Passing a corner of an alley, Wu Hai wanted to teleport to another location quickly. They needed to ride away from the Auction House and not draw battle to the building. Wu Hai and Mike could both easily see that they were being followed.
No matter how fast he calculated his actions he still couldn't get the speed fast enough without revealing the Teleportation Ring to those who were following close behind. It would be a problem if anyone ever made the link between Spacial magic and the pair while they traveled.
Wu Hai knew that detection magic existed, but he didn't have it. Still, the people following behind had no intention of masking their murderous auras.
"Lets get to the woods and see if we can ditch our tail." Mike pointed to some nearby trees. It was important to hurry, if they didn't get far enough away they would be discovered by the attackers backup.
The road from the Inn to the Forge was short enough, but the pair's actions were being watched by several groups.
"Hot Damn, this city would be easy to rob.. if we were thieves this place would be a gold mine." Mike made a lewd comment but it wasn't incorrect.
The City itself was full of openings, including the Guards themselves, the Walls were falling down in sections, the Streets in some areas had holes big enough to hide a corpse quickly.
"Hmm.. We can do your plan, the woods are easy.. lets get another 100 meters in and ambush them around a tree." Pushing their Dragoons faster they broke into a sprint for a few more seconds of lead.
Wu Hai had agreed to Mikes plan and the moment they passed an appropriate tree they slipped off the Dragoons.
The people chasing them split into three, two went for Wu Hai and the last went right for Mike. Intending to kill them for the Auction winnings the greed in their eyes gave their every move away.
Wu Hai flexed his wrist and the spot pulled out a set of scythe-like claws. The Spot had been dormant since it submitted to Wu Hai in the battle at Zao City. There had almost been no sign of its own wants or even a need to eat.
It was just.. quiet.
When the scythes came out, a shell plating extended down his arms and helped control the incoming thrashing from the enemy. With a few swipes the first attacker had lost a hand. The blade of the Scythe rippled as it took in the stray blood that scattered across the trees. The sight of the blood being drawn in had caught Wu Hai a little off guard but he didn't falter.
The Spot enlarged itself and brought out what looked like a mouth. The Spot used its tongue out to collect the severed hand and swallow it.
Wu Hai felt queasy. Technically, he had just been party to eating human flesh..
It was not that gore and blood or violence bothered him much. It was watching something crawl out of his forearm and then eat something.
'What can I expect from this damned thing.. every single goddamn time... can this infernal thing evolve further?' Wu Hai kept thinking while he pulled the scythe blade out of the forehead of his opponent.
The Spot had undergone one transformation already and was getting better at grappling.
"Hey!". …. Wu Hai shouted at his forearm.
The parasitic multi-colored spot stopped buzzing with joy and went back to the same battle-readied state it was in earlier. The Rainbow Spot grabbed the skull of the man before Wu Hai could feel the pulsing, swallowing sensation.
Wu Hai had cut its meal short, but it obeyed his command. With another swipe from his forearm, a feeler pushed out of Wu Hai's wrist to point. The second attacker who had just watched his comrade being fed upon was their next target.
When Wu Hai flickered, the man blinked and saw the tips of sharp tools penetrate his eyes.
Everything went black, the man went limp and his skull collapsed. The spot shuddered but wasn't taking time to think things over.. it swallowed the brain matter from the new opponent as fast as possible and then returned to the standby position.
"Greedy little fucker! Fine.. but only the Enemies." Wu Hai wasn't sure what he should think about the spot's appetite, but if it was going to start to evolve he needed to be on alert and raise it better.
He had been ignoring it, only feeding it when it needed. Their whole relationship turned out to be a lot more complicated than simply feeding and watching.
Wu Hai looked around only to see Mike's finishing strike against his opponent. Mike had made the man into an Ice Statue at the beginning of the encounter. There was nearly no chance for the thief, Mike wanted to know some details so he didn't immediately kill him. When Wu Hai saw Mike after his own fight, he was driving a thin ice needle into the ears of the thief.
"No, I don't care about who your boss is.. but when hes come to die, I'll be happy to show him the way." After the man was dead Mike collected his corpse and the loose possessions of the others.
They wouldn't leave battle loot, the tower even had a use for corpses.
"Wu Hai.. The Spot! I've only ever seen you feed it gems. Why did it eat that hand.. and this other corpse is missing the insides of its head." Mike showed some concern but saw the look on Zao Wu Hai's face.
"I'm not too sure myself, but we've managed to dispose of our tail for now. Lets get to the Forge and see what Teacher has to say about it. We can always leave if these guys had friends back in the City." Leading the ride back to Gefést's, Wu Hai noticed that the usual guards at the gates had all vanished.
