Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 134: Emma

“I am sure you’re all aware of the efficacy of an E-Grade Nexus Crystal by now. They are still not available for sale in the stores, and only a scant few have been found or rewarded from quests. Just one contains enough power to gain a whole level for most people. They can also power your defensive structures or arrays when defending your towns, making them a must-have for aspiring Lords.

“The five crystals will be sold as a set, and the price starts at 25 000 Nexus Coins,” the Announcer shouted, trying to hype up the wares.

That put the crystals at roughly 5 000 Nexus Coins per crystal, which was the general market price, as one E-Grade Crystal was worth roughly a hundred F-Grade ones in the Multi-Verse. However, their value was far higher on earth at the moment.

There was a desperate demand, but almost no supply. Zac knew that on a D-Grade world like theirs E-Grade crystals wouldn’t be anything special in a couple of years when the world had acclimatized and the crystals had been given time to grow. But for now they were extremely rare as the shops didn’t sell them.

Still, they would give a huge leveling boost for most people, and Zac expected their price to go far higher compared to what they were actually worth. He was quickly proven right as the price increased to over a hundred thousand in no time, people desperately shouting out higher and higher prices.

“110 000, thank you B183,” the auctioneer said, but barely had time to finish the sentence before the price increased again on the large monitor behind him.

“Two hundred thousand,” the elder of the Marshall clan suddenly said, and the hall quickly stilled.

The crystals would no doubt be a big help to most, but they would at the best give two, perhaps three levels over a few days. Spending that much for saving two weeks of time, even less if the crystals were shared over multiple people, was a bit much for most people.

“Two hundred and fifty thousand,” Ogras said with a grin while waving at the paddle at the old man.

“That’s coming out of your own pocket,” Zac only said.

“You have a thing or two to learn about auctions. You need to let people know you’re a force to be reckoned with. That you have more money than sense. That will discourage people from bidding against you, helping you save money. No one likes to lose a bidding war after all,” Ogras said with a low volume, clearly enjoying himself.

“Three hundred thousand,” the old man responded with a snort.

“The second thing to remember is to push up the prices for things you don’t need, especially if your biggest competitors are bidding,” he continued, and for once Calrin seemed to wholeheartedly agree.

“An auction is not only a battle of wallets, it’s also about wits,” the gnome said.

“People are stupid. Just thwonk rats for a week and you get as much energy, and you gain money, not lose it,” Billy muttered, and Zac had to agree as he threw a glance at the old man.

He knew that Thea Marshall was once on the top ten of the wealth ladder, and there actually were two more of the Marshall clan on the wealth ladder since some time ago. Still, three hundred thousand nexus coins was by no means a small amount of money, especially for just a few Nexus Crystals.

Certainly, he gained almost two levels from absorbing his own E-Grade Crystals, but those levels had very little impact on his power in general. Besides, he knew that it wasn’t a good idea to rely on crystals too much.

One of the requirements of advancing one’s class was achievements, and if you just sat at home continuously absorbing crystals you likely wouldn’t be able to upgrade to E-Rank, forcing you to risk your life in various mystic realms or the like.

Ogras didn’t bid any further and smilingly watched two guards bring the case to the old man, who just put it in a Cosmos Sack without looking further at the contents.

The auction continued, and to Zac’s disappointment it quickly became clear that the crystals were an opening salvo to increase the excitement as the following items were nowhere as good. Still, it gave Zac a very good insight into what people lacked and what was in surplus.

Weapons and gear were among the most common items to be put up in the auction, many of which being even worse than the standard regiment items the demons brought.

Zac learned some time ago that those weapons were things that the apprentices made, and most of the real soldiers of Clan Azh’Rezak bought their own, far superior, weapons as soon as they could. The reason so few brought strong weapons through the incursion, apart from Ogras and a few others, was that it cost money to do so.

To Zac’s surprise these items had no problem getting sold, and many of the weapons even created heated bidding wars. Of course none of the true powerhouses bid on these types of items, but they clearly held value to even warriors who were powerful enough to attend this kind of event. This made Zac redouble his desire to find capable craftsmen who could help his demon craftsmen quickly churn out a huge amount of items.

Various resources such as metals, woods, and herbs weren’t as popular, showing that the craftsman classes on earth were still in its infancy. Herbs were usually quite popular in the multi-verse, and skilled alchemists were amongst the wealthiest people around.

Calrin managed to snatch up one item after another, meeting little resistance in his bidding spree. However, he didn’t look overly excited, which told Zac that the materials weren’t too good.

