Again I was surrounded by darkness , though there was some rays of light penetrating the ceiling of this closed metal cage , only giving me the opportunity to see that much of the blue clear sky during my uncomfortable ride.

I was mostly lost thinking about how my life used to be before I woke up in this madness , venerable , imprisoned. it wasn’t the first time these ideas came to me , probably not the last time either, I kept telling myself that I have to endure this , maybe at some point I will get some of my memories back. Yet my patience is running out fast .

A commotion near the carriage brought my attention to the outside. Only now realizing that the carriage came to a halt followed by the cage door spread wide open and I was greeted by a dozen of guards with their weapons shoved into my direction.

“ quite the enthusiastic welcome I got “ I mocked , seeing how they were quite hesitant.

However

“bring him in “ Darom’s voice reverberated from the side of the hall as he appeared from the giant door and entered the parking area. Many other similar carriages were parked around.

‘These guys were preparing so much for this auction’ I thought

“Master Darom , you didn’t need to come all the way here sir” one of guards hurriedly run over to greet Darom , who was looking a little more flashy than his usual attire. His grey 3 pieces suit was a far cry from all the other people standing around him.

“I need to make sure this guy here doesn’t make any unnecessary delays to my schedule . bring him out now” he ordered again with irritating voice.his guards meanwhile were slightly scared from his command as they hurried to throw me into another cage , this time it had been laid on a platform with wheels to make it easier to move around

My hands were cuffed again to the sides of the cage bars as we moved on while Darom walked by the side checking a list from his assistance

From the inside , the auction house was more of a castle built around the main stage. it was the first time for me to see such an imposing architecture and I had to admit I was far from astonished

Darom seemed to notice my gaze spoke mockingly “ don’t droll too much , this is just the backyard “

“I was just wondering how someone as savage as you managed to build something like this” I replied

Savina POV

Stepping out of the carriage into the burning desert sun, i walked to the entrance of the auction hall flanked by Belial. The glamorous architecture that Damor favored the building with always made me frown. It was yet another artifice, another hollow display of wealth that masqueraded as power. The whole damn city reeked of it. A continent-worth of dregs that lorded what meager power they scavenged on lowlier dregs. And she caught their attention, the furtive looks when they thought themselves hidden in the squalor and stink. It was laughable

Their whispers was nothing more than a nausea , everyone knew what would happened if they misstep against me , I Savina one of the three Lords of this lowly city

I was a 3rd Rank striker class , all high and above most people in the small continent of Suthen .it was and still an exile for defective criminals, those who were no longer useful to society. So they sent the worthless of the worthless down here to mine precious ore under the judications of Notica island authorities . Years passed and the population grew until Notica was no longer able enough to fit them. So , they let the worms build a city of their own and ruled over themselves.

In exchange for that freedom , Kivren City had to provide certain amounts of ores every month.While Notica sent essential goods. It was far from fair trade.

I cursed every day of the last 30 years that I had to live in this hell.but I endured , all for the sake of revenge from that man. The one who took everything from me.

Soon , Soon enough I will leave this shit hole and find him.

Ethos surged through my body reacting to my fury and the air around us grew even hotter because of my fire affinity

“ lady Savina “ Belial’s voice came from my side , a reminder to not let my emotion get hold of me. Not while we were this far from finishing our plans .

As we reached the entrance of the auction hall . the door was already open , revealing the courtyard,

A certain servant was already bowing to us even before we reached it , leading us to the center of the courtyard. A water fountain with a sculpture of a sentinel maiden or that what it was supposed to look like.

The courtyard was already buzzing with these worms as I passed forward . their heads drop down and the silence taking place.

Darom walked from the other side of the yard , a wide smile on his annoying face , he wore a tailored grey suit. I could see how much effort he was making to get the look of a modern civilized Ranker , but he was miserably failing.

As I stopped just few meters away from him he gave me a slight bow as I nodded back my eyes taking every movement of his body. Despite knowing how weaker than me he is .I never let down my guard around him .

“Lord Savina , your presence is an honor to my Auction house” he spoke in a monotone like voice.

“ Darom, lets get to business. Lead the way “ I replied not bothered by the slight twitch of his eyebrow. I always enjoyed humiliating this snake in front of his crowd of admires.

“please follow me “ he spoke before turning his back to us as he started walking

The auction house was big ,not as much compared to my villa or the giant structure I was once familiar with in Evaros but Darom took his time building it . the decoration and whether controlling enchantments added to magic wards speak volumes of how much he invested in his nest.

The walls were made of marble with carved wood connected to the ceiling . light crystals of deferent colors were used to divide each section of the house.

It didn’t take much time before we reached his fancy study room ,where he made all the big deals. I was looking forward for the rare treasures of today’s auction. I had been waiting for so long and finally when my plans were almost set in motion as the final pieces were brought together . Darom had managed to get his hands somehow on a 2 nd Rank elven noble girl and another base ranker.adding them to my side would make my plan perfect.

Even better , I ll finally make a use to those lesser ethos crystals that kept degrading for so long . In the high density areas of Evaros , those piles of crystals will be unsignificant just like any stone on the road

As the door opened my attention instantly was drawn to the left side of the room .sitting on her knees with both hands chained to the side of the cage .A blonde hair girl with emerald green eyes , long distinctive pointy ears breaking through the sides of her messy hair , tattered armor and signs of bruises. The black bangs under eyes spoke tomes about the journey she suffered before reaching here

Her eyes almost burning holes at us as I made my way towards her cage , the tension of Darom’s guards seemed to increase with every step I made.

“ I have to admit , elves really live up to their reputation , quite the thot you got here “ I spoke in amuse , ignoring the snort sound and glare of the girl in the cage.

