The old man revealed the first of the weapons that would be sold tonight and Ares was hooked the second he saw it. It was a semi-automatic pistol. Simple enough. Effective enough. Regarding the design, it was silver with an eagle pattern carved into the side of the gun''s barrel. Again, rather simple. What really sold Ares, though, was the description the old man rattled off.


    "This weapon is a neutral tier backfire gear named ''Biome Eagle''. As is standard for all guns, imbuing it with mana allows you to create bullets and fire them, but that isn''t really the purpose of this weapon. The backfire manifested in the form of a rune named Adaptive Shot that absorbs nearby mana to charge up a single, devastating magic. The absorbed mana determines the element of the shot so, if you were in the ocean, for example, you would fire off water magic. The benefit of this weapon is that you can create powerful, ranged magic even using pillars that you don''t have an affinity for depending on your location. The downside is that the region you''re in limits the effectiveness of the weapon. Take the ocean example from earlier. Yes you can fire water magic, but will water magic ever really be effective against creatures that live in the ocean? The magic becomes somewhat redundant against creatures that live in the biome you use it in as they will typically be more resistant to it. Magic cannot be stored within the weapon either, so it must be absorbed on-site. It is still useful against cultivators however, and there is a neat trick to this weapon that saves it from going down a tier. The mana it absorbs has no requirement whatsoever. It is cheap, if not outright free to simply use the mana in the air, but that will force it to be magic based on whatever region you''re in. What you can do instead, for a price, is imbue it with your own mana. This is more expensive, but it allows you to choose the type of magic it can fire off provided you''re capable of wielding that pillar to begin with. Additionally, you yourself do not have to provide the mana. Other cultivators may aid you by offering up their own mana to the weapon. This gives it a bit more versatility at the cost of extra mana. We thought long and hard about which tier this weapon belonged in and we believe there are enough use cases in which the weapon can prove helpful, so neutral it is. One final note, the Adaptive Shot takes the form of an eagle with a minute amount of intelligence, meaning it can track enemies to a degree. Add on the effects of whatever element is applied to it, and it is a weapon that is respectable in its own right. The bidding will start at 600 mid-grade and increments must be 40 mid-grade or higher."


    Ares decided to wait until the bidding died down before he threw his hat in the ring but there was no way in hell he wasn''t taking this thing home! A long range, homing explosive?! If he imbued the weapon with destruction magic and shot a tracking explosive at someone... Not to mention disintegration and nothingness were options as well. In fact, now, thanks to the Prowler, he could throw the darkness pillar into the mix too if he wanted. This would give Ares options galore and it was literally the missing tool in his arsenal that he needed to feel comfortable regardless of what he came up against. "800 mid-grade." Ares had no expectations of getting the Eagle this cheap, but he threw out the bid anyway as things were slowing down and he wanted others to be aware he was going to fight for it too. Ares believed in the psychology of this approach, only butting in toward the end to let everyone know he was willing to spend a fair bit by only participating when the price got high. Of course this wouldn''t dissuade anyone necessarily, but if it helped him save even 40 mid-grade against another bidder who understood Ares wouldn''t back down, then why not? It was also worth mentioning that the people Ares was competing against were just regular, non VIP cultivators. These people couldn''t really afford to fork over astronomical amounts. Just him being in the VIP booth was a mental edge as the cultivators would probably expect him to have way more stardust than he actually did. This philosophy worked for Ares as he managed to place one more bid at 980 mid-grade that won him the weapon. Presumably, the other cultivators gave up when realising a VIP was willing to fight tooth and nail and they probably wouldn''t be able to compete no matter how long the bidding went on. Thanks to this, Ares had gotten the weapon for, give or take, a couple hundred star-dust cheaper than he would have otherwise. Sure the other cultivators could have maliciously raised the price, but not knowing who the VIP was meant it could very well be a death sentence for them if they played around too much. Long story short, being a VIP was actually massively beneficial and was why Ares had bickered with Jeremy until he got his way. Ares wanted to make his three high-grade do as much work for him as they could. Furthermore, if Ares wanted anything else this auction, and had to bid against the other VIP cultivator, any and all stardust saved would be invaluable.


