285-6: Profits + Auction

[Author note: this chapter ended up getting very long due to later edits, so I split it when posting to RR, thus the double chapter title]

Nicolai made a quick detour, opting to head to the Slayers Guild before the Auction. Arriving, he nodding to the same imposing guard who stood with arms crossed outside it as last time. The man nodded back to him. Inside, he headed straight for the Guild storage.

It was a large half-moon of a door, made from some kind of seamless white metal, and he stopped in front of it. This was supposedly where he would be able to retrieve payouts and rewards, but he wasn’t sure how to actually go about doing that. However, after simply standing there for a moment, the door glowed faintly and slowly began to rose, stone and metal grinding.

Nicolai waited patiently as it rose out the way. Gradually, a counter was revealed. It was set flush in the wall, much like a bank teller’s window. Only here the glass was carved with a faint, script, barely visible. Some kind of ritual-based warding, he guessed. He noted a setup like a lazy-susan, as well as a grate for speech to pass through.

Behind this sat a broad-shouldered owl, with mottled, scarred feathers. It wore layered robes in a similar style as the Cultivators, though with a more martial lean.

As the door rose the rest of the way, Nicolai considered the room beyond the owl. It was small, but contained neat rows of cabinets and shelving. Beyond that was another, even larger door. Its heavier construction and the spiritual weight he felt from it, suggested it was the true vault.

The owl had been reading a book, and it only looked up as the door clicked into place above. It didn’t look particularly happy to be pulled away from its book.

The owl wasn’t very friendly and, though the Mask made some effort—allowed by Nicolai, who after all felt it would be worthwhile to be on good terms with the minder of the vault—it was far from receptive, giving short and irritable answers.

Nicolai wasn’t bothered, he was only here for what he’d earned, and received it quickly. First, the Symbiotes he’d gained from slain monsters.

‘Six Symbiotes,’ said the owl, putting a bag on the counter. ‘All tier one, three of them duplicates.’

‘No Tier 2 Symbiotes?’ asked Nicolai, frowning.

‘No,’ said the owl shortly.

Nicolai nodded to himself. He had killed a Tier 2 scale viper as well as all the Tier 1s, but the Tier 2 hadn't shown any signs of having a symbiote.

The bag was similar as that he’d gained from the Duel Arena and Inheritance, made to temporarily hold Symbiotes. His Mark pinged and a list popped up, which he glanced through.

These Symbiotes were harvested from defeated enemies, and held for you:

Red Tendon Cricket Symbiote (x3)

Stone-Shell Beetle Symbiote (1x)

Iron Talon Mite Symbiote (2x)

Caring and feeding fee: 34,600p

‘Caring and feeding fee?’

‘For looking after those before you came here. If you don’t pay, we keep the Symbiotes.’

Focusing on the Symbiotes caused Examine text to appear, and Nicolai quickly read through.

Red Tendon Cricket Symbiote

Tier: 1

Placement: Any limb

Type: Speed

The Red Tendon Cricket slightly increases speed in a given limb when active, and this effect can stack additively, though with diminishing returns.

Stone-Shell Beetle Symbiote

Tier: 1

Placement: Stomach area

Type: Protection

This Symbiote provides a slight reinforcement of the user’s outermost layer, be that skin or clothing or armour. It thickens that layers and gives it a slightly stony texture. Though the benefit is only slight, it comes without any loss of movement speed, which is a typical drawback of similar Symbiotes.

Iron Talon Mite Symbiote

Tier: 1

Placement: Finger, hand, or foot

Type: Offence

When active, sharpens and strengthens any offensive bodyparts built into the hand or feet, such as claws, nails, or talons. If the user lacks such, the Symbiote does nothing. Two Iron Talon Mites cannot empower the same bodypart.

Nicolai investigated each symbiote. After checking what they did, he decided he would certainly keep the Red Tendon Crickets. Speed was always useful. There was a possibility of stacking them in his bionic arm arm, which currently had numerous free spots in his shoulder, elbow, and hand. Alternatively, two of them could join the Wolf Bugs in his legs.

The Iron Talon Mite, too, could be useful in one of its fingers, as presumably it would empower the bionic arm’s hand-talon. He might even be able to use it to come up with an alternate version of the Spectral Claw. If he swapped the Spectral Mantis for the Iron Talon Mite, would it instead become an Iron Claw, with a more powerful physical attack? Worth testing.

