The statue of the golden goose was most certainly unique. There were so, so many potential jokes you could make while gifting it to the right person. Unfortunately nobody fit the bill, so she had no reason to take a gander. It would be an excellent addition to Antikythera's private art exhibit though, but only after a discount. Ten grand for a statue might not be so bad however. To her dismay, someone else bought it, meaning if they resold it the price would go up. Shame.

The next item was a very vibrant crystal sphere, something that fortune-telling frauds liked to use to create a sense of legitimacy. It looked really gaudy and the magical signature of the thing was off the charts, making Shiloh feel nauseous. Just looking at it made her stomach invert itself. Hearing the description, which felt oddly specific, she decided to pass hoping someone would hurry up and buy it already. The longer that thing was out the more she felt like she was going to empty her internal contents onto the auction house floor. Not to mention the price was utterly ridiculous.

"That's it! It's not exactly celestial grade but it's more than excellent for an imperial grade primordial crystal core!" Siris whispered loudly into her ear, pulling on her sleeve and shaking her slightly. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." She groaned, forcing down the gastric fluids that were trying to escape through her esophagus. "No, I'm serious! I didn't think I'd manage to find a-" 

She cut him off quickly. "That was a figure of speech, Siris–please stop shaking me." Why did that thing have to cost so much? Who even sold things for half a silver anyway? With great discomfort and reluctance, Shiloh raised a hand and croaked: "120 million…" Unbeknownst to her, she had now drawn the ire of a young elven man in a three-piece silk suit who had intended to make the first bid.

Although she knew very little about magical crystals, all it took was one look at Siris to know that this was the item they needed to make the flying sword. Despite the strangely specific directions from the owner. Her eyes widened with excitement as Siris continued shaking the ever sickly looking Shiloh. When her hand raised and she managed to say the bid, Dala fully expected that to be that and no more. Little did they know that an elvish aristocrat wearing an elegant silk suit had other plans. He quickly raised his hand to make his bid after throwing them an irritated glance. 

"125 million!" He shouted loud enough for the entire hall to hear. 

Dala spotted the guy and wondered if it would be against the rules of bidding to stab your opponent for dominance. Unfortunately, it probably was. There went that sword unless Shiloh was willing to cough up a greater price. Only time would tell if Shiloh could out bid this stranger. And only time would tell whether Shiloh or her stomach would be the victor of this particular battle. 

"Siris is it allowed to fight our opponents here?" Dala whispered. 

Elated that they could find one very important material crucial for the crafting process, his joy did not last long as someone with less than pleasant intentions immediately followed Shiloh's bid. Siris did not know how much a million silver was, but he assumed it was a considerable amount of money. He whispered back to Dala: "I don't think we should do that, we might be thrown out for attacking other people." In the background there was suppressed gagging noises coming from next to them. Shiloh's face was pale, and upon hearing the man's bid she wanted to cry. Unfortunately she had neither the tears nor energy to do so, only an increasingly overwhelming desire to initiate a gag reflex. Her head was pounding and sadly her sense of consciousness was still strong enough for her to comprehend what was going on.

"One hundred and f-fifty million…" She groaned, propping herself up on the armrest of her chair, arm raised languidly. Normally she hated throwing away money like this, but she really wanted this bidding to end sometime soon before she lost control over her involuntary reactions. "Two hundred million!" The elvish man was incensed, his eyes flaring with seething, unadulterated animosity. From the perspective of the auctioneer and other attendees, the pale woman who had started the bidding war was sobbing quietly and burying her head in her arms. Everything hurt, her stomach hurt, the man's voice was too loud, and she was starting to see colors swirl.

"Th-" "Four hundred million!" The man roared. At this point the other attendees were gossiping amongst themselves. He clearly wasn't letting the opposition bid, interjecting before she could raise. Although his actions were distasteful, this was the most exciting thing they've seen all day. "Don't give in to him, Shiloh! I believe in you!" Siris encouraged, oblivious to the fact his seat mate looked like she was ready to pass out. He didn't know why she suddenly became ill, and she wasn't in any state to tell him, so the thought slipped his mind. "Why are we still here, just to suffer?" She gasped as the auctioneer began the final call. 

"Four million! Going once! Going twice! Do we have another offer?"

As the the auctioneer prepared to bang his gavel, there was a sneer on the elvish man's lips. But then a flailing arm was raised half-supported by Siris as a shaky voice resounded across the auction hall. "NINE HUNDRED AND…NiNeTy-NiNE MiLLioN…silvers." Shock rippled through the hall as all heads turned to look incredulously at them, and the auctioneer banged his gavel. "Nine hundred and ninety-nine million–sold!" 

