The Path of Ascension-Chapter 484The Path of Ascension

Chapter 484

Rather than turning to the projections they’d been watching for the previous month, the group looked the other way as the room rearranged itself. The bar sank into the floor before reappearing in a smaller configuration by the door, while the wall bubbled and turned transparent as a balcony formed, giving them a commanding view of the central auction.

Some of their neighbors had retracted the privacy bubble, allowing everyone to know their exalted identities as they lounged, but they were far from alone in keeping their identities concealed. No one able to buy one of the highest level rooms was simple, and at the highest Tiers, the web of interests were as complex as they were numerous, leading to those who preferred to stay anonymous. Additionally, the bottom floor of the auction hall was packed with onlookers acting as more of a live audience than real contenders at the auction, giving the auctioneer people to play off of.

However, as the lights dimmed to signal the start, said auctioneer was nowhere to be seen. Matt and everyone else were left confused until the room nearly reached true darkness. At the decisive moment before all light had vanished from the room, a single mote of light blossomed to life, but it was far from alone as the room lit up in a grand spectacle with particles of light appearing like converging fireflies.

Particle by particle, the auctioneer formed from the feet up.

More interesting than the visual spectacle was the fact Matt couldn’t feel the reformation with any of his other senses. Running through several more obscure senses, the only one that noticed a disturbance of any kind was his Domain. Through its connection with gravity, he was able to identify the increase of mass, but trying to sense that small fluctuation was like trying to peer through a swamp.

Smiling, the auctioneer bent into a bow, using the movement to expertly transfer the Tier 32 half mask to a pedestal, revealing her identity as Meadow Case, one of the more famous Tier 35 auctioneers.

Rising, she wasted no time. “I hope everyone will forgive my dramatics, but sometimes seeing is more useful than any amount of descriptions. Especially ones that are hard to believe. I don’t want to tease anyone further, so let us get started. A strange realm reward, the mask's first and most obvious function allows the wearer to move through light as a carrier with unparalleled stealth. The second is to dissipate one's body into the surrounding light, with the third reforming the body. That takes a moment, as everyone saw. But even in a room full of darkness, it's not so easy to find someone who is so dispersed, let alone somewhere light is abundant and the wearer can move more freely. Stocks in night lights are going to plummet.”

Both Zack and Allie reacted in near unison, though their methods were far different. The former leaned forward slightly to get a better view, while the latter shoved her face to the privacy bubble, trying to get that little bit closer, but they were far from alone in their excitement. The crowd below the stage needed no prompting to gasp in awe at Meadow’s words causing her to smile.

Grasping the rising excitement, Meadow poured accelerant on the fire with a wink, “Did I forget to mention it’s not any old item, this mask has close to the equivalent of a floor seven Mundane Life effect, which allows it to Tier up with only essence, all while not being a true growth item? Sorry about that.”

As the crowd’s murmurs burst into chatter, Meadow finished with a shout, “As the first item of the evening, the opening bid starts at a measly one Tier 40 mana stone!”

The moment the bidding opened the price immediately updated to five hundred Tier 45 mana stones, where things finally slowed to a speed they could all comprehend. Not that the price stopped rising, far from it. It only took a few seconds for the price to tip over into the Tier 46 mana stone zone, where things truly slowed down.

With Tier 46 rifts already being delved so infrequently as to be notable events, and higher Tier rifts being strategic resources, the physical stones were in short supply. That meant everyone was all but guaranteed to need to eat the brutal exchange rates at those Tiers to make up the difference.

While Matt and Liz were watching the show, Zack sighed, seeing Allie refuse to sit back down, and gave into the inevitable, moving next to her to discuss their strategy.

Feeling playful, Matt stood up with Aster as she nosed in on the ‘private conversation’ while Liz continued to chat with Annie about the mask itself.

As happy as Allie was to have Aster there, she took one look at Matt and tried to shove him away. Though, her efforts were poorly placed thanks to her still having her face to the privacy bubble.

“Can we talk about how much we are willing to spend?”

Allie sighed and poked harder at Matt, still refusing to pull her face away. “Not until he sits back down. If we have to battle his bank account, we'll never win.”

Rolling his eyes, Matt snooted right back, “Give me a little credit. I only want to look at it. Study it a tiny bit. Like how the tiny amount of cookies you took that I was baking was all but one of them.”

