The Young Master in the Shadows

“Lady Theta!” one young man shouted as he returned to the makeshift survivors’ camp constructed in a safe zone. Despite its relatively small size, it was very crowded.

“What?” the teenage girl who was busy teaching a few youngsters how to use a sword, turned to ask as she gestured to them to try the technique she had just explained.

“I got this drop from a rat on the upper floor…” he said, smiling a bit while scratching his head as he showed her a golden pendant. It looked very fancy.

“Didn’t I teach you to keep your loot to yourself?” she frowned and asked. “Only show them to trusted appraisers or merchants!”

“But, is it ok if it is you right?” he said, pouting a bit. This girl was not falling for his usual rhetoric.

“Not even me… Since you agreed to join this camp, you have to follow the rules!” she argued. “If this place was not managed by me but by some hooligan, you might have died for trying to look cool! This thing looks precious, keep it safe until you can appraise it!”

“Can I keep it with you…”

“No! The rules are the rules! Now go report to Ruby and get some rest!” She dismissed him as she turned to the youngsters and began to fix their fighting stances. Those kids were on a school trip and just happened to be ushered into the square to hear that speech before the explosion happened!

“...” he could only sigh as he watched her disregard him.

“Don’t despair lad…” someone suddenly put his hand on his shoulder and said, startling him, it was the uncle who usually guarded the safe zone’s entrance. “You are not the first one to try to hit on her and fail… At least you approached her amiably enough, some few others, who didn’t know how to keep their hands to themselves, ended up with broken noses!” he said, consoling him.

“...” the young man sighed. “Do you know her origin?” he asked.

“She is not from our city, that's for sure, and I suspect she might not even be from our country…” the old man said. “And the girls around her have a very rusty atmosphere around them… Some of them have this strange accent…”

“They knew each other before coming here?”

“Most likely… Since you were rescued late you might not know when we found ourselves here, it was her and the others who saved us and then guided us to this safe zone, telling us about the truth of the world… They might have something to do with our situation, but I can’t prove it!”

“Oh…” the young man nodded, this uncle was clearly some kind of intelligence officer or security official before coming here. “By the way… Did you happen to meet a veiled girl or a tall handsome young man who looked like a beggar?” the young man asked.

“You already asked everyone about them, right? Are they relatives?” the nice uncle asked back.

“Kinda… They are my cousins!” the young man sighed. “We came together to hear the speech and then were separated!” he added in a sad tone.

“If they are here and manage to survive, they will appear sooner or later… “ the old man sighed. “Never lose hope, lad!”

“Yeah…” the young man nodded, then after thinking for a moment he took out the pendant and gave it to the old man. “You look like a man who knows how to get things done... How about this, keep an eye on them for me, and this is your payment!” he said, handing it to him.

“...” the old man scowled at the young man then took the pendant and put it in his pocket. “Sure!” he replied.

***

At the same time in a very luxurious Auction house in another world full of elves and perverts!

“Aunt Rosette, I have been meaning to ask you about something…” Victor, who finished grabbing a bite, suddenly asked as he returned to his seat.

“What?” Rosette, who was frowning while watching Meril remove the fishbones from Macil’s plate, asked.

“You know that my class is a Merchant, right?” he asked.

“Yes, and?”

“I couldn’t help but notice that the system store in this world is not functional… I could only sell GEMs, there is no System storefront or even players Marketplace…”

“Oh….” Rosette round to face him. “First let me ask you this, how is the situation in our original world?” She was not sure about that.

“The player's market store is mostly empty and only displays some items on rare occasions due to the lack of Merchants, but the system store is fully functional despite it only offering standard pills and talismans…” he responded.

“I see…” she sighed. “Well, I am not sure myself, but I can make a guess…”

“Ok…”

“According to her Lordship, many things about the system have something to do with the world’s rules… Those should be set by someone who has an Emperor rank, but in this world, this doesn’t exist now… ” she pondered. “There might be something like that limiting the store here!” she guessed.

“The system has to follow the world rules?” Victor asked with a frown, this felt strange but on the other hand, he had seen how it was locking Sion’s fate power to A rank.

