bid ten million on behalf of the Charlotte Family.”

The whole auction erupted with surprised voices.

An unprecedentedly high price had finally appeared in the Black Horn Auction. This was a brand new record, the highest price ever bid in the quarterly auction!

For a moment, everyone looked at Hanson Charlotte with complicated expressions.

All the people present were influential figures in Okland. Even the lowest were rich merchants. Everyone here knew that three hundred years ago, Santon Merlin appeared and dealt with the rare genius of the Charlotte Family before making the Merlin Family abruptly rise. From that point on, the Charlotte Family kept slowly declining.

At their worst, the Charlotte Family even fell to the level of being a 3rd-rate force. During that time, even small bandit groups would dare to rob the Charlotte Family's caravans. It could be seen how badly they had ended up from that event.

This trend continued up until the last century, when the Charlotte Family started re-emerging with the arrival of the Planar Colonization Era. They relied on their millennial foundation to leave their rivals behind and branded the name of the Charlotte Family in numerous planes. They even fought over Okland's Raging Plane Flame. They entered the struggle and successfully occupied five forts. It was then that people suddenly discovered that the Charlotte Family had already somehow returned to being one of the top forces of Okland.

Among the numerous families and clans of Okland, the current Charlotte Family was established as part of the top three, right after the Merlin Family and the Watson Family.

Many people speculated that the original power struggle between the Merlin Family and the Watson Family had already become a three-way conflict because of the abrupt rise of the Charlotte Family. Some were already predicting what an impact it would have on the current balance of power in Okland and felt that the three Families would sooner or later have to battle each other to death. At that time, there would be many lesser forces ready to divide up the loot from the remains.

However...

No one had expected the rise of the Charlotte Family to be so fierce.

Under countless eyes in the Black Horn chamber of commerce, Hanson Charlotte bid a massive sum of 10,000,000 golds...

Everyone knew that this bid not only represented the Star Gem's value, but it was also a demonstration of the Charlotte Family's power and foundation. They were using these 10,000,000 golds to tell everyone that the Charlotte Family was rising once again, that they were a force on par with the Merlin Family and Watson Family.

Their status would definitely rise in Okland after the auction, and they would be compared to the Merlin Family and Watson Family in the future.

Anyone who wanted to question the Charlotte Family would have to think of the pressure put forward by these 10,000,000 golds.

At this moment, Hanson was standing in front of the private room, raising his finger for a very long time with a tranquil expression as he overlooked all the guests from above.

Hanson Charlotte was born during the worst era of the Charlotte Family, when they had degenerated to a 3rd-rate force that was often bullied around. He had always been reminded as a kid that the Charlotte Family had once been one of the major forces of Okland and had once raised a genius on par with Santon Merlin.

Unfortunately, it was all in the past.

It could be said that Hanson Charlotte spent over half of his life basking in the story of the glorious days. All his energy was put into the great undertaking of reviving the Charlotte Family. He would pay any price to bring about the Family's revival.

Finally, the time Hanson Charlotte had been waiting for arrived.