Turning up their theatrics, Allie gave everyone else a show Matt was happy to co-star in. Their play ended when the countdown reached the single digits and she and Zack stepped in for the first time at seventeen Tier 46 mana stones.

“Since you won’t weigh in, I set our limit at thirty mana stones. I don’t think it's worth more than that.”

Rather than responding to her partner, Allie shared a look with both Aster and Matt, trying to temp them into a bet. Neither bit, and silently pretended not to see, to her annoyance.

Almost immediately their bid was replaced with a higher one, though for the first time it was someone from a top level room who called out verbally.

“Nineteen.”

A renowned Tier 46 armor crafting specialist, Brenshi Alaba had more than enough money to battle it out with most independent high Tiers in the Empire.

Allie didn’t flinch at the provocation, never taking her eyes off the half mask, nor did she bid again. Instead she waited until a non hereditary duke from Rusty's kingdom took the bait and replied with his own bid, willing to enter the battle for publicity.

Whether or not they truly wanted the item would only be revealed as the price rose.

“Twenty Tier 46 mana stones.”

No sooner had the words had left the man's mouth that Allie raised the bid, not once but five times.

Seeing his bid replaced before the countdown even had a chance to start its downward trend, the duke’s teeth clicked as he tried to raise the bid to reclaim his spot.

Instead all he’d done was increment the price by one, then two more Tier 46 mana stones.

“Bah. It's not worth that much.” Pausing, the Duke waited a moment only relaxing upon seeing the timer start ticking down.

His words either intentionally or unintentionally caused no one else to bid but upon seeing the timer reach five seconds, Meadow didn’t urge previous bidders or try to get anyone extra to bid recklessly. It wasn’t needed for items of such value, not that she tried to contain her smile considering her cut of every item sold.

With four seconds left, the bid once more incremented to twenty eight Tier 46 mana stones, causing Allie to groan audibly.

“Fuck me sideways, I’m not giving up, but if it gets any higher, I’m going to have to start doing interviews. I don’t want to do interviews. Fuck!”

Seeing the price jump all the way to twenty eight, she reached out and grabbed Aster and Matt, who happened to be the two closest people starting to pant.

Sadly, everyone bidding at this juncture wanted their identities hidden, and as such were bidding digitally. With no outlets, they could only wait with bated breath as a frowning Zack pushed the bid to thirty one mana stones, retaking the top position.

Matt couldn’t help clutching back at both Allie and Zack as his second hand excitement became too great to contain as the bid clock crept downward.

At three seconds they all held their breath.

At two seconds they collectively stilled.

At one second —

The countdown reset back to five seconds as the bid jumped up to thirty two Tier 46 mana stones.

“Ahhh! One more! One more, Zack.”

“Allie, we agree—”

“And you jumped over that first. Just one more. I refuse to believe they will bid again. One more.”

Contrary to Matt’s expectations, Zack didn’t argue, instead sending in one final bid, pushing the price to thirty three Tier 46 mana stones.

“No more after this.”

Clutching her heart, Allie stumbled away from the balcony and flopped onto the couch, ignoring everyone who happened to already be using it.

Conor looked mildly panicked to have an Ascender suddenly in his lap, but Cameron, having interacted with the teleporter far more thanks to Aster, didn't hesitate to shove Allie onto the floor.

“Oh, good idea, it's harder to see from down here. Huh, hey Aster I found a fur ball down here. Do you want me to gra— brrr!”

Matt hardly had the bandwidth to watch her antics as the counter finally reached three.

At two, he felt the world sharpen as he involuntarily let his perception slip.

Unwilling to let it take even longer, he forced it back down as the clock ticked down to one.

In a triangle of support with Aster and Zack, they watched as the timer finally reached zero.

Not quite believing it, Matt checked the price and bidder ID, confirming Zack really had won, before joining in the outpouring of sound as the room collectively celebrated the win. Drinks were liberally poured among the non-bidders as small complementary snacks were delivered as the tension that had filled the room dissipated.

A moment later Allie popped out from between everyone's feet, returning to the bubble where she cackled in glee seeing the mask being brought backstage. Upon confirmation they had won, she started flipping around the room in a display of acrobatics and bodily control.

“We got it! Woooo. I was so worried, I can’t lie. I know I hid it well, but oh man. At the end there you should have seen me! I— Hey!”

