Vera took a bite of her meal as she turned to Arielle with a concerned expression. "Do you think the master will be okay clearing the dungeon alone?"
Arielle shrugged. "I'm not sure. We've never seen him go all out before."
"It's already been two days," Vera pointed out.
"True, but we don't even know which dungeon he's clearing. It could be the Lizardman Swamp or the Undead Kingdom, for all we know," Arielle replied.
While they were discussing their worries, Augustus suddenly summoned them to his location. In a flash, they were teleported before they could even prepare for it. Augustus was sipping on a cup of tea and greeted them with, "Nice to see you guys again."
Caught off guard, Vera and Arielle stumbled over. "Is there no warning option?" Arielle complained as she rubbed her sore rear.
Ignoring her complaint, Augustus continued, "I'm just checking how you guys are doing. We're heading back to level you guys up again. By the way, what's the name of this city? And how far are we from Eldrida?"
Arielle glanced out the window, attempting to gauge their location. "This is Oakwood. If we're going by foot, it would take us around three days to get to Eldrida. But if we use a carriage, it would only take a day."
"Alright, you two go pack your things. I'll summon you guys in an hour or so," Augustus instructed, before sending them back to the tavern.
As they materialized back into the tavern, a few people noticed their sudden appearance and disappearance but didn't say anything.
Arielle's grumpy expression was hard to miss as she munched on her food. "Suddenly, I hate him a little bit."
Vera tried to calm her down. "I'm sure Master is doing this for our sake. He wants us to get stronger so we can help him."
"But why do I feel like he's being chased by something? It's like he's in a hurry. There's still a lot of time left, and there's no need for us to dungeon almost every single day," Arielle pouted. "I don't know about the other Irregulars, but I bet they aren't this excited."
"On the bright side, at least he's concerned about us," Vera replied, trying to soothe her friend's agitation.
Arielle realized that she had gone a little overboard with her complaining, remembering Vera's past. "Yeah, my bad. I guess we shouldn't take it for granted."
After finishing their meal, Arielle and Vera quickly packed their belongings, which included new clothes, equipment, and some other essentials.
"So... we just wait?" Arielle asked, clutching her stuff tightly.
"I think so," Vera replied, racking her brain to think of ways to contact Augustus.
"We should ask Master to buy us a communication crystal. It would make it easier to communicate with him," Vera suggested.
Arielle nodded, feeling frustrated and restless. "I'm going to take a nap while hugging my things."
A few minutes later, they were summoned by Augustus and appeared in the same room as before.
Realizing that Augustus would teleport to the dungeon immediately, Arielle stopped him in his tracks. "Wait! Let us have a minute. We want to explore the city. Oakwood is much bigger than Eldrida, and today is the perfect day for the auction. Can we go?"
Augustus was taken aback by Arielle's desperate plea. "Okay... I guess we can go and see what's available? I'm almost out of gold, and I have a few pieces of equipment that I can sell."
"Great! Let's go," Arielle exclaimed, successfully convincing Augustus to join her at the auction. At least they could delay their suffering for a few hours.
As they walked down the stairs, they bumped into William. "Oh! I was just about to visit you. I've put everything up for auction already. Once everything is sold, I'll give you your cut of the gold."
William noticed the two girls following Augustus and asked, "Who are these girls?"
"They're my party members. They just arrived from Eldrida," Augustus replied vaguely.
"Ah, they must be pretty strong," William remarked, impressed that they could party up with Augustus.
"Where are you guys headed?" William asked, noticing that they were leaving their room.
"The auction. I want to have a look around and sell some of my things too," Augustus responded, deciding that there was no harm in revealing their plans to William.
"Oh, I was just about to invite you guys to the auction too. Good timing to see how much our items are sold for," William said, beaming with excitement.
William led the group to the auction house, a massive building teeming with adventurers and a few notable Irregulars who stood out among the crowd.
As they walked, Augustus couldn't help but feel disgusted at the sight of some Irregulars dragging their slaves like an animal in the public. "Is that allowed? It's basically abuse," Augustus murmured softly to William.
As they walked, Augustus couldn't help but feel a sense of disgust at the sight of some Irregulars dragging their slaves around like animals in public. "Is that even allowed? It's basically abuse," Augustus murmured softly to William.
"Normal for Irregulars, but that could be Exonian too," William said with a nod. "Thankfully, the Irregulars haven't caused much trouble lately. But what you see here is just the tip of the iceberg."
He then gestured to a dubious-looking alley in the auction house where a sign reading "Slave Market" hung prominently.
"If you're interested, I won't judge you. Many Exonians own slaves, too," William remarked, shaking his head in dismay as he watched some Exonians make their way to the slave market. "It's become the norm around here. I'm sure there will be more in auctions later."
"I'm good. Just take me to the receptionist. I have some items I'd like to auction off," Augustus replied, his eyes fixed ahead.
For now, he was focused on recruiting a tank role for his party, but he knew he needed to accumulate enough gold coins first.
"Right this way," William said, leading Augustus to the receptionist.
