Mad God

When the carriage stopped, and its door flung open, the first to step off from it was not Corvux or Yavik but Elinus. He had a wide grin, wearing a white and gold tuxedo. He just flashed a quick gaze and grin towards Ariana before stepping to the side, bowing towards the carriage. Next came Corvux, stepping down from the carriage, looking elegant and regal, donning a white suit with amethyst-colored decorations alongside its sleeve. His purple eyes immediately locked onto Ren, who did not avert her gaze, meeting his head on.

"Oh?" Corvux chuckled as he approached her, in tow with Yavik and Elinus. "Her mind is strong," he said in a voice transmission to Yavik and the rest of his guards, who followed him silently. "She resisted my gaze without any real effort. I will give her that! Her eye skills at least resemble ours."

"I assume you are Corvux, correct?" Ren asked when they stood face to face without any real decorum.

"I am." He nodded, not really bothering with her tone. "And you must be the mutt, birthed by distilling our precious bloodline. The little girl who now found herself in the role of a princess."

If not for Ren being there and remaining calm, Ariana would already have jumped at him. But as long as she was quiet, she stayed in her position. She was eyeing Corvux without any fear in her gaze. Of course, he quickly felt her eyes land on him, and when looking back into hers, he formed a slight smile that quickly froze on his face. He tried to influence Ariana's mind but could not affect it. He almost suffered a backlash in return. He tried to enforce fear onto her, yet it bounced off her mind like a rubber ball from a wall.

"I always loved when someone wore his real opinions on their sleeves and was not afraid to speak his mind!" Ren answered with a grin, signaling towards the entrance, "At least we can be straight with each other when talking! I'll let my disciple show you where you are going to sit inside."

"This way," Ariana spoke up with a cold voice, starting to walk, not even looking back. When everyone passed Ren, she suddenly called out to them once again.

"Oh, I almost forgot! You do remember what I told you previously, no?" She asked Elinus, tilting her head to the side, looking towards them with one eye.

"Oh, yes, I did, but I am accompanied by someone who outranks you! Way more!" Elinus answered with a provoking smile.

"Good~" Ren nodded, turning back towards the still-arriving guests, and only her voice traveled to their ears only. "Enjoy your last night on this earth." It was unknown if she meant it for Elinus or if it was for everyone else present next to him. Still, they did not stay to argue, following Ariana into their own separate booth inside. It was already prepared for them with drinks and snacks. It had a good, elevated look on the stage where the auction was going to be held.

"Are we going to just take it?" Yavik asked with a voice full of frustration.

"It's just a child doing childish provocations." Corvux waved at him, tasting the wine that was on the table. "But I can be sure now that there is going to be trouble, and the Malevicks will make an appearance. When they come out, there will be a battle. A perfect opportunity to clean away any obstacle and grab onto the throne."

"Keina also brought her own guards…." Elinus sighed, leaning at the edge of their booth, looking towards where Keina was seated. He was checking out the valkyries standing behind her. "Can I keep some of them?"

"When all is settled, and there are living members of them, you can keep those! They would make great gene mothers." Corvux nodded without looking up.

"I'm good with broken ones too, My Lord!" Elinus chuckled, licking his lips.

"Sure. Whatever happens, you will still need to rebuild the Brightseed family afterward. There are going to be unavoidable losses."

"That is easy. I can produce more offspring in one year than mother ever could!" He laughed in a jovial mood, already imagining what he would do with the captured women.

…
….
…..

"Don't be nervous! You are going to do just fine!" Ren laughed, slapping the back of Seya, who was trembling like a leaf in a hurricane. They were standing backstage, and just as Seya took a glimpse of the other side of the big, red curtain, she almost fainted. She was being supported by her cousin from behind.

"But… this is so nerve-wracking! There are hundreds of eyes looking up at me!"

"Enjoy it!" Ren pinched her sides playfully. "If that makes you more relaxed, start stripping!"

"How would that make me more relaxed?!" Seya screamed out, turning deathly white, now imagining that the onlookers were watching her naked. "You just made it worse!"

