Chapter Seventy Nine - Our emotions are stirred

As Pike mentioned, following the competition came the auctions. Once those were settled, there would be the individual competitions and the closing feasts, in which the competitors, Teachers and guests gathered, but others were forced to imagine about from afar,

There were two auctions; the first was where usually the least valuable things were exchanged hands and was only open to students. Students bid using points and as the realm treasures were not always enough to whet the appetite's of bidders, Pills, talismans, simple crystals and apprentice weapons often were placed up for auction as well. The atmosphere was usually lively and the treasures usually not so rare to want to cause mischief following.

The second auction was a closed auction where the rarest treasures could be sold. Again Pills, talismans and the like might find new ownership, but usually these were made by top students or Teachers. The closed bidding system allowed for the privacy of the purchaser and the price agreed upon. The dark emotions of envy and greed could only be restrained not solved, this system having been used the past one hundred or so years was found to do so reasonably well.

Teams decided for themselves what would be sold, what would not. For instance, Roman was very reluctant to part with the small, colour and pattern changing stone and the team were reluctant to take it from him. Indeed, it was just a small treasure and the taking of the pulse of a willing person could give the same results to an expert, no need to rely on the interpretation of a rock.

Leon harvested many herbs, but for a few stalks and seeds, he was happy to exchange the rest for points. They would also add the ametrines and other gemstones into the general auction. The blue mushrooms had value, but only as an exotic food thus suitable for the student auction as were many of the animal parts, be it that they could become armour or adornments. Though there were certain exceptions, such as the peng-kun teeth, far more suitable for the closed auction, giving outsiders the chance to bid on this treasure.

The three cockateal eggs would find themselves as part of the closed auction; Velana, their only beast-tamer was not interested in raising one, she chose a few leathers to take back with her over them or anything else.

Roman took the changing rock and a few interesting pieces of stones that were worth nothing by themselves. Troy's interest lie in the knife blade; he wanted to have a new handle cast for it and use it as one of his weapons. Caelus thought he liked both the magic ring and the broken jade scrolls, but also felt that it would be better to have the first evaluated and the latter fixed to see what actual value they had. It was not good to be too greedy.

Everyone eyed the interspatial ring, but no one stepped forward at this point.

Usually in such situations, the team would have everything valued in terms of points as part of their scores by the judges. Everyone picked a few things of lower value and the highest value things need be paid to the team in points or of things with equal value. For example, if Leon wanted an ounce of raw void stone, he would likely need to exchange with several Jade bottles worth of peak quality Cloudy Spiritual Pills or a bottle of high quality White Spiritual Pills. Such reached value of many gold coins in the merchant world as a mere ounce of raw void stone could alter a small pocket of space into something nearing a mu, once tempered and then the waste material was not thrown away but used in the making of cheap interspatial pouches.

All of their loot was valued this way; on known values. Even if it were say, the unusual skin of a hybrid or a stalk of mutated herb or a magic ring with an unknown array. Basically, it was to simplify things, otherwise wouldn't teams continuously argue over the value of every small thing? So what if none of the peng-kun teeth had chips or imperfections or the horn of an tri-corn twisted left instead of right? If they made exceptions for one team, wouldn't they have to make exceptions for others? A piece of broken silver was a piece of broken silver at the end of the day, no matter what shape it took.

Of course, if the team had successfully identified the magic ring before hand and it was truly worth an increased value, that was different. This was a test for the scholar as well, after all. Roman's expertise didn't lie in this area, but he had already found so much for their team, they could not complain. Just swallow the potential reduction in points and seek outside assistance before the auction.

And then they received some breathtaking information about their treasures.

Roman was the valued student of a certain Scholar Teacher, not someone highly important, but not someone to be looked down on. Eccentric fit her best. She loved interesting things regardless of value, so although she evaluated their things with sparkling eyes, her heart held no avarice. She was often visited by students following the competition, thanks to her traits. No need to exchange points or silver, no need to risk having to make gifts to appease her will. Just let her study it for a bit, she would return it intact before the auctions, her curiosity satisfied. Of courses that all was based on whether one could get her attention in the first place.

