Vivian’s eyes widened in shock as Ethan tightened his grip.

‘’How come you left that place before us but never came to warn us about what was going on outside? Did you make a deal with them or did you manage to avoid them and didn’t even bother to warn us?’’ he asked, staring at her icily. ‘’Tell me. Did you watch from the corner as we all almost died? Well, except for Fraeya, I guess. She literally died and came back with a potion.’’

When the confusion in Vivian’s eyes turned into a surprise, Ethan let her go. ‘’Oh. You have no idea. You didn’t use the same way we’d entered from,’’ he stated, smiling darkly. ‘’How much did you hold back from us? You kept exploring the place for at least two more days, right? Did you have a good haul?’’

Vivian stepped back while coughing as she held her neck, never looking him in the eye.

Ethan turned around and sat back in his chair, ignoring his startled companions and the curious looks he was getting from the others.

‘’T-There wasn’t anything else,’’ she said in a low voice. ‘’I checked a few other secret places but they had been cleared up long ago. I would’ve–’’

‘’Told me otherwise? Shared the loot with us?’’ he offered mockingly before sipping from his tea. ‘’That’s really reassuring. All I needed was empty words.’’

‘’E-Ethan, I swear– You can check my spatial storage if you don’t believe me.’’

‘’Not good enough,’’ Ethan growled, still not looking back. ‘’Come back with something better. Or don’t. It’s up to you.’’

Vivian bit her lip and extended her hand before pulling it back. She turned around and left the place hastily.

After a moment of silence, ‘’There wasn’t any Vivian in the stories you told me about,’’ Adrian stated.

‘’I guess I tend to forget about dragons and Vivians,’’ Ethan said with a mirthless chuckle.

‘’You believe her though,’’ Adrian said. ‘’You wouldn’t have sent her away if you doubted her.’’

‘’No,’’ he replied dryly. ‘’I still would’ve.’’

Adrian raised an eyebrow, taken aback.

Rachel arrived at that moment, looking around suspiciously. ‘’Is it just me or are you guys getting even more stares than the last time?’’

‘’Can’t help it,’’ Ethan said, turning his head with a smile. ‘’Hot guy problems.’’

Rachel rolled her eyes as she sat at the table. ‘’I’ve seen how people look at Prince Henry. That’s not it.’’

Ethan waved his hand dismissively. ‘’Everyone has their own understanding of the dao of hotness. It’s only natural that the looks we get vary,’’ he said before turning at Todd who was sitting stiffly in his new makeup. ‘’Isn’t that right, Todd? I bet half of those stares go to your sexy beard.’’

‘’Todd?’’ Rachel said, sizing the man with narrowed eyes. ‘’Isn’t he the one you’d mentioned last time? The ex-diplomat in Marah?’’

Todd offered a wry smile, which looked horrible in his new scarred face with a messy beard, and nodded. ‘’How do you do?’’

‘’I would be much better if there weren’t high-tier people who might kidnap me at any moment.’’

‘’C’mon. Don’t be hard on him,’’ Ethan said, patting his shoulder. ‘’His days are numbered anyway.’’

Flinching slightly, Todd managed to look even paler.

They chatted for another half an hour until it was time for the auction. As Adrian was silent most of the time, Ethan messed around with Todd and Rachel to get Vivian out of his mind. It somewhat worked. Mostly because he was trying to accept the worst possible case ever since the day he fought against Veronica and the anti-mages.

It was a huge relief for him to realize that she had no idea what they had been through. Sadly, that was only because she had her own plans all that time. In the end, she’d never trusted them as teammates and only looked out for herself, making Ethan suspect her every other motive. He really hoped that she had good reasons for it but needed something more than permission to look into her stuff. Regardless of the chance that she could’ve hidden them beforehand, it wasn’t the extra loot she might’ve got that made him pissed in the first place.

They left the Samadhi with a sizable group and headed toward the Heaven Tinkers auction house. It seemed that many young masters and mistresses were also going there, and the crowd only got denser as they reached their destination. The huge doors of the gorgeous building were wide open and countless people were rushing in excitedly.

Following the others’ examples, Ethan showed his card at the gates.

‘’Welcome to our monthly auction, sir,’’ the attendant said with a professional smile. ‘’Your room is on the second floor in corridor B4. Someone from the staff will show up and help you on the way.’’

With a nod, Ethan led his group inside. Just as they climbed the stairs, he noticed a ripple in the space before someone appeared from it.

‘’Welcome to the Heaven Tinkers,’’ the girl with a black and white robe said as she bowed. ‘’I’m Juliette. I will be your guide and server.’’

‘’That wasn’t a skill was it?’’ Ethan probed.

‘’The teleport? No. It’s one of the abilities of the auction house,’’ she replied. ‘’Chief of staff informed me about your arrival and sent me to welcome you.’’

