Therese left the room to allow Vincent to concentrate on his work. She then found a sofa in the hallway to relax and pass some time.

The attendants and other employees of the Auction House would bow or greet from time to time but she remained indifferent as if she was deep in her thoughts.

'Hmmm.. I wonder how will he appraise those items.. No, can he even appraise them? Maybe he'll give up after a while.. Did I get too far?' Therese mused as she glanced at the door of her office.

To be honest, those items weren't things that can be appraised by normal means.

Having a good sense or knowledge wouldn't be enough to understand even 30% of those items' secrets.

The Appraisers who wanted to learn those secrets would need a special method to uncover them. It could be a Tier 4 Mana Art that could deeply inspect an object or perhaps, they have to rely on their natural gifts like having a Mystic Eye suitable to appraise an item.

"Oh~ Miss Lucius, you're still here. I thought you already left." Maurice's sullen face suddenly lit up after seeing the beautiful appraiser alone.

As Therese was seated comfortably, she actually loosened her belt hugging her slim waist and tied up her hair. She would normally do this whenever she wanted to concentrate on thinking.

"Maurice, I remember that I already told you not to call me that way." Therese looked coldly at the middle-aged man.

Although they are both Resident Appraisers, Therese is still the Auction House's Manager.

"R-right.. Manager Therese." Maurice bit his lip after being reprimanded again. Luckily, there's no one else listening to them right now.

"Hmm? Someone's inside your office. This Mana Signature.. it's from Vincent. How dare he.."

Before he can continue, he was suddenly interrupted by Therese's words.

"What? I gave him a task to appraise something since he wanted to work."

"T-that.. Why would he do that inside your office? Send him to the Appraisal Hall. I couldn't even enter your---I mean, won't he misinterpret this?"

Therese was dumbfounded by his words. She can only shake her head as she told him to mind his own business.

In the end, Maurice can only whisper a few curses that he thought she wouldn't hear before leaving her sight.

Therese can only sigh as she clutched the pendant hidden inside her dress. This pendant is her only proof that she was part of the Lucius Clan before. However, it appears that she can no longer use that name again...

***

"Hmm? I can't appraise one of them.. This troubling."

Vincent felt troubled after realizing that from the five items, he was unable to appraise one of them! He can't even know its name!

[ Unknown Object. ]

[ Your Appraisal Skill level is too low. ]

This is the notification he got after spending 2 units of mana.

'At the very least, it's not immune to my Appraisal Skill at all. I just need to increase my level and it will be settled.' Vincent still thought positively.

'There's nothing I can do.. I just have to admit that I can't appraise this sword. Perhaps this is some kind of Mythical, Holy, Godly, or Divine Item?' Vincent guessed.

He didn't really know what is the name of the rank above Legendary and only made those names up.

Nevertheless, since he can appraise a Legendary item, which was Tara's Sleeping Chamber, with his Intermediate Appraisal Skill, it means that this sword is definitely above Legendary Rank.

He couldn't imagine that he'll get to find such an extremely valuable item on his first day here!

'But why does it look so ugly? This is just a rusted sword.. I even thought that it was made of black wood at first.' Vincent thought as he previously judged it by appearance.

The other items, on the other hand, were all items or weapons at Rare Rank or Unique Rank or Epic Rank

[ Shadow Urn ]

[ Necklace of Silence ]

[ Valor Vambrace ]

[ Lesser Illusion Blade ]

All these items were actually only at 70% to 80% of their durability. Aside from that, their Special Attribute wasn't that incredible.

Because of that, he decided to enhance them up to +5 to gain some experience points.historical

He noticed that he's only lacking a few more experience points so he decided to enhance some of the items within the room as well since he was already here. He couldn't wait to see the reward he'll get!

'Anyway, it's not like he's monitoring the durability of her chair or table..' Vincent thought as he decided to appraise her furniture as well.

It may be a bit rash but after hearing the sound of the level-up notification, he no longer cared about it! It's not like he made some big changes to it!

Ding!

[ Item Enhancement Skill is now level 9. Enhancement success rate permanently increased by 5% ]

[ Congratulations! You have reached the limit of the First Stage of the Awakening System – Item Enhancement Skill! ]

[ You have activated the Second Stage of the Item Awakening System – Item Ascension Skill ]

[ Item Ascension Lv1 – The user can use their Mana or Ascension Stones to upgrade the rank of the item they are holding. ]

[ Ascension Exp: 0/5000 ]

"I did it! Haha!"

Vincent couldn't help but laugh as soon as he read the notification. He finally reached the Second Stage! He almost slammed the table but he immediately stopped himself worried someone outside might hear him.

As he was about to continue celebrating silently, he heard another notification that brought him another delight.

[ Congratulations! You have activated the Second Stage of the System. ]

[ The limit of First Stage Enhancement Skill has been released. Level 10 is now open. ]

"Hahaha!"

Another good news came. In truth, he still has the One-Time Ascension Card with him since he was too stingy to use it on a Rare Weapon. He wanted to at least acquire something better than that before using it.

This is all due to his thought that he would no longer get another chance to ascend the rank of an item.

However, it seems that his worry was useless as he finally gained the ability to Ascend an Item's Rank with his system!

'Let me try using this then..'

Click!

Suddenly, the door of the room opened as Therese came in with furrowed brows on her beautiful face.

"Is there something wrong?" The woman asked as she saw Vincent with a creepy smile plastered on his face.