Leo turned away.
"Big sisters," he said, "let’s go."
"Wait, wait, don’t leave!" The green-haired young man stepped forward with the urgency of someone who had just remembered something important. "I genuinely want to buy it. Two thousand gold coins. What do you say?"
Leo stopped walking.
He didn’t want to. But two thousand gold coins had a way of making a person’s feet stop cooperating with their pride. That was more than double the starting auction price, and there was no guarantee the auction would even hit that number.
The middle-aged clerk at the counter looked unimpressed. "Don’t make trouble here," he said to the young man, quiet but firm. "Move along."
The green-haired young man tilted his head and reached into his robe. He pulled out a black card and held it out.
"Brother," he said pleasantly, "you must be new. You don’t recognize this master?"
The clerk’s expression changed the moment he saw it. He took the card with both hands. Turned it over. Examined every angle. Then handed it back with a small bow.
"Distinguished VIP guest. You have the right to purchase this item directly. You need only the seller’s agreement."
The young man took the card back with the air of someone who had expected exactly that. He turned to Leo with a bright, self-satisfied smile.
"See? No rules broken. Two thousand gold. I need the carapace to make a medicine. Sell it to me."
Liora blinked. "You’re an alchemist?"
The young man’s face darkened. "Who said I’m an alchemist? I’m a mage. A very, very powerful mage. Making medicine is just something I enjoy on the side." He straightened up and lifted his chin. "I’m here for the Demon Hunt Selection, for your information. The greatest competition the Six Great Temples run. You may have heard of it."
Leo pointed at the carapace. "Two thousand gold," he said flatly. "Sold."
He wasn’t warm about it. This loud, self-admiring stranger had made a thoroughly bad first impression, and Leo wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. But two thousand gold was two thousand gold.
"Perfect!" The young man clapped his hands together. "Get your magic crystal card ready, and I’ll transfer the coins right now."
His left hand moved in a quick arc. A red light flashed, and the Dark Green Dual-Bladed Demon’s corpse vanished from the platform as if it had never been there.
Leo stared at the empty space. So this person had a storage ring too.
"I don’t have a magic crystal card," Leo said.
"Then we set one up right here. Come with me." The young man started walking toward one of the other counters. He reached back and grabbed Leo’s shoulder in what he clearly intended as a friendly gesture.
Leo’s shoulder shifted immediately and the hand was gone.
The young man laughed, unbothered. "So cold! Look at us. Two rare beauties in the same city, same auction house, same counter. We should be friends." He extended a hand. "My name is Evander Thorne. Yours?"
"Leo Ashford."
"Good name," Evander said generously, nodding as if he was doing Leo a favor by approving it. "Now come on. Magic crystal card. Move."
Mira turned to Liora. "Should we be worried?" she said, low enough that only Liora could hear.
Liora glanced back at the clerk, who answered as if he had excellent hearing.
"No need to worry, young ladies." He kept his voice flat and professional. "That black card is the Halcyon Union Auction House’s highest-tier VIP card. It cannot be bought under any circumstances. It is given only as a gift from the Union itself. Those who hold it receive a ten percent discount on any purchase here, covered entirely by the auction house. They may also access up to one hundred thousand gold in credit across any Halcyon Union venue."
Mira and Liora looked at each other.
A hundred thousand gold in credit.
Even with their backgrounds, neither of them had heard of a VIP status that generous existing inside the Halcyon Union.
They followed.
---
Setting up the magic crystal card was more involved than Leo expected.
The card itself was about half the size of a palm, set with four gems cut from a single stone. To activate it, the owner had to push their internal spiritual energy into it, bonding the card permanently to their signature. Since every person’s spiritual energy was unique, no one else could ever use the card once it was set. The process required reaching at least the third tier, which Leo had long cleared.
The setup also cost a hundred gold upfront.
Leo opened his mouth.
Evander flashed his black card again.
The fee was waived.
Leo closed his mouth.
Paying was straightforward. A needle-thin stylus was used to mark the transfer amount on the card’s center. Both parties pushed their energy into their respective cards, the cards docked together, and the coins moved.
In the time it took half an incense stick to burn down, two thousand gold coins sat in Leo’s new magic crystal card.
Evander slapped a hand on Leo’s shoulder. Leo didn’t shake it off this time.
