A Crow"s Dream of Clear Skies -- Chapter 6
The auction hall was frantically focused on the elixirs and pills being sold – flying through each one with bids well over three times the material value.
Silence swept over the audience, accompanied by whispers and gossiping.
No one moved. They were all suspicious of the authenticity of such a thing.
A sign raised from one of the verandas.
A second veranda.
A third.
The three began to fight over the salve.
“d.a.m.n you Carnitine!” An old man shouted from one of the verandas.
“They wanted it that bad?” Jasper thought aloud.
“It does… but shouldn’t you consider slowing down?” He gave her a concerned half-smirk.
Jasper turned his head back to the stage that was being set up for the next auction and thought to himself, this is the reason other cities and realms had higher drinking ages isn’t it…?
“WE WILL NOW BEGIN THE UTILITY AUCTION.”
Plop. Diva’s head landed in Jasper’s lap.
He looked at the controls on the armrest – a small panel of crystalline b.u.t.tons clearly marked with numbers like the keypads used by the dwarves of Svartalheim.
Items went across the stage – mostly of the ornate nature, like lamps and pottery. A single carving knives caught his eye, but he decided the majority weren’t worth it in the end.
“THIS ORNATE JEWELRY BOX WAS FOUND IN AN ZELOT ERA TOMB. THE BOX ITSELF ISN’T WORTH MUCH, BUT THE CONTENTS HAVE YET TO BE APPRAISED. THE CATCH IS THAT THE BOX HAS BEEN SEALED USING FOURTH TIER SHINE MAIDEN’S ARTS. AS YOU KNOW, THERE IS ONLY ONE BEARER OF FOURTH TIER SHRINE MAIDEN ARTS. SHE HAS OPENLY STATED THAT SHE WILL NOT OPEN THIS BOX – DENYING EVEN THE REQUEST OF HER FAMILIA.”
“THE BIDDING WILL START AT 20,000.”
“DO I HAVE 20,100?”
“20,000 ONCE, TWICE… SOLD TO THE DIVINE CROW.”
Indeed, she’s no easy task. I knew her well in my last life, so at this price it’s worth the headache… Next is the equipment auction. Time to get us some good stuff.
“Nha…” Diva sat up, leaning on Jasper’s leg. She turned to realize that she was face-to-face with the amethyst eyed boy. “I-I-I…” Her pale cheeks turned bright pink as she nigh leaped to the other side of the couch, curling her legs under her.
She raised a hand to her face, feeling the warmth of her cheeks.
She glanced over to Jasper who had been watching her all the while.
“I-It did?”
She began twirling a lock of her porcelain hair.
She reached out and accepted, “S-Sure.”
As Jasper and Diva approached the collection room, they are greeted by a male attendant, beseeching the two to wait whilst their items were collected from the lot.
He bowed, swiftly taking his leave.
“I hate waiting.” She gladly sat and leaned on the table, resting her chin on her fist.
“How many items did you buy?”
“Two dozen? With only a commoner’s fortune… What did you do, by all the things no one else wanted?”
She gave a dejected glare. “Did you buy anything of value?”
The glare intensified. “You wasted nearly two-point-four million stars on trash?”
“I can’t believe I gave you a week’s worth of allowance, just to have you waste it.” She laid her face on the table.
“Silence. Just let me pout till it arrives.”
A few minutes pa.s.sed. Jasper persisted with his meditation, all the while Diva began to doze off before a sudden shockwave burst through the air, disturbing her peaceful expression.
Like rusted doors, his eyes slowly opened revealing green specks mixed into his amethyst iris. Even with his eyes now open, his expression remained cold as stone, like he was no longer there.
“Why would I be doing that?” He responded with a whimsical voice, blinking a few times as life flowed back into his body.
“I just ranked up.” He stood to stretch and shake out his body. Slowly, the energy faded into the atmosphere as the tension left his muscles.
“Well yeah…” He realized his mistake in revealing his secretive training. “…but my training lives on a nonlinear scale.”
