The Gold Sky auction house was quite an impressive place. The Sekorium and Continual tied for the top place in Preshsen, but the auction house didn’t lag too far behind. As its name would suggest, gold inlaid cloud-like marble made up the majority of the place, and the entire building was decorated as if to make one feel like they were walking on the sky.
Verlon had been through the place several times before, so he headed to the buyer’s side of the auction house. It was a massive room larger than an assembly hall lined with items protected in glass containers. Attendants stood with ramrod straight backs every dozen or so items as varied people moved about. Armed guards stood at every entrance to the room to prevent thieves from sneaking their way out. Every one of the Gold Sky employees wore full golden face masks to set them out from customers.
Every item in here was protected heavily and had a short description of its uses and/or effects. Since there wasn’t an active auction, each item on display was marked with their buyout prices instead of bids. At the moment, the massive building was more of a peer-to-peer store guaranteed by a third party.
He walked along the aisles, spotting an assortment of goods from all over. There were medicinal herbs and plants for sale in one section. Finished medicines sat not too far off from the plants. Relics of varied strength sat off to one side, separated by use and type. Imperial relics were separated from them in their own spot along with several weapons and tools created in a smithy. Even new technologies and ‘modern’ weapons were represented in a section of the room.
The plants held little interest for him. Most of them were only low-tier and wouldn’t provide too many benefits. The truly helpful ones weren’t on display and would probably show up in the monthly auctions for an exorbitant price. Verlon was better off finding the assorted plants on his own than buying the low-tier ones here.
The finished medicines brought some slight interest, though he figured he was better off heading to an apothecary on his own. Still, there were a few things that looked interesting as he passed through. Several tinctures and pills offered better muscle growth, resistance to the elements, and other useful applications. Their price was far too high for his liking.
Empyreon relics were next in his path, though he skipped them and headed to the imperial ones. He didn’t want to get locked into buying an empyreon relic and only give the imperial ones a half-assed look through. True, they were generally weaker than their ancient counterparts, but he could be pleasantly surprised.
Sadly, nothing quite fit his needs. Most of the imperial relics were melee weapons or armor. Some of them were interesting, such as the Thunder Halberd made from Stormhounds’ quills. It was by far one of the most impressive items thanks to its ability to shoot bolts of lightning, but its price matched its effect. The current price for the weapon was five silver notes and thirty-seven coins.
The armors for sale were also quite powerful, though most weren’t the right weight class. Most fit into the heavy and medium weight classes for armor, and they would only slow him down in and out of combat. If he was a bruiser or tank, it wouldn’t be too bad, but mobility was life for most rangers.
That being said, he did find a few pieces of light armor that looked intriguing. In particular, there was a leather set of armor named the Shadow’s Embrace made by the Darkhand Armory. It apparently made its wearer half invisible and lowered the chances of detection by a whole ninety percent thanks to its ability to ward off light and capture scents. It was incredibly tempting, but its price was well past five gold pounds, to the point they should’ve put it in the monthly auction instead. He couldn’t get it even if he wanted to.
Modern tech was next, though he didn’t give it nearly as much thought as he probably should’ve. He passed by with only a glance towards the portable phones that were for sale. Not worth the cost considering they only worked within the empire’s radio range.
Finally, he walked back to the Empyreon relics. Most auxiliary pieces had the normal gold and gray gleam associated with the Empyreon Kingdom. Other tools tended to fit closely to the theme of the item. The Empyreon Kingdom put an odd amount of effort into shoring up aesthetics. Everything from armor to auxiliary tools was present amongst the displays.
A pair of glasses caught his eye due to the sheer uniqueness of their presence. They were listed as an effectless relic, nothing more than a collector’s item, but he felt a similar attraction as his boots. The buyout price was only fifty silver coins.
Maybe Ai could tell him what it was? They came from the same era. He paused for a moment’s hesitation before mentally calling out. ‘Ai? Can you tell me what this is?’
‘Yes, Captain. First, this one feels the need to clear up some confusion. AI is simply a designation, not a name. This one understands human psychology likes names, however, and is okay if Captain wishes to name me. Second, hold the watch face towards the item in question.’
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‘Um… so I should call you something other than Ai? How about… Fritz?’ Fritz was the name of the first Emperor’s Butler and by far the most recognizable servant in Verlon’s mind. Granted, the AI’s voice was entirely genderless so maybe he should look for a female name instead? He tried to think up a few more names as he held the watch face towards the glasses.
A thin beam of light traced the glasses in a split second before the watch face returned to normal. ‘Classified - Permission Level Pheonix Captain… These are Psion Stimulating Specs. They are a relatively new invention in the Empyreon Kingdom capable of promoting growth in the frontal cortex, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Although they are experimental, their initial results were promising.’
