Chapter 279.1 – Various Kinds of Divine Methods
With a sweeping glance, he could not help but notice that the grounds were kept in a presentable state. He also recognised only some of the individuals who came to greet him, while the rest were complete strangers to him. Despite that, he still nodded towards them as per proper etiquette. This in itself was a great display of face for the greeters themselves.
“Oh?” Looking over towards Sharmie, he smiled faintly as he commented, “So you’ve have come as well, virtuous niece of mine?”
Sharmie was well-acquainted with Gaia, as both of their families, the Terandor and the Apollo Families, possessed great influence over the military forces. As such, their families are friends of sorts, Sharmie having stayed over at Saint Mongols for an extended period of time when she had left for the Northern region to attend an exchange competition. Her father had contacted her to remind her to pay her respects to a couple of seniors, a request she had turned down as she found it troublesome.
However, at the end, he was still her senior. Now was not the time to make a fuss of such matters. She stood up and returned the greeting. “How are you, uncle Gaia?”
“I’m well enough,” chuckled Gaia with a faint smile, with an air of seniority around him. “You lass, why didn’t you come visit me when you were in Saint Mongol? If this happens again, uncle Gaia will get angry, you know?”
Upon being reprimanded, Sharmie’s face became red with embarrassment. Wordlessly, all she could do was to nod her head.
Perceiving that Sharmie wasn’t invited over by Teslan, Gaia ended his chat with her and proceeded to find a seat. Without a word from him, he had caused the entire auction to become much quieter.
For Sharmie, meeting seniors that held some relationship to her family gave her a huge headache. With the conversation with Gaia over, she quietly relaxed her breathing, any sense of overbearingness she had when confronting head on against Laura completely dissipated away. Hastily sitting down, she muttered, “Ma Dong was going to have a slight problem at hand…”
“What do you mean?” Wang Zhong could feel the aura emitted by Gaia. Indeed, the moment he had stepped in, his presence completely overwhelmed Ma Dong and suppressed the air of superiority he had garnered from Laura and Sharmie. However, this was to be expected, considering that Gaia was a senior within the family and it was not too big a loss.
“Do you see where he had positioned himself at?” indicated Sharmie. “It seems that there will be more people of his standing that will be attending this auction.”
As she was on close terms with Milami, Sharmie knew who Ma Dong had invited to the auction. Most of them were Tianjing’s local merchants. Considering his connections to the Assassin Family, he can be considered to be someone of importance. However, other than that, he is but a simple merchant.
Of the people he had invited over, other than herself and Laura, the only one who stood out was Scarlet’s grandfather, elder Greene. Although elder Greene’s status was revered, in Sharmie’s eyes, he was nothing when compared against those who wield immense power in large aristocratic families like Gaia.
Ma Dong had already used up most of his aces that he had up his sleeves. Yet, the opponent had so easily gained back the advantage and successfully suppressed him with just a simple hand. This called into question if there was still a need to continue this competition.
Wang Zhong looked over to Laura, and the only thing he did was give a smile.
Just as Sharmie finished her sentence, big shots entered the grounds in waves of two and three.
An elder from the Toronto Family, the steward of the Pelican Family…four of them had entered the premises, and every one of them was a member of the top families within the Federation! In addition, they were on familiar terms with Gaia. They all sat beside him and started chatting in a relaxed manner.
What was defined a first grade family? You must be one of the ten strongest aristocratic families in the Federation, and possess wealth that ranged over hundreds of millions, along with sufficient power and authority in large scale cities like Tianjing. With all these would you then be listed as a first grade family! Purely possessing wealth wasn’t enough. The Sion Family in Copperfield was considered a second grade family who possessed wealth but lacked authoritarian power. Within the Federation, authority was something that cannot be easily bought over by wealth.
However, anyone family that acquired the title of a first grade family would have already been engaged in a gigantic family conglomerate. It would have been deeply rooted in the Federation and have lasted up to four or five generations at the very least. An example of such a family would be the Assassin Family. Although they clearly didn’t possess the same level of fame and reputation as the ten great families, they had extensive reach within the underground world. They had formed numerous cliches to attain mutual benefits and protection; a gigantic interest group like them was not something the ten greatest families can simply write off.
