The Transmigrated Professor

 

Saying that the exhibition was amazing would be an understatement. C and B Rank Artifacts were displayed behind glass cases for the audience to appreciate their cultural significance. 

To everyone’s surprise, even some A-Rank Artifacts had been carefully set up. 

There was The Trident of Poseidon that allows the user to masterfully manipulate water.
The Golden Headband of Sun Wukong, a prison that restricts the power of anyone trapped in it.
Napoleon’s Sword that gives the owner authority over people who willingly follow them into battle.

There were all types of Artifacts on display, plucked out straight from various mythological scriptures and history books.

“Wow, is that The Bow of Artemis?” Rachel’s eyes fixated on a silver oak bow mounted on a nearby exhibit. Moonlight seemed to be glowing out from its handle.

“Oh, aren’t you an Archer, Rachel? That Bow would definitely suit you.” Rhian remarked, noticing her interest.

“Too bad, all the Artifacts here are just a copy.” Rachel sighed in regret, her gaze lingering at the Bow in regret. “The real Bow of Artemis is supposed to be an S-Rank, not an A-Rank like this one. And it already has an owner.”

“Well, I am sure you will find a better Bow later.” Rhian tried to lift her mood but to no avail. With a final regretful sigh, Rachel moved on to the next exhibit.

As Rhian followed her, a man accidentally bumped into him. 

“Ah, I am sorry.” Rhian quickly apologised to the man, whose face was covered up with a hoodie.

The man ignored him and swiftly merged with the crowd. But before he disappeared completely, he cast a final glance at Rhian. 

A slight shiver travelled down his spine, as Rhian locked eyes with his dark crimson gaze.

‘Wait! Those eyes…’ Rhian’s eyes widened with realisation. 

Although it wasn’t common knowledge on Earth, a Fallen’s eyes glow a very distinctive shade of red whenever they come into contact with a demon or a strong source of demonic energy.

 It wasn’t exactly an effective method to identify Fallen, since only demons could manipulate such amounts of Demonic energy. Furthermore, exposing a Fallen to such energy would only empower them.

“Wait!” Rhian tried to stop him, but the hooded guy had already vanished.

‘What the hell is a Fallen doing here?’

“Rhian, where did you go?” Rachel called out to him.

“Oh, nothing… Let’s go see if there are more A-Rank Artifacts.” He lied. If he said anything now it would only cause unnecessary panic. And he won’t be able to explain how he knew all that to Rachel. Nevertheless, he will still have to keep an eye out.

About half an hour into their tour, an attendant approached the group.

“Ms. Briar, our exhibition is currently hosting a special event for our VIP guests. We would be honoured if you attended it.”

Rachel glanced at the other two, and they nodded to her. “Well, we were just about finishing our tour…”

“Then, please follow me.” The attendant guided them to a lift at the end of the hall. 

“Once you exit the elevator, please walk straight down the corridor. Please enter the door at the very end to participate in the event” She instructed them as the three entered the lift. Once the doors closed, the lift slowly ascended upwards.

“Wait, aren’t we already on the topmost floor of this Mall? How is this elevator going up?” Rhian asked.

“This elevator probably leads to a subspace.” Ryder explained.“They are small pocket dimensions that rich people use to hide away from the outside world.” 

“Does that mean we are going somewhere shady?” Rhian was concerned, remembering who he saw moments ago.

“I doubt that!” Ryder reassured him. “Considering the attendant approached us herself, I am fairly certain we are heading to an auction.”

“They are just trying to show off to us.” Rachel indifferently explained. 

Soon, the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open to reveal a pearl-white corridor. 

Just like Ryder had predicted, the doors at the end opened up to a private box, overlooking a grand stage. As the three took their seats, the spotlight steered over the hostess.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our extraordinary auction from Dungeons across the Human Continent. Tonight, we present to you a collection of B and A-Rank Artifacts. Let the bidding begin!”

One by one, a variety of Artifacts were brought to the stage as people raised bids to claim them as their own.

“You can place your bid there.” Ryder pointed to a screen floating on the armrest. “Just write down your price and it will appear on their screen. But, I would advise you to wait. Auctions like this only bring out the good stuff at the end.”

Well, Rhian wasn’t truly interested in buying anything either. Although to a D Rank like him, C Rank Artifacts would mean a lot, they were still quite expensive, ranging in the price of millions of R.

[Author’s Note: Just in case someone doesn’t understand the R currency, it is actually Rupees. 1 USD = 80 R roughly]

The hosts would occasionally bring out B Rank Artifacts to rile up the crowd, but none of them fit Rhian’s fighting style, so he just yawned as they passed by.

Just as he was going to suggest leaving, the host presented an Item he never thought he would see so soon in this world.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you a Monster Egg. While it may not have much practicality, it can serve as quite a decorative piece for your parties. Bidding starts at a hundred thousand R.”

‘What the hell? Isn’t that a Spirit Egg? And why are they selling it for just a hundred thousand? Don’t these humans know how valuable those are?’ 

If this was on any other planet, the bidding price of Spirit Eggs would have started at a hundred million R. And that was just the beginning, with competitors fighting and raising the price to almost double in some cases. Yet, here this valuable treasure barely had even a couple of competitors bidding for it.

