The 27th item passed, and Lucas was really questioning how he missed the fact that so many items joined the auction. When Philipe gave him the catalogue, there was only a dozen items listed including his, so checking the new catalogue and seeing over 30 items surprised him.
“I’m back...” Althea entered the room looking haggard.
“What happened?” Lucas asked in concern.
“The moment I came down the stairs, people started hounding me,” Althea grumbled. “You’re lucky the only people that knew what you look like is the great houses that investigated you after the dimensional rift incident.”
Lucas scratched his head, but he already knew that it was impossible to hide his identity forever. However, Lucas needed to make sure he was powerful enough before his identity was fully revealed to the public.
He really needed to get started on Perci’s aura combat training.
“Without further ado, we have another item from Iris,” Philipe gestured to the golem that came from the backstage.
The golem had a beast like appearance similar to Ragnar with a white outer frame with a texture seemingly mimicking fur.
“I would like everyone to meet the Iris: Sabrekin!” Philipe exclaimed.
With the earlier incident showing off Ragnar’s abilities, the bidding for the Iris: Sabrekin quickly got heated as the current bet reached 3 million. At this point, Lucas just gave up on expecting his golems to not sell well. Considering all his items sold way above his expectations, so he dared to have high expectations for the last item.
“Sold at 5.5 million credits!” Philipe exclaimed.
As the golem exited the stage, Philipe began pacing around the stage in excitement.
“I hope all of you are as excited as I am since it’s time for the grand finale!” Philipe exclaimed as one of his employees pushed in a cart with an item covered by a tarp. “As you all know, the last item in the catalogue is labeled as a mystery,” Philipe began. “That’s because the last item isn’t decided by us.”
Althea turned to Lucas with a look of confusion, also not knowing what the last item in the auction was. Lucas just turned to her with a smile.
Philipe pulled the tarp off to reveal a golden card. “The last item is a guarantee for Iris to craft an artifact of your choosing,” Philipe revealed.
“5 million!”
“6 million!”
“You just turned the increments to millions,” Althea commented. “Are you sure about this?”
Lucas sighed. “If there’s anything that’s been asked from me the moment I released the Iris: Infantry into the market, it’s a custom golem. Might as well take advantage of it,” Lucas stated. “Besides, if I find out my creations are being used to cause harm to innocent people, I have a kill switch called Percival and Ragnar.”
“...” Althea stared at Lucas in silence, not expecting a statement like that from him.
Sebastian watched as everyone competed to buy the last item in the auction. It seemed he had underestimated the crafter’s reputation. Even if none of the top ten were present today, the crafter still managed to bring in an imperial guard.
“Sold at 23 million credits!” the host exclaimed as the final item was sold to the Great house of Lumiouse. A merchant family that handled trade with the west. “As the last item has been sold, Iris would like to say few words before ending this event.”
Sebastian raised an eyebrow as a young man with black hair and eyes stepped into the stage. He was wearing a black suit with a black mask and was even equipped with numerous artifacts. As a first expression, the young man didn’t look that impressive. Though, his eyes were sharp, and Sebastian quickly noticed a faint trace of mana within them.
“He has a gift,” Sebastian quickly figured out.
He was aware that Iris’s identity was hidden from the public, but Sebastian was fairly certain that the majority of people present here today already knew his identity using various means to find out. Even he could have found out by simply demanding it from Waywood. Being part of continental rankings had its benefits after all.
“First of all. I would like to thank everyone for attending this event,” Iris spoke.
Sebastian took note of an odd energy coming from the young man. It was as if two separate energy signatures were coming from him.
“Is he possessed?” Sebastian muttered.
Perci expected a lot of things to happen after he became a wondering ego, but he never expected to be used like this. The human named Lucas was what people called an introvert. He severely disliked speaking to other humans if there was an option to avoid it, and it takes a lot of time to even have him be comfortable enough to be the one to initiate conversations. And once he found out Perci had the ability to possess him, he came up with the plan to have Perci be the one to give the announcement after the auction.
“As most of you already know, I restrict myself from selling golems with clearly dangerous capabilities commercially as I do not wish to see my golems potentially used to harm innocents,” Perci announced. “Now, I am not accusing the people here that you would do such a thing, but I can’t be certain, and I do not wish to take that chance.”
“But with the suggestion of my friend, my personal golems with more dangerous abilities would be available to be rented,” Perci announced, and the crowd began murmuring. “That would be all and thank you for attending today.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
To make a dramatic exit, Perci stimulated Lucas’s aura circle to its maximum output and enhanced his body. He turned into a blur and disappeared from the stage.
Once they were out of sight, Perci separated from Lucas, detaching from his chest. “How di- AARRRGGGHH!” Lucas screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. “Why does everything hurt?!”
“I activated your aura circle to its maximum output,” Perci said casually while Lucas was writhing in pain on the floor.
“Why would you do that?” Lucas spoke through the agonizing pain he was feeling right now.
“For dramatic effect,” Perci said before flying away.
“Come back here you lunatic!” Lucas yelled.
Macey smiled as she read the article about the success of Lucas’s auction. She would have attended, but they were already sold out of row seats, and she didn’t have any connections for a table seat.
“Ms. Macey, here’s the documentation for your completed mission,” the receptionist handed her a folder.
“Thank you,” Macey bowed.
