Odyssey of the Blind God

"15 million contribution points for the last [Asura's Wrath] runic weapon… Sold!" The auctioneer's voice resounded through the entire Colosseum before a confident smile appeared on his face.

'Perfect!' He could only feel elated at the thought of the fortune they had raked in the first part of the Alliance Auction. All the goods that were auctioned went through the hands of the Auctioneer, his staff, and the Devons, who would receive a total of 5% of the gains they made altogether.

Through the sudden and unexpected arrival of hundreds of [Heaven's Protector], [One Strike to Hell], and [Asura's Wrath] they made far more money than through any other auctioned item so far and the Alliance Auction had just started!

Before the Auction would end quite some time had to pass, and the Auctioneer was quite certain that he could get his hands on a big bonus for today's performance.

That thought was enough to let a bright smile blossom on his face as he was hoping to accumulate a big enough fortune to purchase the resources and unique treasures he had been saving up for.

"Sir…we have a big problem!" The voice of a female staff reached the Auctioneer's ear when he was about to announce the second part of the Alliance Auction.

He turned around to the staff in a slow manner while pointing at the earpieces he wore to be up to date whenever something happened.

His gesture told the female staff member to continue speaking but she was more focused on all the participants of the Alliance Auction.

'What is going on here?' The Auctioneer thought when he looked at the rows of empty seats that entered his sight.

"Where is everyone?" He asked quietly and in an obviously confused voice. It was possible to add a small break in between the different parts which the Alliance Auction had been divided into but the Auctioneer was pretty sure that it wouldn't be needed.

Something was wrong and the Auctioneer wanted to figure out what exactly was going on.

"S-Sir…everyone is leaving to buy more of the runic armaments we've just sold. More than ten merchants with a huge stockpile for the big three brands have appeared in their shops and the news has already spread through the entire Colosseum. Everyone left to buy as many of the big three runic armaments as they can…and we've received lots of harsh comments and blame from people who said that we exploited them…" The female staff member was trying to explain the current situation but words seemed to fail her. The poor girl was trying very hard to not start shivering and face a mental breakdown.

At first, it was pretty hard to understand what the female staff member was trying to say, but the Auctioneer's mind cleared up when he understood the situation.

'The Grandmaster Runicier used us…is that how it is?' He wondered, trying to put the pieces together. It was easy to tell that one would be able to gain popularity at events similar to the Alliance Auction. Still, the Auctioneer hadn't expected the anonymous Grandmaster Runicier to be shameless enough to exploit the Alliance Auction's connection and the cluster of Peak Elite Originals to keep increasing his reputation and wealth.

'But why didn't he sell the runic armaments at the Alliance Auction if he had more of them? We would have been able to support him in acquiring a bigger fortune…' The Auctioneer was not sure what kind of plan the anonymous Grandmaster Runicier had but one thing was clear; the Grandmaster Runicier didn't care that his actions were responsible for tarnishing the reputation of the Devons' representatives within Alliance City.

The representatives were responsible for the Alliance Auction and every mistake would inevitably leave a mark on the once-perfect reputation the Devons had so painstakingly nurtured.

'Should I continue, or add a short break before everyone returns? We won't be able to make as big profits selling the Ability crystals now that everyone is trying to get their hands on the runic armaments sold outside the Colosseum…' The Auctioneer thought. He was slowly getting a headache, and things got only worse when he received multiple notifications from the private lounges.

His eyebrows creased at the sight of the notifications and he sighed deeply to regulate the mess of emotions that began to riot in his head.

Hence he lightly cleared his throat in front of the microphone and garnered the attention of everyone, who had remained in the Colosseum.

This included Nial, who was smiling devilishly at the visualization of the small coin badge that had manifested a big holographic screen in front of him.

The coin badge was an anonymous bank account where all the contribution points accumulated from the merchants and the sold goods from the Alliance Auctions were added. By visualizing the huge number that kept increasing the more time passed, Nial realized that his chances to acquire the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal were getting higher and higher.

He knew that he would have gotten a little bit more contribution points if he had sold all runic armaments at the Alliance Auction despite the decreasing numbers of participants.

It was obvious that not everyone was interested in ability crystals but that was not Nial's primary focus. He wanted to make sure that the focus of the others, including those who desired to purchase the Swirl of Chaos in the next few hours, would be distracted for the time being and that they would pay a high price to get as many runic armaments from Nial's limited batch of armaments as possible.

His plan seemed to work out well which was quite obvious when the Auctioneer started to speak.

"Now that we finished the first round of the Alliance Auction, it is about time to reveal the item everyone has been waiting for!" The Auctioneer announced, and not long after, the stage in the center of the Colosseum started to change.

Several glass cabinets emerged from under the stage and the whispered murmurs of thousands of renowned Originals rang through the surrounding area.

"So that's the Swirl of Chaos?" One of the human Originals near Nial's private lounge asked with gleaming eyes.

His voice was cracking but nobody dared to laugh. They were just as baffled as the human Original and unable to say a thing.

''That doesn't look like an ability crystal…'' Nial mumbled when visualizing the Swirl of Chaos.

The Swirl of Chaos was actually not a crystal. It was a silver colored swirl of liquid. Nial could easily visualize it because the power of the Swirl of Chaos was extremely dense and pure.

He could even visualize the color of the Swirl, which made things more complicated for Nial because his greed was slowly overtaking his rational mind.

The ability crystal was extremely powerful according to the density of the silver energy that was likely to be Chaos, and his Mana core reacted violently with it.

Nial's hearts were throbbing, his hair stood up on its end and it was only a matter of time before his entire being began to react to the Swirl of Chaos.

"That's definitely a linked ability for me…my compatibility with it should be the best amongst all the abilities I've bound…" Nial spoke in excitement, and the little Oracle began to bounce up and down.

"You have to get that! It's the perfect choice for you… hehe" She said while trying to be cute, but Nial could only sigh deeply.

It was obvious that it was very good for the Swirl of Chaos to suit him, but that was exactly what made things more complicated.

If the Swirl of Chaos wouldn't suit him, he could use his vast fortune for something else and search for another suitable ability to bind.

However, now that he knew the Swirl of Chaos and his perfect suitability, it was quite obvious what he had to do!

"I know, I know…I will get it…somehow," Nial mumbled before he started to ruffle through the little Oracle's hair.

She let out a squeal and her arms shot in the air while Ryu chirped out, trying to tell Nial that he wanted to get patted as well.

"I won't forget the two of you. Let's just give our best!" He added with a faint smile on his lips as he began to visualize the other ability crystals that were displayed on the stage.

'Let's see how many contributions points the Devon races and everyone else have collected in the last few months!'