Novel Full Chapter 640: Instincts vs Benefits (part 3)
The revelation of the treasure at the right table, caused a diverse variety of reactions, for the vast majority of cultivators at the first floor, surprise, disbelief and even anxiety could be heard.
“Hey, hey, are you kidding me?”.
“That’s not joke, does the Golden Scale Auction House want to kill us!”.
“I’ll return what I bought, let me leave right now”.
Were some of the comments that could be heard among those rogue cultivators, even a few of the people that managed to obtain some relatively pricey stuff along the way seemed to be getting cold feet all of a sudden, very much to the amusement of the auctioneer girl, who chuckled at them to then say.
“Rest assured esteemed guests, we at the Marius family are responsible merchants so naturally for certain “sensitive” products, a background check is always done before even considering to put them at sell in our auctions”.
The calm voice of the auctioneer combined with her bright smile, eased things up, at least for the people at the first floor.
The reactions at the second floor were different though, while there was also surprise and disbelief, they didn’t feel anxiety but excitement in exchange there was also anger coming from a couple of the private rooms, namely the original private room number one and the rooms number five and eight.
“I would like to ask how did the Marius family got a hold of such a controlled item?”, asked the bulky guy from the Mountain Amber family at the newly baptized room number fifteen.
“For a change, I share the same opinion as the fellow cultivators from the Mountain Amber family”, added the guy from the room number five, as for the people at room number eight, they remained silent, but the hostility radiating from their room made their stance clear for everyone.
Unfortunately for them, their intimidation tactics didn’t work with the auctioneer girl who kept her smiling expression.
“We appreciate the concern of the Mountain Amber, Hunter and Bayer families, however the Marius Merchant House works directly under the Talis family, so the only ones to whom we need to report are them”.
“…”, the previous made a sepulchral silence fall in the room, followed by a few teeth gritting sounds and an aggressive shout from the guy of the Mountain Amber family at room number fifteen.
“So, you believe that working for those muscleheads, allows you to ignore a treaty recognized in the four Heavenly Quadrants and more importantly, the rules of the Fey family in their own domain, that is a serious violation”, he said, to which the auctioneer shook her head in response.
“Assuming things to make such a serious accusation, isn’t something a direct descendant of a ruler family should do, especially when our auction house got permission from a higher ranked person of the same family, young master Fey”, she said.
The guy from the Mountain Amber family felt his heart boil with anger, but he didn’t dare to refute, Agnes and Valentina might not be from the same generation as him, but they hadn’t taken any important role in the Fey family yet, so their status isn’t that much higher than his, and he can still call them “cousins” without honorifics.
Aster’s godmother on the other hand, is a whole different matter, if she was the one that gave the permission for this auction, let alone him, none of the members of the from his and Ocean Aquamarine family who came would dare to raise their voice against it.
Of course, the auctioneer didn’t want serious conflicts, as a member of a merchant family, business and benefits are her main goal, so after making those guys realize that the Golden Scale Auction House isn’t a paper tiger, she offered a proper explanation to calm everyone.
“As I was saying, we are a responsible merchant family, so we wouldn’t break the rules stablished by the major forces, this portion of “Sun Royal Jelly”, wasn’t obtained through dubious methods, the one who provided it got it personally from one of the bodyguards of the Sunflower Bee Queen due to a strike of good luck and this was confirmed by Miss Fey previously”, she said.
The material in question was a hand sized crystal bottle with a bright yellow viscous substance inside of it, as to why there was such a strong reaction over it, the explanation was given to Aster and the others, by Valentina.
“Within the Transcending realms there are two major barriers, the first one is the bridge from the Earthly to the Transcending realms, since one must overcome a tribulation at that point, however the second barrier though not related to the Heavenly Law, is the most worrying one”.
