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n“Ancient Gods?”

nJaehwan casually asked in reply. Mayad smiled and responded, “…Hmm. So, you don’t know much about them? I guess it’s natural since they are beings from eons ago.”

nBefore appeared, there were three powerful Gods who were considered to be at the top of . They were legendary Gods who had become the most powerful without anyone’s help.

nNo Gods dared to disobey or oppose them. They were called the Ancient Three Divinities.

nGodslayer Catastrophe.

nGeshtalt the Illusion Breaker.

nDaeus the Destroyer of the Odds.

nJaehwan’s mouth twitched as he heard those familiar names.

n‘Catastrophe… so he is famous in too.’

nHe knew this from the Record of the Depths, but it felt different to hear it from locals. Apparently, it was normal for Catastrophe to be considered a natural disaster.

nHe was the one who had become the best in where powerful beings were aplenty.

nMyad continued, “As you know, equipment that has been wielded by a God for a long time will embody the God’s Setting. This is what we call a Part.

nJaehwan understood what Myad said.

n“So, those are the equipment that the Ancient Gods used to use.”

n“You are right.”

nHe nodded as he added, “Actually, their equipment is so famous that everyone in knows about them.”

nAccording to Myad, the Ancient Three Divinities had left behind one equipment each after they were wiped out by . The equipment was as follows:

nThe Void Sword of Catastrophe.

nThe Eye of Geshtalt.

nThe Daeus’s Machina.

nMyad then paused a moment before he added, “I heard that the giant robot, Machina, is going to be up on auction today.”

nJaehwan then stopped.

n‘Machina?’

nHe once spoke about that particular object with the Followers of Daeus, back in the Void Factory. It was a promise he had made to the Overseers, that he would find the Machina, and thus they opened the seal for him in the first place.

n-Machina is a treasure to us Followers of Daeus. It is an object with tremendous power. It will be hard to find though. If there’s any chance, it would be within the at the border of the 8th and 4th site, but… there are no Followers who have ever come back alive after venturing into that place.

nThey had talked about it so much that Jaehwan thought it would be much later that he might come across the Machina. But for it to appear at an auction house? Jaehwan felt that something was suspicious.

n“That machine thing. When is it coming up?”

n“Oh, you’re interested in it too? I guess it’s only natural. After all, it is the most powerful of Gigantes in …”

n“I’m not interested. But I was asked.”

nMyad seemed interested in that, but he didn’t ask Jaehwan what he was asked to do.

n“Are you interested in bidding for the machine?”

n“…Bid?”

nIt was an unexpected question. If he could acquire the machine, it would be a good thing as he did promise those Followers to return the Machina to them. Besides, he was sure it would help him greatly in his future ventures if he acquired such a powerful Part.

nNo way. We can’t even buy the cheapest Part there is with the spirit stones we have. Forget it.

nAndersen quickly added. Jaehwan also agreed with Andersen. Whatever the case, he needed spirit stones, which were the form of currency in , to join the auction, but Jaehwan didn’t have any. Just then, Runald interrupted,

n“We should try! I have spirit stones here!”

n“…You have spirit stones?”

nEh… what? He didn’t have any before!

n“Don’t you remember? When we beat those Followers of Belkain…”

nJaehwan then remembered what happened back in the forest. It meant that Runald’s spirit stones were from those Followers. Myad then asked, “You defeated Belkain’s Followers?”

n“Yeah! He did it in one strike!”

n“One? Hm… Belkain is a middle-ranking God, right?”

nMyad didn’t seem surprised at all. Rather, it was a confirmation of what he knew. Jaehwan received the spirit stones from Runald. Then, Andersen spoke to him.

nNo way. I think there’s about 30… that will barely get us a middle-grade Part, at best.

nAndersen was probably correct. It was foolish to even think about purchasing a legendary Part with the number of spirit stones that the Followers of a middle-ranking God carried.

nHow about… we just… buy middle-grade… parts? Its… really… different to have… one… or not…

nAndersen’s voice seemed to be dragging. Jaehwan nodded.

n‘Okay.’

nAndersen’s evaluation helped Jaehwan decide. His goal at the moment wasn’t to get Machina, but to rescue Yoonhwan. Andersen spoke again.

nUgh… this place… is strange… is it because… there are too many high-ranking Gods…? I feel… drowsy… Jaehwan, be careful… Machina… don’t…

nAnd as she fell asleep, a thundering voice filled the entire auction house.

n-THANK YOU! For visiting our Hatchnold Auction House in !

nIt came from the center of the auction house, seemingly the voice of the auctioneer. People began to shout ‘Reynold! Reynold!’ like a chant.

n-Haha! I guess some of you know me! I am the Follower of God Hatchnold, the God of Equality and Fairness. Under the name of God Hatchnold, I swear that today’s auction will be held 100% fairly and…”

nIt seemed that the auction for the high-ranking Part was going to start. Vicegerents and Followers began to gather in the center of the auction house. They were mostly Vicegerents with high-quality Parts. Jaehwan looked at them for a moment and then down at his naked body. And spoke- or tried to.

n“If you are lacking in spirit stones, don’t worry.”

nJaehwan stopped and turned as Myad continued, “You don’t need to pay any spirit stones.”

n“What do you mean?”

n“I will pay for you. You just need to bid.”

nIt was a strange offer. Jaehwan couldn’t understand what Myad was talking about. Was he trying to borrow Jaehwan’s name to bid? However, what he added made Jaehwan even more confused.

n“Oh, and if you really do acquire Machina through the auction, it’s yours.”

n“…What are you talking about? What about spirit stones that you lent me then?”

n“Lent? No, no. It’s more of a… sponsorship.”

nJaehwan then understood Myad’s offer. It was easy to understand actually, but it just didn’t make sense, at all. His offer was the following:

nFirst, Jaehwan would join the auction.

nSecond, Myad would supply Jaehwan with the needed spirit stones.

nThird, if Jaehwan won, he would keep the Machina.

nIt didn’t make sense at all. The offer had no benefits for Myad at all.

n“…What do you want?”

n“Haha, nothing. I’ll just… say that I like you.”

nIt was a very suspicious reason and Jaehwan frowned.

n‘Andersen. Are you listening?’

nHowever, she did not respond, as if her switch was turned off. Her presence had disappeared from Jaehwan completely. She said she was going to sleep, so she would wake up later, but…

n‘Ugh, why now.’

nAndersen spoke a lot of nonsense, but she was once a high-ranking God. She had more experience in than Jaehwan.

n“What do you say? You can refuse if you don’t like it.”

nJaehwan felt some uneasiness as he looked at Myad’s smile. From his experience, this kind of situation was usually a trap. But it was too tempting to just refuse just for the possibility of it being a trap. Jaehwan also thought that if things went wrong, he would just destroy everything.

n‘Myad van Deklan. He’s not in the Record of the Depth…’

nJaehwan had been going through the Record of the Depth in search of information about Myad ever since he met him. But he couldn’t find anything at all. Maybe Myad appeared after Mulack wrote the Record of the Depth.

nAnyway, Jaehwan had to decide by only relying on his instincts. To Jaehwan, who acted on information gathered by using Suspicion and Understanding, it was a strange feeling.

nIt was when the crowd disappeared towards the center of the auction house that Jaehwan decided.

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