Jasmine was passing by the associations lobby when she noticed a somewhat familiar face at the counter.

  Macey Winterbelle, A talented mage who earned the Viscount rank at the age of 25. Word about her was that she was a very aggressive fighter with incredible casting time. With the recent success of the WInterbelle family, they might be looking to expand their influence to other sectors.

  As Jasmine approached, she began hearing the conversation between Macey Winterbelle and the receptionist.

  “Just fill these in and you’ll be able to join the Southeastern mage association,” the receptionist said as she handed the documents to Macey.

  “Thank you,” Macey bowed as she turned to head for the tables at the lobby. Macey Winterbelle stopped when she noticed Jasmine was behind her. “Can I help you?”

  “Ah... no,” Jasmine replied. Macey nodded and walked past Jasmine. “Wait!” Macey turned back. “Why are you joining our mage association?”

  “I no longer carry the Winterbelle name,” Macey replied before turning around to continue what she was doing.

  Jasmine just watched her back in confusion.

  Lucas took a seat in the dining room table for breakfast, making his mom raise an eyebrow in confusion. “Surprised to see you here in the morning,” Valeri commented. “Usually you’re already at work.”

  “I was forced to take a day off,” Lucas responded with a tired sigh.

  “Looks like you needed it.”

  “Have you started packing?” Lucas asked.

  Valeri looked conflicted. “I’m not sure son... I raised all three of you in this house,” they looked around the old house they’ve been living in for over a decade. “I don’t think I can leave it...”

  Lucas sighed. His mom had always been the sentimental type. He knew she probably still had some of their old baby clothes. And personally, she didn’t want to take that part away from her.

  “Then just grab all the stuff you need. It’ll be a temporary stay, while I have this place fixed up,” Lucas stated.

  It was a good compromise. His mother owned this land and the house, so instead of selling it. Lucas could just have the place renovated, while he turned the property he bought into a rental.

  “Alright, but don’t change too much. Okay?” Veleri finally agreed.

  “Don’t worry mom,” Lucas smiled.

  “I’m sitting right fucking here!” Rose yelled in annoyance.

  As it was his day off, Lucas decided to spend it by looking around the neighborhood and even decided to visit the market that was destroyed. When he arrived, Lucas saw that the market was finally rebuilt and was even improved.

  Lucas began looking around the market and even asked around if his old boss still had a workshop here. That got him a lot of mix answers. Some said they didn’t know her, she moved away, she was still around, and many more varying answers.

  It kind of made sense since a lot of the new shops here were people that came from other towns and cities, while only a few from before the incident survived and decided to rebuild their shops.

  “Hey brat!”

  Lucas perked up after hearing the familiar voice. He turned to the voice to see Agatha carrying a bunch of grocery bags. “Boss!”

  “You don’t need call me that anymore brat,” Agatha said as Lucas ran up to her. She gave Lucas a scan and smiled. “Look at you. You grew some muscle.”

  “Had to do a lot of heavy lifting,” Lucas replied. “Do you still have a workshop here?”

  Agatha shook her head. “The shop was demolished, and I was too lazy to rebuild. I just live off the pension I got from the government after incident. I do fix a few stuffs in the apartment building I live in.”

  “Well, I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  Lucas helped carry her grocery to her home, where Lucas got a look at the residential area of the market. Agatha mentioned the rent being cheap and the place was in good condition, but the noise of the market was the only issue.

  The market was open 24 hours a day, meaning even at night the noise reached her apartment. “Don’t worry about it. I can sleep through it without a problem.”

  “Boss... I have an offer for you.”

  As expected, Lucas started receiving inquiries regarding if Iris: Gun slinger was for sale. Obviously, if he decided to put it in the market, there would be stricter background checks on who’s allowed to purchase it since Iris: Gun slinger was a far more dangerous golem than the Iris: Infantry as demonstrated in the fight pit.

  And with the restrictions on the customers, people resorted to offering more money to buy even one of the golems. This gave Lucas an idea that could potentially earn him a lot of money. But he needed help to make it work.

  A few phone calls later...

  “You’re one sick motherfucker,” Philipe cackled as he heard the details of Lucas’s plan.

  Lucas’s plan was simple. He would create golems that were either non-combatants or entirely focused on defense, and then he would auction them off. He would have people spread the word to make sure the houses knew about it and attend the auction.

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  He will also use that opportunity to announce that he’ll have the more combat-oriented golems for rent.

  “You think it will work?” Lucas asked.

  “Of course it will!” Philipe exclaimed. “If you told me sooner that you were fucking Iris, we would have made more money!”

  Philipe would oversee the auction, while Lucas’s other friends began spreading the word that Iris was going to have an auction.

  Now, Lucas needed to make some golems for the auction. Obviously, auctions had some rules Lucas needed to follow to proceed legally. First, the auction needed a minimum of ten different items to be auctioned. Lucas could make all ten, or he could invite other people to have items auctioned as well.

  Second, all items that were going to be auctioned needed to have their quality verified to ensure that they are worth being auctioned, so Lucas needed to get his golems appraised before he could auction them.

  As for the golems, Lucas already had a couple ideas lined up.

  Iris: Oracle

  A golem primarily focused on scouting. Lucas already had the perfect monster core for it, so creating it wouldn’t take long. This golem would have the ability to fly, so Lucas needed some lightweight materials and a modified version of the thruster technology he used in the Iris: Winterbelle.

