World Conquest Online

"Any more bids?" Petunia asked, as silence descended across the room at the large increase in value. The Wolves definitely were not worth the gold that Dom had bid, having spent much less on much better items in the previous Auction. Dom just hoped that they received a Beast Hall soon, but was sure that Meritamen would be happy with them for now.

"Congratulations to the VIP in room three." Linus stated as Petunia closed the item. The Crate containing the three Dire Wolves was slowly pushed off stage, with two of them still asleep and the third still looking up at Dom’s room with stern eyes.

Dom looked down in Alice’s direction, aware that she wouldn’t be able to see him due to the distance, angle and the fact he was wearing a Sabre Tooth Mask. She had looked away and back at the stage, but he knew that he had messed up when he had bid.

"Do you think she recognised your voice?" Meritamen teased, elbowing him gently in the ribs.

"Probably." Dom replied, "I am sure there is a way I can make her not aware it is me."

"I’ll let you think on that." Meritamen continued, "But I must thank you for my excellent gift, I’ll have to have a think of names for them!"

"Something powerful and loyal." Crassus commented as Petunia pulled out the next item for the Auction.

Another few items came and went, with some more rare items, another Hero Spawner for an Indian General that was linked to a selection rare spices that had sold before it. Dom wasn’t successful in this bid as VladInvader was very keen to win it. The Hero opportunity was also Grade D and Dom and Crassus agreed that the price it raised to was too high.

They did however successfully win a Library Spawn Cube, which Dom was grateful for as Meritamen and Crassus had been discussing it earlier when they bid for some books. Some of the other items that had passed were similar to earlier, with rare weapons and armour, as well as tools, some won invitations to study with professionals around the world in specific trades.

One of the best items was a map of a large square in the north east of the main continent, Crassus had placed a token bid, as to not give away the location of Riverside, but the information had minor benefits for Riverside that was based much more to the south.

"Our final item today is this." Petunia announced as Linus opened the last box, pulling out a white token that had a golden shimmer.

"This is a Mission Completion Token." Linus stated proudly.

"With this, you can auto complete any mission that you have out standing, you can use this once, however you do not have to use it immediately." Petunia continued as people started to whisper in the crowd.

"You could have a mission to kill a certain target as an assassin, that you do not wish to kill." Linus said teasingly.

"Or to create a masterpiece of artwork as a sculptor." Petunia said as she walked in front of the table.

"Perhaps you need a massive population increase to upgrade your town." Linus said, as he joined Petunia and looked up at the higher tiers.

"Or you need to join a force to conquer a rival." Petunia stated, "Regardless, this is an item that could benefit everyone in room."

"This will start at one thousand gold coins, with increases of one hundred." Linus announced as the first bids started to fly in.

"Do we have any missions that need instantly completing?" Meritamen asked Dom and Crassus, who both seemed to be in deep thought.

"No, not currently." Dom replied, "We are growing at a fast pace, much faster than expected. All of our current targets are achievable. The main mission we have is the Town Centre Upgrade Mission, but we need to upgrade a large amount of buildings and grow the population."

"It would be worth bidding for regardless." Crassus commented, "If we won this, it could come in handy when we need an instant boost."

The Mission Completion Token continued to rise, and Dom was surprised to see that all of the VIP’s as well as a lot of the higher tier had been throwing bids in for the item, with it now raising to twenty thousand gold coins.

"Let’s see how high it goes." Dom commented, not wanting to spend much more if he did not need to.

Soon it reached the mid thirty thousand gold coins, as both GoldenLion and the second placed DawnDestroyer were in a battle for it. Dom wondered what type of missions they both had, and decided that he would not get involved in this fight.

"Sometimes it is better to not make to many enemies." Crassus had said as the bidding had increased between the two.

Dom decided that Crassus was right, as the two started to argue as they counter bid each other. Eventually DawnDestroyer won the Mission Completion Token for forty four thousand gold coins.

.....

"Thank you for joining us today." Petunia thanked, as she drew the Auction to a close. "We hope to see you again at our next Auctions."

Her and Linus soon left the stage as the audience fanned out and left the Auditorium. They themselves headed downstairs following Johannes and headed towards the Portal that opened for them.

"Another successful Auction Lord Lazarus?" Dom heard as he was about to step through, he turned and saw Prince Dong Cheng who had a slight smile on his face.