Finally, the Stone-Shell Beetle sounded to him like it would provide a minor boost to his defence at no real cost.

Of course, he didn’t know how much Oma each specific Symbiote would use when activated. It could be that they would be overly expensive. But if not, he figured they would all be worth keeping and activating where necessary.

After telling the owl that he would be taking them rather than selling them—something that the Slayer’s Guild was able to do for him, though they would take a cut of the proceeds for the convenience, the Owl fetched another bag.

This one contained points-tags, his monetary reward for turning in all those monster corpses. It totalled a bit over 413,000 points-tags, give or take a little. A 110,000 for the Gorothune, and around 300,000 for the Scale Vipers.

Of that, the Owl subtracted the 34,600 caring and feeding fee, leaving Nicolai with 378,400. That brought him to a total of about 978,400. He was just about a millionaire, at least when it came to points.

After zipping the Symbiotes into one of his more protected pockets, and the point-tags into his storage, Nicolai reflected that, indeed, he was very pleased he'd opted to join the Slayer’s Guild. It was even more lucrative for one of his skills than he had anticipated.

###

The Auction House was a large, square building, with a bell tower on each corner. Now aware of the underlying powers, he recognised the green flags and occasional strange, rickety skeletal constructs that marked this place as under the control of House Veyron.

Gazing at it, Nicolai knew that one day he might end up fighting over this building. He’d been told that the Houses would compete especially hard for places like this, because the House that controlled the Auction House, Duel Arena, Market, etc., would receive revenue from it. His eyes slid over the building’s grand facade, to find and linger on the bell towers. Killing the defenders and seizing control of those would be how one achieved victory.

All this in mind, he looked it over carefully. Drones were sent out to hum around it, and the Modules analysed the layout, attempted to work out whether there were any defences beyond the obvious guards, and then determined the best ways in and out. Simulations was working on a 3D map of the city. His Mark possessed its own map, but in his opinion you couldn’t have enough detail when it came to potential strike points.

When possible, Nicolai prepared to start his prep work for a job as early as possible. Surveillance was a key part of any aggressive operation, whether it be assassination or something more simple, and he’d learned that the best time to perform such surveillance was months or even years before the job.

Not only did this ensure he had plenty of time to plan, but it also increased the likelihood he wouldn’t be recognised by people working in the building, and that security recordings would have been recorded over. These old habits and methods were ingrained into him more deeply than the scars on his body.

This place did not look a particularly hard target. The building was quite close to its neighbours, providing methods for one such as him to get onto its roof—where the Bell Towers could be found.

He wouldn’t go in for a close assault, however. Through drones, he examined the surrounding city. A building taller than the Auction House rose a few blocks away. From there he would have good sightlines on all but one of the Bell Towers.

Nicolai entered the Auction House, his finger twitching as he imagined sighting down the scope of a high powered rifle and pulling the trigger. The entrance was typically large. He didn’t see any signs of an emergency door, and worked to keep his movements casual as he joined the small crowd.

For this, Nicolai wore a different outfit. He’d returned via portal to his base where he’d made the change, before coming here. Of course, that meant the Scoundrels would have been able to work their locator magic on him, but he’d decided to simply accept that they would be learning his rough location. He didn’t have any way to stop that, now they had his polearm. At least this way he knew that there would be a Scoundrel, or Scoundrels, coming after him this week. He would be ready.

Back in the cave, he’d left the Blade and Imbued rapier under Aiming’s watchful gaze, then put his other recognisable weapons into the Big Mouth, which he’d deactivated so that it disappeared from his chest.

After that he’d changed into a simple, hooded, dark blue robe he’d had the Assembler make from actual cloth, a pack of which he’d purchased from the Trade Link last time. With this were some simple fibre sandals. Finally, a plain white mask covered his face.

Following his last, failed attempt to blend in with Cultivators, he’d decided that simpler was better. They would still be able to tell he wasn’t one of them, but at least the simple clothing wouldn’t draw any eyes.

The main entrance led into a large central room, which had two exits on either side, leading to the two auction rooms the house was equipped with. The auction he was here for was on the left side, so he headed over.

At the door, there was an attentive female Person holding a clipboard. She was flanked by a tall, robed skeleton hefting a very large halberd.

