Chapter 123: Fire Sale III
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Walker, Virgil, Rimi, and a dozen assorted floating assistants in the shape of items appeared in a large empty room. The entire area was dark, with a notification striking Walker’s overlay as his mind took everything in.

 

Hello Jobe, and welcome to the Grand Auction’s Central Auction.

Walker rubbed the top of his head. They are the absolute worst at naming things.

In just ten minutes, the Central Auction will begin. A few rules are as follows:

All exchanges must be done using Temporal resources.

To combat any potential problems with violence during the event, as occurred during the time of Rendition 3AC, each room is magically sealed.

Any attempts to breach these seals will result in the immediate expulsion of the offender, as well as potentially being banned from attending in the future.

The total tally of purchases must be paid before exiting the Central Auction. Failure to do so may result in extreme fines and judicial punishment.

 

After he looked away from the text, Walker looked toward the front of the room. A red curtain sat there, its edges holding a clear cyan coloring. He also noticed something missing.

“No chairs or couches? Not even a divan?” The tired man said, surprised at the lack of accommodation.

Virgil’s laugh surprised him, “Rimi floats, the weaponized assistants float, and I am in the shape of a modified gorilla.”

“And I’m a peasant,” Walker said with a sneer.

“Indeed. Although a little comfort would be appreciated.”

A nest of leaves and soft branches appeared near the curtain, causing Virgil to laugh again as he settled down, leaving Walker to glare at him.

 

This is bullshit

 

They only had to wait a few minutes, Walker spending the time talking to Rimi about how the monsters back on Symphony were doing.

“Many of them are growing closer to Sapience, although I’m not sure I like who will reach it first.”

“The Golden Wind?”

“Yep,” Rimi said in the affirmative, “Before we left, she was running from something.”

“Mmm, probably Chipper. Ever since his talk with Runner, he’s been traveling across the breadth of Symphony. I think he sees himself as some kind of Monster-hunting Adventerur now.”

“And you do not like that?” Virgil asked.

Walker shrugged, “It’s not about what I like, but about what he wants to do. I’m still hopeful he’ll take over the Unending Summit for me, but I’m not about to tell him what kind of life he has to live. That goes directly against who we are and what we’re trying to do.”

They spoke for a few more minutes before the curtain shuddered and slowly began to open. That’s when they all got a good view of what kind of event they were looking at.

A stage made of glossy wood stood in front of them, a series of lights arranged across the area for maximum visibility. Immediately to the left and right of Walker were other booths, although he felt annoyed that he couldn’t look inside them due to some kind of screen. But while it was frustrating that he couldn’t see them, he was also afforded the same protection. Then he noticed just how many booths were in the room.

Thousands.

“Wow.”

“Indeed,” Virgil commented, looking around as well, “Even the Assistant Database did not have any information on the Auction. It is a private event that has occurred multiple times during the rise of each new Rendition. I still believe our wealth will allow us to make multiple purchases; however, I feel we must be smart about what we buy.”

As he finished speaking, someone began to walk across the stage. He stood tall, a long robe wrapped around him. With pointed ears and his gaunt frame, Walker thought he was looking at the salesman from before, but the skin tone was different, a darker coloring to the man who had recently ordered his groin be attacked.

“Welcome, all of you, to the Central Auction!” He said, the room deathly quiet as each screen held in sound as much as it did sight, speakers above bringing the sound to their hearing, “We will begin shortly, and I’m sure you have all perused the rules already. For those of you in the bottom seats,” He said, sweeping his gaze across the area Walker was located in, “This is your first Central Auction. The more you purchase, and the more you return, the higher your standing. Reach the peak and see an entirely new set of options only presented to our top clientele.” He looked far up into what Walker would think was the sky, “And to those of you with such standing, we thank you for attending our humble Auction.”

The greasy man took a small bow, one leg sweeping out fluidly behind him. It was strange to watch how silent everything seemed, the auctions of Walker’s homeworld being a flurry of voices and activity.

As the moment ended, the man holding the pose for multiple sections, he stood up quickly, his voice matching his bodies speed, “Today we have an assorted collection from Rendition 4AA and beyond. The newest rendition, one of which whispers have spoken of across the entirety of the multiverse, is exactly what you have heard. It’s eccentric, changing how we view the entirety of our political and power dynamics. And with that in mind, let us get this moving forward.”

A cart was wheeled out by another gaunt, sharp-eared man, a bored expression on his face. Upon it sat a folded card. The presenter thanked him and stepped over, lifting the card high as he read off of it, “First up we have a new system available for auction. It’s called…a moment…ah. This is very funny.” He chuckled quietly to himself, the rest of the room silent, “The Monster system! Developed by Creator Dante of the newest rendition, it’s a power scaling system with a high variability to modification. The first bid goes for Four-hundred Temporal Resources.”

