Temporal Pearls

Ancient Bark Inchor

*****

Aura was pale and behaved like fluid, so this dust seemed like dried Aura smashed to powder.

Her boredom was real and also her fatigue, common folks saw nothing special about her but the Collector and Turtle Caretaker were smiling, and their tension abbeted.

"Fight!"

Like a normal girl, she sprinted as she groaned, Seth's robe open like wings.

The Knight Master opened his eyes. He knew this attack but couldn't describe what he felt. It was like a tremor on the ground, but that tremor quaked his organs and his mind began to fear.

Dust Master groaned more but then shrugged it and her speed increased.

"She shrugged it off!" Knight Master exclaimed. Seth on the other hand saw that the dust around her was the one shaking as she adapted as fast.

"Okay, let there be a fistfight!" He muttered, before she reached him, his attire shifted and became armoured.

Her small fist landed on his chest creating a dull sound as if a hand hit a hard wall.

Seth's hands were free and so he punched forward, he was physically weak but with the armour, his strength could topple a man, so Dust Master was punched away.

'It's not night, I would have gained some Blessing to fight this monster!' Seth recognized the danger he was in.

Dust master sat, she breathed hard and looked at her prey, a smile found its way on her dried parched lips, "Good!" Then she stood.

Just before she moved, her body twisted and changed direction trying to avoid something but it was too late. She was slammed back to the wall again, this time she cried in pain but by the time normal people heard the cry, she was crouching before Seth with an intended punch.

Seth also countered with a punch, his armoured hand with her bandage fist collided, the collision created a minor sound blast and the wind blew around.

But that was only the herald of the fistfight. There was no technique or strategy but only pure strength.

Vela Aspecto was high time active, he saw all the trajectory of her movement and adjusted, also Luana Aspecto made his mind calm to study this strange player.

Five seconds into furious clashes, Seth found his body being pushed back, the dust was a strange force; they seemed to be adapting to his strength and finding a way to overpower him.

He will lose!

But Seth felt happy, even though hiding behind armour, he was fighting a Fist Fight.

"Isn't this amazing!" He wondered but looking at his Exertion Points, he yelped, they were depleting fast.

The tiny staff stationed between them during the clash expanded furiously, she only tilted her body to evade and then switched to a kick.

'Did she use a skill?!' Seth panicked but then he used Pulse… she was supposed to be blasted away but she adjusted her body and punched the force.

Boom!

The very force sent to her returned with a powerful rebound against Seth and he was sent to the wall, she didn't stop but closed in on him so fast and so slick and beautifully. Her gaze turned into a real predator that saw meat and wanted a piece of it.

Reaching Seth she felt a pressure pressing her down, but a crazed smile decorated her gentle small face and shrugged it off.

"Damn, beautiful!" Seth cursed at her beautiful physical prowess before a punch came to his chest, a chill ran down his spine and knew he was done if that landed.

A thin toothpick staff expanded to a pole between them.

Bang!

It's as if a metal slammed at a larger metal. Seth's robe shifted to slam at her but she was on the other side, Seth saw the trajectory and prepared a surprise.

A blast of roar belonging to a feral beast slammed at her.

However, even with point-blank Little Cub roar stored in an oval scale, she wasn't pushed back by much but only stunned.

That wasn't enough, Seth took the staff and rammed it at her, and sent her away. 'I need to send her out outside the dam arena!' Seth planned.

"I see!" She said, her voice was hoarse, tired but somewhat bored. She loosened up her hand and adjusted her bandages.

She sighed before she mumbled, "Galactic Dust Art: Phase One!" Her demeanour changed and the audience became silent.

"She is going to use her martial art!" Collector was surprised too. People become extremely focused, there should be enlightenment in this fight.

Of course, Lord Seth's pride will not allow some cute girl to steal the moment. Hmm, his face was serious, his voice solemn, "Red Canvas Art: Awakening!"

He just invented the shit at that moment and people bought it, they in fact want to see what sort of thing he could do now.

He floated a few inches above the ground and stripes of red appeared on his robe, it became somewhat thin and flapped with no wind.

What all assumed his wand floated beside him.

Boom!

Nearing the speed of sound, her movement caused a sound explosion but the Elevated Staff was no longer hindered, it moved as fast, attacking, but what was different was that it expanded, and shrunk continuously.

Bang!

Bang!

Collision sounds filled the arena!

The veterans focused to see what was even going on while the populace was just seeing blur after blur of the expanding staff and Dust Master.

Seth was in place, floating solemnly in his awakening gesture but silently he was controlling his staff to defend and attack at the same time.

'God damn it, she is a beast!' he snarled in his mind, he was barely keeping up with her speed, if not augmented by his aura and also guided by Vela Aspecto, she would have slipped through.

Amidst the collision, a voice was heard, "Galactic Dust: Phase 2!"

She slipped through using a skill that the set couldn't grasp but Seth had already recorded a word inside his record and it announced.

