Crowdfunding

The entire audience goes silent. One by one, they look at each other with odd glances, as if unsure if they had heard this person correctly.

Then, the entire audience bursts out in fits of laughter.

"AHAHAHA!!! I didn't hear him wrong did I? He said he wanted us to help him pay? How delusional is this guy???"

"While it's true there is no rule against it, why does he think we would willingly give him our money? Is this guy a comedian hired by the Artifact Hall?"

"Pay him? Yeah, I think he deserves some spare change! His comedy routine is through the roof!"

The entire audience began to ridicule Sekhit for what he said. However, the target of all this ridicule, Sekhit had a smug expression on his face.

"Now, now…" his voice resonated through the room again. "Don't be so quick to deny me… or you'll regret it! Do you all know who I am?"

"Yeah? Why do we care who you are?" Many in the audience shout.

Sekhit continues. "My name is Sekhit Misint, the young master of the Misint family!"

"..." Suddenly, the entire crowd went silent. The most vocal of the bunch, the ones who were outspoken in their criticism immediately felt a shiver down their spin. They wanted to smash their heads against a wall… Why did they have to be so loud? This guy was the young master of the Misint family??? Why didn't he just say so at the start?

There was not a single shard of doubt in any other their minds. There would be no one brave enough to pretend to be a member of one of the great families. That was just a death sentence. Right now, the outspoken critics were rapidly trying to brainstorm ways to avoid having their necks snapped in the midst of night.

"Don't worry! I am an open-minded person! If you lend me your Chaos Stones, not only will I forgive you for your insolence earlier, I will even compensate you for it! I will give you back double the amount you lent me!" Sekhit says grandly.

"Oooh! As expected of the Young Master of the Misint family! Magnanimous and generous!!!"

"True true! I knew that such a statement could only be uttered by someone with absolute confidence in themselves!!!"

The crowd's attitude flipped immediately. Now, all of them were fawning over this young master, trying to win his favor.

"Young Master Sekhit! I would be willing to borrow you 10 Mid-grade Chaos Stones!"

"Me too, Young Master Sekhit! I will borrow you 15 Mid-grade Chaos Stones! It's my entire life's savings!"

Sekhit smirked. He had clearly expected this result from the moment he came up with this plan.

"Now can you say that I can't afford the 30 Mid-grade Chaos Stones?" Sekhit goads.

The Old man who was sitting in one of the VIP Rooms frowns. "Mr. Mike? This isn't good no? Wouldn't this ruin the entire point of the auction if such actions were to be allowed? If this is allowed to occur, would anyone even try to bid against him? Everyone would back off as they would know that they stand no chance against the collective group's wealth."

Mike frowns. He was being put in quite the awkward spot here. On one hand, he had to agree that what the Old man was saying did have reason, but on the other hand, he really didn't want to offend one of the major families of Vristannia Empire. Unsure of what to do, Mike scratches his head. If it had been a random person, Mike had no problem telling them they couldn't do that… But this person's status was nowhere near ordinary…

"Allow me to ask my manager about this issue. Please hang on for a moment." Mike finally decides.

With that, Mike bows and exits the back of the stage, leaving the stage empty with the painting still on display.

The crowd begins to talk with one another in hushed voices, waiting for Mike to come back.

Finally, after 10 minutes, Mike walked back out on the stage.

"Ehem!" Mike clears his throat. "I have consulted my manager on this situation! He has said that, given the special conditions of this situation, he is willing to allow the borrowing of Chaos Stones. However, there are certain conditions!"

"The first condition: You are only allowed to gather your Chaos Stones before we resume the auction. That means, whatever the amount of Chaos Stones you've managed to borrow before the auction will be your budget!" Mike begins.

"The second condition: The borrowing of the Chaos Stones must be agreed upon by both parties involved, and each person cannot lend out more than 5 Mid-grade Chaos Stones."

"The final condition: The painting will only be handed over to you once you've successfully compensated all of the parties to which you borrowed from. These are the conditions. Not only that, but even if you don't win the painting, you must still compensate them for double, as you've promised. If you can fulfill them, we can give you 10 minutes time in which you can gather Chaos Stones." Mike finishes.

Sekhit, upon hearing the conditions, grins in delight. "Alright! I agree to these conditions!"

"Very well then. Honored guest, may I have you come down please to the stage. You can ask our fine audience for a loan yourself." Mike gestures to the stage.

In a matter of seconds, the door to the main auction room bursted open, and a young man walked through the door. He was dressed in a white silk robe embroidered with countless black lines.

With his head held high, Sekhit walked down the aisle of the auction room, finally reaching the stage.