‘This is the weekly Short Auction,’ she said smoothly. ‘Entrance fee is 5,000 points.’

According to what he’d learned at the Information Guild, there were two kinds of Auctions hosted here. Short and Long. A Short Auction lasted one hour. A Long lasted four. The Information Guild Person had suggested that people would wait until the Long before attempting to sell especially unusual and valuable items, or just if they wanted the best chance of a good price. The Long would likely have far more people attend it, after all.

The Long Auction would occur in the last week or each month, thus there would be one every month. As to the Short, they would occur on the other three weeks of each month, thus three Minor Auctions for each Major.

Nicolai handed over the necessary tags, and headed inside. The room within was very large and reminded him of a theatre. Rows of seating, slightly curving, led downward towards a stage at the bottom. The ceiling was high and arching, and there were private balcony-booths visible up there. Those ones had curtained screens over them.

There were only a few minutes until the start, and the room was quite busy, though not at full capacity. Almost half the seats were filled down here, and he saw movement up in the private booths above. He estimated it to be roughly 60% full of Cultivators, and 40% those from Earth.

He slid into a seat at the very back, in a corner so there were no seats to his left or behind him. It was protocol to limit one’s exposure as much as possible wherever possible. There were People spaced along the walls all around the room, and there was one in the corner behind him. Nicolai and Threat Analysis watched everything through cameras and Soul Sense.

These seats, though all in a row, were each clearly separate from the neighbour, with their own arm rests and even a space between. The moment he put his hand onto his armrest, his Mark activated.

Auction House User Interface

Greetings, user (376) #53,217

This is the Auction House Interface, used to interact with ongoing auctions in a smooth and easy manner.

You have no applied Auction House permits and are bidding as a basic public user. Your name will be displayed whenever you place a bid. As a basic user, you will also pay 5% Auction House tax on any items you sell.

Would you like to upgrade to private user for this session only, for 200,000 points? Points are drawn from your Trade Link account. You can top up your account via the consoles lining the wall.

Upgrade - 200,000p

(Note that when bidding, use of your Trade Link account is optional—you can bid with physical points-tags or barter other items.)

(More information on attaining private bidding status and upgrading your user type is available from members of House Veyron working the hall.)

Nicolai turned his head, and saw that there were indeed some consoles, with a Trade Link look to them, in little recessed spaces lining the walls. 200,000 for a one-time private bidding status was ridiculous, it felt more like a way of pushing people toward joining House Veyron than an actual price they expected people to pay.

The Symbiote he wished to buy had a market value of around 300,000, but if there were any available the bidding may well push that higher. With his nearly million points, he could easily afford that. But there was a risk. This was an item people would want for Tier 2, so depending on demand the price could go much higher. Not to mention, his many enemies, some of whom might even bid against him out of spite.

He drummed his fingers on his seat, considering. Having almost a million points put him in an interesting position. He was pretty sure he would complete a challenge for hitting 1,000,000 in his Trade Link account. That Challenge would provide more points. And, 1,000,000 was the cost to upgrade his Market Permit to the next level, which would give him access to… who knew what? Interesting things.

Not to mention, he didn’t even have the Shardache he needed to hit Tier 2, he needed to work out how he’d steal some from those Scale Vipers, first. So, he decided to simply see if he could get a good deal. If the Symbiote he needed was available for a good price, he’d buy it. He anticipated making a good amount of money today from selling the semi-auto M99’s he’d had the Assembler making for the past couple days, so even if he had to pay quite a high price, he should still be able to hit 1,000,000 by the end of the day—if he was thrifty.

Thus he opted against getting the private bidding status. 200,000 for one-time privacy was too wasteful. But he was interested in having that status permanently, and the description had hinted that was possible. He left his seat and looked to the Person standing in the corner. A robed, attentive young man with his hands behind his back. Nicolai approached, the false face his H-gram showed adopting a friendly smile.

‘Greetings. Are you a member of House Veyron?’ Nicolai asked quietly.

‘That I am, sir,’ said the Person in an equally quiet voice. ‘How can I help you?’

‘I’m here to inquire about other means of gaining private bidding status, and upgrading from a basic user.’

