Death… and me

2957  About to Start

Rean and Roan ended their conversation with Foliana there. “Alright, thank you for all your help, Lady Foliana. Are you sure you don’t want a compensation? I got quite a few Spiritual Stones in the ceremony, you know?”

Foliana shook her head. “There is no need. Know your past to understand the future. That is truly a great phrase. I will hold to it instead. If you have more questions in the future, let me know. I will answer as much as I can, especially if it involves events from the past.”

Following that, Foliana was escorted back to the palace by the Royal Family’s experts. As for Rean and Roan, they decided to go straight to the Auction House. The auction was going to start during nighttime, but the private rooms aren’t infinite. They best go earlier and secure a room for themselves so they can participate without anyone knowing.

—

The auction could be said to be the greatest event of the festival, surpassing even the contest from the previous day. Because of that, the auction house itself was almost as big as the palace at the center of the city. Not only that, there were screens spread all over the outside for everyone to see. There were even terminals outside that allowed one to use their ID to make a bid for the items. Of course, if you didn’t buy a seat inside the Auction House itself, you most likely won’t be buying or can’t buy anything.

The twins arrived at the Auction House, and there were already thousands of experts with various cultivations coming and going. They passed by them and went to one of the hundreds of counters where the auction workers did their job. As one can expect, quite a few eyes were on them. They got quite famous after yesterday’s contest, after all. It’s just that the twins completely ignored everyone.

One might think that with the technology available, it should have been better to have all registrations go through the network. However, the auction was a tradition to this point, so although you could indeed register and buy a seat for the two days, the counters were also available for anyone willing to use them.

“Hello, little fri-” The worker began to speak before he stopped midway. “Wait, aren’t you the two kids who managed to hold to the tags yesterday?”

Rean smiled at the guy. “That is correct. The ceremony was transmitted all over the city, so you probably know what I asked, right?”

The worker quickly nodded. “A thousand Rank Five Spiritual Stones. I see little Asterix is intending to buy some things in today’s auction with that money then. That is a sensible choice. Many items auctioned today are bound to be useful to you, and you definitely have the stones for them. Shall I prepare a seat in the back rolls for you?”

Rean shook his head. “Actually, I would like a private room instead. Would that be a problem?”

“Not really,” the worker quickly shook his head. “However, they are quite expensive. A private ensures no one will know what or who bought anything. It goes for 100 Rank Four Spiritual Stones. Are you sure you want to spend those stones in one?”

Rean and Roan didn’t think twice. “That is perfect.” Rean quickly passed 100 Rank Four Spiritual Stones he had in reserve, and the worker registered the twins. “Your room is the 3965E, twelveth floor. Have a great day, and congratulations on being two of the contest winners.”

Rean received a token from the guy that could be used on the room’s door and nodded. Following that, the twins went straight to the twelfth floor and found their room there. There was a window that allowed them to see the auction in the distance. The room also had a formation that allowed Spiritual Senses to exit the room but didn’t allow Spiritual Senses to enter it. That way, one could use their Spiritual Sense to check the items being auctioned as well. Last but not least, there was a screen to watch the auction in case one’s Spiritual Sense wasn’t big enough to watch that far. Well, neither Rean nor Roan would need that anyway.

“I guess this is the swapping formation,” Rean looked at a table on the left of the room. A Spatial Formation with a terminal could be seen there, and there was a manual explaining how to use it. Simply put, you would input your bid to the terminal. If you won, you had to offer the payment by putting it on the table before it got teleported away. If everything was correct, the item you won would be teleported to the same table so you could take it away.

The twins sat down before Rean took out a few Rank Five Spiritual Stones. Since they had nothing better to do, they might as well cultivate until the auction time. Good thing no one was here to see them using the stones like that. Anyone else at their level would think they were squandering the stones nonstop.

“Rank Five Spiritual Stones are indeed much better,” Rean couldn’t help but comment.

“And so will be higher level ones,” Roan added. “Well, perhaps we are just wasting them as well. After all, once I concoct the Void Shattering Pill, all this cultivation will have been for nothing.”

“You never know what could happen between now and that moment,” Rean shook his head. “Better safe than sorry.”

“That, I can agree,” Roan spoke and closed his eyes.

They continued to cultivate for the next hours. Finally, they opened their eyes again, the dust of almost a hundred Rank Five Spiritual Stones spread around the room. Both Rean and Roan were now a step away from the Late Stage of the Core and Soul Fusion Realm. They could have taken the next step, but the burst of Spiritual Energy might have caught unnecessary attention, so they stopped there.

Rean got up and stood in front of the window. One couldn’t see from outside, only the other way around. “Quite a nice event. There should be at least a hundred thousand experts on the seats down there. I can only imagine outside, which they say to away have many times more who could pay to be inside.”

Roan couldn’t care less. “Right… Anyway, it is about to start.”