Leaving the previous unpleasant interruption aside, Aster and the others continued with their meal, the little wyrm who hid inside Aster''s clothes the moment the door of the room opened earlier, peeked out of his right sleeve.


    "Hisss", with a soft hiss Espi asked for Aster''s permission to continue eating her steak, making thetter chuckle.


    "Sure, go ahead and finish your meal, we won''t be bothered by those guys anymore", said Aster, earning a few cute hisses from the little wyrm.


    Seeing that though small, quite adorable episode between Aster and the little wyrm, Valentina, Mika and La couldn''t help have their curiosity piqued by the nature of their rtionship and since they had to wait a bit before the auction started, Valentina decided to ask about it right away.


    "She is really smart and well behaved, is it a racial trait or was it caused by that "contracted" thing you mentioned before?", she heard Iris mentioning that Aster met the little wyrm at Esmeralda''s realm, so even if Espi looks like a snake, she urately guessed that she is of a race that doesn''t exist in the four Heavenly Quadrants.


    "The credit goes for Espi, even before bing my contracted spirit beast, she was smart beyond her realm and stage of growth, after all she is around Kana''s age and yet she survived alone for who knows how many years", said Aster as he gently petted the little wyrm.


    "You have mentioned it twice already, but what is that "contracted spirit beast" thing, my family has a guardian spirit beast which made a soul oath to protect the mainnds of the family after being defeated by one of our ancestors, but that guy had already gained human form", said Mika.


    Spirit beasts that hadn''t obtained human form can''t make soul oaths, since they aren''t recognized asplete rational beings by the Heavenly Law, as for spirit contracts, even spirit beasts with human form and proper wisdom can''t sign them.


    The only exception to the previous are the special contracts used by Spirit Tamers, but since they don''t exist in the four Heavenly Quadrants, then if a family wants to get a spirit beast to listen to it, they had to rely on alternative and sometimes shady methods.


    "Aren''t you being a bit shameless you drunkard, wanting such information for free, I remember that the old guys of your family had to pay quite the price for the method used by William''s family", added Valentina from the side.


    "I''m not asking for him to teach me, I just want to know if it''s that different from the ways known by us", retorted Mika


    "Humph!", the two of them snorted at each other to then look away making Aster bitterly smile, despite how they argued, it was obvious that they were good friends, also it seemed that Mika''s family was an ally of the Talis, which is probably how those two met each other.


    ''That would exin why mom was rtively weing towards Mika'', thought Aster as he stole a gaze to Lilia who giggled at him as if to confirm his supposition.


    Aster inwardly sighed, that dragon mother of his has kept him in the dark, regarding her past and also practically everything rted to his godmothers.


    ''Oh well, she''ll have to spill the beans sooner orter'', he thought before saying.


    "I don''t mind telling you, just be aware that it''s not an ability that can be just taught, nor do I have enough knowledge and experience to solve all your questions".


    Aster then proceeded to tell those three about Spirit Tamers, just the basics, like the fact that one has to be born with the talent and there is no other way to contract a spirit beast in the way a tamer does.


    "I see, it is indeed different to the methods we know about, I didn''t even know about those "true names"… but if you don''t mind me asking, aren''t you worried to tell us about it?", said La to which Aster shrugged.


    "Those that travel with my family have already been deemed trustable not only by me but by my family, also lying or pretending is useless in front of me", he casually said to then inwardly add.


    ''At least when ites to women'', his dragon instincts were absurdly sharp in that aspect, for the rest, he had the "Kana filter" as in the little girl wouldn''t get close with people with ill intentions and thest barrier was Lilia, whose wariness about "bad women" grazed what could be considered paranoid.


    After all, she showing jealousy or yfulness or even indifference towards the other girls who aren''t Aster''s lovers, is her way to show her willingness to ept them into the group, otherwise she would directly attack, it happened a couple of times during the two years where Aster trained before going to the secret realm in Zartia, where he ended up meeting Sarina and Kana.


    "We are teaming up for this mission, so you were bound to see her anyway, this way you won''t be taken by surpriseter on", said Aster referring to the little wyrm who momentarily stopped eating her steak after receiving all the attention from Valentina and the others.


    "Hisss", Espi looked at Aster who patted her head in response to assure the little wyrm that she could continue her meal in peace.


    Lieze who remained silent the whole time had a strange glow in her eyes, after what she heard she found some hope on being epted as a part of the group, after all she was allowed to tag along and wasn''t asked to leave the room before Aster spoke about such an "important" secret.


    She was unaware of the fact that Aster wasn''t nning to hide the little wyrm''s existence for too long, she had to venture with him for their rtionship as contractor and contracted to progress, in order for him to be a proper Spirit Tamer like Natasha and Charlotte, the only thing he was going to keep a secret to everyone except those whom he have recognized as friends and family, is that Espi is a dragon.


