Aurora Order

The sight beyond the door was nothing unusual for Ethan, after all, Charles had come to this place many times in the past, even if by different entrances.

But even then, he was still mildly speechless to the grandeur of this place.

Behind the door, there were rows of black marble pillars, each leading to a certain corridor or door.

There were inverted crosses on the walls, a big, crimson red carpet that covered all of the surroundings, statues of many hooded figures adorning the walls, and the dark-red lights that hung above gave a gloomy aura to the whole place.

This was one of the biggest markets in the entire North Continent, belonging to the Aurora Order.

The building from before didn't really house this enormous place in its underground. No, it just served the purpose of keeping the 'door', the entrance, to this dark palace.

The actual mechanisms used to achieve such a feat? Only the Aurora Order itself would know.

Ethan kept his pace constant, his mouth shut, and his back straight. He kept looking forward, never even giving a single glance to the statues that leaned upon the walls.

Coming to an intersection, Ethan chose the path on the right, and started walking.

After a few minutes, his eyes finally had a hint of relief on them. He was now standing in front of a big iron door.

Producing one of his black handkerchiefs, he covered his facial features, put on his gloves, and brought his top hat even lower on his head.

Now, with his bodily characteristics mostly covered, he put his hands on the door and gave it a push.

*Creak

A simple push was enough for the big doors to open easily, the sights that hid behind them now revealed.

The place was a big hall, with various chairs and stands sparsely put, its decorations following the same as the hallways from before.

There were many different figures coming and going, some of them had intricate robes, others metal masks, some were dressed similarly to Ethan, and some had no concealment at all.

Ethan entered the hall, with the door closing by itself behind him, and proceeded to one of the stalls.

When he got in front of a counter below a black tent with some figures inside, he looked at one of the vendors.

"Excuse me, gentleman. I would like to buy a mystical container." Using all of his ability to try and change or conceal his voice, Ethan asked the hooded vendor in front of him.

"What size?" The vendor's tone was cold and uncaring, his voice a mixture of a man and a woman, producing an androgynous sound.

"The size of a suitcase, if you can let it look like one too, I would be fairly satisfied."

"Uhh." The man nodded with rigid movements, and picked one metal plate by his side.

"If you so wish, I may turn the suitcase you're already carrying into a sealed container. However, as the effect will fade with time, you'll have to turn it back in one year."

"Well… Very well then." Ethan gave him the suitcase and awaited for the result.

He was a bit hesitant because the suitcase had a Beyonder characteristic inside of it, however, even if the vendor were to see it, he might not know what it was.

And even if he did, this place was under the jurisdiction of the Aurora Order, Ethan doubted a mere vendor would dare go against the rules set by the organization that owned the place.

After picking the suitcase, the vendor didn't look inside, he just put the metal plate above it and said the word, "Seal".

When such a word was uttered by the vendor, the metal plate on top of the suitcase directly melted, giving it a metallic sheen.

The vendor picked the suitcase once again and returned it to Ethan, he then went on to say, "60 pounds total."

Such price was a bit beyond what a sealed container would amount to, but as Ethan wanted to avoid any conflicts with the man, he refrained from haggling.

Giving the man his 60 pounds, he took his now sealed suitcase and left the tent. Going in the direction of another tent, Ethan intended to try and find the ingredients of the next Sequence's potion.

'Since I expelled the Beyonder characteristic, can I still take the next Sequence potion?' This was a question to be considered, after all, having no Beyonder characteristic to balance the effects of the next potion, how was he to take it?

'If Gluttony lets me absorb everything about a Beyonder characteristic, maybe another power inside me could protect me from the potion's corruption?'

Ethan didn't yet understand why he could do such miraculous things, but thinking about how he wasn't much affected by the Beyonder characteristic he directly ate before, he should have a certain level of resistance towards the corruption.

Reaching another tent, Ethan found himself in front of a bunch of glass jars with multiple different ingredients on it, looking like the storeroom of an alchemist.

A masked figure was standing by the side, seated upon a rocking chair. Noticing Ethan's arrival, the masked person looked at him and said, "Good Afternoon, my friend! What is it that you're looking for here?"

The person had the voice of an underage youth going through puberty, but his height was very disproportionate to such age, standing at 6 feet and 3 inches tall.

"Good afternoon. I'd like to buy some ingredients." Ethan, keeping his voice low and raspy, responded in an aloof manner.

"But of course! What are you looking for? Or would you like to take a tour through the place?" The possibly youthful giant asked once again, his enthusiasm contrasting immensely with the mood of the hall.

"I'll look around." Thinking about some of the ingredients of the many potion formulas he possessed, Ethan decided to first take a look through the place.

With the masked youth accompanying him, Ethan looked through most of the ingredients in the tent.

He bought a few of them, accumulating the supplementary ingredients for the Assassin and Marauder potions, but found none of the main ingredients of these potions.

