The auctioneer gestured dramatically toward the pair of women approaching the stage. They carried a rectangular chest carved from what looked like obsidian. Even with my distance from the stage, I could feel the aura emanating from it.
When they opened the chest, four crystalline vials became visible. Each contained some sort of liquid, they were elixirs.
The first vial shimmered with a fiery red glow as the liquid inside swirled violently. Its movements were chaotic like a caged inferno that was desperate to break free.
The second vial contained a deep azure substance that ebbed and flowed like the tides, and it even occasionally formed the shapes of crashing waves or twisting whirlpools within its glass prison.
The third vial held a dense, earthen substance that seemed to shift and harden with the weight of stone. It cracked and reformed, as though mimicking the tectonic shifts of the earth.
The fourth vial contained a translucent, pale green liquid that moved like captured wind. Tiny currents swirled within, forming spirals and gusts that pressed against the glass as if seeking freedom.
It didn’t take the genius to figure out that these were the four fundamental elements of the world – fire, water, earth, and wind. Or as the Soul Records seem to call them – pyro, hydro, geo, and aero.
The elements were encapsulated in their purest, most primal forms. Yet even with this realization, I couldn’t fully grasp their significance, my primordial eyes which were my greatest allies when it came to identifying the unknown, were showing me nothing. The vials weren’t shrouded in concealment magic or enchanted with any detectable properties; they were simply beyond my comprehension. It was as if their very essence defied analysis, existing on a plane I couldn’t yet access.
Even if my mind couldn’t grasp what these four vials were meant to do, my body, however, had no doubts whatsoever. It was as though my very essence was calling out to them, and they, in turn, were calling out to me.
Nothing in my life had ever felt more certain: I had to possess them.
The auctioneer’s voice snapped me out of my trance.
“We present to you the Elemental Genesis Elixirs! Their true name and purpose are veiled in mystery, so we were forced to improvise with their naming. A peculiar figure entrusted these to one of our merchants, his words were as shrouded as was his visage. He spoke as such:
‘The bearer I sought eludes the threads of time; mine eyes see no longer the destined soul. By the will of the Weave, I place these relics where hands unbidden may claim. Let the currents of fate mend what I could not.’
And with that, the stranger vanished into thin air. The merchant gave chase but found nothing.”
The audience buzzed with intrigue. I could feel the eyes of other bidders darting toward the vials, but none of them seemed to react as strongly as I did. To them, these elixirs were merely curiosities – rare, perhaps valuable, but not at all essential.
For me, however, they were – or so it felt like.
I wasn’t one to act on instinct without using my brain – unless it came to flirting with women who could squash me in a second like Vex – but when my instincts were screaming at me with the intensity they were doing now, I wasn’t going to question it. I still didn’t know everything there was to know about being a primordial, but I understood that my race was superior not just due to its increased XP gains, but also due to its supernatural adaptability and senses.
“Five gold.”
A noble declared from a few rows behind me. He was quickly squashed by another, “Ten gold!”
“Fifteen.”
“Twenty!”
I decided to raise my voice to silence the masses, “One hundred gold.” I knew they would keep going back and forth using such small amounts, so it was best to just get rid of the poor.
The auctioneer grinned, “Ah, we have an eager bidder! One hundred gold from Lord Black!”
Instant shouts of disbelief and annoyed murmurs sounded from all around the vast building. I was betting on strange consumables that looked very cool for sure, but none had a clue as to what were their actual uses.
The fact that they were consumables also raised many eyes. You drank them and then they were gone. In general, people tended to value artifacts much higher than elixirs due to their nature to remain useful forever.
However, I begged to disagree. One’s greatest treasure wasn’t the many artifacts they wielded, but their body itself. You could rather easily find yourself stripped of your artifacts, weapons, armor, etc, and thus become useless if you depended on them, but neutralizing one’s personal abilities was much more difficult, even impossible if one was overwhelmingly mighty.
These elixirs were an investment to make my very essence greater.
“One-fifty.” The sound came from behind me, Lilith overbid me.
“Two hundred.” Amara also joined in.
Sigh. Amara’s bid didn’t surprise me, we were spiting each other quite a bit, after all. Lilith’s involvement, on the other hand, did surprise me. I didn’t expect her to bet such a fortune on these vials.
I grasped onto Seraphiel’s waist and lifted her in my lap in a way that she was facing me. However, instead of doing what I did with Jasmine, I told her to look at Lilith. “[Overlord’s Eyes…]” I whispered as quietly as I could, activating one of the three spells I unlocked from the Primordial Subjugator class.
My vision changed instantly as my sight was replaced by Seraphiel’s. The last time I used this spell was when I sent Abudha back after the fight with the Phantom League to gauge the reaction of Vex, Raika, and Orianna to my sudden and inexplicable disappearance. If they reacted strongly, I would’ve sacrificed the monk and never again entered Vesper Consortium territories.
Lilith was staring directly into Seraphiel’s eyes, letting me observe her to my heart’s content.
When I used the spell on Abudha, I had to sit down and couldn’t properly function, however, now that we were in the same room and she was even in my hands, I faced much lesser difficulties. While I couldn’t see from my own eyes, I could open my mouth to speak, “Three hundred gold coins.”
While it might’ve been more budget-friendly to bet smaller amounts, I wanted to make a clear declaration that I’ll not let this set of elixirs go. If I kept increasing only by small amounts, I might make the betting process even harder for myself as the chances of them continuously one-upping me would be much greater, increasing the final price more than my current method might.
Continue your adventure at empire
Three hundred gold was an insane amount of wealth. Even for age-old Adamantite adventurers and for daughters of the most privileged, especially when it came to paying for something that could be a total bust.
Amara hissed at me while Vivienne giggled haughtily, already happy with the price I was forced to pay due to their involvement.
However, my focus was on the living legend of a woman sitting behind me. Would she force me to spend even more? More importantly, did I have to worry about them becoming my enemies?