The Guards had been replaced. Mike felt that there was a shortage of Soldiers.
As Mike kept thinking a stray thought crossed his mind 'is there a war going on in a nearby country?'
About 20 minutes later, Wu Hai and Mike arrived the forge.
Gefést was inside working on a Longsword that had a delicate Quillon.
"Teacher, I thought you said you didn't repair weapons" Gefést looked at Mike and was anything but typical with his response.
"This isn't a weapon.. its a decoration. One of the Princes is having it fixed so his father doesn't have him beaten. Its never been used, that shitbag never did anything that would require courage or bravery. No, this … sword." sighing a moment the Forgemaster continued.
'Cough Cough'
"This thing never saw battle and it won't ever be used for anything except giving Titles." Gefést was pretty disappointed that he was spending time on something so mediocre and mundane.
"Master Gefést, Would you mind if I inspect it a bit. I believe I can just produce another in a moments if it doesn't need a core." Wu Hai wasn't a forge master but he could make metal into any shape if it was never to be used in battle.
"Eh, whatever.. I'd rather be doing other things, so.. lets see what you can do.. ...in moments" Gefést tossed the broken guard and the blade still in its scabbard over.
"Easy." Wu Hai slipped into his shadow and reappeared in a back room for a moment to swap his power over to Fire-Metal and returned.
"Okay, sorry.. I needed to piss." … no one asked, but Wu Hai gave an explanation to his quick absence.
Using the Metal magic to just create a duplicate of the original that had no purpose was easy and fast. The molding of the metal took no time, the fire could have a pressurizing effect on the exterior of the molten metal. Shaping it after coming up with the design was even easier. Wu Hai could simply point.
"Okay, All done." Wu Hai pulled the old sword out of the scabbard and noticed some writing on it.
"Well, almost done." Using a engraving tool that had been laying next to the furnace, he redrew the etching on the new sword and a violent orange light washed over the blade.
"Gefést! You said that it was ceremonial!" The blade quickly lost its orange light, returning to its lackluster color and finish.
"Just what the hell was that?" Wu Hai was curious, he hadn't seen an orange blade color.
Orange Light coming from a weapon would mean that it had power, the flash of light was no dim either so the power level could be .
"Wu, put down the sword and step back. I want to check something. Do it slowly." Gefést was on guard.
"That was a spell." Gefést didn't seem like he was joking, so Mike also took a step back.
Wu Hai looked at the sword and saw the last flickers of orange light dissipate. When it was done, Gefést picked up the newly created weapon, there was no reaction.
"Interesting, very interesting." Gefést couldn't get the weapon to activate, he even put energy into it and got nothing, no reaction at all.
Gefést tossed the weapon back to Wu Hai. "Keep this one, give them the shitty old one. If they realize that the enchantment worked on you, there will be massive problems."
"What enchantment? Wu Hai had activated it but didn't know what it was.
Gefést laughed excitedly, "You really don't know? You know about talismans but nothing about bloodline enchantments?"
"Yes, I know about the existence of enchantments, but that's all. What is a bloodline enchantment?" Wu Hai sat down to listen to his teacher when Mike coughed.
"Oh yes, sorry. Mike, you go." Wu Hai remembered the reason why they had come all the way over and even one of the reasons they were followed.
Mike looked at his ring and materialized a small fist sized rock onto the Table.
He carefully passed it over to Gefést with a pair of tongs.
"This is the Mystery Ore that 'we' got earlier at the Auction House. It cost us over 10,000,000 Gold pieces, we'd really like to have your opinion on it and know what use it could have." Mike watched as Gefést was speechless.
"...." The drooping face of Gefést turned to complete insanity as he grabbed the Mystery Rock.
Gefést looked it over with strange eyes, his pupils changed a few times from one color to the next and when he started speaking his throat was dry. "Rainbow Ore"
Wu Hai had made a few multi colored metals when he was experimenting with metal magic types. Still, he had never made Rainbow Ore or anything similar. He knew from his experience that it was massively important to continue his research on them, but time was never kind when it flew.
"This Ore can make a Celestial Killing weapon. In the legends, only a weapon of such power can overwhelm a God. The Ore itself can be used in many ways. If its made into a weapon there will be nothing that it can't cut in this world. The problem is that no techniques exist at all to forge this ore into a shape." Gefést tossed the rock to Wu Hai.
"Bend it with your metal magic, and yes.. I saw that." Wu Hai caught the Ore and concentrated.
