Ben entered the auction house in high spirits. Leaving Ginn's side seemed to have taken a bit of weight off his shoulders.

While he liked talking, his mouth went off too much when in this peer company.

In the VIP room, the auction started around 15 minutes after Ben arrived. And the special reception couldn't be more stellar.

While the first items were going off, Ben slowly analyzed the itinerary. He quickly decided on a couple of treasures.

In this place now, his high-profile appearance sprouted. The ring on his finger and the quality of his clothes built this image of the people Ben made fun of frequently.

In addition, his experience created this aura around him. So people noticed he didn't care as much despite the fanciness.

People were fast to judge, and Ben instantly broke his overused character.

"Do Sir has any drink and food preferences?" Lia asked once Ben was

comfortable.

"If I remember it right, Clearsky action offers a mead course, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Moon. It's one of the Clearsky Clan's specialties. Do you have any preferences with side dishes?"

"The standard light one."

"Alright, I will be back soon."

While Lia was gone, Ben promptly got his first purchase. And by the time she was back, the product was already in his hand, a pocket clock which had as one of its use emitting light.

'Quite an expensive replacement, but it's helpful enough to deserve a place in my heart.' Ben thought jokingly.

His second target was a beautiful necklace, a protective treasure with three of its five jewels left.

He saw a lot of people in the open. But Ben ignored everything and bid his heart out since the money wasn't his.

After receiving the necklace, the artifact had protective measures implemented, but as Ben predicted, this wasn't its only usage. Ben found a design he still remembers quite well between the superficial structures.

A thousand years ago, he was utterly played with as he failed to understand a similar piece of mastery. And he got teleported away to a small island in the middle of nowhere. As a result, Ben spent so much time playing stranded that the memories of the design entrenched themselves very deep in his mind. He couldn't forget it because of the anger it caused him.

Although Ben knew of the design usage, he didn't know who made it or how old it was. However, at the very least, he was sure that the one who made it was a freak of an Array Master because the extra functionality was too hidden.

'The danger is much clearer if the builder is a known prankster. Generally, the feeling of safety when using such unknown treasure rises because most aims to protect someone. However, if we remove that basis, using anything with obscure origins would be insane.'

Later in the event, Ben finally saw his final target.

'Why does it look like a deformed doughnut? Couldn't they make it in the shape of a slab or cylinder? Why try something like that if they know they can't process the material thoroughly.'

The deformed doughnut was a Spirit Energy Stabilizer. A suitable treasure to use against the after-effects of big battles. Yet, its deformation was due to this world's standard incapability to process its material efficiently.

The material was semi-transparent, and at first, it looked like some crystal. However, don't be mistaken since it is more comparable to some unusual hybrid between metal and natural plastic. Its weird mix made the material unsuitable, despite its final form dealing well with Spirit Energy.

After getting it in his hand, Ben couldn't hold his laugh. It was too much of a shitty job despite the material being of high quality.

Noticing Lia holding back, Ben asked her: "Don't you think they did a bad job?"

"It is an amazing artifact." She answered.

"Too much of a waste."

"You still bought it."

"I'm more interested in melting it... Hopefully, the right circumstances will appear."

An expression of interest appeared on Lia's face momentarily, but it soon disappeared. She was surprised because not many would buy this to melt. After all, the material was too difficult.

Ben enjoyed the rest of the event while carefully looking for something that might give him a good first impression.

He was also carefully looking at the necklace. Somehow, since last night his perception was sharper. So he had a better read of the prankster's work of art.

'Insightful people.' Ben's sensitivity was triggered while looking at the relic.

But when he finally saw something interesting, someone interrupted him.

'Why is someone from the Wicked Clan of Srok coming here? Did they connect my past identity? No way. I nearly forgot I'm not in the middle of nowhere anymore.' His senses, somehow, peered through the walls.

Immediately, his mind became super active.

He then came up with his best prediction in a few seconds.

'That technique was quite uncanny, so maybe that purple Elder has some connection with them. Is New Horizons Sect in cahoots with them? I think I relaxed too much.'

Unfortunately, Ben didn't have much time to think about conspiracies, and he cared little if the geopolitical shape of the continent changed or not.

