Malevolent Warlock: Sin Of Eternity

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When Leon looked at this lady, he was momentarily shocked. This lady was not just a mage, she was also a member of the faceless mercenary company.

Leon had encountered her by accident after kidnapping Amir's connect in the faceless mercenary company. She was the leader of his team. What was she doing here at an illegal auction?

"Hmmm, 170,000" After a brief second of contemplating, Leon announced his bid. He didn't believe that the auction house would allow her in if they knew she was here to cause problems.

The thing Leon hadn't quite figured out yet was that, this 'illegal' auction house, was actually not owned by warlocks. No, it was owned by the mage powers of the city. And all the materials being sold here were materials they had plundered from warlock clans they had pillaged.

As for the presence of the lady from the faceless mercenary company, it was absolutely normal. Level 3 warlocks like her would usually stalk the auction houses so they could follow whoever bought High-grade herbs to their backers.

Unfortunately, they were usually in the undercity where the Warlocks had most of the influence.

"185,000" the lady replied without batting an eye. She was a bit stunned to see faceless mercenaries inside here buying life energy treasures. But it was none of her business.

She had her reason, and they should have theirs, one thing was sure though, they couldn't outbid her.

"200,000" Leon continued bidding. He had hopped into the pagoda and identified the red devilwood....and he knew immediately that this was one of the things he needed for his breakthrough. And he was unable to wait any longer, it was now or never.

"220,000" the veiled lady said with a puzzled expression on her face. It would make sense if the level 3 mage beside him was bidding after all, she was the one with real power here, but no, it was the beginner level 1 mage. That made no sense. Unless.... n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"250,000" this time, Leon didn't wait for the lady to bid. He just increased the price as if he was expecting her to keep matching him. She didn't do that, though.

The kid didn't seem to care about money and was too causal about calling such an amount. He definitely had an influential background.

"Sold" the auctioneer said causally after a few seconds of waiting. If the veiled lady was going to match Leon's bid, she would have done so already.

He handed Leon the box with the red devilwood inside. This Leon didn't hand over to gunta, it wasn't because he didn't trust him, it was just too valuable.

"Coins or credit?" The auctioneer asked. They still had to pay for whatever they bought. And since the auction had technically ended, it was time to pay up.

"Coins" Leon said, casually, following which Arian walked forward and dropped a big bag with about 3000 coins in it.

"Hmm? This is too light, no?" The auctioneer tilted his head. Leon's bid totaled to about 290,000 silver coins. Normally, a purchase like this would be done via the more convenient credit system used by the kingdom. If not, to move this amount, one would need to fill a carriage to the brim and transport it over.

Even the other bidders couldn't help but look at Leon questioningly, was this person joking around? Did he not know the people behind this auction house were ruthless?

"It's complete….you can count it, I'll wait" Leon shook his head and gestured for the auctioneer to check the bag and confirm. Naturally, he had to oblige.

He couldn't let them leave if they hadn't paid up in full yet.

But upon opening the bag, his eyes were momentarily shocked. 3000 in Gold!!!

It wasn't like gold was too rare, no. It was just rare to see such an amount at the same spot. Even the other bidders were stunned, except for the veiled faceless mercenary. She could vaguely guess why Leon was so nonchalant with money.

It was because he was loaded, there was no need to enter a bidding war with someone like that. At least that was what she thought.

"There's no need to count, i trust you sire" the auctioneer smiled and lifted the bag of coins to the back of the booth. He was absolutely delighted, gold had a special status in his mind, he truly loved it.

"Okay, we will be taking our leave now" Leon nodded his head and turned around and left the auction house.

He came in, flaunted his wealth and disappeared. But none of them knew how much Leon's heart bled for the amount of money he had just spent.

It was genuinely painful.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

A day later in the morning.

Leon woke up from a very well-deserved sleep. He then proceeded to walk outside into the courtyard. There, Arian had prepared a meal with rice balls and the likes.

Leon smiled and got down to business, enjoying every single bite of the meal prepared for him. He ate like it was his last meal.

And after all that

"It's time" Leon smiled, he then proceeded to stand up from the table and walk directly towards his room.

When he got there, he took a seat in the middle of the room. Already laid out for him were several unopened boxes he had gotten from the auction house.

22:23

"Let's begin" Leon muttered, then he opened the first box. In it was a lonely green leaf placed right in the middle of the box.

[

Life-tress leaf : grade 1 item

Life-energy rating: 5

Proper preparation : should be steamed with ice-water until comes to a boil, then must be Tempered by placing in the sun for 7 days else consumption for a level 1 warlock would be too dangerous.

Final Life-energy rating: 20

]

Leon looked at the preparation method mentioned by the system and could not help but shake his head. This preparation method was too tedious, coupled with the loss of life-energy. It made it sound not worthwhile.

However, using it without preparation could lead to a rupture in his blood vessels. That was what nearly happened to him when he broke through to level 1, but he didn't know until recently. If not for the serpent, he would be dead.

"Fortunately, I have this…." Leon smiled while looking at the leaf in front of him.

"BloodSerpent Work: Life Devourer"

Leon activated a spell and all of a sudden, the leaf in front of him started scribbling slowly, releasing a white smoke that  made its way towards Leon.

The Life-Devourer spell, he got this magical spell from the first elder of the blood serpent clan. This spell was just too good to be true for any warlock, and Leon could only be described as lucky for getting a hold of it.

It allows the user to directly absorb life energy from the surrounding without having to ingest it. Plus it didn't discriminate, it could also absorb Life-energy from living creatures. It was just too overpowered.

"Hmmmm" Leon inhaled the smoke through his nose and the pores of his skin. Quickly, they sank into his bloodstream and started scattering, allowing Leon to absorb it.

The difference between the beginner stages of level 1 and the middle and peak stage of level 1 was just an accumulation of energy and the proper usage of it. This didn't mean that bridging this gap was in any way easy.

It was extremely hard. And Leon would need all the sources of life energy he could consume.

Soon enough, the leaf in front of Leon decayed until nothing was left, and Leon hadn't broken through.

"Next" So, Leon opened another box not long after, then he reactivated the life-devourer spell. And so it continued. Leon kept absorbing Life-energy from the treasures he got at the auction house, and little by life he was filled with life energy.

Until he felt bloated enough and all of a sudden

— boop

The energy that was inside his body was suddenly pushed outwards.

He had broken through to the middle stages of level 1.

This wasn't easy, Leon had to endure excruciating pain. But because he was already so well attuned to energy usage, he was able to quickly adapt and break through, it had been a long time coming.

"It's all gone" Leon shook his head. To get into the middle stages, he had completed absorbed all the energy in the treasures he bought.

"Sigh, I have to use you then" Leon gently shook his head and picked up another box, he had used all the treasures he could find except one.

The grade 2 red devilwood. This was not like the rest. All of them were meant for level 1 warlocks to attempt to break through. But this was meant for level 2 warlocks.

The life energy in it was multiple fold of what he had absorbed previously. Worth a staggering 350,000 silver coins, the red devilwood.

"Maximum effort" Leon muttered before closing his eyes once again.