Her shock turned to scorn, “Bulls.h.i.t.”
“The ranking system we use predates Stardew, and you’re saying you’ve overturned it?”
“It’s called the path of the immortal. The path you’re using is that of the Saint – there are comparable levels, to a degree. I learned of it one day when delving into my family’s secret library.”
“Deemed immeasurable difficult to train in unless one has an equally immeasurable strength of mind, it forgoes the acquisition of demon souls for focus on the strengthening of the G.o.dly body and magics.”
“Although the immortal body doesn’t train in demon souls, it doesn’t prevent one from acquiring and using them. They still boost one’s abilities and allows one to gain unique attributes.” He raised his hand and a ball of lightning briefly appeared in his hand. “Using this path, one can learn and create their own skills.”
“Not yet.” He chuckled satirically.
Jasper went on to explain the levels to her in detail, skipping out on some of the otherworldly details. As he came to the end he brought up another major difference between the paths.
“Further…? Wait, but you just used magic… right? That means you’re already past level twenty already?”
“Equal grounds with Shen Lao?”
“Marvelous!” She seemed bright eyed now.
“I hope I’m not interrupting.” He gave a slight bow.
As Chief Hide walked around the table. The two turned their chairs to properly sit facing Chief Hide as he sat directly across from them.
Quite a useful thing, interspatial storage treasures. They allow one to carry around a warehouse in the palm of their hand – well, if they’ve the currency to purchase such a rare thing. Since the size of these treasures storages depend on the symbol level, only small backpack sized ones like Diva’s ring can be created with second-tier. The one that Chief Hide holds is that of a fifth tier – obviously an item looted from their ancestors.
“Did you purposely bet on all the useless items?” The Chief asked, curiously examining a small ornate knife.
She picked up the mage garments with disgust. “What is this garbage?”
“Heh?!” Diva dropped her jaw along with the robe.
“It’s inactive, yet to be given life. Pa.s.s me that knife?”
“It’s a good thing you were auctioning the ceremonial dagger too. Hey, Diva.” He firmly grasped the knife and extended a hand to her, palm up.
“Give me your hand.”
With a surge of mana in the air, ragged cloth turned to a brilliant white luxurious material.
“Amazing.” Her eyes sparkled like jewels looking at the set.
“No. that was the only one.”
“True, but the nose of a beast is sensitive to fancy metals. For lower level adventuring, it’s ideal. This little protection is enough for me. That arming shield is the same. With that, the robes are probably the only easily understood treasure in this batch, the rest have less broad uses.”
They walked down the steps to tucker who lay next to the horse post.
“Okay…” Diva patiently waited, looking around.
“Would you like a ride home?”
“Sure thing.” He received staff from her hand and had Tucker kneel back down so he could tie it too.
“What are you? Eek!” She let out a cute whimper as Jasper swept her off her feet like a princess.
“That was just mean.” She spoke softly with her head lowered as they trotted through the streets.
“Eh? Y-yeah. S-s-stop it!”
[Front gate of Lunacaster Manor, North End of City]
She took a few steps away from tucker and turned to watch Jasper saunter off the saddle and untie the staff.
“T-tomorrow morning?”
“Ah, O-okay.” Her face slowly turned bright red as she felt how close they were.
“A-a d-date?!”
“We’re going on a date?! Wait… HUNTING IS NOT A DATE!!!!” She yelled down the street.
She stood patiently waiting, rocking back and forth as the white pristine cloth of her mages robes fluttered in the wind.
The sun was low in the sky, giving an orange tinge to the blue skies.
A hooded figure walked in from the Northern Territory. An espres...o...b..rlap cloak from head to toe.
“Did you wait long?” A familiar voice emanated from beneath the burlap cloak.
“Jasper?!”
“That’s fine, I’ve only been here for a short while.” She thought back to arriving two hours earlier.
“Yup!”
He confirmed the luggage strapped on the saddle, then they proceeded to the northern plains.