“I’ll go,” I said, and Orykson nodded.

“You have ten minutes to get ready. I would recommend you wear your suit, as this is a largely formal event.”

“I thought you said it was hosted by the Ghost Market!” I protested as I shoved a croissant into my mouth.

“I said the same faction as that which runs the ghost market,” Orykson said, frowning slightly. “You should pay more attention. Word choice is important.”

I rolled my eyes as I ran up to my room to get changed.

“You coming, Dusk?” I asked. She gave a contemplative wind-in-trees sound, then nodded, climbing onto the edge of my dresser and kicking her feet as she waited for me to get dressed.

I added the defensive aura pin onto the lapel of the suit, then pulled it on quickly. I debated taking my staff out to carry it around, given how much that had been drilled into my mind as something I needed to do, but I thought this was an instance where discretion was more important than having it out. It was a very distinctive look, after all.

Still, I tried to be as prepared as I could be. I didn’t have an abundance of magic items to deck myself out in, but I went ahead and tucked away my pepper-fire extract as well. It occurred to me that I could probably make some of that myself, now, and I gave that some thought. It wasn’t exactly an attack in the way Briarthreads or Pinpoint Boneshard was, but it was still a good offense if it got into someone’s eyes, nose, mouth, or skin.

I ran back down to Orykson with just a minute to spare, and he nodded before shifting his hand slightly. I felt an envelope of spatial magic envelop me, too strong for me to resist, and we appeared somewhere else.

“Why no portals?” I asked. He almost always used portals, as far as I could tell.

“They’re too gaudy for this function. Many people here can teleport in. Admittedly, not with a guest, but they can. Portals are rarer, and would make too much of a statement.”

As I swept my eyes and mana senses over the room we’d appeared in, as well as the people milling about said room, I realized exactly what he meant.

Everyone here was rich, that much was obvious. They were all in suits and evening gowns, and there was an abundance of jewelry – not to the point of gaudiness, but still enough of a statement of wealth for someone like me.

Despite their wealth, most of the people here were somewhere between first to third gate. Presumably a few of them were veiling themselves, but even still…

More than just their strength, most of their mana felt… Unstable. Since my second gate death mana was taken up by one of my full gate spells, I wasn’t able to use Analyze Mana-Garden to take a proper look, but I’d still have bet money that most of them had only used pills and potions to ascend, and never actually practiced the magic, let alone gone back and removed the inefficiencies that method left.

There were several exceptions, of course. Plenty of people had power that felt incredibly solid. But… a lot of them didn’t.

The venue itself was another display of wealth. Everything was made of smooth marble without a seam or crease in sight – probably the work of several telluric mages – and there was gold filigree used as decor. Actual gold.

Gold couldn’t even be found in Mossford to my knowledge – there was a reason we used silver as the base currency, and platinum as the higher denomination. Importing all of the gold for this to be built had to have cost a small fortune.

Rather than the standard enchanted lights that burnt out after a few months and drew power, they’d actually lit their halls with perpetual flames in a crimson and azure color, casting the room in a moody, dramatic light.

I was abruptly aware of how poor the small, enchanted brass pin on my lapel probably made me look. At least Orykson’s suit would help make up for that some.

“I’m off to socialize,” Orykson said, a rather annoyed look on his face. “You should do the same, though I won’t force you. When the auction begins, we’ll be in box Three-A.”

Upon saying as much, he glided away, moving so quickly and smoothly through the crowd that it felt like watching a ghost.

I glanced around the room. Normally, at something like a school dance, I’d hang out around the snack table for a little bit, but this was too fancy to even do that. There was a cocktail bar set up at one end of the room, but getting any sort of alcohol in my system seemed like a very bad idea right now.

There were waiters walking around with food and wine, though, so I took a small plate from a table and took a few goat cheese and pickled beet skewers from the nearest waiter, then started to move through the event.

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After a few moments, I actually spotted someone that I recognized – the white haired, dark skinned vampire that had been near the hag when Orykson had introduced me to the Ghost Market.

They’d looked half-starved then, but they’d filled out a bit, and were much more cleanly looking now.

I slid up to them and extended my hand.

“My name’s Malachi, it’s nice to meet you,” I said. They glanced over me, then their eyebrows raised before they shook my hand.

“My name is Riley,” they said. “I think we saw each other briefly, but never had the chance to get acquainted.”

Somehow, that felt wrong. A vampire should be named… Damien. Deacon. Frost. Heck, even Malachi worked better. Riley just made me think of someone really sporty, irrespective of their gender.

But this Riley… Well, they were too traditionally pretty to be sporty.

Dusk let out a whistle to introduce herself, and Riley extended their pinkie, which she shook with her whole hand.

“Glad to see you seem to be doing better,” I said, and they smiled. They didn’t part their lips as they did, though. Self conscious about their fangs, maybe?

I didn’t see why they would be. Kene’s teeth were way weirder than just some elongated canines, given how sharp all of theirs were, and Kene was absolutely attractive.

