Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 11 (Patreon)

The attendant, now the auctioneer, brought her gavel down with a bang. The dull roar of chatter running through the room went quiet.

“First up, a collection of items specifically tailored for those looking to add stealth to their arsenal of abilities! Introducing the Shadow Guise skill book! It allows users to cloak themselves in shadows, remaining hidden from all prying eyes. It’s Uncommon Grade, a step above average. Bidding starts at one hundred gold!”

My eyes widened. Already, I was seeing exactly what I needed. I was the first to raise my hand.

“One hundred gold from the Samhain Clan! Can I get two hundred? Three hundred?”

There was some brief hesitation in the crowd, as though they were afraid of bidding against Myrina and me in our booth. But eventually, one brave soul raised their hand, and the feast began.

“We have two hundred! Do we have three hundred? Three hundred! Four hundred! Five hundred! One thousand!” The auctioneer began talking faster and faster, and soon, it became clear that the skill book would sell for more than ten thousand gold.

“Well, crap...” I muttered, slumping back in my seat in defeat. Suddenly my purse was feeling a whole lot lighter.

“Yeah, skill books cost a fortune and a half,” Myrina laughed. “That one was uncommon as well, which means it will fetch an even higher price.”

I shook my head. “And to think the System was giving them out like candy during the integration.”

Several more items came up one after another. To me, every one of them sounded interesting. But I lacked the funds to bid on any of them.

“Ring of Regeneration! Starting at five hundred gold!”

“Elixir of Insight! Grants one Intelligence stat point! Great for any of your friends and family who are too dumb to realize they shouldn’t dump everything into Strength. Going for one thousand gold!”

“Quickfinger Gloves! Perfect for an archer class! Bids start at two thousand gold!”

The auction reached a frenzied pace, and eventually, Myrina’s items came up for auction.

“Next up, ladies and gentlemen, is an assortment of arms and armor. Lightly used, but enough to fully equip several fighters,” the auctioneer explained.

“Hey! That’s the stuff I brought in!” Myrina pointed to the stage.

“Bidding starts at four hundred for the lot!”

Myrina’s items sold for a thousand gold, though I couldn’t help but notice that being plain metal, they hadn’t sold as much as the enchanted weapons and equipment sold for. Perhaps that would be the trick going forward. I would need to grind my Artificer skill and unlock some of those recopies, then buy used armor and spruce it up with a little magic. From the looks of things, I could triple my money doing that, assuming I could locate the supplies to make the enchantments cheaply.

“Nice. That’s eight hundred for me,” Myrina grinned. “Now I can finally bid on stuff. I’m not broke anymore!”

My eyebrows rose. “You get eighty percent from the auction house?”

Myrina held her hand over her lips. “Shoot. I’m not supposed to talk about that. But yeah.”

I shook my head. Life really wasn’t fair. But it wasn’t much different from most contracts on Earth before the integration. The little guy gets squeezed, and the people who already have money get a generous deal that helps them make even more.

Myrina had a few more items up for auction after that, which were sold individually, but the armor was the biggest lot.

Shortly thereafter, my Mana Bombs finally came up.

“We’ve got something interesting for you here! Selling in four lots of five, we have Mana Bombs! These devices unleash a burst of neutral mana upon activation, dealing damage exclusively to magical entities. They’re safe to handle for flesh and blood people, though they’ll do no measurable damage unless you’re fighting ghosts or specters.

"Now before you get too excited, we've got no data on how much damage these things do. They're new and untested, and to be fully honest with you all, the claims the seller made about their effectiveness can't possibly be true. This auction house has to warn you to make your purchases at your own risk! The auction house will not be liable should these items not perform as described. With that in mind, bid away!"

I scowled. I had been perfectly honest about the Mana Bomb's capabilities! Considering the cut I was giving the auction house, I'd figure the least they could do is give my items the benefit of the doubt. But no, it seemed they cared more about maintaining their reputation.

But that was fine. After they sold this lot, people would test them. Word would get around. I was glad the auction house had broken the bombs up into lots, since that meant word of their effectiveness would spread all the faster. All I needed was somebody to bite.

“Come on...” I whispered to myself, hoping for high bids. Nobody was biting, and my eyes darted over the crowd.

“One hundred? Can I get one hundred?” the auctioneer asked.

Eventually, someone timidly raised their hand.

Yes!

“Two hundred? We have two hundred. Three hundred? We have three hundred! Do we have four hundred?”

The first lot ended up selling for four hundred. Bidding slowed down a bit after that, with the next two all going for three hundred. The auction house had paid me a hundred and fifteen up front. Working over the numbers, I had a little over five hundred gold to spend. Four and a half times the already hefty package in my hands.

