Noah sat up slowly, a tinge of annoyance painting his face. His memories truly liked to pick the worst times to resurface. He had wished to take things slow before, but now he wouldn't. He needed to vent the frustration that was bubbling inside him.
If Ivan knew that his demise had been brought closer because of a dream, one could only imagine his expression.
Gaining his bearings, Noah freshened up and donned his Mercenary gear, making sure his oversized coat covered his body. With that, he moved out and headed to a certain direction.
Only after a while did his steps stop as he looked up at the building before him. Multiple people could be seen leaving the doors with either expressions of happiness, sadness, desperation, frustration or outright helplessness.
This place was the Ivory City Auction House. A place where the first part of Noah's plans would take place.
He paid no attention to the myriad of expressions given off by the people around him and walked into the building. He ignored the section that led to the bidding hall and moved towards the side meeting a beautiful receptionist. "I'm here to propose a deal."
The beautiful woman frowned slightly. She wasn't really used to this. Her hands tending to her silky black hair paused a bit, then she looked at Noah with her mesmerizing blue eyes. The Auction House was truly too famous, anyone that came to her counter usually revealed a worshipping expression as they conversed with her, not only because her beauty but also because of the place she worked.
For the man before her to speak in such a neutral tone that held no reverence or respect, he was either very strong or very ignorant.
But she crossed out the first option as though she felt he was more powerful than her, it wasn't by much. He definitely wasn't an Adept Battlesoul master. He was very likely of the latter. One who overestimated himself too much and underestimated the Auction House's power.
Thinking this far, she sneered and parted her beautiful lips to speak. Yet her heart paused as she felt the aura that she felt from the item he pulled out made her eyes widen in shock.
Rank 5 Equipment! The dagger the man had pulled out before her was actually a Rank 5 Equipment! This was something meant for Master Battlesoul Masters!
The beautiful receptionist's hands moved with a speed that could have left most people defenseless against, wishing to take Noah's dagger. Yet the man before her wasn't one of the earlier spoken people...
With a flick of the wrist, the woman found her arm in Noah's hold shocking her to the extreme as she with her Level 2 Intermediate Stage strength should have been able to do something as easy as this. But the truth was before her.
"What were you trying to do?" Noah's voice was icy cold as he added strength to his hold on the woman's wrist.
Her face tensed as a yelp left her lips. Pain and shock filled her expression as she felt her wrist bones crack. The same bones she had strengthened to Level 2 of the Intermediate Stage were about to be so easily shattered.
"Sir, would you be kind enough to let our employee off?" A voice then resounded as a Middle aged man appeared in the room.
Noah, as if expecting this to happen, released the woman from his hand and looked at the man.
Feeling the gaze on him, although the man couldn't see his face, he was sure the person before him expected him to come. He sighed as he walked forward. "I'm really getting too old for this, youngsters this days are so hot-blooded." He picked up the dagger from Noah's hands and felt it with his Internal Sight, something an expert of his level could do. "It's authentic. Child, what do you want for this?"
Noah's lips twitched, not surprised that the man could see through his disguise. What really bothered him was the mention of him being a child. But he, in the end, shrugged it off as they were more important things to do. "I have about 10 Rank 5 Equipment, 37 Rank 4 and approximately a 100 Rank 3."
"These were all from the Ruin?" The man was not surprised hearing such an outrageous number. He was more surprised that someone of Noah's level could walk out of the Ruins alive with such treasures.
Noah nodded. These were the treasures that were attached to the Boa's body, he had thought they were illusions to lure him but they were in fact real. Out of what he had taken, he took equipments suitable for himself from the Rank 3 to the Rank 5 as he couldnt use Rank 4 equipments without possessing the special ability to withstand the energy released by the equipments.
"I will sell 8 Rank 5 equipments, 27 Rank 4 and all of the Rank 3 to the Auction House at 80% market price."
The receptionist almost fainted hearing these words as the amount of profits gained from this deal was almost unimaginable. But the middle aged man stayed indifferent despite hearing these words. "What's the catch?"
Noah smiled as he knew that this was the same as agreeing to his request. "It's simple really. There are two men within the Mercenary Association that I want.
Help me put up a mission. I want Ivan Cross alive for 2 Rank 5 equipments and Jason Croft for 10 Rank 4 equipments."
The man now understood Noah's aim. The boy couldn't possibly give out a mission by himself so he had come to them to do it for him. And as for the money he would get, though reduced by a certain degree, it would still be plenty. But he also knew he couldn't just give in so easily, plus why listen to the boy when they could just take it from him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." As if guessing his thoughts, Noah spoke. His aura flared as the Emperor Grade Overlord Sword Emperor Battlesoul came into existence. "Think of why I could leave with such a large amount of treasures first."
These words caused the man to pause. Indeed, the Ruins of a Grandmaster Stage Battlesoul master couldn't contain only this meager amount of treasures, there wasn't even any techniques in what Noah had offered. Seeing the Emperor Grade Battlesoul behind the boy could confirm that he was a genius, how could one of this level not have been scouted by one of the many Houses of their Kingdom.
It was possible that Noah had given all the good stuff to his House and wished to use the scraps to get his personal revenge. As for the option of the boy keeping the good stuff to himself that was extremely dumb. No one would ever court death by walking around with such treasures in such a manner.
In truth, Grandmaster Evan had practically ran with his life when he escaped. He just didn't have time to pick up his treasures before fleeing. What was in his Ruins were what he had taken from the weaklings he had killed on the way to his hiding spot. Techniques couldn't be carried around by just any Mercenary so he didn't have those.
Yet, the Auction House didn't know this, and Noah would be an idiot if he told them.
After thinking a while, the man finally made his mind. There was no drawback any ways so he might as well agree, it wasn't worth possibly enraging a House because of the boy before him. "Fine, I accept."
Noah sighed secretly in relief. After this, he was going back to sleep immediately, talking to someone so much stronger than him was really exhausting. Hopefully his memories wouldn't haunt him as nightmares again
What he didn't know is that, at the time he had woken up with annoyance, in the far distance a girl had also woken up but with tears streaming down her eyes.