Disappointment wasn’t quite the word that fit, but it felt close to how I felt now. I knew very well that the penumbra no longer had the same appetite it once did, but never did I imagine that piling all of the artifacts I gathered from my fights with New Era would fail to make it move even slightly. Recalling it was attached to my will, I filled my thoughts with consuming all the artifacts, but that also did nothing.

Even the goblet was useless, well I didn’t give it much value since I had what I felt was a decent level of regeneration. Out of curiosity, I wanted to test its value in the penumbra’s eyes… well, hands, but that got me no further than when I started.

So, feeling hopeful, I took my stash to Alexandra. I wasn’t generous enough to just hand my hard-earned items over without a price but my buying options were limited. I had vague recollections of fencers and dealers who New Era often used, but you needed a certain amount of clout and notoriety amongst the black market to just start interacting with the shady organizations who dealt with those things.

Since Alexandra actively engaged in illegal activity on behalf of the government, I figured she’d be my biggest chance of securing a buyer. Especially seeing as we were due to take on a ruin. I could guarantee she’d buy the healing goblet since it could help Oliver recover faster though I don’t know if that would be good for the man in question.

Whatever.

I lifted the bag onto my shoulder as I stepped out of a car. By now, I was able to enter the guild premises pretty easily, so no one stopped me as I entered. I found Alexandra pretty easily, she was in the middle of a conversation with some of her members and I had to wonder how often she saw her children. It was none of my business and I had no plans on taking it up with her since it would probably lead to her telling me off.

“Here he is,” Alexandra said, announcing my entrance. “What’s with the bag?”

Her mood was surprisingly upbeat in comparison to the last time I saw her. I guess she was happy Oliver was out of the Drachen Arch though he’d probably still have work to do as far as their marriage went.

“Stuff to sell.”

I shook the bag, the clanking of artifacts seemed to be enough for her to realize what I meant and she quickly shooed her guild members away.

“Come with me,” she spoke, neither enthused nor uninterested.

That changed when we entered a private room and dumped the contents of my bag onto a table and immediately pointed out the goblet, explaining its use.

“May I?” She nearly snatched it away, but stopped herself, asking my permission instead.

I shrugged, gesturing for her to do as she wanted.

What surprised me was the fact she immediately activated the goblet and took a big gulp of its contents, swishing the liquid around before she finished it.

“Twenty million.”

“I’m sorry?” I blinked. “Don’t you think that’s a bit short for all of this stuff?”

“Not for all of it, that’s just for the goblet. We’ll work a price for the rest as we go through.”

“Ah, I see...” I pondered the market price and the value of such an item. I did my research on the way here, so I wasn’t ignorant of the average price. She started five million lower than what even the cheapest of Grade-B artifacts went for.

“That’s still a little low,” I said without being worried about upsetting her.

“Yeah, but I plan to buy more than just this, so at the very least you could cut me a bit of slack, right?”

“Let’s call it a discount then. For a friend.”

“Great,” she set the goblet aside and moved on.

I slowly went through what I could remember. A few of the artifacts were one-time uses, so I couldn’t let her test them all without a guarantee she would pay for it. Luckily, Alexandra was more than open to bearing the cost and began testing them.

Barriers, quick escape tokens (strips of paper that would send you flying backward in a certain direction and presumably out of danger), temporary acceleration, power amplification, invisibility, instant recovery (for non-fatal wounds), sensory enhancement, threat detection, and long-distance communication. We managed to sort through the uses of the artifacts after about an hour while she haggled on the price.

“Ninety million.”

“Ninety-five,” I countered, “You used one of the best artifacts already. If I had known what it did, I probably would have kept it for myself.”

I was referring to an enhancement ring that could only be used once before the gemstone in it cracked, rendering it an empty piece of jewelry. While it wasn’t something unique, it could’ve been very useful, especially since the remaining pieces weren’t on the same level. Even now, Alexandra was bursting with power, her skin was slightly flushed and her breathing was hurried as she tried to contain the rampant energy flowing through her.

“Fine,” she agreed, just as upset she used it prematurely.

In her defense, the ring appeared to be rather dull and whoever owned it before was sure reluctant to use it. That, or they didn’t get the chance to.

We shook on the deal which turned out to be a mistake. She nearly shattered my hand without even realizing it… There was no way she was sour over five million dollars. Probably.

“By the way,” she started while attempting to subdue the energy flowing through her, “I decided on a class four ruin full of stone golems for our training. They are very reminiscent of the magma guardians in the Hell Gate ruin. We have it for the entire week so we can get a feel for your combat potential and fighting style.”

