Chapter 4: Nether Root Auction

POV: Zac

There was an aqua green, floating disembodied head ready to greet us on the other side. It was obviously composed of that spirit soul energy stuff, or whatever Omega called it, but that didn't stop me from being surprised, letting out a slight gasp. I played off the gasp, quickly sucking in more air, and immediately let out a long sigh,

"Long day, let's get this over with," I said, disinterested.

The head looked over at me and very apologetically responded,

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, sir. You are a bit early, and we are behind schedule. We hope you can bear with us for just 30 minutes more." I glared at the head before me, and it seemed to shiver under my gaze. I don't know what Omega did before I arrived here, but she seemed to have set up a relatively solid foundation. I groaned while waving my hand dismissively,

"It's fine; just take me where I need to be."

The Disembodied head nodded and began to float through the narrow hallway. The hallway was much like the central area, with ivory walls with ornate golden flourishes decorating the walls. It really was a little much for my taste. The head stopped, and the wall to its right opened upward.

"Please enter; the auction will begin in 30 minutes."

Omega waited for me to enter and followed behind. The door closed, leaving us in rather tight, dimly lit quarters. It was enough to fit the two of us. The decor was quite cozier—warm Salmon color walls and a Sunset color floor composed of that odd grass carpet. 2 egg chairs were facing a glass wall. Omega quickly took her seat, but I remained standing staring at the glass, seeing nothing but my own reflection.

"What is being Auctioned?"

"Many things. Weapons, items that help with AOS, but most important, Quqe." Omega closed her eyes, leaning back in her seat. My head snapped towards her,

"They auction Quqe?! Isn't that like slavery? Is that not illegal here?" I asked, concerned. This place was so much more advanced than my old world; there was no way they could still be holding onto such barbaric practices, right?

"Slavery is strictly forbidden for natural entities. However, we are not considered natural entities. Just tools." Omega said without flinching. Before I could say anything, Devin would speak up unprompted,

"Quqe are considered to be the epitome of scientific ingenuity and artificial soul studies." I looked down at the crystal that hung around my neck, scoffing at the idea. I didn't really like the notion of Devin, considering me his master, hearing that he and Omega are just regarded as high tech tools was,

"This is so fucked. Your sentient beings. I don't know about Devin, but Omega, you clearly have emotions. Is that why you brought me here, to get me riled up? It's working."

A faint smile appeared on Omega's face, and she shook her head,

"While I appreciate the concern, that is not why I brought you here. I wanted you to see just how much your life is worth in this world."

It dawned on me that these Quqe that they were selling could only be gotten one way. They picked them up off fresh corpses. It meant someone or groups of someones made it their business to hunt down Senohoi's, to sell off their masks. That was the only way to have such a quantity to allow them to sell them off. Another thought crossed my mind,

"How much money do we have?"

"I don't know the exact number; ask Devin," Omega responded without opening her eyes. I looked down at my crystal gem; I suppose Devin was in charge of the finances,

"Ok, Devin, how much money do I have."

“You have 13,402,220,811,836.56 credits.” Devin said nonchalantly. I nodded my head,

"Ok, sounds good… WHAT?!" I felt light-headed from the sound of that vast number. But… but maybe money here worked a bit different, and that wasn’t much at all.

"How much is that relative to the Castle?"

"By my calculations, it would put you among the 50 richest individuals within the Castle," Devin responded once again. He was very relaxed. I rubbed my temples and slowly made it over to my seat. I slumped into my chair. Without looking at her, I asked,

"How?"

"I was waiting for you for a very long time. I do not need food, sleep, or medical aid. I got bored. So I got odd jobs, hunted bounties, opened a savings account, put in 100k credit annually, with 2% compounding interest once every Ruler Month. I changed banks periodically, made some profitable investments here and there, and some bad investments. That went on for about 800-ish years."

I… I don't know what to say. I began to wonder why more people didn't try that, but as she said, she didn't need food, sleep, or medical aid. She came pre-downloaded with an education. She really had nothing to do but wait, but why was she waiting? Weren’t Quqe bound to their partners the moment they came into being? Why did she have to wait 800 or more years?

