Identity (2) - Winner?

It has been almost two days since Stigma entered the market and a lot of events had happened, other than meeting some trustworthy people, a serious mass murderous investigation was secretly taking place outside.

But that didn't stop the market's Top merchants to continue with the following festivities, especially with today's event. In total, seven events will take place for the following seven days with an auction on the final day, right now a large lottery event will take place in the middle of the market.

The sound of over twenty or so beating drums continued to reverted all around the market, but all were played with a reason, to start the lottery event the Top had organized with over a three hundred or so vendors providing the prizes.

Three areas were used for this event; a reserved private areas where Stigma's group was heading, the wide grassy ground for the majority, and the center stage.

The private areas had to be reserved ahead of time, but a personal will be stationed and would be responsible in receiving the prizes, so they would just wait it out until their numbers are called and the attendant will handle cataloging the already taken prizes and show them the prizes they had won.

To help with their choices they were all provided with a catalog books each with the exact same prizes, so there was no need to stare at a flyer. This was provided so if they indeed won, they would wait right here and the attendant will be the one to deliver to them.

Their group separated when the girls volunteered to buy food and would meet up afterwards, Hans was the one who reserved the place and told his sister so there was no problem where they would meet up.

Along the way he saw that there were three archers surveying the crowd like they were part of security. They didn't appear as though they want to draw the attention of the crowd and covered their head with hoods, but the people were aware and ignored them as though they were the subordinates of the top.

When Hans and Stigma got to their tent, a young woman in her twenties was standing by the side with a tag signifying her role as the attendant, she greeted them with a smile and followed them inside. Even without his skill, Stigma noticed she had some Zen energy but compared to his reserves, the woman apparently only had enough to defend herself from being attacked.

The tent had no walls, but the furniture were all facing the stage, so there was nothing to note but the sofa's were high class and the table was around Han's waist height. Dusk followed and stood behind Stigma all the time like a loyal dog, Hilda remained silent and Kirin's injuries were healed so his bandages were removed and was sleeping inside Stigma's robe peacefully.

As Han placed Stigma down, the attendant explained the rules of the event, so they had to listen carefully for the girls to understand when they return. When Stigma pointed out she had Zen energy Han wasn't surprised, he seemed to have noticed already and didn't seem appear to care.

"There are those who can use Zen energy even is small amounts, but their control in them would only be a fraction to what we can do as we progress, I heard a handful of people can be born with large reserves but those are rare jewels that are hard to find."

Han's then told Stigma that hidden experts would try and recruit disciples in that level, but had no luck as they can't distinguish a talented one to the one with large reserves. Talent is one thing, but finding future monsters that would spread their name is what most experts want to spread their techniques fame.

He wanted to continue on but the attendant was coughing at them to pay attention, she was well aware that between the three of them, she was far too weak to antagonize them. Han was technically the strongest Cultivator she had met so far so she had to tread carefully, Stigma was still stronger that her so she had to remain passive.

Continuing on to what she said, the event has a total of five categories for each prize, between six and ten will be counted as one category, four and five will be another, and the last three numbers will each have a category. As the numbers decrease, the chances in gaining valuable prizes was possible, at the same time, winning them will be one in a thousand possibility.

Each time a number pattern is shown, the attendant will write down the numbers to avoid confusion and they can recheck if they won, however some of the tickets they bought are only to make the lose numbers so there might be a chance they might not get to win anything.

There was also a mystery black box event for the randoms numbers, in where a ten random set numbers will be chosen and those lucky winner would obtain a mysterious black box with a random prize. They can still use the excess tickets as form of a ten percent discount coupon for any of the stalls who agreed with the event, so there was no need to throw them right away.

The list of prizes from the wagon were just a sample of how valuable each treasure in each category will be, so there was still a variety of prizes to pick from so there would be more winners. Because reading the list would take to long, Stigma ignored in account none of the them items caught too much of his attention.

Majority of the items were for the rich anyway, excluding necessities such as clothes, books, and meal tickets there was nothing to note. There was some bags filled with small elemental stones but those were filled random stones they had lying around when the attendant pointed them out, but Stigma would pick that anyway, he was also curious about the contents of the black box were.

