Chapter 44: The Merchant of Miracles
The Grand Auction of Aurelia was not just a marketplace. It was a battlefield where wars were fought with wallets instead of swords.
Located in the opulent Upper District, the Auction House was a colossus of white marble and gold glass, shaped like a blooming lotus. Hover-carriages drawn by Griffins dropped off the elite of the Middle World—Sect Leaders, Clan Patriarchs, and Generals.
Tonight, however, a new player was entering the game.
A low hum vibrated through the air. The nobles sipping champagne on the steps paused.
A vehicle approached. It wasn't a carriage. It wasn't a beast.
It was a sleek, matte-black machine that hovered silently a foot off the ground. It had no windows, only glowing blue lines running along its hull.
The Shadow-Cruiser (Mark I).
(Built by Ria using 6th Era blueprints and warship scrap).
The vehicle drifted to a halt in front of the red carpet. The door hissed open vertically.
I stepped out.
I wasn't wearing Academy robes. I wore a tailored suit of Void-Weave Fabric (black as midnight) with a high collar. On my finger, the Ouroboros Ring pulsed softly.
Seraphina stepped out next. She wore a gown of crimson dragon-silk that seemed to be burning at the hem. She linked her arm with mine, radiating an aura of untouchable nobility.
Ria followed, carrying a metallic briefcase handcuffed to her wrist.
Prince Valerian (in a rented tuxedo) and Anya (in a cute frilly dress holding a juice box) completed the entourage.
The crowd whispered.
"Who are they?"
"Is that... the Aerthos Team?"
"Look at that artifact they arrived in! Is that Ancient Tech?"
We walked up the steps.
Two Spirit Severing guards crossed their halberds.
"Invitation?" the guard grunted.
I produced the golden envelope I had 'acquired' from Elder Malus.
The guard checked it.
"This invitation is registered to the Academy Treasury. You are not Elder Malus."
"I am his... investment consultant," I smiled. "He insisted I take his place. He is currently indisposed. Something about a nervous breakdown."
The guard hesitated.
Then, Prince Aethelred walked out of the main doors. He was surrounded by sycophants.
He saw me. His face turned a shade of purple that clashed with his platinum armor.
"You!" Aethelred hissed. "You dare show your face here? After stealing my ships?"
"Salvaging," I corrected. "Maritime law is very specific about abandoned property."
"Guards!" Aethelred pointed at me. "Arrest this thief! He is a squatter from District 9!"
The guards tightened their grip on their halberds. Aethelred was the Crown Prince. His word was law.
"I wouldn't do that," I said calmly.
I snapped my fingers.
Ria lifted the briefcase. She tapped a code.
CLICK. HISS.
The case opened.
Inside, nestled in foam, were ten vials of glowing green liquid.
Nano-Repair Paste (Medical Grade).
I picked up one vial.
"This," I announced to the crowd of wealthy nobles, "is Ambrosia. It can regrow a lost limb in one hour. It can cure meridian rot. It has zero toxicity."
The crowd gasped.
"Regrow a limb? Impossible!"
"Only Saint-Grade pills can do that, and they cost a million stones!"
"I am here to sell," I looked at the Auction Master, who had just walked out to see the commotion. "Unless, of course, the Prince forbids commerce? I heard the Merchant Alliance hates it when politics interferes with profit."
The Auction Master, a shrewd old woman named Lady Vesper, stepped forward. She smelled money.
She looked at the vial. She looked at Aethelred.
"The Merchant Alliance is neutral ground," Vesper declared, her voice sharp. "If he has goods to sell, he is a guest. Prince Aethelred, please stand down."
Aethelred choked. "Lady Vesper! He is a criminal!"
"He is a customer," Vesper corrected. She gestured to me. "Right this way, Sir. Let us appraise your... Ambrosia."
I smirked at Aethelred as I walked past him.
"Don't worry, Pinky. I'll save you a seat in the back."
The Appraisal Room.
We sat in a velvet-lined room. Lady Vesper and her Chief Alchemist examined the vial.
The Alchemist put a drop of the paste on a withered plant.
Instantly, the plant turned green, grew three feet, and bloomed.
"By the Gods," the Alchemist whispered, his hands shaking. "It's not alchemy. It's... it's biological engineering. The purity is 100%. Where did you get this?"
"Family recipe," I lied.
"We have 1,000 vials ready for sale," I said. "And we can produce 500 more per week."
Lady Vesper's eyes turned into dollar signs.
"If we sell this... we will corner the medical market of the entire Middle World."
She looked at me. "What is your reserve price?"
"I don't want money," I said. "Well, I do. But I want something else more."
I pulled out the Auction Catalogue. I pointed to Lot #99.
[Fragment of the Time God]
"I want that," I tapped the page. "Whatever it sells for... use the profits from my Ambrosia to pay for it."
Vesper smiled. "A bold trade. Very well. We will auction your vials in batches of ten. But be warned... the Aethelgard Clan also wants Lot #99. You will be bidding against the Crown."
"Good," I leaned back. "I love spending other people's money."
The Auction Floor.
The main hall was a stadium of luxury. We were given a private box (Box 9) overlooking the stage.
Directly opposite us, in the Royal Box, sat Aethelred and his father, King Aethelgard.
The King looked at me across the void. His gaze was heavy, like a mountain pressing down. A Demigod's pressure.
I raised my tea cup in a toast.
