Michael sat in his chair, nervously tapping his feet on the floor. The sun had already set, wheels were in motion, and the auction was about to start—with or without him.
And just as he thought he'd lost out on this opportunity, the door to his room burst wide open and Jimmy came rushing in, holding in a piece of paper with magical properties.
"Haaaa...haaa! We got it! 399th spot!" Jimmy exclaimed, pushing the certificate on Michael's desk.
Michael looked over the paper and smiled. They just got it just in the nick of time.
"Thanks," he said to Jimmy. "I knew I could count on you."
"No problem boss!" Jimmy saluted proudly.
Now that they secured the ticket to the auction, Michael knew there was only one thing left to do. Prepare.
He reached down into his shadow inventory and took out a shiny metal cube. Of course, this was no ordinary cube, for it contained one of the strongest and mysterious metals in the world: GodForge pieces.
With a slight twist, the cube twisted and contorted to reveal the flaming raw ores inside.
Thanks to the Duchess, he received much more than he was supposed to get after defeating Uncle Jack. She threw in a little extra for his troubles. And because of this he now had in his possession the biggest chunk of GodForge piece he had ever seen. It was almost the size of a small egg!
Its white flames flickered intensely, as if challenging him, daring him, to get close and feel its power.
I'm going to need all the power I can get.
This auction was no ordinary auction where money was the sole thing he had to focus on. He didn't know how or why, but Barnaby's auction included duels and fights in the bidding process.
If he wanted to get the Spirit of Old, then he'd need enough power to beat all the Major and Minor factions in Metropolis. He'd need to beat well-established organizations like the Magic Tower, the Knightly Court, and all the other Legacies whose foundations were much deeper than him by manyfold.
It was a tough task, and he didn't know if he was going to succeed or not, but he knew that he was going to try his damned hardest to do so.
He raised his hand and let his own GodForge pieces communicate with the pieces in the box.
Suddenly, they started to vibrate and slowly wedge out of their secured positions in the box.
They were attracted to him, so much so that they became more 'excited' as they got closer and closer to his skin.
The metal box, unable to hold on, burst into a million fragments as the GodForge pieces shot directly through its side and towards Michael's heart.
The force caused Michael to shoot backwards. The mere quantity of the GodForge pieces that entered into his system almost became far too much for him to bear. He would have slammed his back into the glass door if it weren't for him planting his foot down and skidding his soles into the flooring.
Inside his heart, the GodForge pieces turned into liquid as they bypassed the skin, the veins, the muscles, and the bones before eventually reaching the heart.
They accelerated to near light speed as they shot towards its rightful place, splattering into the valves of his heart and painting it with the color of GodForge.
It only took a few seconds as these new pieces supplied Michael with enough power and energy to make his body slightly glow a white color.
His Diva, a full right arm and a left fist up to the wrist, manifested above him.
Nanoparticles appeared out of the air before swarming over to the Diva's uncompleted left arm like bees.
And just like before, the nanoparticle swarm morphed and conjoined together to form electrical circuitry that acted as the Diva's veins. Then came the bones, which were made out of some kind of black alloy that absorbed absolutely no light at all.
The left arm continued to grow, growing from the wrist, up to the elbow.
But it didn't end there. The GodForge pieces he received were enough to push past the elbow and form more of its mechanical biceps and triceps made out of synthetic fibers, until finally, it reached the shoulders and reached completion.
Michael's Diva finally had a complete set of arms!
He looked up and felt a little bit more in tune with his Aubilities. And if he wanted, he could even move the arms just like his own.
It followed his every movement, making it seem like his Diva was shadow boxing behind him.
But of course, he knew that this wasn't possible because Divas couldn't interact with the real world. They acted just like a projection, meaning if he tried to punch someone with the Diva, then it would only pass through the target.
It was at that moment that Michael's ears twitched, as if he heard something.
"Huh?"
He looked around, searching for the source of that sound. He wasn't even sure if he heard something at all.
He then looked to the side and saw Sheina right at his door just as she was about to knock on his door.
Sheina opened the door and bowed at him.
"Lord Michael, our Shadow Orcs say that the auction is about to start. Plenty of people have already entered the venue, including the Major Factions."
Michael nodded and thanked Sheina for informing him.
I guess I was just too nervous about this auction, he thought to himself.
Thankfully though, he came prepared. Now, his Diva was finally in the 4th stage of Body Formation. Judging from his previous encounters with other Maugnetics, this meant that he could easily defeat someone on the same level as him.
And for his opponents who were in the 5th stage, then he had a solid chance of winning against them if he played his cards correctly.
But as for opponents in a much higher realm than that, he didn't know the answer. He had never encountered someone two levels higher than him.
This means I gotta be careful and pick my fights.
He looked down at his pockets and felt the box frame of his folded Drone. As long as he had this weapon, then he could be sure that he had an advantage that no other Maugnetic could have.
"I'm ready," he said to Sheina.
The white-scaled Dragonborn smiled and nodded at him. "Very well, Lord Michael. We shall see you at the auction."
A magic circle appeared beneath his feet as he used his shadow transportation skill to directly come over to Barnaby's Vault.
His body slowly descended into his own shadows, before completely disappearing into the void.
...
...
...
Michael ascended into the ground in a dark alleyway filled with nothing but shadows.
He had his formal attire on, wearing a tuxedo with a loosened tie. He didn't want to restrict his own movements too much.
He then walked out of the alleyway and found himself staring at Barnaby's Vault shining deep in the night.
There were wizards and mages constantly casting light spells in the air to keep everything visible even during the night.