13 Chapter 13
We left the establishment right after we finished eating and started making our way to the auction hall.
"What is the arenas of the Cliff area? From what that guy was saying it seemed like something bad to have to get info from there." I asked Ragnar.
"Let's just say that it is a troublesome area, where brutal fights like the gladiator's happen. There are many arenas and each one has some sort of restriction/ rule, like for example, it has to be a death match in one arena, while in the other no cultivation is allowed... Usually if someone wants something in the Cliff area it is obtained through a fight in an arena chosen by the challenged. And of course the black market would have a hand in these arenas, after all they also have slave battles." Ragnar said.
"Why do the two of you always have to talk about such serious and dark matters? Anyhow, Scar, I want to learn to play those gambling games, they looked fun." Nifret said to me.
"Sure, I will also teach you some games that only I know, so that you can play with me, and later you could teach others and win with easy since you already practiced." I said.
"You want to turn my son into a gambling addict?" Ragnar questioned me.
"Of course not, I want him to be able to have fun and win in the process." I countered as we reached the auction hall.
"We will talk about Riasara when the time actually comes, we still have a lot of place to go first."Ragnar said right before we entered the auction hall.
We sat at one of the furthest seats while waiting for the auction to start. There were already people inside and more coming with time, but all hiding their faces. I guess that is the only choice since it seems that because it is the cheapest auction there are no VIP rooms.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome! Today's auction we will start with a set of slaves, they are our finest ones. In this set we have slaves for pleasure, labor, battle or for anything else you wish them to do." the announcer said as a group of chained people made their way to be displayed on the stage.
"25 spirit stones for the blond one!" a masked man at the front said.
"I knew that slavery existed, but I didn't think that even cultivators would use them." I commented.
"Why did you think so? They are also human like the nobles and other people from the secular world." Ragnar said.
"I don't know, it's just that...they are from the cultivator world, normally they are focusing on getting stronger, fighting/ killing/ dominating other factions, not acquiring slaves that should be normal people or weak since they got captured in the first place." I said.
"Quite a lot of sects use slaves for labor/ chores, after all they have marks and seals on their bodies repriming them, so they are much trustworthy than servants since they can't disobey. Not to forget that slavery is one of the easiest way for a cultivator to obtain a beauty for themselves, they can even commission one. They are also used for gambling battles, there are many slaves in higher auctions that have cultivation." Raganr said.
"Next we have we have the formula for the formation: eight steps pentagram, excellent to be used to defend against a group of enemies." we heard the announcer say as the next item was brought on top of a box, seems like all the slaves were already sold.
...
"We also have this magnificent phoenix pill furnace, accompanied by a set with 2 rejuvenating pills, 1 strengthening pill and 1 pill making recipe, which we will mantain a secret of what type it is. Buy it at your own risk." the host said enjoying himself.
"55 spirit stones!" one woman said.
"I will give 75 spirit stones!" another person bid higher.
"Scar, you should make a bid fast. Isn't that something you want?" Nifret asked.
"Not really, I have never used nor needed a pill furnace to treat someone before, let's say I have better ways to make medicine." with modern tools I completed the last part in my head.
"An aura concealing talisman in the shape of a necklace, it's able to hide your cultivation realm from cultivators below Qi Binding peak realm." the guy said, announcing the next item.
"Isn't that something good? Though it would be even better if they had a higher grade talisman." I said.
"You have no need for any of that, since you are always frequenting places for cultivators, you basically only interact with people who cultivate and you only have spirit stones as currency, everyone will start from the assumption that you also cultivate. And seeing as they won't be able to sense a speck of internal energy circulating inside of you, they would think you are carrying a concealing talisman or your cultivation is much stronger than theirs that you were able to surpress it, like I did back in Wingtar region." Ragnar said.
"I wonder who invented such talismans, it only serves for people to bluff their way, making others believe they are strong." I said.
"It doesn't really work that way, if someone tried to mke such a bluff many would test it or investigate to make sure that person has the cultivation realm to back it up. That Isaac guy only thought you were an expert because he saw me, a Fenrir, with you. Now that I think about it, that time was quite funny when he called you a senior as a form of respect and you thought he insulted you." Ragnar said as he and Nifret started laughing.
"I didn't know that he would make such an assumption of me." I said trying to defend myself.
After a few more items were auctioned off, like pills, herbs, lightning talisman, antiques, ritual tools... the auction came to an end and we didn't buy anything. They did present some herbs that I was interested in, but the bids for them made their prices quite expensive.
We went to an inn early to pass the night, since we would depart first thing tomorrow morning.
****
Morning of the next day
We went out of town and I asked Ragnar to hunt something for us if he wanted to eat breakfast, I planned to have enough points to buy food before we reached the next outpost.
