Chapter 52
They suddenly felt a chill behind and got uncomfortable all over.
Looking over, the masked person was looking in their direction, and his eyes, for some reason, felt intimidating and overbearing.
It was as if they were being stared down by the entire sky!
They felt as insignificant as tiny ants under the mountainous intimidation from him.
Just the gaze was so overbearing that they felt they were being stared down by the stars! Always beneath...
It seemed that they shouldn't comment more or they would get into big trouble, so they quickly shut themselves.
Oliver, on the other hand, focused back on the stage. He knew these sort of people.
They were all bark but no bite. They would fear strong and bully the weak.
He used only light intimidation and silenced them instantly.
Calmly, he assessed the situation.
He had purchased the artifact...
The artifact everyone was considering useless and uncommon rank...
An item that made others feel that he was trying to show off.
Something that a junior expert appraiser from the forging association advised against... he bought it.
Why? Just why would he purchase such trash?
Simple, because it was not trash.
But a gem in the covering of garbage that they could not see.
This artifact was called [Stone of Sight] and was an item that was originally possessed by the high priestess of the Vasa family in the story's original plotline.
She was the future companion of the protagonist of the story.
In the novel, they both worked as allies for some time before departing. She was someone who fought alongside the protagonist and helped exterminate demons who threatened the very concept of humanity.
She was someone with the power to predict the future to some extent and the source of her powers originated from this [Stone of Sight].
It was this artifact that helped her awaken her latent potential and rise above other exorcists. She could divine events that were going to happen at some point and change them.
The [Stone of Sight] was the original family heirloom of the Vasa family, a once renowned family that participated in the great demon war as a vassal family for the Mystic Purge Clan.
They were a family of seasoned exorcists, having multiple achievements and was also the place that once birthed many powerhouses during the Dark War.
They fell from grace when their acting patriarch at that time fell against the demons in the battlefield.
Slowly, other families rose above and took their place, chipping away at every prestige they once were proud of.
This was how the world worked; if you were not powerful enough to defend yourself and your family, then you could only step down and let others rise above you.
There were countless other families vying for the attention of the Mystic Purge Clan, wanting to earn the status of a vassal family, and they would do anything to rise above their competitors, schemes, plots, blood, whatever was possible.
All for the mere attention and recognition of the great clan!
The Mystic Purge Clan, being the infamous clan they had been, did not even bother looking back and moved forward with the newer and better vassal families.
Time passed, and the Vasa Family slowly disappeared... at least from the public eye.
While actually, they had just secluded themselves in the dense mountains of the north.
The family was suffering badly during this time; the lack of decent exorcists in their family was one of the major reasons.
They could have directly migrated to the area with normal humans and could have lived a somewhat good life, but they did not.
If an exorcist family decides to assimilate completely in the normal human cities, that would mean forever sealing their abilities and powers and live as normal humans.
This was the greatest shame an exorcist clan or family could suffer from; they would be forever killing their exorcist background to the root by doing that.
Of course, the Vasa family refused to go down this way; the current patriarch was an average man at best, both in terms of abilities and management.
No one in the exorcism community would be willing to live the small life of a normal human. This was how the world worked, no matter how it was...
During this time, fortune finally shined on them as they gave birth to a talented daughter.
She had above-average potential and was hardworking; she cared for her family and desired for her family to once again regain their lost respect.
"She should be older than me..." Oliver thought; at this moment, she was already some years older than him.
Upon seeing her family's dire circumstances, she decided to do the ultimate.
Without the notice of her parents, she secretly picked up some valuables from her family's treasure vault. There were not many things, but she took what she considered to be sellable.
A reckless and stupid move, but she did it out of desperation; she was not able to see her parents suffering every day.
She hated this; what was the use of treasures or heirlooms if they can't be used when needed? If they can't be used and were only serving as decorations, then it was better to earn something from them.
The readers empathized with her decision to sell the artifacts seeing as it was an action out of love for her family and her desire to improve their situation, rather than a selfish or malicious act.
She traveled all the way from her home to the Mystic Purge Clan and put the items up for auction.
She was naive and had little knowledge of the world; she used her textbook knowledge and put the items up for auction in hopes of gaining funds that she could use to rebuild her family.
Maybe this was why she was scammed multiple times after leaving the mountains; she truly acted like an oblivious and ignorant bumpkin.
He wondered how his actions would affect the future since he had directly purchased the heirloom of the Vasa family.
He didn't know if she was even aware that the stone she had put up for auction was so important or not.
"She didn't just think it was some ordinary item, right?" He doubted.
The [Stone of Sight], although appearing lacking and useless, was not.
This was just because this artifact had certain conditions that needed to be fulfilled first before it could grant the bearer [Future Sight].
The only reason people never realized its true potential was because the first and foremost condition to activate this artifact was through a sacrifice.
A sacrifice of one's own sight to achieve the first condition.
The artifact worked on simple reasons; for someone to be able to bear the powers of [Future Sight], they must be prepared to vassal that power inside their eyes.
And the best way to achieve that was to have a blank slate prepared; if used on a person with no sight, the chances for them to gain [Future Sight] increase highly.
Otherwise, it was very difficult to handle the power of [Future Sight].
In the novel, it was mentioned briefly that someone had purchased the artifact from the auction, and later the daughter of the Vasa family had to go through many things and situations before being able to retrieve the artifact back.
He shook his head...
It was time for the last item!