Jack was brought into a rather spacious and elaborately decorated room. The receptionist led Jack to a chair made of refined wood, which exuded an elegant scent.

“Please have a sit,” she said with a smile.

After having made sure the man had a comfy seat, she pulled in a small table with all types of confectionery. The bank employee dutifully performed her task, pouring Jack a glass of wine.

“I’ve already contacted my boss,” she said. “He’ll be here in no time. Should you have any requests, please, don’t be afraid to let me know.”

Jack nodded, taking out a mana crystal from his storage ring, and showed it.

“Patricia,” Jack said in a raspy voice after glancing at the nametag on the girl’s chest, “next time, see to me too, okay?”

Patricia couldn’t hide a breath of excitement about the strange guest’s tip. It was not a rare sight for staff to be rewarded for welcoming and pleasing big customers. Even so, the amount worth of a mana crystal was a matter of months of accumulation.

“Yes,” she bowed her head to Jack. “I will serve you at best as I can.”

Then, Jack just sat there with his arms crossed, staring at the door. His inactivity left Patricia confused, wondering if she had said something wrong or if she should do something about it.

A minute later, a man opened the door and walked in. He was of average build, wearing a rather plain white shirt together with a pair of comfortable casual trousers. His face was etched with wrinkles of age at the corners of his eyes, right beneath the curl of black and white. The brightness in his pair of blue eyes seemed to be dispelling the tiresome colors of the afternoon outside the window.

“Patricia,” he called out.

The receptionist listened and walked to him to quickly summarize the situation, including the fact that she had been given a crystal. She couldn’t hide it anyway, not without a storage item or a special container to hide the energy radiating from it.

The man nodded, then signaled her to leave and approached Jack.

“Greeting, sir,” he put his arm forward. “My name is Richard, Richard Wilcox. Nice to meet you!”

Jack’s answer was a nod, not even bothering to stand up.

A brief frown appeared on Richard’s face, but his forehead was quickly stretched out with a smile as he sat down on the chair next to Jack. For the obvious reason of building up the early amity, the living room’s seats were arranged in a close manner, separated only by a small table to place beverages and snacks.

“How may I call you?” Richard asked.

“Adam.”

“So, where are you from, Mister Adam?”

Jack turned around, facing the bank’s appraiser. On the other side, in Richard’s eyes, there was only a dark void underneath the hood. Of course, the effect was Jack’s intention.

“No need to waste time breaking the ice,” Jack said, his voice heavy. “Let’s get to the main business.”

He placed the three boxes on the table. The surface was limited, so one of the boxes leaned and fell on Richard. He bit his teeth, clenched his feet, and almost raised his voice. Then, he caught a glimpse of the mana vials inside, all eight-tier, and changed his heart in an instant.

“Eight?” Richard exclaimed.

“Yes,” Jack answered, “be hurry with the appraisal.”

“Okay, okay, please wait a second.”

Richard took out a pair of glasses and put them on his eyes, carefully opening the lid while watching the liquid inside. He examined it for a minute, his face turned from stern to a jolly one.

“There’s no question about their quality, Mr. Adam,” Patrick said with a smile, trying to calm his excitement. “It’s been a while since an eight-tire Mana Potion was last presented here.”

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“I couldn’t care about that,” Jack made sure his lack of patience was known. “Hurry to the next step before I change my mind.”

Richard’s hand holding the vial of Mana Potion shook, and his lips twitched. Never before had anyone looked down on him like that, be it the bank’s master or the mayor of Oxdale, for the professionalism and importance of an appraiser such as himself deserved respect. Though, thinking about the prize he would receive for this transaction, all he could give Jack back was a smile.

“Yes, Mr. Adam. I’ll look into the other two now.”

Then, as he finally saw Warfists of The Fleeting Might and Wind-forged Mace, Richard’s body was frozen.

“Don’t tell me…” he mumbled.

“So?” Jack asked with a condescending voice. “Are these two pieces of trash any good?”

“Trash… trash?” Richard repeated.

Jack snorted, waving his hand, signaling the appraiser to make haste with his work.

