Aster softly laughed at Camila's cute expression, he has now found how to deal with her, each one of the girls is different and have their own tastes and personal traits, which he honestly like, since he can have different kinds of fun with them.
Camila is the only "adult" lady in the group which isn't a mother, though her real age is way lower than Lilia, Mylene and Eris, she acts as a responsible adult, unlike them, the other one in such position is Agnes, but she is more childish and impulsive.
Of course, we are only talking about their attitude, physically Camila looks to be in her middle twenties, just like Sarina, she looked a bit older in her late twenties before, but when she awakened the Exquisite Resonating lineage of the Wolfstein, she went through a fundamental change.
Her attribute changed from earth to the advanced and stronger metal one, and she rejuvenated too, not to mention she broke through to the Mortal Transcending realm gaining a longer lifespan and recovering from all the stress that having to deal with Isaac's screw ups caused her.
Aster then guided Camila to their skybox, the entrance fee was quite high for this place, but to be honest he was loaded, leaving aside the earnings of the store that even after being divided among the girls, were still quite decent, he robbed all the members of Rox and Ley's families out of their spatial rings.
Which though didn't have that much resources as they were sent back periodically to their families, they still had plenty of spirit jades, the advanced version of spirit stones, which all the cultivators from the Transcending realms used to cultivate.
ραпdǎ Й?νêl(сòm) He even found a few dozens of thousands of high ranked spirit jades in Ley and Rox's rings, the reward of the mission which was issued as an emergency by Julian was only of 120 high ranked jades, with how much Julian values Vivian, you can imagine how wealthy Aster has become after the mission in the secret realm.
They might be not impossible to get at Galatia, since they are on the peak of the middle ranked Stellar Systems and do have some mines that produce them, one of them who belongs to the sect located in this same planet, but the production and extraction is hell hard to say the less, not to mention the law enforcers and supreme elders were prohibited to help, the sect extract them by the ancestors.
"If they want the resources, they are free to take them, but they'll have to prove be worthy of them", it's what the ancestors communicated when they publicly announced there was a mine that produced them in the Treasure Planet.
Of course to not generate negative feelings in the law enforcers and supreme elders who had a decent chance to get those valuable resources, they got some in their monthly salary, Julian's family had a mine that also produced them, but it was way smaller and has been exploited for many generations, since Void Manipulation and Law Integration realm cultivators, could advance faster using them.
Of course Aster paid the entrance fee in middle ranked spirit jades, for commodity, once they arrived at their skybox, Aster opened the door, the room wasn't as spacious as it would normally be, because though the building was quite large, they had to make the most out of it.
The land in which they members of the sect were allowed to build and reside was quite limited, as the Alchemy Ancestor wanted to keep a high purity atmosphere in the planet, still they had a large couch to sit, a private bathroom and a table with a variety of amenities, as well as a double sided large window that pointed to the stage of the auction house, and formations that allowed them to hear what happened outside, it was well designed and implemented.
Aster sat on the couch and then patted the place next to his, making Camila blush, she knew he was just teasing her, if he really wanted to, Aster could take almost any girl in the sect as his, but he isn't like that.
Though she was a bit shocked when she realized the kind of relationship he had with Lilia and Alice, he has never acted lascivious with anyone that isn't his partner, he never forces himself on the girls and he always put their well-beings as his highest priority... the total opposite of Isaac who was technically his father.
Camila returned to reality and then sat next to Aster, because the auction was about to start, Aster perfectly planned their times, because Helena told him the hour at which most of the people arrived at the auction, and so he arrived earlier with Camila to avoid the chaos.
"Woah, there is a lot of people, some are even in not so good states", mumbled Camila.
The thousands of seats and the spaces assigned to the people that stayed standing, were soon flooded by a lot of both outer and inner disciples, guest elders and even inner elders, some were clearly returning from gathering resources or even fighting against the natural threats, as their wounded bodies suggested, making Camila wonder why was this place so popular.
The lights on the whole auction house dimmed down and then a black haired woman wearing heavy armor went up the stage, it didn't escape Aster's attention that the woman is a peak Void Manipulation cultivator, just like Agnes's cousin, Valentina who is the core elder of the Black Sword faction, in other words the woman on the stage was the city lord in charge of this outpost, the core elder of the White Sword faction.
"Good morning everyone, this month's auction is about to start, some of you might know me, but for those who don't, my name is Mikaela Blanche and I'm the core elder of the White Sword faction that supervises the auctions in the Battle Peak's outpost at the Treasure Planet".
"I'll remind you the rules, payments must be made in spirit jades as all the resources and treasures auctioned here belong to the sect, if you make a pull and don't have the money to pay, you'll be arrested and handed to the law enforcing teams, not to mention fined, so don't play any tricks, fights are prohibited and once you buy something there are no devolutions, complains won't be accepted either, good luck".
After saying that the woman left the stage and went to her skybox which unlike the others was open, so that everyone could see she was there, as she acted as the ruling authority.
The curtain was lifted and disciples from the White Sword faction who were acting as the staff entered the stage, the reason as to why they were selected is because they are neutral, they don't show favoritism to anyone, and they are the only ones allowed to take these tasks from the sect, which are highly rewarded.
"Good morning, everyone, the first item with which we will open this month's auction is quite nice this time around, a ten thousand years old Crystal Ginger, the opening bet is of one hundred thousand low ranked Spirit Jades, each pull must be of at least five thousand low ranked Spirit Jades".
