Time Twister - 97 POV

Eta country, Xander’s villa, noontime, Sunday.

I languidly stretched my body, lying down and facing the sun. The air was quite cool in contrast to that sunlight hitting my body. I was wearing my shorts and was just basking under the sun in the garden, relaxing my day.

I finally dealt with those pesky sages. Mom and dad were being a bit annoying and cringey earlier. At least I managed to eat mom’s cooking though. I also left some instructions to Jacks just before Danes sent me back to the villa.

Oh well, for now, I just want to relax…

Wait, I almost forgot, do I still have enough money? I have been spending lavishly for the past few months, after all, mostly on food ingredients.

Do I have to sell another batch of materials and plant materials?

I checked my active bank account, and from the original 350 million Etas, there were roughly 1.5 million left.

Damn, I’m quite poor. Eh, fine, I’ll contact some of the auction houses and sell some plant materials and magic beast byproducts.

In the whole of Eteria, there were 3 Auction houses that can be considered to have a monopoly in that market. Most of the small and medium markets, both legal and illegal, are controlled by these three auction houses.

There were three groups in charge of this: The Whitefield Clan, the Fujiwako Conglomerate, and the Pankaj Conglomerate. The Whitefield clan operated in the Ete continent and the nearby archipelagos, while the Fujiwako conglomerate’s power was focused in one-third of the Ria continent and the entirety of the Yggdras continent. The Pankaj conglomerate, on the other hand, had control of two-thirds of the Ria continent, and the nearby archipelagos.

Each had their own specialty, with the Whitefield focusing on metals, magic artifacts, and plant materials, Fujiwako focusing on magic artifacts, sprite essences, and exotic plant materials, while the Pankaj conglomerate focused on elixir pills and elixirs, magic artifacts, and plant materials.

I decided to contact Pankaj and Whitefield houses first, since both his families had ties to them.

After setting up a meeting time, I headed to the Whitefield Auction House first, located in Hargroove City In the Alpha province. Of course, I teleported into the vicinity of the city’s outskirts, then calmly headed inside after scanning my watch into the terminal gate, indicating my identity as an Eta citizen.

I then headed quickly to the Whitefield auction house, which was around 2 kilometers away from the main gates.

After 15 minutes of brisk walking and a bit of spatial manipulation, I reached the house very quickly and entered. As what one would expect, the auction house was old-style lavish, where the materials they used to decorate the interior would only be recognized by the truly rich and avant-garde. There was a circular counter with 3 people inside, each one doing something different/

I immediately headed to one of the available people, who had quite a friendly and courteous smile.

“Hello, Child. Why are you here? Are you lost? Do you need help?”

I wanted to laugh out loud at his remarks, but I felt that was a bit too rude so I shook my head and said with my child-like voice,

“Hello. I have an appointment with Glaucia Whitefield. My name is Xander Cloverfield.”

“A-ah! I-I see I am sorry if my words offended you earlier. Please wait as I check the system.” The man said awkwardly before he began to type on the touch terminal on the counter, checking with the personal secretary of Ms. Glaucia about any meetings.

“Oh? Mr. Cloverfield is there already? Immediately send him to one of our top VIP rooms, quick! Be courteous!” the secretary’s message was quite striking for the man, as he had never seen the secretary treat someone the same as this kid. However, he dared not to disobey.

“Mr. Cloverfield, your appointment has been confirmed and clarified. Ms. Whitefield will meet with you shortly in one of our VIP rooms; if you could please follow me.” The man said, bowing in a 90-degree form at me, who just nodded in response.

In less than a minute, I was led to the 3rd floor using the elevator, wherein there were three rooms that made up the entire floor. I was led to the 1st room, wherein there was already a set of refreshments and snacks available.

The man gestured me to take a seat anywhere I found comfortable. I sat on the sofa that was in front of the small coffee table positioned in the center.

The man, seeing I was relaxed, said respectfully,

“Mr. Cloverfield, Ms. Whitefield will be here shortly. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to ring me up in the communicator on the sofa armrest. My name is Léonide, at your service.” Léonide then bowed before heading to the door, closing it silently.

Huh, that was the first time I saw this helper in the auction house. I wonder what happened to Mar? She was quite clumsy when she escorted me here last time.