"Now. We’re attending the auction together. Come with me to my booth — I have one near the front. It’s spacious inside and I’m there alone. Might as well fill it." He looked at Mira and Liora. "You two as well, obviously."
Leo glanced at Liora.
Liora gave him the gentlest elbow in the ribs.
He understood. Both she and Mira had picked up on the same thing — this person was strange and irritating, but the black card and the offhand mention of alchemy told a different story. Someone this young with a Halcyon Union VIP black card wasn’t ordinary. Alchemists were rare and ranked well above mages in terms of status. He’d denied being one, but he’d also said making medicine was his hobby. That was the same thing with better phrasing.
Making an enemy of him would be foolish. Making a friend of him might prove useful.
"Alright," Leo said.
"Excellent." Evander turned and started down the hall without waiting.
---
The inner section of the auction house was a different world.
They followed Evander down a wide set of stairs, deeper into the building, until they reached the booth tier near the front. Professional attendants in silver uniforms moved quietly along the corridor, guiding guests. Their posture was perfect and their expressions were warm in the polished, practiced way of people who worked very hard to seem effortless.
One of them stepped forward when she spotted Evander.
"Master Thorne. Welcome back."
"Nora ," Evander said easily. "These are my friends. The booth, please."
"Of course." The attendant’s gaze moved to Leo, and her professional composure held, but only just. She recovered in under a second — the kind of control that came from extensive training — and turned to lead them forward.
Evander noticed. He glanced sideways at Leo, then at his own reflection in the polished wall, then at Leo again.
His expression turned deeply pained.
He smoothed his long green hair over his shoulder and said nothing.
The booth was larger than Leo expected, furnished with low seats arranged in a curve that faced a floor-to-ceiling window looking directly onto the auction stage. Below them, the hall stretched out in rings of color-coded seats, dozens of rows, already filling with people. The circular stage at the center was lit from above by something that wasn’t quite a lamp. The light was even and flat and very bright.
"Sit wherever," Evander said, dropping into a seat and propping his feet up on the table in front of him. He looked comfortable in the way that people only do in places they’ve been many times.
Mira settled into the corner seat and looked down at the hall below with open interest.
Liora sat and immediately began scanning the items on the pre-auction display list that had been left on the table.
Leo sat. He set his magic crystal card on his knee and looked at it. Two thousand gold coins. In one afternoon.
Veyra would be eating very well this month.
He looked up and found Evander watching him again with that strange mix of admiration and personal injury.
"What?" Leo said.
"Nothing," Evander said. "Just deciding if I like you yet."
"And?"
Evander thought about it seriously. "Probably," he said at last. "Unfortunately."
Mira made a sound into her sleeve.
Below them, the auction hall lights dimmed. A man in formal robes walked onto the stage and raised his hands to quiet the crowd.
The Crownhammer Auction was about to begin.
The first item went up fast — a set of spiritual-tier gauntlets, enchanted for speed. The bidding opened at three hundred gold and climbed quickly. Leo watched the numbers rise with the detached calm of someone who had recently acquired two thousand gold and was now feeling philosophical about money.
Evander didn’t bid. He leaned back in his seat with his arms folded, watching the stage the way a person watches something they’ve already decided isn’t worth their time.
"Not interested?" Leo asked.
"Speed gauntlets are for people who aren’t fast enough already," Evander said. He glanced sideways. "Are you fast enough already?"
Leo didn’t answer.
Evander seemed to take that as a yes. He looked back at the stage, smoothed his hair over his shoulder again, and said nothing more.
The gauntlets sold for six hundred and twenty gold. The hall applauded politely. The auctioneer raised his hands for the next item.
Leo leaned forward slightly in his seat.
Whatever was coming next, something in the air had shifted. The attendants near the stage were moving with more care than before, and the crowd below had gone noticeably quieter.
Mira noticed it too. "Something good is coming," she said under her breath.
Liora’s hand had tightened around the item list on the table.
On the stage, a black velvet cloth was carried out by two attendants and set on the display stand. Whatever was beneath it was small — barely larger than a fist — but the moment it was placed down, Leo felt something stir in his chest.
The Lodestar Stove pulsed once. Warm. Deliberate.
Like recognition.