Ren watched Nereus’ retreating back through the shimmering azure brilliance of the Ward. The last few minutes had been…interesting. How quickly things could change!
He had been so close to sneaking off with all the artifacts in the treasury until Murphy’s law decided to stick its filthy paws in the matter. He was still reeling from how fast everything had gone wrong from the moment the noblemen had arrived. The plan had been to stay under the radar, maybe collect a few trinkets along the way.
There was the whole Fractured Realm to explore, after all. But no, he just had to make an unnecessary adversary of the Duskflame heir. “Just my luck,” he muttered.
Letting out a heavy sigh, he reached into his sleeve, retrieving the exquisite trinket that had been the root cause of the kerfuffle. A mischievous smile graced his usually stoic face as he gazed upon it. Sometimes Ren marveled at his own inclination to hoard, not unlike the mythical dragons of Earth's lore. The knowledge that this Necklace held such value to Asher only heightened the satisfaction he felt from liberating it from the nobleman's grasp.
And that's all it was. A liberation. Much the same way he had liberated his favorite golden Knife [Sunslicer], from its previous owner.
Against his better senses, watching the ugly scowl forming on Asher’s face as he retrieved the artifact from his sleeves, prodded Ren to taunt the man further. Asher looked positively constipated, with huge veins bulging across his forehead as he ground his teeth bare. If looks could kill, the hatred in his glare would have slit Ren’s throat a thousand times over.
With a wink and exaggerated movement, Ren kissed the obsidian pendant all whilst maintaining uncomfortable eye contact with the nobleman. His mirth filled eyes never strayed away from the Duskflame heir, not even when he visibly tensed with his anger threatening to overflow. He seemed seconds from an epic tantrum and Ren was hoping to glean out some secrets about the man’s cultivation techniques from behind the safety of the wards.
However, quicker than he would have thought, Asher calmed himself down. He took a few deep breaths before turning his back to Ren with a snort. It appeared as though the man had decided to ignore Ren, refusing to partake in his petty games.
Shrugging in mild disappointment, Ren strode toward the Altar, which had previously housed the [Eternal Bazaar], and delicately placed the Interspatial Necklace upon it. From his other sleeve, he produced the ring he had deftly snatched from Nereus, and positioned it next to the Necklace.
“Oi, that's mine!” the robed man barked in surprise, his finger rubbing the empty space where the ring had once resided. “How’d ya get it?”
“Trade secret," Ren's lips curled into a knowing smile as he replied. He playfully rolled the ring between his fingers, trying to get a reaction by infusing it with energy, but to no avail. A few moments of examination revealed its mundane nature, its value resting solely in its base materials.
“I knew I liked ya,” Nereus chuckled, his hand patting himself down to ensure he hadn't lost anything else. “What else you got? Thank the Sea gods yur stuck in there. I’d not trust ya slippery claws next to ma virgin sister”
“Your sister is fully grown. And we both know she keeps a harem of warriors waiting on her. She’s as much a virgin as you are a pious priest,” Asher interjected without turning around, his voice dripping with disdain.
“Bah!” Nereus waved the comment away, his head shaking in fierce denial. “She just likes the attention. Don’t listen to im, dearest Ren.”
A glint of mischief flashed in Nereus' eyes as a thought struck him. “By Leviathan’s mercies, If ya somehow make it out of that there Ward, I could introduce ya two,” he proposed with a hint of playfulness.
“Sure,” Ren replied noncommittally as he pocketed the ring.
Turning his attention to the other item on the altar, Ren picked up the Necklace. Grasping the Necklace in his hands, Ren focused his gaze upon the artifact's intricate details. Earlier, in the haste of the moment, he hadn’t had a chance to properly inspect the Necklace. But now, within the sanctuary of the Ward, he had the luxury of time to conduct a meticulous appraisal.
The Necklace’s pendant was made from the purest Brandvakt Obsidian, meticulously shaped into the blazing Sigil of the Duskflame Family. Holding it up, it caught the ambient light within the room, casting mesmerizing reflections upon the walls. The lanyard on the other hand, was woven from the threads of ancient Silk-Leeches that had witnessed a thousand years of existence. Together, they exuded an air of opulence that was impossible to ignore. Ren could see why owning one of these Necklaces was a symbol of prestige and authority in Greendale.
The craftsmanship alone hinted at the immense power the artifact represented.
As Ren's fingers traced the delicate patterns etched upon the Necklace's surface, he sent his perception into the artifact, his body tingling in anticipation at the treasures that would soon be his.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Starting with the most recent additions, he brought out the Orb of the [Eternal Bazaar], placing it back on the altar for further examination.
He continued his scan of the Interspatial storage within the Necklace, his gaze skipping past the roughly ten thousand pieces of glowing parchment. Nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety three to be exact. He had almost forgotten the seven he had snatched for himself earlier on. With but a thought, he pulled out the glowing parchments he had secreted on his body, and placed one of them on the altar for further examination. The other six, he sent to join their brethren in the Necklace.