    After around thirty minutes, practically all the participants had finished their dinner and it was time for the auction to continue, after all no one wanted to remain awake until toote today, since tomorrow will be the grand day when the space distortions will activate across the four Heavenly Quadrants.


    The lights faded one again and the attention was drawn towards the stage where the auctioneer girl from before, had appeared once again.


    "I hope everyone feels refreshened after enjoying a nice dinner, the main event of tonight''s opening auction is about to start", said the auctioneer, earning the a few rounds of apuse from the attendants on the first floor and also getting the attention of the VIPS in the private rooms at the second floor.


    The auctioneer raised her hand to ask the public to remain calm so that she could exin the rules for the auction.


    "Due to some unexpected "situations", new rules had to be implemented, however we from the Golden Scale auction house believe everyone will enjoy this new format", said Terry as she waved her hands and tworge crystal stands appeared at her sides, one at the right and one at the left.


    "Every round of the auction will be used to sell two items instead of one, of course they won''t be auctioned at the same time, I''ll exin their characteristics first and give everyone a couple of minutes to decide for which one to bid, but be aware that you won''t be able to bid for the other item presented in the same round", she said to then add.


    "I trust that all the esteemed guests don''t try to make anything that would dishonor the previous rule, otherwise a proper sanction will be issued for the perpetrator".


    As expected, such a strange format raised a lot of doubts from the attendants on the first floor, but for Aster and the others it perfectly made sense.


    "So, after realizing that they can''t intimidate us, they changed it to save the face of those spoiled Fey bastards, tilting the scale in their favor just to prevent them from returning empty handed, humph!", fiercely said Alice as she snorted.


    Valentina and Agnes didn''t know how to feel, while they indeed agreed with Alice''s opinion, the violent dragon girl cursed the Fey in general not the specific families involved, they didn''t take it to heart though, at least Agnes knew that Alice had a sharp tongue and never held her mouth back.


    "Now don''t be too rude dear, this was done to prevent unnecessary conflict… besides we can always rob the winner of the other object~", yfully said Lilia.


    "Ahem, that''s enough, we came here to enjoy not to fight, besides this format is actually better for our Cam''s training", added Aster, making everyone''s attention fall on the poor treasure girl who was just finishing her food.


    Cam''s face reddened in the spot, she pouted at Aster, for exposing her, but she ultimately could only ept her fate, who told her to fall in love with a teasing dragon youth.


    ''Besides, they also restricted the other groups so that they can''t use a third party to bid for the other object in the same round, that prevents the VIPS from just raising the price without being interested in an object, the auction use is willing to diminish their profit in exchange for maintaining a decent rtionship with everyone, not bad'', thought Aster.


    This was a win in his book, because the guys behind the auction house, or at least the ones from the Marius merchant family, didn''t jump in the ship of the Fey family, the question was why, it probably had something to be with the half step Heavenly realm cultivator guarding the fort.


    Also, the auctioneer actually stole a gaze towards Valentina''s private room, when she exined the new format as if she wanted to discern if they had anyins, which meant that they were paying special attention to them, the question was why, but for now that could wait.


    The people in the first floor didn''tin, they were in fact entertained by this new format, it was good for them anyway, since it somewhat restrained the VIPS, as for said VIPS, they would lose face if theyined so against their wishes, they remained silent, to which the auctioneer girl inwardly smirked.


    "Very well, to open tonight''s action, at my right side, directly from the Volcanic Forge of the Supreme Elemental sect, a peak Ster grade spirit treasure, "Violent Earthquake", a Warhammer type spirit treasure without any specific characteristics, initial price of a hundred and twenty million spirit jades, each bid must increase the price by five million at least", she said as she pointed at arge case at her right, opening it to show its contents a two-meter length brown jade Warhammer.


    "Woah!", the people at the first floor went crazy, a peak stage Ster grade spirit treasure, without personalized characteristics practically never showed up for sale in middle ranked Ster Systems.


    For the simple reason that the price was too high for the average cultivator there to buy it, most peak stage Ster treasures that moved in the market at middle and low ranked Ster Systems, weremissioned by a cultivator to a big store and ultimately sold when the owner saved enough for a better treasure of a newer generation.


    That meant that the vast majority of people who owned a treasure of such a grade, used second hand items with characteristics that weren''t specially done for them.


    Of course, at high grade Ster Systems, things were different, there the members of strong families or forces, bought a treasure in nk like that Warhammer and then went to the Rune Master of their trust to ask for it to be engraved to their preference, which was more costly than buying a finished generic product from a store.


