Oreto respectfully stood in front of Nova, who was slouching on the sofa. His eyes did their best to avoid making eye contact, as if he were afraid to do so.
Having lived in this town assigned to Earth for slightly more than a month, he had obviously learned more and more about the civilization that was hosting him.
At first, he wasn’t very hopeful about Grenara’s living conditions after moving here. After all, they were relocating to another civilization’s town. Even if there weren’t a thousand residents, there should at least have been several hundred, no?
But he was wrong.
Forget hundreds, the town didn’t even have ten people living in it.
This discovery greatly shocked Oreto. Never could he have imagined a civilization gutsy enough to enter the hardest portal with only four people. On top of that, his own civilization had lost to them as well.
It was a huge blow to his mental state and left a deep mark on him.
That was only one of the many things that both shocked and astonished him. As a result, he now treated the four with deep respect.
Standing there, his thoughts churned through different possible scenarios explaining why he had been summoned.
What does he want from me now? Think, Oreto, think. He left us in peace for a month, which was far more than I expected. I imagine he’s now ready to order us around. But the problem is, what are we going to do? I can only hope it’s not something too… ugly.
“Relax.” Nova looked at Oreto and could tell at a glance how he was feeling. “I’ve called you here because I need more information about the auction and the auction house. Since you’ve been in this portal for a while, tell me everything you know about it.”
Of course it’s for the auction, how did I not guess that?
Oreto’s shoulders dropped as he suddenly felt ten times lighter. His fidgety eyes finally met Nova’s, and after taking a deep breath, he began.
“Sir, the auction hosted by the system is held every three years and lasts for three days. Before it starts, anyone can head to the venue to see whether the items they want to sell are eligible for auction, along with their starting prices.”
“Eligible for auction?” Nova echoed. “Explain.”
Oreto nodded. “The auction doesn’t include only items. It includes information and knowledge too.”
His tone dropped slightly, becoming as quiet as a whisper. “Civilizations often sell details about other civilizations, details that include their warriors, their strength, and what they’ve comprehended. But the most expensive information, and also the most sought after, is the location of their town.”
‘Selling intel about civilizations… I should’ve expected it when the system said you can sell anything,’ Nova thought before saying, “Following right after the auction house, there must be war. Am I right?”
“War doesn’t start after the auction house.” Surprisingly, Oreto solemnly shook his head. “War starts when the auction house is announced.”
Nova arched an eyebrow in surprise.
Slowly, Oreto said, “Before going over that, you must first know that there’s a distinction between the items auctioned. There are items auctioned by us, the warriors, and items auctioned by the system. The things auctioned by warriors are rarely extremely rare, most of the time, they are rare items you can find only through pure luck, but they aren’t impossible to obtain.”
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“On the other hand, the system auctions items that are so rare that none of the civilizations here will ever be able to find them in their own home worlds. These items are so impossibly hard to obtain elsewhere that even already evolved worlds would kill for some of them.”
‘This must also be one of the reasons why those geniuses from higher civilizations come here. Then Erevan…’ Nova thought, but he shook his head. ‘No. If he knew about this, he would’ve told us, there was no point in hiding it as we would’ve found out anyway. The fact that he didn’t just shows he had no idea about any of this.’
Unaware of his thoughts, Oreto didn’t stop his explanation. “One can already imagine how much an item like that costs, but even then, you would still fall short.”
He chuckled bitterly as his eyes glazed over, thinking of his first time attending the auction. “Tens of billions, some in the hundreds of billions, and the rarest ones, trillions. Those are the prices of the items auctioned by the system.”
Hearing that, Nova couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath. “Trillions of Gold coins? Is there even anyone who can buy them?”
Just the thought of possessing tens of billions of Gold coins stunned him, let alone trillions. For a second, he daydreamed about having that kind of wealth, imagining the myriad possibilities of how he could spend it and the kinds of improvements he could achieve in such a short amount of time.
He was about to lose himself in his thoughts when Oreto’s voice rang out once more.
“I couldn’t believe it either, but I saw with my own eyes several warriors who could afford them. At first, I didn’t understand how they had managed to accumulate that many Gold coins, but then it dawned on me.”
“As I said, war doesn’t start after the auction, it starts when the auction is announced.” He sighed. “The only way to gather such a massive amount of Gold coins quickly is to challenge the stronger civilizations on the leaderboard.”
Nova leaned his head back against the sofa. His eyes stared at the ceiling as he muttered, “Then war has already started.”
His words reverberated through the room, and neither of them spoke again, each lost in their own thoughts.
Then Nova broke the silence. “Aren’t they afraid of making too many enemies?”
Oreto nodded once again. “Making enemies here comes with rewards, but also great risks. You can loot your enemies as much as you want, but at the same time, all the information they have on you will, without a sliver of a doubt, be put on sale, so they can make their money back and you can be eliminated.”
“It’s a win-win situation for any civilization that has managed to uncover critical intel about their enemies.”
Nova hummed in acknowledgment. ‘Enemies? We already have two… but they have no way of knowing where our town is, unless…’
His eyes sharpened as he looked at Oreto.
Was it him? It’s the same feeling I had earlier, Oreto thought, feeling like a normal human standing before a giant.
The sensation didn’t last long. After Nova blinked, it vanished like the wind.
“Continue,” he said firmly.
Gulp.
Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Oreto went on to explain all the other aspects of the auction house, but Nova’s mind was elsewhere entirely.
‘Before, it wasn’t easy to see, but now… it’s all too clear. The way the system wants to create the strongest is evident in how this portal is set up. Only civilizations undergoing evolution can enter. This auction house is tailor made for the strongest to become even stronger, and the weakest to become even weaker.’
As he thought about that, something seemed to click in his mind, though it was vague.
‘Is this portal a miniature version of how things work outside?’
He didn’t have enough information about the universe to be certain, but he felt he wasn’t too far off the mark.
‘It’s useless thinking about it, those matters are too far beyond me. I’m here now, and I should focus on getting enough Gold coins for the auction. Even if I can’t buy anything from the system, I want enough money in case there’s something else worth buying.’
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Nova noticed Oreto standing quietly, watching him as if waiting for something.
“Is that all?” Nova asked.
He wants to know even more? There’s nothing else to know! I’ve told him everything, even the number of seats in the venue! Oreto screamed in his mind, but outwardly, he tentatively nodded.
“Alright, you can go,” Nova said, waving his hand, already turning his head away.
Oreto beamed at those words and, after quickly thanking him, left, happily heading back to his apartment.
Sitting quietly on the sofa, Nova thought, ‘I need to speak to Erevan and Jack. We need to change the rules a bit, at least until the auction.’
Without thinking twice, he took out his communication device.
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