  Iris: Medic

  A healer that was also capable of transporting injured people in the pod on its back. Since this golem was designed to respond to emergencies, Lucas needed durable and lightweight materials to allow the golem to perform well. Lucas also had a monster core already prepared for this golem that would improve its healing capabilities.

  Iris: Loader

  A golem specifically made for transporting cargo via the compartment on its back or via other methods in unstable terrains like mountains, tunnels, and many more areas that were hard to access using vehicles.

  Iris: Dispatch

  A highly mobile golem specifically designed to respond to emergencies by either rushing injured to hospitals, evacuating civilians, or clearing a perimeter.

  Iris: Fortress

  A golem capable of conjuring barriers to protect its allies from attacks. Since it’ll be made with highly durable material, its primary role is to hold the line and protect those behind it.

  These were all the golems that Lucas already had designed and only needed some motivation before he got started on production. He still needed to come up with a few more, but they still had a couple weeks to prepare, so he still had some time to get things done.

  “I’ll try to look for other things to auction,” Philipe said. “Since this isn’t a regular auction event, a lot of people would try to submit something for the auction. It'll cost them less on commission compared to the regular auction events.”

  Lucas knew nothing about this stuff, so he just nodded and trusted Philipe to do the processing. He was an obnoxious and spoiled rich kid, but Philipe was never a traitor, so Lucas trusted that he won’t screw him over.

  “But there’s just one thing we need,” Philipe turned to Lucas who just looked at him in confusion. “A main event.”

  Sebastian Armstrong was the oldest mage in the continental rankings, sitting in his late eighty’s. Considering everyone in the top 100 was powerful enough to destroy a city, being the top 17 was a notable feat for his age.

  He wasn’t part of any organization or belonged to a reputable house. Being independent granted him the freedom to do what he wanted without being shackled with responsibilities.

  “What do we have here?” Sebastian maybe old, but he still knew how to access the mage network.

  It was buzzing with articles about an auction where multiple new golems from a crafter that called themselves Iris were going to be auctioned.

  Sebastian had worked with golems before, but the golems nowadays were more machine than actual magical constructs. In order to increase efficiency and add more features, science took over golem magic.

  Out of curiosity, Sebastian looked up the golems created by Iris. And as he expected, the golems took the form of humanoid machines. With obvious mechanical inner frames, and the outer frames were sleek with segmented armors. The frames were layered with armor with visible panel lines and mechanical joints.

  Watching videos of the golems in action. Sebastian had to at least admit that the crafter did a great job making them move like actual living creatures. They walked, ran, and fought like humans.

  It was clear magic took the lead in his method of crafting, but his creations were still more machine than actual golems.

  “Well, I have nothing to do anyways.” Sebastian muttered as he got the brilliant idea to attend this auction.

  “Mom! I’m home! I brough friends!” Shina yelled as she arrived home only to find several luggage and boxes in the living room. “Mom? What's going on?” she asked in concern.

  “What’s wrong?” Monique asked with a raised eyebrow, while Aurora looked at her friend in concern.

  “Oh! Welcome home dear,” Veleri pulled Shina into a hug. “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “Wait a minute mom. What’s with all this?” Shina gestured to the luggage and boxes. “Did you sell the house?”

  “Oh no dear. I’m just moving to a temporary place while your brother has this place renovated,” Valeri explained.

  “Renovated? This place?” Valeri gestured to the house. “He’s going to need more than a repair man’s salary to fix this place.”

  Valeri looked at Shina in confusion. “I’m ho-” Lucas stopped at the door when he noticed that Shina had visitors.

  He began slowly closing the door, pretending like nobody saw him. “Get back here!” Shina yelled.

  After dragging Lucas back into the house, Shina talked to her mom in the kitchen in private. “What do you mean he’s rich?” Shina whispered in disbelief. “Look at him!” she whispered-yelled as she gestured to Lucas who was currently subjected to a form of torture.

  He was sitting next to Monique who was having a lot of fun teasing him by twirling his hair with her fingers, while asking him questions they couldn’t hear.

  Valeri responded by showing Shina her bank account on her phone where a seven-digit number was shown. “Have you not seen the money I send you?”

  “What? No,” Shina fished out her phone and saw her bank account that she hasn’t bother checking for months since she knew when and how much her mother usually sent for her allowance. “Dear god... we’re rich...” judging from the transaction record, her allowance tripled.

  “No, we’re not young lady. Your brother is rich,” Valeri stated. “He worked hard for that money.”

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  “Watch your language young lady,” Valeri frowned. “Anyways. Since you’re here, you’ll help me move to our temporary home.”

  Shina raised an eyebrow.

  “Well... I wasn’t expecting this,” Philipe muttered as he checked the list of people trying to reserve a seat for the auction.

  The auction venue was his family's grand ballroom that could fit 40 eight-sitter round tables and had a dozen private viewing booths with a balcony to the ballroom. It also had a massive stage for the auction, so Philipe was certain that they could accommodate the event.

  But he had never been wrong in his life.

  When it was revealed that his family was going to host the auction, thousands of houses and even great houses contacted them to try and reserve a seat. His father has never been more supportive of Philipe before this moment.

  But before Philipe could even relish in the glory, he was notified of the terrifying news of an imperial guard attending the auction.

  Imperial guards were the private soldiers of the emperor. They heavily prioritized quality over quantity, so every imperial guard was a powerful mage even threaten a great house.

  “Fucking hell...”