For the past week she was busy doing solo missions for the mage association. Macey didn’t particularly need money, but she needed to build a reputation for herself here. That required her to grind troublesome missions to gain attention and prove her skill.
“Ms. Macey?”
Macey turned to find one of Lucas’s office mates, Kier. “Hello,” Macey greeted him.
“Lucas said you already returned to the north,” Kier mentioned.
“I did, but I returned here and decided to stay,” Macey explained.
“But... doesn’t that mean...”
Judging from his expression, Kier had an idea on how things worked in the Winterbelle family. “I request that you do not mention this to Mr. Atican.”
Kier cringed. “That’s going to be a problem,” he pointed behind her.
Macey quickly turned to find Lucas walking towards them with a crowd following beside him. “Oh? Ms. Macey?” Lucas quickly noticed him.
Macey flinched. “Ah, hello Mr. Atican,” Macey bowed.
Lucas tilted his head in confusion. He handed all the files to the people following beside him and they bowed before leaving. “When did you come back here?”
Macey turned to Kier who was already a good distance away. She turned back to Lucas. “About a week ago. A few days before your auction.”
“Oh, are you busy? Want to go grab a bite to eat?” Lucas asked.
Macey glanced at the folder in her hands. Everything was already filed, so if she said she was busy, she’d be lying, and she didn’t know if Lucas had the ability to detect lies. Which was very likely since he had over a dozen artifacts on him.
“Sure,” Macey agreed.
Instead of heading to some fancy fine dining restaurant, Macey suggested they ate at a diner that she had been frequenting since her arrival in southeast. It seemed Lucas gained quite the appetite since she was gone considering he ordered enough food for three people.
It lightened her mood to know he was comfortable enough with her to be so casual. In truth, Macey only wanted to inform him of her return here after she made a decent enough reputation in the mage association and was no longer a probational member.
“Did your family send you on another mission?” Lucas asked as their food arrived.
Macey shook her head. “I left the Winterbelle family.”
Lucas looked at her in confusion. “Huh? How does that work?”
“If a Winterbelle does not live in the north, they must relinquish the Winterbelle name,” Macey revealed. “But if they work hard enough, they will still be recognized as a branch family.”
“Seriously? But you’ve done so much for them.”
Macey shrugged. “It was my decision to leave and move here.”
Lucas seemed even more confused. “Why? I thought you didn’t like the heat.”
The waitress facepalmed in background.
Lucas got home after handling all the turn overs for all the items he sold during the auction. It was exhausting and Lucas vowed to hire someone to do it for him next time.
Opening the door to the house, Lucas was greeted by his mother carrying a bunch of plates of food. At the table was Rose and Shina along with her friends that were staying with them until they finished their project.
It wasn’t an issue since the house that Lucas had constructed had seven bedrooms, so they had enough room for guests.
“I can’t believe they all refused an interview,” Monique grumbled. “We only needed to ask a few questions.”
“To be fair, they had to inform their superiors of big news after what Iris announced,” Aurora mentioned.
“Who are we going to interview now?” Shina grumbled as she grabbing some food. “The deadline is in a month.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow, wondering what they were talking about. He figured it was related to why they requested him to get them a spot at the auction.
“Oh Lucas! Welcome home!” Valeri exclaimed when she noticed him at the door. “Join us for dinner.”
“I’m good. I ate out with a friend,” Lucas replied.
Valeri beamed. “Is she going to be my first daughter-in-law?”
“I volunteer!” Monique exclaimed.
Lucas just stared at them in confusion. “Okay... we’re just friends, and what do you mean first?”
“It’s not rare for the rich to have more than one wife,” Shina mentioned. “And most of time it’s just political marriages, so there’s no meaning to it.”
Lucas cringed. “I do not want to talk about this,” Lucas headed to his room.
“Make sure to bring her over sometime!” Valeri called out.
When Lucas entered his room, he found Perci hovering over his wardrobe. “You look busy,” Lucas commented as he took off his jacket.
“You’re starting to form a second circle,” Perci mentioned. “It seems stimulating your circle last time had quite the effect.”
“You know what they say. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,” Lucas stated.
Perci actually chuckled. “Live with that ideology and you’ll die sooner,” he commented. “I will be honest human. You definitely lack talent for any form of cultivation, but you’re not lacking in the head.”
“What do you mean?”
“A common wall that most cultivators face is their inability to adapt and consider other possibilities,” Perci explained. “They would get to attached to the methods they were accustomed with that they don’t even consider that other methods would be able to help them.”
“You’re saying that’s not an issue with me?”
“Yes,” Perci floated up and down, performing his version of a nod. “Additionally, unlike most cultivators, you voluntarily make an effort to perfect your circles.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be the standard?” Lucas raised an eyebrow.
“The majority of cultivators jump at the opportunity to raise the number of their circles the moment they get the chance,” Perci mentioned. “That’s why the number of circles does not determine one's power.”
Perci floated towards Lucas and poked him on the chest with one of his arms.
“Had you not perfected your circle, I wouldn’t have been able to perform what I did during the auction.”
Lucas recalled what he watched in the video of the auction. Perci had somehow controlled his body to move at a speed that couldn’t even be seen by the cameras. Although it was only for a few seconds and left him in agonizing pain, Lucas saw his potential.
“What do I need to do?”