Deciding on his next step, he talked to Lia.

"Can you pass a message to my patron?" he asked.

"Sure," Lia said, slightly confused by this elderly action.

Someone knocked on the door, but Ben ignored them.

"Tell him that a wild canary appeared! Hence, I had to break our toy despite it being such a good gift."

Lia heard the message and memorized it despite not understanding much.

The door opened as someone introduced the newcomers.

"VIP13, your friend Elder Summer has..." however, the sentence was cut by the two guests immediately entering the room.

While looking at them entering, Ben had the necklace in his left hand and his right hand in his pants' right pocket.

"Additionally, repeat those sounds for him: " Ben threw the necklace toward the two guests.

Elder Summer braced himself to intersect the object. But the member of the Canary Clan at his side stopped him, pushing him a few meters back outside the room.

The object in the air wriggled, and the beads shattered. The surrounding space distorted and crackled.

In this instant, Clearsky's Protective Array activated, suppressing the necklace. The resulting rumble spread all around the Auction House.

Around Lia, a white glow appeared. Her unbelieving eyes focused on the glowing gold elder.

Ben's right hand activated the golden statue in his pocket. He used the opening caused by the necklace's spatial ability to pass the dense and layered protective measures.

At the critical point, he teleported away. The golden radiance flashed. And another point of spatial distortion appeared, causing the surrounding energy to destabilize again. A loud sound, like thunder, echoed throughout the city, surprising everyone.

A few seconds later, Ben was gone. In his place, a one-meter golden totem sat, cracked.

"Wow," Lia whispered.

The white glow that enveloped her slowly went away after the surroundings calmed down.

At the door, the one on the ground had a shocked expression. And at the side, the middle-aged man showed interest. Fortunately, the Arrays' unusual and fast reaction warned him.

"Your friend is gone," The Canary Elder looked down.

"Ah, ah... oh," Summer couldn't find his words, but he stood up, confused and frightened.

"How unfortunate we will not be meeting our brother today. Maybe he had something urgent to deal with."

"Right, right, yeah." Summer responded mindlessly.

Inside the room, Lia talked with someone using a small communicator. And, in the theater, after stopping for a moment, the auction restarted again.

The two men turned to leave like they had nothing to do with the trouble, but someone interrupted.

"Since both esteemed guests came here, why don't you stay for a talk," Lia said in a clear and loud tone as she arrived at the door.

"Oh, Lia Clearsky, I haven't seen you there. How have you been going? Long-time no see." The unexpected visitor's smile twitched a bit.

Lia didn't immediately answer. She activated the protective system and isolated the room. Then, she left it and closed the door.

She then looked at the two uninvited guests and ordered: "Follow me."

The two could only follow her. They didn't expect to see such an influential character in this room.

---

Ben felt the full blast of the teleportation experience since those were never a fun ride. And this particular passage didn't disappoint him, either.

In addition, as soon as he arrived, sticky matter overwhelmed him.

He tried to move but couldn't. Although he wasn't inside the ground, the swamp immobilized him.

'Another buried experience... Great!'

From within the ground, he crawled. Ben's appearance rivaled that of a horror movie. His rich appearance was gone. But luckily, he had another spatial treasure in hand. Or his body would have suffered even more damage.

Unfortunately, with his heightened sense, this experience was overly sinister. So, Ben felt a terrible discomfort. Yet, he saw no blood, so he was happy.

Because of that, he ignored the wet clothes glued to his skinny body and the black mud hiding his skin. And he only focused on looking around.

With much difficulty, Ben eventually stood up. The weird consistency was a challenge he wasn't expecting.

Ben noticed that the black mud wasn't exclusive to this area as the black ground went as far as he could see. However, he couldn't see much either since high trees and bushes were everywhere.

'This place is quite cold.'

'And it looked like the rain stopped not long ago.'

'It feels quite high. The air is too thin...'

Ben looked for a place to sit as he was having trouble breathing. And once finally resting, Ben removed his shirt while taking as much mud off him as possible.

"Where am I?" He talked as his mind finally began to calm down.