The Prince tried to get the material to pool into a liquid or soften, but nothing happened. 'Why did it hurt the slaves, but not us or Gefest?'
Wu Hai finally realized something important and then pushed it to the back of his mind. "I see, so this is why it was for sale."
"Indeed, Even I do not know anything other than its existence. Now.. as to your question about the Bloodline Enchantments." Gefést started to explain.
"The Bloodline of the Royal Family, is one type of such a bloodline. The bloodline activates these types of enchantments. The Bloodline of the Royals has been preserved as best it could for reasons exactly like this. This Ceremonial Blade was meant to measure someone's power and worth to be King. If it activated even a little, like the previous and current Kings, you would be crowned Prince. That is, if you were part of the Royal Family. The Bloodline Enchantment in the original is tuned to their bloodline specifically, only a legitimate heir would get the other to light up." Gefést paused briefly before the next comment.
"If anyone learns of this, they will hunt you to the ends of this World. Speak of it to no one. A bloodline enchantment only works on those who contain the owners specific bloodline, The reason it worked on you is because you were the one to draw craft it and reproduced the enchantment design. The one who drew the original was likely the First King of Yunnan, Ekon." Gefést went into yet another of his crazed thinking sessions and completely forgot about Mike and Wu Hai.
When the Old Forgemaster walked into his study and closed the door, they let themselves out.
There was still an auction to attend tomorrow and they both needed to ready themselves for a potential large scale fight. When they go to buy the slaves, they would have to outbid someone and those people could potentially create problems.
"We should check with Manager Chou and make sure the other female slaves will be made ready before we attend. We can have them all sit in the carriage and use the Male Beastmen to pull it until we get to safety. It will be slower but we'll have people walking. I can't just teleport them away unless we reveal my power." Wu Hai thought about a few things but managed to keep his calm.
Lately, his mind was a constant factory of random occurrences. The experiences in his memories weren't clear on details, but he could see a lot of the practices and habits on display within them. Each action was meticulous or precise, they were inspirational.
Focusing on potentials was literally Quanli Jigui's previous life.
"I could potentially teleport them while I'm sitting in the carriage, but I'll only be able to do several at a time without teleporting the entire carriage. It would be tricky, the teleportation circle is literally a circle.." Wu Hai laid out his idea, but Mike shook his head in disagreement.
Complicated plans left too much room for error and Mike knew it from experience.
"You'll just finish the auction alone and have me steer the carriage. You and I will have to defend the group, but I think if they are chained together like usual that we'll have an easy enough time. I can wait in the carriage with my Dragonkin form. We can have one of the females we pick up from Rogue Queens' Chamber be your assistant. We can clean her up before we get the to the large slave Auction." Mike's idea wasn't all that bad, but it lacked a plan other than waiting.
Wu Hai didn't like that too much.
"Want to hire people? We have to remain in Human forms, otherwise who knows what could happen." Wu Hai gave another idea.
"Hire? Okay.. lets go to Rogue Queens' Chamber and see what they can do. They work for money, we can pay them to handle the escort out of the city, but what then.... They'll have to wonder what we're going to do once we leave." Mike made another great point.
"We can worry about that afterward, but If we want to leave with a large group of slaves, someone's bound to attack. I like the rogue queens chamber for this.. lets head there." Tapping his heels against the side shell of the Dragoon, Wu Hai sped out in front and led the way to the Bar.
Mike and Wu Hai could smell the Ozone as they passed from one end of the city to the other, it felt like the air pressure was rising and the temperature was dropping. Winter was coming again, they had a lot more choices than to just seek solace in the tower, but neither of them would be bothered even if they were left in the middle of a frozen wasteland. They themselves were very hearty and had training on how to get food.
"Did you feel that?" As they passed through the city they could feel the coming storm, It brokered a completely frigid feeling.
"This isn't Winter." Mike shook.
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The City had begun dropping in temperature quickly, a caravan of robed priests walked with an Ice Elemental. The people who weren't lucky enough to run away were frozen to the ground, the cold wasn't enough to kill them but all of them were stuck.
"Only a fool would stand in front of the Polarons." One of the bystanders who had been smart enough to get out of range commented.
Wu Hai and Mike found it hard to take in, reason was something he required to attack others.. but there wasn't even a reason for the Polaron's unrestrained auras, they were simply flaunting the ability.
"Mike, we shouldn't interfere. They are probably here for the Auction tomorrow, we should watch what they do and stay out of the way." Wu Hai gave his warning.
After thinking for a moment Mike agreed. "Lets get to the Rogue Queens' Chamber and see what to expect. They also owe us our information about the Beastfolk we requested."
