There was chaos beyond the iron bars.
The marketplace was alive with activity, traders shouting, crowds moving, strange sounds echoing in every direction. Lainus pressed himself against the bars, trying to take it all in.
Far away from the train of slave cages, stalls lined the streets, packed with goods Lainus had never seen before. Alien creatures' parts like claws, fangs, and hides with iridescent scales and impossible colors hung from hooks like trophies. He saw a strange glow a short distance from the dedicated slave trading sector: there was a merchant who looked like he was selling a crystallized heart, still faintly pulsing with light, and jars filled with glowing liquid that shifted colors as people walked past.
And then there were some Ethereals who had attendants serving them.
Walking golems that were made of stone and strange metals moved through the crowd, their heavy footsteps shaking the ground. They were used to carry heavy goods on their backs, simply following their masters like obedient dogs. There were even alien-looking pets, creatures that looked like a cross between lizards and birds, or cats with too many eyes; they were submissively trailing behind wealthy-looking people on leashes.
Gazing back to the center of the slave trading marketplace, there was a platform with curtains that stood above the crowd. Auctioneers shouted, showing the valuable stocks that were shackled on the platform, gesturing wildly as buyers raised their hands. Here, special types of slaves, ones deemed more valuable than normal mortal slaves were being auctioned, paraded in front of the crowd like livestock at a fair.
One auctioneer's shouting caught Lainus's attention.
"Now everyone, time for today's most valuable item!"
His voice grew louder, reaching even the farthest parts of the crowd. "It is an _awakened slave_ who managed to form a Spiritual Core with the genius rare talent of!..." He paused for dramatic effect. "Seventy-One percent Core Saturation!"
The curtain on a small cage was pulled back, unveiling a young female slave who looked around nine to eleven years old. She looked like a porcelain doll, her eyes were blue like the sky, while her short blue hair looked silky and beautiful. But her expression was hollow, empty, resigned to her fate.
The moment the announcement finished, the whole marketplace erupted.
"What did I hear right? Did he say her Core Saturation was seventy-one?!" a man shouted, his voice filled with shock.
"Oh my... Epic-grade talent! What a rare genius!" a woman standing nearby gasped, her voice trembling with shock. "She must be from a fallen noble house! With seventy-one percent saturation, and enough resources ascending to the Ascended Realm would be a certainty for her. Whoever buys her is buying a future powerhouse..." Her tone carried both awe and bitter envy.
A flood of new people pushed toward the auction platform, their interest suddenly piqued. Wealthy merchants, armored warriors, even some of the noble-looking Ethereals descended from their carriages to get a closer look.
The crowd's energy shifted entirely. What had been casual interest became hunger.
All eyes turned toward the little girl on the platform — Like starving beasts eyeing a piece of meat.
Predatory. Ravenous. No one even tried to hide their hunger.
The envy of the poor-looking beggars in the scene was obvious, their gloomy eyes burning with bitter resentment for something they could never have. As for the wealthy nobles and merchants, greed sharpened their gazes into something monstrous, predatory and calculating. Their excitement was barely contained, spreading across their faces in wide smiles like wolves who had cornered their prey, teeth gleaming in anticipation.
Lainus watched it all with cold detachment, his mind racing.
A voice came from behind him inside the cage.
"Huh... what's happening? Why is it so noisy today?"
It was Tia. She'd just woken up, drawn from sleep by the roar of the crowd gathered at the auction platform.
Lainus wasn't in the mood to talk to her. He didn't want to be distracted from the scene unfolding outside the cage.
Without looking back at Tia, he reached over and pressed his hand against her lips, silencing her.
"Shh. I'm listening to something important." his voice was flat and cold
Tia's eyes widened in confusion. She had never seen her brother's eyes like this before — Lainus's bright hazel eyes had turned completely dark and cold, giving off no shine. It felt as if she were staring into a deep void. She couldn't even form a word from shock and kept her mouth shut.
Lainus didn't spare her another thought.
The only reason he'd pretended to be her brother was to extract information about this world. But now, knowing they were in the middle of a massive trading center, surrounded by thousands of people and overheard conversations, getting information from an eleven-year-old girl who barely understood the world herself wasn't viable anymore.