“You look excited,” Myrina elbowed me in the side. I realized she hadn’t seen my mana bombs. Both with the wizard and the attendant, she’d been elsewhere.

I chuckled, deciding to play things a bit mysterious. Myrina seemed fond of calling me an evil wizard anyhow.

“Little do you know, I, Carter the Magnificent, have achieved one more goal in my dastardly plans!”

Myrina rolled her eyes. “Keep your secrets, then.”

Several more items were presented one after another, and each time I considered splurging on them. I noticed a trend in the prices though. Skill books or weapons suited for warriors were generally quite expensive, but items intended for magic casters were much cheaper. Clearly, Valkiry’s Watch was running a wartime economy where the value of military goods was far higher than those not directly useful for helping the Samhain Clan fight their enemies.

I could use that. I wasn’t a fighter, after all. I didn’t need to buy a new sword or armor. Spells or the materials to build enchanted materials would do just fine, and the prices were lower too.

Whenever a raw material came up for auction, I looked it over to see if it’d be useful in my capacity as an artificer, and if it was, I bid on it hoping for a deal.

“Now presenting an old set of orichalcum armor. It’s made entirely out of metal in the style of the Knight Templar but still flexible enough for an Amazonian to use. Granted, it’s shaped for a man, but an industrious blacksmith could pound it a little larger and fix the minor gash in the center.”

“That’s a minor gash? Looks like it was hit by something the size of a wagon!” Shouted someone in the crowd.

It was true. The orichalcum armor looked like it was little more than scrap metal. Perhaps a giant elephant had shoved a tusk straight through the breastplate, shook the knight wearing it around, then stomped on his chest for good measure, pounding him flat.

The tarnish on the metal made it clear that it must have sat in a river bed for at least a hundred years after that. Odds were the armor was discovered by explorers or adventurers roaming the land in search of treasure. They brought back what they found, even if it was just a half-completed set of old armor.

“Bidding starts at one hundred! Do I have one hundred?”

I raised my hand. While the armor itself was useless to me, that didn’t mean the metal was. A lot of artificer recipes I’d unlocked called for orichalcum. If I could get my hands on that armor, I could melt it down and use it for something new.

Nobody else bid, and I was pleased to get the scrap armor.

“You know that thing’s a piece of junk, right?” Myrina asked.

I shook my head. “Junk to you. Valuable to me.”

Myrina shrugged.

Several more ingredients went up for sale. People were starting to get up and leave, and it was clear that the best items had already sold. If the auction house had anything interesting left to sell, they’d given no indication of such. Even Myrina looked like she was ready to collect our things and go.

Which was why I was excited to see the next skill book up for auction.

“Now presenting a skill book for the Arcane Blade ability! While only a common rarity, it can help you turn some noodle-armed spell caster into a real warrior! Its power can envelop a physical material, preferably a knife or existing sword, and coat it with a field of arcane energy that deals damage based on the users’ mana! It’s very useful for anyone with a large mana pool who wants to play at being a warrior as well. How about it? Bidding starts at two hundred!”

I raised my hand immediately. This was one item that the Theory Crafter had named by name.

“Carter, do you have two hundred gold?” Myrina asked.

“Just barely,” I replied. After buying the armor, I had a little over four hundred to my name.

“Two hundred from the top box! Do I have three hundred. We have three hundred!” the auctioneer shouted.

I cursed inwardly. I needed that skill book. I raised my hand again. “Four hundred!”

“We have four hundred! Five hundred? We have five hundred!”

I slumped in my chair. Looked like I wasn’t going to get the skill book after all. I glared at the general audience. A lone young woman in the crowd was bidding against me. She had her eyes turned back toward our box and looked to be staring straight at Myrina and me with a grin on her face.

“That little shit...” Myrina sat up from where she’d been sitting. “She knows it’s us and is bidding against me because of that. Well, I’ll show her!”

Myrina raised her hand. “Five hundred!”

The woman in the seats raised her hand as well and raised the price to six hundred.

Myrina raised her hand again. “Eight hundred!”

The auctioneer glanced at the woman in the seats, who raised the bid once again to a thousand.

“Fifteen hundred!” Myrina shouted, glaring at the other woman in the stands. Grumbling under her breath, she said, “I’ll teach you to fear the might of the Samhain Clan’s purse.”

“Uh... Myrina? The skill book would be nice to have, but didn’t you say you were broke?”

Myrina went pale. “Crap. You’re right. Sorry, Carter. I got too into it.”

I slapped my palm against my face and sighed.

“Fifteen hundred going once! Twice!”

Fortunately, the woman in the stands must have thought she and Myrina were still in a bidding war because she raised the price again.