They were only a few streets from the bar when they saw the Polaron Procession. Despite the chaos outside, there was still a line leading in.
"It must be quite the event." The line was orderly and the Giant Ice Elemental waited patiently like the rest.
Watching the scene were many different faces, races from all over the area had come to buy slaves. The Ice Elemental wasn't the businessmen, but his enforcer. When the line finally got to where the Ice Elemental was next in cue they stood there and passed over the membership Insignia. Any unwelcome people would lose their life by merely arriving. It wasn't even time for the Main auction and yet so many came to make trade beforehand.
Wu Hai and Mike made their way inside and saw the people within the Auction minding their situations and discussing in their own ways how to get what they came for. Some had items to sell, some were merely there to see what they could get off others.
"Brother Wu, so nice to see you again... so soon as well. We have your previous order readied, with the arrival of so many guests we would like to make the exchange sooner than later. Please understand that we will also be making a 10% contribution to your auction sales today and tomorrow for the inconvenience." Bowing graciously the host from their last time took her tiny hands and clasped her skirt tightly as she explained.
It was cute, but nauseatingly.. it was hard to be angry at such a youthful Woman.
"Manager Chou will see you when the in-house auction concludes. Please feel free to browse our new selection." Handing Mike a card that was decorated with metals, the tiny attendant left.
Mike began reading and then passed it to Wu Hai 'Today we will not be accepting precious metals as currency. Only magical items or equivalent exchange.'
They both looked at each other and had no idea how to proceed.
"Brother Mike. I have a plan, but its risky. The materials we can provide are pretty high class, We should just put something up this time unless we really must have whatever is up for auction. Also, we really need to pick items to use as trade. I have a lot of the natural weapons I made when I first started crafting, If I put a small lot up we should be able to get some trade value out of them. But still, what to sell." Wu Hai thought some and Mike suggested something completely baffling.
"Sell them a stack of Manga." He pulled out an entire series called 'Kong Nanren,'
Mike had just finished reading them. "They will have never seen or heard of stories like this, its bound to be a treasure they can't help but get confused over its mystery."
"...." The Duo looked at each other in astonishment, neither thought they would be doing something like this, ever.
Wu Hai was going to argue about what to sell but honestly, his idea was brilliant. "Okay. Now we just need to get these to Manager Chou."
Mike searched the auction house and could only find the attendant. When he approached he had the books in hand. Their shiny covers and dramatic illustrations made them the highest quality scroll-work they had ever seen. Each page was perfectly uniform, it was beyond the abilities of their craftsman. "Miss attendant, I'd like to sell these scrolls as an item in your auction. Please have someone authenticate them when they have time. I'll leave them with you."
"Sir.. there are so many." She was being rational, there were a great many in the stack that he handed her. The Manga ran for 8 years with 36 volumes.
"Its okay, its a set." Mike Smiled at the lady and walked back to his table.
Passing a few individuals that hid their faces, he felt slightly out of place. They should have worn masks. "The damage is done. Lets just enjoy the auction, It should be interesting to watch."
The attendant walked up to the stage and gave out the house rules before introducing Manager Chou to start the auction. "Today we have some very strange items and some we are at a complete inability to make determinations on accurately.. Fifteen Auctions in total, please bid appropriately and frequently."
"Our first item for auction today is a musical instrument known as a Koulite. Its is from the Fresrek villages of Moon Island. Used in ceremonial rights of passage it is of a unique design that cannot be replicated outside of the Island's perimeter. Opening Bid will be one Item of equivalent exchange."
"One Lightning Gem." Wu Hai bid light, it was important that he not get the wrong impression made about him. He had funds, but in bidding items, he would be telling people what he had on him.
"Three Light Elemental Books".. another bidder quickly outbid Wu Hai.
"One Graphite Mole, Alive.".. someone pulled out a Small Rodent in a cage.
"Two Mid Tier Swords and a mated Pair of Sulker Toads" A clear competitor with the Rodent wielding man bid nearly double the value.
Sulker Toads could be used for their excretions and the venom could be used as a base to make confusion powders.
"One Molten fire-snail Core.".....
"Three Lightning Gems"..... Wu Hai tried bidding the same item in greater quantity, but some people looked at him with greedy eyes.
Lightning gems were incredibly rare to begin with, to have three meant he had a source. Wu Hai felt stupid after his bid but changed up what he would offer next.
"Nine-Headed Anthrobeast Fangs. 18 of them.".. Wu Hai had been outbid, drastically.
The auction was going to be very cut throat, Wu Hai had expected a money bidding war. What he found was anything but that, with the increase in bids there would obviously be a lot of treasure that came to light and it might not even be the winning purchase price.