"Oops! Sorry!" Ren grinned as she stuck her tongue out.

"You are a horrible cousin!" Seya groaned, crouching down, holding her head nervously.

"Relax~ I'll keep their aura off you in the meantime. You just need to introduce the items as I told you and let the bids come in! You must get used to being looked at and speaking before crowds!"

"I-i get it… when you are going to be Queen, I'll need to take over the Spire… still! Hauh…” She mumbled and fumbled around with her hair.

Ren did not answer, just smiled, patting her head, helping her stand up and smack onto her buttocks loudly, making Seya yelp out in a cute voice. She jumped up almost right out of her red, sleeveless dress.

"Ahaha! Now you have at least some cute coloring on your face!" Ren grinned, watching her turn bright red, and before she could react, she found herself on the other side of the curtain as Ren pushed her out. "Go! Have fun, Seya! Just conquer them with your charm!"

"Eh?!" She blinked her eyes as suddenly, a very bright light shone on her. Looking around, she was standing on the auction house's stage, gazing back at all the guests while everyone's eyes were settling on her body and face. She felt she was standing there naked before hundreds of people as everyone was checking her out and thinking how much they should bid for her. Ren almost could feel her thoughts, cursing her for even mentioning it.

"You are so evil…." Ariana smiled, standing behind her Master, whispering as they watched through the curtain how Seya froze up on stage.

"Right into the deep water… I have no time to slowly build her up~" Ren sighed softly while her disciple's black tentacle sneaked forward, connecting to Seya's shadow, helping her regain a little composure. It seemed like a slight touch was enough as Seya suddenly flinched, recollecting herself, and after scratching her throat, she spoke out with a clear voice devoid of any fright.

"I welcome everybody here at the first annual auction of the Wonder Emporium!" she bowed slightly toward the crowd. "My name is Seya from the Spire of Ren, and tonight I will be your host! I hope everyone came prepared because we are going to auction out such items that I can promise you one thing; nowhere else will you come across anything like this! They are exclusive only to us!" Her introduction quickly grabbed their attention, especially the noble families who were already hoping to get their hands on items exclusive to the five Spires. "Before we start, there are some rules we need to go on; please listen to me carefully as the points I am going to go through are strictly enforced by the Spire of Ren and the Spire of Rabout."

"Good girl… she is already going at her own pace~" Ren chuckled as Ariana also nodded, drawing back her tentacle as it was no longer needed.

"She just needs to overcome her own fear, and once she does that, she can go on effortlessly. If she is the same in cultivation, she won't really have any real difficulties." Ariana said, watching Seya's back.

"Everyone has to face difficulties. Overcoming your own fears can be hard." Ren murmured but flashed a confident smile. "But if that comes to play, I'll just push her through it, just as I did now~" as they were speaking, Seya was already listing the rules for the auction that later on became the gold standard in Rozex and then anywhere else where an auction house popped up throughout the history.

"The first and the most important rule is; Everyone invited can bid on any item that gets brought out. Here everyone is equal in opportunity. If any party tries to pressure another to quit or not to bid, they will be punished and never reinvited to any of our auctions! Furthermore, they are also going to be barred from entering Wonder Emporium. Ever. Again." she said, keeping a short pause, looking mainly at the Brightseed's and Corvux's booths. Her gaze was not missed by the other, smaller noble families. "Second; When you are bidding, there is no limit on how much you can offer if the auctioneer does not state otherwise! Third; you can bid with items or services, but those need to be valued by us first. Fourth; if you win a bid but cannot pay, you will not only be banned from further auctions FOREVER, but the transaction will be FORCED to completion by us. Our people are going to confiscate any property you have until the value comes out the same as your bid was. Fifth; If you paid out your bid, you could opt to have us deliver the purchased goods directly to your home or designated address without any further fees. Of course, you are welcome to bring it away immediately and leave the auction if you wish to do so. Or take it away yourselves at the end, but if you are unsure of your own well-being and/or security, we can be asked for delivery. I hope everyone will remember these rules and have fun obeying them! Now, I spoke for long enough; let us bring out the first item!" she smiled, clapping loudly.