Then again, was I the weird one here?

As I contemplated if it was weird to find sharp teeth attractive or not, Riley took a sip of wine and spoke.

“Thank you. It was an… Interesting time, to say the least.”

They laughed humorlessly and brushed some of their hair out of their eyes.

“I admit to some jealousy. You’re my age, and yet your power is so much more developed than my own, and you have the skills to attract the attention of an Occultist.”

“It was pure luck,” I said. “He was looking for someone with a very unusual set of mana types, and I happened to take them. I have some small talent for mana manipulation, but nowhere near the level needed to actually have attracted anyone’s attention on my own.”

As I spoke, I tried to probe them with my mana sense, but their veil was too good for me to see through, and they winked at me.

“Sorry, but I can’t give away all of my secrets.” they said.

“If you’re half as good at generalized mana manipulation and spellcraft as you are at veils, then I don’t buy you’re so much less developed than I am,” I said, frowning slightly. Were they buttering me up for something?

“I apologize – you’d be amazed how many people are happy to accept the flattery and think well of themselves,” they said. “But it wasn’t entirely flattery. You have advanced further than I have. I’m only at the peak of the first gate.”

“I’ve been fortunate,” I said. “Also, I’ve helped a lot of small folk. You may be surprised just how many resources they have.”

“Really?” they asked, cocking their head slightly, like a dog who’d just heard a curious sound. I grabbed a small piece of bread with cream cheese and small black balls on top of it from a passing waiter, and then nodded.

“I’m serious,” I said. “They’re the reason I’ve got… A lot of the advantages I have, shall we say.”

Dusk laughed at that, her laughter sounding like the babbling of a stream.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Riley said. “I’ve mostly just been practicing and buying whatever training supplements I can afford. By the way, who’s the girl who’s been glaring at you?”

My heart dropped out of my chest at that.

“Where?” I asked.

“Thirty degrees to your right, on the upper balcony,” Riley said.

Thanks to the spatialsense that Analyze Space imparted, that was easy enough instructions to follow.

Sure enough, Mallory was there, glaring daggers at me. The moment she realized that I’d seen her, however, she turned and walked away into the crowd.

“What’s that about?” Riley asked. “A jilted lover, or…?”

“Oh primes no,” I said, laughing at the very idea, though my serious nature quickly returned. “I’m actually… Not entirely sure what’s going on with her. I stopped her from killing a shark, then she tracked me down and attacked me. I took a deal to not take her to court, but…”

Riley took another sip of wine, then leaned the glass over to me.

“Want some?” they offered.

“No thanks,” I said, shaking my head. “I want to have my wits about me. Just in case she tries something else.”

“Probably wise,” they said. “If you want my take, though, I’d assume that someone paid her off or otherwise convinced her to harass you.”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” I admitted. “I just don’t know who would do that.”

I picked up a skewer of tomato, mozzarella, and olives, then ate it.

“Hmm,” Riley said. “I’m not sure. Your master, maybe?”

That made a bit too much sense for me to be entirely comfortable with. Not that Meadow would have, no, but I could see Orykson deciding that Mallory would be a good way to motivate me.

“Maybe,” was all I said, though.

Riley and I chatted for a while, then they wandered off to take care of some business, and I was left alone. I snacked a little bit, then headed to Orykson’s box to wait out the auction.

I probably should have stayed and made nice with all the rich people, but… I just couldn’t bring myself to. I hadn’t minded talking to Riley, but that was about all the socialization that I could manage for the day.

Orykson arrived in the box after a while, and then the lights in the theatre dimmed. A spotlight swiveled across the auction members and on stage, where a hiss of smoke slowly filled it.

A moment later, a man stepped out. He was tall, well over six feet, with bright purple hair, eyes, and nails, and he was incredibly built, to a nearly unrealistic degree, like he was an actor or bodybuilder.

He flipped his long hair and I felt a wave of power wash through the room. It was impossible to tell what gate of power, or even type of mana it was, but it set my teeth on edge.

People began to mutter, and Orykson leaned down to whisper in my ear.

“That is the Avatar of Sin, a powerful Occultist. It’s unusual for him to appear in person for these sorts of things. There must be something he’s putting up for sale, or maybe something he wants to buy.”

“Ladies, gentleman, and other distinguished guests,” the purple haired supermodel said. “It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Midnight Spirit Auction!”

As soon as he began to speak, the crowd fell silent, almost like he’d put a spell on them. In fact, I wasn’t entirely sure that he hadn’t.

Though… I had to hold back a snort of amusement. It wasn’t even night time, it couldn’t be much past noon. They just wanted a fancy, creepy name to make it sound cool.

“We have a variety of unique and interesting items at today’s auction,” Sin said. “We have items for your promising youth, items for those of you looking to expand your own power, and even items for those at the end of their path.”

He held up one finger and snapped, and mist and lights swirled through the room.

“Let us… Begin!”

“Show-off,” Orykson scoffed, while Dusk clapped for him.