Great for most students, a nightmare for Roman and his fellows as they were forced to record all of her notes on those objects for the woman. Of course, this time, Roman was on the other side of the coin and he was quick to take advantage of his connections to her to see her directly, without waiting.

The three rings, the chest filled with coin and the broken jade scrolls were waved beneath her nose catching her immediate attention.

The coin chest would usually hold little interest to a normal Cultivator; the enchantments upon it were old and worn out, it was now just wood with some array lines upon it.  The formation was interesting, but nothing actually new.  The coins, however, she collected one of each denomination and spread them out, wanting to record this information for prosperity.  After all, these represented a bit of history from a realm that had long lost its records.  Roman and the others were willing to gift them, if she wanted to keep them.

She just smiled and said nothing, just had one of Roman's 'sister's' make impressions of the coins for her notes.

Otherwise, silver was just silver no matter what was embossed on its surface.

The three rings, they were right to guess that one was a decorative, valuable piece, but without other usage.  As for the magic ring, it had defensive properties.  The array added a personal layer of protection on its wearer, the equivalent of a permanent leather skin about the entire body, not unlike Abiding Fortitude pills.  Of course the latter was temporary, the former worked as long as the wearer had spirit to share with it.  This increased its value greatly and would be sought after by many alchemists, scholars and mages not to mention gain interest from other cultivators.

And then there was the interspatial ring.

"Not an interspatial ring," the Teacher told them the following day.  "But an interdimensional ring."  Even though the tea in their cups was good, they all couldn't help but spit it out in shock.

"Could you repeat that?"  It wasn't often that Pike questioned his hearing. An interdimensional ring? Wasn't the chance of forging one like finding natural ice in the desert?

"It's an interdimensional ring, but," the woman continued as she placed the silver ring down on the desk carefully, "there is an additional array upon it.  It won't allow its space to be utilised by anyone but a particular bloodline."

"Then it's useless," Caelus couldn't help but complain bitterly.

"Not useless," the Teacher smiled and smacked him on the shoulder as if in comfort.  Unfortunately, it didn't comfort, just caused pain.  "It's possible that the bloodline exists in one of the other realms, especially consider the high realm.  Just..."

"Just that finding the owner requires luck," Pike sighed and smiled.  In a way, this was not a bad result.  If others found out they had such a ridiculous treasure, who knew if they could keep it for themselves without losing or shedding blood. "I don't suppose there are any clues to guide one either?" The Teacher hesitated in thought, before shaking her head.

"Even then," Caelus continued to mutter, "if we return find the owner and hand it over, whose to say we'll be repaid with any gratitude."  Leon and the others couldn't help but nod, this world was not known for its kindness after all.

"What ab-about the b-broken scrolls?" Leon asked, hoping to lift the emotions that had been both elevated only to sink into the mud once more.

"Hmm, oh I had my students working on those, let me just enquire," the Teacher hurried out almost absently, leaving them alone in her study. While she was gone, they chatted a bit about their mixed luck and Leon brewed fresh tea.

"Do you want the magic ring?" Pike asked Caelus as he took the fresh cup of tea, enjoying the scent of it. He wasn't one for tea, but there was something about Leon's tea that was always welcoming.

Caelus looked a little conflicted before finally shaking his head and refusing it. "It's not something I can afford to keep," he chuckled wryly, even though there was some disappointment that in this, his first competition, there was nothing he liked enough to ask for otherwise. The other ring was boring, not to mention it wouldn't fit on his thick fingers, the last ring was useless to him; he knew of his paternal bloodlines going back several millennia since his ultimate ancestors managed to rise from the lowest realms to this one. Even if other bloodlines mixed in, famous ones would be remembered, others not, but all would be watered down to preserve the main line, forget the chance of ownership for him. Plus, even then, it was still a treasure that someone at the peaks of cultivation could bend to his or her will should they chose.

He sipped the fresh brew and grudgingly complimented Leon; "Good tea."

"It's m-m-medicinal t-tea, helps fix d-damaged m-meridians m-more quickly," Leon mentioned, with a smile.

They all took a long drink upon hearing that; meridians could be damaged in many ways, exhausting their energies everyday with little rest, as was their experience of late, was just one. The minor damage healed easily enough, but it never hurt to have an extra aid.

It wasn't long before Roman's Teacher returned.