Ogras also bid a bit, mostly to piss others off it seemed. However, he still bought a few things, mainly liquors from old Earth. They actually didn’t go cheap, and Zac was surprised to see the demand for fine spirits.

Perhaps Ogras was truly on to something when he spoke about finding brewers. He had a lot of land after all, and with the temperate climate and highly concentrated cosmic energy he’d have no problems growing either hops or grapes.

The process kept going for almost two hours, and Zac was starting to get bored. However, the Auctioneer stopped bringing out new items after selling off a beautiful bow to a woman in a back row.

“This concludes the first half of our auction. I am happy that so many of you have found something of interest. We will take a short break for thirty minutes where refreshments will be served. The second half contains far fewer items, but I am sure that each and every one of them will astound you,” he said with a smile.

With that the doors at the back of the venue once again opened.

“What paupers, nothing exciting for sale,” the demon sighed.

“You still bought some things,” Zac said.

“Just minor purchases to pass the time. Hopefully the second round will be more exciting,” he said, and the Sky Gnome could only nod.

Zac sighed as they walked out.

“Is this type of activity common amongst humans?” the Zhix asked as they exited the hall.

“Well, rich people did it a lot I suppose,” Zac said with some hesitation.

To be honest it was the first auction he personally attended as far as he could remember.

“Excuse me, I need to look around a bit,” Zac said as he headed for a group at random.

For the next thirty minutes he went around the human groups, trying to find anyone who was close to the Undead Incursion. Of course, he wasn’t completely obvious, and instead brought up the topic of incursions, and asked whether any of them was close by to their home. He tried to make it look like he was looking for good spots to fight and gain levels.

If New Washingon was a bit to the west of the central area of the new continent, then the incursion was rather to the southeast. From the information he got from Julia the cultivators from Greenworth should be somewhere on the eastern side of the incursion, so that was where he needed to go next to look for his sister.

However, the results weren’t too promising, as no one was even close to where he wanted to go. Almost the whole intermission was spent going from party to party, forcefully inserting himself in the conversation to ask about their origins. Zac was starting to despair as the time for the break was almost running out.

But finally, as he accosted a stocky man with a greatsword on his back he actually hit jackpot.

“Yes, we are quite close to the undead bastards, they really are a pain in the ass. Luckily there are a few frontier towns between us and the fallen areas where quite a few cultivators reside, making our town quite a bit safer,” the robust man said with a sigh.

“Really? Which side of the incursion?” Zac asked, trying to hide his excitement.

“The North side,” the man answered. “It’s lucky too. From what we’ve gathered the worst of their kind generally keep to the central area, but when they venture out they mostly head south or east. Huge Chinese and Indian cities in those directions, gives the wraith and liches many soldiers.”

“I would like to make use of your teleporter in the future if possible. The undead hordes seem like an ideal spot to get stronger. I can pay quite generously for passage,” Zac said, trying to seem interested, but not overly so.

“Ah.. That’s… A bit complicated, I can’t really promise anything,” the man said.

“Complicated how? If there is someone else making those decisions can talk with them as well,” Zac said, burning with eagerness on the inside.

The man was just about to say something, but the speakers sounded, marking the end of the intermission.

“Well, you will find out soon. Just stay behind after the auction. The government will make everything clear then,” the man said with a low voice.

Zac was confused but knew there was no point in trying to convince the man. He already knew the man’s face, so he would wait until after the auction to see what was going on. From the way he spoke it was connected to whatever the government was planning, the real reason they called this gathering.

Soon he found himself back at his seat. However, he wasn’t in any real mood to focus on the auction. He finally found a way to get to Kenzie. Even if the man’s town was on the north side Zac felt it wouldnʼt be a problem to push straight through the Incursion to the eastern side. If he pushed himself to its limit it shouldn’t take too long to traverse, even if it had grown quite huge. A week maybe, two at the most.

He was so consumed by his planning he didn’t really react to the curtains once again opening, and a person walking out on the stage. However, the exaggerated reaction of the demon next to him dragged him out of his musings. Ogras almost stood up in his seat, gaping at the scene.

Zac quickly looked at the stage and saw that the man from earlier had been replaced, and Zac actually knew this person. It was Emma MacHale, the movie star. She had starred in quite a few movies recently and was one of the hottest names before the integration happened. She was also one of Ogras’ favorites after having binged an unhealthy amount of movies.

Zac suddenly had a foreboding feeling as he looked over to see shadows gathering around the demon.