“Alright.” I thought about anything I had on the cards but came up short. “Just let me know.”

“Tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow it is,” I replied.

I knew the money would arrive within a few days and I was in no rush. The funds I had now were enough for a downpayment on a luxury penthouse made with all sorts of expensive minerals recovered from ruins. It was essentially a bunker that looked fancy given that the real estate agent made sure to sell me on the details.

I left the Iron Wyvern guild and headed toward my soon to be new living space without delay.

…

The next day, I arrived at the ruin just as planned.

A group of ten were waiting, the notable faces were Alexandra, Andreas, and most surprisingly, Oliver who waved at me with a reserved smile on his face.

“Well, that’s… unexpected.” I looked to Alexandra for an explanation but she only rolled her eyes as if to say don’t ask.

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“Casper!” A clean-shaven Oliver approached me, his hair neatly trimmed.

“...Oliver,” I greeted him, extending my hand but he pulled me in for a hug.

It felt as if someone pushed me into a brick wall, which made me wonder if Oliver was given a bunch of recovery drugs and potions. To be frank, the man sported a powerful stature.

I read the excitement on the faces of the guild members and it occurred to me that Oliver was the guild master and Alexandra was likely the vice master. That changed when he went comatose, but it was sure to have some effect on inner politics, but since they were originally a smaller guild, to begin with, it wasn’t a big deal as compared to juggernauts like Sleeping Lion who would suffer from infighting.

“I’m glad to see you’re okay, but…” I trailed, thinking of his children for some reason.

“But?” Oliver echoed my words, intending for me to continue.

“He’s probably wondering why you’re here, so why don’t you tell him why you haven’t gone to see your children first, Olly.”

“I– um…” Oliver stammered, reservation apparent on his face. “Alexandra, could we not do this right now…”

It was clear he wanted to save the discussion for another time, but she continued to stare at him intently.

Andreas cleared his throat and it was only then did I look at him, or more specifically, what he was wearing… I couldn’t quite say. The bronze-colored armor was solidly built, with a dim gemstone embedded in his chest plate that seemed to grant some effect to the set. In his right hand, he held an axe that was as tall as me. His left hand was free of any shield, but the fact his gauntlet on that side was larger must’ve meant it carried defensive options of some kind.

“Nice armor,” I said.

“Thanks.” Andreas puffed out his chest, doing his best to look nonchalant.

His attempt to lighten the mood fell flat, as Alexandra paid him no mind, only glaring at Oliver who kept a wary smile in light of his wife’s aggression.

“The truth is…” Oliver finally said a sigh of defeat followed his words, “I’m afraid to see my kids. My gift scares me– There are one hundred other entities inside of me and I’m not sure I can control more than a few. If I relax for a moment and leave myself open, who is to say that they won’t take control of me again and do something that will haunt me for the rest of my life?”

I could see his logic and those dragons inside of him were pretty pissed to be dragged out of the arch. I looked toward Alexandra, but she immediately scoffed at his explanation.

“If that was the case, why aren’t you resting or meditating, Oliver?” The rhetorical nature of her question didn’t escape me.

“I–”

“He wants to see how he fares in a fight. I made the mistake of telling him my plans and he rushed over the moment I left,” she cut him off, directing her statement toward me.

“I need to know, Alexandra.”

I held back the tired sigh that threatened to leave my mouth. I could understand what both of them were saying, but I resolved not to get involved any further.

“How about we just go into the ruin?” I cautiously suggested.

Seeing my hesitance to get entangled or perhaps realizing there were plenty of other pressing issues, Alexandra turned on her heels and marched into the ruin. Which seemed to signal she was over arguing, or at least, she’d hold back until it was appropriate.

Seeing everyone eagerly head inside took some pressure off of me. Situation defused.

“Thank you,” Oliver whispered to me.

“For what?”

“Helping me get out and… well, redirecting her attention for now.”

“Yeah, well, don’t be so sure about the second thing,” I said.

“Wait? Aren’t you going to change into armor?” Andreas stopped me, apparently concerned for my safety.

“I’ll be fine.”

Seeing me smile confidently, he had no choice but to relent and we entered just like that.

What awaited us was a relatively wide field of grass with several knolls that were suspicious when compared to the otherwise flat environment.

I donned the Ivory Warden’s Armored Skin, gaining some impressed and expectant looks in the process. I managed to impress them at least… or unnerve them. I traced my hands over the grim skeletal design of the mask.

