We returned to the city. I sent Io to her hotel room and paid for the damage she did to my room and then snuck around with shadow clones to find out who else was part of the cult but didn''t go to that temple. I found a handful of them and assassinated them. I don''t need this cult to revive because there are some believers left. It was almost 18:00 and the auction would start at 20:00. It was advised to keep your identity hidden if you wanted to attend.


    This is perfect. I will enter disguised, get cool stuff, and then leave this sandy hell the next morning to hopefully never return.


    My shadow clone was entertaining Io, she was exhausting but at least she was behaving. I got a cool-looking fox mask and made sure I read through the etiquette.


    Hmm, a suit in the desert? Is this an assassination attempt? I’m fine with the heat but humans will suffer in this. I will remember this though, maybe I will need to assassinate someone by putting him into a suit in the heat. You never know!


    I went through my dimensional pocket and found a suit. Greg gave it to me in the original timeline back to Boshi Town. It is way too small now though. I inspected it and it grew to my size. What is this sorcery? Well, it’s magic, I guess. It seemed to be made out of special fabric. Now that I’m thinking about it, Gregory has frequently been wearing the same suit, he never got one that looked different that seemed to grow with him. The label read ‘Made in Jarn.’ Never heard about that country. I went to a quiet area and put on the suit. It fit like a glove. This was some next-level stuff.


    I put my fox mask on and entered the auction house. The place was enormous and there was a lot of red and gold. And no sand! They seemed to separate the people going in into normal and wealthy people. They didn''t have to show their ID but they had a magic device scan it and send them to the left for normal and right for rich. A large fat man went before me and he went to the right. I wondered if I should just use my adventurers'' ID. I scanned it but it still sent me to the right.


    I hate this… People looked at me and I took a right to not stand out. There was a bar and a lot of accommodation and it was quite luxe. The rich people started to socialize. I heard a lot of bragging. What was the point of having a mask if you''re going to brag about your personal accomplishments… It was possible to go deeper into the building but nobody did this so I would stick out if I did. I sat in a corner and held my hands in my hair. What a terrible day.


    “Is that your trademark pose?” A sexy lady in a tight golden dress and a fancy golden mask approached me. Are you stalking me?!


    “Haha so it is you! This is the third time we meet, this must be fate!” She sat down next to me. It''s not fate if you''re stalking me…


    “I’m not stalking you, don’t worry. I thought about your words and you’re right, I let my emotions get the better of me. I will pursue my goal and after I succeed, I will make you mine!” Uhm is this a declaration of war?


    “No silly! Not to you at least.” She looked at some women that were looking at us. Please don''t waste your time…


    “I have set my goal and I won''t budge, now what interesting reason do you have to be here? I am also curious what happened to those cultists but I think I already know and if I’m wrong, I don''t want to know.” Ah right, you''re not that interested in humans I forgot, and I’m just here out of curiosity.


    “It''s not that I''m not interested in humans… Maybe I’m ill but I don''t feel a particular attachment to being a human. I’m not proud of it and if I could trade it, I would.” As long as you don''t get involved with cults. I talked with this sexy lady who was obviously Thalia when some fat dude approached us. I have watched enough tv to know where this is going.


    “Well, well what a lovely lady, who is this? I have never seen him before.” Well, I’m wearing a mask so…


    “Silence! I’m not talking to you!” I saw 2 dudes react in the background; they reminded me of the guys that I robbed clean.


    Thalia stood up. “He is my friend; I will not accept your manner of speech!” She might have tried to intimidate him but this guy is way bigger than her in every dimension.


    “Pff, what is so good about him, I can give you anything you want and even more!” The dude seemed to be undressing Thalia with his eyes. I don''t blame him but the trick is to be subtle. This guy wasn''t subtle.


    “Well, you’re demonstrating that is not true, I want respect and you’re not showing any!” Oof Thalia is hitting him hard.


    “You can get all the respect when you are with me!” Wow, dude and you got rich with that thought process? This city is doomed. I apologize, mister, I didn''t mean to offend you.


    “This ignorant fool doesn''t even know who I am!” Well, you’re wearing a mask…


    “Stop making excuses! Anyone can recognize me by my unique features!” He took off his mask. Why is everyone here so unreasonable? I looked at this person''s big and round features. Hmm, you’re correct nobody would mistake those ehh round features? Thalia giggled and this guy became red like a tomato. I felt a sting in my head. Tomato head? Where did that sting come from?