“May I know the name of the two items?” Richard said demurely.

“The flashy gloves are Warfists of Fleeting Might,” Jack said, pointing at the item. “And the unaesthetic weapon there is Wing-forged Mace. What a waste using names like those for these.”

“Yes, yes,” Richard nodded rapidly.

The question about Jack’s identity flooded his mind, for who could possibly own so many valuable items, and yet, despise them so much like that.

Richard adjusted his posture, sitting straight up and turning toward Jack.

“My colleagues and I will further appraise these weapons, just to be sure.”

“Must it be so overly complicated?”

“It will be quick,” Richard tried to calm Jack. “This wouldn’t take too much time. In the meantime, the bank can arrange to have your items on the auction tonight, should you wish for it.”

Jack pondered for a second, thinking of the benefits that would come if he chose to delay this and let the news about these items spread outside of town for a while. That would surely bring more competition into the auction, and with that came profit. However, time was of the essence, too.

“Let’s just do it tonight. I don’t mind a few extra pennies. I need to free up my ring anyway.”

Hearing that, Richard smiled and nodded. The fewer people knew about this, the higher the chance his bank branch got to auction it on their terms. After that, it would be all wealth and glory for Richard.

“Is that everything?” Jack said with little patience in his voice.

“One more thing, Mr. Adam,” Richard said with haste, not risking displeasing the cantankerous guest any longer. “Can we offer to directly purchase the three vials of mana potion without the auction?”

“Oh? What if I say no?”

“We have our own code of conduct, Mr. Adam,” Richard said with an unwavering voice. “Please, don’t take this offer as something wrongful. It’s fine if you don’t want to accept it. The bank will always do its best to finish the auction. Whatever the case, we would earn commission anyway being the intermediary of the event.”

Code my ass, Jack cursed.

Should he refuse this, the bank would make him suffer through devious means, be it limiting his reputation or giving him a bad one without any consequences on their part. Even the most powerful houses in Oxdale would have to make concessions and agree to let the bank directly purchase some of their auction items at below-average prices. Of course, the bank, understanding its limit, also knew better than to use this tactic on the most premium of its customers’ goods. This type of “grease money” had always been there without any objection since the auctions in Omnivell were monopolized by the bank, allowing them to make as many underhand deals as they saw fit.

Jack smirked under the hood, then spoke with a smile on his lips, further distorting his voice.

“Alright, give me a worthy price.”

Richard was about to open his lips in excitement, but then, he had a brief moment of reconsideration. Right from the moment of tipping the receptionist with a mana crystal, Jack had established himself as a rich and arrogant person. Later on, that became more and more evident, from his attitude of superiority, looking down on others, to disdaining his very items. It was as if every move had been staged, a warning for Richard not to offer a foolish price that would anger him.

On the other side of the table, Jack carefully watched the appraiser’s contemplating eyes with a smile. He knew his intimidation strategy had worked, preventing the bank from having any bad intentions with all of his items, not only the mana potions themselves. There was no point in showing his actual desperation for money at this moment.

“One thousand Lesser Mana Crystal for the three,” Richard said, biting his teeth, then continued. “That is higher than the market price already.”

The hood slowly turned, the shadow beneath facing Richard once again. A moment later, a wave of aura was unleashed, and the appraiser almost fell from his chair with his knee on the ground.

“Don’t you dare play this game with me,” Jack said, grunting his voice. “You think I’m as ignorance as to be unaware how much my scraps are worth?”

“No, no, no,” Richard answered, wiping away the veil of sweat pouring out from his forehead. “I mean…”

“I know what you mean!” Jack interrupted. “Give me that one thousand crystals, and go do your things. You did say you could organize the auction as early as tonight, didn’t you?”

“Yes, yes, I’ll be on my way now. You can wait here or have a short walk outside. Just leave behind your contact information for Patricia, and we will inform you as soon as everything is ready.”

Jack pushed on the chair handles and leaned his head back to rest, seemingly not wanting to leave. Seeing this, Richard quickly gathered the stuff and left to inform the related departments. The more he recalled the aura just now, the more he pushed his footsteps.