    After buying all the alchemical ingredients, and the successful acquisition of the Biome Eagle, Ares had spent roughly 1.2 high-grades worth of stardust. This put his remaining funds at essentially 2 high-grade, or two thousand mid-grade. He had a tiny bit more than that, but the amount really wasn''t worth mentioning. Depending on what was yet to come, this was a worrying amount. Most final items at auction would typically sell for around 2.5 high-grade... Which Ares did not have unless he sold something in his possession, but there was nothing he wanted to exchange. The lowest quality object in his storage was the Black Ice Bane, and that had already long since proven its usefulness. Plus it wouldn''t really be as useful to anyone else other than him because it utilised his destruction pillar as a core foundation. He could maybe try and sell some Beads if push came to shove, but even that was a desperate act that would only net him so much profit. The Eagle was worth every penny, but it had put him in an awkward position so he sincerely hoped there wouldn''t be anything else that grabbed his attention...


    For a while, Ares felt truly relieved as he sat back and watched weapon after weapon come and go. Some were interesting, but nothing was worth the cost of doing business. He didn''t really need an upgrade to anything in his arsenal right now so treasures that were only weapons and nothing more couldn''t sway him. Armour couldn''t tempt him either as he preferred remaining light and mobile. Blacksmithing and runemancy was a part of his repertoire now too. If he really needed something for whatever reason, he could always craft something temporary. As the old man finished running through the equipment section, Ares started biting his nails as this was when things would get serious. Literally anything could show up here during the final stretch and these were the standouts of the auction no doubt. The crème de la crème, as it were.


    The first item that came out was a beneficial tier backfire gear that attracted a lot of oohs and aahs as these things were really rare. Even Ares had to bury his head in his arms and try not to look. It was good. The footwear in question could triple its weight on command. Good for anchoring against wind magic. Good for kicking opponents. Zero downside other than being slightly difficult to wield during its effect. If the effect wasn''t toggleable, it would probably be liability tier. Overall, it was a solid item that would do right by its owner. Ares, being the kind of freak that threw himself into the air regularly, could stomp on people with this thing like an absolute menace; squishing all those beneath him! The devilish boots were tempting him! NO ARES. DO NOT FALL FOR THE WICKED TEMPTRESS. SHOW SOME DIGNITY AND LET IT GO, MAN! The worst part was that he could afford it too... The price was going to end up at roughly 1.7 high-grade. He could buy it and walk away with some spare change in his pocket... ARES! NO! IT ISN''T WORTH IT! YOU DON''T NEED IT! YOU LITERALLY JUST GOT VOIDWALK WHICH DOES THE SAME THING! After tussling with the demon whispering sweet nothings about flattening people into pancakes with the backfire gear and Voidwalk combined, Ares managed to eek out of his internal war victorious. There were battle scars in the form of a broken heart and a sad smile that was doing its best to help Ares pretend he wasn''t regretful. A single tear was shed for the boots before Ares got his head back into the game. He avoided bidding on this because he knew he could do better damnit! Now was not the time to be pitying himself!


    In the end, the gear was sold for 1.75 high-grade to the person in VIP room 1. Ares tried paying attention to see if he could recognise the voice, but it was just some unknown woman. Unknown to Ares anyway. If they were in the VIP room they had to be someone of note. Well, technically they could just be along for the ride, following someone else who actually had the qualification to be there, but it didn''t really matter anyway. Ares saluted room number 1, even though they couldn''t see him, and asked no one in particular to take care of the boots, even though they couldn''t hear him either.


    A few other items came and went, nothing that gave Ares as much trouble of the boots anyway. The final item was about to be announced and, if it also didn''t pique Ares'' interest, he was going to wind up regretting not getting the boots until the day he died... Actually, realistically, that just meant forever...


    Ahem


    The old man cleared his throat and stamped his cane on the stage. "Todays'' last item is a bit of a strange one. Even we can''t value it because we don''t know what it is. For that reason, before I introduce you to it, I want you to know there is no minimum bid and no required increment per bid. We believe we should leave it up to you to decide what you think the item is and how much you''re willing to fork over for it. Please bear in mind we are not responsible for any danger the item may pose to the buyer and we will not refund your bid should the product have any untoward effects. Even if the item were to become dust the moment your hand makes contact with it, that is not our concern. The item is a risky bid, so please understand that before making any decisions."