I tasted the drinks available, and they weren’t quite to my liking. Instead, I brought out my fermented fruit wine and poured myself a small cup, letting the wine soak into the cup for a while, whirling it gently. I then gulped the whole thing in one sip, refreshing my mouth and throat by the cool, yet burning sensation it brought about.

After a few minutes of waiting, the door opened again, revealing a familiar face, one that I haven’t seen for more than half a year.

A young, proud teenage girl dressed in a suit was visibly standing at the doorway after the door had closed, intently staring at my face, her eyes widening, and at the same time, a small grin could be seen on her face.

I sighed, standing up and opening his arms, which the girl took as a sign to rush over and hug me intently. After a few seconds of hugging, I then said,

“How are you doing, Glaucia? Ehh, your boobs haven’t increased in size at all, tsk tsk. Do you want me to give you some elixirs that can make them quite big?” I snickered at Glaucia, who just humphed and tried to knuckle her fists to the sides of my head.

“Hmph, you little brat! For the past 8 months, no calls or texts, not even a hello, how are you via the communicator! Haiz, you brat!”

“Fine, fine, I know what you want, a free product, right? I refined a few elixir pills, take them haiz.” I said, stopping her midway as I already knew she was attempting to guilt-trip me.

In fact, we actually met for business purposes around the new year’s, when I wanted to sell some metals and materials to have a fund to deposit to the bank. We had a lot to talk about, and I coincidentally met her when she was in need of assistance, which I gave in exchange for her services to process the metals and materials.

I handed her two different bottles, eliciting confusion, anticipation, and shock from Glaucia. For one, she could sense the power the pills contained, even if it were isolated by the specially-made container.

It was due to her unique physique that was quite suited to one who works in an auction house, the Demetria Physique. It can detect all magical and elemental fluctuations within a certain range, allowing the owner to determine the power and quality of a certain item, spell, or in my case, my abilities no matter what form of defense was layered to cover these fluctuations. If she was being bombarded by several attacks, she would immediately know which one was the weakest and target that area to find a way out.

I remember when she first saw me, she was quite abnormally shocked, to the point that she almost fainted. I had to reverse her time to restore her to her peak state so that I could converse with her.

Of course, the limitations of this physique was that their lifespans were cut in half. If a Master magician had around 800 years, Glaucia only had 400 years. If a legendary could have up to 3000 years, she would only have 1500 years, and so on. Only once she formed her own universe could she break free from this restriction of her physique, while maintaining the abilities of her physique.

However, I already managed to resolve the problem of my body’s power being detected by using a technique called Layering. This was the continuous cloaking of my body’s magic and elemental fluctuations with the origin elements around my body, then layered with [Absolute Defense], giving the owner of the physique a false understanding of my powers.

“E-ehem, eh, Xander dearest, what do these pills do, actually?” Glaucia asked, quite content and very curious about what I gave her. She calmed herself down and sat opposite to Xander, making herself a cup of tea. She didn’t dare touch the fermented fruit wine, because she actually saw the powerful elemental fluctuations that were contained the bottle.

“Oh, the first set of pills can add 1000 years worth of lifespan, with a limit of 2 pills per being,” I said nonchalantly, causing Glaucia to spit her tea into my direction. I raised my eyebrow and the stream of tea stopped mid-air, before falling down to Glaucia’s teacup.

“Sheesh, Glaucia, how unlady-like.”

“You’re not joking, right? These pills really can extend the lifespan of anyone who takes it for a thousand years?” Glaucia asked, her voice barely able to contain her excitement.

Such items were truly worthy of being auctioned. In fact, it’s quite possible that she would have a greater say in the family once she successfully handles a transaction this big!

“Glaucia, my friend, why would I joke concerning such matters? This is just an 18-star version of the pill Abundant Will elixir, its quality at the Immaculate level. The original 15-star version can only increase the lifespan by 500 years, but this was made using Class 8 materials you know, improving the potency and quality.”

“I-I see. How much do you plan to sell these items?” Glaucia stuttered for a bit, before regaining her calm and professional side.

“Well, since you are a trusted friend, that pill bottle is an apology of mine to you. It’s up to you how to use it. The second bottle, however, is what I’m asking you to sell.”

