[Well, looks like the auction is finally ending for us here,] Springerdermain reported back to Zhen Liu. [Do you want us to keep acting as guards for Alicia and her group or do you have another assignment in mind for us.]

'I was originally going to give you guys the rest of the time to do whatever, but that [Entropy Ore] has gotten me intrigued and confused,' Zhen Liu replied. 'Can you guys go and see who was selling it?'

[No problem, ringmaster.]

[Funnily enough, Miss Alicia was thinking the same way as you,] Screamira added before preparing to move. [She's having Zhen Xing and Zhen Tai go and check.]

'Oh really?'

...

"Miss Goldshire. After taking everything that was needed to purchase other materials during this auction, as well as our five percent service fee, I am happy to present you a sum total of four hundred and seventy-four thousand gold pieces. Alongside all the goods you have purchased this fine afternoon."

"Thank you kindly."

A little bit after dropping a small fortune on the [Entropy] ore, purchasing the rest of the materials they needed for Axer's commissions were more or less small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.

[Sun Iron Ingots], [Leopard Ice Jade], and [Cerulean Charcoal Bones] were all relatively cheap in comparison to the [Entropy] ore, but they were all incredibly powerful materials.

This was especially noticeable when they placed next to each other.

In a private backroom in the Cyan Stone Auction house, Alicia, Axer and Harriet were in the process of looking over their newly acquired goods.

~Mon dieu, these items are quite rich in aether. I can only imagine the power that could be unleashed when properly processed,~ Harriet commented in her native tongue as she held up one of the ingots and felt the locked sunlight inside of it. ~I know one too many people back home who would love a weapon made from this stuff.~

Axer,on the other hand, couldn't keep his mouth shut as he asked Alicia what the hell she was thinking in buying the [Entropy Ore].

"Why did you buy this...thing?" Axer asked Alicia as he stared at the [Entropy] ore with a critical eye. "Everything about it is making my skin crawl and I'm not entirely sure why. The damn thing just looks like a lumpy chunk of limestone. Wait, is that it's purpose? To make steel?"

"In your eyes, that may very well be the case," Alicia retorted as she walked up to the [Entropy] ore and picked it up with her hands while coating them in [Chaos].

Once it was in her palms, she could feel the [Chaos] locked inside this strange solid form that oddly reminded her of Nepherage moreso than a stone zako.

"But let's just say that we know someone who knows how to work this thing into a treasure that can surpass anything that's being sold in the Carved Dreams Auctionhouse."

"Whatever you say," Axer shrugged and shook his head at the unnecessary mysteriousness of his friend's tone. "Should we pack up and head back to the forge then, or should we try and meet up with one of the other groups?"

"Most likely the former," Alicia answered after placing the ore back down into its carrying case. "That stated, it would probably be wiser for us to wait for the others to return before we leave, yes?"

"Right..."

...Wait, what?...

[Over here.]

"Got it," Zhen Xing whispered in an affirmative tone.

After the auction had ended, and Alicia was in the process of securing their money and goods, she had tasked her majin, Sprocket, to lead Zhen Xing and Zhen Tai to the room where the seller of the [Entropy Ore] was currently sitting.

Due to the auction house rules, none of the buyers were allowed to know the identity of any seller they had sealed a deal with.

That wasn't the case, once upon a time, but one too many incidents had occurred over the years where a buyer felt like compelled to extort the seller for even more goodies that they may or may not have, either way, the Rainbowden auction houses eventually settled on a policy of complete seller anonymity...except in the case of artisans trying to sell their goods.

All of that stated, this policy did nothing in preventing people from still attempting to identify sellers through their own methods.

Which is why Zhen Xing and Zhen Tai were both cloaked in [Chaos] as they followed and equally invisible Sprocket through the corridors of the Cyan Stone Auction house.

"I can't help but feel like we're cheating using [Chaos] like this since there's literally nothing here that can even detect us," Zhen Tai commented to Zhen Xing as they snuck past a guard carrying a Bronze tier aether spear. "Hell, I'm pretty sure nothing can even touch us even if we do get caught."

"Overconfidence is a killer, take it from someone who was once like that," Zhen Xing replied as they followed Sprocket around a corner. "Besides, if someone with dragon force shows up, or if the seller of that ore has something akin to that, we're kind of fucked."

"Fair enough..."

[We're here.]

The backrooms of the auction house were fairly uniform, with the only mark of difference between being a symbol and a name placed on the front of the door.

This was, in theory, supposed to prevent people from knowing which room was being used by which guest, unless they were given knowledge beforehand.

As an additional security measure, any money given to the auction house for distribution of payment was thoroughly scanned for tracking methods.

All of this, however, was meaningless in the face of [Chaos].

As a being of [Chaos], Sprocket was able to acutely sense the last group of people who were in charge of handling the [Entropy] ore, since [Chaos] had a habit of sticking to people who handle it.

Logos and Pathos explained it had something to do with [Chaos] needing [Order] in order to properly exist, or something like that. Either way, this made it incredibly easy to determine whether or not someone dabbled with [Chaos] since it could set off the senses of anyone who knew what to detect.

Which is why Sprocket, Zhen Xing, and Zhen Tai were certain that they found the right room when they sensed [Chaos] matching the [Entropy] ore leaking out of the door labelled "The Blue Rose Suite."

From the current position outside the room, though, that was the only bit of [Chaos] they could sense.

"Well...that's mildly disappointing," Zhen Xing commented as they snuck up to the door. "I was kind of expecting another rogue kai—"

Click!

"FUCK!"

Before they had a chance to try and sneak a peek into the room, the door to the suite opened up and the sole occupant, the man who provided the [Entropy] ore for auction, had stepped out.

Once they saw the actual seller in person, they were no longer disappointed in not sensing any additional [Chaos] coming out of that room.

They were now all just incredibly confused.

"What…"

"...the…"

[...fuck?]

"..."

For all intents and purposes, the guy who exited the Blue Rose Suite looked normal, but there was something off about, as best as they could describe, his outline.

At a glance, the man who exited the suite looked like a native to Dozing Salamander, as characterized by his tanned skin, dark hair, and eyes that were a deep crimson red.

However, the longer they gazed at the man, the more and more they felt something was off.

To put this feeling into words, they felt as if this man was like a picture that was doodled onto a professional painting at the very last minute and with a style and medium that was completely different from the original. In other words, it felt like they were staring at a charcoal stickman being drawn on an oil-covered canvas.

At least, that's how it felt for a brief few moments.

^Huh. Thought I sensed someone was out here…^ the strangely outlined man mumbled to themselves after looking up and down the hall. After he had made this statement, the strange outline suddenly disappeared, and the man looked as if he belonged to this level of reality once again.

Needless to say, this sudden shift set off alarm bells in not only Zhen Tai, Zhen Xing, and Sprocket, but also the Mysticlassic Kaijin that were watching from above in the eaves of the building.

...An expert opinion...

[Okay, curators, what the hell is this guy?] Springerdermain asked as they watched the merchant return to his seat in the private suite. [Is this another Time cultivation guy? Fate cultivation? Is he another form of Chaos cultivation? Also, who the fuck won the pool this time on our ringmaster meeting more weirdos?]

=Would you believe us that this guy is actually a form of aether cultivation?=

[Bullshit.]

[What kind of aether leads to this?]

=Ink Law cultivation.=

[...huh?]