    Ares leant forward in his seat. It wasn''t uncommon for stuff like this happen in auction houses. Items like treasure maps or unknown ores and plants were sold all the time. Usually, these things were either completely useless, or so hyper specific in their uses that only those with incredible knowledge in certain fields could identify them, let alone make use of them. Still, the potential to get something incredibly precious for cheap would attract a lot of bidders who had a problem or two with gambling. Sure, there was a chance this item would be a dud and something someone had found in their back garden; bringing it to auction to try and make a quick buck, but Ares had a trick up his sleeve no one else could copy. Omniscience! Even if it couldn''t tell him the name of the item, the effect of it should be decipherable. Using Omniscience was basically cheating, as per usual, but it wasn''t his fault no one else had one of the strongest treasures in this dimension! If they wanted an advantage, they should just clearly be trying harder!... If the cultivators down below could hear what Ares was jokingly muttering, they would have stormed his booth and hung him in the centre of town for his crimes.


    The last item was wheeled onto the stage under a cloche. Everyone''s eyes were glued to the front of the stage as tensions rose throughout the theatre. Those who were confident in their areas of expertise were salivating at the prospect of potentially discovering a rare treasure of ancient myth of yore that everyone else would mistake for a pebble or something equally unvaluable. These kind of non-descript items always got everyone in the room excited and this time was no different. The old man put his hand atop the cloche and began lifting the lid. A few of the cultivators were tempted to throw their lives away and attack the old man for taking so damn long! The bastard was clearly teasing everyone! When finally the cloche was lifted, a majority of the room sunk back into their seats with narrowed eyes and a frown on their face. A few botanists and environmental-minded individuals remained standing as they stared at the object, trying to parse through all of their memories in search of this weird little item.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Back in VIP room number 2, Aejaz looked at the object and had a gut feeling his brother was going to go berserk over this item... It really was just a gut feeling, but he had a reason to believe it. The item on display was a seed. Not just any seed though... The seed was golden. Very few things in the cultivation world were inherently gold, it just didn''t happen. For a golden, NATURAL treasure to show up... What were the chances it would be attractive to the only cultivator in the world with golden mana at his disposal? Aejaz looked over to his brother and almost fell out of his chair when he saw an empty eyes Ares almost leaning forward out of his seat, drooling over the floor with his tongue out like a wild animal. This was a level of degeneracy Aejaz had never seen from Ares before.... Whatever that seed was, it was clearly Ares'' very own catnip. This was worrying, to say the least. Ares wouldn''t let this treasure go even if he had to demolish all of Red Sun to get it. Auction rules be damned. If Ares didn''t win this, he would kill whoever did, morality could go screw itself. Ares probably wouldn''t even hesitate to destroy the auction house. Even if the sect didn''t support his actions, Ares would just abandon the sect too. It really looked like there were no lengths to which Ares wouldn''t go for this seed. Aejaz was surprised his brother hadn''t thrown himself at the window in an attempt to inch even a few feet closer to the seed what with the way he was acting right now...


    "200 mid-grade"


    "500 mid-grade"


    "520 mid-grade"


    "790 mid-grade"


    The bidding was underway and the bids were hectic to say the least. The cautious, slow bidders were being overwhelmed by the gamblers who wanted to try and kick everyone else down and raise the price to a point that was logically too high for an unknown item such as this. The bid eventually went sailing past the 1 high-grade mark and didn''t appear to be slowing down just yet.


    "1.1 high-grade"


    "1.2 high-grade"


    "1.3 high-grade"


    "1350 mid-grade"


    "1.4 high-grade"


    Aejaz had a nervous look on his face as Ares'' zephyr had lit up in a golden splendour and he seriously wondered if Ares would just let his magic rip here if the price went above 2 high grade. Do I steal it? It would avoid making a fuss, and I have the spatial ringworm to hide it... Would it cause problems in the future? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH STUPID BROTHER!


    "1.8 high-grade"


    …


    …


    …


    The voice from VIP room 1 silenced the hall. The rising price had been slowing down so people were clearly running out of gas... Until now. An amount like this would probably seal the deal and lock out any of the none-VIP cultivators who didn''t have the capital to compete. What was worrying was that this was just room 1''s first bid... Ares returned to his seat with a crazed look in his determined eyes. Speaking of his eyes, shockingly, Omniscience had failed him. Even Omniscience didn''t know what that thing was but something in Ares depths was trying to claw its way out of him and lunge at the seed. He needed it. No ifs no buts, that seed was going to be his even if he had to raze Red Sun to the ground and that wasn''t an empty threat either. For various reasons that even Aejaz and Enyo weren''t privy to, Ares had the means to do it. If Ares needed to use his one time trump card to turn Red Sun into a crater, he would do it. He needed to. Whatever this seed was, Ares could instinctually tell it was more important than even the Celestial Prisms, and that was quite an assertion to make based on zero evidence. Still, Omniscience not functioning gave Ares a clue as to what this thing was, or at least where it came from. If his thoughts were accurate, obtaining this item was non-negotiable. He made his first bid.