The King narrowed his eyes. He didn't crush me with his aura because Seraphina was sitting next to me, peeling a grape with a dagger.
"Welcome!" Vesper announced from the stage. "Let the bidding begin!"
The first few items were boring. A Flying Sword (sold for 50k). A Dragon Egg (sold for 200k).
I waited.
"Next Item!" Vesper shouted. "A miracle discovery! Ambrosia of the Machine God! Batch 1 of 100!"
The crowd went wild. The demonstration video (of the plant growing) played on the screens.
"100,000 stones!"
"200,000!"
"500,000!"
The price skyrocketed. Generals needed it for their armies. Sect Leaders needed it for their heirs.
The first batch sold for 1 Million Stones.
I looked at the King. He wasn't bidding. The Royal Family had their own alchemists. They were arrogant.
Batch after batch sold.
By the time the last batch was sold, my account balance had swelled.
Total Profit: 150 Million Spirit Stones.
"We are rich!" Valerian whispered, fanning himself. "I have never seen so many zeros!"
"It's just paper," I said. "Now comes the real prize."
The lights dimmed.
A pedestal rose from the floor. On it sat a glass case.
Inside was a shard of grey crystal. It didn't reflect light. It seemed to cause the air around it to stutter. One second it was there, the next it flickered.
Lot #99: Fragment of the Time God.
"This relic," Vesper announced, "was found in the deepest layer of the Ancient Dungeon. It radiates Chronal Energy. It is said to grant glimpses of the future."
"Bidding starts at 10 Million Stones."
"20 Million!" Aethelred shouted immediately.
"30 Million," a Sect Leader countered.
"50 Million!" Aethelred roared. "This is Royal Property!"
The King wanted it. Not for the future sight, but because the Oracle Clan had predicted that Time was the weakness of the "Anomaly" (me). They wanted to study it to kill me.
"100 Million!" Aethelred shouted, silencing the room.
He smirked. The Royal Treasury was vast. No one could outbid the King.
"100 Million going once..." Vesper raised her gavel.
I tapped my microphone.
"150 Million."
The room gasped. Everyone looked at Box 9.
Aethelred stood up. "You?! You are a student! You don't have that money!"
"I just sold the medicine you were too proud to buy," I reminded him. "Check your ledger, Pinky."
Aethelred turned to his father. "Father! We must outbid him!"
The King remained calm. "160 Million."
I checked my balance. I was out of cash.
"Ria," I whispered. "Do we have any other assets?"
"I have the God-Killer Railgun prototype in the trunk," Ria suggested. "Estimated value: 50 Million."
"Too bulky," I shook my head.
I stood up.
"I don't have more cash," I announced to the hall.
Aethelred laughed. "Broke already? Peasant!"
"But," I continued. "I wish to offer a trade."
I reached into my pocket.
I pulled out a small, unassuming black orb.
It hummed with a frequency that made the teeth of everyone in the room ache.
A Void Grenade.
(Compressed Void Storm energy from the journey).
"This is a Cataclysm Core," I lied (sort of). "If detonated, it creates a localized black hole that erases everything in a 5-mile radius."
The King stood up abruptly. His Demigod senses screamed danger.
"That energy... it is the same as the Void Storm."
"I offer this bomb," I said. "To the Merchant Alliance. You can sell it to a Kingdom that wants to erase a neighbor. Value?"
Lady Vesper looked at the orb. She sweated.
"If that is real... it is a Strategic Weapon. Value... Priceless. But let's say... 200 Million."
"Total Bid: 350 Million," I smiled.
Aethelred turned pale. "Father! We can't let him have the Time Fragment! And we can't let him sell a Black Hole!"
The King sat down slowly. He realized he had been checkmated.
If he outbid me, I kept the bomb.
If I won, I got the Time Fragment.
"Let him have it," the King whispered. "The Fragment is cursed. It drives mortals insane. Let it rot his mind."
"Sold!" Vesper slammed the gavel. "To the Gentleman in Box 9!"
The Consumption.
We returned to Fortress Eternity under the cover of darkness.
I held the grey crystal in my hand. It felt cold. My hand aged and de-aged rapidly just holding it.
I walked into the Chamber of Time (a room Ria built with reinforced lead walls).
"Chronos," I called out.
I activated the Ouroboros Ring.
A golden rift opened.
My clone, Chronos, stepped out.
He looked like me at 16 years old. But his eyes were terrifying. They were pure golden light now, the gears spinning so fast they hummed.
He looked at the Fragment.
He didn't speak. He just opened his mouth.
CRUNCH.
He ate the crystal.
He chewed the essence of a Dead Time God.
BOOM.
A shockwave of golden light exploded from his body.
Chronos fell to his knees. His body began to crack. Light leaked from his skin.
He was evolving.
[System Alert]
[Time Law Assimilation: 50%... 80%... 100%]
[Evolution Complete.]
[Entity: Chronos has ascended.]
[New Designation: The Walker of Eternity.]
Chronos stood up.
The cracks healed. His skin turned normal. He looked... human. perfectly human.
But when he looked at me, I felt it.
He wasn't just seeing me. He was seeing my past and my future simultaneously.
He spoke for the first time.
His voice was my voice, but layered with a thousand echoes.
"I see the threads," Chronos said.
He pointed to the sky.
"The Arbiters are coming. Not an Agent. An Army."
I smiled.
My Time Clone had reached maturity.
And I had a fortress full of guns.
"Let them come," I said. "I've been dying to test the Railguns."