Moreover, if she was that old, was I rolling with an obsolete model? No, don't think like that, you asshole. She just put you on a Forbes 100 list in a Mystical Science magic utopia, be satisfied.

"While that leaves me with a lot more questions. I'll table them for now. It just means I can do what I want to. Buy up every Quqe they put up for auction."

Omega finally opened her eyes when she heard me. She turned her chair to face me, and with a severe expression, she warned me,

"That is not wise. Handling more than one Quqe at a time is a risk in itself; 3 is the maximum your soul can handle, and even that's pushing it."

"Alright, then just keep the masks tucked away, somewhere; I won't have to bond with them." I retorted back at her.

"That's not the problem. This auction is anonymous, but the Auctioneer still calls out the number of bidders. If you buy up all the Masks, and thus the Quqe that come with them…."

I cursed under my breath, cutting Omega off. I knew what she was getting at, and she was right. Even if this auction provided anonymity, if one asshole bought up everything, the others would naturally look into them. Money could loosen anyone's lips in this kind of business; that was the only reason to still call out numbers. As a way to keep everyone in check.

"Fine…" I relented as I thought about the situation more closely. I folded my arms, sank into my seat. At most, I'd be able to buy two Quqe, even if I came back later to buy up more, that would draw too much attention. The others in attendance may not know, but the one who runs this joint would. If I buy up all the high-end commodities, that could make me an easy target. They could come for me directly to take back all their goods just to resell for more money.

I wasn't strong enough, nor did I have any kind of support to mess with such people, not yet. Besides, I wasn't a hero… what the hell was I thinking? This is still a messed-up situation.

"We'll put a pin in that for now. If I can only get two, then I'll need to get 2 good ones. How can you tell how strong a Quqe is."

"The number of eyes on their masks. No eyes are standard, 1 eye is high quality, 2 eyes are game-changers, 3 eyes are almost unheard of. But every mask will be dormant, so it will be impossible to tell. Auctions like this are all luck-based." Omega said without much emotion in her voice. I could tell that she didn't like talking about other Quqe like this. However, it had to be done for now. I let out a sigh at my own questioning. Hold up…

"What do you mean impossible to tell? I could see your three closed eyes, pretty clearly, before the Cleansing. I mean, yeah, they looked like scratch marks, but-"

"What do you mean scratch marks? While dormant, each mask is seen as a pristinely smooth slab of stone. The only way people even tell it's a Quqe mask is there's no other stone like it in any of the universes." Omega interrupted me. She looked at me with the same eyes I've been looking at since I came to this place. Like she was trying to figure out what the hell I was. I rubbed the back of my neck,

"Well, you say that, but I clearly saw scratches, and then when the Cleansing started, they moved around and then opened. I was in a shit ton of pain, but I remember that much."

Omega didn't say a word; she just stared at me for what felt like forever.

"Well, I don't know how you pulled that off. If that's the case, try to get a mask with 2 eyes if you can. I doubt a 3 will pop up." Omega had a slight smirk on her face as if she still didn't fully believe what I was saying. Well, I guess if no one ever did it before then, I could see her apprehension. We sat there quietly for a while, we still had about 20 minutes before the auction started, and there was still plenty I wanted to understand.

"Hey Omega, why are you Quqe so sought after? From what I can tell, the only thing special about Senohoi is that we get one of you guys for free."

Omega snickered; she no doubts shared my assessment. She had always seemed so proud and strong since I met her; I found it hard to believe she was so willing to have me latched to her. As far as I could tell, Senohoi were just leeches that the Quqe were forced to watch.

"That's complicated to answer. To fully understand, you'd have to understand how this place works and the mentality of those living in it. I'll explain it all in time, but I don't think you'll understand with an explanation given in less than 20 minutes."

"Alright then, just hit the hot points, and fill in the blanks later," I suggested, as I was just getting more curious about what the Quqe provided us that was so special. Omega sighed and opened her eyes as she looked over at me.

"Fine…" She crossed her legs, placing her hands into her lap, and began.

"Some beings are born with natural abilities that lean towards a specific field of study or grant a physical advantage. We call these natural predispositions, Bents. There are physical Bents that come from the body and Spiritual Bents that emanate from the soul. Physical Bents grant people greater strength than normal, greater speed, durability, etc. Spiritual Bents grants a greater understanding of AOS in a certain field."