Just a few of them had caused the entire focus of the audience to shift away towards themselves. Boisterous laughter can be heard coming from Teslan’s side. Various dignitaries were chatting with each other, each of them casting disdainful looks towards the huge group of merchants that were quietly sitting at the other side. “So that side belong’s to Teslan’s opponent? What a joke…”
“They are just a bunch of merchants. Do they think that with a bit of money, they could become influential figures themselves? That is really laughable!”
“Businessmen always look out for the greatest monetary benefits. Look, there’s quite a few people over there who are trying to be secretive.I reckon that they’ll not even have the courage to open their mouths to bid when the auction starts.”
“However,t Mr Gaia and the others turning up today was an unexpected surprise. Perhaps, this auction isn’t as simple as it seems.”
The auction grounds was buzzing with discussions, while the gathering circles on Ma Dong’s side remained silent. It’ll be a lie if the people over there said they weren’t regretting their decision to come. Yet, there was always a risk in gambling, and the higher the risk involved, the greater the rewards. Therefore, the only thing one could do was to lament that one’s luck wasn’t good. Indeed, Ma Dong’s opponent was not fools who only knew how to boast. Going against large powerful individuals with immense authority within the Assassin Family with his meager fame and reputation was too much for Ma Dong to handle.
Some of the less courageous ones that had already stood up quietly, preparing to leaving the grounds. Perhaps their betrayal would bear heavily on their conscience. Yet, when those people stood up, the great doors of the large hall were pushed open once again. Three old men walked into the auction grounds, and their arrival brightened up the faces of Ma Dong and Milami.
There’s still some more VIPs from Ma Dong’s side? Who’s that?
Everyone’s attention was turned towards the three
Whoosh. Those few are…
The front two people were recognized by the most of the people present. They were the headmaster of the Tianjing Academy, elder Greene, and the Dean of the Runic Department of Tianjing Academy, Dean Moore.
Honestly speaking, those two’s statuses weren’t low, as they held positions of power within the academy.
Dean Moore was a special research member of the Federation’s Institute of Runic Technology. Furthermore, he was a famous runic weapons grandmaster. The number of people who wanted him to create for them a specialized runic weapon wasn’t small. Therefore, there were many great figures in the Federation who owed him favors, and a great many of them had vast circles of connections.
Compared to Moore, elder Greene was not involved in as many things. However, he had held the position of headmaster of Tianjing Academy for thirty odd years. The Tianjing Academy was extremely powerful in the past. A couple of first class characters had graduated from it, such as Grace who was promoted into Sanctuary Division two years back. It could be said that he has students everywhere within the Federation. In addition, both his son and daughter possessed a high status within the federation parliament, causing the status of this old man to explode. Regardless of where he went now, he would be recognised by all.
However, although the two of them were on par with first class characters on the level of speaker Rex, the influence and prestige of a first grade family within the federation like Gaia’s family was something that truly cannot be matched. After all, neither of them possessed a powerful background or unlimited power and influence. Furthermore, while the majority of the people in the education system possess revered statuses, they do not possess much power and influences. While people would ordinarily respect them, most would not would give the slightest care about a so called elder figure.
However, who was the third old man that had came in together with the other two? He walked in between elder Greene and Moore, with the trio appearing to be talking and laughter together. His background was not from a small familyl, yet 95% of the people present didn’t recognize him. He’s too unfamiliar…
Wait a minute, why did Teslan and his uncle look like they had just seen a ghost?
In the next moment, Asima opened his mouth wide in incomparable astonishment when he saw the old man. He could only stare speechless at the old man. This sparked greater curiosity out of the people present. Exactly who was that person? We really want to know!
“Mr Sc-, Mr Scoffer!” stuttered Gaia Terandor. He who was brimming with arrogance when he stepped in could not help but to step up as he greeted the newcomer.