The attendants guided the two inside, making sure to not let them see the 'lowly trio'. Ara approached the attendants after they had led Iris and Isir inside and come back out, putting on a charming smile. "Please sirs, the line over there is too long, so we came here to see if we could enter through here?"
The attendant's moods were better whether it was from the boot licking they'd just done, or Ara's good attitude, they spoke gently to her. "We would have helped you if we could, but you would have to pay a price if you want to enter from here, too bad. This place is only for the rich. "
"Oh then name your price, I think we have enough money to buy our entry." She said again politely.
The attendants looked at their not-so-complicated outfits, and in their minds, compared them to the richly adorned Iris concluding that they couldn't be from very rich families. The shorter one scoffed and was about to speak, but his partner tapped him and spoke up instead.
"Two hundred gold coins," he said, but Ara had noticed everything that had happened. He had studied their clothes closely and figured their outfits although not that complicated was made of very fine linen, something only the rich can have at exorbitant prices. She understood now that all they were seen as were fat sheep to be slaughtered, or some poor people who probably stole the expensive clothes they wore there but she still played along as the ignorant party.
"I just want to know one thing. Is the price for all of us or it's two hundred per person?" She asked him in all sincerity. The attendant smiled.
"Of course, each person has to pay two hundred gold coins. If the price is too high for you then I'm sorry you'll have to go join that line and pay fifty silver coins for entry, easy as that."
Ara said nothing and just stretched out her arm. Her infinity bracelet opened and gold coins started to pour out. The whole place became silent as a cemetery save for the countless clinking coins. Even those in the line stopped moving forward and had their eyes wide open as they stared at the money. Who would have thought that the kid who was standing in the line just like them had so much money and was wasting it on just entering the auction house as V.I.P.? That money was enough to buy several things in the auction house already. What a waste, they wept silently.
She kept the coins pouring out for quite a while till the floor between her and the attendants was glowing yellow from the many coins. The two attendants gulped at all the money before them because of the fashion they were presented in. The taller one was the one who'd noticed that amidst all the money lay a translucent card about half the size of a palm that had fallen out of Ara's bracelet. His eyes shone with greed but he did well enough to hide it. He guided his colleague and they gathered the money, but he secretly slipped the card into his robe. Even with all his precautions, he had no idea that he wasn't the only one who'd noticed the card and he wasn't the only one who knew where it was now, too bad he didn't find that out and didn't know what trouble was coming for him.
The three were escorted inside through the side door reserved for the rich as agreed. The place was large, and tables were arranged everywhere across the floor with two chairs each and a raised stage where the auctioneer would present the products. They were led past that towards some stairs at the end of the room towards the back where they ascended to a higher floor. They settled at a table with four chairs, lighted scented candles, and some chunks of roasted meat in trays. The place they sat directly overlooked the lower floor, giving them a better view of the whole stage and the products that would be on display. Other tables were also up there but were separated well out of earshot of the other. Two of the tables to the left were occupied by the twins and Mordin with his grandson. A large gold card floated above each table, and after some time when the place was now filled and everyone had settled, the auctioneer came on stage and numbers appeared on the gold cards. They kept changing until every table had a different number on its card. The number for the three girls' table was 219.
The auctioneer started by explaining the basic rules you'd find in every auction house, his voice clear and loud enough for all to hear. The first item was brought upstage from the curtains behind him. It was a beautiful box made of frosted glass that had some light within it. He opened it, and mist constantly flowed from it. The temperature in the whole room had dropped a little and the interest of the people was piqued. Everyone could feel the powerful energy that emanated from whatever was within the box. A blue glowing crystal the size of two fists floated up for all to see. The cold mist still came out of it and it looked powerful, the people were now more interested.
After he had assured himself that he had everyone's interest, and interest disturbed, he smiled contentedly to himself.
"This," he pointed at the crystal with his hand as he began to speak, "is a beast crystal of an omega-level frost phoenix. It has derived from a faraway enchanted forest and-"
"Five thousand gold coins!" someone shouted to buy it, knowing how precious the core of an omega-level beast was. In a world of cultivation such as this, the beast could grow in their strengths and climb up levels or ranks just like humans. The levels were Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Noble, King, Core, Omega, Legendary, Mystic, Realm, Celestial, and Mythological. In a beast's growth, the Omega level was the most critical. Beasts in the Omega level could be counted as unpredictable. During the omega level, Beasts lose their ability to reproduce temporarily but achieve insane boosts in their speed and strength, so a beast could be in the omega level, but have the speed and strength comparable to a legendary or in rare cases, a mystic level beast, but that was only temporary. Their actions could be unpredictable for they became aggressive at that point. Finding one and even being able to bring it down was a feat worth applauding the core of such a beast constantly shifted, so to obtain it, one had to attack it carefully and kill it without destroying the core. They were intelligent creatures and would intentionally shift their core to whichever part of their body was attacked if they were going to die to destroy it and prevent others from obtaining it. The fact that someone had bid even before the auctioneer gave the chance showed how much it was valued, but his mention of Five thousand could only be counted as an insult.
The auctioneer was elated at the mention of that sum. Frost phoenixes were rare.
"Ten thousand gold coins," another shouted.
"Twelve thousand!"
"Fifteen thousand!"
"Thirty thousand"
Thirty-five thousand!"
"Forty thousand!"
"Fifty thousand!" A female voice rang out from the VIP section. All became quiet, and wouldn't bid any further. People only looked up there in silence but could say nothing. Most were annoyed but what could you do? Anyone sitting up there could only be from a very rich and powerful family that couldn't be messed with, so they had no choice but to give up what they wanted, and to make things even worse, they all knew that voice. It was recognizable almost everywhere. They could only clench their jaws and wait for her to have it. The core harnessed much power, but who would dare to stand up against her? At the moment, she represented the Elwicks and all their might, and to make matters worse, it was even rumored that the royal family was affiliated with the Elwicks.
The auctioneer was dazed a little, knowing only two things; One, the bid had gone all the way to fifty thousand, a price not many could bid for, and Two, no one there could hope to compete against that brat from the Elwicks when it came to money squandering, but he had no idea…
Lia's eyes glowed with lust as she looked at the crystal from her elevated position.
"It's really pretty, I like it…" she said
Ara winced at her words, that wonderful character of Lia. She could already guess what her thoughts were. "Idiot, look at the power it has, can't you at least think of that?"
"I know, that's why I'm buying it. I can't use its power, so I'll use it to decorate my room. The way it glows…" Ara flicked a finger, hitting Lia's forehead. "You'll never learn, such a child"