When he asked about the five archers outside, she was surprised and told him that those five were hired by the top, identities aside she can't distinguish who they are but all she can say they belonged to one family and were hired after the storm due to some 'incidents' as a security measure.

From what Stigma remembered, a long storm that lasted for days is the reason why they were pushing the event to make up the lost profit, along with pulling the leaving customer to return. It was a gamble but the plan had the market buzzing with life again and brought word to more investors.

'That would also mean the murders must have been found, when they checked the damage after the storm, that greatly shorten my list.'

Preparing all the material would take time as well as finding capable personals to handle each task, so Stigma questioned whether or not the market had already found the bodies but choose to kept quiet about it or tried to use the festivities as a cover up to lessen the damage.

When he told the three about this theory before, they all said that it was possible, but without further digging from the Top's themselves it would be a waste of time.

So Stigma had to find some way to cut the list of suspects by a wide margin, the one who harmed Kirin are still within the vicinity of the market but chose to kept quiet, so he had to get his hands on someone who keeps track of all the residence who had left the two days before.

From what Stigma can gather he had arrived exactly two days ago, so excluding yesterday morning, this leads him over the people leaving within the day before or the people who left recently. He obviously cut of this morning's time in account that a merchant babbled out he saw a beast covered in lighting was found in the night, which make him believe that Kirin was hurt between the morning or last night.

But to shorten the margin, he would need to figure out who were the ones who had left and returned and he can get that from either interviewing the guards or getting the list he saw this morning from the guard post.

Leaving the market is one thing, but finding out who returned or entered are his prime suspects.

Excluding non - cultivator combatants like hunter or mercenaries, they would have no way in harming Kirin unless they used multiple traps which was also unlikely, risking the lives of their customers who wander around is never allowed or their reputation would be hit. Also if they were employed to the Top, news would spread about Kirin's Origins and a large bounty would appear for its capture, but Stigma ruled it out over two possibilities.

One, why harm a rare creature if they plan to sell it to the highest bidder, they would give up the moment they heard it was hurt and avoid endangering the market in whole if they thought Kirin had a mother with the same element nearby.

Second, hiring an expert within the market was impossible, from what Veil told him hiring a cultivator even within the lower Tier would hurt the pockets of any merchants based here since they are looking for profit, and the highest Tier employed here was a Second Tier.

Another would be the Top would want to find it in secret and keep Kirin for himself or sell it in an auction, but that would also correlate to the first two in happening.

Stigma was confident that Kirin would outrun any Cultivator in the forest, unless he was outnumbered with a coordinated team it was impossible. So that led Stigma to believe, the person had no connection to the market and was a third party who wanted to make a living from Kirin's capture, but he most likely gave up when he saw the cave of bodies.

However Stigma couldn't rule out the one who harmed Kirin may also be the perpetrator of the murders and found Kirin by accident when he was trying to hide the bodies, thus he fought Kirin leading him to injure it in the process. But because Stigma told Kirin to wait in the cave, it followed his wishes and return to stay there despite it's injuries, waiting for Stigma to find it.

If the theory was true, then the one who attacked Kirin would take base in the market, waiting for any news about Kirin's whereabouts, as the market does his work. So Stigma had to figure out who attacked Kirin or he might be targeted next.

Seeking revenge wasn't the only reason why he wanted to catch the perpetrator, he also wanted to experience himself actual combat. Taking a life was one thing, but what would happen if Stigma were to experience the same thing with battling someone with Wade's caliber.

When Han noticed Stigma's face, he grabbed him by the neck with his arm and lightly choked him as he hoisted Stigma's body up then he ruffled his hair, with a smile he told him to enjoy the festivities first before thinking about the difficult future.

Without Stigma noticing, the girls came back but had brought enough food to fill the tables when they sat down, if he were to guess the amount would be considered a buffet if they went into a normal restaurant. Though Stigma was told this was their lunch, which greatly shocked him yet the sister had already started with a large bowl of noodles before he knew it.