In the next moment, Daryan walked up to the stage, bringing a big table forward, and placed a round, metallic, shining plate on it, propped up from behind. It was perfectly round with a diameter of 2 meters, filled with weird symbols in a spiraling line, right down into the middle of it. Nobody had seen anything like this before. Even Corvux furrowed his brows, trying to decide what it was, as for most, it only looked like an elaborate wall decoration. Seya let them guess in their heads for a little before speaking out once again.

"This is a formation plate. It only needs the energy to be activated from the user." She explained with a small smile while Daryan placed his hand on it, activating the formation. He was surrounded by a bluish energy field coming from the disk as the spiraling symbols looked like they were swirling like a vortex. They were siphoning energy from the air itself. As soon as his hand left the plate, it stopped working, and the field around him quickly disappeared while everything settled back to normalcy.

Most of the people were interested after the quick demonstration, but it did not gather as much noise as Seya expected. It was not a big surprise as most cultivators would use their own energies to defend themselves; why would they need a complicated thing for it if they could just cover a shield with their own power and hold it up. Seeing the quickly dying down interest Seya just shook her head, speaking in a somewhat disappointed and even mocking voice. Her following words made many people furrow their brows at first.

"Let me explain why this plate is more valuable than you think it is." she held her hands together behind her back, scanning the crowd. "Its proficiency depends on who wields it. The stronger the user, the stronger the defensive force it can provide. I just reached the third stage of the body refinement realm." she walked up to the 'shield,' grabbed it, and after activating its effect, Ariana walked out from behind the curtains.

Everyone felt a suffocating aura descending immediately in the room as Ariana showcased her strength the moment she appeared, summoning a black javelin and throwing it at Seya. Some even exclaimed in shock from the crowd, standing up or raising their own powers to defend themselves by reflex. When the javelin hit the shield, a loud, bell-like chime rang out, making everyone's ears ring loudly for the upcoming seconds. Seya was pushed back on the stage but remained unharmed, and only the blue aura around her was shaking and flickering. In the end, it regained its stable look. The shield was completely intact, while Ariana's attack was fully dispersed and blocked. Neither of them said anything, Ariana just smiled, nodding at her before she left, and Seya lowered her hand, hiding its trembling. She was gulping back her heart from her throat as she walked back to the table, placing the formation plate back down on it.

"And you called me evil?" Ren giggled when her disciple arrived backstage.

"I did not use my full strength at all, only at the 5th stage of body refinement." She answered with a soft but playful smile.

"Yeah, but she was only told you will help her demonstrate its effectiveness!"

"And I did exactly that, Master!"

"Fufufu… you are becoming like me more and more~" Ren grinned as she hugged her waist, watching Seya in the meantime as she hid the shock she was feeling. Seya was doing it pretty well, continuing as if nothing had happened, but deep inside, she wanted to cry.

"As you can see, even with my strength, it could block an attack from someone way above my level. Of course, it can't block every attack and can't do it indefinitely. It depends on who the user is and who the attacker is. I won't say more; the rest is up to you to decide." she looked over the shocked faces, flashing a slight, confident grin. "The starting price for it is 1.000 gold coins."

What followed was a deep silence as that amount was enough to outfit a handful of guards with not just a complete armor set and weapons but also could support their cultivation resources for at least half a year. But… if someone at a higher level than Seya used this formation plate… wouldn't he be able to easily block those soldiers' attacks? Suddenly everyone realized this auction was not where they could get good items for cheap, no. If they wanted something, they had to reach deep into their pockets. Those who are unwilling will leave empty-handed, and even those who are willing to spend money may not get anything in return.

"1.000 gold pieces then." rang out the first bid in the history of the Wonder Emporium's auctions, coming from nobody else but from Ooda, head of the Nelvis family. He was the one kickstarting the history of auctions held across the whole realm in the future.