    "1.9 high-grade"


    …


    …


    …


    If room 1 bid again, he would be in dire straights and would have to start lowering the increment which would probably give the game away that he didn''t have the stardust to compete.


    "2 high-grade"


    Aejaz almost fainted on the spot. This city is fucking doomed! Ares was leaking pressure that was utterly horrendous. It was like a mire of pure, tangible misery that swamped the theatre. The old man noticed it, obviously, but he wasn''t able to shut it down as he almost shat himself when he encountered it directly.


    "2050 mid-grade"


    A wave of deathly pressure descended on the entirety of Red Sun as a grim buzzing sound came from underneath the ground all across the city. Everyone in the theatre tacitly understood the end of times would come if the person in room 1 pushed their luck. Whoever was gushing in rage in room 2 was on the verge of obliterating all life within a large radius and not a single person could stop it.


    …


    …


    …


    "2051 mid-grade"


    WHO THE FUCK IS THIS STUPID WOMAN?! The entirety of the theatre, the old man included, cursed the imbecile in room 1 who clearly couldn''t read the fucking room. No, rather, they had read it accurately and given approximately zero shits! This wasn''t the time to be joking around like this!


    …


    …


    …


    "2.0.5.2. M.I.D. G.R.A.D.E. F.I.N.A.L. B.I.D."


    CRASH


    The windows in the theatre shattered and nearby houses were pulverized into the ground, flattened into specks of dust. Every cultivator in the city collectively had a panic attack as the pressure transcended logic. Even strong enough cultivators within the Vraizon domain twisted their heads to stare at Sheryashka where something heaven defying was happening. The pressure had crossed even the boundary of the domain and was reaching the very stars.


    FUCK FUCK FUCK


    These thoughts could have been applied to literally anyone in the area as they all silently begged room 1 to do the right thing and just stop speaking! Let the man have the fucking seed! It''s not worth it! This is seriously it! ''FINAL BID'', he couldn''t have made it any clearer!...


    …


    …


    …


    …


    …


    …


    "going once." The old man was trying to sneakily get the bid through by speaking in as quiet a voice as possible.


    "going twice SOLD! ROOM 2! SOLD! SOLD!"


    The pressure vanished like it had been nothing more than a bad dream. The old man had clearly broken protocol with that last sale but, really, who was going to complain?! The old man was undeniably a genius who would go down in this city''s history as a hero who saved countless lives! The cultivators in the lower area all ran for their lives and the old man doddered off the stage shakily. The poor man needed to go and rest before he had a cardiac arrest.


    BANG


    Two figures burst through the door to the theatre and immediately shattered the one way glass leading to room 2. Hans and Maro didn''t even spare each other a single glance because this problem was clearly bigger than both of them. When the glass obstructing them was removed from the equation, they stared dumbly at Ares who was somehow the cause of the lunacy from a few seconds ago. Hans was the first to notice that something was very clearly wrong with him though, so he called out. "Kiddo?"


    Ares turned his head to Hans who immediately gulped when he saw Ares warped eyes. Ares'' iris and pupil were shifting around like a messy blob as they took on a shape that was distinctly different from before. Ares stood motionlessly and tilted his head as his eyes finally settled, becoming like that of a lizard. His iris was a brilliant gold and his pupil had become a long, vertical, jagged slit.


    …


    …


    …


    Ares'' eyes reverted back to normal a few seconds after searching around the room and he had a confused look on his face. "Where am I?"


    "... Kiddo, what the hell is wrong with you?"


    "BASTARD. WHAT THE HELL WAS ALL OF THIS?! EXPLAIN YOURSELF BEFORE I KILL YOU. I''M GOING TO KIL YOU ANYWAY, BUT I WANT ANSWERS BEFORE I TURN YOU INTO A CORPSE." Maro was raging on the side-lines as today had been devastating for him. His cultivator employees had been massively thinned at the tomb, his bird was injured thanks to the damnable tree, and now this?!