“Nowadays entering the Transcending realm isn’t a hard thing to do, in fact that’s the standard to be considered a cultivator at the scale of a Heavenly Quadrant, but that stops at the Genesis Manifestation realm where… a lot of those who were once considered geniuses are dragged down to the level of an average cultivator”.
Aster nodded, there is a reason as to why Lilia, Eris, Mylene and even the ligress girl Myra, whose realms were originally higher but suffered regression, consolidated their energy path powers at the Genesis Manifestation realm or below, when they could have returned the peak of the Transcending realms if they really wanted to.
The Genesis Manifestation realm is a point of inflexion for a cultivator, in that realm one’s everything is consolidated into the Genesis Core, unlike the Star Core previously formed at the Earthly realms which is only a condensation of one’s attribute, a Genesis Core is conformed of techniques, attributes, paths and even special traits, such as lineages, constitutions and the like.
For that same reason, regardless of the path one practices in, everyone forms a Genesis Core, it’s a universal trait, but the process is different for each person and so is the resulting size and quality of it.
Naturally forming a bigger and stronger core is a harsh and long process that requires not only talent, but also time, dedication and even luck, and this is where those talented might end up despairing, since by the time they end the formation process to finally advance to the Void Manipulation realm, their peers could have already left them behind by a whole realm.
As previously stated, the heavens give a chance to everyone and this is one of the opportunities that those who weren’t favored with a strong background can use to catch up with their peers, that being said there is nothing absolute in this world.
“And that’s why certain special resources that can help with the process are regulated by the major families and forces”, she said.
“In other words, instead of making their descendants improve they instead make it so others can’t outrun them too much, no wonder they become spoiled pieces of trash”, said Alice, making Agnes clear her throat to then add.
“Ahem, while some families and forces indeed simply wanted to regulate these kinds of resources to prevent outside talents from surpassing their own descendants, not everyone is like that.
“Instead of letting those guys completely ban the usage of said resources, the faction to which my, sister Valentina and older cousin’s family belong, made it so that those resources can be obtained as prizes and rewards for important events that involve the forces that have authority over those things”.
“Also, it was made a rule that even the descendants of prominent forces and families, can’t just be gifted said resources but have to earn them… though some shortcuts and other tricks are used for the vast majority, those who are really outstanding made obtaining an “Accumulation” resource a competition”, said Mikaela from the side.
“Mm, I obtained my fragment of Seven Colored Crystal as a reward for joining the Myriad Occupation sect for example”, mumbled Agnes as she took a nail sized transparent gem which glowed in seven different colors out of her spatial ring.
“Same here, though in my case it was a drop of the essence of the Dream Lily”, added Mikaela.
Seeing that those two weren’t explaining the main point, Valentina took over once again.
“Contrary to what you might believe, there are actually many different resources that can improve the process of forming one’s Genesis Core, however the amount of support and effectiveness of it, varies a lot from each other”.
“The Seven Colored Crystal found at the Sun Sprite Heavenly Quadrant, the Dream Lily of the Mystic Talisman Heavenly Quadrant, the Three Spiral Ore of the Black Meteorite Heavenly Quadrant and lastly the Black Marrow Elixir of the Dragon Legacy Heavenly Quadrant are the highest ranked resources that can help with the formation of a Genesis Core”.
“Each of them being able to provide a whole twenty percent of help with a ninety percent of effectiveness, they are rarely seen outside of the strongest families and forces, but all the ones besides them can be obtained by outsiders through the families ruling the different Stellar Systems if they fulfill certain requirements”.
“In fact, at the sect we have a few portions of both Seven Colored Crystal and essence of Dream Lily, so it’s not they can’t be obtained by Nerissa and the others at the tops of the Heavenly Ranks”, said Valentina to then point at the bottle at the right table on the stage.
“But that thing is a newly discovered resource that has never been used by any of the families, the royal jelly created by the Sunflower Bee Queen, which supposedly can provide a fifty percent of support with a hundred percent of effectiveness, in other words the one who obtains it can cut the time needed to form their Genesis Core in half…”, she said to then add.