Curses filtered through the Ward, coming from the mustachioed Nobleman. "Have you no honor, scum?"
Ren ignored the man and continued his deep dive into the Necklace's storage space. He arrived at a section of shelves he had seen within the space earlier on. These were the items that were blurred out to his senses, and required specific Duskflame blood authentication. Ren obviously did not have any handy, so he sent his senses flying past, hopeful to find some juicy contents that had been left unprotected.
Scanning a Storage device was usually instantaneous, especially when one was familiar with the content and knew exactly what they wanted to retrieve or store. For Ren, this was an unfamiliar device and he was still getting used to the mental nudges required to filter its contents. At first he did not mind, but after rushing past multiple blurred shelves for the next thirty seconds, Ren was quickly losing his patience.
“Hey! Mister Whiskers,” Ren snapped his fingers, getting both Asher and Nereus to glance at him.
“You dare?!” Asher growled in his deep baritone. “You grow bold cowering behind your prison Ward.”
Ren shrugged, ignoring the ineffective jab at his pride. Instead, he swung the artifact towards the Nobleman before continuing. “Where’s all the good stuff at? I know you’ve got some inside this Necklace.”
Asher burst into a mirthless chuckle. “You expect help from me? You really must be touched in the head.” Nereus joined in the laugh, only he seemed genuinely amused by the conversation.
“Suit yourself.”
Looking around at the space in the Alcove he was in, Ren nodded and walked to one of the corners. Sending his attention into the Necklace, he commanded it to retrieve all the items he was authorized to access. He hadn’t done this earlier because it was commonly understood as bad practice. Especially in this case with a Necklace containing an interspatial space multiple times larger than the Alcove he currently occupied.
In this case, he decided it would speed things up and he would be able to filter out the good from the bad faster. He tensed, ready to abort the command once the Necklace contents began to overflow the space. However to his chagrin, only a few things manifested in the Alcove.
The first of which were the glowing parchments, which appeared neatly stacked in a pile. He had been the one to place them in the Necklace so Ren was not particularly interested in investigating them at the moment.
Next, was a veritable mountain of clothes, all perfectly tailored for the Nobleman. Ren marveled at the variety of textures and colors, from deep crimson to royal purple, from golden cotton to silver-threaded brocade. There were velvet doublets, adorned with intricate embroidery that glimmered under the soft torchlight. Silk robes, flowing and regal, whispered as they brushed against each other in a symphony of elegance. Fine linen shirts, meticulously tailored, promised comfort and sophistication. Lustrous satin vests, embellished with delicate patterns, hinted at a refined sensibility.
Ren went through each one, tossing the ones he had examined away to a corner of the room. Speeding up, his arms blurred as he continued his examination of the Nobleman’s garments to the amused ooh’s and ah’s of Nereus. The only person not enjoying the spectacle was the fuming Asher.
“Stop that! I should have known you were a pervert as well,” he ground out. “What purpose does defiling my garments serve?”
Ren continued tossing each piece of clothing away and moving to the next one until he suddenly stopped. “Aha!” he held up a small bag of coins. “You’d be surprised at the things people forget in their clothing.”
Nereus burst out laughing, pulling a book from his spatial device and jotting down notes with a vigor that irritated Asher. It frustrated him to no end that he could not burn Ren down to ashes where he stood. His only solace was that in mere minutes, the array would have disarmed the Ward protecting the [Blazing Armor], which was his main objective of coming to this cursed building. Once he got that treasure, he could present himself to the Patriarch with his chest held high.
Two minutes later, Ren had gone through all the clothes and found nothing more substantial. Just a few receipts and scribbled notes. It would seem the stiff Asher had a love interest and was quite the poet. Luckily for the man, Ren was completely disinterested in examining his personal life.
The next pile contained prepackaged food. Now this pile, Ren was definitely interested in exploring. He opened one of the containers and moaned in pleasure at the aroma drifting off the dish. It was made from a local bird, braised in wine and liberally coated in herbs and spices. Ren speared a piece of the meat, making sure to include some of the stringy vegetable on the fork, before taking his first bite of the meal. It was simply heavenly. He sent the rest of the meals into the Necklace, placing them prominently within the storage space.
Moving on to the last pile, Ren observed that it was a bunch of miscellaneous items. There were some notebooks, a few essence stones, maps and a scroll.
While munching on the delicious meal, Ren flipped through the first book. It contained information about the potential places of interest the Cultivators from Mistypeak Village would likely target. Ren had not encountered any of the rival Cultivators so far, but he scanned through the pages with more intent, making sure to store the relevant information in his internal database.
Closing the book, he picked up a tome, bound in brown leather and metal rimmed. He began flipping through the pages and quickly realized that the tome contained a portion of the Duskflame Family’s research into the Grothluk’s Demise Trial.
“Hmph. I do not know who you are trying to impress, but that book is eons more advanced than your common brain can understand,” Asher snorted.
Ren raised a brow at the man, before shaking his head. The man might currently be a higher rank in terms of cultivation, but when it came to data analysis, there was simply no comparison!