Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex noticed the increase in the quality of the items in the final round of the auction almost immediately. The item that went up for bidding after their Class Shard was a weapon by the name of the Fallen Warlord’s Scepter. The plain wood staff was about three times too big for any human to even think about wielding it — and carried a list of abilities long enough to fill a small book.

The weapon could summon hailstorms and cause the earth to tremor at will. It could apparently also create a powerful protective barrier around its wielder, magically strengthen their entire body against magical and physical attacks, and offered a number of other small benefits as well. The only drawback was the thing’s size. It was completely unusable for literally anyone Alex knew. Even Derek wouldn’t have had a chance of trying to use it as anything other than a flagpole.

It started bidding at 18,000 Credits and quickly reached 20,000 after several rapid bids, eventually selling for 23,000 a few minutes later. Alex had no doubt it would have gone even higher had it been sized for anyone of normal proportions. There just weren’t all that many people that could swing around such a massive staff.

Sofia didn’t leave things there. The moment the staff had sold, she pulled out the next item in the auction. And this one was no less impressive than the previous.

“What I’ve got next is quite the rare opportunity,” Sofia called as green energy crackled by her side. A slip of pale blue paper materialized in the air beside her. She turned in a circle, letting her gaze pass over every single one of the watching rooms. “I’m pleased to have the opportunity to sell the Blueprint for a Training Realm. This one is known as the Fire Tempering Tribulation. It is an Epic rarity Blueprint. And though the the exact contents of the realm are unknown, this is guaranteed to temper the body of any who use it. Don’t miss out on an invaluable addition to your town, especially this early on. Bidding will start at 20,000 Credits.”

Bids almost instantly rang out.

But, instead of excitement, the only thing that Alex felt was vague confusion. He glanced at the others.

“Is that…”

“Just a worse version of the thing we’ve got in Mirrorwane?” Wess finished. “I’m pretty sure it is. This one is only Epic rarity. Wasn’t the one we’ve got—”

Claire blurred, pressing her hand to Wess’ mouth before he could finish the sentence. Then she sent him a sharp look.

“Yes,” Claire said, taking her had away without letting her sharp gaze leave Wess’ face. The warning was more than clear. “Ours is indeed better. But only slightly.”

Yeah. We really don’t want to go advertising the fact we’ve got a Mythic building. Are the Forsaken Grounds actually that rare? I mean, they were obviously rare. But the bidding started at 20,000 Credits for an Epic rarity equivalent. Does that mean the one we’ve got is like… what, 100,000 Credits? More?

Alex felt a little dizzy. He’d known that the Forsaken Grounds were incredibly useful. The sheer amount of strength he’d gotten just from a few visits had been hard to look over. But he hadn’t quite registered just how big of a boost the grounds were. It seemed they’d gotten a hell of a lot more out of the Rotkeeper’s Legacy than he’d thought.

“Should we bid?” Aaron asked.

“Not worth it,” Claire replied with a shake of her head. “I wouldn’t say no to getting my hands on that Blueprint, but I don’t think it’s worth the Credits when we already have one. Better to let other people waste their money on it without risking ours.”

“Damn,” Mite muttered. He sent a longing look out the window. “I want to build something. There hasn’t been a single thing good for me here yet.”

“Just be patient,” Alex said. “Something tells me that we’ll have more than enough chances to get something like that. When things get this expensive, I feel like there are going to be less and less weapons. The most important thing you can sell is potential, and people with towns are probably more likely to be wealthy enough to afford something at the end of the auction.”

The price of the Fire Tempering Tribulation ground to a halt around 30,000 Credits before being sold a few moments later. Alex was starting to wonder just how many credits everyone had brought. He’d thought people would start running out right about now.

Then again, the winners of the last two items had been different groups. There was a good chance that people were just spending everything they had now that the auction was wrapping up.

“Up next,” Sofia continued, not even pausing for more than a few seconds after the last sale, “is one more Blueprint. This one is quite interesting. For those of you who have placed your towns in more dangerous areas, you may find this offer particularly unique in that the Blueprint isn’t actually finished and possesses no rarity rating. It was damaged well before our client got their hands on it… but even so, it’s not one to even think about passing up on. This is the Blueprint for a defensive tower called the Endbringer Culverin. After our analysis, we strongly believe that this building will possess incredible destructive power when complete. And while completing it may not be a simple task… the reward for actually accomplishing it will be immense for any powerful enough to take on the challenge. Bidding will start at 25,000 Credits.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Whoa,” Mite breathed. “An unfinished Blueprint. Whoever actually manages to repair that is going to be rewarded a dozenfold. I want it. Buy it. Please.”

“30,000 Credits!” A woman from Room 8 called.

God. 5,000 Credits over starting price that fast? She wants to scare people off.

Alex couldn’t deny the idea that such a powerful sounding building sounded very, very nice. But it was practically a paper tiger. The Blueprint wasn’t done. They were basically buying a magical slip of paper without any way of knowing when it would pay off.