A button that hadn’t been there before appeared near the screen in the front. On the left was an up arrow, and on the right was a down, with the middle screen showing the current bids from the auction. As Walker watched, it had already shot up to six-hundred and fifty Temporal Resources.

“Motherfuckers.”

“Indeed.”

“Yep.”

Walker, Rimi, and Virgil sat there and watched as more than a few of their crafts and innovations came and went. The Monster system sold for eight hundred resources, while the Overwhelming Mana Tree sold for twenty-five hundred, Virgil commenting that the price was far undervaluing the power of their accidental creation. After the sale of something a Creator he’d never heard of had made, something to do with edible glass, the auction continued onward.

Small vehicles and strange ore popped up, as did some items from other renditions. A quarter of a moon in a popular area was sold in something of a real estate auction, and a talking sword with a foul mouth passed hands at a surprisingly high price. But nothing Walker saw drove him to make a purchase yet. That is until someone else popped up that spelled some real trouble.

“This fine entity is called a guardian, another creation of Dante’s from rendition 4AA.” The auctioneer called out as a young guardian came to the stage in chain. Only, rather than the white fur he and his assistants were used to seeing, it was pink.

From the beating it’d taken.

“These creatures are born with a naturally forming magical locus. They’re initially docile, but as you can see, put up more than a small fight when placed in bondage. My records show that they grow to be a little over five feet tall, to use the new Multiversal scaling system, and pair perfectly with Dante’s Monster system.” He said the last with a pointed look far above Walker’s location.

Walker watched with gritted teeth as the bids quickly reached twelve hundred, showing no sign of stopping.

He was trying to be calm about everything. Yes, he was tired. Yes, they were selling things he and his had worked hard to create. But he’d known there was always a good chance the Evolvers would claim his work as their own. He knew that the moment he’d started seeing his systems pop up in the designer. But this, seeing how they were treating such wonderful creatures, put a bur up his backside more than he had ever expected. Guardians weren’t meant to be in chains, they were meant to be free. He felt a large warm hand cover his shoulder.

“Walker, stay calm, please.” Virgil counseled. But he should’ve been watching the other assistant.

“Walker…” Rimi said in a tightly controlled voice beside him, “Walker, you need to buy the Guardian.”

“I know Rimi, I know.”

When the bid hit fifteen hundred, Walker upped it to sixteen. It continued for a few moments, going for long enough that the salesman’s voice sounded tired, another pointed-ear man running him a glass of water, before it finally ended.

“Sold to a lower-gentle person for twenty-two-five.”

Walker felt his chamber rumble, and as it settled, the stage was now further below them, their screened area forced to compensate by zooming in visually.

“Ah, we move up in rank the more we spend. Logical.”

“Yeah…logical.” Rimi said on Walker’s other side.

An update struck Walker’s overlay, informing him of where to make the payment and pickup the Guardian, then the auction kicked off again. A rare painting by an obscure artist in the second rendition. A meet and greet with a member of the Bravo Protocol Council. Borrowing a Supreme Assistant for a week went for several thousand resources, before a new creature struck the stage.

“Although you thought we would wait till the end, this next entity is a rare treat. Sold by her fellow entities in the third rendition, this creature has only reached its two-hundredth year, still a baby by her people's standards.”

The end of the stage expanded several feet as a large rolling machine on wheels came rolling out. Laying upon it, with dozens of dull gray chains wrapped across its body, sat one of the largest creatures Walker had ever seen. One half-opened eye with a slit iris looked around the room, panic clear in its gaze. Multiple scales covering its body were ripped off or dented, showing a series of injuries roaming across the vast breadth of its frame.

“This beauty is a-”

“Scalebound Dragon,” Virgil said, the tone of his voice now sounding similar to Rimi’s from before, “A Dragon that lives by honor and oaths. But how did they even get it, and why would its family sell it?”

“Who says they did?” Walker replied hotly, “There were plenty of poachers from my world who would lie about how they stole an animal.” Walker rubbed at a pulsing stiffness in the side of his neck. “They probably snatched it up just for the auction, then came up with a story so everyone here would feel better about the situation.”

“But Walker, you do not understand-”

“He understands,” Rimi commented, “Walker…”

“Yeah.”

The sale started at two thousand, and Walker instantly increased it to four to push most of the bidders out. He ended up finalizing the purchase at five and a half, the largest sale of the day, according to the salesman. After their floor moved again, skyrocketing somewhere toward the top, another notecard came out.