Ignoring the teleporter as she was tackled by Aster in revenge for her earlier comment about furballs, Matt watched Zack, who was so excited he started to fidget.

While the duo would need to divert some of their essence to keep the mask Tiered up, it shouldn’t impact their advancement. Depending on their needs, Zack could use it defensively to reposition without Allie’s help, or she could use it to bypass traditional anti-teleportation methods, which were unlikely to have an anti-light function in addition to everything else.

Thirty three Tier 46 mana stones was no small price, even for established ducal families, so the first item breaking that threshold, and by such an amount, had caused a small uproar in the crowd. Seeing that Meadow didn’t rush the next big item, instead letting the crowd calm down by bringing out a selection of items made by some of the best Tier 46 crafters the Empire had.

Normally the pinnacle of any auction, on the final day of Capital’s auction they were a well timed palate cleanser. The highest only sold for two hundred and eighty Tier 45 mana stones, which would have caused its own commotion at a normal auction, thanks to the thirty percent mark up. For those without the connections to contact the highest Tier craftsman, auctions were one of the few times to get their hands on such goods.

As Ascenders who rarely struggled to find commissions, and collectively too low of a Tier to need such items, they ignored the auction in favor of their side conversation.

A dozen items later, a much smaller item signaled something different.

“Friends, do note this next item is very sensitive to outside energies, so while spiritual scans are welcome, please don’t forcefully probe deeper.”

A small pillow covered in a spiritual dampening cloth, the newest item was delivered to Meadow carefully. She showed the same amount of attention as she exposed a clear pill vial before covering it again. “This is a bottle of eight Tier 41 Infinite Life Pellets. Crushing one and sprinkling it around the roots of any plant that hasn’t fully died can reinvigorate it into a peak state. And when I say ‘any plant’, I do mean it. These pellets can work on both pseudo-Natural Treasures and Natural Treasures alike, allowing single use or withering treasures a second chance at life. How many priceless but half dead seeds and plants does everyone have tucked away in their vaults waiting for a second life? That is why we are starting the bidding for the first pill at fifty Tier 45 mana stones.”

Seeing Aster's interest, Matt expected they would have a battle on their hands, but he was pleasantly surprised when everyone else dropped out of the bidding at only five hundred and fifty Tier 45 mana stones, letting them pick up a bit of a bargain. Infinite Life Pellets weren’t the rarest of such treasures, but their Tier was exceptional, which would allow them to stretch the single pill much further.

Listening to Liz explain, they’d probably be turning it into a fertilizing liquid, but they were in no rush to use the pill, not having an immediate need.

A few items later, they got a small surprise as their viewing bubble went opaque at the edges. At the same time they were informed their room was blocked from bidding on the following items.

Seeing three ornate boxes be carried out one by one in dramatic fashion, their room quieted down.

“What orbs are getting sold today?”

Before any of them could answer Kyle, Meadow did it for them, “I hope everyone is ready for a battle. As advertised, the second batch of elemental upgrade orbs are up for sale. I’m sure everyone has already seen the videos of Tulon’s [Fire Bolt] post-upgrade. Actually, why don’t we show it to everyone just in case someone hasn’t seen it.”

While Matt hadn’t seen the new recording, he had a good idea of what to expect, having seen the initial tests.

A projection behind Meadow came to life. Not wasting any time, it showed Tulon Fase as he cast [Fire Bolt], unleashing a small arrow of flame as a baseline. The Tier 14 skill hadn’t been important enough to earn an upgrade orb, but as the skill of a Tier 44, it was still decently modified through infrequent use, as seen in the before footage.

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From that single initial impression, Matt assumed it was a backup spell or something of the like. Many high Tiers had dozens of spells like it, used when they were advancing at lower Tiers, but too useful to discard once they were outclassed.

Watching further, he reckoned Tulon had mainly used the [Fire Bolt] as something of a surprise attack, but he changed that opinion when Matt saw it impact a shield. Most energy based spells struggled against shielding, and while that was nothing new, Tulon’s [Fire Bolt] had been honed into a sharper, more penetrating point, letting it break through an already stressed shield.

It wasn’t a conventional choice, but Matt was pretty sure that was why Tulon, a fire Mage, had bought the Metal elemental skill upgrade orb in the first place. Seeing the effect post-upgrade orb, his suspicion was confirmed.

