The Auction (1)

"How about I call you..."

William looked at the color of the rooster's feathers.

"Little red?"

The rooster shook its head.

"No? How about... little chick?"

The rooster shook its head again.

"Um... little yellow?"

After getting ruthlessly rejected once again, William ran out of names. Not that it mattered, since the rooster was already covering its ears to avoid hearing the names he created.

William sighed. Was his naming sense that bad? He scratched his head. One more?

"How about... Lucky?"

The rooster almost ran away from him at that point, but then it suddenly paused. Lucky... didn't seem like a bad name? The rooster imagined all the other names its dumb owner would give it. Yep, Lucky was the way to go.

Before William could change his mind, he saw the rooster quickly nod.

"So... Lucky it is?"

The rooster nodded again.

Suddenly, Ryan came into the carriage.

"Fletcher, William, we're almost there!"

Fletcher abruptly woke up, and William stopped patting Lucky to look up.

They all went to the front of the carriage and noticed a giant stone wall, dozens of meters tall. Its top was decorated with hundreds of guards. Imbedded into the wall was a large gate, which was currently open, welcoming a long line of carriages into the city. Currently, their carriage was at the back of the line.

William looked at the tall city walls in awe. So, this was a city?

Ryan noticed his surprise.

"You should see some of those tier three cities. They're even bigger than this, and their walls are even made out of solid metal alloys designed to resist spiritual force attacks. I don't dare imagine what a tier five city looks like," he said.

"You've been to tier three cities before?"

Ryan shook his head.

"No, I've only heard descriptions of them before."

At this point, their carriage was already at the front of the line. Someone knocked on the door outside, and Fletcher let them in. After inspecting the carriage to make sure there were no abnormalities, they took a fifty copper entrance fee from them and left.

Ryan went back to the front and steered the carriage into the city. William looked around at the tall buildings and street markets, and the pedestrians walking alongside the well-worn dirt path they traveled on.

By his side, Fletcher waited for William's look of surprise, but never saw William's face change. Little did he know, William had seen a modern city, far more advanced than this one. Only the wall surprised him, since they didn't have a need for one in his old world.

Their carriage stopped in front of a hotel, and they went inside. Fletcher went to the front desk to get their rooms. When he was done, he walked over to them, showing the three pieces of jade in his hand.

"What are those for?" William asked.

Ryan gasped.

"You've never seen one of these before?!"

Fletcher rolled his eyes.

"Ryan, just go find which floor our rooms are on and come back. I'll show him how to use these."

Fletcher then turned to William.

"These are called storage jades. They are used to store information. Do you understand?"

Willaim nodded.

"Okay, the method to use these is pretty simple. Since you are a cultivator, you have spiritual energy trapped somewhere inside your body. What you need to do is direct that spiritual energy towards the jade, and it should produce an image in your mind. Just don't use too much, or you might shatter the storage jade."

"I think I understand what to do."

William held the storage jade in his hands and closed his eyes. He looked around his body for spiritual energy and found that most of it was compressed in an area near his heart. Trying to feel the same feeling he did when he was cultivating, he controlled a part of his spiritual force to flow through his arms and into the storage stone.

Suddenly, in his mind, he could see a piece of paper floating in front of him. William looked at what it said.

-----------------------

Welcome to the Flaming Boar Hotel! Please enjoy your stay here!

Room: 193

Type: Normal

This storage jade not only serves to contain this information, but it is also used as the key to open the door to your room. Please do not lose this, as you will have to pay a fine of one silver coin. Thank you and have a good day.

-----------------------

A moment later, the paper disappeared, and William opened his eyes.

"What happened?" William asked. "Why did it disappear?"

"It ran out of spiritual force, so it stopped showing the image," Fletcher explained.

At that moment, Ryan returned.

"I found our rooms. They're on the second floor. I'll lead the way."

They all went to their rooms and dropped their stuff off. When they were done, they all stepped out of the hotel and looked around.

"So... where to now?" William asked.

"There's still a few days until the auction, so why don't we tour the city?" Ryan suggested.

"But... shouldn't we prepare for the auction?" Fletcher asked.

Ryan shrugged.

"We're as ready as we'll ever be. Besides, I'm tired after being in a musty carriage for so long."

Fletcher sighed.

"Fine, do whatever you want."

Thus, for the next few days, William, Ryan, and Fletcher visited all the popular locations in the city, acting like tourists in a new country.

...

A few days later, William woke up in his hotel room. After washing his face in the bathroom, he put his clothes on and grabbed his money pouch. Then, he went outside.

Ryan and Fletcher were already there, waiting for him.

"Look who finally woke up," said Ryan.

William scratched his head, "Yeah, I slept in a bit."

"Can we go to the auction house now?" Fletcher asked.

"Where is it anyway?"

Fletcher paused.