"So, Gravity and that dark thing you talked about would be my Spiritual Bents?" I asked curiously. Omega nodded her head affirmatively.

"Bents are rare; having more than one is extremely rare. However, their quality also matters. But we'll get to that later. What you need to understand now is the Quqe mask. When Senohoi wears those masks, their Physical abilities are doubled, and they are fed additional Soul-Source through the mask. They also gain access to the Bents of their Quqe if they have them."

I listened intently, and then I just stared blankly at Omega. I still didn't understand everything, but this, I could understand. Bents were rare; Quqe added Bent to their partners when they wore their masks. I blinked slowly, lost in thought,

"So the number of eyes indicates…." I started to piece things together, and Omega finished my statement,

"The number of Bents the Quqe has, correct." I nodded my head as I understood the appeal of getting one's hands on these masks. Even without gaining a Bent from the mask, you double your physical abilities and increase your mana supply, in a sense. This also lets me know that this place was looking for fighters. I don't know what they wanted them for, but that much is obvious. The two of us spent the rest of the waiting period in silence. There was so much I wanted to ask. Most of it was probably essential information children learned as they grew up. Still, there was no point in bombarding her with so many questions.

"I guess you'll teach me all the basic knowledge I need before I start my little adventure, right?"

"Yes, have you figured out what you want to do?" Omega looked over at me curiously.

"Not yet, but I'm getting an idea," I responded. I was starting to feel like I was brought here for something bigger than I initially thought. Omega seemed to feel the same, with all the preparations she had made before I arrived. It was clear she only wanted me to focus on whatever goal I wanted, and she wanted that goal to be something more than material gain. Everything seemed to be coming together smoothly, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about all of this.

"Dear Friends, we will now start the Auction, so sorry for the wait."

The sound of a voice came out of the sides of the chair. A light blue tray of light appeared before me; it was a User Interface where I could place bids. Omega had one in front of her as well but shooed it away.

"Zac, I can operate this for you if you choose; just tell me what you'd like to bid on, and I will handle the rest."

"Ok, go ahead." I quickly responded to Devin. The Interface looked easy enough to use, but I was still new to it; I didn't want to overbid by doing something stupid. I sat back as the crystal began to shine, and aqua green light flooded into the user interface. The light shifted across the glass wall in front of us. A singular person stood on a round platform in the middle of a large circular room.

The person wore a dark blue gothic tailcoat suit with black QBert cube design patterns on the jacket. Those Patterns regularly folded and moved over the surface of the jacket. His skin was orange, with tiny horns protruding from the top of his head. He stood alone in a dark room with just a spotlight on him. With a flourish, he bowed,

"Good evening, I am Kizell Grahmel, and I will be your Auctioneer today. The first item is a finished model of the next-gen Artificial Soul Assistant technology. It's not due to come on the market until next Ruler Year. As our regulars know, we sold the prototype several months ago. This is the finished product based on that model." As he continued to speak, in the glass case presented was a necklace, almost identical to the one I had on. In the same case, a small cylindrical device was underneath it. I assumed that it must be the core of the artificial soul. I looked down at Devin,

"So you're a prototype?" It was evident that Omega had been here before, so she no doubt got Devin at one of these things during one of her trips. I wonder what else she got her hands on.

"I would say that I am perfect. What’s called the finished product will be much more shackled." Devin responded, and I nodded my head, somewhat understanding.

"So, the finished product will have less autonomy. I mean, I guess I understand the safety concerns for the general public. But if you're not worried about that, then having something with more free will would be more beneficial." I thought to myself aloud.

"I am no danger to you, Zac, I assure you," Devin responded; he almost sounded hurt.

"Aww, man, I'm not worried. I'm just speaking in general terms, dude; it's cool."

"Good, good. That makes me happy? Yes, happy." Devin responded.

This item really didn't interest me much. I already had an Artificial Soul buddy, and he seemed pretty chill. Plus, this all still felt a little dirty.

"Omega, is this legal?"

