Nightmare Realm Summoner

“Yes!” Mite exclaimed, leaping into the air and pumping his fist. “Fuck yeah!”

Claire gave Aaron a curt nod. “You were right on time. I have to admit that I was starting to get a little worried. Well done.”

Alex spun to face Aaron, a huge grin splitting across his lips as he grabbed the other man by the shoulders and gave him a small shake. “I knew you’d pull it off. Claire’s right, though. You really had me going.”

Wess nodded in agreement. “That was real nicely done. Good timing as well. That’s what we call a hero entrance. Couldn’t have done it better myself. Were you waiting outside to time it just perfect?”

“It was a bit tight,” Aaron said with a laugh as his cheeks reddened slightly under all the attention. “And no, I wasn’t waiting. I’m not an idiot.”

“Hey,” Wess said. He turned to glare at Aaron. “What are you implying, there?”

A shimmer of green licked across the room as a portal opened above the table. The partial blueprint for the Endbringer Culverin fluttered out from within it. Alex caught the slip of paper and banished it into his Spatial Ring. Then he shook his head. His heart was still beating from how close everything had been. Even with an absolutely ridiculous amount of Credits, they’d nearly lost.

“What’s going on?” Finley’s voice crackled from Mite’s puppet. “Did we win? What happened?”

“We won,” Mite said. He rubbed his hands together eagerly. “I won. I’m about to get so much magical energy for making this thing.”

“Don’t forget we still have to figure out how to make it,” Claire warned.

“Bah. That’s just even more reward,” Mite replied, not even slightly perturbed. He held his hands out like a child grasping for their favorite toy. “That thing is mine. Gimme.”

“When we get back,” Alex said with a laugh. He smacked Mite’s hands away. “Stop that. I promise that you aren’t going to start building anything before we get back. Better make sure it stays safe.”

Mite let his hands drop with an exaggerated huff of annoyance. Then narrowed his eyes and scrunched his nose. “Spoilsport.”

“Other than getting the Credits, did anything happen that we need to be aware of during your meeting with Room 8?” Claire asked Aaron.

“No,” Aaron replied. He sounded quite relieved about that. “It all went to plan. He wants to buy more cores. We’ll seek him out once we have them. He gave me his town’s Astral Map location. It should be pretty easy once we’re ready to turn on the money printer.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it that.” Alex picked up one of the strange fruits on the table and tossed it from hand to hand. “We’d be giving up valuable resources to Outworlders. But in the right amount, its definitely a damn good way to source Credits. Well done, man. Seriously. I don’t think anyone else could have pulled that off as fast as you.”

Aaron laughed and shook his head. “You don’t have to be so nice. I did fine. But I’m sure Claire—”

“I could not,” Claire said flatly. “There is only so far that smoke and mirrors can take you. I would have been an absolute idiot if I tried to bet 5,000 Credits on a single coin flip. Alex is right. The only person who could have done that was you. You did well.”

Aaron blinked. Then he nodded, swallowing. “I — yeah. Thanks.”

Behind them, Sofia continued announcing the bidding for the next item in the auction. It was some kind of magical component. Alex didn’t pay it too much attention beyond the fact it started at 20,000 Credits. They didn’t have the Credits to compete anymore.

But that was just fine with him. They’d already won.

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“I have to say,” Alex said, looking to Wess. “You did a pretty damn good job yourself, man.”

“Huh?” Wess asked. “I mean, yes. I agree. I always do. But I don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”

“This whole auction wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t gotten us here,” Alex said. “So while I might not fully agree with the methods you employed… you did us a solid. We got the Bleeding Crown, the blueprint, and a potential lead with TryFinger’s team to even more opportunities. And on top of that, we’ve got around 5,000 Credits left over. That’s a damn good deal. So thank you.”

Wess hesitated. Then he coughed into his fist, suddenly looking slightly uncomfortable as he averted his gaze. “Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Whatever. It was just part of the job, you know. That’s what you get when you hire the best.”

Claire’s eyebrow lifted slightly. Then the corner of her lip curled.