"Crimson Brush!"

A meter-long brush appeared on his hand, on the strands were fluid like blood, his hand moved fast and he painted something amidst the air.

The young warrior flinched due to that as a giant pillar slammed her onto the floor. Spider cracks spread, a testimony of the attack power.

Seth had made the staff large and also very heavy at that moment.

Whatever Seth painted coalesced and became a drop of crimson liquid on the brush again.

She strived to stand but the staff weighed again, refusing to lift her, the girl groaned and pushed but to no avail.

"Awaken!" She shouted. A pressure descends on the arena, weaker observers fall unconscious, and she escaped.

"Mage! You are dead!" She barked and then a blast of wind echoed and she appeared, ramming her fist into the floating mage!

Cracks appeared on his face!

Yet, everyone wondered, shouldn't he explode in a shower of blood rather than crack like a wall?

"Vermillion Canvas!" A word was heard, the mage was on the other side of the arena and what she just punched was a flat canvas on the arena wall.

The image of him vanished, making her realize she just punched a plastered painting. That didn't deter her though, she moved.

The staff attacked her but was swatted away like a twig and she reached the mage again.

Bang!

Cracks spread on his face again as she hit the wall again. Turning around, she saw him painting in the air again.

"Vermilion Paint!" He added.

She froze at what he painted, her face changing expression, before she resolved herself to attack, what he painted moved to intercept her.

Splash!

It was only red paint, a thick annoying liquid, even the floor was slippery but she reached him, with a punch she hopped to end him but Crimson Glass Shield protected him.

It wasn't red but the way he placed red liquid within made it look red. "Rest my child!" Seth muttered.

She felt a powerful push that yanked her up in the sky, the red thick paint had covered half of her body and now was flying her out.

"No!" Turtle Caretaker shouted as well as Dust Warrior roared, her body burst with power and incinerated the paint before she fell down.

She didn't know if she had passed the boundary or not, so she quickly looked around to confirm, someone shook his head and she was ready to go all out when she heard that devilish calm voice saying,

"Vermillion Prison!"

The Vermillion red liquid wrapped her immediately and began taking her up, a furious roar shook the arena and a blast of energy tore the liquid away and she fell down, her hair was floating, and her hands were burning with strange energy as well as her legs.

Her gaze was so sharp that it made people fall unconscious.

'Grade 4 Human!' Seth surmised. And he was torn between whether to go all out or not, the idea of showing what he got didn't sit well with him but he needed the turtle.

Then she made a move, rather than attack, she was circulating him, so fast that she left behind after images.

She generated a tornado, and the energy she was emitting was so dangerous that Seth found his Exertion Point decreasing.

Her dust power was expanding, encasing the arena and that power seemed to bypass his armour.

Among the after images, one appeared before him, one on his left and right. One comes with a punch. One came with a leg strike, another headbutt and the last Seth didn't care.

By being this close his bones were cracking, and his cape became red and encased him very fast, one of the afterimages remained and kicked him hard.

Within, Seth saw the tremor pass through the cape, his armour quake, his bone breaking instantly.

The female martial artist wasn't done as she appeared beneath the encased defender with an uppercut.

Seth, within the wrap, sensed danger. He quickly shifted up but the air blast from her fist pushed him further up. "Ahhh!"

He screamed in pain, before bringing out a soothing Gourd and drink, but no more attack came. He unfolded and found he was beyond the threshold.

"Challenger Dust Master won!"

There were no cheers as people were looking up at the mage that depended against 11 challengers.

They also knew that the woman was hired to defeat him because the Turtle Caretaker was agitated and shouted "No" when the challenger was about to be thrown out.

"Oh, look like I'm out of the game!" Seth nonchalantly said, "Sorry, Mr turtle!" He landed and began to walk away.

Clap, clap clap, clap!

The whole audience clapped, "Mage Red Canvas, that was a good fight."

"We love your display, mage!"

"Good fight, mage but did you know you fought 11 people!" Someone said.

"Thank you, thank you. It's a good fight, filled with lessons!" He said. As a noble, his class loved basking in attention and praise.

"You see, I'm always wary of Martial Artists, they are damn resilient and I admire them," Seth said.

"Haha, of course, but they are not as cool as Mages, you guys are unpredictable, your battle is always an eye!" Knight Master said he walked to Seth and they had a good handshake.

"She threw you out, that is not a defeat. I wonder if you would have defeated her!"

"The thing is, she stole that strategy from me," Seth said, trying to fake normalcy. "Of course, I may have lost"

Seth managed to slip away after some talks and ran to his room to nurse his body.

∆∆∆

"The noble class is full of shackles!" Seth growled as his body trembled in pain, it had become red due to being cooked, not only that his broken bones were refusing to heal.

All this was due to him stealing a fire and using it. The goddam flame arrow he controlled was considered unbecoming for a respected Noble and ruler of a village to do.

What was worse was that there was no notification but just the effect of it.