He was about to explain the rules, but was ignored when the leader heard the sound of a cymbal echoed and an announcer came to the prebuilt stage with a glass bowl, some assistance followed behind carrying a bulletin board with twenty or so wooden plates.

Eventually the market lottery event started with a huge uproar, many shouted with joy when they remembered the list of prizes written on the flyers, but the commentator first started explaining the rules similar to what the attendant told him.

Because the leader wanted a large sum of gambling money for tomorrow, she ended up buying a handful of tickets by hunting down about seven sellers and buying what was left of all the tickets that was up twenty percent. In total, they have about one hundred to two hundred tickets in total, and the majority was from the leader.

They agreed that any items with value will be sold and any item that they fancy will be kept, simple as that. But the leader told them that if they help her in finding the prize in her pile, sixty to seventy percent of the money earned will belong to her, as she bought most of the tickets thinking she had the most chances to be a winner.

With not much choice, Stigma went along and bought a total of twenty tickets, but was given an additional ten tickets from Veil's pile, since she only wanted some jewelry or prized stones if she ever won, so she gave up her tickets and volunteered to look after their winnings.

Han's had about twenty five tickets, other than rare liquor or armor none of the prizes seemed appealing to him when he double check, so he gave them all to the leader and sat by his sister's side like a guard.

Stigma didn't notice but Han was staring at a certain tent, the person standing by was someone who fit the description in his memory so he followed the procedure and watched from a safe distance.

They haven't seen or meet up with Felix's group, so Stigma assumed they weren't going to involve themselves and had other plans. Stigma eventually asked why was the food bought in large amounts, no matter how he looked at it they can't finish everything in one go, they have space rings, but those have a limited capacity and his was almost filled with nothing but what they bought.

Stigma was told that Cultivators in all aspects are superhuman, not only do they have superhuman strength and speed, but that would also indicate that they waste ten times the amount of energy than a normal person could make, so equal consumption must be made.

So having a high liquor tolerance or a voracious appetite is normal, and it was not unusual to see Cultivators eating or drinking in large quantities in restaurants. There are some that chose to eat minimal amounts in fear their weight would increase, but that was only a myth from female Cultivators, but some still eat in moderation.

"Cultivators tend to drink a lot because they can't get drunk easily, so they either brew their own strong liquor or find and collect rare booze to enjoy in one go." - Han

'So that's the reason why I ate all that meat as if it was nothing, I suppose Kirin would be the same to too.' With that in mind, he asked if there was possibility to be poison by food if they weren't careful like alcohol poisoning, he was concerned unneeded but he asked it anyway.

"Being poisoned by food would be possible, but at our level of strength two gallon of weak leveled poison or cheap booze will be needed to affect us, but do you expect us to be that gullible enough to drink obvious poison without fear." - The leader

"But that doesn't mean we are totally immune to alcohol poisoning, there are still some poison that affects us if it was strong enough, but Zen energy suppresses the effect to some degree. Meaning the higher a Cultivator's Tier mean's the lesser the effects of the said poison would take effect." - Veil

"Well, unless a certain Cultivator believed he was invincible and drank a whole bottle of paralyzing poison without fear, then he would be some fool who would voluntarily want to be a vegetable." - Leader

Stigma soon noticed Han was bowing his head, while Veil was covering her mouth as she giggled for some reason. Eventually Stigma guessed that Han was the fool from her story, apparently he stayed like a vegetable for one week and missed training, so he suffered ten times the amount of pain and difficulty to make up for lost time.

The leader spoke about with a smile as if it was a joke, then grabbed a steamed bum and finishing it in a few bites, Han's didn't care anymore and grabbed an over-sized grilled chicken leg covered it black sauce and stood with a moping expression. The sister followed with eating eating a barbeque with vegetables and handed Stigma a plate filled with shumai, minced cabbages and spicy dipping sauce.

