Mila
“Hello, Little Joma.”
When a god wanted to drop into Joma’s virtual box at the Universal Auction, they were able to appear inside with just a thought, not having to knock on the door or anything else to show respect, but this one opened the door to enter, which was better than most of the gods who had come to visit before.
Looking vaguely middle-eastern, with long hair seemingly made of living flames, eyes like two dying stars, and a large orange horn rising out from his forehead, Parvorax, the Heavenly Scarab of Fire, was Krysta’s uncle and someone Joma had slept with multiple times in the past, so he had more of a personal connection with the Alchemist of the Deep Woods than most of the other gods which had visited.
And, more important to Mila, he represented the faction of the Divine Child, the only one of the three main godly factions without an alchemist god, while Joma was the only living alchemist of A rank or higher specializing in the life element, making her the only A rank alchemist capable of crafting a large subsection of high rank alchemical products.
For Joma, the faction of the Divine Child was her biggest backer, so, for making a deal concerning the 50% off coupon Mila had given her, it could only be with them.
“Hello, Parvorax.” Joma smiled as she stood up and gave the god a hug. “It’s good to see you.”
“You as well.” Parvorax took the seat by the room’s window on Joma’s other side and looked over at Mila. Then, unlike every other god who’d visited, he actually acknowledged Mila’s presence, nodding slightly in her direction before turning back to Joma. “Who is this?”
“The future wife of my second apprentice.” Joma sat back down, still smiling, Mila getting the distinct impression she wasn’t just being courteous to the god. “I’m hoping to train her up to host auctions for the Forest Cauldron in the near future.”
“A second apprentice?” Looking back to Joma, Parvorax laughed, a rather deep and melodic sound that somehow gave Mila the feeling of a warm hearth. “The first is some elf princess, right? I didn’t know you took a second.”
“I don’t want others to know.” Joma leaned closer to the god conspiratorially. “My second apprentice is incredibly talented, someone you’ll likely hear about in a few thousand years’ time, so I have to keep his existence under wraps so no one tries to steal him from me.”
Parvorax smiled. “Can you at least give me a hint?”
“He’s a crafting generalist. Alchemy, forging, enchanting, he’s good at all of them. And his Laws and energy control are top notch.”
“Even by your standards?”
“Beyond my standards, Parvorax.” Joma dropped her smile and looked serious. “He’s only E rank now. But, by the time he’s A rank, he’ll be able to make artifacts which even you would desire. So, I’d recommend getting on his good side while he’s young.”
“That talented?”
“Definitely more so than me.”
“Congratulations then.” Parvorax’s expression hadn’t changed throughout the conversation, just as Joma had expected when she’d described to Mila’s grandmother what she’d say to each of Krysta’s uncles depending on which one came to see her during the auction.
Parvorax, like most gods, wasn’t at all interested in E ranks, even extreme talents, and he’d barely even glance at a B rank, only showing interest in Mila due to Joma.
Most gods had lived an extremely long time, trillions of years at the least, and they’d seen a lot as a result, so they generally only interacted with A ranks, and even then it was pretty much never as equals.
Given his relation to Krysta, however, he’d look into her surroundings a bit, so it was a good idea to give him preemptive information about Aalam, as that way he and his brothers would be too lazy to look into Aalam further, especially if they thought the information would be easy to learn at a later date.
“Do you need something, Parvorax? Or are you just here to visit?”
“My brother wants to know if you need anything for Krysta.”
“Nothing that could be bought at the Universal Auction.” Joma’s smile was back. “She’s progressing well and I have everything she’ll need up until B rank thanks to Kilvorax’s previous help.”
“That’s good. I haven’t seen anything I thought would be particularly suited for her over the last eight months, but please do contact me if you see anything you think she’d like.” Parvorax’s smile grew into a grin. “I have no problem spoiling my only niece.”
With that, he stood up, but Joma stopped him from leaving with a few well timed words. “Is the Divine Child interested in the final item up for auction this time?”
Parvorax’s smile changed slightly, looking proud as he sat back down, and Mila belatedly realized the relationship between the god and the alchemist was basically the same as between the alchemist and herself. Parvorax was much, much, much older than Joma, so he saw her mostly as a junior, not an equal, but a junior he was helping to raise, and one who might eventually reach his own level. “What type of deal are you trying to make, Joma?”
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Joma, however, just smiled back at him. “My question first.”
“Yes.” Parvorax chuckled slightly. “The last item should be the location of the entrance to a newly linked material dimension, something all three factions will definitely fight over.”
“Okay then.” Joma made a motion and Mila could sense a contract being initiated between Joma and the god. “What do you think about the terms?”
In the real world, Joma had summoned Irena to her side, Aalam off practicing something he’d realized during an epiphany, and she quickly explained the nature of the contract she was proposing to the god. Parvorax, and by extension the Divine Child, would gain the 50% off coupon, and, in return, Joma would receive credits equal to 25% of the final item’s final bet so long as the Divine Child’s faction won, or 12.5% if they lost. In addition, Parvorax would buy any other item from the auction for her, with the amount he bet on the items deducted from the amount she would receive.
Given Joma’s deal with Mila, however, all items and credits earned from this deal would actually go to the United Federation of Planets, likely an absolutely ridiculous amount even if Parvorax haggled, so Mila felt really, really good, even if she didn’t allow that feeling to appear in her aura or on her face.
