Chapter 321: Ariana Von Tilove

"This armor you’re seeing here is a women’s armor called Deathless Star Armor. In fact, I’m sure many of you are familiar with the name of that star—the one that fell to our world centuries ago and still shines with light to this day," said Mr. Crow as he pointed toward the feminine-looking armor.

All eyes turned to the armor. However, many of the male participants sighed in disappointment and lost interest after seeing it.

No matter how valuable it was, it was still women’s armor—and naturally, they couldn’t wear it.

It was the female participants whose eyes sparkled as they stared at it. With such armor, their strength would definitely increase drastically.

"I never thought I’d get to see the Deathless Star Armor... I actually thought it was in the hands of that girl."

"You mean the prodigy from the World Academy? I also heard it was a gift for her—so why is it up for sale now?"

"If I’m not mistaken, you’re talking about Ariana von Tilove, right? That woman became even more famous ever since she absorbed the light of the Deathless Star."

"Yeah, that same girl. I heard that after absorbing the star’s light, the chairman of the World Academy ordered that a suit of armor be made for her from the star as a gift."

"Shhh! The Golden Tooth Bandits actually dared to steal that armor?!"

Everyone stared at each other in disbelief. They never imagined the bandits would have the guts to do something like this.

And beyond that—how had they even managed to steal the armor? Stealing armor was way harder than stealing something like a sword.

Yet somehow, they’d succeeded.

"The bidding starts at 25 million gold coins—or something of equal value," the auctioneer said, looking around.

"I’m offering 30 million gold coins!"

"Only thirty? I’ll go for thirty-five!"

"Hmph, poor bastards. I’ll bid forty million gold coins."

All eyes turned to the man with a boar-like face.

"You’re a man... why would you bid? Don’t tell me you’re some kind of pervert?"

The auction hall went quiet for a moment.

"What kind of nonsense is that? I’m a blacksmith. Do you even know how valuable the material of that armor is? I could easily melt it down and turn it into any weapon I want."

When the participants heard the blacksmith’s words, their expressions shifted and they fell into deep thought.

He was right—they didn’t necessarily have to wear the armor.

They could simply break it down and forge something else with it.

Bids suddenly began to skyrocket, and even the men started throwing in offers.

Meanwhile, in the VIP room, Daniel was staring at the armor with a thoughtful look.

It wasn’t something he could use, but it could be extremely valuable and useful for his sister Alice—especially since she was fond of close-range combat.

It might even cover a couple of her weaknesses. But if he gave a gift to Alice, he’d also need to give something to Tiana so she wouldn’t feel left out.

Fortunately, that wasn’t a problem—he already had something in mind for Tiana, and had just forgotten about it until now.

The Ring of Nature—one of the rewards he got for conquering the third floor. He hadn’t used it much since then and had come to realize that it didn’t really suit him.

But for someone like Tiana, who had a deep interest in elemental magic, it could be very helpful, useful, and valuable.

"You’re not thinking of buying that armor too, are you?" Serys asked as she noticed the look on Daniel’s face.

"Yeah. I want to gift it to someone."

"To who?" Serys asked curiously.

"My sister," Daniel replied plainly. He had nothing to hide.

"Are you sure? That armor belongs to Ariana von Tilove. I don’t know how the bandits managed to steal it, but I’m sure she’s going to come back for it—and whoever buys it is screwed. On top of that, she has a powerful background. Even your guild might not be able to protect you."

"Ariana von Tilove?" Daniel frowned. Strangely, the family name sounded familiar to him.

"Hm? You know her? I mean, she’s a well-known girl, so it’s not weird if you do," said Serys.

"No, I don’t know her personally, but I’ve heard the family name before. In fact, I had a small run-in with her brother once," Daniel chuckled.

With his sharp memory, he recalled where he had heard that name before—back when he was in the Elthanor Empire.

That girl had to be the sister of the guy who tried to act tough toward Daniel... but ran away in fear when Daniel unleashed his aura.

Back then, Kayn had warned him about that boy—if he remembered correctly, his name was Aris—and said he belonged to a wealthy family called von Tilove. But the real power behind him was his sister.

According to Kayn, she was a genius at the World Academy.

"Well, I wasn’t expecting that. How did you even end up in a fight with her brother?" Serys laughed out loud.

Daniel gave her a quick summary of the event, and the more Serys heard, the more she laughed.

"That guy deserved it. Still, that was just a minor scuffle. If you buy this armor, you’ll be directly making an enemy out of Ariana."

"As long as she comes alone and doesn’t send anyone else after me, I don’t mind. Besides, how strong could she possibly be to get your approval, Lady Serys?" Daniel grinned.

"Ariana is one of the top five students at the World Academy, and she’s the second student ever to receive recognition and support from the chairman himself—though to be fair, that’s mostly because of the first student who got the chairman’s praise."

"She was already strong, but after absorbing a portion of the Deathless Star’s light, she’s no longer just one of the best—she’s entered the league of monsters."

"And no, unless you kill her or something, older generations won’t step in to fight the younger ones—especially not with the Everlight Moon Guild backing you," Serys explained.

Daniel nodded. It seemed like fate had already decided that he and Ariana would one day stand against each other.

Then he instructed her to place the highest bid.

"Sixty million gold coins."

The auction hall went quiet again. Everyone turned toward the VIP room and frowned slightly.

"It’s that same guy who bought the crown."

Many of the participants backed out once they heard that price.

Still, a few people kept going—and in the end, Daniel won the auction at a final price of seventy-three million gold coins.

"The Deathless Star Armor is sold to Lady Rabbit for seventy-three million gold coins," the auctioneer announced as the armor disappeared from the stage.

"And now it’s time for the surprise—our final and most valuable item of the night... a semi-divine weapon!"

Daniel’s and Serys’s eyes sharpened. The weapon they had come for was finally about to appear.