Stigma grabbed a piece of ham on the table then hid it inside his robe as Kirin ate it with great relish, eventually Stigma gave it a whole bowl filled with meat, since it was enough for Kirin as his lunch. There was enough to feed them all and they can hide the leftovers in their individual space rings, so there was no need to worry.

Before Stigma had a chance to take a bite out of his shumai, another set of drums and cymbals were played but this time the commentator was finish with his explanation and began the event without delay, making every person in the crowd shout with joy.

While the leader was more like a rabid dog with a meat at hand, so the Veil had to restrain her with a leash. With the exact words, Veil said:

"If your gonna act like a dog, I'll treat you like a dog."

With that statement, she forced the leader to sit back down with a red face when she realized she was playing the fool.

But for some reason, Veil was smiling from her humiliation as she licked her lips, Han then warned Stigma that his sister was an sadist that liked to tease people even in combat. Between his sister and the captain, Veil was the last person he wanted to pick a fight with, he didn't look back but Stigma took his words to heart after looking at his blank eyes.

Normally, lotteries have a rule where participants have to choose random numbers on their own, which makes it impossible to earn a win, but some lotteries will use pre-chosen numbers such as now.

This event follows that concept but will only use ten set patterns, if they go by that logic, the Top had printed over multiple copies for the lower rank prizes but choose to have limited copies for the higher prizes.

Forcing every participant to buy their chances from a low return.

In any case, there may be time where multiple winners may appear, so Stigma checked each ticket and there were doubles from his pile, so his guess was correct. That would also mean that other participants have the same chances for them to earn the top prize.

The event prizes didn't seem to interest him, so Stigma went back to eating and only looked up when their numbers were called, the sibling did the same thing but the leader was looking at the stage with great zeal as she chomped of a steak bone without noticing.

'....I fear that any man, who would ask her out for a night visit, would lose his dignity after one go...maybe lose his manhood if he wasn't careful...'

Halfway through the event, Stigma was bored so he went back to his 'training' by exercising with his body or using the glass bottle filled with water and oil method.

The events procedures is as follows, the commentator would pick a piece of paper from the bowl and slowly read out the number, at the same time the assistance will place the corresponding number using the wooden boards, those with the number responds and cheer out their numbers while the rest watch from the sideline with red faces.

When he looked over at some of the wagons parked nearby, about five archers were standing by each watching the crowd. He wasn't the only one to see that as Hans and Veils saw it too, but the leader was to focused on the event to even care so he dropped it.

So far, like he had expected there had been multiple winners from the lower category and among them Stigma had been called in four to five times. Veil gave away her tickets so she told Stigma and made him pick out a book for him to read later on.

Since none of the prizes in the catalog were anything special he picked out a two books bundles like Veil asked him to do, but he also picked three bags filled with small elemental stone which was good deal for him later on.

Unfortunately the leader was repeatedly gritting her teeth, she was so close in winning and everytime she was about to win she bit a piece of the bone without much thought, causing the attendant's face to go pale from how powerful her jaw strength was.

They agreed beforehand, whoever won a prize would have the decision in selling what they earned, but with both the sibling giving away their tickets so Stigma and the leader were the only ones participating.

So far, Stigma was the only one winning from their group.

The bags Stigma chose were each capable in fitting a small watermelon, Veil told him that just one of them alone was enough for a thousand gold coins if they sold the stones altogether. Yet all the tickets that were taken were from Stigma's pile, so the leader could not get a cut, causing her to play with a serving knife in a dangerous manner.

"...Leader, you want one bag?" The leader looked back at Stigma, but only sighed from looking pathetic.

"No, it's your win, I'm not so petty as to make my subordinate give away his earnings."

'I'm your subordinate?'

"Huh? But I heard you destroyed a bunch of loan shark gangs for not giving you any money." She then waved her finger from side to side and her eyes gave away a dangerous glint.

"No no no, you misunderstand, the agreed to lend me the money but refused to give me anymore. So I gave them a 'good' reminder, who agreed to lend the money in the first place. Remember that Winners get everything."

'What kind of logic is that for Winners!?!?! Wait what about paying them back!!!!' When he looked at the sibling, Veil mouthed 'give up' and Han was looking away.

