The bids that followed generally jumped to World Stones for each of the rare grade 2 herbs. Lind was confused but then recalled some of the jobs posted in the Alchemy Guild were held up by lack of ingredients at grade 2. Some of these could be for nurturing next generation geniuses that could breakthrough to the peak of World Realm in the future if not the Sky Realm.
Lind gave up on the herbs as he would only waste them at this point and honestly, he had trouble making simple elixirs at grade 2 with readily available herbs. Cores were strange after the herbs as while some had a World Stone bid, most stayed in the Soul Stone bids. Lind then had something perk up his ears.
"Next, we have an unusual aether beast core here. I will let all of you see it first." Mythra motioned to her assistant who brought out another jade case that displayed a larger than normal beast core. Lind could sense it from his distance, but his Eyes could see oddities he had never encountered in the beast cores he had recovered thus far himself.
There were a lot of peak Soul Realm earth Qi but mixed in it was a trace of the other elements. What did that mean? How did such a beast exist?! Lind felt an itch but waited to see if he could even try for this item.
"As some may see, this is from a peak Soul Realm beast but one that is very rare to the mortal realm. A stone dral is a powerful creature from the higher realms that can be closely described as an elemental wolf, but rather than lean towards an element, it is birthed from its bloodline." Lind did not understand. What animal was not born from its bloodline? If this was not a manifested being but a born one, then what did that mean?
Lind turned to Irene but she only pointed back to the window and Lind saw he was not alone in his confusion.
"A higher realm beast is not like the aether beasts in this mortal realm. They are born with a primary element and all 5 other elements. Thus normal animals do not exist above the World Realm." Lind felt his heart suddenly race. Naturally born 6 elemental beings! She was talking about natural 6 elements! The excitement in the crowd was strangely low, but Lind did not care as he felt like the greatest treasure ever was placed before him. "This is compatible with normal grade 2 items, but can possibly enhance them beyond in the right hands."
Mythra's smile was wide and then the display changed. It was the requested medium of sale and all felt shocked. It was already stated that costs would be in Qi stones, but universally all items thus far had started in Soul Stones. This stone dral core, however, was listed at 5 World Stone. This was not a small start!
Lind's arms moved before he even thought and posted 5000 Soul Stones. The equivalent would be exchanged by the Auction House so long as the buyer had the lesser stone amount.
Silence filled the theater as a VIP had instantly bid at the asked amount but no one moved to raise it. Lind was confused. This was a rare core from a higher realm. He had no idea where it was from but he did not care. He could not be alone in his interest, right?
As if someone had been reluctant, 6 World Stones were bid. Lind did not even have to think and jumped to 8000 Soul Stones. He saw Irene look worried at him but there was another long pause. This time no one raised it and the item was sold to Lind! He jumped off the couch and whooped in excitement! The harmonic crystal was an unknown quantity, but this could give him a great insight to how to use his own elements!
A giggle reminded Lind he was not alone as he blushed furiously and resumed sitting on the couch. Several more rare cores were offered but they flew by his new limit of 2000 Soul Stones as they were more well known items to the crowd. Shortly before grade 3 started, Lind heard a knock and a young girl entered with the jade case.
Lind practically leapt with wind pushing him to reach her. She yelped before Irene sternly stared at her. Lind waved it off and gave the 8000 Soul Stones in exchange. The world practically fell away for a bit as Lind examined the stone dral core. Now that it was in front of him, he realized the oddities of its Qi was greater than expected.
He knew its quality was peak Soul Realm, but all of the elements in it were. Earth was dominant, but he could see the other 5 were there. The balance was strange to him but Lind quickly understood how they flowed together, yet there was no harmony between them. This was damned weird. There were 6 elements but no sign of a harmony ever existing between them.
"Where are you from?" Lind mumbled as he began to let his instincts take over. Emerald fire extended his staff and Lind compared his elemental flow to the beast core. Resonance began to occur and the bottleneck he had been stuck at with elixirs suddenly fell away. He understood why he was stuck at mid grade 2!
Lind kept trying to think like the techniques he had learned when controlling his elements. He had only spent a year integrating Earth knowledge with his Qi to replicate natural phenomena but elixirs were triggering the decade of practice he had before. Lind followed the thought and something strange happened.
Water suddenly conjured right in the room as a fire sprang beneath it. Lind was in full control and did not notice Irene jump at his actions. Lind could not be bothered at the moment as he felt like he had been such a fool. Of course grade 2 essence was fighting him, because he kept trying to treat them the same! Feel the essence, feel its place in the world and it was yours to command!
Lind quickly felt the beast core and understood something it could mix with. He had a few grade 2 herbs on him for practice later. Lind brought out crinkled wort and forked light leaf. He also brought out 1 Soul Stone each of each element. He had been exchanging for dark and light stones since he needed them at times to keep his tempering stable.
