With nothing else to do, Daniel accepted Ligart's request.
He decided to show the group of cultivators the same thing he had seen when he was comprehending earth essence. So, he created a large shell of earth essence made out of hundreds of everchanging minerals.
He then formed an entrance for moonlight to go in. The light was reflected from side to side, forming a picture of bright colors.
"Ahah! What did I tell you? He is a prodigious spiritual cultivator!" Said Ligart proudly to the shocked young men and women which had followed him.
After a minute the shell started to dissipate, and sounds of disappointment reached Daniel's ears.
Once the shell disappeared completely, a few members of the group said goodbye and left. Ligart nodded at Daniel and bumped his fist on his shoulder.
A small group of twenty or so years old girls didn't leave, and instead, approached Daniel.
They wanted to comment on how cute he looked, how much he reminded them of their little brothers, or how good he would have looked together with their baby sisters, but the moment they got too close, their hands would simply slide off of Daniel's body right before touching him.
Ligart was, of course, aware of what was happening. Daniel was using spatial essence in order to prevent people from touching him.
After a few more failed attempts, before the girls could start asking for an explanation, Ligart approached them and said "Now ladies, let's leave the young man alone. After a performance, an artist needs his privacy." The girls looked at Daniel with disappointment, and waved him goodbye. They then left with Ligart.
Once again, Daniel found himself alone in the yard. An hour had passed, and the moon was full and high in the sky.
Daniel observed the bright moonlight that bathed his surroundings in a gentle light. For just a few moments, he began to comprehend light essence. Then, he sat quietly on a bench, and waited for the silent auction to be over.
-----
The Warehouse, 23:50.
*Ding Dong*
Daniel's uneventful and quiet wait was interrupted by the chime of a bell.
He didn't know what it meant, but from the reactions of the other people, he guessed that the chime indicated the imminent conclusion of the bidding phase of the silent auction.
He walked back into the main hall, and in there, he found a large amount of chairs put in an orderly fashion.
Most of these chairs were already occupied, and from the movement of the guests, Daniel had guessed that they were numbered as well.
Daniel quickly found his seat, where his friends happened to be sitting already. On his left, were Alis and Heimart, while to his right, were Jerigh and Ligart.
Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
In front of the seated people was a podium, behind which, the middle aged man that had welcomed the guests, was standing quietly. Every couple of minutes, he would remind the guests to finish writing their offers, and to put the list back in the envelope along with their identity stones.
At exactly midnight, his loud voice was heard through the entire hall. It say "The first stage of this silent auction has terminated. In about five minutes, we will announce the winners of the various items. Please, stay seated."
After exactly five minutes, an attendant approached the podium and handed a list identical to those the others had received. But instead of being empty on the side, this list had the winning offer, and the number of the winner.
"For the item number one, a batch of nine millions beast cores of the first rank, two hundred and fifty thousand beast cores of the second rank, and twenty five thousand beast cores of the third rank.. The winner is.. Guest number 59 with an offer of one million and nine hundred and fifty thousand gold coins." Said the middle aged man with a loud and clear voice.
Daniel was guest number 107, so he could see guest number 59 just a few rows in front of him. He looked reasonably happy. Not only because he had won this batch of low level beast cores, but also because he had placed the same bet on the following four items.
Daniel wasn't aware of it, but this man was one of the vice leaders of one of the biggest blacksmith groups in the Krehan empire.
Something that blacksmiths groups usually did, was to accept unranked people in mass before helping them reach the first or second rank of martial cultivation. These people would then work on forging low level items that, after being sold, would serve as a return of the investment.
The cost of a weapon of lesser quality was many times higher than that of a single first rank beast core. Usually, an unranked would advance into the first rank in a week's time and through the use of at least five beast cores, therefore, it was an extremely beneficial deal for blacksmiths groups all over the world, as blacksmiths could work for dozens of years.
This process was a short-term investment that brought great profits, and of course, existed in many different levels. Metals and materials not always could be treated by low-level cultivators, so, blacksmiths associations usually had a small circle of very talented blacksmiths which they nurtured to higher stages of cultivation.
Unsurprisingly, the following four deals had been successfully purchased by the same man, and at the same prize.
"For item number six, a batch of one thousa.." The announcements continued slowly, until finally, it was the turn of Daniel's items.
"For item number twenty-one, a batch of two hundred and fifty beast cores of the fifth rank, and fifty beast cores of the sixth rank.. The winner is.. Guest number 107 with an offer of six hundred ninety-one thousand and one gold coins."
"WHAT?!?" Suddenly Burst out a man in the crowd. "That's just one gold coin more than what I've offered!! How is that possible!? You've said that it was impossible to spy on another person's offer!" The man was furious, and the coincidence was too big to pass as such.