"I can't believe you would ask someone to hunt on an empty stomach, worse yet is that there is nothing to hunt close to town." Ragnar said said grumbling and complaining.
Two hours later
Ragnar was able to find something and he actually brought a cheetah, that's such a beautiful creature and a feline. I should have told him not to hunt felines, they are the best species out there, now I started remembering my "baby", a really cute cat, that I had in my previous life. But I couldn't even continue reminiscing or mourn as Nifret's voice interrupted it.
"Whoa! Dad, you found a cheetah! Quick, Scar, make something while the meat is still fresh, I am starving and cheetah's meat is one of the best there is." Nifret said drooling over the dead body.
'That's gruesome.' I thought.
"I had to make the time I wasted looking for a prey worth it." Ragnar said to his son.
After I had an internal battle about my views of felines, I closed my eyes as hunger won me over and started preparing some dishes.
.....
[Points gained: 25 points]
[Host's total points: 55 points]
'Seriously, System, being able to win points just from using your recipes is one of the best things about you.' I said to the System in my head after a satisfying meal.
I only need to buy spices and ingredients to complement the meat (vegetables, grain...) so that the taste won't be plain, making the process much cheaper seeing as I don't need to buy a magical beast meat. Those things are the really expensive.
[The System is happy that the Host treasures and is trying to earn as many points as possible. The System wants to share such happiness and so it will tell the Host that it will need 10.000 points to be able to upgrade the System.]
'TEN THOUSAND!' I screamed inside my head almost letting it out, 'Wait, is that how I will be able to get your other function? I will have to stop unlocking books if I wish to save that much points.' I said.
[The System believes in the Host.]
"Ahh, father, since you found a cheetah there should have been others, you should have hunted more and we could store them for later." Nifret lamented while laying on the grass.
"It is important to vary what you eat." I hurriedly said, trying to stop such dangerous thoughts about.
"She is right, anyway, let's continue on our way. We have already rested enough." Ragnar said.
****
After talking about all sorts of topics while on our way, it seemed like we finally reached the suspended formation we would spend the night, with only a few hours to go before the sky goes completely dark.
"Doesn't this outpost looks a little worn out when compared to the one we stayed before as well as the ones we saw on the way?" I asked.
"That's because it is an improvised outpost. You could also say that the place we are going is also improvised." Ragnar said.
"And why exactly are we going to such a place?" I inquired curiously.
"Well, remember when I said that I would take you somewhere where a lot of eccentric cultivators gather? Some time ago, there was this really strong sword cultivator from Venia world and he decided that he would pass down his martial arts as well as guidance to anyone who passes his tests. Even if you passed only one, he would give you something. He settled down in a remote area here in Azgal world, but as time went by, even after the sword cultivator died, quite a lot of cultivators, specially eccentric ones, continued to gather there. They made it into a place to pass down teachings, exchange knowledge/ experience by fighting or even sell things, of course, that is as long as you are acknowledged by that person according to his criteria." Ragnar explained.
"That is awesome, and extremely fitting for our situation, after all isn't someone that starts cooking and selling dishes in an outpost quite eccentric?" I asked rhetorically as I picked up my pace to the formation.
Right after we settled down on the platform, I started taking out the cooking tools, meat, spices, rice... I had a total of 80 points, because Ragnar hunted another prey for lunch. I am going to make these people give me both points and spirit stones, there was around 13 people on the platform, I am going to strike rich.
'System, I want to see the possibilities of a new recipe through the merge of these two.' I requested the System, 'I should try out the function that I acquired after unlocking 10 books.' I thought.
I could already feel all eyes on us as I started preparing the dishes, and as that familiar delicious and intoxicating aroma began filling the enviroment I could hear them talking.
"What the hell are those three doing?" one person asked.
"Are they trying to poison us by baiting us with such a mouthwatering scent?" another one guessed.
"They are crazy." one conlcuded.
As such talks were going back and forth I started talking.
"It seems like you are all wet behing the ears, like you have never seem someone selling food. You can all stay there watching us eat or buy them with spirit stones." I said with a smile and Ragnar released a little of his aura, probably so that they won't try to attack us after I said something that maybe could have provoked some of them.
The three of us started eating without a care for the people around us.
"Why is someone with such a high cultivation realm together with such a weirdo?" one person said with his back drenched in sweat.
"He can kill us without the need of poison." another added.
"I want one." a middle aged man said as he ignored the other talking cultivators and approached us.
****
After the first person, the other followed much easier, and I charged a little more because of their rude remarks.
[Host's total points: 160 points]
[Hosts total spirit stones: 245 spirit stones]
As everyone finished eating and was enjoying the time we heard a screeching scream.
'Is that the immortal monster that Ragnar told me about?' I thought as I looked in the direction of the scream and two people, one being eaten and the other running.
