"The Heavenly Lightning Sect?" Attendant Zaho exclaimed in surprise. "Truly, I did not recognize such robes. The Young Master truly is knowledgeable," Attendant Zaho flattered the youth.
"However, even if he is from the Heavenly Lightning sect, those who join the War Hall are usually less talented disciples. The only disciples from the Heavenly Lightning Sect worth your personal time are the top two direct disciples of the sect, Rael and Lily. I have not heard of any other youths of note from that sect as of recent," Attendant Zaho replied respectfully.
The youth nodded his head in agreement with Attendant Zaho's words. "You are correct in both your assumptions. However, I can tell that this one is…unique," the youth replied. "As such, I will attend to him today."
Attendant Zaho remained silent for a moment before he nodded his head at the youths words.
"As you wish, Young Master Caz. You are one of our most promising talents to arise in our Mystic Trade Hall's history when it comes to trade and profit. If you say it, then it must be so. The youth is located in room one hundred and seventeen," he replied.
The youth nodded his head and thanked Attendant Zaho, before he strode off towards the room John was in.
…
John continued to lounge around casually, as he waited for the Trade Manger to arrive. Their arrival had taken longer than expected, but John didn't mind as he was in an incredibly relaxed state at the moment.
The door to the room suddenly opened, catching John's attention. A lone figure entered, and closed the door behind him before turning to face John.
"Greetings," the youth said to John with a warm smile on his face. "I am Caz…May I inquire as to your name?"
John stared at the youth, who was the bald-headed youth he had seen sitting next to the teleportation formations just a short while before.
"John," he replied calmly, although he was slightly surprised as he had been expecting someone…older.
The youth walked over to where John was, and sat on the sofa opposite the table from John. The two gazed at each other for a moment, sizing up each other as they could both tell that the other was quite unique. After a moment of silence, Caz spoke up once more.
"Would you like some tea?" Caz asked.
"Sure," John replied, and Caz stood up and walked over to the tea table on the edge of the room. He prepared the tea for a short moment before returning to the table and placing a cup before John.
An intoxicating aroma filled John's nose, and he couldn't help but reach out and drink a cup. A smile appeared on his face after sipping once.
"Mmm, good tea," John exclaimed.
Caz calmly took a sip as well and placed his cup down. "Are you also a tea expert?" he asked.
"No," John replied with a headshake. "I merely have sampled some good tea in the past, and know good tea when I taste it."
"Oh, speaking of which," John suddenly thought of something and decided to see if he could make some money on the side while coming to the Mystic Trade Hall. "Would you be interested in purchasing some tea leaves that I have?" he asked.
"Tea leaves?" Caz was slightly surprised to hear John try to sell him tea leaves, as he had been expecting to discuss battle arts.
"We do indeed purchase anything of value that someone is willing to sell," Caz replied respectfully. "However, our willingness to purchase always depends on the quality of the product."
John nodded his head at the youths' words, as it was a kind but subtle way of saying that unless John had high quality things to sell, that he shouldn't embarrass himself by taking it out just to be rejected.
A smile formed on John's face as a singular leaf suddenly appeared in his hand.
"I'm sure you'll be interested in this," John replied with a smile on his face as he plucked a singular leaf from the tea bushes in his palace realm, and sent it to his hand in the real world.
Caz's eyes instantly locked onto the tea leaf, and quickly leaned forward. He grabbed it gently from John's hands and inspected it closely, his face becoming more and more excited as his inspection continued.
John sat there calmly sipping tea as the inspection took place, and after a short moment, Caz looked back at him with a smiling expression. With his ability to create an unlimited amount of such tea leaves in his spatial realm, John knew he would have a spirit crystal generating machine on his hands shortly.
"Incredible," Caz replied, not even trying to hide his enthusiasm. Normally he was incredibly calm and collected when it came to bartering for goods, as any signs of enthusiasm or interest would only give the opposite party leverage in the trade.
However, tea was one of his only true passions in life, and he couldn't help but wear his emotions on his sleeve as he studied the leave. He took in a deep whiff of the leaf's aroma, and seemingly fell into a trance for a short moment before he collected himself.
"Incredible, truly incredible," Caz replied, causing John to smile slightly. "How many leaves do you have? Do you have a complete plant? Would you be willing to sell it to us?"
John's smile lingered on his face, but he remained silent as he thought about how to answer the question. The tea leaf was seemingly incredibly valuable to this new youth, and John didn't know its true value.
Not only that, but it was something that came from his mysterious spatial realm, and its origins were unknown. If the tea plant was truly some heavenly grade plant, then revealing he had an entire bush could cause problems to arise if a greedy party found out about it.
Caz quickly noted John's silence, and calmed down as he leaned forward earnestly. He could tell John had reservations about revealing anything more about the tea plant.
"Ah, excuse my forwardness," Caz said hastily. "I lost myself in my excitement…I can tell you have reservations about revealing too much, and such a thing only elevates my opinion of you. It seems as though I was truly correct in my judgment of you. You are both full of surprises, as well as wise in your business dealings."
John smiled at the youth, but didn't comment on his so-called 'judgment.'
"How about this," John replied as he took out a small jar full of leaves, the sight causing a wave of excitement to flow through Caz. "I'll give you these leaves to sell however you choose, and we'll split the profits seventy percent to me, thirty percent to you. If you can sell these leaves for a high enough amount of money, we can discuss future business dealings regarding these tea leaves," John explained.
There were two reasons for him saying this. The first was that he did not want to reveal the extent of his tea plant collection at the moment, while he also didn't want to directly sell it to the Mystic Trade Hall. He had no idea what the tea leaves were worth, and so the youth before him could set any price, and John couldn't argue against it.
However, selling it at an open auction would result in aggressive betting between more experienced traders, and would allow the tea leaves to be priced appropriately.
A large smile appeared on Caz's face upon hearing this, and he nodded his head in approval at John's calculative maneuvering.
"We have a deal!"