The Root of All Evil

I maintained a calm expression as I looked at the receptionist's expectant smile.

50 million? That was a little over our budget, or rather it was ridiculously unachievable compared to the 30,000 coins we possessed. How did the world turn out this way? 3,000 years ago things were not as expensive as this, that much I knew.

My mind began calculating, if this was just the money for membership, how much would the actual goods being auctioned cost? I looked at Talia who was beside me, perhaps we could just give up on obtaining her wings.

"Talia, maybe." I said as I turned to her direction.

The eyes she used to look at me made me discard the idea of giving up on her wings. Her eyes sparkled with eagerness as though she expected me to pull off some kind of miracle. I mean, I wasn't some messiah who could duplicate certain number of loaves and fishes. I didn't even have my divinity anymore. What could I possibly do?

In the past, as one of the six Primordials, I had an unlimited supply of things and my treasures were limitless; Money, weapons, books, everything. My collection far exceeded those of the others, even Leviathan and that was because as the Primordial of the Void Aspect, I was usually associated with nothingness. Having an endless void which was just empty, I satiated them with things of intrigue such as research and collections.

It was due to this, that I developed Hex and created countless objects, including the body I possessed now. In hindsight, I was grateful for those times now. If only I had those things with me now. Hold on a sec, a thought just appeared in my mind.

A lot of my treasures would have been long lost and dispersed, but I clearly remember one of such treasures. Not only had I kept it hidden in a particular location, no one knew where it was. An item which would serve my ends now that I was broke beyond compare. "The Root of All", one of my good ones. If I could find it then maybe at least it could turn this situation around.

"This information has been helpful. However, as we are now, we do not have enough cash at hand. It would be tedious carrying such a large amount around anyway." I said to the receptionist, still maintaining my dignity.

"Oh, sir do you not have a Coin Card?" The receptionist asked me with a confused and surprised expression.

"C-Coin card?" I asked myself.

In a moment I dug through the memories of the soldier I had drained, and found mentions of it.

Tch, I didn't have enough time to go through the man's entire memories and so I had merely skimmed through it. However, it seems there can be important information to be found among the seemingly irrelevant memories.

A Coin Card in simple terms was an item which contains the wealth of a person, or rather, a vast amount of money. It was connected to the treasury of the owner. Since it was mostly used for very advanced and expensive transactions, it was a must have for the rich. I mean, it wasn't like they would be carrying sacks of coins just to buy expensive things.

A Coin Card was expensive, and so only affluent people could have them. There are also different qualities of Cards, depending on how much can be connected to a Card at a time. For example, some cards may be able to transact 5 million coins, while others could go as far as hundreds of millions.

Since this particular Auction House dealt with the best even amongst the rich, a Coin Card was a given in its transaction, and to be without it was even unthinkable. They called it a 'Cashless Transaction'. This was why the receptionist was surprised by me not having one.

I processed all these in a few seconds and smiled.

Here I am, utterly broke and cashless, but not in a good way. My knowledge of the world was also insufficient. I couldn't embarrass myself further than that, especially after being treated so courteously by the Receptionist whose net worth was most likely higher than mine.

[By The Way]

Hexarion and Talia's Combined Net Worth - 30,000 Coins

Receptionist Net Worth - 2, 390, 450 Coins

[Back to the Present]

"Of course I do, what an insulting thing to say to someone of my standing. Do you know who I am?" I said, playing my intimidation card, the only one I currently have.

"Eeek" She shrieked in fright.

"Know your place" I furthered.

"I'm sorry for misunderstanding sir. Please forgive my ignorance." She immediately pleaded.

"As long as you know" I said with authority.

Now, how to get out of this sticky situation. I had no other choice...

"Hex #90" I muttered, reducing the quality and power output to the barest minimum.

"Haze" I said, and immediately purple smoke formed around the receptionist and slowly enveloped her face.

Whew! That was a close call.

Normally, Haze was supposed to affect the target's mind, giving me control, causing hallucinations, and total madness leading to complete insanity and depravity. However, this time I watered down its effects so she would be in a slight daze and not recollect our encounter in the slightest.

And as honorably as we entered the building, we exited.

Talia looked at me, expecting me to say something.

"What is on your mind?" I asked Talia.

"Oh, uh. I was just wondering what you would do now." She said.

What a dense girl. It was getting late already so finding accommodation had to come first, yet all she could talk about was the auction affair. I woke up from my 3,000 yearlong slumber in the morning. I spent hours roaming around the woods and then I met her and the soldiers by afternoon. After saving her, I got her cleaned up and we got to the city in the evening. Of course we explored the city and even found the Auction House which we had just left.

"It's getting pretty late. We should find a place to rest" I told her.

"Oh yeah. I'm pretty tired myself." She said, suddenly yawning and smacking her lips.

"Could've fooled me" I said in a low tone.

"What was that?" She asked, not properly hearing what I said.

"Nothing" I quickly answered to shut her up.

And so we ventured around the city to find a place to rest. Of course not just any place would satisfy me, The Lord of Chaos and Ruler of Darkness. A place worthy of my tastes would be my choice.

However, with only 30,000 coins, we couldn't afford all the hotels we found and had to settle for one of the cheaper inns. How could someone survive with so little money?

We lodged into the inn, and since we didn't have any real luggage it was a fast and smooth process. The inn had two beds side by side. It wasn't very large, or large at all for my tastes, but at least it was bearable.

Talia jumped on her bed and in a few moments she was already fast asleep.

"This girl... Isn't she too carefree?" I asked myself.

Normally, wouldn't these sorts of people be recoiling from trauma and have trouble sleeping or even talking much. Instead, they would be reserved and keep to themselves, then after some time had passed the ice around their hearts would melt and they find would find happiness. But not Talia.

She was a loudmouth during the day as well as a quick and deep sleeper at night.

"Good grief" I smiled at the sight of her sleeping, as though nothing had ever happened to her before.

The innocence she had was amusing. She was like a blank canvas I could dye in any color I so desired. Good. I looked forward to her future.

Now, to think about what to do next.

My item, "The Root of All" was one of a kind. Having it would take care of immediate problems, no doubt. With it, I could also put off finding the rest of my items, or rather I might not even need to, except for a few.

The tricky part was how to obtain it within the shortest amount of time. Talia's wings could be sold at any time from the present moment, and while I knew it'd take a while before the auction opened for the wings, time was still of the essence. Or was it?

I smiled to myself.

The laws of the world do not apply to me, the Aspects do not apply to my body. That included the Aspect of "Time" as well. Unfortunately, Talia was still bound by this, so she would be a liability for me.

"I guess I'll have to be done before she notices my absence." I said to myself.

That's right, this very night I would find the item I so desperately need and be one step closer to the Destruction of the world.