The Final Item
"The starting price for this creature shall be $50,000!" Gremi announces as he points to the crowd but is mainly looking at the high-tiered infected as they would surely want such a creature as it had various uses
Now there was no way anyone would stupid enough to sell this creature especially with it being the first of its kind to have appeared thus far and that was true because this first infected animal had a trump card of sorts hidden inside its natural miasma.
Gremi's master had injected some of his miasma into the creature now in the cage to give him complete control over the monster's movements regardless of distance, it would be useful to manipulate such a creature since he could control its miasma within the creature. The reason he did this was to provide a way to monitor one of the high-tiered infected who would buy the creature so that it could gain information about them.
It would be able to learn more about these new high-tier infected and then could find ways to exploit them before running off after causing enough havoc and damage to them while maybe stealing anything of use in the escape.
It was a smart plan since sabotaging future competitors was always something necessary amongst the ranks of the infected and doing this would solve a few problems that had come with the arrival of the creature.
Feeding it was a major drain on their funds since it would go through a truckload of meat every day and not mention the fact that the very first of its kind happened to be a female they could not breed the creature until a male variant of the species appeared either naturally or artificially.
Still, the artificial creation of another one had been unsuccessful thus far as they had been trying to successfully create a male wolf infected with all tests completed with the help of some humans has only resulted in failures.
Still, though infected animals became a hot topic amongst the high-tiered infected as they were taking this as a sign with this creature being found and claimed by Gremi's master so that way none of those who knew would attempt to take the wolf infected.
After some deliberation on what to do though once they all realized the hassle of taking care of the creature, they all decided to come up with the current plan since this would solve a few problems that they had with her.
Still, though their target was the high-tiered infected that showed up in the auction house.
"10 million dollars," Maddox says calmly as he realized the interesting situation with money amongst the infected which means that his mother had been trying to build up funds since it was something that most infected lacked
"Alright now then I think we have heard enough from you!" Gremi says as he snaps his fingers
Nothing happens though... contrary to Gremi's beliefs and what he was trying to do.
Maddox already knew he was pushing the limits of patience of this goblin since he had practically bought everything being sold today which meant that him taking part in this bidding for this newfound infected was probably going to cause him to lash out at him and try to blow him up.
There was no way Maddox was going to just sit there so he left his illusioned body and went invisible while moving a fair distance away from his illusion since he was unsure if Gremi snapping would cause him to blow up accidentally.
He was unsure how it was that Gremi caused people here to explode into fireworks but was trying to figure it out by looking around but had only been able to see only the same miasma as before that he has been breathing in...
'Oh, so that's how he does it?' Maddox thinks seeing how Gremi had been working things out thus far
By letting out miasma into his surroundings he was able to make it enter everyone's body and then since it is his miasma he can control it to do whatever he wants it to since it is still directly connected to himself. Thus that is how he made some people blow up with him giving the illusion of doing something else with his miasma and not realizing that this whole damned room is a trap.
Plus Maddox had already confirmed this beforehand but none of the infected that he had come across were able to see essence or miasma and were only to have vague senses of such things which meant that no one was able to tell that the 'him' they were seeing was just a miasma illusion.
"Oh now please what is it I have done? I am abiding by the runs set forth of this... respectable auction and am fairly bidding with money that I have on my person at this moment. So tell me what exactly it was that I have done wrong?" Maddox asks while his illusion only looks Gremi dead in the eye wanting an explanation
"Erm... There is no way that someone with your standing amongst our ranks can have as much money as you have been claiming to bid with!" Gremi accuses Maddox while pointing at him as if calling him out on something he did
Both Maddox and his illusionary self smirk as they both get up and begin walking towards the stage.
"What are doing?" Gremi asks with a bit of fear coming out in his voice as his most powerful use of miasma was not working
It was almost as if Maddox was not there and no matter how hard he concentrated on manipulating his miasma to enter Maddox's system it was as if nothing was there which was impossible for someone of the middle-tier ranks to be able to do.
'Unless one of those bastards up there is helping him?' Gremi thinks to himself while glancing at the high-tiered infected in the booths overlooking everything going
They were all newly awakened high-tiered infected which was evident since most things shown surprised them and while some of their societal norms and reasoning had been erased in the awakening process some remained which showed to Gremi. However, that stupid thought was dismissed immediately since thinking about it made absolutely no sense to Gremi for a newly awakened to act this way.
