It wasn’t just the name of the establishment, it was also the decor that drew Sage inside. There was more than a few places in town that seemed to deal with beast and animals, but in the window of the Beast Den, he noticed a species of wolf that he’d never seen before. Wolves were some of the most common types of beasts that were tamed and raised by Cultivators, but for the most part they were all quite similar. Essentially, there were a few major species that were used and from them dozens of variations had sprung up. They would vary in coloration, build, or small cosmetic features, but with a careful look it was pretty easy to pick out the main species.

The wolf in the window of the Beast Den was completely different from any of the major wolf species, so Sage stopped in to ask more. The attendant at the counter wasn’t very high level, but they told him that it was a species unique to the Green Plateau Province and one that their shop was the most famous for having tamed. He immediately grew discouraged until he heard the attendants next words.

“...The Beast Den is owned by one of the most skilled Tamers in the whole province! There is a Beast Den in every one of the border cities, founded by the great Master Xin Er. The beasts he breeds are the best in the whole Kingdom.”

Sage’s interest was rekindled and he smiled at the attendant, “Perfect! Show me your best beasts and insects.”

The attendant smiled politely, “Sorry, Sir. The best have already been sent over for the auction! I can show you the second best stock though.”

They walked around the store and Sage ran into quite a few beasts he’d never seen before. The attendant of course stopped to talk about the great qualities of the ones that were already at the auction. While admiring a Lynx with a bright yellow coat he was informed about a similar Lynx that was twice as fast with a golden coat of fur. It was somewhat obnoxious, but he couldn’t blame them for wanting to advertise. As they walked through the isles, Sage picked out a handful of different animals, insects, and beasts that were interesting for one reason or another and had the attendant bring them away. He fought the urge to buy everything in the store that he’d never seen before, but there was an auction soon so he didn’t want to spend all his Spirit Stones now.

It’s not like I can’t just stop by after the auction.

One of the creatures in particular caught his eye, interested in the possibilities. It looked like nothing more than a flattened slug with no tentacles. The coloring was interesting, a bright grass green with flecks of white on the edges, though the beauty was ruined by the mucus like skin and texture that was quite similar to a leech. It had a funny name, ‘Fat Grass Worm’, because of its color and unusual behavior. They were a nocturnal hunter, but during the daylight hours, the Fat Grass Worm would bury its head into the soil and its body would extend straight up into the air like a piece of grass. They usually traveled in large packs, so someone stumbling upon their resting spot for the day would see what seems to be a patch of very thick and slimy grass.

Now this was all well and good, but the reason Sage was interested was entirely different. The Fat Grass Worm seemed to be a sort of flatworm with extremely powerful regenerative abilities. If a slice were cut off it, the worm would heal the damage and the slice would grow into a whole new Fat Grass Worm. An impressive ability to be sure, but Sage was most interested in the last quality. The worms would act in perfect unison with the other nearby Fat Grass Worms. They moved in perfect formation and responded to threats with synchronized precision.

Sage immediately purchased the whole cage full of them. He went to the front counter and paid his bill. The 20,000 Spirit Stones would be an extraordinary amount for most people, but Sage had brought along about 400,000 for this auction. The Cult of the Woodlord was a rival sect, but they also seemed to have many things that Sage desired to be used in his research.

The next few days passed quickly, and Jin Shih seemed remarkably less jealous of him. Perhaps it was the time he got to spend along with Cui Shufen, or maybe he was happy Sage had chosen not to join them. Either way, it was a lot more pleasant at their meals with Jin Shih not trying to undermine him all the time. The day of the auction finally arrived and they took a carriage to the venue and Sage was once again impressed by the natural architecture that they used for every public building here. The city walls, city hall, city guard barracks, and now the auction hall. They were all huge trees that looked like they were shaped as they grew into intricate structures. The other buildings in town were of standard styles though with lots of wood and stone, but the public buildings were amazing.

The auction hall looked like an immense weeping willow tree, at least 500 feet tall with a canopy that was of a similar width. The massive branches looked like they nearly touched the ground from far away, but from up close they started a few stories up from the ground. Moving under the branches they realized that there was a platform above them, built within the branches of the massive tree. When they approached the trunk of the tree there was a winding staircase grown out of the tree trunk. They passed off their carriage to a valet and used the VIP passes to get past the guards at the stairway.

After climbing upwards a few floors they reached level ground and followed an extravagant hallway before turning a corner and stepping into a massive hall. It was about 300 feet tall and 400 feet wide, shaped like a half hemisphere. The trunk of the tree was grown in such a fashion that half of it was twisted out of the way and shaped like a flat wall. If the whole 500 foot diameter tree was a building, half of it was turned into this giant auction hall. Larger branches of the tree had all grown upwards and curved around this massive hall in an arc shape above and also the sides to create walls. More amazing still were the seating areas.

The ‘cheap seats’ were down in front of the stage in a sort of large pit like area filled with simple wooden chairs. Behind the ‘pit’ were the expensive seats. From the walls and rising from the floor, were the branches of the tree. They shot outwards and from them hung large leaves that grew in the shape of armchairs, hanging over the ground from large stems. The rows of leaf chairs were staggered in height so that the branches that held up one row of chairs were like desks or tables for the next row behind them, giving them all a clear view of the auction stage. Lastly of course were the balconies and VIP booths. The balconies had their own leaf chairs, except they were placed to the sides of the stage and up in the air on the walls. They were split into small sections with some leafy curtains to split them up and afford a bit of privacy.

The VIP booths were up above the leaf seating and weren’t even visible to the rest of the crowd. Sage and the two Personal Disciples were led up to their booth and took a look around. While they were a few hundred feet into the air and quite far away from the auction stage, such a distance wasn’t really a big deal for strong cultivators. They had a fully furnished private room, easily the size of a living room in an average home. There was a large window tilted down towards the stage and darkly colored from the outside so others couldn’t look in. There was also food and drinks waiting for them, the furniture was even more lavish than outside and every piece was grown out of leaves extending from the branch walls. The most important feature though, was the bidding panel. Instead of having to hold up numbers and yell out their bid amounts there was a Magical Device in front of the window. By placing your hand on the large yellow seed you could send in your consciousness and place a bid which would then display outside the booth in the form of large numbers formed by bright colored leaves twisted into shape.

About half an hour after they entered the room and learned how to operate the bidding device, an old man walked onto the stage and called out to the now massive crowd, “The once per decade Daggerguard City auction will begin in five minutes!”