"It was a bit different to the Lords and Leaders one." Dom replied, "I saw that you had some success!"

"I did, I have won some weapons, some books and some tools for my craftsmen. It wasn’t as beneficial, but it was interesting to see how the other Top Players performed." Prince Dong Cheng said as he looked around the room at the many other people leaving.

Dom also looked around and noticed a recognisable figure heading his way, her steps serious as she found an opportunity to confirm her thoughts.

"I need to rush off." Dom replied politely, "I have some important things to get to, we can talk next time!"

Prince Dong Cheng smiled as Dom turned headed through the Portal back to Riverside, Meritamen and Crassus quickly followed him through as it closed behind him. They reappeared soon afterwards outside the Town Centre of Riverside. Dom had expected them to appear on the inside where they had left, but then saw the Portal that appeared next to them that delivered the items they had won.

There was a large cart, full of small Orange Trees that were full of fruit ripe for the picking. Another large cart was beside it, full of barrels of expensive Wine that Dom would use to celebrate their Tongpai Town Victory. Next to the large carts, was the large crate with the White Dire Wolves inside, who were all now sat up and looking around at their new home. There was also a package, that included Orange Halberd Twins Cube, the Library Cube and Shang Yang’s Calligraphy set. There was also a smaller cart to the side of them, which included a large selection of Books that Dom had purchased.

"The Carts alone are a worthwhile purchase, and we got them for free." Crassus commented as the Town Centre doors opened and Lucius, Hatshepsut, Shang Yang and Xun Yu walked out.

"What are these Trees?" Lucius asked excitedly, ignoring the other items that were in front of him, as his inner farmer came to the forefront again.

"I believe they are Orange Trees." Xun Yu commented, "I think I have seen their fruit before, but they are rare and imported."

"Oranges?" Lucius asked, having not heard of them.

"A delicious fruit." Dom explained, "you will enjoy them!"

"I am sure I will!" Lucius said as he headed towards the cart, but was caught off guard by a gentle growl from one of the Dire Wolves. "Who bought Wolves?"

"That would be me." Meritamen said as she looked at Lucius who had his hands on his hips and he looked at the large white wolves. "They are my new pets."

"And hopefully new beasts if we get a new beast hall." Crassus commented as he walked past the items and towards the box that included the smaller items.

"We have the large red snakes lined up for the next Beast Hall." Shang Yang commented.

"That is true, but we will see how good these three are and make a decision." Dom said, as Crassus took out the large black leather satchel that included the Calligraphy set. He walked over and passed it to Shang Yang, who opened it and peered inside. "We thought you would like this?"

"It is amazing, thank you for the gift." Shang Yang said with a bow of his head.

"We also bought Wine for the celebrations." Meritamen said, "After we succeed at Tongpai Town."

"We have also brought another Hero Spawning Cube, but I believe it is a quest similar to the Xun Family Mission." Dom stated, "We also have a Library Spawning Cube."

"I will take the Library." Hatshepsut said politely, "We have been speaking and as good as your districts are, I think it is best that I take over that aspect of the cities growth."

Dom looked at his other Leaders to see if they agreed with her comment, and was surprised to see that they all nodded their heads.

"Hatshepsut has much more experience with City Planning than us, who have all been involved in cities management on pre build land. She has some good ideas, that are only slight improvements on our current plans." Lucius stated, as Xun Yu and Shang Yang agreed.

Dom passed the Cube over to Hatshepsut, and explained that the books that had arrived would be good entry items in to the Library when it was spawned. He would have done it himself, but he looked at the sky and saw that the sun was quite high, he needed to depart for the Military Camp as soon as possible or their plans would be delayed.

"I need to depart, please get the reinforcement contingent ready." Dom announced.

"I’ll get on it now!" Xun Yu responded as he headed towards the Military District, where some a selection of warriors were already lined up.

"You should take a Dire Wolf with you!" Crassus commented.

"They are an unknown for now." Lucius said back sternly. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Dom headed in to the Town Centre quickly whilst his leaders discussed, to equip his armour and get his slaying spear. Meritamen followed him to help him fasten everything, where as his other Leaders quickly assigned tasks out.

The biggest expedition in Riverside’s short history was about to begin.