Syn's determination wavered as a chill coursed throughout her body, reminding her of the Inquisitor. She looked beyond the smirking boy and scanned the crowd, searching for the dark figure. Though she did not see the Inquisitor or Uncle Taizhen, she recognized the golden-haired girl from the vessel in the circle of people surrounding the purple-glassed boy. Two hooded figures stood beside her, sporting matching bracelets she had seen before, but the fourth tall boy was missing.
She refused to let anyone ruin the hard work she and Nyk had put into this auction. With no immediate threat besides the boy in front of her, Syn briefly closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to regain her composure. Opening her eyes, she gazed at the couple with the kid, hopefully trying to resume the auction. "Any more bids?" The couple avoided her gaze, and the man gave her an apologetic look before turning his attention to the child.
Undeterred, her gaze traversed the crowd before her with the question hanging up. People broke eye contact when their eyes met, unwilling to bid. They had enjoyed the auction but didn't trust Syn and Nyk enough to bid. Syn cursed under her breath.
"Well, it looks like there are no more takers. I mean, you can't even deny it's a good offer," the boy said, approaching Syn with a smile.
Nyk stepped forward from her side, intercepting the boy. "Why are you chasing us?" he asked, his voice steady but filled with anger.
"Chasing you?" The boy laughed. "Why would I bother? I was passing by when I noticed the crowd. I must say, I've quite enjoyed your little spectacle here. Very... engaging. Although, as a good citizen, I couldn't stand idly when you tried to trick others."
"Trick? We haven't tricked a single person!" Nyk replied, his voice rising slightly.
Syn stepped forward to answer "What do you mean? We haven't tricked anyone, we are selling our inventions!"
The once-lively crowd had fallen silent, all eyes trained on the scene unfolding before them. The boy's smirk turned into a frown as he gazed at the pair, shaking his head in disdain. "You're not fooling anyone. You're just selling put-together scraps," he remarked, his voice dripping with contempt. "I'll give you that some may have a use, but they are mostly worthless, and trying to pass that as a Green Stone is pushing your luck."
"These aren't scraps. They're one-of-a-kind creations," Nyk declared, his voice full of determination. "We put a lot of work into these items," he added, a note of pride creeping into his tone.
"And your effort won't go to waste. Although a bit... crude for my taste. It was good for entertainment, and I'll pay 25 Coppers, far more than what that pile of junk is worth," replied the boy, the smirk returning.
Syn bit her lip as the boy downplayed the value of their precious wares.
Starting the auction without valuing the stone had been a mistake. She had hoped the story would push the rock to a higher price than the shop would've given them. But the city's residents didn't know them and, despite their built rapport, were unwilling to bid without knowing the stone's quality.
She cursed, wrecking her head trying to figure out a way out of this losing bid. Could they just cancel it and leave? Even though rebuilding their reputation next year would be challenging, maybe they'd have to. They couldn't take the loss. The stone alone was probably worth more than everything they had sold.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
A sudden and wild idea crossed her mind.
Syn's heart raced as she looked down at the mana stone clutched tightly in her hand. She'd seen her Mom do it dozens of times. What was it that she always repeated?... "Bind, Hug, and Cut." Would that be enough? What was more, would she be skilled enough to do it too? Her gaze waved toward Nyk, still arguing with the boy and unwilling to back down. She knew what she had to do.
Resolved, she picked up the last Razorback Razing-Razors lying on the blanket and smiled at the thought of the name. With a flicker of determination, she looked ahead, her gaze crossing the arguing boys and the crowd. She noticed the golden-haired girl's gaze was locked onto hers. The girl seemed surprised to be caught off but didn't break eye contact. "That's fine. Watch me." she thought, mentally commanding the System to open her card's panel.
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As Nyk observed the boy's smirk fade, he knew something was amiss. The wind had suddenly picked up, blowing stronger than usual, and it was causing the crowd to react weirdly. They were exclaiming and pointing at him. "Wait," he thought, something wasn't right, not at him. They were pointing behind him.
The Wind. he thought, sudden realization dawning upon him.
He turned around to see Syn slightly floating above the floor. A small tornado was connecting her hand to the floor, and in between both, the stone was floating. The previously dimly lit stone was now shining bright in white, its intensity increasing with every passing moment.
Drip. Blood. there was blood. Nyk's heart raced as he noticed Syn's left hand had a deep cut that dripped onto the floor. Amidst the commotion, a shout reached Nyk's ears, and he turned to see the boy behind him, accompanied now by two hooded figures.
"What is she doing!?" yelled the purple-glassed boy as the wind pushed the hoods on both figures back, revealing their faces.
The golden-haired boy and the pixie-cut dark haired girl stood now at each side of the hateful boy. They seemed to know what Syn was doing.
"I think she's canceling a stone binding! She's beyond stupid!" the pixie-cut girl shouted.
Nyk's mind was racing. Cancel the what? he wondered, looking back at Syn. By then, the stone's glow had turned entirely green, with a few lines of blue flaring here and there. The now small tornado connected Syn's hand with the puddle of blood below, the rock spinning inside.
Nyk looked into Syn's eyes and gasped, noticing the fear mixed in with determination.
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Syn saw the hooded figures approach and the panic in Nyk's eyes and decided to close hers.
Struggling, she managed to remain focused. Ignoring the screams, the wind howling, and the pain and blood dripping from her hand. She focused on rejecting the energy, willing it to return to the stone.
A shaky scream reached her, "Syn, Whatever you're doing, stop it!"
Syn ignored Nyk's plea. She knew what she had to do to prove the stone's value. She had seen it. Her mother's words repeating in her head like a mantra, "Bind, Hug, and Cut." Her body writhed in agony as she was rapidly drained of her remaining mana. Gasping for breath, she redoubled her efforts, mentally commanding the System to cancel the binding.
As her she felt her consciousness begin to falter, she gathered all the willpower she could muster and decided to end it then. In a single blow, she threw every shred of her will at the System and the stone. Forcing the stone to block the connection with her hand and redirecting it to the blood lying on the floor.
The tornado connected to her arm subsided and disappeared instantly, but a sudden surge of energy exploded inside her. She collapsed onto the ground, her body limp and weak, seizing as the System searched for more mana to fill the interrupted activation. Nyk rushed to her side, helping her to lie on the nearby cart.
"What did you just do?" he cried.
"I think I made... a big impression..." Syn managed to say as she shook uncontrollably, a proud smile on her face.