"Going once to the Anthrobeast Fangs."
"Wood Dragon Bark, 10 kilograms." Wu Hai tried something else to buy the the instrument.
The Auctioneer looked back at his compatriots. "Did you say Wood-Dragon Bark?"
"Yes, Juvenile Wood Dragon Bark, 10 kilograms."
"Hmm. I'll have to ask the seller, but lets see if we have any higher bids."
"Do we have a higher bidder? The winner will be chosen by the seller, the price of each item is equally unique." Manager Chou demanded to see the bark.
To him, Dragons didn't exist anymore. They had drifted away from the continent and never returned. Now he had 10 kilograms of Dragon Skin.
Wu Hai pulled out the bark and let it pile up to about 11 kilograms and put a small chunk of it back. "I'm unwilling to get rid of all of it, it is quite rare."
Manager Chou saw what he had done and commented "I understand, this much is quite a lot already."
Continuing with the Auction Manager Chou started announcing again, "Its been verified, The bark is real.
The seller has agreed to the exchange for the 10 kilos of Dragon Skin.
The audience was stunned, an Anthrobeast was complex and difficult to trap, getting even a single fang in tact was nearly unheard of, but there were 18 of them offered up and the auction was one by some Dragon Skin. No one could argue the value of one product over another, but surely other sources for dragon skin existed.. maybe old items had used them, or scrolls.
"As some of you may know, the Dragons of legend do not allow someone to possess their remains. If they find someone to be in possession of such an item they tend to find themselves being a target, marked for death." The Auctioneer finished his announcement and the exchange was made.
"Our Next item up for auction is a Bristle Owl. Its previous owner died, and so we came into its possession. The Auction house has no limit or starting bid."
"Do we have any bids?" Manager Chou looked out at the group and most of them seemed disinterested.
"This Owl has the ability to change its size and can fly for a long period of time. It only eats prey it hunts on its own, so feeding it won't be necessary in most circumstances. Its a rare find.. anyone?"
"One Natural Fire Staff" Mike wanted the bird. He wasn't going to be anyone's mount and the thing fed itself. It was like asking for a free minion in his eyes.
Wu Hai didn't fight the bid, it was well worth it. "you can go up to 7 if someone fights you for it, I have seven kinds of Natural Staffs in my bag." Wu Hai whispered to Mike after his bid.
"One Natural Fire Staff.... Going once." The faces of the audience went stiff.
"One Mid Tier Mace and a Low Tier Dagger" Another bid slightly outweighed their own.
"One Natural Fire Staff, and One Natural Healing Staff" Wu Hai outbid the mace and dagger quickly. The bidder was very annoyed and searched his spacial device for something else before yawning and sitting down like he wasn't even interested.
Mike looked at Wu Hai and they both knew they had just been taken for a ride. It almost seemed pointless to put something up for auction the next time they would come. As it stood, they had already lost their chance to sell an item at today's auction.
"Two Staffs.. going once."
"Going Twice. Sold"
Wu Hai passed the Staves to the attendant and she walked back with the owl cage. Wu Hai scooted it over to Mike and said his congratulations.
"Our next item for bid is a Crown from Etteins. It was worn by the royal family and after their public execution his house was looted. This is the official Royal Crown of Etteins."
"The opening bid has been set at at least the value of 4 magical weapons of mid tier or their equivalent."
"Do I hear any bidders?"
"If reserve is not met I'm prepared to offer 2 mid tier weapons as payment. This is not a bid." one bidder spoke up but tacitly decided to not be interested.
To him four weapons was just too much.
"The Rogue Queens Chamber does not accept outside bidding or business dealings, any more outburst as such will resort to your immediate removal by force. Is that understood?" … Attempting to change subjects, Manager Chou went onto the next item.
"Up next is a Pair of Earrings from The Frost Clan. Once an enemy of the Polarons, Earrings belonged to the Queen of the Frost Clan. Her head now adorns the mantle of the Polaron Arch Bishops Dining hall but the Earrings clashed with the lighting. They have decided to sell the Earrings for no less than one ounce of Elemental Essence."
It was obviously a ploy to look for sources of elemental essence, if someone had even one ounce, they definitely had found a source. It was rare enough to find one, when someone stumbled across elemental essence and didn't use it immediately they would have tremendous amounts of the stuff.
Mike whispered to Wu Hai, but they both already knew what would wait for them if they bid.
The Auction was won by a Dark Hooded man with green skin, he had paid with seven mid-tier weapons and a magic book.
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