Michael picked up the letter. He could feel a metal card inside the letter.
Carefully tearing the letter open without giving a damn about a letter opener, he started to read the words written on high-quality paper in beautiful handwriting.
"Hey kiddo, little birdies told me you're here in Icefair. If you're here at this time, I guess you came to the auction and I liked to think you'll also visit us. Pardon our method of reaching out to you as we are currently dealing with a delicate situation in which you can help us out. Come meet us after the auction. P.S I have left something you might need to get into the auction, Lord Malan"
He lifted the letter as a card made of silvery metal landed in his hand. The one-inch thick card had the symbol of House Bradley etched on it.
"Nice, a VIP access card" Gaya recognized the card in a single glance. Except for the auctions that happened in Nagaland, she never had a VIP card outside. It was not because she couldn't afford it but being a VIP kinda attracted people's attention and she liked to be anonymous when participating in auctions.
"What did he mean by 'I need to get into the auction?" reading those words, he couldn't help recalling his little fiasco with Lord Julius in Phoenix island.
When he met Julius, he was a Core Strengthening stage level 5 and if he now reached level 8 or even level 10, Michael didn't give a damn as he would reach that in a few months. He hoped Julius let go of whatever grudge he may have been holding against him as Michael would hate to kill him because he would rather use Julius and his operation to his advantage than killing him.
However, if Julius chose to do otherwise, Michael would plot a plan to replace him with one of his subordinates in the future. Unlike young masters like Noah who would go on a killing rampage because of petty grudges, Michael liked to kill fewer people and use the infrastructure they've built over years to his own benefit. This would prove useful in the long run. For example, Julius has set up a perfect operation of trade among continents and killing Julius and all of his people would crumble this operation to dust but if Michael was to replace Julius as well as few others with his minions, the entire Phoenix auction manor would work for him.
"I'm gonna get shut-eye. Wake me up early in the morning"
"I'll cultivate. Some of us don't have the privilege of a War god body like some lucky bastards" He just waved off before placing a system store-bought silk quilt on the bed.
Gaya sat on the ground in a meditation posture to cultivate while the little dragon hovered between them trying to decide whether to sleep with Michael or cultivate with Gaya.
Looking at Nightmare's dilemma, she just grabbed him by his tail.
"You're gonna cultivate with me. It's a shame that you're still in Body Refining stage level 1. Slowly absorb the energy coming from this" She said, taking out the bone of the Fusion stage cultivator that Michael brought from the Nether Realm.
"System, can I also boost Nightmare cultivation speed by 40%?"
[Yes, familiars will get the boost as well as your chosen subordinate]
[The host's current chosen Subordinate is Gaya]
[The host can currently boost the cultivation speed of two subordinates]
"Great. System, boost Aria's cultivation speed. I will bring some resources to Raylene when I get back to the sect"
"I can feel it. I'll reach level 9 in a couple of weeks, im awesome!" Gaya proudly exclaimed looking at Nightmare. She had no clue that her cultivation speed was being boosted by Michael. Coupled with her innate talent, the 40% boost can let her match Michael's cultivation speed itself as he couldn't go on a killing spree every single day.
The night quickly passed. Dawn somewhat broke the dark winter skies from the horizon, marking the opening day of the Heavenly Phoenix Auction, which had long since opened its gates. The giant gates had been decorated with ribbons and lanterns as both people and workers streamed in and out of the building. In the distance, quite a few dressed-up people stood there, waiting for the auction house to open.
Today was the day of the annual auction at the Phoenix Auction Manor. In the past, this had always been the busiest day for the Phoenix Auction Manor, but today, they had the two Epic spell scrolls and various unique items for sale. This year was even livelier than the years before. Regardless of the rain of cold snowflakes, there were already many people waiting by the gates.