‘Of course. To begin with, I have been instructed to inform any Players who ask, that they may be afforded both the privilege of being able to purchase private bidding status—for only 20,000 points-tags per Auction—and have their Auction seller’s tax permanently reduced from 5%, to 3%, should they become a member of House Veyron. If you are interested, I can start the process for you right now, merely touch this with your Marked hand.’ The Person extended a hand holding an identical little orb as the one the recruiter in the main square had held out.

‘I am still investigating my options, but House Veyron is currently at the top of my list,’ replied Nicolai, his H-gram smiling genially while he nodded his head. ‘Are there—‘

‘Forgive me for interrupting, but I must ask if you are aware that at this early date House Veyron is offering an early-bird joining package?’ asked the Person quickly, his face creasing with concern. ‘That means favourable terms that will not be available to those joining later, when it becomes clear that we will be winning the House War. I would hate for you to miss this chance, sir.’

‘I was not aware. I will certainly keep that in mind.’

‘You would have to join today, sir, to gain those benefits,’ stressed the Person. He held the ball out a little further.

‘I will think very deeply on this.’

‘There is a time for deep thought, sir, and there is a time for making a decision, sir,’ the Person pressed, tone notably cooler. ‘Did you know, sir, that House Veyron controls not only the Auction House, but also the Market? There are powerful benefits to be gained for any wishing to engage in trading of any sort. For example, if opening a shop in the Market, you would receive a substantial discount to the trading taxes, and may advertise for free.’ The hand with the orb crept a few inches closer to Nicolai, who was beginning to develop the rather strong impression that this Person must gain some kind of commission or personal benefit for recruiting him.

‘That is very exciting news. I will certainly look into that.’

‘With the coming war, House Veyron will apply for permission to enact wartime tax on any and all trades made within the Market, which will very likely be granted. Did you know that, sir? Someone with wisdom would keep that in mind, sir, and join now to ensure they keep their current free trading benefits, kindly provided by House Veyron.’ The Person was now actually leaning forward slightly as he extended the orb until it was almost touching Nicolai’s hand.

‘I am most thankful to House Veyron. I will look into this very deeply.’ Nicolai’s Marked hand remained resolutely by his side.

‘Of course, sir,’ hissed the Person. He stiffly retracted the ball. ‘If that will be all…’

‘Just a moment. Are there not other methods of becoming a private bidder? The UI mentioned Permits.’

The Person glared at him. ‘There are indeed other methods,’ he snarled. ‘One such is the Merchant’s Award, which Heaven has decreed House Veyron must inform Players about if asked.’ Each word was short, sharp, and rimmed in ice. ‘To learn more about the Merchant’s Award, please enquire at the Market, where the Up-Trading Challenge can be found.’ If looks could kill, the Person’s furious, thin-lipped stare would’ve been lethal.

‘Thank you for your time,’ said Nicolai, his H-gram smiling beatifically.

‘Of course, sir,’ said the Person, in the same way one might say, “Die in a ditch, scum.”

Nicolai returned to his seat feeling oddly rejuvenated. Around him, Cultivators finished settling into their own seats and the auction began.

A Person strode out onto the stage. He looked out at the crowd. He smiled. And he said: ‘Before I start today’s bidding, I have a quick message. House Veyron…’

He then spent five minutes force feeding the crowd the very same information Nicolai had just received, though in even more wordy fashion. He finished with: ‘And you can join, using your seat and its many functions!’ As he began to launch into an explanation of this, the crowds irritable muttering, which had been there since the start, went up another notch.

Even the Mask, to Nicolai’s surprise, found it annoying. Don’t these People understand that the more pushy they are, the more off-putting it is?

Nicolai shrugged. Perhaps a cultural difference, or lack of respect. I have the impression they look down on us.

Please don’t join House Veyron, the Mask continued. They must be a nightmare to work for.

They may all be like this, mused Nicolai. At that moment, the Person was explaining the exact steps needed to use the seat to join House Veyron, and repeating the benefits.

‘Give it a rest!’ yelled a voice from one of the booths above.

‘No one has time to hear more garbage about your worthless house!’

The crowd murmured angry agreement with this message.