Sequence 9, Marauder:

Main ingredients:

90g of Swiftroot Extract

35g of Daggerleaf Herb

12g of Flexfinger Flower

Supplementary ingredients:

100 milliliters of Swiftroot juices

13 drops of sunny vanilla liquids

7 silver mint leaves

3 drops of rainbow colored hemlock

9 drops of hound herb liquids

Sequence 9, Assassin:

Main ingredients:

270g of Nightshade Extract

50g of Eaglewood Bark

Supplementary ingredients:

100 milliliters of rosé wine

18g of night grass

7 drops of burnt bark sap

9g of feather grass essence

All in all, the costs of these ingredients came to be 75 pounds total.

However, just as Ethan was about to leave the tent, he saw a sign that caught his attention.

"Alchemist's Hut Sister Store"

Seeing this sign, Ethan decided to ask the masked youth, "What does that sign mean? Are there more of these stores in other places?"

"It's exactly as you think, sir! There are many sister stores that represent our Alchemist's Hut. This is just one of them!" The youth's voice became even more enthusiastic, it was like he had great pride for the stores from the Alchemist's Hut.

"I see."

"If you wish, sir, I can try to find any items you want in the other stores, you just need to post a notice!" Seeing the youth becoming more and more enthusiastic, Ethan was at a loss for words, he even considered if the person in front of him was some kind of mental patient.

"Very well, I'll write the things I want to buy and give it to you. You got any pen and paper?" After the youth gave Ethan a quill and a piece of parchment, he used it to write the ingredients of all the potion formulas that he knew, with the exception of Sequence 7, all in mixed orders and different quantities.

"Here." Giving the quill and parchment back to the youth, Ethan decided to ask, "Does your organization host any gatherings?"

The youth, who was surprised by the amount of ingredients Ehan wrote on the parchment, looked at him and responded, "Yes we do, once every Thursday night, we'll receive the participants four streets right of the Backlund Bridge."

With the youth so honestly telling him the secrets of the place his organization prepared their gathering, Ethan became speechless for a few seconds.

Noticing his silence, the youth chuckled and clarified, "I have a good eye for people, the moment I lay my eyes on them, I can immediately tell their ideals."

"The reason you asked is so that you can have a place where to buy these ingredients in case I can't find them, am I correct?" The youth's tone became one of mild amusement as he asked Ethan.

"Well, aren't you very intelligent? Yes, you're correct." Ethan was a bit surprised to be read so easily by the masked youth.

"Don't worry about me not finding these ingredients, they are just used to concoct Sequence 9 potions, the only problem is that the amounts are incorrect." He paused for a moment and continued.

"However, as I know you only did this to conceal the knowledge in regards to their formulas, I'll bring you their right amount. I just can't figure your objective out."

"People don't like you, do they?"

"Hahaha. They don't! Haha." Hearing Ethan's offensive reply, the youth responded with a loud laugh.

"I think I had some Devil's Bane Root and Infernal Ash in stock… Just wait a moment!" Saying so, the youth left Ethan by himself in the middle of the tent, unworried he might steal anything.

After he returned, there were two glass containers in his hands. Standing in front of Ethan, he said, "Here you go. 120 grams of Devil's Bane Root and 60 grams of Infernal Ash. I would recommend you not use other people's blood when you concoct the Coldblooded potion, as it can lead to high chances of losing control."

The youth kept saying different secrets like it was nothing, as if he knew every step Ethan would take with the ingredients.

"I'll remember your advice… How much for both ingredients?" Ethan, starting to get a bit annoyed by the youth's spot on words, asked with an increasingly cold tone of voice.

"420 pounds and it's yours!"

Producing a big stash of notes from his pocket, Ethan counted the exact amount of 420 pounds and gave it to the youth.

"Perfect! If you wish to buy the remaining ingredients for your potion, you can give me an address, public or private, and I'll order some people to deliver it to you. First delivery free of charge!"

"No thank you." After getting his ingredients, Ethan didn't give the youth his farewell and directly left.

Now coming to another tent, he picked his pocket watch and looked at the time, "1:37pm".

Taking into account he entered the place at more or less 12:50pm, he had very little time left in the market.

Going into another tent, Ethan bought the obsidian shard and corrupted orchid from a hooded man for 50 pounds and left the market.

Passing through the creepy hallways once more, he returned to the iron door that the woman opened before.

Climbing up the stairs, he found himself in the building's common office once again.

Looking at the entrance he entered the building from, Ethan saw the young lady that first received him. She was sitting at a reddish brown colored wooden table, seeing Ethan in front of her, she produced a piece of paper and gave it to him.

"Sign your name." She threw a pen at him and ordered in a cold manner.

Ethan caught the pen and read the paper. It had very clear statements, as long as Ethan were to try and reveal anything about this place that would bring it any harm, he would immediately die an inexplicable death.

Ethan, after reading the contract, hesitatingly signed his name. After his signature appeared on it, the piece of paper burned to cinders in a matter of moments.

"You may leave now. If you wish to return here once more, you'll have to pay a fee worth 10 pounds." Upon saying that, the lady didn't pay Ethan anymore attention, it was like he didn't exist in her eyes anymore.

Ethan then proceeded to leave, he would directly concoct the potion next, advancing to become a Sequence 8 Beyonder one day after transmigrating to this world.