The new projectile was no longer the typical red and orange fist sized dart of flame. Post-upgrade, it was much darker, more reminiscent of cooling metal, with thin fissures of red peaking through its slag.

Where the normal [Fire Bolt] was a purely energy-based projectile with all the advantages and limitations associated with its incorporeality, post-upgrade with the Metal elemental orb it had become material, almost weighty. And most importantly for everyone watching, powerful.

The only downside Matt could identify was that the speed of the spell hadn’t increased as much as was expected with a normal upgraded [Fire Bolt], nor had it gained one of the other variant upgrades. That put it in line with their tests. Any thoughts of disappointment the crowd might have had were swept away when the projectile struck the training dummy.

The difference between hits was night and day.

Rather than penetrating the target’s shield or, failing that, exploding, the [Fire Bolt] slammed into the barrier, mushrooming like any other slug. Mid collapse, the still fiery heart of the projectile continued forward. When the shielding was pierced, liquid fire, more reminiscent of molten metal, sprayed the target.

The next few tests showcased more of the changes to the spell, which fell in line with what Matt expected but was new to most of the crowd below, leading them to a single conclusion.

The new elemental upgrade orbs were fantastic.

As Tulon showcased, the spells, despite having the properties of another element, were still considered of the original element for the purposes of spell casting. That allowed his fire-aspected mana, Natural Treasures, and Domain to still apply to the spell the same way pre-upgrade.

The excitement in the air was palpable. Elemental upgrade orbs were must-haves. Except when everyone looked into buying them, they found they were unavailable. In other words, exactly what Matt and every aperologist wanted.

Fervent desire for something just out of reach but with a method to gain them in sight.

Watching the first Tier 26 Water upgrade orb sell for a staggering one hundred and fifty Tier 44 mana stones caused the room to celebrate the stark contrast to the previous Tier 26 air orb, which had only sold for one hundred and seventy three Tier 43 mana stones in the last auction.

Not that it was too surprising, or, more accurately, their plan from the beginning. There were far more eyes on the new upgrade orbs since the first auction, leading to far more interest. That, and the auction house had spread the word far and wide that the ones on auction today were the only ones available until a rift was made that dropped them.

Meadow opened the second box, revealing the Tier 26 Decay upgrade orb while a bit of mist crept into the hall.

“For those not in the know, let me tell you a dirty little secret. Decay mana is one of the more complicated and notorious Level 2 mana types for how rarely it appears. Natural Treasure, skill, or Talent, they are all rare to see. At the same time, it's also one of the more desired mana types by delvers and military combatants alike. Something even more interesting is that a lot of decay spells, when upgraded to Tier 26 or higher, tend to have more in common with curses, given how they eat away at the target body and sometimes spirit. Yes, you heard me right people, some of the rarest decay skills, when upgraded, damage a target's spirit directly. And as an upgrade orb, the skill in question is up to you, letting you maximize your chances with a synergistic initial skill. Think how easy a skill upgraded with a decay upgrade could make a rift. One skill usage, say something simple but creative like [Fog] or [Misty Veil]. Post-upgrade, you cast, then start moving to the next group of monsters as the ones behind you die, unable to stop their bodies from rotting from the inside out. As Tulon so kindly showcased for everyone, your imagination is the limit.”

Having worked the lower crowd into a fervor over the skill, Meadow used a finger to trace a circle. “And that is why we are starting the bidding at fifty Tier 44 mana stones.”

As the price immediately soared, their suite became correspondingly relaxed as they watched their earnings rise. It would be split with the crew, but as they broke the Tier 45 threshold, it stopped mattering.

A Tier 26 upgrade orb selling for twenty five Tier 45 mana stones set several records, but he knew that was nothing in comparison to the final Tier 26 Firmament upgrade orb.

When Meadow unveiled the final orb, several peak Tier 46 spiritual perceptions broke decorum and scanned the orb.

