Coiling Dragon

Book 5, The Godsword, Bloodviolet – Chapter 15, A Sky-High Price

Standing in the middle of the platform, that golden-haired, middle aged man continued to boast, “When discussing the Ten Masterpieces, in this day and age, the lowest valuation of one of the Ten Masterpieces is 5.28 million gold coins, while the highest is the ‘Bloody-eyed Maned Lion’, which recently was auctioned off in the Proulx Gallery branch at the Yulan Empire for a price of 13 million gold coins!”

All of the nobles and wealthy merchants below grew silent.

These prices were downright terrifying.

“The materials for the sculpture, ‘Bloody-eyed Maned Lion’, were collected from an actual, Saint-level ‘Bloody-eyed Maned Lion’, while the sculptor was Grandmaster Hoover from over a hundred thousand years ago. In the past ten thousand years, our Yulan continent has produced just two Grandmaster level sculptors; Master Proulx, and Master Hope Jensen. These two both reached the level of Grandmaster.”

The golden-haired man let out a sudden laugh.

“However, from what I know, every single Grandmaster sculptor in history….no…let’s not discuss Grandmasters for now…even the vast majority of master sculptors were only acclaimed as ‘masters’ after their first century of life. Even if they hadn’t reached a hundred, they were at least in their seventies or eighties. Has there ever been anyone who became a master before the age of thirty?”

The golden-haired man looked at his audience. “In the past, no. But now? There is.”

“The incredible Master Linley is a genius. He is seventeen years old! He is a seventeen year old dual-element magus of the seventh rank. In the field of magic, he is the number two genius in the entire history of the Yulan continent. But his accomplishments in the field of sculpting, despite only being seventeen years of age, is well known by everyone here as well.”

As he spoke, the golden-haired man turned to stare at the sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’.

The two female attendants stepped forward and removed the covering cloth, revealing the actual sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’.

“This is the sculpture produced by Master Linley. Based on the investigation performed by our Gallery, this sculpture was completed last December, during the days of that huge blizzard. In other words, it was completed when Linley was still sixteen years old.” The golden-haired man laughed. “At the time, I had been wondering why that blizzard was so unnaturally fierce. But now, thinking back, I imagine it must have had something to do with the impending birth of this sculpture of Master Linley’s.”

Instantly, all of the nobles and magnates below laughed.

“Alright, enough with the small talk.” Pointing at the sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, the golden-haired man said, “This sculpture has absolutely reached the Grandmaster level. More importantly, this sculpture is extremely large. To be absolutely honest, we could actually chop it into five pieces and auction each piece off separately.”

The wealthy nobles below all roared in laughter as they began to chatter.

“I’m just joking, of course. Each of the figures pictured in this sculpture has its own aura and charm. When put together, they seem to form a wondrous love story. I believe many connoisseurs of stonesculpting who are present can sense the sad but beautiful love story behind this sculpture.”

The golden-haired man sighed. “Each of these five figures have been carved at the Grandmaster level. When put together, they will give the viewer a very unique, very special sensation. I am absolutely unable to guess what the price for this sculpture will be.”

“And most importantly of all, when Master Linley finished this sculpture, he was sixteen! Just sixteen years old!” The golden-haired man’s voice began to boom. “I have never, in my life, found myself at such a loss for words. I have no way of verbally expressing the admiration I feel for Master Linley. He…is a true genius!”

These words caused yet another commotion amongst the watching nobles.

For a sixteen year old to complete a sculpture like this was nothing short of a miracle.

But in their booth, the Debs clan was totally silent.

“That detestable bastard.” Kalan was filled with rage and hatred towards this golden-haired auctioneer. After that little speech of his, the bidding war for this sculpture was sure to become even more extreme.