    “Are you suggesting I’m obese? I’m perfectly in shape I will have you know!” I agree, round is a shape too.


    “Insufferable fool! I will destroy you financially!” Uhm, good luck but you probably don’t know who I am so good luck with that.


    “But she must know!” He pointed at Thalia.


    “And what makes you think I will tell you? I’m richer than you are you can''t push me around!” Uhm judging by his size he can certainly push you around…


    “Haha, please stop making me laugh I’m trying to stay professional!” Thalia seemed to have no intention of stopping laughing though.


    Look here I’m not here to stroke your fragile ego, you got rich for a reason, show off your toughness and intelligence, and stop making a fool out of yourself. I have a low tolerance for unreasonable fools. If you really insist on destroying me, be prepared to expect any attempts from my side in destroying you in retaliation. Understood? I added some intimidation and the annoying guy got offended but kept his dignity, whatever was left of it, and walked away.


    “Ohh that was so hot!” Thalia started to leak charm magic. Why do I have so many things that I''m weak against?


    Give me a break, I have no energy for this bullshit. It seemed to be socially acceptable to head over to the other parts and I followed the rich people already drained of energy. I wanted to use a phoenix flower but I can''t do that here.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    “Hey wait for me! If you want to look high status it will help you to have a beautiful lady at your side!” I guess a passive approach will just drain me even more, I guess I have to be more aggressive. I pulled Thalia closer to me.


    Let''s show these fools who they''re dealing with. I put up an air of confidence and walked in while Thalia had her arms locked with mine. It wasn''t misplaced confidence, I was confident I could easily wipe out any fool who attempted to pull any bullshit on me. We took a VIP seat and acted as if we owned the place. This feels pretty good actually. What are you looking for?


    “A man.” She looked at me. I mean in this auction, stop trying to distract me.


    She looked at the auction hall. “Some magical items that could help me achieve my goal faster.” I am just going to hope that you forget about me after you reach your goal…


    “I might have if I didn''t witness what I just did.” So, I messed up again… The auction started and a lot of useless junk started to get displayed. None of the rich guys were bothering with any of this but the normal people down below were going crazy for them. I spotted the round guy sending glares at me but I ignored him. I still acted as if I owned the place.


    I tried my best to not fall asleep for 2 hours.


    Then something interesting appeared. It was a purple storage box. I technically don''t need it but I can use it to fool people. I can pull shit out of my dimensional pocket by pretending I have that. The fat guy bid 5 gold for it. Now I wanted it even more just to mess with him. I bid 5 gold and 1 silver. This pissed him off to no end. Whenever another rich guy bid for it, I raised it by at least 1 gold but for this guy, 1 silver will do, that''s all he gets. Thalia seemed to enjoy it too.


    “And it goes to the man in the fox mask for 17 gold and 1 silver!” I won the first round, let''s see how much gold this guy has. I might bid for things I don''t need to just make it more expensive for him. There were some items I didn''t need but that Thalia went for. Some things to augment water skills or accessories that either were for vanity reasons or adventuring.


    “And now a special item!” they showed off the duck that was spewing water. I inspected myself and realized that I didn''t have it on me.


    Thalia pointed. “Hey isn''t that?” Aagh! I can''t believe I lost it! So much shit happened.


    The 2 guys that I stole it from seemed to be shocked too. It was described as an item that can make infinite water. The water had to be constantly drained because the duck wouldn''t stop spitting water. I inspected it with my Elgards eyes. It didn''t seem to be the duck itself but a shard was lodged inside it. A shard that had the same makeup as the dimensional fabric… Shit, so that thing had shards… The possibility of there being more than 1 shard of this problematic item seemed to invade my mind.


    “I will get it for you!” Don''t go broke over it, I will take over if it gets too much. The fat guy bid 50 gold for it and the room got silent. Unfortunately for him, I have deep pockets but I will let Thalia handle this.


    “50 gold and 1 silver!” the rich dude threw a nasty look at Thalia. They went back and forth and the current bid was 250 gold and 1 silver. Isn''t this going to hurt your pockets, let me take over.


    “Sure.” The 2 rich dudes bid 265 gold and the fat dude went for 500.


    500 gold 1 Silver! Nobody said anything. They wanted to confirm if there were any more bidders but nobody wanted to bid this much for infinite water. Honestly, I''m disappointed, this is priceless in the desert. I’m sure these guys have more gold than that. I won the bet.