“Two thousand! Going once... twice... sold!”

Myrina flipped her hair back with a scowl on her face. “Dirty rotten thief. We had that.”

She was relieved that Myrina hadn’t won it, though. I was pretty sure this auction house didn’t take kindly to people bidding more than they could afford.

I stood. “Let’s go, Myrina. Time to collect our prizes and money.”

***

Myrina continued to be grumpy about losing the Arcane Blade skill book after we collected our leftover gold and our items. I was happy enough with my sack full of scrap metal tucked away in my gym bag. Myrina had stuffed the whole thing in the dimensional storage bag at her hip, so I didn’t have to carry it around anymore.

“If I wasn’t flat broke, I would have bid her into the ground!” Myrina balled her fists. “She stole that skill book from me! From you!”

“Yes, she did, Myrina.”

“I hate her. You see the stupid look she had on her face? She was challenging me. And at the end of it, she thought she won.”

I sighed. “Let it go, Myrina. It’s just a skill book. Arcane Blade is a common-grade skill. It can’t be that rare.”

“Even if we get another identical skill book, I’ll have lost this one. I wanted this one here and now!”

I shook my head. “Let’s look around the shops. I still have some gold in my pockets and want to get some local clothes. I’m standing out too much in jeans and a t-shirt.”

I glanced around. If not for Myrina’s cloak, I would have been getting many more stares with how strangely I was dressed. Bright fabrics seemed rare around here. Especially fabrics with more than one color to them.

“Or we could track that girl down and teach her a lesson!” Myrina pounded her fist into her hand.

I sighed, wrapping an arm around Myrina’s shoulder.

I was fearing that I attracted a certain kind of woman. Myrina and Sakura would either be best friends or mortal enemies. Probably both. But whatever the case, one thing was clear. I’d be the one stuck keeping them out of trouble. At least Bridget had a good head on her shoulders, though now and again, I saw a feral glint in her eyes that scared me. Was she hiding a wild side even more headstrong than Sakura and Myrina?

“Hey! Carter, I see here! She’s over there. I’m going to go give her peace of my mind.” Myrina stared into the distance, apparently spotting the person who bid against us.

I groaned. “No, Myrina. Let’s not. Bad idea.”

I grabbed the back of her shirt but was dragged along behind her anyway.

I knew how this tale ended. Myrina, the daughter of a powerful family in the city would confront this seemingly lone warrior without backing or a faction to support her. Then she’d become some ancient master in disguise or some incredible genius who would make the entire Samhain Clan sorry she’d ever come into their city.

But Myrina’s cheeks were flushed with fury, and with her stats, I had little chance of restraining her. With a sigh, I held on. All I could do was hope to de-escalate the situation.

“You!” Myrina jumped, landing atop a nearby building with me clinging to her back. Then, she shouted with all the imperiousness of an empress. “You bid against me for the Arcane Blade book. I need that book.”

I groaned. At least she hadn’t started by reminding the woman who her family was and how she’d definitely be destroyed if she dared not show the Samhain Clan face or something equally bombastic.

The woman looked fairly plain, but I realized that was remarkable. This was a city of powerful Amazonian warriors, and this woman looked like an average human. She clearly hadn’t placed her stat points into physical attributes.

“It’s my skill book. Get your own, Samhain!” the woman shouted.

“Who do you think you are?” Myrina growled.

Oh crap. This is where it begins. I moved to stand in front of Myrina with my hands up.

“Listen, we don’t want any trouble. Congratulations on winning the auction. I hope you make the most of the Arcane Blade spell.”

I felt a tingle run up my spine and realized I’d just been Examined. I tried to do the same to the woman, only to receive a stabbing pain in my skull.

Your Examine skill has been blocked!

Myrina must have tried the same thing I had because she clutched her head as a sharp pain ran through it.

“Ouch! What’s with that skill? Are you some kind of assassin? How’d you get in the city?”

“A Scholar of Forbidden Knowledge? That’s a spellcaster class, isn’t it?” The woman asked, staring at me as she ignored Myrina’s question. “No wonder that one wanted the Arcane Blade skill book. But letting the Samhain Clan make allies with spellcasters would be very bad for us, so I’m afraid you’ll have to die.”

I glanced at my stomach as a ray of agony tore through my guts. Glancing down, a spike made of shadow jutted out of my stomach.

You’ve been critically injured!

<Note>

Okay, so I lied. There was an Arrogant Young Master. It was Myrina. But it’s not an arrogant young master give-me-face plotline, I swear!

Also, there will be another auction scene later featuring the Mana Bombs once more. Let's just say a few people will be very delighted at the deal they got today.