"No idea. Didn't see it while we were touring the city."

William sighed.

"Whatever. Let's just go look for it."

After looking around for just a moment, they noticed a long trail of carriages heading deeper into the city. Following the carriages, they finally arrived at a large, silver building, aptly named the "Silver Wing Auction House". The lot in front of the building was already full, and the carriages coming in would drop off their passengers before they rode away to wherever they were staying. Feeling lucky they had walked all the way here, the group walked towards the auction house.

An attendant stopped them at the door.

"I apologize, but all of our ordinary seats are full. However, we still have some VIP booths left. If you can prove that you have at least five gold coins, you may have a seat in one of those. Otherwise, I will have to ask you to leave."

Fletcher showed the attendant the coins they collected, and the attendant quickly led them inside.

"Esteemed guests, right this way."

William and the others were led to a private booth by the attendant.

"The auction will begin shortly. In the meantime, please enjoy the complementary food and drink."

Inside the room, William looked around. It was a rectangular room with one of the walls replaced with a large window. William looked out and could see the crowd of people below, waiting excitedly for the auction. Strangely, he could see that everyone in the crowd was talking very loudly, but from here, he could barely hear them.

"Oh wow! This is great!"

William noticed Ryan at a table on the side, which had a lot of food on it. He would see an assortment of fruits, bread, and wine on the table. He saw Ryan open a bottle of wine and tilt it up.

"Aren't you underage? Are you allowed to drink that?"

"We're cultivators now. Our bodies are much more resilient to these kinds of things. Don't worry about it."

William sighed and walked over to the table as well. In his past life, he did drink some wine, so he should be able to handle it. Opening another bottle, he took a small sip. As he savored the flavors in his mouth, William inspected the food on the table. Taking a fruit that looked like a blue apple, he brought it and his wine over to a couch right in front of the window. He sat down next to Fletcher, who had been sitting there ever since they came in, and Ryan sat down just a moment later.

William took a bite out of his "apple", listening to the loud crunch he made when he bit into it.

Suddenly, the room outside the window darkened as the lights turned off. William looked at the stage in excitement. Was the auction finally starting? William saw a woman in formal attire come onto the stage. William almost gasped at their beauty. She had the most perfect face he had ever seen, and eyes that seemed to reflect the stars. Before he could think more about this, she finally spoke.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Silver Wing Auction House! My name is Caroline, and I will be the one presenting the items being sold today. Today, we have several amazing items that will be auctioned, including the legendary spirit stone!"

William noticed Ryan and Fletcher perk up at the mention of the item they wanted to buy.

"So, without further ado, let's get this auction started!"

Someone wheeled a cart onto the stage, which had a large glass box on it, protecting an exquisite, golden dagger. Caroline lifted the glass cover and took out the dagger.

"This is a Mortal-High ranked dagger, meaning that it is incredibly sharp," Caroline introduced.

Several attendants came onto stage, carrying a large, heavy rock.

"I believe you are all familiar with this. But for those who don't know, this is a strength testing boulder. It shows the amount of force it was hit with by using the display on its front."

A burly man came onto stage at that moment.

"This is the person who will be showing the strength of this dagger. Can you please hit the strength testing boulder with your full strength?"

Without a word, the man lifted his arm, and smashed it onto the boulder.

The boulder shook, and a number appeared on it.

"128!"

William looked at Fletcher.

"Is that number high or low?"

Fletcher answered, "It is generally used as a way to show the power of a cultivator's attacks. They call this the strength index. The cultivator uses their strongest attack without any techniques, and this outputs a value. Generally, someone in the spirit foundation realm would have a strength index from ten to fifty, and someone in the spirit condensation realm would have one from fifty to two-hundred."

"So his strength..."

"It's around the middle of the spirit condensation realm."

"That makes sense."

William looked back towards the stage. Currently, Caroline was giving the dagger to the man.

"Can you please do it once more?"

Holding the dagger in reverse grip, he struck down leaving a white mark on the stone.

"192!"

By his side, Fletcher looked surprised.

"What is it?" William asked.

"Generally, a mortal-high ranked dagger wouldn't give such a huge boost to the user. It's generally closer to the range of thirty to forty. It seems like this dagger is quite extraordinary."

"The bidding will start at 20 silver coins! As always, the minimum increment is one silver coin!"

The bidding started, and countless people below started to bid.

"Twenty-one silver coins!"

"Only twenty-one? Are you embarrassed? Thirty silver coins!"

"Stop being immature. Thirty-five silver coins!"

"Thirty-seven silver coins!"

"Thirty-nine!"

Inside the booth, William looked at Fletcher.

"Are we going to bid?"

Fletcher shook his head.

"We need to save our money for the spirit stone. Can't you see that none of the people in the other booths are voting? They're clearly waiting for the spirit stone as well."