Eventually, Stigma won a few more times and chose the same thing, a bag filled with elementals stones or some books, the weapons were a good find but they lacked efficiency because of the size difference but he chose a large shield. He found some booze and precious stones and gave it to the siblings as a form of thank you for taking care of him, which they took with a blushing expression, but he didn't find any bag of money for the leader.

After the second category began, the leader finally won five times in a row but she only picked out the valuable looking ones.

Unfortunately Stigma pointed out the items were suspicious when he examined them using his skill and the leader found out the items were only gilded or were shined with oil to appear like new silver when she scratched them, she went completely berserk when the attendant told her they had very little value and almost had the archers shoot at her was a disturbance.

When appraisers examined the items they apologized for the misunderstanding, but the one ones who provided the items denied such accussassion and were charged with fraud and thrown in jail when the guards discovered they never had such items, eventually they were forced to pay for the items actual price range in each category as punishment.

The 'Winner?' was gaining compensation for being tricked and a riot was about to begin, so they would begin investigation after the event for the inconvenience.

Luckily the leader agreed to the procedure so the archers stopped pointing their arrows at her. But at the same time Stigma noticed that each archer had the same skills in archery which made him believe they had the same teacher.

His eyes wondered for a moment then he noticed someone from the private tents was wearing a gauntlet with slash marks on it, but that wasn't what made him look. When he saw the bearers name he somehow received a small headache and a gnawing sensation was trying to make him remember when he saw the name: Jaculus.

'Jaculus...Jaculus...why do I feel I know that name...'

"Your amazing Stigma! To actually find out they were fakes is a great skill! As expected of my subordinate! I became a winner in life for gaining him! Ha ha ha"

"Yeah, how did you find out they were fake, do you have some knowledge on appraising?"

"If you are, then come appraise some my bought jewels, I want you opinion on them."

Their questioning was relentless, but Stigma found a good enough reason to explain it and get away with him picking the items like jewelry or the high quality booze. He only used his 'Essence Reader' skill as an experiment to find out if he can see the status of an item, he tried it before but it showed nothing.

His curiosity heightened about his skills changes and wanted to check the status on the item from the market, the name and quality of the item was written. So when he tried it on the lottery items, most of them were trash like a golden statue, the reason the name was completely different.

[Name: Iron statue

Rank: Normal

Effects: None

Attack: 100]

He can't say he has a flowing text inside his head or they will think he is crazy. So he remembered the leader's cultivation training was related to her blood flow, so why not the one that increases his vision or senses.

It wasn't the whole truth, but Stigma wasn't lying about his skill's effects, he did notice the skin had a difference surface than normal so he went with that excuse.

When they asked about the skill, he only told them that he only learned about it recently, but he can only tell clear details from a certain distance. It was impossible for him to tell the obvious difference if it was beyond sight of range.

"Can you tell anything else, what about a person's difference."

He made a excuse that humans give of an aura and the archers he saw had the similar skills based on how they positioned themselves and how they circulated their Zen. When they asked for the details, he only told them he can't because there was not enough to tell from, but he told them they were at least Cultivators.

....

They were going to ask more about the issue, but the last prize on the first category had already been taken, an ornament armor with the wind element enchantment. Most were about to leave when they remembered the last event, the Black Box event.

About ten people had won a black box and were enraged or confused when they saw the contents were not the same, some had nothing but old ceramics pots or some had a bag filled with money. The black box event was like a wild card event, so the ones with the black box may winners who won a prized item, since only half of them had any actual value.

Stigma was one of the winners(?).

But the content was.....'confusing', when others looked at this prize out of curiosity, they immediately lost interest and walked away to try and bargain from other winners.

The three thought the same, but comforted Stigma as he was a still a winner for gaining a prize, but in Stigma's eyes he actually won big from how powerful the aura of the item was giving of.

[Name: Horn of the Armored Spider

Rank: Rare

Effect: Contains the lingering spirit of a voracious predator

Attack: 100

Defense: 200]