You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 120

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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120

 

Yoon Yi-seo opened the grimoire and held it out in front of me.

 

I slowly read through the pages.

 

‘It really exists.’

 

There was a simple explanation written alongside an illustration of a crystal orb.

 

[To the scholar reading this grimoire, this is a Divine Artifact containing the power of the spacetime-transcending mage ‘Clockhand That Turns Back’.]

 

[If you reach the pinnacle of spacetime magic, you will become an Apostle of God and be able to fully enjoy the Divine Authority of this Divine Artifact.]

 

[As part of the Time Reversal Authority, it reverses the physical time of the target.]

 

“Reversing time…”

 

As I read the last sentence, scenes from the recent battle flashed through my mind like a rewind.

 

The Giant Tribe Priest.

 

That regeneration as hard as steel.

 

The sight of his body, burned black in the flames, being restored in an instant.

 

And the transformation that seemed to go beyond regeneration to actually becoming ‘younger’.

 

The sense of unease I felt then came flooding back all at once.

 

‘No wonder the recovery speed was abnormal… It wasn’t recovery but reversing time.’

 

The Priest hadn’t healed his wounds, but had returned to the ‘time’ before he was wounded.

 

The sight of lost tissue returning had only appeared to be recovery at first glance.

 

Coming back to life from an unrecoverable state followed the same principle.

 

No, the Priest had gone beyond resurrection to return to an earlier state.

 

To his prime before he lost his sight.

 

All those phenomena could be fully explained if he was an Apostle of the ‘Clockhand That Turns Back’.

 

I closed the book and quietly exhaled.

 

Now that I knew the nature of the Divine Artifact, the Cult Leader’s purpose became even more suspicious.

 

Leaving behind a cheat-level divine artifact that reverses the physical time of targets,

 

and taking the giant’s corpse instead made no sense whatsoever.

 

“Clockhand That Turns Back…”

 

I think that was the epithet of the god who gave me the Space-Time Magic Tome.

 

‘I can just ask directly. But first…’

 

My gaze turned toward the cracked crystal orb.

 

‘It might be good to take a suitable hostage along.’

 

“You said you could restore this, right?”

 

***

 

Once I joined in, drawing the magic circuit was completed in an instant.

 

I didn’t know what kind of circuit Yoon Yi-seo was talking about, but copying it exactly wasn’t a problem.

 

Training to draw circuits with ghostly energy is part of my daily morning routine.

 

This much wasn’t difficult.

 

When Yoon Yi-seo infused mana into it, the circuit began to operate.

 

Ripples spread across the complex magic circle laid on the floor, activating it instantly.

 

The moment all the mana lines that lit up one by one from the outside connected,

 

time above the magic circle stopped.

 

‘Spacetime magic is fascinating every time I see it…’

 

Separately from that, I was worried about the floor where the magic circle was drawn.

 

I hadn’t noticed when drawing with ghostly energy, but the moment Lee Seo’s mana touched it, scorch marks appeared on the floor like tattoos.

 

‘I’ll have to get compensation from Clock Hand for this.’

 

Meanwhile, the mana flowing through the mana lines began to be absorbed toward the crystal orb.

 

Soon after, when Lee Seo slightly turned her wrist counterclockwise,

 

the time of the stopped crystal orb began to turn back.

The frozen time within the crystal orb began to turn once more.

The broken sculpture began to mend piece by piece, like a video playing in reverse.

 

After a moment, when Lee Seo removed her hands, the crystal orb had regained its lustrous shine like new.

 

It took quite a bit longer than the Priest’s sorcery, but it wasn’t a bad result.

 

‘If she grows a little more, there will be many places to put this to use.’

 

She still had a long way to go.

 

When I glanced at Lee Seo, beads of sweat were dotting her forehead.

 

“Good work.”

 

I handed a bottle of Bacchus each to Lee Seo and Rui, then opened the Golden Incense.

 

My purpose was to contact Clock Hand.

 

I didn’t necessarily need to restore the crystal orb,

 

but there was no reason to refuse when I could secure an advantageous position in negotiations.

 

Clock Hand was a God thirsting for victory.

 

Even when Yoon Yi-seo, the sole possessor of space-time mana, appeared, he had sent me a message first, disregarding his dignity.

 

So my judgment was that if I entered negotiations with his Divine Artifact, I could secure an advantageous position.

 

Just as I was writing the message title.

 

Pure white light burst forth from the orb.

 

Soon, that light became sand and began shooting up like a fountain above the crystal orb.

 

The form that had been murky like muddy water slowly cleared, and a hazy figure gradually revealed itself.

 

“There was no need to send a message after all.”

 

I knew what this phenomenon was.

 

I had experienced it a week ago as well.

 

It was a Divine Oracle.

 

“Who is it? Who has wielded the mana of time and space?”

 

Above the hazy sand, a young boy with an impressive clock hand-like mustache wearing a robe pressed down over his head revealed himself.

 

***

 

“Who used spacetime mana—”

 

“Clock head.”

 

At the unexpected crude informal speech, Clock Hand couldn’t continue his words.

 

“This familiar rudeness… You must be Nobody.”

 

He cleared his throat while adjusting the hem of his robe.

 

“That child… must be my disciple who restored this orb.”

 

Clock Hand turned his head toward where Yoon Yi-seo was.

 

Sand flowed smoothly toward Yoon Yi-seo.