Without wasting much time , I turned to Darom who seemed to be focused on the outside

“How much are you going to put for her tonight ? “ I asked. The news about this girl had already reached the other two lords. knowing those men ,they wont miss the chance to fuck this elven girl. Darom counting on this to suck the bones dry of whoever is willing to buy her.

“hmm , that is quiet an interesting question Lord Savina , even now I haven’t really decided the opening price yet , she is quite young. A 2nd Rank caster no less with Wind element.”

I watched as darom poured some wine from a nearby bottle before taking a sip.

“So , how about you make an offer and I ll think about it ?” he replied as he turned back , his lifeless eyes looking back at me adding his irritating smile of his , he seemed to be enjoying the moment

‘what a pathetic worm’

Already seeing through his intentions ,wanting to trade the girl for valuable treasures instead of ethos crystals . he wanted awakening stones or augment essences , these treasures that were hard to come by in this low density area.

I smiled , despite the mask covering my face ,I knew that Darom noticed my expression.

“the fact that this girl was still here , means that you are still considering options from the other two. However…’’

I paused for a moment ,taking a step forward towards him . from this distance it I was looking down at him ,I added a little bit of aura to my voice before continuing . as the smile on his face faltered while I reminded him of his place as a worthless scum

“I am afraid that i have to disappoint you in that regard Darom , the auction tonight will decide who can get this elf , just like any other treasure “ I finished my words as I finally turned my attention to the cage on the other side of the room, knowing the man , I would fall in his trap if I ever showed any interest in his products. That’s why I didn’t make an offer , if the 3 lords all wanted to bet on the same thing , the auction will remove that item from the general list and make a private bidding between the 3. It was always a loss when things reached that far.

With my attention now on the 2nd cage , I noticed quite odd and interesting things about this guy.

Sitting inside with nothing but some piece of leather covering his lower half was a base rank awakened ,dull grey hair and silver white eyes with a feline like pupil.

if he had furry ears instead of a human ones I would have assumed he was undoubtedly a beastkin as he shared the similar sharp face features with them alongside the toned athlete body.of all the last 30 years i had lived here , I can finally say that I was looking at a handsome man , Although his fate seemed to have thrown him in this pit for some reason.

He was looking back at me with curious gaze , tired but curious.

“So this is the man who made all that trouble for Rendal ? “

“yes , he is . His name is Adam… ” thats all what he said , i waited for more explanation to come but the silence prolonged from few moments to few seconds , before I returned back to Darom

“that’s it ?its either your methods became rusty or this guy is really something, for you to spend 2 weeks torturing someone to only gets his name ,pfff “ i broke laughing at the end . Darom’s men on the other hand were shivering in fear at the clear insult to their boss. it took me moments to calm down

“ sorry about that , where are my manners…“

“ he claimed that he has no memory of his life before attacking our men in the western fields “ Darom spoke in annoyed tone .

“ we also confirmed his affinities in ice and darkness “

“what?” for the first time ever , it was the elven girl who spoke as her eyes widened in disbelief .

My eyes narrowed, having one affinity to one of the first tier elements at base rank was already a great feet .but having two , and from the 2nd tier elements no less was just unimaginable.

1st tier elements :

Earth

Water

Wind

Fire

2nd tier elements :

Ice

Lightning

Light

Darkness

Darom who grew up here on this continent had no knowledge of how rare this was. I am sure , otherwise , he wouldn’t even show this guy here at all .

“Do you know anything about this , girl ?” Darom turned to the elf , yet she remained silent. I decided to check on things myself

“ belial , remove his collar , I ll verify whether Darom really spoke the truth or not “

"yes , my Lord"

I watched as belial reached to the side of the cage , using the keystone to remove the collar ,as I wont be able to use my aura to scan him while it was on.

There was nothing more disturbing to rankers than having their cores observed by aura , it is a very unnerving experience and it leaves you with a feeling of vulnerability and expose. but a guy who endured Darom’s torturing would just be fine.

I projected my aura , just enough for it to reach the man in the cage , it passed through his body easily before reaching deep into his chest. The man’s body language didn’t changed much all this time , which was weird. I only noticed his eyes narrowed when I reached his core. Then I felt it , the small base rank ethos core. It had mixture cyan color with dark smoke.

however ,there was something else in this guy , a rather familiar feeling i was getting from him .

I retracted my aura and ignored all my surroundings.Darom was totally focused on me , probably trying to learn a thing or two from my demonstration

i tried to focuse on that feeling, what was i missing ? a certain vague memory from 35 years ago, one expedition with my party went horribly wrong and we ended up beeing saved by a high ranker Covenant race adventurer ,her aura was the strongest and most dominating one i ever felt in my life and she was an Otherworlder!

my eyes went wide ,it all made sense now , this familiar sense and how did this man ended up in the middle of the desert alone. he came from another world , and the journey left him with no memories . ah , Gods are surely smiling towards me now.

“ so how much you want for this guy ? “ I asked while holding back my excitment

The normal price of mining slaves ranged from 1000 lesser crystals to 4000 , depending on their conditions

The battle slaves were much higher while base rank can reach to 20000 lesser crystals because they end up in the Arena fighting each other or Ethos monsters .it was quite a profitable business in this city.

Darom seemed to be lost in thoughts for a while , he was considering options ,even if the guy had 2 elemental affinities , he was doomed here , with barely any resources to develop himself nor the necessary Ethos density. He wont be able to make use of any of those elements at all. technically speaking , he was no different than any usual base rank. Even if Darom used the incident of Rendal’s men to promote him , he wont get passed the 40000 crystals.

I on the other hand had hundreds of thousands of those lesser crystals that I need to blow.

‘ Darom, you pathetic swine​’