With a flourish, Augustus retrieved items from his dimensional storage that Arielle and Vera could not use or did not need.
"Here, take this Death Sword and Ghoul's Claws. And Arielle, what about this bow?" Augustus asked, displaying the Death Bow to her.
"It's not my style," Arielle replied, examining the bow skeptically. "I prefer the Goblin Hunter's Bow. It feels more practical."
"Understood. And this bow too," Augustus nodded, handing the items to the receptionist. "And these health potions, too." He exchanged some of his points for Health Potion II, ensuring they would fetch a good price at the auction.
The receptionist then handed Augustus a pen and his ID, which he used to sign the necessary paperwork to claim his gold coins.
As they signed the documents, Augustus and the others headed to the main event of the auction, which was about to start. The host, a lively and enthusiastic man, welcomed everyone with a smile.
"Welcome to our weekly auction! Today, we have some wonderful items available, but before we move on to the main event, let's quickly go through a few consumable items first," the host announced, drawing the attention of the crowd.
"First up, we have Potions. But these are not your ordinary potions, ladies and gentlemen. We have secured only a few of them, made by an unknown alchemist, but we can guarantee their quality."
"These Magical Health Potions are as potent as Tier-3 Health Potions, without any side effects like pain or addiction. They are some of the purest health potions we have ever seen," the host announced, presenting a familiar-looking potion on the stage.
Augustus' eyes widened as he recognized the potion from Eldrida. "Isn't that my potion?" he asked Arielle, who nodded in agreement.
"You make potions too?" William overheard their conversation. "You're a multitalented man."
Augustus explained briefly, "No, it's part of my ability."
"These limited edition potions are perfect as a gift for your kids when they go to the dungeon, so they don't suffer as much. We are selling them in a batch only, starting from 30 gold coins per potion."
"35!"
"45!"
The price of the potion kept going up, reaching a hundred and ten gold per potion, which made Augustus a little jealous, knowing someone had re-bought his potion and sold it here for more profit. But he didn't worry too much since he knew he would profit more, having given a better version of the potion to the receptionist.
"Sold for 110 gold coins per potion to guest no. 547. Please head to the receptionist to collect them."
The host continued, "Next up, I know it's not surprising, but we managed to just get a similar potion too. But we just tested it, and it's as potent as a Tier-4 potion without any side effects. The price for this potion starts at 150 gold per potion."
"160!"
"170!"
"200!"
The price for this potion went up to 300 gold per potion, which was more than Augustus had expected.
"Sold! Next up is a Strength Potion. It's not a lifesaving potion, but it can increase your strength when you drink it. We only have ten of them here, and there are some side effects, but overall it's a Tier-2 buff potion. The price for this potion starts at 10 gold per potion."
"15!"
"20!"
Augustus had no interest in the potions being sold here, as they contained side effects and weren't even that useful. He could easily know their properties by inspecting them with his system.
[Low Quality Strength Potion]
Stat Increase: +5 STR
Duration: 2 Hours
Side Effect: Muscle Loss
The other potions that were introduced were even worse.
[Low Quality Agility Potion]
Stat Increase: +10 AGI
Duration: 30 Minutes
Side Effects: Hallucinations, Addiction, Reduced CONS
[Low Quality Resistance Potion]
Stat Increase: +5 CONS
Duration: 1 Hour
Side Effects: Skin Shedding, Hair Loss
Augustus couldn't understand why people were even buying these potions, especially when he saw the side effects listed alongside them.
He shook his head in disbelief as more and more potions were introduced, some of which were even drug-related. They called them Love Potions, but Augustus knew that they were actually aphrodisiacs. He felt his anger rising as he watched what was being sold.
Fortunately, the Love Potion was the last one, and the host moved on to the next category.
"Next, we have Magic Scrolls," the host announced, "Please come down and take a look. If there's anything that interests you, just put a price tag in it and we'll conclude after thirty minutes."
Most people sent their attendants to the stage to bid on the magic scrolls, rather than going themselves. Augustus slowly inspected each one of them to see if anything might catch his interest.
The magic scrolls were simple to use, designed for people who couldn't use magic themselves. They could simply tear the scroll and unleash the spell that was enchanted on it.
However, most of the spells being sold here were low-tier spells that Gorlak could probably execute without a problem, even though he didn't know magic.
For example, Fire Blast was a weaker version of Fireball, and there was Bolt, which Gorlak could probably use since he could use Thunder's Call. Offensive spells had no use for Augustus, but there were no good support spells available either.
Tracking Spell was useful, but Augustus wasn't hunting anything at the moment. Vine Trap, on the other hand, would be undeniably useful in certain situations, but Augustus already knew the spell. Appraise Spell was also redundant, as Augustus already had his system to do that.
"None of them are good," Augustus concluded, deciding not to go downstairs to bid on any of the scrolls.
As he waited for time to pass, Augustus looked at the paper handed out to everyone regarding the main items that would be sold later in the auction.
"Let's see what we have here," he thought to himself.