The Phoenix auction manor building was exceptionally tall, despite being only three stories tall, it had already reached several dozen meters higher into the air than of a typical five-story building back on earth. Just like most of the buildings in ICefair, it had been also built using a marble-like shiny white stone and decorated with sky blue windows. On top of the great big gates to the auction house was a three-meter tall board that had the three words " Phoenix Auction Manor" written in fancy calligraphy.
More and more people began to gather at the Phoenix Auction Manor and filled up the nearby streets. Caravans found it extremely difficult to get by or find parking. Many people had been waiting for at least 2 hours before the ear-splitting sounds of a gong and firecrackers could be heard. This year's annual auction had finally begun!
The auction this year wasn't like the past auctions. In the past, there was no fee to enter the auction house either to participate in the auction or just to watch it. However, because of Epic spells and the uniqueness of the items, the admission fee this year hiked up to 50 gold coins. This was not the amount a villager or farmer could afford but again, this was not a place for the poor.
Although this hike in prices made many people unhappy, it did not deter the people with money in their pockets. At the same time, it had gotten rid of the people who were merely there to watch the show and not buy anything. In this way, there was enough room for all the rogue cultivators and mysterious figures that were extremely interested in the items
After the gates opened up for the auction house, the people who already had tickets and waited outside for a very long time began to enter through the entrance in a straight line. On the other side of the buildings, there were much fewer people and all of them wore elegant clothes that basically screamed nobles.
"VIP's please come this way" a young man was standing near the entrance, screaming his heart out. Since Michael had a VIP access card thanks to Lord Malan, he walked towards the VIP entrance. He waited until the nobles in the line before him entered the auction house.
As he reached the inner halls of the Phoenix Auction Manor, ignoring the nobles' shocked look at Nightmare, a large expansive area greeted his eyes. The place was filled with neat rows of seats for as far as the eye could see. It was clear that the number of seats had surpassed 500.
The area had two stories worth of seats, and the two stories combined had a total of over 1,000 seats. Installed on the sides of every seat were dozens of private rooms for the honored guests, each separated by a tinted glass wall. From the inside, they could still clearly see the outside, but no one on the outside could see what was happening on the inside.
"That way" Gaya showed him the stairs to get to the second floor where the private rooms for the VIP guests were located. However, just as he was about to walk the stairs, he noticed a lady in red robes eyeing him and murmuring something with the young man who let Michael in. It was obvious they were talking about him as they did not take their eyes away from him. Soon afterward, the lady walked towards him with a rather stern look on her face. Gaya frowned looking at her expression because she was full of smiles when she let the other VIP guests in.
"Ghost I assume," the lady in red robes said. She was the first one to completely ignore Nightmare as she didn't even look at the dragon standing on his shoulder.
"Yes"
"It seems we have to check your VIP status"
"Is there a problem?" He folded his hands against his chest as a sign of irritation.
"The auction will begin in three hours.IF you want to auction your items, please seek out our manager Miss Vargas on the first floor" a voice of an elder sounded throughout the building.
"Tell them, I'll be there in a few minutes" the red robes woman said as he realized the woman before him is the manager of this branch, Miss Vargas.
"Well this saved me the trouble of finding you to auction this"
His goal was today to auction the rare herbs he found at the Treacherous Ocean and some of the rare spells he got from the Nether Realm. By doing this, he would get richer and use the gold coins to develop his business empire. Because of this plan, he first wanted to tempt this lady for her to stop acting like a bitch. Only if she still continued to act this way he would leave this place but if he walked out of this place, the name Julius would certainly make its way into his kill list along with this woman.
Her stern look took a turn as her brows arched up when she saw the silk apples in Michael's hands. The fragrance of the fruits instantly made her mouth water. Just a single glance could tell her that these fruits were at least two thousand years old. An alchemist would buy the silk apples instead of an Epic spell any time of the day and she just saw Alchemy king Gabriel's disciples settling in one of the VIP rooms.
"Choose wisely Miss Vargas. Petty grudges and lose a valuable customer or wipe the slate clean and make some sweet sweet money"