[Zur Country: Shea City]
Approaching the gates, one would first see the guards attired in greyish garments, with images of a swirling cloud imprinted on their clothing. Black armor, helmets and a spear were their standard mechanisms for combat holding significance to being a guard of such an 'illustrious' country.
The gates themselves were equal in height with the walls and were made from a metallic alloy that had a grey hue around them. They looked extremely sturdy and Neil could see a multitude of runes on them as well. At the crown of the walls were Nux cannons, ballistic arrows, and from his eyes he could sense laws that centered around fire, explosion and earth.
"Hmm.., do their financial power run that deep?", he mused.
As the carriage went forward a guard witnessed Neil's rather adequate looking carriage approach but was momentarily surprised because there was absolutely nothing pushing the carriage. It was seldom to see such a carriage unless you were renowned, wealthy or nobility. The guard immediately assumed a VIP had arrived.
The carriage finally came to halt when near the entry of the gates, the guard approached the side left door of the carriage to see who this person was, his curiosity unsatiated whatsoever.
"Sir, Welcome to Shea City. May you identify yourself? ", the guard was brief and straightforward.
"Hm", A voice resounded from the carriage accompanied by the squeak of hinges as the door opened revealing the young Neil step out of the carriage and take a moment to look at the guard.
"My name Is Neil.", he stated his name.
The guard took a moment to look at Neil and was once more surprised, rather stunned. The young man in front of him looked 20 years old, with black cascading hair and black garments that strode past his body attuned with another black robe that had a circular collar long enough to screen his nose hence making his azure gaze extremely striking. His feet were slightly visible but were bare. Neil exuded an aura of coldness yet was subtle and calm which he also took note of.
"Sir Neil, I assume you have come for the CloudEye auction?", the guard assumed what Neil was here for.
"Indeed, how could I miss such an event?". Neil stated sincerely looking at the guard then averting his gaze from him to look at the remaining guards who in fact were quite surprised by his appearance.
"Very well but Since you are not a denizen of Shea City you will be charged with 3 silver coins for entry." Crome relayed to Neil.
"Very Well.", Neil responded but was inwardly laughing loudly. The feeling that the prices were quite lax were quite refreshing bringing even a slight smirk on his face. This already showed the immaturity Neil had and was deemed to be so, after all he was only 19 years old. He believed 3 silver coins to be cheap but what he did not know was that a family of 4 could live off 3 silver coins for 2-3 months. Neil extended his left hand and suddenly the 3 silver coins required for entry spawned onto that palm. Appearance wise they had many geometric sides and angles making them look like heavily complex shapes, moreover they were the size of an ordinary round coin but were all identical. This type of currency was universal and spanned across all the entire continent for better trade and better exchange rates. Neil proceeded to hand the coins to him.
"Thank you, sir. Also you'll need to go to the Shea District of Affairs located at the city hall to have your name registered. Its imperative you do so or you shall not be allowed in the Auction.", the guard said.
"I appreciate the info", Neil said and threw another silver coin at the guard who caught it faster than eye could see hoarding it to himself before heading back into his carriage.
Neil's carriage slowly entered the city and what he saw broadened his perspective of the world once more. He peeked through the window of the carriage observing everything around while the carriage made its way through the CBD on a roughly constructed pathway. It was extremely busy with many vendors, merchants and just ordinary folk flocking the streets which seemingly spanned forever. It could be described as a CBD in a third world country.
There were many buildings in his peripheral which all looked to be made of concrete, all spanning in a single line.
"Hmm seems the City Hall is in a more enriched area than this since all the peasants live here", he said to himself.
He took some twists and turns as he continued to look around and about 30 minutes after entering Shea City the pathway he was on grew more refined with marble tiling evident. Just as he arrived at the city hall he saw the statue of a beautiful and alluring woman holding a spear aimed diagonally to the sky.
"The Sovereigness…even just seeing her statue I can feel her aura.", he said while gazing at the statue before looking behind the statue. It was a huge white mansion and there was a sign just outside it written in Zurish: Shea District of Affairs.
Neil knocked on the roof of his carriage and it came to a halt.
"Stay put", he said to the pigeon who already dosed off into deep sleep.
He exited his carriage and approached the doors of the building made. They were greyly shaded with many inscriptions on them but were ordinary in size and length. He opened the door and at the counter behind a long white desk was a woman with striking red hair, her visage ordinary yet delicate indeed. She wore a grey dress with the same swirling clouds engraved on it like the guard. Her red eyes were glued on Neil and she asked in a smooth yet cooling tone.
"May I help you?"
He walked up to her and looked at her for a moment and responded casually.
"I've come here to register for the Auction", he said.
"Seems you've come a long way, huh?",
"Far beyond the horizons….", Neil responded
The woman chuckled.
"We will require a minimal amount of your Nux to create a specialized ID. So would you please, sir…", she took out a small black card and gestured for Neil to infuse it with his Nux.
"Very well.", he took the card and infused it with his Nux which caused the black card to turn Azure.
"Azure? How unique.", she commented on the peculiar color of his energy.
Neil remained silent and watched her take back the card as she then performed a series of incantations using runes on the card.
"A drop of blood would please, sir", she said amidst her incantations.
Neil bit his finger and dripped a drop of blood onto the card which changed the appearance of the card. There were many runic inscriptions on the card and the crazy part was that he could even feel his aura on the card. To
"This is a specialized ID, by using the user's distinct Nux and blood we can create the aura of the user themselves. This card cannot be used by anyone even if you do lose it. Note that when you reach the Auction you be required to use this card to enter and you'll need to confirm that again by using your Nux which will cause the card to respond in tune.", she said as she handed the card to him.
"Mimicking the Aura of a Cinth, you must be well accomplished in runes, no?", he said to her.
She simply looked at him blankly.
"That will be 10 silver coins", she said.
Neil took out the silver coins and handed it to her.
"Is there a place around here that I can rest?",
"There is the Red- Hyacinth Inn in the same direction you came from. I'm sure you passed It when coming here. I recommend it",
"Alright and could I have a map of the city?", he asked.
"Sure, that will be 5 silver coins.", she said and handed him a map of the city.
He handed her another silver coins and took the map.
"Well time to leave…", he turned away from the desk and kept the ID close. He left the building and went on to his carriage.
"Enjoy your stay, sir", she smiled but once Neil left the building her smiled disappeared altogether.
'That Nux was weird and he looked quite strong for someone so young. I always hate this time of year. So many crazy people and that guy is here every year. FUCK!!!!!!', she sighed heavily.