Within ten minutes, only two parties were left to attempt outbidding each other.
"NINE BILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION, AND FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND GEEGLECOINS!"
The prices were incrementing at the hundred-thousand levels now, and bids were coming in a little slower than at the start of the event.
"NINE BILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION, AND SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND GEEGLECOINS!"
Uari put in a bid.
"Going once, go—esteemed guests, a third challenger has appeared with TEN BILLION GEEGLECOINS!!!"
Head aching, Uari muted the sound of the event and watched as chaos descended on the whole event. Minutely, he wondered how many packets of VendoStor curry packets he could buy with ten billion Geeglecoins.
By the time he finished calculating roughly 365,000 years' worth of curry packets, one of the original parties had put in a bid for ten billion and one hundred million Geeglecoins. Uari put in another bid for eleven billion and ignored the mess that was being broadcasted. He started calculating how many years of canned beans he could buy with eleven billion Geeglecoins.
If he ate nine cans of beans a day…
"Esteemed guests, going once, going twice, sold—sold to the person who bid FIFTEEN BILLION GEEGLECOINS for the Twin Earings of Aahad Caria! What a phenomenal way to end our annual auction!"
Uari got up and stretched, Lightspeed settling within his system. He'd paid the cashier a couple of hundred Geeglecoins for free-flow Lightspeed for a few hours, and they had been more than happy to oblige. His entire body was vibrating with synthetic energy and excitement.
A message came through the digital auction platform from the auctioneer, requesting his presence at the auction house to claim his prize, as well as information on how to make payments.
Uari sent a message back with a screenshot of the complete payment made, and a note that he would be there in half an hour.
Aiam Adhick appeared at the auction house all cleaned up, with a new appearance and clothes he had filched—er, purchased. He looked like a strapping 24-year-old man in the trendiest wear he could find.
In short, he blended in just fine with the showy crowd milling around the front of the levitating auction house and was able to slip in without being noticed. Aiam Adhick, the new owner of the Twin Earrings of Aahad Caria, had already been given access to the lounge, where the auctioneer would hand his hard-won prize over.
His eyes and blood let him into the building, and the ostentatious glass elevator took him into the levitating area. Then he took a second elevator, as instructed, onto a floor that stood high above Gildest. When the elevator stopped, he emerged and looked down at the rest of the city. The implication was not lost on him.
"Ah, you must be Mr. Adhick!" The auctioneer, a short, slim man with cunning green eyes and a curved tilt to his mouth approached him. The way he pronounced 'Adhick' made it obvious that he was trying to avoid calling him a dick.
Uari silently made a mental note to send Yan Guowen a tip for the accidental amusement.
"Yes, yes! I saw those earrings and thought I must have them." Uari raised an imperious eyebrow and cringed inwardly. "They're very beautiful, aren't they?"
Aiam Adhick trait one: does not care what the earrings do - check.
Aiam Adhick trait two: lots of money - check.
Aiam Adhick trait three: talks a lot - check.
"Yes, of course, please do come in!"
"I actually didn't know the auction would be selling something so beautiful! Do you think-"
The lounge was tastefully lined with wood accents and several terrariums with real plants, albeit tiny. Uari remembered that he hadn't seen a living plant since the last time he'd sold the ones in his apartment.
Aw, shoot, he'd forgotten about the one Hykel said he'd left in his toilet! He'd have to go back for it. Hopefully, it was still alive. He'd keep it as an emergency asset.
Without pausing the banal chattering for even a moment, he draped himself over one of the sofas, body language completely open and unguarded.
Still, he wouldn't put it past the auctioneer to know that he was using an alias and, in extension, hiding his personality as well.
The auctioneer—Cautos Sherden—gestured for a nameless assistant to bring a wooden box over to them. Uari ran over the material: luxurious, thick mahogany, treated for longevity and maintained to prevent rot and decay. Polished to a shine and unpainted, to show its reddish undertones. He set the box on the table and opened it facing Uari.
Two jewels gleamed in the light of the room, one the colour of dense amber and the other, a deep and transparent dark sapphire. The lozenge-cut gems, each no bigger than the width of his fingernail, hung from silvery titanium chains that ended in hooks.
They were sharpened to a point, curved needles meant to pierce and puncture.
"...beautiful," he said breathlessly, looking at the hooks more than the gems. He might have had a minor awakening.
Cautos brought a magnifying device out.
"As you know, the Twin Earrings need to puncture actual flesh, but that should be all that is needed to make them work. The left earring," Cautos lifted the blue jewel, "is the one that goes on the person you'd like to superimpose your image on."
"Naturally, the right earring goes on the original person."
"Yes." He placed the jewel on the stage of the device and leaned over to adjust the settings before turning it over to Uari and projecting a screen.
The jewel gleamed under the magnifier's light, but it was easy to see that within the jewel itself lay a set of microscopic workings. Tiny tubes, gears, and workings lay within: Aahad Caria's famed engineering truly lay within this work of art.
He waved away the image and pretended to continue chattering about the lustre of the jewel instead. He'd look at it himself, later, and would test it out too.
"Make sure this sale remains anonymous, Cautos Sherden," he said, suddenly. "If you do, I will return for more."
It would be stupid to assume and expect that Cautos Sherden would just keep mum about this. He'd need additional incentive to keep quiet, and Uari knew just how to keep him quiet: additional business.
Aiam Adhick had no intentions of revealing himself. The anonymity of the entire event was helpful: no one knew who bid, and no one knew who received the item.
The less any information on this sale was made, the easier it would be later. After all, he was planning on destroying these earrings very publicly.