Rather than getting angry, Meadow waved at the orb, “Get a good look everyone. If Decay mana was rare, Firmament, one of the best defensive mana aspects known, is mythical. Offence is great, but if you're already dead, having a stronger attack doesn't help you. Composed of Metal, Crystal and Lava mana, with Mud, Sand and Force as supporting mana aspects, Firmament mana is often described as indestructible or inevitability, for good reason. However, personally, I prefer the saying ‘Firmament is to Earth what Storm mana is to Air’. It's not even a purely defensive upgrade, as any earth cultivator who took personal offense at a mountain can tell you; don’t only think of your defensive spells when considering your repertoire. Crafters, maybe you want to increase the defensive prowess of your armor? Make your weapons harder than a Deep Sea Tyrant’s horn? Now is the time to review the spells in your outer spirit, everyone. Maybe you haven’t used a Tier 26 upgrade orb on a skill that has been waiting for this moment for centuries… Good luck everybody, this one starts at one Tier 45 mana stone.”

The price immediately reached triple digits, only slowing down in the four hundred mana stone range.

It didn’t quite reach the legendary T47 bracket, with a final price of five hundred and eighty two Tier 46 mana stones, but they were more than happy with the results. The price was fantastic, even among the final day’s event, given its status as the ‘best’ elemental upgrade orb.

Only minutes after the final orb sold, Matt started receiving messages through Titan’s Torch about partnerships, research grants, and thousands of aperology requests all related to elemental upgrade orbs. Thanks to his deal with Mackenzie, he was kept in the loop as the Talented aperologist kept a running tally of how many people had reached out to her, and there was no comparison. The higher Tiers were smart enough to know that Talents offered the route for much faster results, even if non-Talented work would be more important in the long run, but that was fine.

Like few of his ‘inventions’ before, the possibilities of elemental upgrade orbs had firmly grabbed the attention of the highest echelon of society and wouldn’t be letting go. Many non-core skills had been with the various Tier 40s for tens of thousands of years, if not longer. They knew their skills inside and out, and every single one of them would jump at the chance to have even more influence over a skill’s upgrade.

Lounging in his seat watching things play out, Matt couldn’t help but tell Liz about the back end developments.

Their discussion was interrupted only a few items later as a small sphere of liquid fire was brought out and set down next to Meadow.

“Fire mages take note of this lot, you can’t afford to pass this up. This little Tier 36 beauty,” Shaking the vial and causing the liquid to clank around the glass like a marble, she continued, “is a fire-based Natural Treasure that allows fire still under your control to act and behave like a liquid.”

That was all Liz needed to know to become fully interested.

Not waiting for the rest of the pitch, she started trying to bid along with what felt like half of the Empire.

As a Level 1 mana type and ubiquitous thanks to staple spells such as [Fireball] and even [Solar Flare] being common, popular and strong, the amount of fire cultivators was almost uncountable. Even if a higher Tier didn’t necessarily need it themselves, they undoubtedly had someone close to them that might want such a strange effect, which was why it had been held in reserve until the final day.

From a starting price of fifty Tier 44 mana stones, it quickly reached the Tier 45 range, but there it slowed down as five identification numbers battled it out.

Growling at the bubble, Liz fumed at the countdown. “Stop raising the price you assholes! I’m not giving up. I’m cooking this into me and none of you can stop me!”

Annie, Kyle, Vinnie and Tara watched on in closeup fascination as several Liz’s slowly lost their minds. None of the five bidders seemed willing to give up, even as the price reached the four hundred mark.

It was only there that one of the bidders dropped out; however Liz’s remaining three opponents seemed as determined as she was and the price rose correspondingly.

Mathew, returning with a mug of a dark ale, offered, “Why not drop out right until the end? Make them think you are giving up.”

A Liz paused mid tirade. “Ehh… Why not?”

Melinda, following along a moment later with her own glass of bourbon, asked, “Why is this so good? I kinda get the fire like liquid blood thing but can you use your cauldron with something like this too? How does that work?”

Rather than directly answering, Liz smiled at everyone around them. “Come with us to the Corporation and I’ll shoooow you. I intend to render myself quite a few times while we are there and have access to their markets. It will be fun and maybe we can learn something together. Matt is going to fund everyone’s initial starting capital, per JR’s rules, but then you have a decade to do all the things you haven’t had the time to do.”

Her coercion was interrupted as two people dropped out of the bidding after the five hundred and fifty mark.

Reentering with a splash, Liz raised her reserve all the way to one Tier 46 mana stone.

The remaining bidder iterated the price three times before giving up themselves, leaving Liz the winner at a staggering five hundred and sixty four 45 mana stones, not quite forcing out her entire reserve.