"Not even remotely. But the authorities won't bother shutting it down, so we might as well take advantage of it." She responded with no sounds of concern in her voice. I could only sigh,

"Of course they wouldn't." I remained silent as the bidding progressed for the Artificial Soul. Light blue numbers flashed across the room around Kizell's head as he shouted out the highest bids. Finally,

"Our winner is room 13 with a final bid of 800,000 credits." I rolled my eyes a bit at the thought of spending that much money just to have something a year earlier than everyone else. It would be more of a status symbol than anything. At least Devin is unique.

"The next item on the docket is this beautiful…." I zoned out for a bit as none of this interested me. Mostly because I had no idea what most of it was or what kind of actual value they held. If Devin and Omega didn't have anything to say about it, then it must not have been too significant. I quietly waited for the main event, but something else would catch my attention.

"Next up are a few items that came at great cost. Several of our best explorers died retrieving these in the Floor of Naught. The first item is this antique bracelet. It dates back almost 2000 years." As he spoke, a spherical transparent black glass case was presented to him and a pitch-black bracelet floating in the sphere's center. I couldn't get a good look at it as black energy flowed off it, clouding the glass container.

"We warn our guests; this item is hazardous. The energy you see before you is the same energy that permeates most of the Floor of Naught. If not for this Void Glass, I doubt we could contain it. We do not know its value, nor do we know its use. Perhaps one of you here will find a use for it. Are there any opening bids?"

Kizell waited for a bid to be announced, and I looked over at Omega,

"Do you know what that is?"

"No, 2000 years is well beyond my time, and there's not much information on the Floor of Naught, and I've never explored it myself. But, that dark energy, it's similar to yours." My eyes flashed over towards the case as I stared at the bracelet.

"Devin, buy it," I responded; by this point, other bidders had already driven up the price to about 500k. Even though they had no idea what it was, it still had some value from its age alone. I didn't have to do much after that point, as Devin handled the bidding. I just stared into the glass sphere. I was drawn in by the darkness that oozes off that bracelet. I felt I needed it. Omega didn't understand this other force in my body; maybe by studying that bracelet, I would understand.

"Sold to room 25 for 20,000,000 credits!" I snapped back to reality when I heard the announcement. Before I could ask, Devin informed me.

"We have won the Auction, Zac. Would you like to receive the item now?"

"Yes, no need to wait." I smiled as Devin relayed my intentions. Kizell held his finger up to his ear and nodded. Extending his hand that held the spherical glass case, it was surrounded by a light-blue aura and then vanished. The same light appeared on the glass wall in front of us. The glass case floated through the light and appeared in the room. Omega made a motion with her finger, and the case floated over towards me. I palmed the sphere that was about the size of a cantaloupe but light as a feather. Now I could get a good look at the bracelet inside.

It wasn't anything remarkable. It looked like a Lucky Knot Rope Bracelet; what's more, it seemed to be homemade. The energy that was coming off of it could eat through almost anything. Somehow the bracelet was still intact. It didn't look to be made out of anything special, just fibrous material. As I stared into the case, Kizell's voice echoed,

"To our winner, all rights to the case and its contents have been handed over to you. But please do not open it on the premises. Alright, onto the next item."

That was understandable; the bracelet contained it inside this weird glass that seemed to hold back the energy; if I opened it here, there's no telling what could happen. The auction continued with more items from the Floor of Naught; none of it caught my attention, not like the bracelet. There were just odd bobbles and weird statutes, all of them very old.

"My friends, this will be the last item from our Floor of Naught collection today. What a tremendous find it was." A book was brought up to Kizell; he removed a pair of black gloves from his pockets and put them on before grabbing the book. He placed it on his palms and gingerly spun around to show the book to the onlookers.

"From what we can decipher, this is the lost diary of the Fallen Maiden."

Omega's eyes widened in shock as she stood up. She stared unblinking at the book in Kizell's hands. From her reaction, even if I couldn't see the other bidders, I'm sure at least a few had the same response. She finally looked over at me and then said,

"It doesn't matter how much you have to spend. Get that book."

"What about buying Qu-."

"That doesn't matter!! Get that book!" Omega cut me off. At that moment, she became something else, someone else. Her normally detached self was filled with emotion, with rage.