Dala took note of Siris' words and choice not to commit violence. She would have to wait later for that. For now, Shiloh was having a battle with this dastardly elf, though the battle was far less dramatic since one side looked like they were already dead. Maybe it was the battle with her stomach that was the true ultimate fight. Despite one hundred and fifty million, the elven man did not relent. They fought with money and just when it looked like Shiloh was about to lose it all, she bid nine hundred and ninety nine million silvers. Dala's jaw dropped and everyone else in the audience looked astounded. 

"Damn. Her paycheck must be huge." Dala muttered. 

The auctioneer placed the crystal in a metal box and had it sent over to Shiloh and Siris. The elven man gave out a huff and swiftly left the auction hall, either embarrassed by the whole situation or still angry. Dala looked at the two with a big smile. 

"Great so we got the first ingredient. What's next? Do we need to find another super powerful magical thing?" She asked with pure excitement. 

Then she remembered the dying Shiloh. Squatting next to what may be the corpse, she checked to see if Shiloh was alive. It seemed she was alive enough. 

"Does she need a doctor?" Dala asked Siris. 

Once the crystal core was placed into the metal box and contained, Shiloh briefly opened a small portal in the fabric of space and proceeded to hurl. Feeling much better, she cleaned herself up and tried to stand. As for where that portal led to, best hope it wasn't anywhere awkward. With a pale expression she sorted out the payment for the item she had won in bidding by giving the auctioneer a formal printed certificate with a handwritten amount for nine hundred and ninety-nine million silver, stamped with Antikythera's seal. "The funds will be sent to you shortly. Here is your copy to confirm our transaction." Although it pained her to do so, she had to pay up. Once the transaction was complete, she stared into the distance as she could feel her coinpurse crying. "…There goes my emergency fund." She sighed.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Siris finally asked. "It's nothing… By the way, I think this is the first time I've spent almost a billion. Be honored Siris, you've set a record." She replied with a deadpan face. In her heart she swore to never go shopping with him again, or she'd risk another hemorrhage from her pocketbook. To answer Dala's question, Siris spoke up. "Next we will need star iron ore and condensed aura crystals. It'd be best if we can find fire, water, earth, wood, and metal-aligned shards of equal grade to ensure a balanced distribution of the elemental spectrum–but I suppose we can settle for just three…" He said, feeling an intense stare coming at him from Shiloh's direction. "Don't worry–I'm sure star iron ore won't be too difficult to find!" Siris added quickly. Putting away the newly purchased crystal core into his storage box, the three headed on back towards the market. 

Thankfully this time Siris was right, he did find something that he believed to be 'star iron', which turned out to just be high quality meteorites with deposits of metal. The price was much less painful than what she had given for their previous purchase and they got a full five crates of them while getting a bulk discount. That left the aura crystals as the last thing on the list.

Dala covered her mouth to prevent laughter as she watched Siris discuss more ingredients and spotted Shiloh's glare. Much to Siris' luck, the next star iron was found and turned out to be just fancy meteorites. She was quickly realizing that almost everything he had been discussing was a fancy name for simpler items. Star iron was simply another word for meteorite. Condensed aura crystals seemed to be some sort of elemental crystals, or at least that was what she guessed. Suddenly, Dala remembered something that she had promised. A kid from the village asked her to sell a bunch of pebbles and stones he had collected from the nearby river and hills. Few in the town were interested in simple stones but maybe she could convince Siris or Shiloh to buy it for one silver. Both of her problems would be solved, even if it was a pity buy. 

"Hey I actually have a favor to ask of you guys. Would you mind buying something from me as well. I'm only gonna ask for one silver but if you could buy this bag of pebbles and stones, it'd make a kid back home really happy." Dala asked. 

Perhaps not the best way to market an item but at this point there wasn't really much choice. Sometimes just being upfront and honest was better than haggling prices. Unknown to Dala, some of them had a strong aura. Within some of the stones collected by the river were condensed crystals born from water. The ones collected around the hill had srong earth auras. Not every element was present, just two. 

"I know its a lot to ask." She sighed, "But I'll chuck in a knife or two if you think its not worth that silver." 

The uncomfortable idea of going home to the kid and having to tell him his little rock collection was worthless was NOT something Dala wanted to deal with. 

"Sure, maybe they can be repurposed into something else. Polished river stones are decently valuable for decorating uses." Shiloh said in response. When it came to fulfilling dreams, something like this wasn't something she would refuse. Siris also had no objections, however when he inspected the pebbles he was met with a serendipitous surprise. "Hmm? Oh, I think there's a few aura crystals in here! They're quite small and lower grade, but give them a few decades in the right environment and they would have become common quality. I can refine them to improve their properties, so it won't be too great of a loss. To think there would still be earth and water aura crystals present where people settle…would you mind allowing me to speak with that child? I'd like to know where these were found."

