“They’re brothers,” Kit said, before Felix could even think of opening his own power. “They’re all strength-type powers. They’re good at fighting and have practiced a fair amount of martial arts. They’d make good security forces or front liners.”
Lily grunted and crossed her arms in front of her midsection. “I’d say worth at least eight thousand, then. Worst case, I can take their souls, and we turn them into sausage.”
Felix tapped the bid button with a shrug of his shoulders. She was right. “Good point, Lily.”
“This is… incredibly easier,” Kit said, scratching at the table with her index finger. “I’m not sure I’ve said it yet, but… thank you, Felix. The… upgrade… really changed things. It’s like working with a scalpel instead of a machete. I can still use it as if there was no change, but it’s at my choice now. So… thank you.”
“Wait, you can upgrade powers?” Lily asked, surprised.
The pad in front of them chimed. The word “Purchased” flashed across the screen, followed by a box that took up the whole window as it asked, “Authorize payment?”
Felix thumbed the confirmation box and looked to Lily. “I can indeed. Why, something you don’t like about your power?”
“I hate using my hands to write the sigils. I’d rather use my mind because it’d be so much faster. Instantly projecting them instead of drawing them out,” Lily said, turning her entire body around to face him. “Can you do that?”
Kit froze in her seat, her eyes stuck to Lily.
“Maybe, one second.” Felix focused on the idea of changing Lily’s power. From a physical ethereal projection to a mental one. That the projections would be instant and from her mind’s eye.
After a few seconds, the upgrade window came into existence.
Power Upgrade: Mental Etheral Projections
Required Primary Power: 50 (Met)
Required Intelligence: 80 (Met)
Upgrade?(10,000)
“Yeah. I can. The price is hefty, though. Ten thousand points. So it’d take an entire day’s worth of points,” Felix said, looking back to the pad.
A woman in her forties was brought in front of the camera.
“Do it,” Lily demanded.
“Do what, upgrade you?” Felix asked. Then he motioned to the pad. “Kit?”
“Builder. She’s mechanical, though. Nothing magical about her. If she’s cheap, pick her up. Worst case, she can keep everything working.”
The price that flashed up on the screen was only a thousand.
Felix hit the bid button.
“Do it. Tonight. After we’ve bought everyone, you’ll have more than enough points.” Lily had inched closer to him; she was practically in his face now.
Looking at her with a small frown, he sighed. “Why? What benefit do I get, Lily? I know what Kit’s bringing to the table for me. What the change in her powers did.
“Besides. Your powers are useful, but… up to now, you’ve been far more important to me for your mind and your thoughts. More of Lilian Lux than Mab.
“If anything, I’d rather spend the ten thousand points pushing your intelligence and wisdom up.”
Or that awful luck of yours.
The pad chimed again. Looking only to confirm the auction win, and authorize the payment, he tried to keep his attention on Lily.
“You don’t understand. I could cast spells that would currently take me minutes, hours, days, in seconds. My potential would become near limitless. I… no, you asked what’s in it for you.
“I would be limitless potential for you. I’d do anything for you. Anything. I’ll never fight with you, or make fun, or snark—”
“Stop,” Felix said, holding up a finger in front of her. “I’ll purchase the upgrade tonight. If I can do it before midnight, all the better. As for what you’ll do, be you. Be who you were up to this point. Fight by my side, rather than for me. I need that elegant brain of yours, Lily.
“Not your powers. Deal?”
Lily turned her head to the side, watching him from the corner of her eye. Her lips were turned down in a pouty frown.
“That’s it?” she asked suspiciously.
“For about five more seconds, yep. Next purchase is coming.”
Lily held out her hand. “Your word on it, then. A deal.”
Felix shook her hand and turned back to the screen.
A teenage boy took the stage. Felix put him at probably eighteen years old.
He looked roughed up but healthy enough. Clearly, he’d continuously tried to either provoke his captors or escape.
While he didn’t seem to bear any wounds, his clothes bore tears, smears, and rough wear.
Whoever was running the auction realized what people were looking at and put the starting bid at a low five hundred dollars.
“The boy is a mage. A natural one, though, not runic, mystic, or elemental. He focuses natural energies,” Kit said.
Tapping the bid screen, Felix waited. The sale went through quickly and he confirmed the payment.
The handler who escorted the young man off the stage shoved him roughly off screen.
Almost immediately, he was replaced with another teenager. Felix put this one at fifteen. It was a little hard to tell, though.
Her face was swollen, her eyes puffy, and she looked like she would collapse any moment.
Whatever had been done to the teenager before this one now seemed light in comparison.
Her clothes were in far worse wear, and it looked as if she’d been pushed through a garbage chute.
Felix focused on the girl and popped open a screen for her as if she were already purchased, getting the hypothetical view.
Name:
Eva Adelpha
Power: Intangibility
Alias:
Secondary Power: Mind Control
Physical Status:
Gravely Wounded
Mental Status:
Shock
Positive Statuses:
None
Negative Statuses:
Crippling Fear, Paranoia, Hunger, Thirst, Internal hemorrhaging
Strength:
35
Upgrade?(350)
Dexterity:
43
Upgrade?(430)
Agility:
46
Upgrade?(460)
Stamina:
56
Upgrade?(560)
Wisdom:
41
Upgrade?(410)
Intelligence:
61
Upgrade?(610)
Luck:
84
Upgrade?(840)
Primary Power:
91
Upgrade?(9,100)
Secondary Power:
02
Upgrade?(200)
“What would you say, ‘intangibility’ means? Because that’s her primary power. That and mind control, but that one’s very, very weak,” Felix wondered, pressing the bid button. She was only going for five hundred dollars too.
That and he doubted anyone would bother to look into that internal hemorrhage. He imagined that whoever bought her would have less-than-honorable intentions to begin with. She was as good as dead with anyone but him, he wagered.
“Hum,” Lily mused, chewing on her lower lip. “I think I heard that mentioned once… I’m not completely sure, but maybe she can pass through walls?”
Kit made a soft humming sound and then tilted her head to one side. “Ah, there it is. Yes. Her mind control gives her a limited ability to shield thoughts. A touch of telepathy in that control. She’s shielded her ability even from her own mind.”
On the screen, the girl pressed her hands to her head and bent over for a second, looking around at everyone near her off screen.