“That’s one hell of a gift,” A man chimed adding a long whistle at the end.

“No. That’s an artifact, right?” A woman asked, curiously examining me from head to toe.

“It’s his gift as far as I can tell.” Alexandra’s eyes sussed out the partial truth.

That reminded me, if I gathered more souls, I could upgrade my Spirit Vision to Spirit Eyes, which would likely be far better than what I have now. Though, at the moment, I was partial to learning how to bind spiritual beings to the material world. For now, I would save what I had in lieu of my lack of spiritual-based enemies. That strange creature that appeared in front of me aside, what I got from Alexandra made the Hell Gate seem as if the enemies we would face were physical beings which reassured me.

“Hey, focus up!” Alexandra shouted as she noticed my daydreaming.

“Right, right,” I responded lightly, unwilling to step on any landmines since she seemed pissed enough about Oliver’s presence.

She lifted a stone and threw it at one of the hills faster than my eyes could track. It hit its mark, it was hard to miss given the size, and the small knoll began to rise. Breaking free of the ground, a bipedal monster made of stone with a single core in its head, climbed to its feet like a sleeping giant had been prodded. As tufts of dirt fell from its body, it simply turned toward us.

“Get ready to move,” Alexandra said.

“What–”

A beam of light shot out from its core, carving through the landscape as everyone split off in separate directions. I was a little late on the uptick, but a quick crow-shift allowed me to avoid the bluish beam.

“Let’s see it, Casper!” Alexandra yelled from below with a beaming smile on her face.

‘Yeah, whatever,’ I grumbled inwardly before producing a few dozen crows to accompany my dive bomb.

I intentionally made sure that I was slower so they could strike first. Bursting into splatters of blood upon impact, which I forced into the shape of binding runes.

‘Hmm?’

The runes lit up, which would have ideally brought me a few seconds, but the golem seemed unaffected and broke them just by swinging its arms, albeit as slow as expected from a towering mass of rock.

I returned to my normal form as I headed straight for its core, conjuring a blood spear in my hands before thrusting it into the glowing crystal sphere. It immediately shattered and I filled the opening with miasmic flames to ensure it would fall.

As expected, the golem crumbled like a sandcastle as soon as its core was broken. I jumped backward, dissolving the blood spear as I landed.

“Well done,” Alexandra praised, “But those cores are worth a million dollars if you get manage to extricate them while keeping them intact.”

“Noted,” I replied, unshaken by what was a small amount in comparison to what I could earn raiding New Era. The effort required made me feel as if it wasn’t worth it in the long run.

“I’d like to try,” Oliver spoke up which earned a scornful glare from Alexandra.

“Feel free,” she muttered, pointing toward a nearby knoll.

Oliver nodded, breathing inwardly as his eyes widened. A violent fire-like aura took shape around him, the vague image of a dragon coming into view. The air trembled as a majestic roar shook the ruin, and Alexandra’s gift seemed to be forcefully activated by it. Her own aura coming into view as two illusory wyvern heads appeared over her fists, roaring in defiance.

However, it didn’t stop there, as three more heads appeared, sporting different shapes which I took to indicate differing egos.

Oliver stopped once four dragon heads appeared behind him, and he took a step forward before thrusting both of his palms out.

I was forced to narrow my eyes at the bright flash, but I managed to see what occurred. Heat shimmers with a faint red tinge traveled in a straight line, striking the hill, followed by a deafening explosion that knocked a few of the guild members over. Even I was pushed back by it, but I kept my footing, mostly due to the strength of the armored skin and its damage absorbing properties.

“Holy shit,” I muttered at the five-meter wide scar leading straight to an even wider crater.

While Oliver seemed exhausted, his lips curled into an excited smile. “And that was only with four.”

“And how many can you control?” Alexandra asked soberly.

“Uh, well… just four–” Oliver quietly answered.

“At the moment,” he made sure to add.

As we surveyed the damage while full of surprise, the rest of the hills began moving. Apparently, the disturbance was enough to rouse them.

“Let’s get back to it.” Alexandra tried to bring everyone’s attention back to the main goal, but they were just too dazed and it didn’t feel like they put much into the fight.

I never felt as if I was in danger and handling the golems was easy enough, but I doubt our chemistry as a group was improved after the first run which was less than reassuring. The Hell Gate would be dangerous after we retrieved the stone, so I’d hope to have people I could trust to do their part.

I didn’t completely blame Oliver, but the experience left me… less than enthused.