“This secret was leaked by an enemy of the Sunflower Bee Queen and now, practically all the families and forces are negotiating with the Sunflower Bee Queen over it, so, naturally obtaining and distributing it is forbidden as of current, that was a rule created to prevent anyone from stealing the jelly at the selected hives of the Sunflower Bees thus angering their queen”.
“Of course, if they gifted it to someone, then the rules don’t apply, but the chances of that happening are so low, that it was considered impossible, after all the royal jelly is the nourishment for the princess, so only the queen can decide what to do with it, the one who obtained it probably used all the luck of his life”.
One might think that the one who obtained it was a fool to auction it instead of keeping it for the usage of their descendant or a relative, but that’s not the case.
‘The owner of the royal jelly must be a rogue cultivator or have an average background, to prefer spirit jades instead of the chance to invest on a genius… well that and he or she is smart enough to not let greed blind it’, thought Aster.
Having a treasure without the strength to protect it, is not luck but a death wish, it would have been fine if no one could notice it, but those accumulation resources aren’t absorbed until the moment of breaking through to the Void Manipulation realm, so the owner must have it with himself at all times until that moment.
Considering the importance that the ruler level forces were putting into it, they would definitely keep track of those who used it.
So just imagine, a random character without background suddenly leaves all the prominent talents of the young generation from the high-grade Stellar Systems behind by advancing to the Void Manipulation realm, of course it would attract a lot of attention.
A single slip a mere rumor and the owner will be hunted down by those guys, it wasn’t worth the risk.
As to why the owner decided to auction it in this place instead of at a high ranked Stellar System, that’s because those same major forces have no attention to spare to other events besides appearance of the space distortions as of current and with long distance communication disabled, it would be near to impossible to track the one who auctioned it.
Also, since this wasteland has rules equivalent to middle grade Stellar Systems, Heavenly Realm cultivators can’t come unless they seal their powers, which further reduced the risk.
“For obvious reasons, the owner of this object is confidential but the price isn’t, three hundred million spirit jades for the initial price and each bid must increase the price for at least thirty million spirit jades, I’ll give you five minutes to prepare yourselves”, said the auctioneer.
Aster and the others turned to see Camila, whose eyes were closed, they saw how her pretty auburn copper colored hair dyed silver as she stimulated her lineage with treasure aura.
Aster inwardly smiled upon seeing Camila going all out in order to decide for which treasure to bid, since both were interesting, it wasn’t rare for a seemingly normal thing to end up being extraordinary, Aster has experienced a situation like that, namely the black book which had the twins sealed inside of it.
However, this time the treasure in question was scanned by a professional appraiser from the Golden Scale auction house, a company native to a high-grade Stellar System and even they didn’t find anything, so the stone plate was more of a curiosity than something useful.
The royal jelly on the other hand, is something that all the major forces are looking for, even if the one who bought it didn’t use it and instead handed it over to them, the benefits that could be exchanged for it would be immense, that is because they had the background to negotiate instead of having to worry about being robbed and silenced, naturally only the people at the second floor were being considered for the last round, at least for the royal jelly.
Aster saw Camila slowly opening her eyes, her pretty silvery hair and eyes returned to normal all of a sudden and a sleepy expression appeared on her pretty face, she barely mange to point in a certain direction before falling asleep, only to be caught and brought into Aster’s embrace by his soul energy.
‘Mmm, I wonder how can I decide whether to reward or punish her, when even I can’t decide which is the real treasure between those two things, oh well, I was going to tease here in both cases anyway’, amusingly thought Aster as he caressed Camila’s face a couple of times.
The five minutes given by the auctioneer ended and the last round of the auction started, even before the auctioneer could say anything, an offer from the room number fifteen could be heard.
“Fide hundred million spirit jades”.
“…”, naturally an initial bid that increased the price by a whole two hundred million, caused a sepulchral silence followed by an uproar.
