Chapter 641: The Appraisal (1/2)

Chapter 641: The Appraisal

Ju’n er smiled, a soft smile that touched the hearts of the surrounding Adepts. She muttered a few inaudible words, and a flash of white light issued from the orb. A silvery portal had appeared among them.

The Eye of Tomorrow, one of the Clairvoyant’s artifacts! Studied Adepts knew what they were looking at. OF course, this little girl was still far too young to employ the object to its full potential.

A Paragon’s astrum was even more alluring to normal Adepts than the vital crystals. The Eye of Tomorrow in particular was astounding. The Clairvoyant had used it ascend to Nirvana. Inheriting it was how the Clairvoyant earned his title.

Of course the Adepts could be covetous, but none would dare try to snatch the artifact from Jun’er’s grip. Four steely-eyes Paragons were watching everywhere at once, waiting for someone to make a move. Besides, not just anyone could snatch up an astrum and make a run for it. Who knows what sort of dangers were in this powerful crystal ball?

Jun’er regarded everyone with a small smile. “Please enter.” She was the first to step through, showing everyone it was safe. The Epochrion took her hand and followed without hesitation.

Everyone else passed through the door in a trickle of twos and threes. Since the Terminator, Metatron, Lucifer and other powerful Adepts were in attendance, the less famed appraisers weren’t too worried for their safety. They represented some of the richest and most powerful organization in human space, after all. Even Skyfire Avenue wouldn’t be so bold as to attack directly.

As they stepped through the portal, the visitors found themselves suddenly in a strange and fantastical world. Errand beams of light shot through empty space in endless treks into nothing. Overhead was the limitless expanse of a starry sky. Stepping through the door of light was like striding out into the embrace of the universe. However, there was air to breathe, and this spot felt particularly rich with the planet’s natural energies.

Was this… a Domain?

The Clairvoyant’s Domain had been called Ocean of Stars. How else could they describe this scene? Paragons were able to leave behind wondrous things in their passing but fewer and fewer knew this skill. If there was any Paragon capable of maintaining their Domain once they’ve moved on, though, the Clairvoyant would have been one.

Jun’er waved her little hand again, and once more the scenery changed. For a moment every Adept felt a rush of power, like they had been dropped into a sea of energy. Several gasped as they felt every cell of their being filled with vibrant potency.

This was… vital energy?

They started to see the purple crystals suspended in space. Each one of them was a different shape or size, but all of them radiated with a similar, substantial aura of vital energy. That wave of power had come when these crystals were all collected in one place.

The vital energy wasn’t particularly pure, there were vestiges of other powers within. However the sheer amount was staggering. By now the appraisal process was a formality. Several of the appraisers already had a greedy light in their eye.

Vital crystals… all of them were vital crystals! With so much power hidden within them, no wonder using them with the exuvium process extended a life for so long.

Greed was not shameful, at least in some circumstances. Even the Terminator was eyeing a particularly large vital crystal with some interest.

“One hundred and eight crystals are available during this auction. The differences among them are because they come from different alien breeds. The only way to determine their strength is to record them individually. We’ve done this for you, and each crystal has been assigned a serial number that corresponds with their asking price. Now we invite you to take a look for yourselves. No one appraiser shall have access to a single stone for more than five minutes so that everyone has a chance to look. I will remind you all that generally the size of the crystal corresponds to how much power it contains. However, that is not the case all the time. One of these crystals contains a tremendous amount of power, but is smaller than the others. Very well, that’s all I need to say. Feel free to look around.” The Wine Master concluded his speed with a wave of his hand.

Skyfire Avenue’s guests had stopped listening already. The moment they were given permissions, representatives scrambled over one another to get their hands on the crystals.