Just as they were calming down from Liz’s victory a few items later, Meadow's next introduction pulled them right back down to the stage.

“Today we have a bit of a special treat before a brief intermission. A trio of items created by possibly the single best crafter the Empire has ever had. Someone who can do the impossible. Someone I’m sure everyone has heard of…” After a brief pause to lean forward, Meadow finished with a faux whisper, “Madam Renaissance.”

As news spread across the Empire, those high Tiers who hadn’t previously attended the auction either logged in digitally, or, for those in-system, ate the fines to teleport over joining the lower crowd.

Madam Renaissance rarely made non-commissioned items anymore and when she did, they made a splash.

Liz, nearly vibrating from excitement, repeatedly tried to shush everyone, not wanting to miss anything to the room’s good natured booing.

Not that Meadow needed the help.

Silence returned to the venue as she seemingly replied to an audience member near her. “I kid you not. The very Woman of a Thousand Faces you’ve heard tale of. The woman who has lived through every triumph, every tragedy, traversed every walk of life as she mastered every craft personally: Maaaadam Renaissance!”

Meadow let the crowd chattered for a long few moments before she started to speak again. “While the madam herself considered these failed products, I must humbly disagree! In my personal opinion these are nothing but grand successes. Yes, they can’t be used outside a rift or on higher Tier monsters, but they are Tier 44 and therefore perfect as they are. In fact, I’d go as far as to say these three items are things that should only exist in myths and legends, yet we have them up for auction today. First up! The Transpired!”

Carried in an ornate, open box between two burly men, lay a six foot long throwing spear and a pair of gloves that flanked it like pillars. Unlike most throwing spears, the Transpired was made out of dense metals, with a large but sturdy blade carved from some scorpion monster’s stinger.

Under normal circumstances, Matt would have thought that was strange enough, however that was the smallest most inconsequential oddity about the item. He’d heard the phrase ‘enchanted within an inch of its life’ often enough to describe an item that was optimally used that he’d stopped giving weight to the phrase but upon seeing the spear, he changed his mind.

The spear, magically speaking, looked like a blank piece of paper that someone started randomly enchanting on but, upon realizing they were running out of space, resorted to writing smaller in the margins and then around the edges. However when that wasn’t enough space, they’d started writing around and then inside the letters. Yet that still hadn’t been enough for Madam Renaissance, who’d continued that recursion down at least a dozen times.

And that was just what he could see as a Tier 30. Matt could only curse himself for not being a higher Tier to see deeper.

Somehow, despite all of the seemingly random choices and oddities that individually would have ruined any other Tier 44 item, the Transpired was a perfect example of weaponsmithing.

Matt didn’t understand how she’d done any of it. He didn't attempt to contemplate how she fit all of the enchantments onto a single item without overloading it and didn’t intend to try. Because Madam Renaissance hadn’t technically enchanted the weapon at all.

Or maybe she had.

That was what confused Matt, because what he was seeing should have been fundamentally impossible. She’d ‘enchanted’ the spear with what to him looked a lot like talismanic runes, except the spear was far from a single-use item showing minor wear and tear indicating it was fully tested which surprised no one who’d done any research on Madam Renaissance. Additionally, it was clearly made to last, with repair and defensive runes featured prominently in the clutter.

Which shouldn't have worked in any way shape or form.

While many things were called enchanting colloquially, there were differences in the details. Talismans, despite sharing a lot of core principles with more permanent formations or item enchanting, were not the same thing.

Yes, Matt knew of similarities or outright exceptions between all three disciplines. At the same time as a competent Tier 30 general enchanter, talisman master, and formation specialist, he’d reached a high enough vantage that he deeply understood how surface level the commonalities were.

Similar to languages, the runes and methods to use them differed between branches the same way that one couldn’t randomly substitute in foreign words into a sentence without the meaning being distorted or lost entirely. Unlike people who might understand from context or languages which could have loan words, the enchanting disciplines were far more rigid.

While a lot of the actual work experience transferred between them, given the practical similarities, what Madam Renaissance had should have been impossible.

It was like a book intended for Sect readers following all of the normal Sect language rules that happened to be written in Empire standard. Yet it was still entirely understandable by someone who didn’t speak Empire. It was a contradiction and one Matt couldn’t wrap his head around.