"Sir, I assure you that it is impossible that someone might have spied on your offer. Every Quill pen, sheet of paper, and even the ink, has been enchanted by a spiritual cultivator at the ninth rank, and with a high comprehension of spatial essence. The very items do not exist in this dimension, and the only reason why you were able to use and see them yourself, was thanks to the wisp of ki that you've left within the identity stone. Please be seated. This is only an extremely odd coincidence." Said the middle aged man after finishing to explain the whole safety protocols adopted by his auction house.
The man turned to look at Daniel with a dubious look.
Within the crowd, the father of the family of three people was looking at Daniel. On his face, was a faint smile.
"What are you smiling at?" Asked his wife.
The faint smile disappeared from his face as he said "I think you're going to get an answer to the question you've been bothering me with for the past two weeks.."
"For item number twenty-two, a batch of five thousand beast cores of the third level, two hundred beast cores of the fourth level, one hundred and fifty beast cores of the fifth level, seventy beast cores of the sixth level, and three beast cores of the seventh level.. The winner is.." The middle aged man looked at Daniel with a faint smile, then continued "Guest number 107 with an offer of one million and five hundred thousand gold coins."
He then looked at the previous man, and said "The second offer for this item was of one million and four hundred and fifty thousand gold coins."
"For item number twenty-three , a batch of two hundred beast cores of the sixth rank, and ten beast cores of the seventh rank.. The winner is.." Suddenly, the face of the middle aged man contorted in confusion. Once again, he looked at Daniel and said "Guest number 107.. Three million eight hundred and eighty-six thousand.. And one gold coin.."
"THAT CAN'T BE!" Shouted another man in the crowd. "It's the same thing that happened to that man.. It's just one gold coin above my offer!"
The host felt lost for a few moments. He then regained his wits and said "Order please! Be seated. We will definitely investigate the matter."
"Who is the object going to?" Asked the man who had just shouted.
Suddenly, Daniel stood up and said "If I may, I would like to explain how this happened."
"Please." Said the host.
Daniel turned to look at the host, and with a matter-of-fact tone, he said "It's nothing too complicated.. I've simply heard them say their offers out loud."
"That's bullshit! Brat, do you think that you can make a fool out of me here?! I'll tear you into pieces if you don't speak the truth!" Shouted the second highest bidder of the item number twenty-one.
"I am fifteen years old.. And I am a spiritual cultivator of the fourth rank.. Are you implying that I possess the power to see through the spatial limitation imposed by 'The Warehouse'?.. With that level of reasoning, no wonder you've said your bid out loud." Said Daniel with a disdainful tone.
"YOU FUCKING BRAT! I'LL KILL YOU!" Shouted the man while dashing towards Daniel. But before the man could reach Daniel, he disappeared in thin air.
Daniel was shocked. He couldn't have possibly teleported the man away, as that man had a higher cultivation than his. Someone within the crowd or the staff had teleported the man away.
Within the crowd, the father of the family was smiling once more. By his side, his wife looked at Daniel and said "You weren't kidding.. Twice as cunning as you were.."
"Dad, do you know that guy?" Asked the platinum blonde girl.
The man turned to look at his daughter, and with a loving expression he said "Yes.. and you'll meet him too one day."
Once the first furious man disappeared, the second man barked a few threats and left the all in rage as well.
Daniel sat back on his chair, and waited for the auction to end.
The only interest Daniel's group had for this event now, was the offer for their weapons. It took almost an hour of waiting before the middle aged man announced the numbers of the highest bidders, and the various offers.
Two of the four batches of weapons had gone for seven millions each, while the remaining two had been sold for five millions and five hundred thousand gold coins each. The total amount was a whopping twenty-five millions of gold coins.
After an additional half hour, the silent auction concluded, and Daniel and the rest were finally able of obtain their items and leave the auction house.
They had entered with forty thousand weapons of decent level and six thousand weapons of the good level. When they came out, they had obtained 5000 beast cores of the third rank, 200 beast cores of the fourth rank, 400 beast cores of the fifth rank, 220 beast cores of the sixth rank, 13 beast cores of the seventh rank, and finally 20,178,359 gold coins.
"I'd say it went pretty well." Said Ligart while walking behind the rest of the group.
Daniel turned around, and with a satisfied expression, he said "It certainly did.. Now comes the boring part.."
Heimart looked at Daniel, and with a scolding tone he said "If you're going to think of cultivating for long periods of time as boring.. Then you're never going to reach a high.." He then stopped, and after realizing who he was talking to, he said "Actually, nevermind.."
With an uncomfortable expression, Ligart said "So.. we are going to take turns on who stays outside and guard the pocket dimension?"