The Person glared around at them all. ‘Fine,’ he snapped. ‘The first item up for bid is this.’ He held out his palm, and with a flash of light a little ring appeared on his palm. ‘A Tier 1 Imbued ring allowing the user to slowly fly, taken from a Pegasi archer.’ He sneered. ‘Yes, ladies and gentlemen, someone murdered a Pegasi archer—who, by the way, are old and distinguished undead archers, who after proving themselves, received the honour of becoming a Pegasi—murdered an archer, stole this ring, and now, is selling it to the rest of you. The seller starts the bidding at two hundred Oma crystals.’

Nicolai wondered idly whether all members of House Veyron were so very easily offended. He saw Cultivators sat in the hall around him exchange confused glances, then a few hands were hesitantly raised.

‘Don’t put your filthy hands up!’ screamed the Person. ‘Use your chairs! Are you imbeciles?! Have you no understanding of how anything works?! Maybe if you’d let me finish, you would! Oh, someone does, someone has bid two hundred and one crystals. Wow! And now we have a bid for two hundred and two! My oh my! And what now—what? What?’ The Person stared, furious, at the edge of the stage. It seemed as though someone was speaking to him, but Nicolai couldn’t hear anything. Everyone in the crowd was craning their heads, trying to see.

‘Oh I must, must I? Ridiculous!’ frothed the Person. ‘To these dogs? They have no respect, no understanding, they—!’

Now a pair of tall, skeletal undead wrapped in dark robes clacked swiftly across the stage. They seized the protesting Person and dragged him, screaming abuse and profanities to the room at large, away.

The crowd observed this mutely. Once he was gone they erupted into confused murmuring. Nicolai could only assume that this was not how it typically went.

A new Person strode out onto the stage. She smiled at the crowd. ‘I apologise. House Veyron does not condone that behaviour.’ She peered around, and seemed to be looking towards the edges of the room, where the stiff-necked People were arrayed. ‘The Patriarch has decreed that all members of House Veyron shall be polite and personable to the esteemed guests of our city, and to keep in mind that of course, they do not know how offensive they are. Now, as to the bidding. We are up to two-hundred and seventy-five crystals…’

In due time, the ring was sold for 341 crystals. The Person tossed it like trash and it disappeared in another flash of light. A faintly frowning Cultivator rose from his seat, and quickly left the room.

Things continued in a markedly more professional manner from then on. It seemed that the less expensive items came first. As the prices gradually rose, the bidding became more exuberant.

Nicolai sat quietly, making no move to bid. There were some things that interested him, but not enough to bid for them.

That was until the very item he most desired appeared.

‘And here we have a Toothbearer Blood Symbiote. The seller wished me to stress that it is in pristine state.’ The Person raised the Symbiote high. It was a little red dinosaur, standing on her palm and roaring squeakily. ‘Bidding starts at 350,000.’

There were a few rapid bids. The price quickly rose to 400,000. Then more slowly to 420,000. Nicolai waited patiently for his moment. It climbed, over the course of a minute, just barely to 430,000.

Expensive, but not out of his reach. He bid 450,000.

The nice round number sat there for a moment, displayed in the chair UI’s, and droned out by the bored Person. After the last two who’d been in the bidding war had competed with smaller and smaller numbers, this number should be quite demoralising to them and assure his win. Assuming, of course, no surprises.

His cheek twitched when the number shot up to 500,000. The UI identified the bid as placed by the Hao Clan. He didn’t see them here, which told him they must be in one of the private booths. And had opted to have their bid made non-private, to send a message.

Nicolai’s hopes fell. He bid 550,000, and decided that was the max he was willing. A bidding war with an enemy was not the way to get a good deal.

A moment later the number had risen to 600,000. Nicolai sighed. Alas, making enemies had ramifications. He rose and left, ignoring the conspiratorial muttering and flinty gazes from Cultivators who’d realised who he was.

He’d somewhat expected this might happen. Upgrading to private in every Auction at the cost of 200,000 points each time, was not an option. Joining House Veyron just for this would be premature.

But this was only the first time he found himself with reason to visit the Auction, and he knew that he couldn’t afford to be so easily identified in the future. It was unlikely he would be able to stop making enemies—for Nicolai, it happened as naturally as breathing. Thus, he needed to ensure those enemies couldn’t identify him and seek retribution.

After exiting the Auction House he kept a watch on the door. A few others emerged after him. Some of them moved in the same direction he did. He turned a few corners and left his drones behind. No one followed him. He found an empty street, returned to his base and there returned to his standard loadout.

Once he was back in the City, he headed toward the Market.