I knew I had more money at my disposal than I knew what to do with. Still, from the way, Omega responded, I was sure that it would cost some obscene amount of money. However, with her being so adamant, how could I refuse her? Especially since she was the one to accumulate all this wealth. Kizell had paused, maybe to let everyone there catch their breath.

"You all know the story of the fallen maiden, yes? The rightful heir to this Castle, power beyond comprehension, wise, and just. But she was seduced and corrupted by her would-be consort. Driven to madness by her own power, her brother and kin were forced to kill her and her lover. The cataclysm formed from that confrontation formed the Floor of Naught into what it is now. This happened over 1500 years ago. Her name and image were stricken from all historical records, but we were able to confirm this to be her journal."

Kizell finished his sales pitch, and after hearing it, I wouldn't have needed Omega to ask. I would have tried to get myself. If that was the story they told the public, it would be invaluable to get the story from this Fallen Maiden's point of view. The winners write history; obviously, they'd say anything to put themselves in a better light.

"Please note, even back then, handwritten Journals were a rarity, be sure to take care of such an old book. Also, the journal is written in the language of the Rulers. Finding accurate translators outside of the Ruling families will be difficult. The book also permeates weak corrosive energy; it would be best to handle with AOS enriched gloves. With all that said, Let's start the bidding at 1,000,000 credits!" Kizell finished off with the broadest grin on his face.

"Devin, win that book. As long as it doesn't completely bankrupt us, keep bidding, ok?" I asked Devin, who quickly responded affirmatively. All I can do now is sit and wait, and it was a long wait. It seemed I was not the only bidder content to invest large sums of money in obtaining this book. Though no one was willing to increase the bidding total by more than 1,000,000 at a time. 5 minutes had passed,

"The highest bid is now 510,000,000. Do I have a higher offer?"

My eyes widened at the amount people were willing to throw at this thing. And this wasn't even the main attraction; the Quqe masks were.

"The person who runs this must be stupid loaded." I blurted out.

"On the contrary. I doubt the owner of this place has more money than you. This is just one of many Auction houses run by Black Market, and they are #4 on the wealthiest corporations list." Devin responded. So this was part of a larger corporation. One that openly engaged in illegal trades, yet no authority wants to touch them.

"Sold to Room 25, for 1.4 trillion Credits!" When I heard that, my heart sank a little bit. That was… so much money, and I just threw it away for a book. I sighed as Devin had the diary sent straight to the room the same as before.

"Cheaper than I thought it would be. Maybe the bidders are trying to save their money for the Masks." Omega said with a curious expression on her face. I held the trillion credit book in my hand and opened up its pages carefully. The book was oddly warm to the touch, and I expected to read the contents since I was able to understand every language I heard since I entered here. There was no way everyone was speaking English. Unfortunately, I couldn't make heads or tails of what was in this thing. I tossed it over to Omega and asked,

"Can you read… ah, Ruler?"

"Actually, no. It's the one language of the Castle I can not speak." Omega responded while staring at my hands, and I looked down at my own hands before looking back at her.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, we're just going to need to get gloves for you… if only to not draw attention to yourself." Omega said as she handed the book back over to me. I reached out to grab it and saw that Omega was wearing gloves. I looked down at my bare hands once again and remembered what Kizell had said.

"Right… yeah, maybe that would help. Oh, two things. If you can't read Ruler, why did you want this book so badly, and 2, where am I supposed to carry all this?" Omega looked at me, rolling her eyes.

"Devin, Help him out, please."

"Oh yes, of course, I assumed Zach wanted to play with his new items. Allow me to create storage space." Devin went silent for a few moments.

"Complete; when you are ready, just let me know."

"Yeah, store these things for me, please." I requested, and immediately after the words left my mouth, the sphere and the book floated into the air and then disappeared in a light-blue light. I raised an eyebrow. That's convenient. Was that more science or magic-based? I guess it was one of the many things I'd eventually learn in this strange place. Before I could thank Devin, Kizell announced with gusto,

"My dear friends!!! This is the moment you've all been waiting for! Let's begin the Quqe Auction!!!"

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