“Are you embarrassed?”

“No,” Wess said. “Of course not. I’m fantastic. You want to thank me for a job well done? Pay me more. Give me more—”

“We’ll distribute the extra Credits from the auction amongst the town somehow. You’ll probably be included in that,” Alex said.

Wess paused. “What?”

“Seriously?” Aaron asked, turning to Alex in surprise.

“We got what we needed,” Alex said. “And I need everyone in Mirrorwane to be strong. We aren’t an Outworlder family. Every single person matters. Why would I horde the Credits for myself? You heard how the Crown works. The whole town will be under siege. There’s only so much I can do myself. And if I have to leave for some reason — well, we need other people to be powerful. So, yeah. I’ll distribute them. Maybe through our own leaderboard or something.”

“Our own leaderboard?” Aaron asked. “How would that work?”

“Dunno,” Alex admitted. “I was just spitballing. Maybe we could give Credits to people that killed the most monsters. Give a bit of extra motivation and the like, you know?”

“Huh,” Aaron said. “That does seem pretty nice.”

Claire nodded. “I’ve seen it before. The more rare items we can gather that we don’t need, the more we can offer up as rewards to talented members of the town. It’s a good way to motivate people and support growth.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Alex said. “But yeah. You’ve definitely earned your place, Wess. Everyone here has. And I’ll make sure that the people that got us here get compensated appropriately for it.”

Wess coughed. “Uh. Yeah. Sweet. As it should be.”

He couldn’t have sounded more like a fish out of water if he’d tried. Wess definitely wasn’t used to getting complemented… or possibly paid appropriately for his work. Maybe that was why he was so focused on trying to rinse people for every coin they had.

Before any of them could say anything else, Sofia’s voice cut through the air. “Coming up next is the item that I have no doubt many of you are here for — if not to buy, then just to see. We at Bleak Night are delighted to have the opportunity to facilitate this transaction for whatever fortunate buyer ends up getting their hands on the prize.”

“Dang,” Mite said as he leaned over to look out the window. “They’ve still got more?”

“They’re definitely one of the richest groups in the Global Wealth Leaderboard,” Alex said. A small frown pulled at his lips. “But, to be honest, I’m not sure I understand how that thing works yet. The amount of Credits people have tossed around today is nuts. Did the River King really have that much non-Credit wealth? The way it’s scored just doesn’t make sense. I don’t see how we’re so high up.”

“Meh. Wait until we figure out what else he had. Might be a ring somewhere with a bajillion Credits or something in it,” Mite said with a shrug. “It’ll take time to sort through.”

“Maybe,” Alex allowed, letting his attention drift back to Sofia. She was still introducing this new item. Whatever it was, she definitely hyping it up.

“As I’m sure many of you are aware, there is only one of these in 274-50 at the moment,” Sofia continued. “Acquiring it was not simple. It will only be available to the most dedicated of our patrons. But whoever gets their hands on it will invariably become one of the new great powers of this world.”

“Maybe we should have saved some of our credits,” Mite muttered. “This thing sounds awesome. Aaron, you think you can convince someone to gamble another 50,000 on some stupid shit?”

“That’s not how it works,” Aaron replied with a shake of his head. “I doubt anyone is that dumb. And I don’t have anything left to offer up as reasonable collateral.”

“Without any further ado, I know you’re all excited to get started,” Sofia said. She clapped her hands together. And, in a flash of green energy, a small black cube roughly the size of a palm appeared in the air beside her. “The next item for auction will be the Armageddon Call — the easiest way to activate the 3rd and final Initialization for 274-50. I don’t think I need to say much more. Whoever controls this item will have the power to choose exactly when their Subsector Boss awakens. We all know just how valuable an item like this is. For that reason, bidding will start at 50,000 Credits.”

“That much?” Wess breathed, his eyes going wide in disbelief. “That’s more than the previous most expensive item even sold for!”

But Alex wasn’t even thinking about the price. He was too preoccupied with the wave of goosebumps that had just rolled across his back.

There’s a 3rd Integration!?