He glanced to Mite’s puppet.

“Finely? Rhyss?”

“I’ve never heard of it,” Finley said. “But I don’t believe the Auction House would lie. They’re telling the truth.”

“What about Rhyss?” Claire asked. “Why isn’t he saying anything? Rhyss, what do you know about this item?”

There was a moment of silence.

“Huh,” Finley said. “He’s just staring at me. Looks like he’s about to pop a vein in his one eye.

Claire looked over to Alex. She didn’t even have to say anything. If Rhyss had suddenly gone silent… well, the System heavily limited him. He couldn’t straight up tell them what to do. Buying items at an auction was only loosely related to their town.

But there were other ways to convey information.

“Looks like this is it,” Claire said. “We’re going for this one. Aaron, you’re up. You remember what to do?”

“You kidding?” Aaron asked. He grinned. “This is what I’ve been waiting for. Let’s do it.”

“Edward!” Claire called.

At the same time, Alex grabbed the paddle.

“31,000 Credits!”

“32,000 Credits!” A man in Room 10 called almost immediately afterward.

“Should we make sure Thorn stays out of this?” Wess asked. “If he pushes the bids up, we could be in trouble. We’re not that far off from our limit price.”

“35,000,” Alex called easily. He didn’t want to raise the price too fast. That would have been bad. They needed to keep it within the realm of what they could bid at for as long as possible.

A doorway appeared in the wall. Edward stepped into the room, inclining his head in the usual greeting.

“What can I do for you?”

“Which one?” Aaron asked, glancing back to Alex.

“36,000!” The woman in Room 8 called.

There were a few moments of silence. Alex waited, but Room 10 didn’t bid anything yet.

“37,000,” he called. Then he set the paddle down, though his eyes remained firmly locked on Sofia.

“Room 10,” Claire said. “They bought the most Cores. They’re our best target.”

Aaron nodded. Then he turned to Edward. “Room 10, please. Tell them we’d like to talk.”

Edward bowed his head. Then he turned on his heel and strode out of the room as quickly as he had arrived.

“38,000,” The woman 8 called. She wasn’t letting up. It looked like both of them were starting to get a bit close to their limit. Nobody was making any giant jumps in the cost. And as tempted as Alex was to jerk the price all the way up to 40,000, he couldn’t afford to take the risk. If Room 8 happened to have just 46,000 Credits… they’d be out of the auction.

He needed to keep the price as low as possible for as long as possible.

Relatively low, at least. God. We’re bidding with literal fortunes.

A few seconds passed. Sofia started to glance around.

“39,000 Credits,” Alex called out, grabbing the paddle again. He could feel the sweat beading against the back of his neck. If Rhyss had fallen silent, then this item was definitely good. He really didn’t want to let it slip past them… especially since there was — somehow, after all the Credits they’d gotten — a good chance they’d get priced out of the more expensive items that came after this.

The doorway to their room opened back up. Edward stepped in.

“Room 10 has accepted your request.”

Alex wordlessly tossed his spare storage ring to Aaron.

“Good luck,” Claire said. “You can do this.”

Aaron just nodded in response. Then he looked to Edward. “Take me there, please.”

***

There was only a single man in Room 10 when Edward pulled the door open to allow him entry.

He sat kicked back in his chair, one arm thrown over its back and his legs on the table. His skin was a few shades too close to a pale bluish-gray, and there were several lines along the sides of the man’s neck. The man’s lips were just a little bit too thin for his face, leaving two rows of pointed teeth exposed.

It was like someone had crossed all the ugliest aspects of a shark with a man.

“Yes?” the man asked. There was a faint raspy hiss in his voice, as if he was speaking in a language he wasn’t quite comfortable with. “I have already dropped out of bidding on the Blueprint. If you are here to ask me to back out, then you are wasting your time. It is done. I am not nearly that interested in it.”

“That’s not why I’m here,” Aaron said, making sure his voice was completely confident. He couldn’t show the faintest hint of unease or weakness. That would ruin everything. He pulled out the Spatial Ring that Alex had given him. “I’m actually here to offer you something else.”

“Oh?” the sharklike man tilted his head to the side as he turned to fully face Aaron. “You are offering up a trade? Lacking in funds, are we?”

“Not quite a trade,” Aaron said. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest that it was a minor miracle that the man sitting across from him couldn’t hear it. Aaron ignored it. There was no time to worry about failure. The others were counting on him. “Something more interesting than that.”

“You have my attention,” the man said. “Don’t waste it. What are you offering?”

Aaron rolled the coin across his knuckles. Then he pushed a grin pulled across his lips. All the thoughts of failure fell away.

When one was gambling with more than they could afford, the only thing they could afford to consider was winning.

That was doubly true when he was going to cheat his ass off.

“I was thinking you might be interested in playing a little game.”