"When this place was first built, we intended it to serve as Trade Island's auction house. Unfortunately, it hardly ever saw any use. Even regular auctions couldn't attract anything worthwhile-"
The Silver Hand Viscount seemed to be complaining about the poverty of these waters as he led the three of them toward the so-called auction house with long strides.
The apprentices and Wizards they passed bowed to him, and he acknowledged them in return.
Ruger noticed that once the Wizard had mentioned those keywords, such as Oddities, people had begun following them. They had trailed them all the way from the docks, though they did not dare do anything openly rude and merely followed along.
Speaking of Oddities, ten grains of Golden Sand had already accumulated in the indescribable space in Ruger's arm. He should have been able to collect a small handful by now, but he usually let the key absorb the troubles that came pouring in. That allowed it to grow and saved him some effort, too. All he had to do was leave it alone.
The key was a mild-mannered Oddity to begin with. It had no powerful effects that produced instant results, nor did it demand much of a price from its owner.
Compared with the Demon Dice, Ruger preferred this gentle fellow.
The golden sand could be used to ambush enemies, or offered to that river through the key, tossed onto the riverbank covered in golden sand. It was a form of long-term development, steadily accumulating Spirituality for himself and earning its affection.
Apart from trying it once at the very beginning, Ruger had never again tossed golden sand into that golden world, onto the bank of that river connected to troubles.
Once he had accumulated ten grains, he had kept them and stopped condensing