As Varian walked out of the Inn, a thin guy with a hood walked in. "I need a room."
Almost instinctively, Varian threw a scan at him.
[Famine. Rank 1.]
The result made him almost curse.
What the fuck was a rank 1 celestial doing here of all places? And the same fucking Inn!
And this guy looked very young. Even if it's a disguise, Varian could feel his life energy. He's somewhere equivalent to a human in his 20s.
'Never mind. He's not here for me. I will leave Ubiq after the auction anyway.'
— — — —
"Three hundred thousand uni."
"Four hundred thousand."
"A million."
The auction elicited great responses from the patrons. Unicorn Auction House returned to the limelight once again.
The Duke of Centaurus was a rank 5 powerhouse. Below him were the Prime Minister and Grand Admiral—two rank 4 powerhouses.
Then, there were quite a few rank 3 powerhouses, each heading a family or an organization. They were the backbone of the Duchy.
"I haven't you seen around here. If you want to use force, there's no one better than the Ancient Paladin family." A unicorn man grinned as he caressed the vitality fruit.
Consuming it, he could store a lot of power inside his horn, and during critical times of the battle, he'd be able to temporarily increase his strength, defense, and speed by at least 30%!
"If you want any help regarding alchemy or making potions, do visit our house. We are one of the best in the Duchy." The old cat woman who took the Anti-Aging potion gave him a smile. "Your gift of this will win the heart of any lady, my dear."
"Tsk. Anyway, my family is a special mercenary group. If you want our help, we'll give you a discount." The bulky man, who seemed to come from a race called Mini Giants, waved his hammer around and said.
After sending them all away with a small diplomatic talk, Varian took a deep breath and his gaze turned serious.
"This way, Sir." An old man in a black suit with a red border design led him to a special VVIP room at the top of the auction house.
'A rank 3 is leading me…a rank 3!' Varian felt his slap tingle as he noticed the nervousness on the old man's face.
What could make even a rank 3 powerhouse this nervous?
When the large golden double doors creaked open into a beautiful room, Varian knew the reason.
A veiled woman in silky white clothes greeted him. With long purple hair, a wonderful scent, and a refined temperament, she seemed like the textbook definition of elegance.
She was seated, right in front of him, but Varian's senses couldn't find her. Even his aura grew restless in her presence.
Varian felt as if an invisible hand gripped his heart and was about to crush it any second. His body grew cold and his blood stopped flowing. His bright face began to pale and his disguise was worn off forcibly.
Then, the aura of other paths he kept suppressed began to riot.
'S-System, turn off all other paths except Mystic.'
Right when the auras of his six other paths were about to leak out, Logos grabbed them in place and made them disappear.
Varian's body functions began to deteriorate but his body couldn't even move an inch. He was frozen in place.
All he could do was stare at the woman's purple eyes. Eyes that shone like gemstones. Beautiful but exceedingly dangerous.
The old man had long left and now there were only two of them in the room. There's no one to save him and Varian couldn't even escape to Hortus under her gaze.
'I can escape even from rank 3s. Even rank 4s. But why the hell is such a powerful woman here?'
After what seemed like an eternity, the woman's lips moved behind her veil. "I've been waiting for you, Mr. Foreigner."
Every abnormality disappeared and Varian felt his life return to him. Panting heavily, he collapsed onto the sofa behind him. His shirt was drenched with sweat and his instincts were screaming in fear.
"Your disguise wasn't bad. But your rank is." The disappointment in her voice was obvious.
A rank 1 Mystic was useless for her, no matter how mysterious he could be.
Varian caught his breath and looked into her eyes. But only for a moment before he felt his eyes burn with terrible pain. So, he looked away and asked. "W-Who the hell are you?"
"Bad question."
Varian calmed down and exhaled deeply. "What do you want?"
"It's something you can't give." She shook her head lightly.
Varian didn't know why, but he sighed in relief inwardly.
"But I can give you what you want." The veiled woman seemed to smile, her voice was smoother.
Varian sat upright at her words, his eyes staring into hers. His eyes burned again with terrible pain but this time, he didn't look away.
"Interesting." The woman's eyes glittered and her eyebrows bent in what seemed to be an amused smile.
"What's the price?"
"Those rings…" The woman's voice lowered as she looked into his eyes with a burning gaze. "They are useless even for a rank 3. But the power they use…it's a very special power."
It's the power left behind by the Primordial Gods. It couldn't be anything but special.
But the concentration of the power was too low for anyone to properly detect its nature. That's why Varian was confident in auctioning the item.
Even though this woman didn't grasp the essence of that power, she was able to tell it was special.
"How did you get those rings? Where did you find them? I need to know. Tell me, tell me everything."
With every word she spoke, Varian felt his head buzz as his entire body began to twitch. Her words were hypnotizing his entire being and despite his dire protest, his firmly shut mouth slowly began to open, ready to spill all secrets.
The woman watched him struggle with an amused gaze. It had been incredibly torturous and boring ever since she had to act in this identity.
At least today, she felt some fun unraveling a secret. It felt like opening a treasure chest that tried its best to resist. The joy wasn't in the treasure but in opening the chest against all its resistance. To see it resist and lose anyway.
"Come on, speak up."