The crowd immediately went crazy, the item in question is a middle Stellar grade ingredient for Alchemy, whose price can reach a few thousands of middle ranked spirit jades, in other words some millions of low ranked spirit stones, and it was starting at such a low price.
So of course, a bidding war immediately started, and soon the price had reached the first two million of low ranked spirit jades.
At Aster's skybox, Camila was speechless at the fierce scene that was taking place in front of her, not because of how fast the price went up, but because... they were being scammed.
Aster saw Camila's surprised expression and he smiled before saying.
"I told you, this branch of the auction house is special, really valuable resources and fake or disguised ones mix, not even the staff knows which is real or not, besides the core elder in charge and the one who provides them, which is none other than the Alchemy Peak's Ancestor, that is said to be an expert at tricking others".
Camila slowly nodded, her eyes glowed as she understood why Aster brought her here, the previous dates were definitely fun for the girls, but Aster also helped in a way.
Aster's expression then became serious for the first time, since the date started, he tapped his fingers on the couch as he said.
"Your lineage and mine are connected, so even if you don't tell me, I can tell there is something bothering you, not to mention my eyes are quite sharp when it refers to women, you are no longer being harassed by metal treasures like before, since you stayed close to me and even refined my broken swords, so I wondered what was troubling you, as you kept some distance even after the secret realm".
Before Camila could say anything, Aster interrupted her.
"It was then when I came to a conclusion, you have really low experience in controlling your lineage, and you are too kind to bother others for help, but I'm quite selfish, so today, I will buy everything without even looking at what it is, unless you tell me it's a fake of course, in any case you can still use the fakes as cultivation resources, though they will be overpriced".
"I know you consider me your benefactor and all, but I don't want to see my friend being crushed by some Inferiority complex".
"...", Camila was speechless, Aster's plan was to make her use her innate abilities to see if the items being auctioned were the real deal or not, he wasn't going to blame her if she failed, but she will blame herself.
"Y-You bully!", she softly exclaimed, making Aster laugh, she finally started acting as an equal, he decided to pressure her a bit, since it's obvious she has been keeping things to herself, and sooner or later she was going to explode.
Her lineage was prompt to be unstable, since it was incomplete, she lacked the part he had, and unlike Aster, she didn't have another lineage strong enough to balance things, currently she was fine since she created her natal treasure, but it wasn't going to last forever, in other words she lacked control.
And she has been neglecting it for some reason, and has only focused in the battle aspects, probably because she is on the weak side of the group, also unlike Sarina who is at her same realm she isn't Aster's lover, and she also doesn't have other things to offer, unlike Felicia whose abilities picked Aster's interest.
Aster saw her expression which made her look as if she was about to cry and he smiled, he doesn't know why Camila underestimates herself so much, her manual is on the same level as them, and though her innate ability certainly doesn't directly help him, she is a really important for the development of the group.
She has the ability to feel natural treasures and supposedly bring good fortune to others, there is also a chance she attract said treasures, it is honestly amazing.
"The first item was sold, the training starts with the second one, if you correctly guess more than half of the things I buy, I'll give you a reward, so good luck", said Aster, he decided to helped her calm down by softly patting her head.
Camila pouted, she was being treated like Kana, but somehow she now felt motivated to not lose this game, her eyes were burning with determination, making Aster laugh.
...
Back at the auction, the staff brough the second item, normally in a regular auction the opening and closing items are supposed to be of the best quality, but here everything is random, could be the case and also could not be the case, it's up to one's luck or ability to discern, since obviously they can't use spirit sense to inspect the auctioned things.
"The next item is an ore of black iron found inside the base of a volcano, the opening bet is of one million of low ranked spirit jades, each pull must be of at least one thousand jades".
The people in the room started discussing with each other, black iron is just a low grade Sky ranked material, who in their right mind would pay such a price for it, they knew some of the items weren't real, but there was no pattern, one time some guy pulled hard for the things that looked normal but were clearly overpriced... just to end up with a pile of junk and a huge debt, since he asked for crystals of other people he came to the auction with.
In comparison, normally the items that looked good and had low prices had a better chance of maybe not hitting the jackpot, but at least covering some of the money spent, so they were more popular.
"The honored guest on the skybox 1, offers two million spirit jades, is there any other bid!", said the girl that was in charge of presenting the items.
"What a fool, he was tricked so easily".
"Damn, those people who had money to waste like this, should give it to me instead".
And similar comments filled the room, while in the skyboxes, others were using their own methods to see if the item was legit or just a fake.
As for Aster, he turned to see Camila whose eyes were glowing in a copperish light.
"That's not black iron, but Star Obsidian, the volcan was formed because a meteorite clashed on the land, it probably surfaced thanks to the movement of the magma, it's a peak Stellar grade material, used for armor and defensive treasures, estimated price per kilogram... fifty thousand middle ranked spirit jades", she said with a confident voice.
Aster inwardly smiled, her cultivation manual, also included something like an encyclopedia in which tons of materials and their properties were listed, apparently the previous owners had written them, she had to look into the current prices though.
"I'm starting to believe mom's affirmation, you are indeed a lucky charm, a cute one on top of that", jokingly said Aster, making Camila's face redden.
To his surprise, someone else raised the price to two millions, so he immediately raised it to four millions, which made the other party desist, meaning he won the bet, if Camila was right, then he used less than five million low ranked spirit jades, to buy something that is worth around fifty or sixty millions, it would be a kill, not to mention that according to the size of the ore, there might be more than one kilogram there, they needed to check it up-close to be sure though.
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