Bab 13: The Heart of Demons
With the commencement of the auction the eleven elders tried their best to seem casual. If they rushed to participate, their desperation and insanity for the treasures might become known and then the prices would skyrocket! Seeing their cool headed approach the old ghost grinned. Did they think he would make it easy for them. "Whoever doesn't register to participate in the silent auction in ten seconds, will be excluded from the auction.
Worry flashed across their eyes and they all ran to the pedestals to pay the registration fees. In their hearts, they cursed their parents for only giving them a single pair of legs. Within ten seconds, everyone except for Xan registered. "You're not participating, young man?" The ancestor asked him. "Sir, all I own is this little hammer, how could I participate in this grand event. I only came to lead these elders to this place," he said.
"Ah, yes, I do remember you coming earlier. Are you their scout?" The ancestor asked. "No, sir, I was leaving the guild when I ran into these seniors. They "asked" me to show them where the treasures for this place were at," he said. "Does Master Artifact Spirit wish me to leave," he asked reluctantly. "No, it's fine, it's good for the young to have many experiences. Just quietly watch," the ancestor said. "Yes, sir," Xan said. What a nice little play they were putting on for these people.
After his "discussion" with the ancestor, he began to move around the room. He waited patiently as everyone made their bids and moved to a spot in the room where they covertly monitored the auction progress. No one in this group had ever experienced a silent auction. It didn't have the same rules as a regular auction. With a regular auction, they were able to know where the bid was at to know if they needed to bid more or not. They could also end the bidding if things became too high. The problem with this auction is everyone operated in the dark. They had no idea what the high bid was so how could they beat it? Many were wavering over whether they should increase their bid or not.
Xan sided up to the weapons master. "Elder, which item did you bid on, if you don't mind me asking," Xan said. "The knife," he responded. "Oh, the knife? I thought you also bid on the crown," he said confused. "Well, I did, but I'm mostly interested in the knife." He said. "I see, so you don't care about the crown you just bid on it for fun," Xan offered. "Yes, just for fun. It would be nice to win it but I'm more interested in the knife," he said. He was starting to get annoyed with Xan asking him all of these questions. "That's good then, if its just for fun. I don't think you would win the crown anyway," Xan said.
"Why do you say that?" The weapon master asked worried. "When I was walking over here I heard the two beautiful sisters say they would bid on it together, but they didn't know if they should bid two level three low-grade artifacts or two level three medium-grade artifacts. I think they decided on two level three medium grade artifacts. Since elder isn't serious about the bidding I doubt you would spend so much for a laugh," Xan said with a laugh as he walked away.
The weapons master was suddenly very worried because he only bid one level three medium-grade artifact. If what the kid told him was true, no matter which bid the sisters made he would lose. Considering this briefly he quickly returned to change his bid on the crown. Without knowing it, the entire conversation was heard by the Duck Piercing Gentleman. He was even more decisive and chased after the weapons master to change his bid. Once everyone saw the two rushing back to change their bid; they also lined up to change their bid.
While everyone was changing their bids, Xan talked with the artifact spirit. After things settled down once more, Xan ran to the two "sisters." Of course, everyone witnessed this. Xan started calling them the two beautiful sisters. Everyone mimiced him and started calling them sisters not long after. What no one knew, including Xan is they actually were sisters. They shared the same father but had different mothers. Their mothers were the concubines of a powerful expert in the north somewhere. The sisters never met their father. Their mothers joined different mage guilds because they specialized in different elements. Eventually, both women became the head of their guild. The sisters grew up in the guild and became leaders in the guild of their mother.
The sisters were very close to one another and often secretly helped each other out. To others, they seemed to have a luke-ward to friendly relationship. No one suspected they were actually loving sisters. During the events in the guild hall the two instinctively followed one another. At first, it was because they were the only women and they felt insecure by themselves. Eventually, as things wore on, they forgot their act and remained close because their affection for one another made it natural to be so close. Xan picked up these subtle hints and realized the pair shared a deeper relationship than they were letting on.
"Beautiful ice and fire sisters," Xan began. The two mages loved interacting with Xan because he constantly called them beautiful sister, and he would whisper complements like "the two hot babes," to the men. They heard these quiet compliments, so they were always willing to listen to what this young boy had to say. "Beautiful sisters, I just found out something really interesting from the artifact spirit. I wanted to tell the two of you because I thought you might be interested," he said. "Oh, what could it be," the ice mage asked.
"I discovered the crown has more abilities than what the ancestor spirit told everyone," he said in a hush. He motioned the sisters to move closer as he confided in them about the secret details he just learned. "What extra abilities," the fire mage asked in a breathless whisper.
"Apparently, this artifact can be used with other artifacts the spirit will reveal later to increase the effectiveness and decrease the cost of use. One of the artifacts he mentioned this could be used with was called The Health and Beauty Cabinet. This artifact is amazing, every session in the cabinet can heal hidden and open injuries and make a person younger by ten to twenty years. It can also help increase perception to nature a little with each use!" He told them. "It can't be that amazing," the fire mage said in shock.
"Yes, it seems like it's true. No one else knows, but the spirit said he's going to make this cabinet available for everyone's use later, for a price of course. The thing is, the crown reduces the price of the use," he informed them. "Will he sell the cabinet?" The ice mage asked. "I asked him the same question, he said even if he sold it to one of the guilds or sects they wouldn't be able to operate it much less maintain it. Plus, it's expensive to maintain it and it requires someone from the crafting guild to take care of it. Therefore, he's only going to sell sessions for its use. Even still, this seems like an amazing chance! I know neither of you beautiful sisters need the de-aging part of the cabinet, but everyone suffers from hidden injuries and a boost in your perception of nature can make you even more formidable," he said with shining eyes.
Hidden injuries, increased perception of nature, who cares about that. They were both two hundred and seventy years old and they were finding it harder and harder to hide their age. Just imagine if they could have twenty sessions or so in that cabinet! Their mothers might even have the confidence to pursue their father once more if they could return to their youth. The light of killer entered their eyes. Not only would they get use the cabinet, they would, no matter what buy the priceless crown.
"Another thing I learned, that crown will change to an appropriate shape depending on whether a man or a woman wears it. If a woman wears it in the cabinet, the youth restoring effects will increase by an additional twenty percent. With the original effect of increase of ten percent the crown grants, it means the crown will make the cabinet thirty percent more effective," he said.
"Little brother, you will always be our little brother from this day forth. If anyone ever messes with you, we two sisters will cut them into a thousand pieces before sending their souls to the underworld," the two sisters had a mad light in their eyes. "Sister, you know what to do," the ice mage said to the fire mage. "Don't worry sister, get ready for the good news.
Laughing in his heart, Xan knew there was nothing better than igniting the demon heart in these two old ladies. The amount of money entering the chauffeurs were about to explode!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone