"1.25 billion going thrice…"
"Sold."
Maya fell silent after this.
Lexie couldn't help but take a peek and say cheekily. "Do you need more money, my honey?"
"Shut up!" Maya snorted. She snorted and saw the next skill card.
She raised her hand again, but this time, she couldn't say a single thing. There was only one course of action after that.
Maya sat down and looked down, not fighting for this skill anymore.
"110 million."
"111 million."
The auction continued just like that. Meanwhile, many people looked at Maya while furrowing their eyebrows. It wasn't Maya's style to play like this.
She was indeed arrogant, and raising the bid to that kind of level at once was certainly something she would do. But Maya had no reason to bid for these skills, let alone admit defeat for money reasons.
To their surprise, Maya suddenly turned around and looked at her bodyguard, which was Theo.
She clapped her hand and talked with him for a bit before returning to her seat.
'She's impressing her own bodyguard?'
'A new bodyguard?'
'Is he her lover?'
Many people were bewildered when they saw this happening. They never expected that Maya would act irrationally because of a certain bodyguard.
There was only one explanation. The bodyguard was a fake identity so that no one could trace him. The real identity of that bodyguard was none other than her lover. This explained a lot about her actions.
'So, she has a boyfriend already…'
'I need to check that guy's identity.'
'He should be someone that can push Maya down. Does that mean… his strength?'
'He should be someone her age and has fire affinity, considering she's bought two fire element skills and one defensive skill for him.'
'Then…'
Everyone had an evil smile on their face, planning to destroy Maya in this auction by using this weakness.
And the 'weapon' that everyone had anticipated finally came. This item was the only thing that could destroy Maya, and they had no plan to go easy on her.
"This is the Flowing Magma Flower. It has the potential to raise one's attribute by 10 to 20 points. The starting price is 300 million, and every bid can't be lower than 10 million."
'Here it is!' Everyone thought.
Without hesitation, Maya rose from her seat and raised the bid again. "1 billion."
The moment she uttered that bid, all of them realized this was indeed the chance. What they had thought this whole time was true, so their evil mind started working.
"1.1 billion." A man stood up and raised the price.
"You're going for this?" Maya narrowed her eyes before raising the price again. "1.5 billion."
"I'm not afraid of you. 1.6 billion."
"2 billion!" Maya snorted.
The Mythical Rank Expert immediately came to her and whispered to her ears.
However, Maya pushed him away while shouting. "This is my money. I choose how I spend it!"
The atmosphere became heavy, but they knew this was the chance to beat Maya.
"2.1 billion."
Maya gritted her teeth and raised it again. "2.5 billion."
"2.6 billion. I'm not afraid of you." The man smiled and extended his hand.
"You don't even have Fire Affinity. Why are you bidding this flower?" Maya screamed.
"I'm here for my younger sister. Like you said earlier, money talks."
"You bastard!" Maya clenched her fists. "2.8 billion!"
"2.9 billion." The man continued. Suddenly, the elder behind him whispered, "I believe we shouldn't raise the bid any further. She might be trapping us."
"Do you think you have that kind of money?" Maya was glaring at him.
"The master is not saying anything about this. Why are you so riled up like this? If you don't have money, why don't you scram from here?"
"You…" Maya's face was distorted. She raised her hands along with the stick as if she wanted to smash it to the ground.
She looked down, so no one could see her face. But it was clear that Maya was angry that the man was getting in her way to impress her 'boyfriend.'
This would put a strain on not only their relationship but also their wallet.
However, Maya simply clapped her hand and raised her head. There wasn't any anger on her face anymore.
Instead, she put on a big happy smile while saying, "Thank you for your patronage."
"!!!" All the spectators widened their eyes in shock.
Even the one that antagonized Maya dropped his jaw and the bidding stick, not believing what he just heard.
"What?!"
"2.9 billion going once."
"2.9 billion going twice."
"2.9 billion going thrice."
"Sold."
"What?!" The man looked at the middle-aged man, baffled by the situation. Suddenly, he turned around and looked at Maya. "You… You tricked me? This flower was yours. You tricked me into paying twice the price of this flower!"
His face was aghast. This money wasn't easy to get. It would put them into trouble for sure. He might even need to face severe punishment from his parents. He wanted to cry but had no tears.
"What are you talking about?" Maya shrugged and looked away.
In that instant, the hall became silent. Those who thought about beating her sucked a cold breath as colors started to disappear from their faces.
They suddenly noticed the reason why Maya specifically bid two fire element skills. It was to make them think that she wanted something that had fire affinity.
And since the flower was her, she knew this would be the best bid, considering the money would go to her.
As for the skills, she indeed overpaid them for about 400 million in total. But she received more than 1.4 billion from tricking them.
Theo and the Mythical Rank Expert were just the means to fool them. The Mythical Rank Expert played a big role as someone that tried to stop her so that her action would look even more impactful.
Meanwhile, Theo was there to be the mysterious person with a great identity. It was obvious they thought Theo was his boyfriend.
With the addition of the sudden increase of bid that shifted their attention from her real intention to her arrogance, Maya created this kind of situation.
Of course, Maya didn't plan for Theo to pay for the excessive amount and since his desire helped her in getting all this money, there was no need for Theo to pay the excessive amount.
Maya, once again, almost made another guy cry.