Blood Assimilation

Randy suddenly realized his shameless thoughts and shook his head inwardly to clear away these thoughts.

Moments later, he received emerald-colored crystals about the size of a fist from Sylvana. They reflected the color of her eyes, which were also emerald in color.

"This is... Wood elemental essence crystals. The size aside, their purity is unlike what I used to create my incarnation... No wonder it was defective." Randy mumbled to himself when he examined the seven emerald crystals in his hands.

"Is it enough? Unfortunately, that's all I have. If I could return home—  " She suddenly paused in her sentence.

"Anyway, we are taking on a mission after a while, so we'll leave you guys alone."

Sylvana turned and left with her party members, leaving Randy who was still in a trance as he observed the crystals.

Moments later, Randy snapped out of his daze and hurriedly said: "W-Wait, I can't accept this... Eh, where did she disappear to?"

Zophia shook her head with a bittersweet smile and said: "She already left."

"What?"

"Anyway, you don't have to worry about it. Since she gave it to you, she won't ask for it back." Zophia cleared his doubts.

'But it's amazing that Sylvana would thank someone to such an extent. You must've left a very good impression on her.' She thought to herself.

"Oh, okay."

"Anyway, here's your reward for completing the first request." Zophia handed him a bundle of gold cards, which he quickly put inside his black spatial ring.

"Thank you."

"No problem. But I guess you don't need to visit the auction house, right? Since you just received the elemental essence crystals from Sylvana."

"Even so, this isn't enough. I need the elemental essence crystals for all five main elements." Randy said.

"All five elements?" Zophia raised her eyebrows.

"Yes. Thank you for the information, Zophia. But I guess I'll be visiting the auction house, after all." Randy said to her before leaving.

...

Having spent some time walking through the city and navigating the surrounding area while following the map with the destination marked on it, Randy eventually arrived at the Crescent Moon Auction House, Alpheotus Branch.

Before asking about the elemental essence crystals, Randy made sure he turned in the magical beasts that he hunted during his first request for his reward.

Furthermore, he hunted more magical beasts of higher levels, so his reward money was considerable— 50,000 gold cards in total. This amount may seem a lot, but it actually wasn't that much, considering what he was trying to buy at the auction house. However, he still wanted to pay the auction house a visit just in case.

Randy stood in front of a grandiose but luxurious building that gave off the feeling that it was made for nobility. It was tall and had five stories. One look and one could tell that it was made with expensive items, as the entire building exudes this repellent aura.

'Is that the protective barrier or is the entire building made of our artifact--or is it an artifact?'

Randy couldn't tell because even without using his Dimensional Sense skill, he could feel the overwhelming aura from the building.

However, when he tried to examine it using his Dimensional Sense skill, he received a backless attack in his mind. This feeling was similar to when the black-horned demon cut off his skill but much stronger.

"Damn it... That hurts... I shouldn't try probing everything with this skill anymore." Randy muttered to himself as he approached the entrance of the grand building, but he was immediately stopped by the security guards at the guarding gate to the building.

"Halt!" One guard shouted.

"What is your business here? Do you have an appointment?" One of the guards inquired.

It was at this point that Randy recalled what Zophia told him.

The next moment, he took out his Dungeon Hunter Card and displayed it clearly enough for them to see, shocking them when they saw his credentials.

"B-B-Rank Dungeon Hunter? I apologize for my behavior just now. You may enter." One of the guards said to him afterwards, as they made way for him to enter.

'It seems Dungeon Hunters are highly reputable in this city.' Randy silently thought to himself upon seeing the change in attitude toward him when the guard realized that he was a Dungeon Hunter.

Moments later, Randy entered the grand building and was immediately greeted with a smile.

"Hello. Welcome to Crescent Moon Auction House How may I help you? Are you here to sell or purchase? Or perhaps auction off an item?"

A young lady with a servile cloth unique to their establishment spoke to Randy immediately after entering the grand building.

"I am here to purchase." Randy said.