“I don’t really know, her lordship only told me that the system was not something someone in my level should be concerned about…”

“I see…” Victor frowned. Now that he knew about Concepts and Sparks, he was very intrigued about the system that managed all this. It seemed like there were different levels of control to it.

…

“Ladies and gentlemen…” Welcome back!” the auctioneer who at some moment returned to the stage suddenly announced. This time it was no longer the half elf lady, but a dashing young man in a blue suit. This caused all the men to visibly show their annoyance, contrary to the women in the crowd who began to shoot him flirtatious looks.

This auction house really knew how to agitate its guests!

“We will start with the third collection, Rare Minerals and Materials!” he announced as three trays full of jade boxes were carted to the stage.

Many of the VIPs who were relaxing at this moment finally showed some interest.

“We will start with the first item!” he declared, taking the first box and opening it to reveal a delicate pearl. “This pearl was acquired from the belly of a demon dragon fish, we believe it was the result of it foraging in the northern forbidden lands!” he began to introduce. “Our appraiser has confirmed that it will be very suitable to be used as a medium for soul artifacts… We will start with 5000 Coins!” he said, declaring the start of the real auction!

“6000!”

“7000!”

“7800!”

“8100!”

Victor watched with interest, this thing was really precious, but for him, it was pretty much useless. He already got a ton of materials from the Gorge and between them, he already had a few bigger pearls.

He just was pondering if he should ask if it could Vibrate!

As if feeling something wrong, Rosette shot him a warning glare.

Ooops… This woman had some very keen intuition!

The pearl was quickly sold to some elf lady, allowing the auctioneer to move to the next item that made many squint their eyes as the wooden box opened and the item inside was revealed.

“It is a Dragon bone! We can’t be sure of its origin, but our appraisal had already confirmed that it came from Primordial times, belonging to an adult Four-winged mist dragon.”

“OHHHHH…” The crowd was in an uproar immediately this thing was very rare.

The only one who was not amazed was Macil who turned to look at Victor. This bone was the same one he bought at the auction at border town! “This is….” he asked.

“Yeah, the master made me sell it here…” Victor shrugged.

“...” Rosette who heard him just raised one eyebrow. “Do you have one more?” she asked.

“My master does, he usually uses them to bait demons!” Victor said. “Do you want me to ask for one for you?”

“Some really good weapons can be made out of it…” she said before looking away, hinting to him that he should make such weapons as gifts.

“Indeed, I will tell him the next time he appears!” Victor nodded before turning to the stage, the dragon bone was sold to an old weapon smith for a whooping 450,300 Coins. He had no idea that he was just marked. By more than one person that was.

“Next we have…” the auctioneer smiled as he slowly continued to present the items one by one.

This time Rosette bid, buying more than 3 rare minerals that she needed. All of them had something to do with storms, wind, and rain so Victor was suspecting she was trying really hard to figure out that Concept thing.

He could only sigh as he suddenly felt a tug on his pants. Turning to the side he noticed that Emira who was grabbing hard to him had her eyes pinned on a strange-looking bone that was held by the auctioneer using a glove.

“This item is an old giant’s tailbone, although it is very rotten, our appraiser had confirmed that it can still be used for grinding weapons… he also suggested that it might be useful to research it as a poison source as it seems to have a very bad effect on living organisms… “

Victor squinted looking at it.

GIANT TAILBONE

Rotten 98%

The appraisal only showed its name and state. Nothing more. But on it, he felt a familiar breath, the same one he felt in the death gorge.

Victor did ask Emira about this a while back, but she could only tell him that it was something that she felt she needed like her body was hungry for it. She couldn’t explain it all!

“We will start with 1200 COINs!”

“1300!”

“1400!” Victor quickly bid as he grabbed Emira’s hand, gesturing to her to keep quiet. She nodded as she relaxed a bit.

“1500!”

“1600!”

“1750!”

“...”

After a few more bids Victor managed to secure it for 1880 Coins.

