After listening to what the man said, Ray didn't answer him but took out one pseudo-intermediate tier spirit core from his inventory and showed it to the man while saying," I have 3 more of these".
"Huh!!!", The man's eyes widened like saucers, and his breathing that had just calmed became erratic as he gazed at the spirit core in hands of the young teen in front of him. All this while the man only had two thoughts running through his mind, "Either this teenager is someone from a big family sent on a mission by the family or is someone with great strength", the manager leaned forward to the second thought as someone from a big family would not sell such things at an auction for money. However, there was one thing that the manager knew and that was to befriend the person in front of him. As although the pseudo-intermediate tier spirit core was not that important for people in higher stages of strength, it had many uses for people with low strength and also allowed many items to be upgraded a tier while it was used for repairing broken artifacts and giving them new features.
Hence, the man quickly calmed his mind and with a slight bow he said, "Young sir, you must be very tired after your journey, let me lead you to our best auction room specifically prepared for our most trusted customers and have chat over there"
Ray silently nodded to the man while Aurora chuckled at the man's actions. Then she thought," ke ke!, humans as always just the same, their nature hasn't changed for past centuries, as greedy as I remember them to be"
As Aurora thought about things, Ray followed behind the manager as they headed upstairs, Upon reaching the second floor, Ray noticed an open area where chairs were neatly arranged. Upon sensing Ray's thought of the line, the manager spoke, "This is where normal people would sit to attend the auction, however, our destination is different". Then, the manager led Ray away from the seats and towards a hallway where rooms with different numbers were present. The manager then walked until they reached a room with the number 8 written on it. The manager then led them into the room and pressed a button on the wall while gesturing for Ray to be seated on the luxurious-looking sofa. After Ray was seated on the sofa, the manager then spoke, "So let's have a chat about what you said earlier"
Ray nodded and said, " I have some pseudo-intermediate tier spirit cores to sell, to be precise four".
The manager's eyes sparkled upon hearing Ray's words and he said while controlling his excitement and maintaining his professionalism, "Sure sir, can you show me the spirit cores".
Ray didn't say anything and took out the spirit cores from his inventory and placed them on the table. The manager gasped as he saw the cores and began inspecting them right away. After about 5 minutes, the manager stopped inspecting the cores and put them down. He then faced Ray and with a smile on his face, said, "Young sir, you must have been exceptionally lucky to obtain pseudo-intermediate tier spirit cores of such creatures, as there is a spiritual core of silver furred wolf with wind affinity, along with the core of rock loin with earth affinity, a night spider's core that has an effect of extreme resilience if used in artifacts correctly, and lastly you have a core of venomous snake that gives an artifact venomous properties". As the manager looked at Ray for a reaction thinking that Ray simply did not kill these creatures but what he saw left him stunned as Ray's expression at that moment spoke "do you take me as a fool?. Therefore, the manager retracted his gaze and said with a smile, " Then sir, you could rest assured that these items would sell at a very high price while the auction house would take one percent of total earnings".
To this Ray replied, "It's okay by me", then the manager also spoke in a hurry to reassure his words by saying, "don't worry sir, there would be no issue and you could also participate in the auction while being here". Then as the manager said that, the doors opened and two beautiful girls with skin as white as snow and a curvaceous figure that could leave men stunned appeared with food trolleys. The girls seemed to be in their mid-twenties and seemed to be sisters as they resembled each other a lot. The manager then spoke, "Sir, these girls would be here for your service and if you want to participate in the auction, just tell them". However, the manager surely specified the words service and Ray understood what he meant but he paid it no heed as he had a different goal and to him, such things were nothing but distractions that would lead him away from his goal. After that, the manager and Ray signed a blood contract with all the terms mentioned so that neither the auction house nor Ray would go back on their words, or else they would suffer grievous injuries to their soul.
The manager then left shortly after while Ray ate some food as he had not eaten for some time while waiting for the auction to start.
While Ray was waiting for the auction to start, two men were sitting within the common area chatting together. These men wore a mage robe, meaning they were mages but on these mage robes was a symbol of a phoenix that had its wings open. While these two men were chatting about something, two more men came to them and sat beside them. These men also wore the same robes as the previous men, but on their robes was a dragon that coiled around a large sword. One of the men wearing robes that had a dragon coiled around a sword depicted on it said to the men wearing robes that depicted a phoenix in a voice filled with contempt, " Why don't you two go down a floor and look for basic tier items as your funds would even barely suffice for them and how dare you to compete against us, we are members from "Heavenly Dragon Sword Sect". Our sect has been leading the future generation for years while our strength is greatest among sects of the whole continent"
While the people from the heavenly dragon sword sect said that, the people from the phoenix fire sect just gritted their teeth as what they said was true and their sect wasn't so powerful. Therefore, all they could do was just sit in silence and not take their words to heart and try their best to gain something from the auction to help the younger generation as the reason they came to the second floor of the auction house while being at a higher level of power was to obtain items to help their disciples that were at lower tiers of cultivation.
Just as they were calming themselves, all the lights of the auction house turned to a darker hue while a stage hovered up in the air that appeared to be the focus of all lights, there on the stage was a lady with mesmerizing looks that made some men drool while some calmed down their beating heart as they wished for her to be with them. Then with a dazzling smile, the beauty spoke in a soothing voice,
"LET THE AUCTION BEGIN",
And just like that the auction that would make Ray forget about monetary issues for a while began.
....
A/N:- Mass release ch:8/10