Shovels In Spades

"My wonderfully patient Earth testees, it is now time for the thousandth and final item of the general auction!" Pheldorapod exclaimed.

Daz was paying extra attention to this item since Rose had said that he'd like it. He wasn't entirely sure if she was being sarcastic or serious, but regardless, he opened his ears and focused his eyes.

An android carted in a small trolley, which meant that whatever the last item was, it wasn't particularly large. The robot pulled off the silk sheet hiding the item to reveal an entirely transparent cube which was floating in the centre of a cylindrical glass case.

Apart from the fact that it was hovering in mid-air like that, nothing about this cube seemed particularly special at first glance. Its shape was odd, but without further inspection, normally one would assume it was just another stat enhancer.

"I can see your confusion, my good customers. However, please trust me! I made sure to leave the very best for last," Pheldorapod claimed as he gestured with most of his tentacles to the cube.

"What I have for you lovely folk right here, is a very rare item. In fact, only two hosts from your planet have earned this item before, making it amongst the top five rarest items on Earth!" Pheldorapod's attempt at hyping this mysterious cube up were clearly working.

The crowd was sitting on the edge of their seats. Well, a good majority were. The more powerful survivors just wanted to know what the damned thing was, Daz included. Using Higher Identification was impossible on the items of this place for whatever reason, and he didn't particularly feel like begging Rose for an answer.

Thankfully, Pheldorapod was more than aware that this item's true potential customers hardly cared much for his fanfare. "Ahem. Well then, fine citizens of Earth, allow me to explain. What we have here is a Class Upgrade Token."

Daz's eyes opened wide. "Really?" he mumbled aloud.

Maddy cocked her head as she sat on his lap and she gazed at his face curiously. A few milliseconds passed before she nodded her head. Yup. Daz's surprised face definitely looked nice. She tightened her hug around his neck and pressed up against him a bit closer.

Daz smiled at her cute actions and kissed her nose in response, eliciting a blush from the girl. He returned his attention to one of the suite's televisions and watched it intently.

"I'm sure many of you have guessed it already, but this little cube will give its owner the right to advance their class early! To put this into perspective, unless a testee performs a particularly magnificent and very specific thing, they won't have a chance to upgrade their class until the tests of their homeworld are finished." Pheldorapod's explanation garnered the curiosity of some people who personally had no interest in their classes.

The octopus was absolutely loving the control he had over such a large audience. Almost every single person in his auction hall was hanging off of his every word. That... that elated him to no foreseeable end.

"As an additional note, even if you were to consume this cube and upgrade your class, you will still be eligible for a further upgrade if and when the test on Earth is cleared! Isn't that fantastic? Not only will it grant you an early advantage on Earth, but it won't impede your future growth once the scale increases!" Pheldorapod exclaimed.

"The final thing I shall say about this item is that once your class had been upgraded, you will be given permission to pick another main weapon that is linked to your starting weapon. As an example, someone who started with... let's say, a textbook. That's a fairly common starter weapon. Well, you may get the option to include a wand, or perhaps a familiar - magic-based, of course. The options are truly limitless!" The business-oriented man's words had plenty of Earth's strongest excited now.

After giving the crowd a few more moments to think on if they should bid on the item or not, Pheldorapod finally opened the bidding room. "The starting bid is seven-hundred-and-fifty-thousand merit points! Truly a low price considering the rarity of this object!"

"System, connect me to the bidding room, please," Daz requested.