The vault behind the Broker Titan's remains exhaled silence—thick, reverent silence. Jin stood among the remnants of battle, his gloves humming with residual power from the Trader Override node he'd just absorbed.
A single idea bloomed in his mind, fed by instinct and something deeper, maybe system-fed:
"This world's systems can be bargained with."
Not just bent. Bargained.
He had made an imprint. The dungeon knew him now.
But so did something else.
🧭 Mission Notification
🔔 [New Quest Available – Hidden Path Unlocked]Title: The Black AuctionObjective: Attend the Riftborne Black Market to witness high-tier Trade Constructs.Reward: Information on Class Evolution / System Artifact [Red Ledger].
⚠ Risk Level: HighNote: Participants may not be human.
Revik frowned as the system prompt appeared to all of them.
"You seeing this?"
Jin nodded. "Yeah. I think we're being invited."
Mox's drone chirped. "Coordinates uploaded. Gate inside a sub-dimension under Ashgrave's financial district. Not accessible by normal trams. Private sub-channel only."
Tallis frowned. "Then how do we get in?"
Jin felt the answer come to him.
"We trade our access."
🔒 Invitation to Shadows
The access cost wasn't material. The Rift wanted something deeper. A conceptual offer.
Each member had to give something meaningful:
Revik gave up an old combat buff—a rage enhancement linked to his past.
Tallis surrendered a memory key, a relic tied to her first bounty kill.
Mox traded a portion of his drone's AI personality—a fragment, not the whole.
Jin stepped forward last.
His gloves glowed.
⚖ Trade Offer InitiatedRequirement: Conceptual Offering – "Unspent Ambition"
He hesitated. That wasn't something visible. But he felt it. All the dreams he never pursued. The career he never chased. The pride that lingered despite poverty.
He clenched his fist.
"I trade my former future," he whispered.
Accepted.
🌀 The Auction Chamber
A tear opened in space—like a silk curtain being sliced sideways—and they stepped through into a realm unlike any they'd seen.
The Black Auction House stood atop a floating obsidian platform in a vacuum of shattered starlight. Beneath them swirled unending contracts—legal documents, failed trades, and forgotten promises given form.
Statues lined the pathway—massive beings in trade robes, faces hidden behind scales and masks. And inside the chamber, seats spiraled around a central dais, where a living gavel pulsed.
Creatures of every kind sat in the audience.
Not all of them breathed.
Some shimmered like stardust. Some were stitched from codes and contracts. One had no shape—just a voice behind a curtain of blood-red logic.
🧿 Identity Scan:Participants include:– Voidkin Traders– Rift-Born Contract Eaters– Temporal Exchange Agents– Human: "Jin Asher – Lowest Tier Recognized. Novel Class."
Whispers echoed through the space like scornful wind.
"Newblood.""Unclassified.""Alive? Unfortunate."
Revik held his weapon tighter.
"Keep your eyes open. They can't kill us here... unless we bid."
🛒 The Items for Sale
The auctioneer rose.
Not a person.
A concept—a sentient, shimmering calculation made from price fluctuations. Its voice layered, timeless, echoing across dimensions.
"Lot One: Fragment of a Sealed World. Value: One Eternal Favor.""Lot Two: Lesser System Seed – Generation: Pre-Void.""Lot Three: Dungeon Core – Broken but Revivable.""Lot Four: Red Ledger – Trader Artifact. Origin: ???"
The fourth lot flashed briefly.
Jin's gloves burned.
He could feel the connection.
That Ledger... was made for his class.
🔎 Artifact ScanName: Red LedgerType: Class-Linked ArchiveFunction: Tracks Interdimensional Debts / Enables Parallel TradesSpecial: Grants ability to "trade consequences" with other entities.
Jin whispered, "That's what I need."
But the auction was not free.
The auctioneer declared:
"No currency. No gold. No stones. No credits. This auction accepts only unique trades—concepts, secrets, or rules. Submit your offer. If accepted, you may bid."
🧠 The Bids Begin
Creatures submitted fragments of laws, one traded an extinct language, another gave the sound of a fallen star.
Jin stepped forward, reaching deep into himself.
He submitted:
Concept Offered: "Hope in Loss" – The belief that failure still means growth.
Origin: Formed during the trade with the Broker Titan.
The auctioneer paused.
Then nodded.
"Trade accepted. You may bid."
"Tenfold weight of borrowed grief," offered a Riftborn Lich-Keeper.
Jin countered. "One irreversible realization—'I was never meant to win.'"
Silence followed.
That hurt. Saying it hurt. But it was true.
The Red Ledger pulsed.
Accepted.
The trade passed.
📓 The Red Ledger
The artifact landed in Jin's hands.
It was a slim, red-bound book, humming with heat and information.
✴ Artifact Acquired: Red LedgerFunction: Enables dual-trading logicUnlocks: Trade Echoes – allows simulation of potential outcomes
Special Mode: Debt Transfer – once per week, you can shift the negative cost of a trade to a consenting or unaware party.
Jin stared at it.
He was becoming dangerous.
Not just to others.
To the system itself.
🧬 A Revelation Shared
Before they left, a strange figure approached him. It wasn't in the audience.
It wasn't anywhere until it was.
It wore a shifting mask—one second a merchant, the next a corpse, the next a mirror.
"You carry a Trader's Echo," it said in a dozen voices. "The system doesn't understand you. Yet."
"Who are you?" Jin asked.
"I am one who traded memory for escape. A prisoner of value."
The figure passed him a note—a scrap of logic that sank into his mind like ink into skin.
"You are not the only trader. But you may be the only one unbound.
Come find me when you can trade with Time."
The being vanished.
🌌 Back to Ashgrave
When they exited the tear, it was dusk in Ashgrave again. The stormclouds above shimmered faintly.
No one spoke for a while.
Eventually, Revik asked, "You alright?"
Jin looked down at the Red Ledger, then up at the city.
"No," he said. "I'm just getting started."
📌 Author's Note:
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— [RealmVendor]