“Okay,” he sighed as he emerged from the changing room. “Let’s go look for the right building.”

“No need,” said Aine, who had been waiting for him by the doors. “I just asked one of the clerks, and they said it’s nearby.”

“Oh, okay. Lead the way, then.”

They arrived at the auction hall a short while later, a grand, circular building that consisted of a single, giant chamber that was lined with over two thousand seats, similar to a movie theatre back on Earth but much larger in scale. Lacking a roof and thus making the construct an amphitheatre, the entire area was lit by lamps containing spirit stones now that the evening sunlight was beginning to fade. There were three levels to the viewing area, all of which were arranged in a horseshoe shape around the central stage in a series of tiered booths and larger rooms that formed its own edifice in and of itself. Countless desks were lined up in the entrance area, which was partially walled off from the rest of the interior by the elevated seats behind it. These could be navigated around, however, which many people showed as they trickled away from the registration desks and into the open auditorium.

It turned out that they needed to register in the neighbouring building due to the fact that they planned to put items up for auction, and that they were also required to wear masks to make it more difficult to see their faces. Not only that, but apparently an extremely expensive spiritual arrayment had been cast on the main building in order to prevent people from sensing one another’s cultivation levels, something that all of the CMA's auction houses apparently had. Thankfully, the registration process went quite smoothly after the appraiser that had been assigned to them had shown interest in many of the items that Esteban desired to sell.

All in all, he had presented hundreds of medicinal pellets of various uses, over two hundred swords that he had taken from fallen enemies—including several extra flying swords that he had picked up on the Grand Isle of Weston—and about a hundred attack talismans that were useless considering that the one Uncle Grey had taught him was far superior. Eighteen of the swords had been accepted, along with ninety medicinal pellets and all of the attack talismans. Because of this, he was given a yellow slip and escorted to a balcony on the second level of the auditorium’s seating area, in a private booth where he and Aine enjoyed a good bit of privacy and also a fair view of the stage.

Once they had been seated, a serving girl dressed in modest blue robes entered the booth and poured them each a glass of wine.

Thinking of the registration process, Esteban let out a light sigh. “It’s too bad they didn’t accept all the pellets.”

“I’m more surprised by how many things they accepted. Hmm, Nyla gave me eighty spatial bags that she picked up on that island, so I bet there’s tons of stuff inside them. Should I have offered some things?”

“You haven’t looked at those yet?” Nyla had given him just as many, since at the time he and Sean had been struggling for their lives the entire time and hadn’t been able to spare even a single moment to loot any of the dead disciples in passing. “I looked through mine as soon as I could. Do you want me to help you look through them later?”

Seeing the imaginary gold reflecting from his eyes, she scratched at her cheek as if unsure of what to say. Glancing at the table, she snatched up her chalice of wine and took a sip. “This is actually pretty good wine, isn’t it?”

Why didn’t you say yes? Looking through those bags had been so much fun, he wouldn’t mind doing it again. The rush of not knowing what was going to be in the next one had sort of reminded him of the feeling of opening up a new pack of trading cards.

He took a sip from his wine as well, happy that the masks that had been provided only covered the upper half of the face. Hey, she’s right. This isn’t that bad.

Unsure of what to say to break the silence, he cleared his throat and blurted the first thing to come to mind. “I’m surprised that I actually can’t sense anyone’s aura. I wonder how they did it.”

“Well, that appraiser did say that it would happen. It’s because of an arrayment, remember?”

“Ah, no—I remember, it’s just I’m a bit surprised.”

She sipped at her wine again and he knew that their conversation had died. Since when had it been so difficult to talk to this girl? Come to think of it, this was the first time that he had ever been alone with her, so maybe that was why?

The moment their conversation had died away, a raucous commotion drew their attention to one of the large, private suites on the third level of seating. After following the direction of countless gasps and gazes, Esteban felt a sudden chill as he saw three unmasked men standing stoically at the railing of their suite, which was several times larger than the one Esteban and Aine were occupying. What sent shivers down Esteban’s spine was that all three of the men were dressed in light blue robes that were patterned with silver raindrops, indicating that they were members of the Falling Rain Sect and ones that held high positions at that.

Seeing this, both he and Aine instinctually sunk into their seats and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. As they did so, voices drifted over from the private booth to the left of theirs, that of a soft spoken man and a young woman.

“I can’t believe the Falling Rain Sect sent three elders here. It’s not every day that you see people from the most prestigious power in the region.”

“They must really want something,” said the man. “I wonder what it is that would make them come all this way for it?”

“I’m sure we’ll see soon enough. If they've come all this way for it, then I’m sure we’re going to see an amazing item at some point today.”

The man’s voice took on a cautionary tone. “Whatever it is, we won’t be competing with them for it. I pass through their lands quite often on business, so I don’t want to risk burning any bridges with them.”

While the people next door continued to mutter about the arrival of the elders, Esteban leaned in close so that Aine would hear him. “Do you think they’ll be able to recognize us?” he whispered.

“It’s hard to say… Half of our faces are covered, and you’re a bit taller than before. Unfortunately, a lot of your freckles are gone now too but that should help us out here. They might not have even seen us before, so it will only be harder for them to notice.”

Something about what she had said was bugging him. “Why is it bad that my freckles are clearing up?”

“They were cute? You were like a little kitten.”

He felt his face go flat. “Don’t treat me like a kid.”

“We just have to hope they don’t recognize me,” she said, paying no mind to her previous comment. “I’m still the same height…”

“Our cultivations are a lot different now, though. And you look a lot different now, too. Your face is clearer, and… I don’t think they’ll notice. We should stay and keep an eye on them.” Clearing his mind of any unnecessary thoughts, he muttered, “I just wish I knew what their cultivations were.”

“I wish they weren’t here, but I think it should be fine. Nolan and May went out earlier, so no matter where they are in the city they should be able to sense us as soon as we leave here.”

“You’re right,” he breathed, seeing the sense in her words. “And if those guys follow us, I bet those two will notice their strong auras being close to ours and they’ll come over to check up on us.” He was only speaking hopefully, of course, since there were countless thousands of other auras in the area and he couldn’t expect his friends to be conscious of all of them at any given moment.

Why was he so nervous? So long as the elders weren’t at the Genesis stage then he and Aine shouldn’t have much of a problem fending off the three of them. Now that he was at the Integration stage, his body was just as tough as somebody’s would generally be at the first level of Genesis, and his physical attacks were of similar strength to such people. He could also use the passive speed-enhancing function of the Tranquil Void Step, along with the offensive and defensive martial skills, the Emerald Thorn Piercing Technique and the Emerald Skin Technique respectively. Nolan had also given him over a dozen barrels of gunpowder, along with countless life-saving and stimulating medicines.

Calm down… Just because the others aren’t here doesn’t mean we can’t protect ourselves.