    Some rare desert plants passed by and the normal people started to bid again but most of these seemed interesting for creating poisons or other fancy effects so I bought most of those. The fat guy tried to mess with me and drive up the price for me but I let him have it and he became red like a tomato. Another sting in my head. Tomato goddess? Why am I remembering this? I was satisfied with what I got and Thalia was too.


    “And now for the last item. It is sought after with its current value sitting at 1563 gold, we have! A Hourai ruby!” I almost fell out of my chair as they showed a small 1-carat ruby that had special magical engravings in it attesting to its authenticity. Why are these things getting more expensive whenever I hear about them? All I did was just sell some rubies…


    Thalia seemed to get serious. “I need this! Don’t help me! 2000 gold!” Hey, it''s just a ruby no need to go broke over it…


    “It is the perfect symbol of beauty and now it has even more value to me.” Humans are so complicated… I started to become dizzy at the numbers that were getting thrown around for this small red rock… Is this an indication of the fall of humanity?


    “3350 gold and 1 silver!” it was just a battle between Thalia and the fat guy. The 2 guys who I robbed clean were extremely excited. I guess they got the value back and more. If I knew this would happen, I would''ve stolen more stuff from them. Thalia was very passionate about it so I stopped trying to persuade her to stop. My gaze fell on the red stone. Was I greatly underestimating the worth of rubies? Thalia won the bet with 3840 gold and 1 silver and hugged me in happiness. The fat dude stormed out in anger. He was completely red. An image of that bitch goddess flashed through my head and my head stung. Ugh.


    “Are you ok?” Yeah, just a headache nothing unusual.


    We walked out and went to the claim area for rich people. I got my stuff but more importantly, the duck which I instantly froze and chucked in my dimensional pocket to make sure I didn''t lose it this time. But now I could pretend to put it in my dimensional box! I saw the 2 dudes being extremely happy when they accepted the insane amount of gold, they got from Thalia but Thalia was almost glowing when she got the Hourai ruby. I will never understand humans.


    “I requested that they make a necklace out of it, it only cost me 50 extra silver but it was worth it look!” The ruby was embedded in silver and she wore it quite well. Why a necklace? The ruby is almost disappearing in your cleavage…


    “To have it close to my heart.” You''re not letting this go, are you?


    “Nope! Can I ask you something?” If it’s reasonable, sure. She held her pendant and turned it around and showed the empty silver back of it.


    “Can you sign it for me?” I''ll do you one better, I will sign it and place a protection rune on it. I took out a very pointed dagger, heated the tip and carefully and delicately signed it with my name and drew the primal rune for ''protection'' on the silver. It started giving off primal energy so I knew it worked.


    “Thank you! This item went from 3840 gold and 51 silver to priceless. I will carry this to my grave.” I figured, that''s why I wrote a protection rune on it to make sure that doesn’t happen anytime soon. I would have suggested to reimburse you for the stupid amount of gold you spent but I think that would be highly inappropriate.


    “You already reimbursed me don''t worry. Now come let''s drink!” No! I can’t I''m only 17!


    “So? Since when do you abide by the rules?” You got me there but no drinking I’m sorry. I just want to rest.


    “Ok, how about you stop by at my place?” I sense ulterior motives. I’m sorry I will go back to my hotel room. It was fun but I will probably leave tomorrow morning. Don''t forget your goal.


    “I won’t! I will get this done in record time and then come for you!” Eh? Just take your time…


    She gave me a kiss on my cheek and stepped back. “Thank you for showing that there is still hope for humanity.” Uhm, I think I demonstrated that humanity is doomed but if you think otherwise that’s good.


    “Now don''t go dying before I reach my goal!” Why does everyone keep saying that…


    Thalia stepped to her doorstep and blew a kiss at me. Somehow, we ended up near her house while talking. It looked quite deluxe. She surely isn''t hurting for money.


    “Bye!” She disappeared in her house and I went back to the hotel by [Shadow swapping] with my shadow clone. Io was still talking…


    “You smell a bit different suddenly!” No, I don''t! I ran off and locked myself in my room, jumped into bed and fell asleep.


    I had another nightmare. I dreamt that I found a 9t sealed away and broke her out of the seal. This triggered and summoned the bitch goddess and she started blasting us. I did something risky to escape when the 9t chick woke up. We made fun of her and called her tomato goddess after which the 9t chick saved me. I woke up after this realistic nightmare.