“Don’t let anyone know that you were the one who wanted it, I will give it to you later…” Victor whispered to her, using his disguise to make sure no one heard him.

“Un…” she nodded. “Thank you…” she whispered.

He just ruffled her hair as the next item was bright forward. It was an egg of some kind of monster.

Victor just gave it a quick glance and lost interest as it didn’t vibrate.

Suddenly his eyes caught something from the side. He turned and noticed an old man who walked into the hall from the back door breathing hard as if he had arrived here in a hurry.

He was looking around frantically before asking an assistant about something. Hearing the answer he calmed down a bit and quickly found a seat in the back. It just happened to be right next to Quras. What kind of coincidence was that?

Victor was about to dismiss him, but for some strange reason, he couldn’t. It was as if the man had something wrong. WAIT! Why didn’t he appraise him until now?

Victor gasped. Why the fuck was every cell in his body telling him to ignore this very ‘suspicious’ man? Why were his eyes automatically darting away each time he wanted to inspect him deeper?

“Is there anything wrong?” Aerith, who was by his side, asked.

“Just wondering why is that egg not Vibrating… OUCH!”

Rosette, the only one on the balcony who understood what he meant, naturally smacked his head. “BEHAVE!”

Aerith glared at him for a second wondering why would he want an egg to Vibrate, then thinking about it for a second she decided to turn back and continue observing the auction. She knew better than to ask this pervert! Lyra felt the same and decided to ask her mother later. She was in for a spanking!

Victor just rubbed his head as he acted naturally. He didn’t want to alarm anyone as he slowly forced himself to look at the old man again and appraised him.

; ;

NAME: Romulus G Sola (ZIFR THE GREAT) LEVEL: 987 CLASS: Dark Magician, SSS ABNORMAL STATUS: MOST INCONSPICUOUS, SSS (TALISMAN EFFECT) (70/72 HOURS) DEATH POISONING, S (FAKE) SUN LORD’S MINOR BLESSING, S DEMONIC SEED, X (HIDDEN) WORLD SYSTEM NODE CONNECTION ACCESS PERMISSION (HIDDEN) AUTHORITY: 9+90 HEALTH: 22000 STAMINA: 22000 MANA: 25000 Strength: 2200 Agility: 2200 Intelligence: 2500 Luck: 10 Charm: 10 Order: 121 SKILLS : DARKNESS, SSS DARK SIDE, SSS DISGUISE, SS DEMONIC SENSE, SS BLINDNESS, S APPRAISE, S POISON RESISTANCE, S SOUL EXTRACT, S SOUL DEFENCE, S SOUL SEAR, A DARK SPHERE, A DARKNESS ARROW, A CORPSE BOMB, A DARK VISION, A ARCHERY, A POLE ARTS, A MAGIC RESISTANCE, A MAGIC COMPATIBILITY, A PAIN TOLERANCE, A COLD RESISTANCE, A STUN RESISTANCE, A DARKNESS RESISTANCE, A FIRE RESISTANCE, A SURVIVAL, B TORTURE ARTS, B MARTIAL ARTS, C AWL ARTS, D COOKING ART, D CANNIBAL, E SADIST, F CROSS-DRESSING, F Bloodline : SUN ELF, AA 100% EQUIPMENT: SACRIFICIAL DOLL, X ZIFR’S TELEPORTATION CLOAK, SSS STATUS PROTECTION TALISMAN, SSS ESCAPE TALISMAN, SSS RING OF DOOM, SSS WARNING EARRINGS, SS BLACK SUN STAFF, SS GREAT HIDDEN STORAGE RING, S ROYAL INSIGNIA, S [CURSED CAN NOT BE REMOVED] QUICK BOOTS, A STORAGE RING, B FATE: FATE’S POWER: C DEFINED FATE: SERVE THE SUN LORD UNTIL DEATH, A DESTINY LIST: < 10 ORDER POINTS TO UNVEIL>

“EH…WHAT?!” Victor almost gasped again. Zifr was here!

Shit… He did put in the possibility of the guy appearing, but it was a very small possibility as he expected him to send someone instead! And what was with his status? What the fuck was that System Node Access thing?

