The Extra Villain: I Made a Contract With The Dragon Empress!-Chapter 330: The Broken System

"Gustav Alveron? I didn’t expect him to bid that high," Merlin muttered in surprise.

Two Mythic-tier items and three Legendary ones—clearly an excessive offer. For a fox girl, giving up five items like that didn’t seem worth it.

Yet Merlin’s surprise soon shifted to curiosity. He was certain Gustav wouldn’t offer the fox princess without a reason.

Could he be hiding something?

Driven by curiosity, Merlin asked, "System, can you tell me what Gustav really wants from that fox princess?"

"[Ding! Requires 10,000 system points to find out! Do you want to proceed?]"

Merlin was stunned. "Ten thousand system points? Are you crazy, System? Are you trying to rob me!?"

Although that amount was nothing to him, Merlin didn’t want to lose a single point.

Earning system points had been quite difficult over the past few months, since the System mostly gave him long-term missions instead of short-term ones.

At any moment, he might need a large number of system points, so he had to save them.

But now, the system was blatantly trying to extort him, and that was truly outrageous.

The system rolled its eyes and, in a dissatisfied tone, protested.

"[Master, I’m not extorting you, okay? What you’re asking for is extremely valuable and dangerous—it could even threaten my safety. So the price is actually reasonable.]"

Merlin furrowed his brow as he heard this explanation.

He wanted to mock it, thinking the system was lying to him. But judging by its tone, it didn’t seem to be lying.

Feeling helpless, he rubbed his forehead and said, "Alright, just deduct the points from my wallet."

"[Ding! Deducting 10,000 system points from the wallet... Ding! Processing response...]"

"[Progress: 10%... 30%...]"

Merlin’s heart pounded. He hadn’t expected a progress bar just to uncover what Gustav was hiding.

’What’s really going on? The system said that digging into this information could endanger its existence, and now there’s a progress panel. Could what Gustav is hiding be something major?’

Merlin considered various possibilities until one name suddenly came to mind—Abel.

"That can’t be... can it?"

Just as he dismissed the thought, the progress bar vanished, followed by the system’s beep.

"[Ding! Information found! Gustav Alveron needs the fox princess to heal the protagonist, Abel... zzz... zzz...]"

The system’s voice abruptly cut off, replaced by a static-like noise, like a TV losing its signal.

"System!? What’s happening to you!? System!"

Merlin called out in panic. Unfortunately, there was no response—only the static noise.

"[Ding! System entering recovery mode! Recovery progress: 5%... 6%... 7%.]"

Seeing that, Merlin let out a sigh of relief. If the system had completely broken down, he wouldn’t have known what to do.

He was strong enough to survive in this world on his own. Moreover, Lyserra was by his side.

But living without the system would bring major changes. He wouldn’t be able to see other people’s status panels, the affection levels of the heroines who would appear in the future, and more.

The difficulties in this world would surely increase manyfold.

In addition, he had come to regard the system as his friend. Their time together over the past four years was enough for him to consider it his closest companion besides Lyserra.

Once he calmed down, he stared at the progress panel and narrowed his eyes warily.

’What the system said earlier... what did it mean? Could it be that Abel will appear in the future and take everything I have?’

As that thought crossed his mind, his breathing grew heavy. Merlin Clay’s status in the novel was merely that of an insignificant minor villain.

In truth, he wouldn’t survive past the twentieth Chapter. But ever since he took over this body, everything had changed.

The status of a "minor villain" and "extra" had vanished, replaced by that of the main character.

Still, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t afraid of Abel’s counterattack.

Gritting his teeth, he fixed his gaze on Graham on the stage, then raised his right hand and shouted, "Three mythical items and five legendary items!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the crowd erupted into a commotion. They stared at Merlin as if he were a madman who had lost his mind.

Even Linda beside him hadn’t expected such an offer.

"Merlin, you..."

Before she could finish, Merlin turned to her with a confident look.

"Rest assured, Master. I’ve considered the consequences. Can you trust me?"

Linda fell silent. She couldn’t say a word in the face of that resolute gaze.

"All right, I won’t ask. But since you’ve made an offer, do you have the means to pay for it?"