There were still many blanks and unanswered pieces in the puzzle in his mind.
'Core Saturation?... Ascended Realm?...' The deeper he dove, the more questions arose. More mysteries about the Ethereals, and their mystical power.
From the fragments of information he had caught while eavesdropping on the noisy crowd, he could somehow deduce the basics: Core Saturation was the measurement of talent for the Ethereals — it was expressed as a percentage, like the level of a bucket with a limit on how much it could hold, determining an Ethereal's future advancement and strength.
As for the Ascended Realm... He didn't have enough information to form a clear image of it yet. But it seemed that there were levels for Ethereals, mortal, and ascended, with ascended being something mortal Ethereals advanced toward, a transformation that granted significantly greater power.
Lainus was straining to understand every word he heard, it was difficult due to the overwhelming noise and chaos around him.
The auctioneer raised his hands, demanding silence for him to continue the auction.
"The starting bid for this exceptional item is **One Hundred Thousand Spirit Stones!** Rare resources can also be used in the bidding, their authenticity will be appraised after the auction..."
The crowd erupted again.
"Two Hundred Thousand!"
"Three Hundred Thousand!"
"Seven Hundred Thousand!"
Voices overlapped, toppling one another out as hands shot up and the bidding climbed rapidly.
The rich competed against each other, not giving their opponents any chances to compete against them — while the poor could only watch from the corner, mesmerized by wealth they could only dream of.
Lainus observed just as intently, but for different reasons.
When suddenly—
A new commotion erupted just behind the wealthy bidders competing at the auction.
Two figures collided in the street just beyond the slave cages. They immediately turned aggressive, and the crowd gave them space without hesitation.
One was a young man in white robes, a sword strapped to his back, his face twisted in anger. The other was a scarred, muscular brute with wild black hair and feral eyes.
"Watch where you're going, you blind bastard!" the swordsman spat.
"Son of a whore! You bumped into me!" the muscular man growled, his voice deep and dangerous.
The swordsman drew his blade in one smooth motion, the steel gleaming in the sunlight.
"Fine. I'll teach you some manners."
The crowd quickly reacted, forming a wide circle around them. As for the wealthy nobles, merchants, and others from powerful factions, they didn't even bother to glance at the fighters; the auction-goers regarded them the way one might look at flies buzzing nearby, an insignificant annoyance, nothing more. They continued their bidding without pause, as if nothing had happened.
But Lainus's attention snapped toward them immediately.
'Oh... finally. Let's see what an Ethereal is truly capable of.'
Both fighters dropped into fighting stances, eyes locked sharply on their opponents.
The muscular man was the first to make a move.
"**Black Tiger Claw!** **Black Tiger Leg!**"
He seemed to chant the names of his abilities, his voice a deep, overlapping growl.
When he finished chanting, a rapid transformation began in his body. His muscles bulged, his bones cracked audibly, and his fingers elongated into massive, clawed appendages covered in black fur, striped with gray markings. His nails turned into razor-sharp talons.
At the same time, his legs transformed too, thickening, strengthening, black fur spreading across the skin. His boots tore apart as his feet shifted into something bestial, powerful.
The transformation took less than two seconds.
Lainus witnessed what he could only call a physically impossible feat unfold before him, which raised more questions in his mind about the Ethereals and their strange magical powers. "Did he just transform his body into a giant tiger? Those claws look so real. Can all Ethereals change their shape or mutate freely?"
The swordsman took a deep breath, and just like the muscular man, he uttered the name of an ability, chanting under his breath.
"**Burning Blade!**"
He ran his fingers softly along the edges of his sword. Flames erupted along its length, bright and searing, transforming the weapon into a blazing blade. The heat warped the air around it.
They moved simultaneously.
The swordsman lunged forward, his burning blade cutting through the air with a sharp hiss to cut his opponent. The beast-man charged to meet his attack, claws extended, a feral snarl twisting his face.
**CLANG!**
Steel met claw.