"I think it best I prove you wrong right here and now. I will pay for all the items I won today in the auction as well as the additional 10 million for this creature," Maddox says while merging in a sense with his illusion to become whole
At this point, Maddox had already removed all of the miasma that Gremi had let into the air around him with some manipulation of his internal supply.
Still, he had to remain vigilant and had made it so that the illusion of his body was acting as a filter for any of the entrances into Maddox's body of both the conventional and unconventional ways into his body.
Maybe Maddox could recreate this technique as well and be able to kill infected more easily in close combat since, until now, his combat prowess and experience were severely lacking, so anything would be of help.
Practicing that would be another priority he would have once he returned to California and his newly remodeled home in a few more months.
"..." Gremi was unsure of what to do with Maddox's proposal since it would be a nice way to end things here and now but his confidence spoke volumes
He had never seen a species like Maddox meaning that he might have some technique or way to counteract his mana intrusion as he called it, hell he might even be a species that does not even need to breathe.
"If I can't pay for everything then I tell you why I am not exploding," Maddox tries enticing Gremi further to go along with the deal
"Fine... however, if you are can't pay for it then expect to meet a swift end," Gremi says before snapping his fingers once again and the announcing girl walks up with a card reader
Maddox takes out his debit card and after verifying that the amount shown to be paid was what he had bid for, does he swipe his card, and the 'Processing Transaction' appears on the screen.
A few moments that feel like an eternity ensue until a small ding is heard and the words on the screen change to 'Payment Accepted'.
"Wha..." Gremi is in disbelief at seeing those words since he had never imagined that a lower-tiered infected would have such funds on him to utilize
"Now then bring on out the final item of the day," Maddox says as he turns around and walks back to his seat with everyone who remained seeing how he had just spent such an extravagant amount of cash looked at him with different looks on their faces
The middle-tiers who were seated with Maddox before decided to move away from him as if sensing that they could not compete with him in terms of funds but their gazes of greed at seeing his weak figure were evident as they stared at him.
'Looks like I might be to test out that exploding body technique earlier than I thought,' Maddox thinks to himself as he begins to try and copy Gremi's technique by releasing his miasma into the air and entering the middle-tiered infected
There were about twelve other infected here who thought that they might be able to do something in the auction and each of them did not realize that Maddox had introduced something into their bodies.
It was difficult for Maddox to manipulate his miasma in such a way since he had never attempted to control so many pieces of miasma outside his body and navigating it inside the body was something else entirely.
So he just had it move up into their brains and did a small bit of coding into the miasma so that when they heard a specific word of his choosing the miasma would attempt to crush it effectively killing them.
Now he had no idea if it would work though since he had never tried something like this and was unsure if anything he just did would stay attached to their brains or just be absorbed into their bodies.
Still, everyone's attention was moved back to the stage as the giant wolf had just been rolled off the stage and the final item of the night was being brought out for everyone to see.
It was strange, to say the least as it wheeled out with a stone pedestal with a circular object on top that was covered by a cloth.
"Now then everyone this here is the final item of the night," The announcing girl says as she reveals the item be just a blue orb upon the pedestal
"Tonight's item is a mystery item for us as we tried to have this item appraised by various renowned individuals around the world to find out what this item could do but after much trial and tribulation, we were successful in our efforts in determining that this orb holds an amazing power in it. Conversion of essence into mana at ten times the efficiency..." The announcement girl goes quiet as the gravity of her words begins to sink in as she says them
"We will now demonstrate the effects of the item," Gremi says all of a sudden as one of the girls who had been helping with bringing items onto the stage suddenly comes forward and places her hand on the orb and the slight golden color of essence is viewed
That is until it turns into the inky black of miasma and suddenly as if in a trance that was broken the girl registers what was happening and suddenly cries out in pain and desperation at what is happening to her before her body begins to change until all that remains is a newly formed hole lying on the ground in a matter of seconds.
The remaining two girls on the stage have pale white faces at seeing their friend and comrade suddenly turn almost instantaneously into one of these cruel things.
"Now then everyone, we shall begin the bidding again at 20 million dollars!" Gremi cries out
After that, though no one says anything, not even Maddox who just looks at the stage with a bored expression on his face as he knew what it was that Gremi was trying to do and he was not going to play along.
Maddox had shown he had the cash to back up his words and Gremi was trying to grab some from him as easily as he could in this last item by raising the price to something that almost no one here could afford.
"You four, if you help me drain more funds from this guy, I will be sure to compensate you all handsomely," Gremi's voice rings out within the minds of the four new high-tier infected in the booths above
The four look at each other before one raises their sign high to bid for the item.