“The amount is too high.” For the first time since entering, Parvorax actually seemed serious. “I’d agree to this if the end item were of lesser value, but we’re talking a price worthy of access to an entire universe’s treasures here, and that’s not an amount it would be safe for you to hold onto.
“Would you be okay with a twelfth of what you’re asking? I’d be willing to agree to a reasonable minimum as well.”
“Hmm.” Joma pretended like she was thinking, but in the real world she and Irena were almost jumping up and down as this was their best case scenario, giving Joma the chance to haggle for exactly what the United Federation of Planets would really want. “In that case I think it would only be right for you to add some unique items from your faction’s collections in return.”
“That would be possible, depending on the items.” Parvorax’s expression grew proud again. “What do you want?”
“Let me modify the terms of the contract to add the list.” Joma modified the terms and Parvorax’s expression grew slightly shocked.
Then a big grin spread across his face. “You did your research beforehand and figured out almost exactly the line we’d be willing to agree to.”
Joma just smiled. In actual fact, Nana Xara, an A rank who’d lived much, much longer than her, and thus had a much better idea of the treasures owned by the gods, had made several lists depending on how expensive the final item would be and how much the Divine Child’s faction would want it, and Joma had been able to learn a lot from seeing the lists, while not losing anything.
“You have a planet undergoing integration?”
“The force I bought the coupon from does, and I’ve agreed to give them reasonable compensation depending on what I can get for myself.”
“Anyone I should be worried about?” Parvorax didn’t sound like he cared much but was asking the question mainly so he could say he had.
“No. It is a young force which has yet to make any true allies or enemies, at least at the level you would care about. They happened to luck into some special circumstances, however, and the System rewarded them as a result.”
“Okay.” Parvorax started grinning again and, from Joma’s description of the man when Mila had asked several years ago, Mila guessed it was because he was getting to act big in front of the other gods of the Divine Child’s faction in the real world or at other locations in the auction venue. “I’ve asked and those items could be given, as can all the crafting materials and the various plants. But the Collector wants to know if there is any negotiation room when it comes to the dragon.”
“No.” Joma shook her head and Mila watched as Parvorax seemed to grow slightly excited. “The dragon is not negotiable.”
“Great.” Parvorax was quiet for a few seconds and then he reached out and patted Joma on the shoulder. “Well done. Master got even the Collector to agree and only master and I know the deal was with you.”
He then turned to look at Mila. “But, given the secrecy you desired, is it okay for her to have been in the room?”
“The dragon is for her fiancé when he later advances to B or A rank, and that’s the main thing I want to keep secret.”
“Alright.” Parvorax smiled at Mila, giving her the sense of the energizing warmth of the sun on a chilly fall day, and then he looked back to Joma. “Do tell me if anything else in the auction interests you and I’ll be sure to buy it.”
With that, he disappeared, and, in the real world, Joma turned to Irena. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but your home planet is only turning into an E rank world, right?”
“No.” With Mila’s permission, Irena gave some of their information. “The divine residence could help raise it to C rank, and, along with the coupons, we received a reward to help our planet increase one rank further, so it should end up as B rank, thus our desire to add features to it.”
Joma started chuckling to herself, sounding more resigned than happy, but then she shook her head. “Talent and power at an extreme tend to only grow more extreme, and you guys are starting to see the benefits of yours.”
Meanwhile, on an E rank planet about ten galaxy clusters away from Earth, Mila was in the middle of scouting out a new target for increasing their Territory, so she couldn’t jump up and down and scream out in happiness like she wanted to, but she still felt good.
The items had already been transferred to her via the System, which would allow her to summon them to her side at any time, and they were amazing.
Two would automatically create new natural wonders on Earth so long as it was undergoing an E rank integration for two years after they were implanted into the planet. And another was a special subspace which could be added to the planet to effectively quintuple its usable land no matter what rank it rose to. But her favorite improvement to Earth was a special artifact called a primal energy well, which would double the amount of ambient primal energy on the planet no matter what rank it rose to.
There were also a whole lot of materials which they could later use to create C and even B rank artifacts, as well as quite a few plant clippings and seeds which could be planted on an A rank world such as Earth would turn into to create reusable A rank alchemical materials.
But by far the most expensive item they’d asked for was something a god under the Divine Child known as the Collector had bought as the final item of a Universal Auction more than five trillion years ago to add to his ever growing collection of unique items, an A rank Order Dragon with the Empyrean grade bloodline Incarnation of Order, preserved right before its death.
Order Dragons, along with Chaos and Divine Dragons, were one tier higher than Balance Dragons like Isaiah, and they were incredibly rare as a result. But this was especially the case for A rank dragons of these species, as they only became B ranks as adults and actually had to work to reach A rank.
Add the incredibly rare and powerful Incarnation of Order bloodline on top and there wasn’t a better creature in the universe for Aalam to use his Genetic Thief bloodline on when advancing his race to C rank, at least not one whose power he’d theoretically be able to absorb.
Mila felt very satisfied, as, like Diana had said, everything seemed to be falling into place, but part of her still felt uneasy. Things were going too well and the pessimistic part of Mila just couldn’t help feeling like some disaster was on the horizon, one that she just wasn’t able to see.