Three Mythic-tier items and five Legendary items were an exorbitant price. She wasn’t sure Merlin could afford it.

"Don’t worry, I have my own way," Merlin replied confidently.

Linda narrowed her eyes, as if trying to see through the boy.

After a moment, she took a deep breath and said nothing more.

But in her heart, she vowed to help her disciple no matter the cost.

Meanwhile, Gustav was shocked by Merlin’s bid. A murderous intent burst from him, and his piercing gaze felt like a blade stabbing toward Merlin.

"Are you challenging me!?"

Boom!

A powerful aura erupted, and its pressure spread throughout the auction hall.

The experts frowned at Gustav’s actions. Many of them were at the First Spirit Core, Ninth Awakening, and Nine Star Mage levels.

The surge of Gustav’s aura was a provocation to them, even if it wasn’t directed at them.

Merlin glanced at him casually and said, "The highest bidder wins. Don’t you understand that?"

His words struck Gustav like a blow, and his breathing grew heavy with shame.

"You..."

Just as Gustav was about to act, Graham’s cold voice rang out from the stage.

"Withdraw your aura. Do you wish to offend the Arden family and everyone here?"

An overwhelming pressure burst from Graham’s body. It shot toward Gustav and struck him head-on.

Caught off guard, Gustav staggered backward and collapsed into his seat.

He stared at Graham in horror, whose expression had turned grim.

The whites of his eyes turned pitch black, while his red pupils flickered with a faint, dangerous glow.

Gustav’s heart pounded violently. Although they were at the same level, there was a gap between them—one that had already reached the First Spirit Core.

That gap often determined victory or defeat between opponents of equal rank.

Unable to endure it any longer, Gustav gritted his teeth and left under everyone’s embarrassed stares.

Graham withdrew his aura and regained his professional smile.

He turned to Merlin and announced, "The winner is that man. Please come up on stage to claim your prize."

The experts felt a surge of envy toward Merlin. They couldn’t understand how he could offer three Mythic-tier items as payment.

But one thing was certain—they were convinced Merlin was an exceptionally powerful expert. Otherwise, how could he possibly possess such items?

Suddenly, Merlin raised his hand and said, "Can the payment be made behind the scenes? I’d prefer it to be just the two of us. What do you think, Lord Graham?"

Graham was taken aback and stared deeply into his eyes. Seeing no trace of deception, he nodded.

"All right. Come backstage later."

As it happened, Merlin still had an unpaid debt to collect—a drop of a ninth-stage monster’s blood.

So, he didn’t mind at all.

Merlin smiled in satisfaction. No one realized that he didn’t actually possess the three Mythic-tier items he had offered.

However, he had another form of payment he was certain Graham and the Arden family behind him would appreciate.

Shortly after, the auction officially concluded. The experts slowly rose and made their way out.

"In that case, I’ll go ahead, Master. You can wait for me out front."

Linda frowned and protested, "How is that possible? I promised I’d accompany you, didn’t I? I have to come with you."

But Merlin shook his head and refused. "It’s not that I don’t want you to come, but I’m sure Graham will object. After all, I promised that only I would go. If you come along, it would break that promise and might cause trouble for both of us."

They were in Arden family territory. There was no guarantee they could leave without trouble.

Merlin didn’t like taking risks, so he chose not to gamble.

Linda opened her mouth as if to say something but ultimately held back.

In the end, she could only let out a long sigh and nod reluctantly.

"Alright. But if you run into trouble, activate the bracelet you’re wearing immediately, understand?"

The bracelet she referred to was an Epic-tier artifact that Merlin had previously given her.

Don’t underestimate the Epic tier—that artifact was quite powerful.

Its users could communicate with each other even through powerful barriers.

Furthermore, if one bracelet were destroyed, the wearer of its counterpart would immediately sense it and know the other’s location.

But as the saying goes, "Nothing is perfect."

The bracelets had one fatal flaw—range. They could only function when the two wearers were within ten kilometers of each other.

If they were any farther apart, the bracelets wouldn’t work.

"I understand. Trust me." Merlin gave a slight nod.

Linda said nothing more and walked out of the auction hall.

Only Merlin and Graham remained on the stage. The two exchanged glances, then gave a slight nod.