 

“Who says she’s your disciple.”

 

I blocked the space between them.

 

Clock Hand returned to his position with apparent regret.

 

“So what’s the reason you called me out?”

 

It was a deliberately solemn voice, but his dignity had already crumbled long ago.

 

“You’re the one who issued the Divine Oracle, not me.”

 

“Ah, I was mistaken. It’s been so long since I issued a Divine Oracle.”

 

“Perfect. I had something I wanted to ask anyway.”

 

“The Giant who possessed the Divine Artifact, what was his identity?”

 

“Giant?”

 

Clock Hand’s mustache twitched as it changed direction.

 

“Ah, you’re talking about the Child of Titan.”

 

“Titan?”

 

“From a human perspective, you could call them giants.”

 

Clock Hand opened his mouth as if lost in memories.

 

“The Child of Titan yearned to become my apostle from the moment he was born…”

 

Clock Hand’s explanation was as follows.

 

The Priest was a very suitable talent to become Clock Hand’s apostle.

 

Except for just one thing.

 

The fact that he had a constitution with almost no mana.

 

For a typical god’s apostle, that constitution would have been like a blessing.

 

It was normal for divine power, or what’s called divine force – the remnants of a god – to fill that empty space.

 

But for Clock Hand, whose condition for apostleship was reaching the Ultimate Mastery of Spacetime, there was no worse condition than that.

 

However, Clock Hand bestowed grace upon the Priest who didn’t give up and continued to strive.

 

He gave him his divine artifact to fill the space where mana should be with his divine power.

 

In a way, it formed a conventional relationship between god and apostle, but according to Clock Hand, it was quite a risky action.

 

In a way, it was going against the natural order that Clock Hand had established.

 

But the result was successful.

 

The Priest became a complete apostle through Clock Hand’s divine power.

 

However, it wasn’t all good things.

 

The Priest came to see that his city would walk the path of destruction.

 

And then it’s an obvious story.

 

He tried to prevent the destruction, but ultimately failed to stop it.

 

To buy time for that salvation, he used Clock Hand’s Divine Artifact to create a loop on the day before destruction.

 

That plaza I saw in the Giant Tribe Dungeon, where the same day repeated endlessly.

 

That was the repetition of the day before destruction that the Priest had created.

 

But in the end, it became the Priest’s shackles,

 

and by killing him, I had severed those shackles.

 

But what I was truly curious about wasn’t that.

 

“Why did the Cult Leader take the Priest’s corpse instead of the Divine Artifact?”

 

“I don’t know who this Cult Leader you speak of is, but targeting an Apostle’s body is obvious, isn’t it? It’s because of Divine Power.”

 

“Divine Power?”

 

“You… don’t know what Divine Power is?”

 

At my response, Clock Hand showed a surprised expression instead.

 

“The energy overflowing from your body is… Ah…!”

 

Then he muttered to himself with an expression of realization.

 

“Wait, wait…”

 

Clock Hand’s aura wavered for a moment.

 

In the quiet room, a sound like an old Clock Spring slowly winding could be heard.

 

“You haven’t met the Sage of Centaal yet.”

 

Who’s that?

 

“I was looking too far into the future.”

 

Clock Hand, who had been rambling and muttering something, suddenly— returned to a calm state.

 

“You’ll learn about Divine Power soon enough.”

 

It wasn’t an answer.

 

But from Clock Hand’s atmosphere, I could sense that he couldn’t tell me rather than wouldn’t.

 

“Tsk.”

 

“Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough. I suppose I can tell you this much. The Sage of Centaal, or by a name you’re familiar with – the Forest Sage. If you meet him, you’ll naturally come to know. And you’ve already met him before.”

 

It was still incomprehensible.

 

However, the mention of the Forest Sage reminded me of someone I knew.

 

“Well, there isn’t much time left. Then let’s quickly proceed with the Apostle contract…”

 

I blocked Clock Hand’s path as he naturally tried to bring up the Apostle contract.

 

Clock Hand sighed with regret,

 

“As you know, it’s a destiny that will be fulfilled anyway. Well then, see you again.”

 

Soon he scattered like sand.

 

“The sand doesn’t disappear together with him.”

 

I looked at the crystal orb where Clock Hand’s Divine Oracle had descended.

 

On the floor, only the charred magic circle and sand grains scattered on top of it remained.

 

I called the Cleaning Team to tidy up and sent the kids out.

 

Before sending them out, I also gave Yoon Yi-seo homework.

 

To think of conditions to somehow fleece Clock Hand before stamping the contract seal.

 

At the very least, shouldn’t we get conditions better than Ashin’s contract?

 

Or maybe make the Apostle contract temporary.

 

I had no intention of easily giving away a Guild Member I had raised.

 

Once the commotion settled down, I reached for the ancient book on the sofa.

 

I was fully awake now, and it bothered me that the Cult Leader was targeting the power called Divine Power.

 

Clock Hand said I would soon obtain Divine Power as well, but I couldn’t help feeling urgent.

 

The fortunate thing was that I could guess the identity of the Sage of Centaal that Clock Hand mentioned in passing, even giving the hint of calling him the Forest Sage.

 

‘There’s only one person I’ve already met who could be called the Forest Sage.’

 

Or would it be more accurate to say half-human, half-horse?

 

I slowly opened the Training Manual.

 

***

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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