?Arlfarah Mansion Auction House!
With the most amount of fanfare possible, the Auction House attracted wealthy people from across the Brimgan Empire. It was because the quality of items being auctioned off this time was the best in the recent history of the Auction House.
Even Harla Brimgan, Brandal Brimgan's wife and the previous Empress of the Brimgan Empire had made an appearance. After Brandal Brimgan transferred his title as the Emperor to Bronsk Brimgan, the crown prince, she stepped down from the position too.
At present, she carried the title of Grand Minister, a position reserved only for the Emperor and Empress who had stepped down from power. Seated in the most luxurious cabin in the auction house, she observed the proceedings from the highest seat.
"Respected guests!" Arriving on the stage was Amita Brimgan, speaking under orders from Farloon Brimgan to take the chance to introduce herself to the ruling powers of the Brimgan Empire, "I, Amita Brimgan, greet everyone and welcome all to bid grandly for the priceless wares we procured for this occasion. Without further ado, let's start with the opening ware."
A cloudy platform hovered into the stage through the effects of her psychokinesis, carrying a large pot that contained a Parute Tree, "An explanation is unneeded since everyone knows what a Parute Tree is. A Raid Team affiliated with us discovered this during a mining expedition in the wilds beyond the explored territory. Luckily, it had sprouted on a boulder and was found on time. Hence, we managed to place it in this pot before it matured and brought it here."
"Bidding for this mobile Parute Tree starts at 1000 Briga, with each bid being in multiples of a hundred!" She announced as people began to raise their bids, causing its value to balloon quickly.
'Fuck!' Though her external expression was excited, internally, she was cursing in helplessness, staring at the Parute Tree, 'That's Blola!'
The raid team that discovered this Parute Tree belonged to Orakha. It was apparent that he had already contacted the Mammoth Clan, since they were close to the Brimgan Empire and would arrive in a few months.
The fact that the Mammoth Clan dispatched Blola here like this was an indicator that Raaha had made plans to gain ownership of the Major Treasure of Attribute. As a result, he used these Raid Teams to send items into the Brimgan Empire that would later help the Mammoth Clan.
Had it been limited to Blola, Amita Brimgan wouldn't have been concerned. But he was just one of the dozens of arrangements that she was able to notice.
"122,000 Briga! Going once! Going twice! Going thrice! Sold!" Amita Brimgan announced as she pointed towards the customer that had won the bid, "Congratulations to customer 48 for winning the mobile Parute Tree."
The customer at seat 48 wasn't a Royal, but a prominent businessman who controlled more than eighty Raid Teams and was a prominent supplier of Pranic Beast parts. He only had Silver Grade strength and wasn't even good at fighting, but possessed an enormous wealth at his disposal, thanks to his capabilities as a merchant.
"Our second item is a container of Spirit Moss!" Amita said next and brought in a two-metre-tall vase stuffed to the brim with Spirit Moss, "Two hundred kilograms of Spirit Moss. The starting price is 400 Briga and can be incremented by multiples of hundred."
'This too is from the Mammoth Clan,' She thought and moved on to the third item soon, 'There probably is a risk to consuming this batch of Spirit Moss. I don't have the necessary knowledge about it, but it must have been tampered with.'
"The seventh item is this Myriad Transformation Spirit Weapon, a Spirit Weapon that can be controlled through psychokinesis by up to fifty people." She announced and continued while bringing onto stage a four-metre-wide cube, "This can expand to all shapes and sizes. A vehicle, a house, a boat, a fortress, etc. Cultivators practicing multiple cultivation techniques could join hands to control this for its various formations. It takes advantage of the various techniques to boast ridiculous performance!"
A cultivation technique could control a Spirit Weapon made from the respective mineral only. Typically, it was useless to create a Spirit Weapon using multiple minerals, for it couldn't be used fully by the cultivator.
But the Spirit Weapon displayed by Amita made use of various minerals. In the boat form, the rudders were made out of a mineral whose associated cultivation technique could control Spirit Weapons slowly but boasted a significant weight limit.
As a result, it could provide ample thrust to the boat. The hull was made from a mineral boasting the power to influence water. The cultivator controlling it could generate mild effects and reduce drag to a minimum.
Strips in the hull would unleash shockwaves to kill any approaching Pranic Beast. This would be made using a suitable mineral. In this way, just for the boat, there were Spirit Weapons for a dozen cultivators to control.
Moreover, depending on the cultivators on board, the structural function of the boat could be changed accordingly. If there wasn't one to unleash shockwaves through the strips, it would instead be replaced by a mineral that worked on emitting soundwaves similar to an aquatic predator and thwarts the approach of the Pranic Beasts.
There were multiple boat variants. Similarly, there were variants for its house form, fortress form, land vehicle form, etc. It was the perfect compound Spirit Weapon for a Raid Team, versatile in its function for all sorts of terrain, and had forms useable with multiple cultivator combinations.
At its arrival, the owners of Raid Teams went into a frenzy and bid with flushed cheeks, causing its price to surpass the Parute Tree, selling for a grand sum, "130,300 Briga! Going once, twice, and thrice! Sold! Congratulations to customer 81!"
'Sheesh!' She controlled her urge to roll her eyes, sensing that hidden amidst the hundreds of Spirit Weapons was a Spirit Weapon refined using grey sand. It was the size of a needle and couldn't be sensed, sneakily hidden amidst the blind spot created between countless formations.
At the opportune time, this needle would flare up and transform this compound Spirit Weapon into one made entirely of grey sand, usable only to Maroppa after that and pronouncing the death of everyone reliant upon it.
It was very sneaky and could instantly topple the situation. As Amita had been receiving Maroppa's Prana daily, she could readily detect the Spirit Weapon made out of grey sand. Besides, with the completion of her Sumatra Gold Skeleton, Amita Brimgan's senses were extremely fine-tuned.
Her body and Spirit Container were constantly being influenced by it to evolve, making her be in tune with her surroundings upon combining with the effects of Subtle Terrain Domination. As a result, nothing within a 180-metre range of herself could escape her senses. It was why she was able to sense the actions of everyone.
Maroppa and Orakha had been selling such Spirit Weapons through the market all along. And now, they had sneaked in superior versions of the same into the auction too. The unaware Farloon Brimgan failed to realise their scheme.
Even though Amita Brimgan knew what they were up to, she couldn't stop them, for doing so might cause the Mammoth Clan to figure out that she was Inala in disguise. At present, she was in a perfect blind spot, her true identity only known to Maroppa. As for Wittral, he was completely under her control once he assumed female form.
Amita Brimgan had been busy brainwashing Wittral—Dhya—
while ensuring to not give her any opportunities to assume male form even once, having forced him to maintain it for the past nine years.
"And we arrive at our final piece tonight!" Amita Brimgan brought a hand that was sealed in a box made out of Rutham. But despite it, intense radiance was leaking out, steadily beginning to form a pillar of light above it. Pointing at it, she hollered upon seeing the expressions of shock on the faces of everyone, "As everyone had guessed by now, this is what you've never expected to come across in the auction. But here it is!"
"A Minor Treasure!" She shouted, internally suppressing her shock, 'How the fuck is he able to do this?'
The one acting as a Minor Treasure was none other than Resha. This was his plan to infiltrate the Brimgan Empire, and it was perfect. No one other than her was able to see through his disguise.
Amita Brimgan hadn't even said the starting price when a regal voice resounded in the auction house, originating from the tallest seat, putting forth a price that instantly shut up a majority of the people.
"One million Briga!"