"Tell me everything about her", said the masked man in a sharp tone.
" Yes my Lord, Althea Rion was a former Sovereign of the Hall of Mage, one of the five great powers in the land of Dura. She belonged to the clan of Rion which was exterminated by an unknown force overnight thirty years ago. She was adopted by the Sovereign of the Hall of mage at the age of six after discovering her innate talent. She was a rare genius and along with being the strongest mage in the land of Dura, her achievements in Alchemy cannot be overlooked too. She was the youngest to break through to divine level in alchemy and Mage at the age of twenty-five. She died inside the Dark mist forest at the age of twenty-seven after exploding her spirit seed in the year 174223. The reason for her death remains a mystery to the public but after further investigation, your subordinate had found out that she was chased and hunted by the other four great powers due to the dragon token in her possession"
The man in mask frown clenching his hand after hearing the last sentence, and said, "Does it mean I am too late!"
The room fell silent and no one dared to make a sound. After a moment, taking a deep breath the masked man ordered, "Go and find out who took the dragon token after her death. Both of you work together, I want the results in a week"
"Yes my Lord", replied the two men together in unison before disappearing from the room.
Inside the room, the masked man stood alone in the middle. "So, The Silver Palace is spreading a prophecy in the land of Dura, it seems things are going to be more interesting", the masked man said with a cold smile.
Alfing City
Althea continued to cultivate while waiting for the day of the auction. She is not someone who would sit still while lamenting spring and Autumn just because her spirit seed is damaged.
While she was cultivating inside the City Lord's mansion, the whole of Alfing city was in an uproar as the news about the appearance of the Golden patterned Energy revitalizing pill was released by the Rainbow Auction Hall. It was rare for such a pill to appear in the southern region, the reason was, those who could refine pills with Golden pattern must be a grandmaster in alchemy at Divine level. And those at the divine level are mostly concentrated in the central region which is very far from the southern region. So, for a golden patterned pill to appear here in the southern region stirred up a lot of commotion among the people of Alfing town.
After the news that the Rainbow auction hall will be auctioning off a Golden patterned pill spread out to nearby cities, many rich people immediately started to head towards Alfing town.
At the same time, the initiator of this whole commotion, Althea was cultivating peacefully at home totally unaware of it.
Days passed by quickly and the day of auction finally arrived.
On this day, Althea dressed up in black clothes, tied up her hair in a high ponytail, and wore a veil before heading out towards the Rainbow Auction Hall.
On her way, she noticed that the street was unusually crowded and all of them were discussing the Golden patterned Energy revitalizing pill.
"I heard that many important figures from nearby cities had come to our Alfing city in hopes of getting at least one Golden patterned pill"
"Do you know how many Golden patterned pills are they planning to auction?"
"The Rainbow Auction Hall only announced that they got a decent number of Golden patterned pills"
"I hope I can get one of it, I have gathered quite an amount of money for today's auction"
"Dream on, many rich families and clans from different cities will be participating in the auction. Do you think we can compete against them in terms of wealth!"
"Aii... you are right"
Althea was dumbfounded after hearing the conversation from people around her on the way to Rainbow Auction hall. She didn't know that her Golden patterned Energy revitalizing pill could create such a wave but after thinking about it she realized that this is a southern region and not the central region. In the central region, golden patterned pills are not uncommon. Only pills made of rarest herbs and the appearance of the lost pill and lost pill recipe could stir up a big commotion in the central region. Thinking about the central region, Althea sighed and thought, 'I wonder how the Hall of Mage is doing'
Arriving at the Rainbow Auction hall, Althea noticed that the entrance was packed with people. Walking towards one of the guards, Althea showed a token which the manager gave him that day. Recognizing the token, the guard immediately became respectful and said, "Respected guest, please come this way"
Althea smoothly entered the Auction hall thanks to the Rainbow token manager Lane gave her that day. The guard guided Althea to one of the private rooms.
The private room was small and cozy, there were a table and a soft chair with animal fur. The walls were well decorated and on the right side of the wall was a painting of a Rainbow and a cloud representing the Rainbow Cloud Academy, the power behind the Rainbow Auction Hall.
Althea sat down on the chair and waited for the Auction to begin.
Not even a minute later, the servant brought in refreshment and placed it on the table.
After making sure that no one can see her inside the room, Althea removed her veil and started to munch on the refreshment the auction hall provided.
"The refreshment is not bad", said Althea looking down at the people entering the hall from the private room.
Soon, the auction hall was fully packed with people and almost everyone was discussing the Golden patterned Energy revitalizing pill. Althea was quite happy because with many people bidding for the pill, she could easily get her hands on star anise.
After a while, an old man wearing a green robe appeared on the stage.
"Welcome everyone to our Rainbow Auction Hall. My name is Greton Shaw and I will be presiding over today's auction. Everyone knows the rules of the auction, so I won't say anything about the rules. I know that all of you present here are eagerly waiting for the auction to start so without further delay let's begin the auction right away"
As soon as he said that, a beautiful lady wearing a red dress with long hair appeared on the stage from behind the stage. She walked gracefully holding a tray in her hand.
"The first item of today's auction is the Phoenix pen. I know many people might be wondering what's special about the Phoenix pen. Well, let me tell you, this pen is of course not for everyone, it is only for Inscriptionist. This Phoenix pen is said to be a mid-rank Man grade artifact found in one of the ancient ruins. For an Inscriptionist, it is very important to have a good pen as it can improve the quality of the inscription and runes they draw. So, this Phoenix pen starting price is eight hundred rizas and every bid should not be less than one hundred rizas"
As soon as the auctioneer said that, many inscriptionists started to bid for the Phoenix pen.
"nine hundred rizas"
"One thousand rizas"
"One thousand two hundred rizas"
"One thousand five hundred rizas"
The fight for the Phoenix pen went on fiercely among some well known Inscriptionists and at last, it was won by the instructor of the Alfing school of Inscription with the price of Two thousand rizas.
"The next item is also the mid-rank Man grade Sword called the Swift sword, the price starts with eight hundred rizas"
"one thousand rizas"
"one thousand five hundred"
"two thousand rizas"
The competition for Swift Sword was more intense than the Phoenix pen because regardless of every profession, be it an alchemist or an Insciptionist, they all have combat ability.
In the private room, Althea was bored to death. To her, who was once a sovereign of the Hall of the mage, these items are not worth in her eyes. She had seen and come across many treasures in her past life.
'I wonder what happened to my sword' Althea thought with a look of longing in her eyes as she thought about her sword that had been with her through thick and thin.
As she was lost in her thoughts, the swift sword was won by a practitioner with the price of three thousand two hundred rizas.
The third item was the Golden thorn herb.
The Golden thorn herb is a very rare ingredient for refining Sky grade pill called the Forging pill. The pill is mostly consumed by Practitioners who practice body arts.
"The starting price for the Golden thorn herb is nine hundred rizas"
As soon as the voice fell, many Alchemists started to bid for the Golden thorn herb.
After the Golden thorn herb, many other items came up but not a single item managed to catch Althea's interest.
"The next item for our Auction is one of the top quality herb called the Star Anise"
Hearing the word star anise, Althea who was about to doze off quickly sat up straight.