No idea… Looking at the guys' Fate things became stranger.

Serve the Sun lord Until death? Whose death? Did this guy work for the SUN LORD? What kind of twisted plot was this?

Not being able to resist, Victor activated the destiny list.

; ;

DESTINY LIST : >> <WORLD SET>: SERVE THE SUN LORD UNTIL DEATH, A >> <SELF SET>: BE A VERY GOOD SERVANT<C> >> <SELF SET>: FOOL THE -STUPID- SUN LORD AGAIN TO KILL THE STORM LORD THEN EAT HIM<S> >> <SELF SET>: DISABLE THIS WORLD’S SYSTEM NODE <S> >> <SELF SET>: RELIGHT THE FADED DEVIL SPARK THEN USE IT TO BECOME A DEMON LORD <S> >> <SELF SET>: BREAK THE SEED HIDDEN IN MY SOUL AND RESTORE MY TRUE DEMONIC BODY <S> >> <SELF SET>: DEVOUR THIS WORLD! <S> >> <SELF SET>: DEVOUR WHAT’S BEYOND THIS WORLD! <S>

EH… EHHhHHHHHHH?

DEMON LORD?

Victor began to really sweat; this plot was far beyond anything he expected.

He knew the spark was important, but did it make demon lords? Like in video games? Wait… The system was already strange, and the Hero class did exist, but come on… Demon lords too?

Thinking about it Victor was in a real shock.

Too troublesome!

He was making guesses before, but it seemed like the Sun Lord was really an idiot, probably being led by the nose by this demon!

SHIT!

His original plan here was to use the chaos Zifr would make to move on to his targets.

The first one was to steal the dramatic hammer from Lazarus. He had a really good idea about how to use it, and he suspected that it might be the fate treasure Lily told him about.

The second was to rob a few things from the auction… Who wouldn’t like more free stuff!

The third was to find a way to cure the Storm lord. If he were to just give her the fake talisman she would not want him nearby when she used it as she was not an idiot and would naturally suspect foul play. That would be troublesome as it wouldn’t really work without him around!

The problem was now that the situation had become 100 times more dangerous, especially with all the treasure Zifr had on him. This guy was like a tank!

And would that Storm lord really dare to appear if she knew Zifr was here?

No… Wait… She didn’t need to know!

What if he were to try the same game he did with Tangerine the Great and frame the guy! Thinking about it, Victor dismissed it. He had no idea if this demon was able to restore his original body quickly. Escalating the situation was a bad idea.

Aerith and Rosette would definitely be pulled into the battle, and he didn’t want to see that as he might have to reveal his true power to save them and that’s a big NO! He should stay in the shadows.

He needed to make things big, but just enough to make that woman make a move…

Yes, the only thing he could really count on at the moment was Zifr’s unwillingness to be discovered! This guy was definitely playing the long game, scheming something that involved the system itself….

Then… The question was how the hell would he be able to pull all that off and achieve all his goals at the same time!

Troublesome… EXTRA troublesome! Many things needed to be tuned like an orchestra playing a symphony, and he needed to play the role of the conductor... a hidden conductor.

How the fuck was he going to do that?

“What’s wrong?” Aerith, who had been keeping tabs on Victor, asked again as she noticed his strange silence.

“Just wondering if it was worth it…” he said absentmindedly.

“What? That Black wind tree bark?” she asked about the thing everyone was betting on. Blushing a bit. “This is useless for you… You already have everything needed!” she whispered as she looked away, the blush reaching her ear. This thing was for men with problems with their little brothers, if Victor were to use it the older of the brothers would be reversed.

“Hehe…” Victor chuckled then paused. He had everything he needed?

RIGHT? There was still that thing!

Looking at Zifr’s status he could slowly formulate a plan, it would be risky but if played correctly nothing bad would happen… It is risky, Butt…

He slowly began to smirk. “OUCH!”

Rosette smacked him. “Stop thinking about dirty things!”

“...” he was shocked. He was really thinking about dirty things. This woman’s intuition was amazing.

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