“The legendary evolution, self-regenerating cells. Discovered by the name I believe we all now know, Dante from rendition 4AA! Purchase and application of this evolution can lead to unchecked immortality,” He seemed to grin for a moment, “as long as you maintain your head.”

The pulse in the side of Walker's neck seemed to travel to the back of his skull, a feeling he knew well enough to know where it led. Neither Virgil nor Rimi commented as Walker closed his eyes and performed his breathing exercises.

The evolution sold quickly, and it was immediately followed by a system invented in the third rendition that purified water through magical permeation, something Walker purchased at a steal of only five hundred resources.

Just enough to inch them high enough for an update to his overlay.

 

Congratulations Jobe!

Due to your purchases, you’ve now been granted access to a seat at the high-bidders club!

All high-bidders gain a preview of the next five auctions to arrive on the public floor and access to a few special auctions known only to those in your position.

Keep bidding to hold your seat!

As it said, the next five auctions appeared on the sides of the screen, allowing him to move them around and view things from a 3D perspective. Most of the items coming up were weapons and systems Walker could either create or have created. They were low totem-poll items. However, another screen popped up near the bottom, showing the special auction item arriving at the high-bidders in the next few minutes.

It was an Awakened man, but rather than the standard fleshy head, he had the head of something like a Jaguar. Spinning the representative image of the man, he found notes saying he was captured during the ongoing war with the Awakened, and came with a small family you could do with as you will.

“How the fuck did they get that man’s family,” Walker said through gritted teeth.

“War is hell,” Virgil replied calmly.

“But he had a life before all of this. I mean, he’s a soldier, just like I was. Maybe he was drafted, and maybe he signed up, but that doesn’t matter. What right do the Evolvers have to not only sell this man as some kind of slave, but to sell his family with him? That’s not right. That’s not fair.”

“And what are you prepared to do about it, Walker?” Virgil asked seriously. “Based on the cost of what I am seeing during this auction, and what we have spent already, I am sure you can purchase him. But what if another appears? And another? Are you going to buy them all? What about those who may have been sold before we arrived?”

“I…I don’t know.”

But he had an idea. And after the next two items sold, Walker quickly purchased the man and his family. A new screen appeared, asking where they’d like them placed as they’re not part of the standard auction. Walker directed them to their storage unit, receiving a notification that it would be done immediately after the funds were transferred, with an overlay window appearing for just that reason.

Paying the total cost of over ten thousand resources, Walker grimaced and accepted. The special auction went dark for a moment, as two new items appeared on the public side.

“They didn’t,” Rimi said in a quiet voice.

Walker looked at the next two public auction items and felt the blood in his veins freeze. The fourth item was the Milestone system, with a few notes written about how you could use it to manage and control a population effectively. The fifth item was a Battlefrog.

The notes said they would be great fodder for any upcoming wars.

“Rimi…”

“No, Walker. No. Not a Battlefrog. The Guardian was bad enough. Stealing our systems? That poor man and his family? How much can you take, Walker? What if Athena was on sale here? She’s an Awakened, right?”

“Rimi…”

“It’s not right, Walker. Everything about this is wrong.” He floated over to look right at the screen, “Change me back. I don’t want to look like this anymore.”

Walker looked at him, nodding and doing what he asked. Rimi was back in his blue form, a change Walker hadn’t realized he’d done intentionally until now. A moment later he was back to his ten-foot size. A huge black squirrel in a rage.

“This all needs to end, Walker. And I don’t have the power to do it. I need you to.”

“Rimi, you’re asking me to kill thousands of people.”

“No, I’m asking you to kill the Nobles and the Auction staff. They’re the ones doing this, right? The ones who the Auction bastards knew would find interest in this sick fiasco.”

“Rimi,” Virgil commented, “this could all blow back on us. Walker no longer has his shield. If we attack, and things go bad, that could be the end of everything. As Walker dies, so, in effect, do we.”

“I don’t care,” Another auction ended, the Battlefrog moving up a slot, “This is wrong! Who are they to have this kind of power. Where did they even get the resources to do this? From their families? For what? What’s the point!”

The special auction screen updated. Walker felt time slow down as his eyes traveled to the item.

 

Planet I4959826

Rendition grouping: 3

Local Designation: Earth

Currently a target of the Omega Protocol, pending completion of stage one interference.

This planet has had its population greatly reduced recently, and is within a powerful Temporal Displacement field.

Upon purchase, the winning bidder will be granted all remaining residents and resources.

Starting bid: 25,000 Temporal Resources

Bidding begins in ten minutes…

 

Just below it, he found an extra note tagged for the planet.

 

Rumour says this is where Creator Dante of rendition 4AA comes from! Who knows, you could find another genius mind!

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