“Too bad, I am not a Spiritualist, otherwise…” Rhian mumbled. 

Beside him, Rachel noticed Rhian’s whispered remark. “Rhian, by any chance, do you want to buy that Item?”

Rhian’s eyes widened as he remembered who he was sitting next to. He quickly clutched her hand. “Rachel, you have to buy that Artifact. You might not understand now, but that Egg is not something that should fall into the wrong hands.”

“Isn’t it just a decorative piece? You don’t seriously think a Monster will come out from it, do you?” She laughed at his naivety. 

“Something even worse than a Monster will come out if we leave it like that.” Rhian insisted urgently.

“...Going twice! And sold!” The host ended the bidding for the Spirit Egg.

“I guess we were too late.” Rachel commented awkwardly as Rhian tried to find the person who won the bid. Unfortunately, all the boxes had darkened glasses, so there was no way to check the occupants inside.

Rhian hurried back to the corridor. Another door had appeared on the walls of the previously barren corridor.

Two girls came rushing out.

“Did you buy the Egg?” All three interrogated loudly.

“Huh?” Rhian stared in confusion at the two girls he recognised. “Kyla! Ophelia! What are you guys doing here?”

“The same as you. Trying to get the Egg.” Ophelia replied in an ‘isn’t-it-obvious’ kind of tone. “But, if you didn’t take the Egg, who did?”

The elevator doors suddenly chimed. The hooded man that Rhian had encountered before, sneered at them, a large egg gently cradled in his arm.

“You…” Rhian rushed towards the doors, but the elevator was already on its way down.

“Who was that guy that took the Egg?” Ophelia demanded, sensing something was amiss from his reaction.

“He was a Fallen…” Rhian answered. 

“What!? A Fallen? The Spirit Egg is in the hands of a Fallen?’ Kyla yelled at him. “That is the worst-case scenario.”

“Just who are you guys? How do you know about Spirits?” Rhian stared at her in confusion, while Ophelia wore a panicked expression.

“Oh, come on. We are in a rush here. We need to stop that Egg from falling into the Alliance’s hands.” Kyla quickly changed the topic.

Rachel, Ryder, and Miyu caught up with them, rushing to their location. “Why are you guys in such a hurry?”

At that very moment, the elevator rang behind them, signalling its arrival. The three grabbed their friends and pulled them inside.

“Whoa! What’s with the sudden rush?” Miyu demanded.

“I can’t explain right now, but there is a Fallen in this building, and he just got his hands on an extremely dangerous Artifact.” Rhian quickly explained.

“What? A Fallen?” Miyu asked in shock. “This auction house might be small, but I am sure they are strict with their client’s identity checks.”

Although it is impossible to check for demonic energy, big organisations still do identity checks for known Fallen. Miyu was misunderstanding that Rhian had recognised some Fallen that was shown on the news. Of course, he didn’t have the time to correct it.

“Just find a hooded man, and try to take the Egg away from him. We can’t let it get into the hands of the Alliance.” Ophelia pleaded to her friend. “Kyla, go with Miyu and Rhian, take Rachel with you. You both saw what he looked like, so you might be able to catch him faster.”

Rhian nodded, and all of them quickly split up.

“I am not comfortable being here. This is wrong.” Ryder whispered as he peeked outside the entrance to the women’s restroom.

“Clamp it, you sissy.” Ophelia scolded him. “You think gender ethics is more important when a Fallen is on the loose?”

“What are you doing anyway?” Ryder asked, seeing her squatting on the restroom floor. She was taking out various roots and plants out of her dimension clutch bag, and making a pile from them.

“It’s a type of voodoo magic.” She answered, not taking her eyes off her task.

“What!? Voodoo? Why?” 

“Because voodoo is as close as magic gets to mimicking demonic energy. I need to trip the sensors here so that they can lock down the mall. That will, hopefully, buy us more time to find that terrorist.”

“You do realise, we can just explain the situation to the guards.”

“The information verification will take too long. We can’t let the guy escape the mall.” Ophelia countered. “It’s done!” She exclaimed. 

Ryder looked down at the messy collection of hideous roots, piled up in front of her, with an expression of distrust. 

“Give me your lighter.” She demanded, forwarding her hand.

“Wh-what? I don’t smoke!” Ryder responded, flustered. 

Ophelia’s eyes shot him a fierce glance, like a hungry tiger eyeing a mouse. Chills ran down his spine.

“Please don’t tell my sister.” He mumbled, handing his lighter to her.

‘Clink!’ 

Soon a pungent purple smoke was thick in the air. The two quickly rushed out of the bathroom.

“I know, it is a bit late to ask, but that magic you used, what does it do?”

“It's just a minor curse that causes temporary panic in a radius.” She explained as sirens rang throughout the floor. 

“Signs of demonic energy have been detected, so the building will undergo a strict lockdown until the investigation is over. Everyone, this is not a drill...”

“Now, pretty boy, let’s go find ourselves a Fallen.” Ophelia dragged him to the plaza, where the crowd was slowly gathering.