‘’Let me guess. This whole place is an artifact?’’

‘’Indeed. Our most precious artifact is the auction house itself,’’ Juliette declared proudly as Ethan looked around in marvel. ‘’Please follow me. Room 404 is just at the end of this corridor.’’

They soon arrived at their private booth. The glass wall that faced the auction hall had five comfy-looking seats next to it and another five just behind them at a higher altitude. All of them had small tables attached with the same small artifacts on top of them.

Juliette explained how the bidding system works and how they can call for her with these artifacts before leaving them. Ethan didn’t want to order anything as he had enough snacks and drinks in his ring.

Settling down, the group watched the busy crowd down there while Ethan was gazing at the other VIP rooms. ‘’How is it that these VIP rooms can block sounds and [Mana Sense] but can’t block vision? Even my ship’s cabin is able to do that.’’

‘’It was also like this at the other auction houses I visited,’’ Adrian said. ‘’Probably the rich wants everyone to know that it was them when they buy something.’’

‘’And if they don’t, they usually have other means,’’ Todd added, motioning to a different room far away where someone with a blurry face sat.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

‘’There are so many things I need to buy,’’ Ethan murmured.

As everyone sat in their seats, the auctioneer made an appearance on the grand stage, causing the lively place to get quiet at once. The good-looking middle-aged man greeted everyone with wide open arms and a sunny smile. ‘’Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Heaven Tinkers Auction House, where we bring you the finest magical artifacts, herbs, skills, and much more. Tonight, we have a unique and diverse collection of items, each with its special powers and abilities, ready for you to bid on and take home. From ancient artifacts imbued with mysterious energies to the body parts of the creatures that belong to higher realms, the possibilities are endless!’’ he exclaimed with a sly smile and waited until the commotion dimmed a little. ‘’So, let's begin with the first item! An anvil that could change its shape and weight according to its user's wishes. This ancient artifact has three different runes that’ll leave every blacksmith salivating. Allow me to show you!’’

‘’Showing off with my bird bones from the start…’’ Ethan murmured unhappily. ‘’I should’ve acted like I’m considering a different place to sell and get some more stuff.’’

Adrian chuckled, shaking his head. ‘’Yeah, I’m surprised you didn’t.’’

‘’My mind is really full these days. That information we’d bought only made it worse.’’

‘’What bird bones?’’ Rachel asked.

‘’You’ll see. Oh, let me know if you fancy anything. I did promise you to make it up for your master’s discount before.’’

‘’Forget it. There is no need,’’ she said, taking a sip from her drink. ‘’I might get some more of this though. Where did you get it?’’

‘’A place called Blue Crab. I ordered a lot more, but they said it might take some time for them to get it. I’ll let you know once it’s ready.’’

The auction continued with more and more exciting items. Soon after, Ethan also started to bid on the small stuff. With some wins and losses, he managed to buy a dozen incense sticks and a quarter pound of tea leaves which both had the ability to increase comprehension ability for a period of time. Rachel warned him that they are not the best but she still approved the 20 mana stones he’d spent for them.

He had a feeling that if he used them only in critical times, they might have come in handy and outshined what 20 mana stones were capable of otherwise.

It was the skills he had high hopes for but nothing that showed up in the first hour was suitable for him. They were pretty good compared to the skills the shops sell but still rather disappointing. While waiting for something good, he listened to Adrian’s explanations about the people who sat in other VIP rooms.

Despite being here for only three months, Adrian already knew most of the important people. It wasn’t surprising though. He always had a knack for information gathering and made sure to use it well. Ethan was pretty sure if he asked why, he would get an answer like, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

Finally, something good showed up.

‘’This skill is called [Umbral Shift]. It is one of the best movement skills that the shadow element can offer in the beginning,’’ the auctioneer said, gesturing at the stone tablet. ‘’It demands such a low mana consumption for its activation and you can use it constantly without a pause. The drawback is that its range is minimal, no more than an inch, and it’ll be harder to rank it up as it contains the dao of space. To advance it, you’ll need a good understanding of both shadow and space. But again, it’s a good skill even at rank-1. The starting price is 10 mana stones!’’

‘’11!’’

‘’12!’’

‘’14! We have 14 mana stones. 15 from the above!’’

Ethan licked his lips and offered 30 mana stones without hesitation.

‘’30 mana stones! Eager, are we? Oh, there it is, 31!’’ The auctioneer seemed to enjoy himself with the rapid bids. ‘’40! 40 mana stones! Anyone else? We have 41! And now it’s 45! Any other offers? No? Going once… Going twice… Sold!’’

Finally, a movement skill! A pleased smile formed on Ethan’s face as he leaned back and took out a cigar. ‘’Oh, you guys don’t mind, right?’’ he asked, looking at the others.