“Damn, half a billion of middle grade spirit jades, I wish I was born in a high ranked family”.
“Those young masters really have deep pockets; you can find some low rank Immortal grade resources at this price”.
“Maybe, but we are talking about a resource that isn’t available anywhere as of current, so in terms of rarity it can even beat some Immortal grade ones”.
Were some of the comments that could be heard, before a second offer appeared.
“Five hundred and fifty million”, this time the offer came from room number two, only for the bid to be increased once again, this time by the people of one of the private rooms that hadn’t really participated so far.
“Six hundred million spirit jades”, said a girl from room number eleven, earning a cold snort from the guy of the Mountain Amber family.
“Shameless, wanting to win by borrowing funds from companions as expected of a second-tier force, eight hundred million spirit jades!”, he said.
The sudden increase of two hundred thousand spirit jades, rendered practically everyone in the first floor speechless, also a couple of the lowest end people from the private rooms also decided not to participate.
‘Humph, bumpkins, trying to compete with the Fey family in their own territory, speaking of which…’, thought the guy from the Mountain Amber family to then say.
“If you don’t make an offer now, you won’t get a chance to participate, Holy Son of the Myriad Occupation sect, or did you perhaps run out of money after showing off earlier”.
Naturally those words made all the attention to be directed towards Valentina’s room, since so far no one knew the identity of the ones who opposed those renowned people at the second floor.
They only recognized Valentina and Agnes, but the ones who bid earlier were none of them, and as expected the room was thrown in turmoil upon the words “Holy Son” of the Myriad Occupation sect, since the matter with Edward was probably the hottest topic previous to the appearance of the spatial distortions.
“Wasn’t that the crazy guy who killed a prospect selected by the Stall family right in front of his sponsor?”.
“Well, now it makes sense that he doesn’t care about giving face to the Mountain Amber family in their own territory, since he has Sun Diamond family backing him”.
And other similar comments could be heard among the room, this also drew the attention of the auctioneer girl, who stole a few gazes at Valentina’s room, her eyes glowing with curiosity.
At Valentina’s room, Aster saw the auctioneer looking in their direction and he thought she was waiting for his bid.
“Those are some big words for someone who is using the funds given by his family instead of his own money, I wonder if the things you buy belong to you or to your family and more importantly, the interest in obtaining them is yours or is it instilled by someone behind you?”, he said.
“N-Nonsense I am a direct descendant of the Mountain Amber family, so I have complete authority over the travel funds given to our team!”, exclaimed the bulky guy, wanting to divert attention from Aster’s words.
Mainly because the strict instructions he got were to buy that spirit treasure and then find a chance to gift it to Fawn and leave a good impression, however what Aster said basically killed any possibility of that, in fact he could see Fawn frowning at the other side of the room.
Now imagine his anger, when Aster who set his plan on fire, casually added.
“I see, well not that it matters, since my interest is on the other item of this round, so you’ll have to be an idiot to others this round”.
The guy practically saw red, but before he could act, the Void Manipulation realm guy from the Ocean Aquamarine family, took over.
“We thank the Holy Son of the Myriad Occupation sect for not competing with is, this “favor”, we’ll be sure to return it”, he said while he covered the mouth of the bulky guy, unaware that Aster could see everything with his dragon eyes without them noticing, since he didn’t need to use any spirit energy.
“Hahaha, the people from the Mountain Amber family like to speak big, but they join hands with the Ocean Aquamarine family to split the bill, I wasn’t planning on participating anymore but in honor to that brother at room number one, we the Wanderer sect will offer nine hundred million spirit jades”, casually said the guy from room number two.
It’s worth mentioning that the guy from room number two, mentioned that it was his sect the one making the offer, meaning that he was making the bid with the finds of his backing not his, he has the spirit jades on him, but normally they wouldn’t be at his complete disposition, but had to be managed by the elder or protector in charge of them, the bulky guy could say he was making the offer since he was given that authority in order to bring Fawn to their side.