"What might you be looking to purchase?"

"Elemental essence crystals. Do you have them?"

"Oh." The young lady let out a surprised voice.

Randy asked again: "So does that mean you have them or not?"

"Sorry. We don't have them currently as we sold out, but we will be acquiring some soon." The young lady said.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"There is an auction currently held in our establishment and one of the guests happens to want to trade off elemental essence crystals for some items in our auction this time. If you wish to purchase those elemental essence crystals, you will have to wait until the auction is over. In the meantime, you can choose to watch the auction in one of our rooms. You can also come back later when the auction is adjourned." The young lady said to him.

"I see." Randy nodded and then pondered for a moment before saying: "I would like to watch the auction if you don't mind."

"Certainly. Since you can enter here. It means you have the capital. As such, you should be treated as an esteemed guest of our establishment. Please follow me." The young lady smiled and said to him before leading the way with Randy following closely behind her.

She led him to one of the available viewing rooms in the VIP section of the building.

Moments later, Randy sat down on a couch in this luxuriously decorated room with a table filled with various snacks and tea. However, he was not used to such treatment, so he ignored the tea and snacks and focused on watching the ongoing auction.

At this moment, a new item was revealed after the previous item was sold off.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Our next item for auction is the one and only cure-all potion concocted by a mysterious alchemist with exceptional skills. A drop on your wound would cause it to instantly heal upon contact. Furthermore, missing flesh would regenerate completely without leaving any scars behind."

"And that is not the best part about it— this potion, if someone with missing limbs were to directly drink it, they would recover their missing body parts within a few days of rest."

"Starting bidding price— 10,000 gold. You can increase the bidding price by at least 500 gold"

Auctioneer announced to the audience in spectators' seats, instantly arousing their curiosity and gaining their attention.

"What?! Does such a miraculous potion exist in this world? If it is genuine, I definitely need to get my hands on this priceless treasure!"

One of the guests in the spectators' seat exclaimed with a voice full of disbelief, as such a miraculous potion was unheard of by people that lived most of their lives in Alpheotus City.

The other guests also had similar reactions, which lasted for a few moments before the race to get their hands on the potion started.

"10,500 gold."

"11,000 gold."

"12,000 gold."

…

Meanwhile, Randy watched the translucent bottle filled with a green liquid with a bit of interest. However, while he was interested, he had no intention of bidding on the item on display, as he only came here to purchase elemental essence crystals.

After all, he only came to the auction house with the intention of purchasing elemental essence crystals and not purchasing other items. Moreover, it was not as though he could afford anything being auctioned off right now.

Fortunately for him, although the Auction House did not have any elemental essence crystals presently, there was an ongoing auction in which the seller of the elemental essences would be participating. He planned on checking them out and purchasing directly from them later, hence why he chose to stay rather than come back later.

As time passed by, various weapons, armors, potions and artifacts, and equipment of all kinds were sold one by one. And eventually, they reached the last item of the day.

This was an intricate bow with gems embedded in pretty much every part of its body, making it look more like a decorative bow than an actual body used for hunting. However, if one looked carefully, one could feel an overwhelming aura radiating from the bow.

'What a powerful bow.' Randy commented when he saw this bow that it seemed more like a magical weapon, the more he observed it. He was tempted to use his Dimensional Sense skill to check it out, but he gave up when he remembered his previous experiences.

Before the Auctioneer could introduce that intricate and decorative bow, a feminine voice suddenly echoed melodiously from one of the VIP rooms on the top floor.

"1,000 refined elemental essence crystals for that bow! No need to waste any more of my time!" This voice sounded quite impatient.

When the guests in the spectators' seats heard these casual words, they were instantly shocked and left speechless.

"T-T-This..."

Someone tried to say something but could only stutter, unable to finish what they want to say.

The audience did not expect someone to shell out such a ridiculous amount of money for some decorative bow.

Even Randy, who knew that the bow was extraordinary had his eyes widened with shock when he heard this casual and blatant display of wealth.