“Then I won’t hold back. Thanks, Xander. Concerning the other set of pills, you mean this one? These pills seemed weaker than the ones you just gave me,” Glaucia questioned, quite confused.

I merely smiled before saying,

“Foundation Compression Pills. Those pills would allow the user to gain 333 years’ worth of foundation. They can only eat 3 pills at most, allowing them to gain 999 years’ worth of spell foundation. The number of pills in that bottle is exactly 60 pills. I want you to sell it in pairs, with the last 12 pills being sold in threes.”

When Glaucia heard what I said, she looked at me with her shocked face, a face that seemed to me that no one has ever seen before.

For a few seconds, she was speechless, causing me to wave my hand in front of her face, asking,

“Hellooo? You there?”

“…I can offer you a direct purchase of these pills for a price of 4.4 million per pill, a total of 264 million Etas. If I purchase it, I plan to use it internally and it wouldn’t be auctioned. Are you alright with that?”

“Eh? Just 264 million Etas? Can you make it higher? Pwetty pwease?” I asked, using my charm and looks to persuade Glaucia. Of course, even though she was just a Master-3 magician at age 18, she was able to detect the elemental fluctuations and guard against it.

I pouted, seeing that she was being stubborn at the price.

“Che. You’re no fun. Ok, I’m fine with that price. I’ll send you the bank account to transfer the money to.”

“Sure.”

“Ok, now that the initial offerings are complete, let’s talk about my actual purpose this time. I’m willing to sell to your auction house 300 tonnes of Hevrs metal with a purity of 98%, each kilo being 3 million Etas worth, roughly 900 billion Etas.”

Seeing the surprised look once again in her face, I continued to speak, not letting her butt in.

“I know that your current family’s liquidated assets amounted to around 23 trillion Etas, so I’m assured you would find this price satisfactory. After all, you know how precious this metal is in different fields of space travel research, supercomputing, military weaponry, and magic artifact creation,” I said to her, with a grin plastered on my face.

This amount would surely be enough for me to stay afloat for a period of time. Although it was worthless in Galaxy coins, it was enough for his current use on the planet.

After a few seconds, Glaucia shook her head, saying,

es in my smartwatch communicator.

“I don’t have the capacity to decide. I’ll have to call the elders of the family concerning this matter. Can you wait for around 30 minutes?

Hopefully, this would be quickly resolved,” she asked, looking at me.

I

thought about it for a moment before agreeing. After all, this was a

large deal for her family. Even if their assets combined were worth more than a hundred trillion Etas, 0.9 trillion Etas would still be a

noticeable sum.

Glaucia stood up and headed outside of the room,

and for the next 30 minutes, I was merely stuck in the VIP room, looking

around and at the same time, playing games on my phone.

After a few moments, the door opened once again, and Glaucia entered, her face vibrant and with a smile.

“Xander, the elders have agreed with the proposal. As soon as you can produce the metals, the deal will be completed.”

“Oh, that’s great, I have it in my bag.” I immediately dumped 300 tonnes of Hevrs metal into the floor, surprising Glaucia. However, the collapse of the floor she was expecting did not happen, confusing her once again, before realizing something was different from the VIP room.

“You… Xander, did you modify the room? I feel there’s something different with the elemental fluctuations we had initially placed in the rooms.”

“Wow, you could even discover that? Your abilities are really enviable, Glaucia. Yeah, I modified it a bit, changing the gravitation of the room for non-living materials. As long as it has no life, it has no weight. Pretty cool, huh?” I explained, a bit proud.

“…” Glaucia didn’t know what to say.

“Anyways, as usual, sign the non-disclosure contract,” I said, and before she could even respond, I waved my hand, revealing a paper in front of her to sign with her blood essence.

Glaucia was familiar with this procedure and checked the clauses, and seeing that nothing was amiss, she signed it.

Immediately, magic and elemental energy began to stir from the surroundings.

“Quick, absorb the energy to reinforce your foundation, or integrate your master rank spells already to breakthrough!” I shouted, causing her to snap out of her stupor and began to control the energy coursing into her body.

After 30 minutes, the surroundings calmed down. Glaucia opened her eyes, her power rising up by 2 ranks, reaching Master-5.