But now, not only he was going to spend practically all the funds granted for his whole team, meaning that they will have to use their personal money, but his intentions were indirectly hinted to Fawn by Aster, which is why he was shivering due to anger right now.
‘Damn Holy Son, damn Wanderer sect, I’ll get you for this!’, inwardly screamed the bulky guy, but since his mouth was still being covered by the representative of the Ocean Aquamarine family, he couldn’t say anything.
“Nine hundred and fifty million”, limited to say Wade while staring daggers at the bulky guy who made the guys from the Wanderer sect who were the only other first tier force with a direct descendant present, besides the Fey family, participating in the auction, to move against them.
Since the guy from the Wanderer sect didn’t make any other offer as he just wanted to mess with the Mountain Amber family, the auctioneer girl who was all smiles after having squeezed nearly a billion spirit jades from a Stellar grade resource which should have been sold at in the best-case scenario a bit more than half of that, declared the winner.
“Congratulations to the esteemed guests from the Mountain Amber and Ocean Aquamarine families for obtaining this bottle of royal jelly”, she said.
Wade wasn’t in the mood to even exchange pleasantries, he simply let go of the bulky guy and took the spatial ring he had in his left index finger which contained the funds of the family and went to sit at a couch, since he had to pay in person to obtain the treasure, later on.
At Valentina’s room, most of the girls were laughing at the previous scene, especially Agnes and Valentina.
“Are you really okay with that?”, asked Mikaela, only to see Aster shrug.
“My treasure expert already made her choice, in any case we don’t need to worry about such treasures until we reach the Genesis Manifestation realm anyway, by that point that thing will probably be available at a much lower price, or there will probably be an even better option out there”, he said.
In the family the ones who could use the royal jelly were all below the Genesis Manifestation realm, so even if he bought it, it will be meaningless, only Eris and Mylene could use it and they were indeed interested on it, since they didn’t have such a thing back at their places of origin.
But they weren’t going to advance to the Void Manipulation realm yet, instead they were planning to rebuild their Genesis Cores, since they had been integrating new knowledge from this mortal plane, Mylene was learning the alchemy of the four Heavenly Quadrants and Eris was doing the same but with Rune Mastering.
‘Still to think Camila would be this troubled over that stone plate’, thought Aster, “My treasure aura reacts with more intensity towards the royal jelly but my instincts tell me that the stone tablet is the correct choice”, were the words she said to Aster before falling asleep.
It’s worth mentioning that the sword girl inside the mind space, in other words, Rya, already told Aster that there was nothing sealed inside the stone tablet, unlike the black book from back then, she wasn’t going to let the same thing happen twice after all.
So, Aster was completely trusting Camila, while even the treasure girl was conflicted, the safe choice would be the royal jelly which will definitely bring benefits in many aspects, but he decided to believe in her instincts instead.
‘Don’t worry darling, I have a whole tank of something even better than the Black Marrow Elixir, in store for when you and Alice reach the Transcending realms, or if you want it, we can beat the hell out of them and steal it~’, playfully said Lilia as she cutely stretched her body while resting her head against Aster’s shoulder.
Naturally, Lilia emptied a few treasure rooms of the Drage before leaving, since those old guys forced her to leave or obey the arrangements of the family, she did as she pleased knowing that they couldn’t do anything to her.
The way to solve conflicts between the ruler families and the other top tier forces, was simple, a one-on-one fight, the winner took all and the loser had nothing to say, of course a good reason was needed to claim the right for a duel, but the bulky guy insulted Aster, without knowing that he is one of the candidates to own the Drage family, so Lilia could make something up just with that.
Seeing Lilia’s red eyes glow in a violent red light, Aster bitterly smiled at that wild dragon mother of his, whose demeanor has started resembling Alice’s one, lately.
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