Lind was so concentrated on what he was doing that he did not notice the changes in the auction hall. The formations could prevent cultivators from prying into his privacy, but heaven and earth was a far different matter. A disturbance had begun above the Sapphire Auction House that drew the eye of all World Realm experts from across the Inner District to the palace itself.
Thunder clouds were gathering in a sunny afternoon sky from nowhere. It was similar to a tribulation but it was not like any cultivator tribulation ever recorded. The masses hardly ever saw such things as cultivators would leave population centers for safety to breakthrough. The power was nowhere near such danger but it was clearly tribulation.
Far away in the Stone Ward, a shop door suddenly sprung open as laughter that cause all to hear it grasp their head in pain filled the streets.
"Amazing! Can't make above mid grade 2 but you are about to break the rules of the mortal realm! I did not see wrongly!" Younger Twin stood in the doorway and watched the tribulation form in joy. It was no threat to the capital but no mortal realm would know what it was. That foolish boy must have been inspired. A true elixir master!
Inside Lind's room, the pressure outside was ignored by Lind but Irene felt her body shake from fear as the feeling pushed her to the floor. The Qi was flowing physically in front of her of all 6 elements into whatever the honored guest was making right there.
The sound of glass breaking filled the room as Lind suddenly let go of his staff and his eyes blazed with emerald light. The shy and nervous boy she had met had disturbed her in his anger but she knew she had crossed a line and accepted it. Now, she felt like she was before the great elders of the Sapphire Auction House. They were Sky Realms!
How could a 5th tier Soul Realm put out this kind of pressure?!
The cautious movements of his hands and Qi vanished as suddenly profound movements smoothly pulled the essence of all the ingredients aside from the core. They mixed together and began to glow until a new pressure filled the room. Lind was sweating now and clearly was running out of Qi, but he did not stop.
The core finally cracked and the rumble of thunder filled the world. The tribulation was small but now powers from far and wide turned toward the Lotus Empire as something unexpected was happening there. None knew for sure where it was happening but orders flew out from the Demon Empire to the Stardust Emporium that was the major power of Indelia. Someone had a promising seed and they were going to damn well find them!
Inside the auction house was pandemonium as the staff tried to calm everyone while locating the source of the cause of the tribulation but before anyone could get moving, the whole theater felt a pressure like nothing before!
It was far beyond any pressure even a peak Diamond Tier had exerted. There was even a tier 1 Sky Realm in a VIP box that felt pressured far beyond his scope and was shocked! Only 1 realm could pressure him like this! Heaven Realm! How could a Heaven Realm be here in this backwater Empire!
Lind was running on empty but he finally got the stone dral essence into the mix and the strain lessened considerably as he cooked the elixir. It pulled all of his Qi but he finally saw a flash and enlightenment took his mind completely! Lighting blasted through the auction house but caused no damage to structure or cultivator. It solely struck the newly made elixir.
Lind reacted instantly and did something any other cultivator would consider suicide. He interfered!
Lightning was a natural phenomena, regardless of cause, so he grounded it. Irene stared in shock as tribulation lightning was scattered as if it was a gentle rain. Emerald fire once again lit up the staff as it acted as the grounding to ride out the storm. As quickly as it had come, the tribulation ended after a single strike.
The newly made elixir glowed with a light of Qi. All 6 elements! He had done it! The last of his spirit Qi quickly filled 4 vials before he passed out. Irene could finally moved and first checked that Lind was alive then looked in awe at the 4 vials before carefully moving them to a pouch she put on his belt. The smile on his face made him handsome but she could not forget the look of his visage with emerald fire in his eyes. He had been like a god!
The chaos outside was slowly brought under control and as no damage was done, the auction began to proceed but only after a break was put forth of one day to ensure no item was affected.
****
"What just happened?!" The Emperor of the Lotus Empire was enraged. Some cultivator had endangered countless lives of his empire. Even if it was a sudden breakthrough, anyone experienced enough in World Realm would know when they were close. An Iron Tier or Gold Tier would then avoid major population centers for that very reason. It had not felt like his own tribulation, thus he ordered his forces to find out what occurred.
Lightning had fell at last, but no damage was done. That was patently impossible. A cultivator facing heaven's test would leave a blasted land around them. It was common knowledge even to the lowest power! If anyone saw tribulation clouds, you run!
It was more than annoying that it centered in the Gold Ward where there were visitors from across the continent for the Sapphire Auction House's yearly event. It would be like searching for a needle in a stack of needles. The reports coming back were not helpful as the sudden appearance was followed by a quick dispersal.
"I want them found no matter the cost!" His voice bellowed across the palace and all who heard it knew his rage was stoked very high. Some felt pity for the poor soul that fell into the Emperor's hands in the future.