Nice to know he could access at least some classified items as a Phoenix Captain. Verlon figured he should try to gain a promotion somehow. ‘Can you say that in layman's terms?’
‘Of course, Captain. Simply put - they promote memory and calculative abilities.’
Verlon rubbed his chin as he looked down at the item. Boosting intelligence, huh? Quite a rare ability and it was for only fifty silver… He should get them. If not for himself, then for his sister. She was already incredibly smart, but this might help her out a bit more than him.
There was one thing that worried him though. ‘Do they pose any danger to the user?’
The mechanical voice came back. ‘In one hundred thousand tests, none showed any hints of damage. Prolonged testing was still in progress at the time this device was last connected to a network. This is all the info that can be shared through a scan, connection to the device is recommended to download its full parameters.’
One hundred thousand is quite a bit… After a moment of hesitation, Verlon motioned over one of the Gold Sky attendants. Like the other attendants in the room, this one wore a golden face mask and an expensive-looking tuxedo. Her golden hair fit the mask perfectly. “I would like to buy this item.”
“Of course, sir.” She pulled a pen and paper from one of her pockets. “Name, sir?”
“Verlon Boreal.”
“The item will be waiting at the cashier counter near the front of this room. Simply tell them your name.” The woman bowed her head once more and then walked towards the counters herself.
He sighed for a moment before continuing his search around the relics. There were all sorts of swords and melee weapons next to the auxiliary section he was just in. Most weapon and armor-type relics were pulled right off of the defenses from ruins by scrappers. It was an incredibly delicate job to scavenge defenses without damaging them.
After a bit of searching, he found what he was looking for: a Sear Bow. The bow was golden in color with a string of flawless red connecting either limb. There were no arrows, but the thing that made the Sear Bow so special was its ability to produce fire arrows upon pulling the string back. Common bows, such as the Sear Bow, were usually plucked off of turrets or other ruin defenses, so they weren’t exactly rare.
The bow before him had a buyout price of three notes and fifty coins. Most sear bows came from ruins in hot locations, such as the Steamglade or the Desert of Drakenheim to the west of imperial lands.
After a moment’s hesitation, he went to inspect some of the other bows before buying it. The Arctic Bow was the closest one. It was a familiar bow that shot arrows of ice that froze their impact sites. Hitting the same spot twice would cause a shatter effect that would do massive damage. The difficulty, and why it was an unpopular bow even though it was quite powerful, was hitting the same spot twice—price: five silver notes.
The Earthen Bow was next in line, and it was an unfamiliar weapon. According to the note, the bow could create arrows out of almost any surface. Its damage output was slightly lacking in comparison to the other two since it relied on nearby material, but it offered far more endurance in combat. Since it used close materials, the creation of arrows was far more charge-efficient than the other two’s arrows—price: three silver notes.
The final bow he could afford wasn’t like the others. It came with an arrow. One arrow. The bow was called the Magna Bow. It apparently launched the arrow that came with it at extreme speeds and could far outpace the damage potential of the other three bows. It had a fatal flaw, and there was even a warning about this on the notes, only the arrow that came with the bow could be fired. Meaning its damage potential was high, but it only had one shot until the user retrieved the arrow—price: four silver notes. Thanks to its major flaw the price was quite low for such a powerful weapon.
He frowned for a moment before going back along the line and having Ai- Fritz look through the items. The effects written were only what the sellers and testers of the Gold Sky auction house knew. It was better to get an idea of their full ‘parameters’ as Fritz put it.
The Sear and Arctic Bows were the exact same in terms of effects, albeit slightly different names. The Earthen Bow was slightly more interesting. Apparently, the earth arrows could be supercharged with higher gravity, giving them more force while making it more difficult to hit shots. It was interesting, but the Earthen Bow was at the bottom of the list. His style of combat tended to be hitting hard and fast rather than endurance.
The deciding tidbit of information on his new weapon was for the Magna Bow. Its power was quite a bit better than what it first seemed. Mainly, the arrow could be automatically retrieved. It had a link to the bow that fired it and would magnetically rebound back to the weapon after it hit a target. It had a higher damage ceiling than the other three, and its flaw was mostly solved, so Verlon decided on the Rail Slinger.
He teared up slightly at seeing four and a half silver notes fly away, but he was overall happy with his purchase as he left the Gold Sky auction house. Verlon calmly walked back toward his apartment, feeling a chilling breeze as the scent of rain drifted to his nose. The sun was already on the horizon and the night seemed as if it would be stormy.