They weren't much, but one could improve low grade aura crystals by infusing them with essence of the same type from other sources. Normally thaumaturges discarded these due to not wanting to bother with the extra work, however he had nothing but time on his hands right now. Even if these were all the fruits of today's shopping, this was much more than he expected. "Ah…um, so about buying the stones…" Siris sheepishly remembered that he didn't have any personal funds, and turned to look at Shiloh apologetically. "We'll take 'em off your hands. One silver each–if that's fine with you." Shiloh nodded to Dala. She had already cut deep into her pockets with the crystal core, buying the pebbles wasn't going to change anything.  

Luckily, her friends were more open towards the idea of buying some useless stones. When Siris inspected the stones, his eyes widened with surprise as he exclaimed about aura crystals. The stones were actually valuable? Or useful? All of the sudden Siris was interested in seeing the child and asking about where the crystals were. Finally! A lucky break! She would be able to sell the stones, get an extra silver for the dogs, and they'll be able to make the magical sword faster!  

"Fine by me! The kid only asked them to be sold!" Dala declared. 

A silver piece per stone was more than enough for the young woman. Once she traded off the pebbles, she counted the collection of silver coins. Not only were there enough for the dogs she had been sent to buy in the first place but the leftover change would make the kid really happy. Now all that was left was finishing the sword. Dala watched as Siris began to work, enraptured by the process. 

"Since I was instrumental in helping you make the sword, you gotta let me fly on it at least once!" She said. 

"Of course! It's the least I could do for your help." Siris said with a nod. Once they returned to Antikythera, he began setting up a magic circle of sorts and some modified forge equipment. While Shiloh didn't know what to expect from this forging process, it was surprisingly…simple. First he put in the meteorites and worked them until they were purified. Impurities came off and created slag that was drained, then began the hammering and shaping process. Once the blade's base form was made, it was tempered and rehammered. She noticed there was a specific pattern in how many times the hammering occurred, but didn't want to interrupt. While the metal was no longer hot, he then reheated it again with the magic circle activated. Using the primordial crystal core, powerful magical energy was being transferred. The crystal fused with the sword, imparting its color and sheen to the metal. Now it was positively glowing with magic, and Shiloh decided to not look at it as her head was getting nauseous again. 

And for the final step, Siris took the aura crystals and they were absorbed into the technicolor weapon, stabilizing to a color that was normal. The metal was a blue-gray hinting at the earth and water attributes it possessed. With a final bright flash, runic engraving appeared and the flying sword was complete! He held the enchanted glorified stabby hoverboard up with triumph, and Shiloh imitated the sounds of fanfare. "Congratulations, your flying traffic hazard is finished. But before you go take it for a test drive, I'm going to need you to promise me a few things. First, do not break the sound barrier. You'd better fly slowly, or else Dala's going to fall off. Second, do not fly at extreme altitudes. Unlike you, Dala needs to breathe and without air she will die. And third, don't go too far away. I'll be following you in case something happens, but don't forget while you're out having fun."

After she made Siris swear to remember Dala's safety, she let him go off and use his newly forged creation. It was a long sword with just enough surface area to stand on, levitating above the ground implausibly. The pointed tip was facing forward with the hilt facing the back. Siris stood closer to the front so there was just enough space for a second person to stand, as questionable as it seemed. "Are you ready? I'll fly at the slowest speed so we can see the view." He said to Dala.

Dala squealed when she learned she could ride the sword. When they returned to Antikythera, she was practically jumping off the walls in excitement. The magical circle was simplistic for others but to her this was a big magical event. Maybe there would be fireworks? No, that wasn't how magic worked. The blade was slowly being tempered, hammered, and created. Dala had been expecting more of a dramatic creation like some sort of flashing light or a transformation, not magically assisted blacksmith work. Still, who was she to argue with the way magical swords came about? Only towards the end was their any dramatics with the crystal fusing to the sword and glowing with magic. 

"Hell yeah! That's more like it!" Dala blurted out. 

With the final step, Siris absorbed the aura crystals into the colorful weapon which turned it to a blue-gray. One more lightshow and the magical sword was complete. Dala jumped to her feet and clapped enthusiastically. She even gave a little cheer. Before the young woman could jump onto the sword, the ever responsible Shiloh set down the rules for their protection. The second Siris gave her the okay, she hopped onto the sword behind Siris. 

"Yes lets go!" Dala said with a giant smile, "This is the coolest thing ever! You're fucking brilliant Siris!"

Anybody who could make a flying sword rideable was a genius in her eyes. The sword floated higher and higher from the ground. For a moment she was a little worried about keeping her balance but as long ash she didn't think too much about it, she felt she would be fine.