They shook their heads while Rachel extended her hand. ‘’Can I have one?’’

Amused, Ethan passed the case. And the auction continued.

The following skill he bought was for Beet, [Skin Fortification]. Even at rank-1, it offered a fifty percent thickness in the skin and it wasn’t limited to human skin. Thanks to his already ridiculously resilient shell, this skill was perfect for the little terror. Ethan had to fight against a few more monster-bloods in the bidding but still managed to buy it for 55 mana stones.

That wasn’t the only thing he tried to buy for Beet. Another was a talisman called [Resurrection] and while a single-use item, it could regrow body parts and restore one’s health fully. Despite his recent trauma in the subject, he wanted this one for Beet as well. He stayed in the bids until it was 200 mana stones but had to give up afterward. Not that he didn’t have enough funds for it but he needed most of the money for the operation he was planning for the Reinhardts. He hoped that they could find more items like this once that was over.

Not much later, another talisman showed itself, and this time Ethan bought it for 90 mana stones. Its ability was to teleport the user a mile away in a random direction. As a single-use item, perhaps it was a bit expensive but he wanted Beet to have a trump card in the worst case. Combined with his new abilities, this could save his life easily.

‘’Ah, this is a good one,’’ Rachel said, leaning forward. ‘’My senior sister has this nature skill, [Detain Effect]. There was once someone poisoned in our shop. He was half dead when he came to us and even consumed a high-grade potion long before. Senior sister used this skill to delay the most potent poison in his body and gave the man enough time until Master Ruth arrived. Which was hours later.’’

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. ‘’Can it delay the effect of anything?’’

‘’Well, in theory,’’ she replied. ‘’But it’s not that good at rank-1. Probably useless against strong poisons.’’

‘’How about I buy it for you?’’

‘’I told you I don’t–’’

‘’No, I’m not giving you some alcohol for finding someone I can trust and causing a 30 mana stone discount. Not to mention, I’m also in need of this. I want to try something.’’

‘’Ugh, alright then,’’ she said, biting her lip. ‘’I’m also curious about what else it can do.’’

Thankfully, there wasn’t much interest in nature skills. Ethan bought it for 38 mana stones.

Almost two hours passed since the start and finally, the elixir of Aether Bloom showed up.

‘’They never said anything about bidding on our own items, right?’’

‘’Don’t do it, boss,’’ Adrian warned with a frown. ‘’You don’t wanna fuck with an organization from higher realms.’’

‘’Hey, whether it works or not, they have nothing to lose. The blame is on me.’’

‘’You don’t wanna fuck with influential families of Miri either,’’ Rachel said while Todd nodded.

‘’Alright, alright. I don’t wanna fuck with anyone,’’ he said, raising his hand into the air.

Fortunately, the crowd went crazy and bid one after another. It only slowed down after 800 mana stones and still went as high as 980 mana stones.

Hehe. Who wouldn’t want a permanent 500 mana increase without any drawbacks? Even after leaving Evelyn’s cut, I still got 490 mana stones. ‘’I told them to put my items in the middle of the auction. So the other one should also be out anytime,’’ he said, smiling merrily.

‘’That’s a thousand mana stones already, and you still say you’re far away from not thinking about money,’’ Adrian said. ‘’Just what kind of amount do you think will be enough?’’

‘’Enough to gift these kinds of elixirs to the ones I care about. If I can’t use it, that is,’’ he replied. ‘’Oh, do you have any accessories that give stats, Ace? Or any other items like that?’’

‘’No. They only go for a month or two, and there is an exp penalty. Definitely not worth the money.’’

‘’What’s exp,’’ Todd asked, confused.

‘’The essence you get from the monsters,’’ Rachel replied proudly. ‘’Learn the nerd jargon already.’’

Ethan took out two rings from his storage and passed them to Adrian. ‘’Here. 20 STR and 20 END.’’

‘’Why don’t you sell these? I really don’t think it’s worth it.’’

‘’No worries. They won’t break no matter how long you use them, and if you don’t want the penalty, just don’t equip them when you hunt.’’

Adrian’s eyes widened. ‘’N-no way–’’

‘’I’m just lending them to you. I already have my 50 bonus stats full. You can give them back when I reach tier-6.’’

‘’Still, boss, I can’t–’’

‘’I’m not selling them. Do you want me to keep them for years in the dust?’’

Adrian nodded after some hesitation. ‘’I’ll try to get a tracking rune for these. If I die before you reach tier-6, you can find them easily.’’

Ethan rolled his eyes. ‘’Yeah, right. I’d be really upset about the jewels if–.’’

An uproar interrupted him.

‘’A-Are those the bird bones you keep talking about!?’’ Rachel exclaimed with wide eyes as the crowd in the auction house went mad.