Far from the only one to notice the oddity, the excited and confused chatter only lasted until Meadow spoke once more. “A strange item, but what else should someone expect from the Woman of a Thousand Faces. However, let me bring out the next two items to complete the set, the Inexorable, and the Improbable.”

Two more ornate items were carried out at Meadow’s words, revealing a heavy bladed Axe with its edge made out of a teal rhino horn and a full suit of armor with a lining of seal fur.

Both were seemingly enchanted like permanent talismans, but they didn’t have to wait any longer as Meadow stopped teasing them.

“Together with the Transpired, these three items make for every rift delver’s dream. Being unkillable inside a rift.” Hearing the uproar, Meadow didn’t try to tame it. Instead she let it build, nodding along urging the pack leaders. “I know what I said and how unbelievable it sounds, but it's true. While I will remind everyone these items only work inside a rift and on rift monsters, everything I say is factual and coming from Madam Renaissance herself.

“First, the Transpired. It is a spear that doesn't need to be thrown. Once activated, the spear targets the rift monster's truncated causality, somehow allowing it to have already struck before being thrown. Then to retrieve it, one must only activate the gauntlets and the spear will return, or activate their secondary ability and have the spear teleport back.”

Proving her words, a recording of a Tier 44 mountain panther showed the stealthy cat prowling along a rocky cliff for several seconds. Then, out of nowhere, before the cat or anyone watching could react, the spear was simply inside the panther. Its confusion was clear, as the cat was hit with the full force throw of the Tier 44 spear with zero warning, spelling the end of its life.

Scene changing, the video followed the spear as it flew into the sky to its caster who stood unmoving in the showcased armor, along with the axe on their back. Rather than getting to see either used, they watched as the spear vanished several times, only to come back time and time again.

“Madam Renaissance says it’s a failed prototype, but to us normal folks, how can this be anything but a perfect item? And because it does get better, we have the final two items. First up the axe, the Inexorable. What it, or any spells cast through it, hits is always cleaved in two, allowing a delver to bypass armored bosses alone.”

Behind her, the armored figure put actions to her words, chopping through rock behemoths as if they were wet tissue paper.

As the monsters died the recording didn’t stop; rather, Meadow started talking over it, “And if somehow two weapons that never fail can’t let someone clear a rift without worry, the armor is called the Improbable for a reason.”

Against all good reason and sense, the Tier 44 boss’s attacks missed one after the next. Even when the armored figure was seemingly caught in an inescapable net of spells or was about to be grappled, he always escaped. Every projectile and spell parted or was weakened enough to not cause any damage, while physical attacks landed at bad angles or otherwise had something go wrong.

It was almost like watching Wun fight with his luck based Talent but as Meadow had repeatedly warned them, the items only worked in rifts and on rift monsters.

While Matt was interested in the items academically because of the strange enchanting methods, he wasn’t interested in competing for the items. He didn't exactly have any issues delving that needed such items to help him ascend like a crafter might. It’d be downright boring.

“This armor makes it nearly impossible to take a hit. Large hits are reduced to medium ones and then down to small, which the armor can easily protect against, allowing unparalleled safety. Bidding starts in one minute and the set starts bidding at one full Tier 47 mana stone.”

“Oh, she’s going to fleece a noble family for this one.” Liz proclaimed the moment Meadow made it clear she was done speaking and her words couldn’t have proven more correct.

After a lot of back and forth, the set ended up selling for three T47 mana stones and three hundred and eighteen T46 mana stones. The insane cost breaking the usual custom of always sticking to one Tier of mana stones thanks to Silvia Dobrescu who must have emptied her families reserves to secure the armor set.

The instant the auction ended their ducal trading partner disabled her privacy barrier and flew down to the stage to collect her items, forgoing the rest of the auction.

With millions of gazes, Silvia did the only thing she could do. Fly to her family's estate on the Capital and wait for one or more of her family's Tier 46’s to arrive and escort the armor back to their duchy. As she exited, Silvia smiled at everyone who called out to her but stopped for no one.

Nor did anyone actually try anything, though everyone watched.

Meadow didn’t immediately start the next auction. Instead, she bantered with the crowd, letting people try to guess at some of the upcoming items but she never confirmed anything.

When it became clear no one had the temerity to try and steal from a sitting Duchess in broad daylight, she ended the small break. “And with that interlude we enter the second and final half of the auction!”