    Hans shot Maro a glance that indicated he''d better watch his mouth. "Kiddo, you really had me worried there. Thought I was gonna bite the dust. I''m not even gonna ask how you would have pulled it off, but I do wanna know what''s happening here. Try and think back."


    Ares'' head tilted in the other direction as he recalled the last few moments of sanity he had before Hans arrived. "Seed? There was a seed I wanted... Needed."


    "Seed? Where is it?"


    "I ate it?"


    "EH?" Even Aejaz was shocked by this as he genuinely hadn''t seen his brother chomp on the thing. Ares must have used magic to digest the seed immediately after winning it when everyone was trying to leave the theatre. Also... Eating the seed was just plain weird...


    Hans also stumbled over his thoughts. "... You ate it?"


    "I ate it."


    "Right... And then those lizard eyes popped up?"


    "Lizard eyes?... Probably."


    "You''ve really kept me on my toes today, laddie... Mind not acting up for another couple of months so my beating heart can settle down? Whoo boy, I''m getting too old for this..."


    "YOU..." Maro wasn''t entirely content leaving things like this. "Listen to me you piece of shit. If I ever catch you alone, I''m going to wring your neck! You can''t hide behind Hans forever, and one day I WILL find an opportunity to kill you. Don''t you dare go around causing trouble during the national and the international or I might just start a war in this city my-damn-self." Maro stormed out while spitting on the floor in front of Hans.


    With a sigh, Hans turned back to Ares. "Let''s just end today here, yeah? I''ll go and fetch the items that were bid on today and distribute them. Once you''ve got your stuff, go home and get some... Uh, shut eye? Keep an... Eye? on your eyes too, you hear me? You weren''t you when those lizard eyes showed up. I don''t know what''s going on with you, and lord only knows how many secrets ya got, but just don''t go dying a silly death because you got in over your head. Just try and slow things down a bit, ok? I still need to give you the gift at least before you go and pay a visit to the afterlife."


    Ares scratched his head and chuckled. "Yeah, I''ll keep things to a minimum for a while... By the by, do you know what revenants are?"


    "Yeah. Most transition realms in the domain do. It''s kind of a big deal in Vraizon so it''s like a piece of mandatory information everyone learns before they head on up. Why?"


    "I am one. I appreciate your concern for my life, but it isn''t going anywhere. I just figured I would let you know. Give you one less thing to worry about with me at least."


    "That''s... That''s good. I know that means you''ll only have a whole host more troubles going forward, but as long as your safe that''s fine. So how old are you actually then? Would feel a bit weird calling you kiddo if you''re secretly older than even me..."


    "Hm? Oh, no, ha, I''m exactly the age you know me to be. I died day one as a revenant and was reborn here. Nothing you know about my history is wrong and there''s nothing really else to it. I only found out recently myself." Hans had always acted like somewhat of a father figure to Ares and he was subtly clarifying that that hadn''t changed. He could tell Hans was at least a bit concerned about that.


    "Ah, I see. You''re a real bundle of surprises kiddo." Hans lowered his hat and went off to go get the auction items as he mentioned earlier.


    As Ares was waiting, he and Aejaz hopped out of room 2 and went to the exit where he found a single woman looking around anxiously. As she was the only other person here, Ares assumed this was the person who''d toyed with his emotions in room 1.... But was it really? The confidence she would have needed to pull off her pettiness was nowhere to be found and she looked deeply concerned about being stuck here alone with Ares. "You..."


    "AHH!" Ares unintentionally spooked the poor woman who shrieked as soon as she was addressed. "Please don''t hurt me! I only did what the others told me too..."


    Well, that partially clears things up, but who would do something as stupid as riling up a dangerous, unknown entity?!


    "Hmph, hey idiot. Had enough fun for today now that you threatened to blow everyone up to kingdom come? And you wanna explain that tree or should I just chalk it up to your usual stupidity?"


    …


    …


    …


    Ares knew this voice. "... Bellona?" Ares turned around and saw Bellona''s smug grin. Enyo and Appa were also here. "You... Are you insane?"


    "Meh, I knew it was you as soon as I heard you voice..." Bellona ignored Enyo''s snickering in the background. "... I thought it would be funny to drive up your bid and make you pay a bit extra. I never even wanted the seed."