To a Warlock, a proper summoning catalyst was worth its weight in kingdoms.
Finding one usually meant crossing half a continent, surviving every monster, mercenary, and self-righteous hero determined to ruin your day, only to discover the item was sitting in the hands of someone far stronger than you. Whether they needed it or not didn’t matter. They refused to sell it, refused to trade it, and ignored every polite offer.
Eventually, diplomacy gave way to violence.
Only after winning the fight and looting the corpse would you finally obtain the prize... and, more often than not, discover it was mediocre.
Most summoning catalysts weren’t truly connected to the demon you wanted. Once enchanted, they simply emitted an energy signature that attracted a particular type of demon.
They were bait.
The problem with bait was that it occasionally attracted the wrong predator.
Try summoning a Felguard and accidentally call a Fel Lord instead? Congratulations. Your career as a Warlock had officially ended.
Agatha’s collection was different.
Every item she had gathered had once belonged to an actual demon. They weren’t substitutes or cleverly disguised lures. They possessed genuine links to their former owners, allowing for far more precise summons.
As long as the Warlock didn’t make the spectacularly bad decision of calling something beyond their ability to control, the chances of success were remarkably high.
That was why Agatha had begun stockpiling them the moment she learned a Warlock had arrived in the Scarred Rift.
These relics were priceless among Warlocks.
Surely the inexperienced newcomer would happily hand over mountains of Soul Crystals in exchange.
Unfortunately for her, Evenson Richter turned out to be both spectacularly broke and a complete anomaly by Warlock standards.
Agatha had imagined herself sitting behind a mountain of valuable merchandise, patiently waiting for a wealthy customer to wander into her trap.
Instead, Evenson had looked at her collection and asked one simple question.
"Do you have any gold?"
She had nearly suffered an aneurysm.
Fortunately, as a demon with refined tastes, she’d accumulated a respectable collection of gold jewelry over the years. That unexpected trade had saved the day.
She became the first demon in the Scarred Rift to successfully strike a deal with Evenson, and eventually his most reliable supplier.
That strange business transaction had been the beginning of their friendship.
"Better late than never," Evenson said, setting the gold jewelry aside before walking toward the pile of battered summoning catalysts.
Back in Azeroth, he’d never handled genuine high-grade catalysts.
Every demon under his command had been summoned through virtual catalysts provided by the Artifact Weapon, so this was all new territory.
He eagerly inspected the collection.
A few minutes later, he looked at Agatha with tearful disappointment.
"Agatha... did I really look that much like an easy mark? Were you planning to sell me this?"
"What are you talking about?" she snapped. "When have I ever cheated you?"
She had a point.
Despite being a demon merchant, Agatha had always dealt honestly with him. If anything, she deserved the title of Hell’s most trustworthy middlewoman.
Of course, that might simply be because Evenson bargained like a shark.
Still, facts were facts.
Out of the entire pile, only four or five catalysts remained usable.
Everything else had become junk.
"If you’d come three years ago, they wouldn’t have looked like this," Agatha replied.
Three years?
Evenson frowned.
Did high-grade summoning catalysts really deteriorate that quickly?
"I don’t know what’s happening," Agatha admitted. "The world called Azeroth is putting up unbelievable resistance. The Legion has lost countless demons there. Even Lord Archimonde fell."
Evenson nearly laughed.
With millions of player characters charging around Azeroth? Of course the Legion got demolished.
The explanation was obvious.
If the original owner had been completely destroyed, body and soul alike, any catalyst tied to them would naturally lose its power.
"Fine." Evenson sighed. "I’ll just pick two."
He had already identified the remaining functional catalysts.
Maintaining a good relationship with Agatha was worthwhile. As an adjutant to a Legion commander, she had access to information and resources he would almost certainly need in the future.
Besides...
Earth was only going to become more dangerous.
A couple of powerful demon bodyguards wouldn’t hurt.
"Wonderful!" Agatha beamed. "Though these aren’t cheap."
Evenson stared at her.
"Most of these were headed for the trash."
"They would have been," Agatha said matter-of-factly. "But now someone wants them. That makes them valuable."
"...Fair enough."
He wasn’t in the mood to argue.
Soul currency was one thing he wasn’t short on.
After another careful inspection, he settled on a broken staff and a shattered shortsword with only its hilt remaining.
The other surviving relics were less appealing.
The damaged black tome practically screamed Dreadlord.
The snapped spearhead was almost certainly from an Abyssal Lord.
Neither was something he had any desire to summon.
Holding the two relics, Evenson carefully extended his senses.
"The connection... is extremely faint."
"That simply means their owners are in bad shape," Agatha explained. "Either they’ve only recently regenerated in the Twisting Nether and are still weak, or they’ve suffered severe injuries. Isn’t that exactly what you want?"
"It is."
Evenson smiled.
A weakened demon was far easier for a Warlock to dominate.
Once the contract was established, suppressing its strength below his own would become significantly easier.
He tossed a Soul Crystal toward Agatha.
"This should cover everything."
She caught it effortlessly.
"The gold, plus these two catalysts."
"Just one crystal?" she asked suspiciously.
After examining it more closely, her expression immediately softened.
"The quality is excellent."
She tucked it away with a satisfied smile.
"Deal."
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