    Aster didn''t even need to think, to know whom does that Warhammer was prepared for, that being said, he couldn''t help but smirk.


    ''Well, they still screwed up, the materials used to make that, are earth attributed but that girl…'', he thought as he remembered what he saw through his dragon eyes earlier, anyway he wasn''t interested in a nk weapon whose quality was deficient in his eyes, that being said Cam will have the final word here.


    "At my left, the other treasure offered for this round, a peak Ster grade treasure, created by Lord Bastion, one of the top two teachers of the defense department at the Rune Academy, the ck Guardian talisman, with three time uses per charge and a lifespan of fifteen uses, it can protect its owner from any physical or elemental damage up to the Law Integration realm, for thirty seconds per use".


    "Initial price of sixty million spirit jades and each bid must increase the price for at least two million, keep in mind that these two items were put to auction by us for the initial round, which is why the price must be paid with spirit jades,ter on treasures for trade will appear, please think it through and prepare to start bidding in two minutes", said the auctioneer.


    At Valentina''s private room, Aster directly turned to see Cam who was sitting right next to Sarina, since Aria "nobly" gave the usual position, she upies when it''s not her and Alice''s turn to be right next to Aster, to the newest sister.


    In fact, Aster wasn''t the only one, the others who weren''t soul cultivators or didn''t have especially sharp senses also put their attention on Cam''s choice.


    Cam saw the sparkling gazes of the little girl and little wyrm who wanted to hear her opinion and she gave Aster an usatory gaze before scratching the back of her head to then say.


    "Most people will be attracted to that spirit weapon, since it''s rare for it to appear, however while its rank is high, the quality is average at most, I''m pretty sure Aster could forge peak Ster grade spirit treasures with a way better quality in the near future…", Cam stopped for a second there to then gaze at Eris and Alexandra in that same order before adding.


    "The talisman on the other hand is not only a good study subject for the Rune Masters of the valley, but I also think that it is highlypatible with Alexandra''s attribute, my instincts tell me thatbining both will bring a positive result".


    Aster couldn''t help but p his hands and praise Cam for her judgement.


    "We don''t sell talismans at our store since our dear teacher''s knowledge is too high ranked for the market at middle grade Ster Systems and defensive talismans are only second in poprity to escape ones, also the thing regarding Alexandra didn''t cross my mind, good job, buy it for us", he yfully said.


    "Mm", Cam happily smiled, something that she liked about Aster is that while praised her, he wouldn''t hesitate to scold or correct her if needed, because that meant that hispliments weren''t just empty words.


    Eris felt excited over the chance of learning about an area of Rune Mastering in which she didn''t really deepen back when she lived with her family, since they focused on arrays, she learned how to engrave spirit treasures, thanks to the books obtained by Aster through Julian''s connections, of course she improved the basic arrays used for spirit treasures with her own style.


    But talismans were apletely different subject, nobody makes guide books about those and talisman masters encrypt the arrays used so that others can''t easily copy them, so she was looking up to crack up the defenses of the talisman and learning about it.


    Alexandra on the other hand, felt interested in Cam, she has heard about the treasure girl''s ability and found it curious, she had never heard of anyone who could detect and find treasures like her.


    The waiting time ended and the auction immediately started, the auctioneer girl wasn''t dumb, she of course started with the treasure at her right.


    "We''ll start by auctioning "Violent Earthquake", do I hear a hundred and twenty-five million?", she said out loud.


    "A hundred and thirty million", directly offered one of the people at private room number five, unfortunately his offer didn''tst for a second before a voice came from the room number one.


    "A hundred and fifty million", the one who directly increased a whole twenty million the price, was the bulky guy from the Mountain Amber family, which apanied Fawn.


    "A hundred and sixty million…", another contender appeared, this time it was a girl from private room number three, but the result was the same.


    "A hundred and seventy million!", said the guy from the Mountain Amber family.


    "You guys from the Fey family really do pay a lot for spirit weapons, fine I''ll give you some face and only increase the price a bit, two hundred million", said a new bidder from room number two.


    The guy from the Mountain Amber family inwardly cursed, he was given a certain amount of funds to use in order to leave a good impression on Fawn, he used some to bribe the representative of the Teles family and get a preferential treatment and now he had to use way more than what he expected on the treasure he was bidding for.


    ''Damn it, I can''t look cheap so I have to increase it by ten million, if things continue this way there won''t be much left for me… whatever the opening treasures are most of the times the best, so I don''t think anything better will show up'', he thought to the say.


    "Two hundred and twenty million, I thank the friend from the Wanderer sect for showing "face" to my Fey family".


