Mad God – Reborn

When the carriage stopped and its door flung open, the first to step out was not Corvux or Yavik, but Elinus. He wore a white-and-gold tuxedo, a grin plastered over his face. His eyes found Ariana first, then he stepped aside and bowed to the carriage, from which Corvux emerged, looking elegant and regal in a white suit with amethyst-colored decorations along the sleeves. His purple eyes immediately locked onto Ren, who didn't avert her gaze and met his head-on.

"Oh?" Corvux chuckled as he approached her, with Yavik and Elinus following. "Her mind is strong," he said, transmitting 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 eyes at least resemble ours."

"I assume you are Corvux, correct?" Ren asked as they stood face to face, her voice devoid of warmth.

"I am." He nodded, ignoring 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 Ren hadn't been there and remained calm, Ariana would have already jumped at him. But as long as her master stayed quiet, she held her tongue, too. Still... She eyed Corvux without fear. Of course, he quickly felt her eyes land on him, and when he looked back into hers, a slight smile formed on his face... then froze. He tried to influence Ariana's mind, but he couldn't. He even almost suffered a backlash when he tried to instill fear in her, yet it bounced off her mind like a rubber ball off a wall.

"I always loved when someone wore their real opinions on their sleeves and was not afraid to speak their 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 said in a cold voice, starting to walk without even looking back.

However, just as 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 and looking at 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 toward the still-arriving guests, and only her voice reached their ears. "Enjoy your last night on this earth... Because by dawn, you will be dead."

It was unclear whether she meant it for Elinus or for everyone else present beside him. Still, they didn't argue; they followed Ariana into their own separate booth, already set up with drinks and snacks. It had a good, elevated look on the stage where the auction would be held.

"Are we going to just take it?" Yavik asked with a voice full of frustration after they were left alone.

"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 on the edge of their booth and looking toward Keina as he checked 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 jovially, already imagining what he would do with the captured women.

…

….

…..

"Don't be nervous! You are going to do just fine!" Ren laughed and slapped Seya on the back, while she trembled like a leaf in a hurricane. At that moment, they stood backstage, and as Seya caught a glimpse of the other side of the big, red curtain, she almost fainted.

"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. Just introduce the items like 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, fumbling with her hair.

Ren did not answer, just smiled, patting her head, helping her stand up, and smacked her buttocks loudly, making Seya yelp out in a cute voice and turning her face bright red.

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

"Eh?!" She blinked as a very bright light suddenly shone on her.

Looking around, she was on the auction house stage, gazing back at the guests as everyone's eyes settled on her face and body. 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 and whispering as they watched through the curtain.

"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. A slight touch was enough; after Seya flinched, she quickly collected herself, cleared her throat, and spoke clearly, free of fear.

"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 off items so rare I can promise you one thing: you won't find anything like this anywhere else! 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 by; 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 nodded too, drawing back her tentacle since 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, flashing a confident smile. "But if that comes to play, I'll just push her through it, just as I did now." As they spoke, Seya was already listing the rules for the auction that later became the gold standard in Rozex, and then anywhere else where an auction house popped up throughout 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 will be barred from entering Wonder Emporium. Ever. Again," she said, keeping a short pause, looking mainly at the Brightseeds' and Corvux's booths. "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 be banned from further auctions FOREVER, and we will FORCIBLY complete the transaction. Our people will confiscate any property you have until the value matches your bid. Fifth: If you paid your bid, you can choose to have us deliver the purchased goods directly to your home or designated address at no further cost. Of course, you are welcome to take it away immediately and leave the auction if you wish. Or take it away yourselves at the end, but if you are unsure about your well-being or security, I suggest requesting delivery. I hope everyone remembers these rules and has fun obeying them! Now, I spoke for long enough; let us bring out the first item!" She smiled, clapping loudly.

The next moment, Daryan walked up to the stage, brought a big table forward, and propped up a round, metallic, shining plate on it from behind. It was perfectly round, 2 meters in diameter, filled with weird symbols in a spiraling line that ran right to the middle. No one had ever seen anything like this. Even Corvux furrowed his brows, trying to decide what it was; for most, it only looked like an elaborate wall decoration, so Seya let them guess for a little while before speaking again.

"This is a formation plate. It only needs the energy to be activated by the user." She explained with a small smile while Daryan placed his hand on it, activating the formation.

The moment he did, 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 people were interested after the quick demonstration, but it didn't draw as much attention as Seya expected. It wasn't a big surprise; most cultivators would use their own energy to defend themselves. Why would they need something complicated if they could just cover a shield with their own power and hold it up? Seeing their interest quickly fade, Seya shook her head and spoke in a somewhat disappointed, even mocking, voice.

"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 activated its effect just as Ariana stepped out from behind the curtains.

The moment she appeared, a suffocating aura descended on the room as Ariana revealed her true strength, summoning a black javelin and hurling it at Seya. Some in the crowd exclaimed in shock, standing up or instinctively raising their own powers to defend themselves. When the javelin hit the shield, a loud, bell-like chime rang out, ringing in everyone's ears for the next few seconds. Seya was pushed back on the stage but remained unharmed; only the blue aura around her shook and flickered, but in the end, it stabilized. The shield remained completely intact, while Ariana's attack was fully dispersed and blocked. Neither of them said anything; Ariana just smiled, nodded at her, then left, and Seya lowered her hand, hiding how much it was trembling. She gulped, her heart in her throat, as she walked back to the table and set the formation plate down.

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

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

"Yeah, but she was only told you would 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 hide her shock, doing it pretty well, continuing as if nothing had happened, but deep inside, she wanted to cry.

"As you can see, even with my measly 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 and flashed a slight, confident grin. "The starting price for it is 1,000 gold coins."

A deep silence followed, as that amount was enough to outfit a handful of guards not just with complete armor sets and weapons, but also to support their cultivation resources for at least half a year. But… if someone higher-level than Seya used this formation plate… wouldn't he be able to easily block those soldiers' attacks? Suddenly, everyone realized this auction wasn't a place to get good items cheaply. If they wanted something, they had to reach deep into their pockets. The unwilling left empty-handed, and even those willing to spend might get nothing 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 Ooda, head of the Nelvis family.