Seth endured for the whole goddamn day before everything settled. He was indeed cooked. However, he managed to grasp another problem and that was by messing with dragons, he had invited the wrath of flames.

The very idea of controlling them will cause the burning pain he felt after defeating dragons.

Seth sighed and closed his eyes, he thought about logging out but he didn't want to. He wants to participate in the Auction and also really wants to just Log out when he goes back to Living Roots.

"After leaving here, I will go to Dragon Brutali. Then directly back to Living Roots!" Seth finalized but then added, "I will leave after the Auction."

After resting, he went out to breathe cool air and then inquired about the fixed date of the auction.

He met with Jonathan regarding his blade training but Seth understands that the Garden Of Eden has a bias when giving out training methods.

So, he just decided to give up on that.

The next day was Auction Day. Seth stood before the cashier as he read the rules of the Auction house.

The rule stated that one must place all the money they wanted to spend now. That means one can't borrow or add money when the auction was ongoing. However, at the end of the auction, 90% of the deposit that has not been used will be returned.

Another thing was if one wanted to auction something, then he may input it now but it will be represented at the end of the auction where many similar items will be.

Other rules will be communicated by the Auctioneer.

Seth demanded the list of items expected to be present, he read through them and nodded. He had marked things he might need.

'`There are surprises, not all items were listed!' the cashier said with a smile. Seth nodded and then deposited his whole stash of gold.

He also put 1 vial of certified Stone Turtle Bloodline, then 1 Ovalmoon.

Seth already has a VIP ticket as such he was taken to the VIP room. If one wants to be the sole person inside he must pay one gold but if another person pays 10 gold, your one gold will be returned to you and you must share the room until you pay 20 gold.

Seth didn't care if he shared, he sat and waited. Soon, there were three additional people before the auction started.

'This might be Game but I can't believe I'm participating in Auction!'

Lower Class consider Auction as a waste of money, a place where people just jig around to show how much money they have.

But now, he himself placed 480 thousand gold just to participate and even if he didn't buy anything he would lose 10% of the whole gold.

He sighed, 'Well, I'm wasting money but since I'm looking for something that will help me survive and thrive, maybe it's worth it!'

"Greetings, everyone. We apologize for the delay but it was for a reason. To crack the egg, the final prize has just arrived. Those with enough wealth will not be disappointed." the auctioneer greeted them.

"Without wasting your time, we will begin!"

The auctioneer wore a long white kimono, adorned with cherry flowers, his face resembling a Chinese, an extinct race of humans, and he spoke very slowly as if he was tired but his eyes were sharp.

"We are going to start with something that everyone wants. Something that can be used on Inanimate objects as well as Animated ones. It's a panacea for almost everything…"

"Allow me to introduce Ancient Bark Ichor!" he shouted.

The white fabric covering a small tall table lifted and revealed a small bottle, inside was a drop of a liquid floating.

Seth frowned as he stared at the thing.

'It can repair everything?' he thought, '...even my staff!' and looked at the staff on his hand.

He caressed it, wondering if he should bet on it.

Seth then looked at the auctioneer as he continued to speak, "The starting bid is 100 Gold. Additional 10 Gold can be bid at a time!"

'Is it that cheap?'

But Seth remembered that that a piece of one gold is enormous wealth for an average person. "Ha ha." he laughed, making the people around startled. 'So this is what rich people felt.'

The bids were already tallying in but the rate was just too slow. Seth expected people would rush to get it. 'Maybe it wasn't that rare.'

Something can be valuable but not rare, so people won't be willing to spend a lot on it thinking they will get a better price somewhere.

"570 Gold goes ones"

"570 Gold goes twice. Is there anyone that wants to add something to obtain this precious item? Mind you, it will take another 2 years to obtain it. You will miss a great opportunity now!"

Seth added 10 gold.

"580 Gold from VIP room 6. Anyone want to add."

"600 Gold from VIP room 1…"

Seth has a hundred thousand of gold and he was willing to spend all of it to test if this would aid his staff. He doesn't have 2 years to try his luck and even if he does, his greatest helper was his staff, he needs it now more than ever.

In the end, he got the Ichor at 2980 Gold. He did feel that was more than its value but who cares, it's his now.

"Sir Canvas, would you like to receive the item now and confirm?" An attendant asked him. Seth nodded.

"You are new, right?" a woman sitting beside him asked.

"Yes."

"No wonder!"

That made him confirm he was indeed swindled. 'I hope it worked!'

The item was brought immediately, he collected it and a notification popped out.

[Ancient Bark Ichor]

[The blood of the fallen God basked a Neem Tree with divine presence and the Neem became somewhat divine]

Precious Item: Ichor

Use: Heal and recuperate all kinds of deformity!

______

Seth nodded in satisfaction, since the game system described it, then it meant something.

While the Auction was going on, Seth placed his staff on his thigh and then gently opened the bottle.

"Are you going to use it directly?" the woman asked again, Seth nodded to her without looking at her.