They collided with a strong force. The metallic shriek of blade against talon tore through the air as sparks exploded. A shockwave burst outward in a violent ring, throwing up dust.
For a frozen moment, they were locked together.
The swordsman's face was twisted in concentration, sweat already beading on his forehead as he pushed forward. His teeth were clenched, jaw muscles straining. The flames on his blade flickered and surged, fighting to overwhelm the claws.
The beast-man's expression was pure aggression, lips pulled back in a snarl, veins bulging in his neck, eyes wild with fury. His claws dug into the ground for leverage, muscles coiled tight like a predator ready to tear its prey apart.
The tension held for three seconds.
Then they both pushed.
**BOOM!**
The force of their separation sent both combatants skidding backward, leaving deep gouges in the dirt.
The swordsman recovered first. He planted his feet and shot forward, flames trailing behind his blade like a comet's tail.
Seeing him charge, the beast-man roared and rushed to meet him, claws raised high.
But just as they were about to collide—
**"Blazing Wall"**
The swordsman's blade struck the ground.
A wall of fire erupted between them, bursting upward from the earth in a blazing curtain that stretched seven feet high and ten feet wide. The heat was instant and overwhelming, forcing the crowd to shield their faces.
The beast-man's eyes widened. His transformed legs exploded with power, launching him backward with inhuman speed.
He barely managed to dodge as a blazing wall that erupted directly beneath him.
A few strands of black fur on his arms caught fire, sizzling and burning away in an instant. He patted them out frantically, snarling in pain and fury.
The wall of flames roared for a few seconds, blinding, searing, impossible to see through.
Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it inconceivably vanished. As if it had never existed. No smoke. No embers. Just gone, leaving only faint traces of scorching on the ground.
The swordsman stood on the other side, his fiery sword raised, prepared for striking again.
"Hmph… you're not half bad. If you beg me now, I may consider leaving you alive," he called out in a mocking tone.
"Vermin how dare you?" The beast-man's face twisted with rage.
"**Blink!**"
He lunged forward again. As he roared the name of his ability, his body vanished in a blink and reappeared four meters ahead, his vicious claws aimed straight for the swordsman's throat.
The swordsman swung his blazing blade to meet him.
They clashed mid-air.
**CLANG!**.
A gauntleted hand appeared from nowhere between them. It caught both the swordsman blade and the muscular man's claw effortlessly, halting them mid-strike as though they were holding toys.
On his breastplate was a crest: a silver moon surrounded by six stars, overlaid on a black shield.
"That's enough." His voice was calm. Measured. But it carried absolute authority.
Both fighters froze.
The crowd began to murmur. "The city guards finally came to stop those barbarians..."
Lainus's mind was still trying to process what had just happened.
They both chanted some words that seemed to activate their strange superpower abilities. Is that required? Or just a trigger? And the way that guard stopped them so effortlessly... did he already activate an ability beforehand, or was that just pure physical strength?
His eyes darkened the more he thought about it. The more he reflected on what had happened, the more unanswered questions surfaced before him.
'My knowledge is so limited about this world. Everything just leads to more questions that don't seem to end.' He let out a deep sigh, trying to calm his mind, as his focus slowly returned to the scene.
"Public fighting within the city limits is strictly forbidden under the laws of the city of Keshos!" the armored knight said, his voice slow and deliberate, each word heavy with warning. "Both of you will have to come with us for investigation. Now!"
The guard released fighters hands gently and stepped back, his expression hidden behind his helmet.
The swordsman took a deep, steadying breath, as the flames along his blade edge snapped out as if obeying his will. The beast-man frowned, clearly dissatisfied with the result, but he made no move to challenge the armored knight. With a low, audible crack, his body began to shift: black fur receding into his skin, his hands and legs shrinking back to human proportions.
Two more armored guards appeared from the crowd, flanking the combatants as they silently escorted the two lawbreakers toward a tall building in the distance — likely the city guard headquarters.
The brief altercation was already forgotten by most of the marketplace as soon as it ended — as if the scene that had just unfolded were merely a normal part of daily life.
The crowd's attention returned to the auction, which still continued without pause.