Chapter 693: Bumpy Ride (1/2)
Zac’s abyssal eyes moved back and forth. Back and forth between the necklace being presented on the scene, its core shimmering with mysterious lights that called to the very depths of his soul. And to the congenial smile of his companion, which seemed like a sword of Damocles over his head.
“What do you want?” Zac sighed, feeling like he was making a deal with the devil.
“We don’t need much,” Catheya smiled. “One request from each of us. I have a secondary mission in the Twilight Ocean, one that might put us in the crosshairs of some dangerous people among the living. I was planning on doing that with just my followers to help out, but I think things would go smoother with your help.”
“How long?” Zac asked with a frown.
“It will be completed by the time we reach the Life-Death Pearls, but there will probably be some heated battles.”
“I won’t fight to the death,” Zac said without hesitation, but Catheyas mouth only quirked up.
“Agreed, but you need to put in some real effort,” Catheya countered.
“And your master?” Zac asked as he glanced at the scene, and he saw the announcer stare back at him. He waved at him to wait for a bit before he turned back to Catheya.
“He has a personal task for you. I don’t know its contents, but he said it was simple enough,” she said.
Zac wasn’t relishing the thought of ‘owing one’ to a Peak C-grade Monarch, but did he have a choice? He and Kenzie had searched high and low for an item like the [Stone of Hope] all over the Zecia sector over the past three years, but they hadn’t even heard of an item that came close to this.
This was probably his only shot since he’d return back to Zecia after the Twilight Ascent.
“Agreed,” Zac sighed as he activated the auction crystal just before the auctioneer was about to close on the item. “Fifteen thousand. I apologize to the esteemed Monarch, but I am adamant about getting this item.”
A snort echoed through the whole venue a moment later, causing the whole room to vibrate ominously. But she didn’t lash out or try to pressure him, leading Zac to believe Catheya’s master had already interceded.
A few minutes passed, and Zac eventually looked down at the intricate box in his hands with mixed emotions. Not even Catheya seemed unaffected by the amount of wealth its contents represented. Hopefully, the effect of the [Stone of Hope] was as great as it was proclaimed since the Veilplume Monarch had only backed down after running up the price to 40,000 D-Grade Nexus Coins.
According to Catheya, the Veilplume Monarch had already come to an agreement with her master, but she couldn’t simply back down from an E-grade brat without ‘punishing’ him a bit for his impudence. That’s why Zac found himself overpaying by almost ten times what the treasure was normally worth. Of course, it was always hard to gauge the value of these kinds of once-in-a-lifetime treasures.
But suffice to say, an item that could only help up to the Peak E-grade definitely wasn’t worth 40,000 D-grade Nexus Coins to most people or factions. A clan could nurture millions of warriors with that kind of wealth, and some of those people might reach Hegemony. To use it to help a Mortal? Unthinkable, even if it was infinitely reusable, which Zac very much doubted it was.
Of course, it was another story if the recipient bought the item for himself. Let alone 40,000, Zac would have paid over 100,000 D-grade Nexus Coins for something that would allow him to safely make his way through the High E-grade where node-breaking was synonymous with suicide for someone with as powerful a foundation as him.
The intense bidding had caused some ripples among the spectators, but the auction soon continued again. It was a real eye-opener, and Zac looked on as one amazing item after another appeared on the stage. A few of them were even at the level of the [Eye of Har’Theriam] he got from Yrial, and they caused multiple Monarchs to fiercely bid for them.
However, other items didn’t get a single bid, and the auctioneer eventually took them away after a minute. One of the items that garnered such tepid reception was a natural treasure that looked a bit like a heart wrought from dark-green crystal. It was completely still, yet Zac’s senses were tricked to think it was beating somehow.
Its name was [Cardinal Kernel], and it was a powerful bloodline treasure that was reputed to be effective in evolving and to a small degree purifying bloodlines. Its pricetag was somewhat shocking though for an E-grade bloodline-boosting treasure; 2,500 D-grade Nexus Coins. It was just a fraction of the price of his [Stone of Hope], but similar items had been sold during the first half where the price tag was rather set in E-grade Nexus Coins.
“What’s going on? Why is no one buying this thing?” Zac asked as he looked down at the crystalline heart. “It's expensive, but its efficacy is extremely high.”
“It’s definitely a good item, though a bit overpriced,” Catheya nodded. “I guess a large part of the price comes from the excessive rarity, I have never heard of this thing before. I guess none of the old masters here feels it worth the investment. Besides, far from all bloodlines provide direct combat capabilities that would help in the trial.”
“Still, it shouldn’t be too much money for a Monarch to buy this thing?” Zac asked.
“Well, not really. But you have to look at it from their perspective. The kind of treasures they need might require them to scrounge and risk their lives for tens of thousands of years. Furthermore, just maintaining their inner worlds and keeping them from shrinking is a constant drain on their resources, to the point of bankruptcy for some. Meanwhile, new generations in their clans appear every thousand years. Why would they spend their hard-earned money on their 86th-generation grandson they might not even have met?” Catheya said.
“If they did that for a few talents every generation they’d ruin their own cultivation. They’d only purchase an item like this for a direct disciple they have really high hopes for, and if it would provide huge benefits,” she continued. “I guess there’s no one here who both has a disciple that needs the item and who can properly extract enough value for it.”
“So, I could buy this thing without drawing anyone’s ire?” Zac asked with gleaming eyes.
“Sure, I guess. But possessing too much wealth can be seen as a sin. And I’m not sure it will work on our Draugr bloodline,” Catheya said with a shake of her head. “Or do you have some odd mutation? Or is it for our friend again?”
That Comment revealed something interesting that Zac already suspected; that Draugr all had a common bloodline. However, he was more focused on whether he should go for it, if he should buy this item. 2,500 D-grade Nexus Coins was just a fraction of his wealth, but it might put him in the crosshairs of greedy opportunists.
Catheya’s master had only agreed to defend him against the Veilplume Monarch, not against the billions of greedy people in the Twilight Harbor.
But his Bloodline was still just F-grade, and he hadn’t made any real progress over the past three years. His Bloodline Method, [Bloodline Resonance], only allowed him to gain basic control over his bloodline Talent, but it did nothing to actually improve it. The Shard of Creation had helped him make some improvements to the storage capacity of [Force of the Void],
However, Zac wasn’t sure if his actual bloodline was making any progress. Eating half a mountain was how he awakened the Bloodline, so Zac felt pretty confident that eating some more would keep progressing it. The [Cardinal Kernel] might not be enough to evolve the bloodline in one go, but it would be a first step in the right direction. Risk and reward… Zac struggled with the two as the auctioneer desperately tried to get someone to buy the thing.
But there was really no one interested. The auctioneer eventually gave up and turned toward an assistant to take the item away, forcing Zac to make a decision.
“2500, I’ll take it,” Zac said as he placed his bid.
He had already flaunted his wealth. He might as well snatch a few more items and hide under Catheya’s protective umbrella on the way back, as long as it didn’t directly garner him any direct new enemies.
Unfortunately, most of the items that would be useful to Zac were useful to others as well, and the bloodline item was the only one he managed to buy. Eventually, the items put up for auction switched from treasures meant for juniors to items meant for the bigshots themselves. The true part of the second part of the Auction.
Zac wasn’t planning on buying anything in this part, but he did actually encounter an interesting item early on. It was a frozen organ that had fallen out from a spatial tear. It contained some spatial fluctuations along with other chaotic energies in the mix. There wasn’t any real interest in this Peak D-grade body part among the cultivators, but Zac’s eyes lit up when he saw it.