    The animosity could be heard behind the offer, but the guy from room number two didn''t even bother to answer, meaning that the item has been sold.


    "Congrattions to the esteemed guest from the Mountain Amber family for buying this precious spirit treasure", said the auctioneer girl, she avoided mentioning the room number, because technically those guys were at the new room number fifteen, since Valentina''s room has been recognized as room number one earlier.


    "Let''s continue with the item at my left, please remember the rules previously stated", she added, the bidding war started right away, since quite a few of the bigshots were out, the cultivators at the first floor made their bids.


    However, someone from room number four, crushed their dreams.


    "Ny million spirit jades".


    "…", a temporary silence reigned in the room, the previous offers increased the price by the minimal amount, but the person from room number four directly raised it by more than ten million.


    "Damn it, I guess hoping to get one of the opening treasures is still too much for us rogue cultivators", said one of the people at the first floor.


    It''s not that there weren''t people with enough funds to continue bidding for the talisman at the first floor, but they wouldn''t pay that much for a talisman which has a limit of uses, they would instead use those crystals to obtain a spirit treasure without said limit of uses.


    The auctioneer felt a bit disappointed that the price wasn''t raising but just as she prepared to start the countdown, a voice came from Valentina''s private room.


    "A hundred million spirit jades", this time it wasn''t Aster the one making the offer, but Cam, which of course drew the attention of many of the other participants.


    "A hundred and five million…", the person from room number four wasn''t ready to give up and actually made a new offer just to be interrupted midway.


    "A hundred and twenty million", said Cam with a calm voice.


    "I''m out", the other bidder directly left, for him once the price surpassed the hundred million mark, it was already too much, he just wanted to give it a try so after seeing Cam rising the price a whole fifteen million he gave up on obtaining.


    The auctioneer was charmed to see her "lucky star" acting again, she directly started the countdown and then sealed the deal.


    "Sold to the esteemed guest from room number one".


    Back at Valentina''s room, Cam turned to see Aster and with a slightly ashamed expression mumbled.


    "I ended up paying a bit more than expected, but… it should be a killing deal for us as long as the price was below a hundred and fifty million".


    Aster chuckled as he grabbed the talisman, after a quick scan he handed it over to Cam to then say.


    "You can have fun testing it with our teacherter on, but for now, it''s time for a reward".


    Cam had a sudden bad premonition which became true when her body suddenly floated, taking her by surprise.


    "Hyaa!", the next thing she knew was that shended next to Kana, in other words Aster flew her from her previous position to then let her fall on hisp.


    "Now, you''ll have a better look of the stage, a good reward right Kana?", casually said Aster to which the little girl nodded.


    "Mm, big brother is right~".


    Cam blushed at the proximity with Aster, but she was then brought back to the real world, when she felt Lilia''s intense gaze on her, what''s more, even Sarina eyed her for a second before returning to Aster''s embrace.


    ''Ughhh, not only miss Lilia but also miss Sarina this time!'', inwardly screamed the treasure girl, meanwhile Aster was of course enjoying Cam''s reaction, naturally the auction didn''t wait for them, but it was fine.


    Just as most people expected, after the opening treasures, the things up to auction were lower ranked inparison, so it was time for rogue cultivators to shine, though a few times the guys from the private rooms made some bids.


    Cam however didn''t show any interest in anything and so ten rounds went by, originally those would have been twenty rounds, but since the new format required two items per round instead of one, the auction night was ending earlier than expected.


    But it was fine, in exchange for that, the prices went up more than usual, due to thepetitivity between the people from the private rooms.


    Also, the auction house managed to get more money from the rogue cultivators than usual, since the secondary auctioned item was prompt to have less people from the private rooms bidding, all in all the auction was a sess and now it was time for thest round.


    "Unfortunately, we have reached thest round of tonight''s auction, however we kept something interesting in store to end the night with a golden brochure", said the auctioneer as she pointed at her left.


    The secondary item of every round was exposed at the left stand, always, but this time she exined the item at the left first, because it was a special case.


    "One of our scouts found this during our travel to this area, unfortunately despite all of our efforts to identify it, we failed to obtain any information about it, except for the fact that the material of which it is made, has nearly zero spirit energy conductivity", she said.


    The object in question was a hand sized carved stone rectangle, the corners were eroded and it seemed to have been exposed to the outside world for quite a long time, what caught Aster''s interest is that he could easily see through the thing with his dragon eyes and… it waspletely normal.


    ''Just a piece of carved stone or has it been worn down enough to make it look like that?'', he wondered.


    "The starting price is of a hundred spirit jades and there is no minimal increase for each bid", said the auctioneer to then point at the item at her right, which immediately got the attention of all the participants, be it at the first or second floor.