In the end, they decided to place the defensive magic ring in the closed auction along with the three cockateal eggs, the Peng-Kun teeth and the void stone. The most of the rare celestial tear herbs also entered the closed auction along with a Diaphanous Wildrose seedling that they had discovered on the smaller isle.
Diaphanous Wildroses were rare, though they looked much like an ordinary wildrose plant, but there were minor differences such as the tips of their thorns being blue in colour and the leaves somewhat more delicate. It grew slowly; this plant could already be ten years in age yet it was no larger than a handspan and would need at least a decade more until it produced flowers. Then, much like the silver tea leaf plant, it could be harvested from many times without needing to uproot the entire thing.
The seedling itself would not be worth much if it were any other type of slow growing spiritual plant, it was just that many had tried to uproot and relocate mature Diaphanous Wildroses and each and everyone of those plants had died. A seedling might need many, many more years to mature, thus not be of any use to any alchemist or chef now, but it was far less likely to die in the hands of a clever herb farmer than its adult self.
And as for the scrolls, they turned out to be ancient formulas for two ordinary pills; the Fire Elements Core pill, a pill taken for defence purposes and the One Pulse Pill, which was a healing pill. Both recipes already existed intact in this era, so although the broken scrolls held historic interest, there wasn't much else. "And the One Pulse Pill recipe is missing pieces, but the main contents are readable," Roman's Teacher had told them as she had given them to the waiting students. They thanked her for her time and took all of the things back.
As the silver chest and scrolls were more like trophies and held no real value (unless they melted down the silver coins), Pike decided to keep them for the time being. Later, they would take some of the silver coins to turn into lucky bracelets and an unreasonable martial artist would take Leon's one off his wrist and toss it in a keepsake box that Leon obtained from a market stall and force him to wear a gold and silver bracelet he'd commissioned himself. But one was in the near future, the other some distance off.
As for the interdimensional ring, Leon suggested asking the Headmaster to keep it for them.
Normally no one would think of bothering the Headmaster for such things, but the ring was a bit of a hot potato and though they could hide its existence for a while, it was bound to get found out sooner or later that they had it. Almost as if he was expecting them to make this decision on this matter, the man appeared before them and he took the ring out of their hands without fanfare.
But before leaving he said; "Oh, Leon, I might just pop around for tea one of these days. I heard you brew excellent spiritual tea."
*****
The scholars schools were located in a hidden valley within the Ascending Mountains which was amazingly picturesque considering that the scholars themselves had noses in deep within books and scrolls and therefore were unable to appreciate it. Tucked away between the mountain plateaus and slopes that sheltered the outer martial arts and alchemist schools, the vale was naturally walled by it's neighbours. One of those walls happened to be the sheer mountain side riddled with caves that Leon had discovered during his muddled days as an 'outsider' within this foreign realm.
The vale itself was not one complete piece of land, but a series of plateaus and was further divided by rock teeth and a fairly deep chasm. From the library of which a long bridge stretched out leading into a mountain face, up steps carved in the very rock of a hollowed out tower within that mountain, one would exit into a ornate garden of sculptured trees and potted plants, of calming water features and stone ornaments and benches. Many students, Male and female chatted animatedly while sitting in the gardens oblivious to their beauty. This plateau stretched long and wide and a series of pathways crisscrossed in straight lines leading away from the entrance of the vale. One could also find caverns created to form underground bathing pools at furthest point from the entrance.
Heading one way would lead to the dormitories, of which the facades were built outside of the mountainous walls, while rooms were cosily tucked within. The facades towered upwards with external stairs, each doorway lead into a shared space, which was decent in size and condition. Up to four rooms lead away from this communal living area, each room housing up to four students. All of the students, no matter whether they firmly attended the inner or outer schools lived in this area.
The dormitories were spread over four plateaus; the higher up one lived, the better the accommodation and the less populated the rooms were. However, this came at a price; one either needed to pay the cost of residency with points or find shelter beneath the wing of a Scholar-Teacher.
At the other end of the gardens, the rock floor split to reveal the chasm. Water fell from a precipice at one end into this chasm, vanishing into darkness. Two stone bridges covered the breech and in scholar-like fashion, students would travel over them in a single direction. The bridges led and led from another large and open plateau covered in carved tiles. Small pavilions were set up here and there, each sheltering stone benches and again students were chatting vigorously, often over tea. A circular building fitted into the heart of this spacious area and was set over three floors, much resembling restaurants in town. This was the scholars food hall.
Further past this area and up many wide steps nestled in between a narrower corridor thanks to the natural shape of the mountains either side, another wide and tamed space could be found. This place was where the outer school lie. Much like the dormitories, the outer school's buildings were semi-submerged into the rock walls. Here existed large lecture halls, libraries which held many copies of books that could be found within the main library outside of the school and rooms for experimentation and examinations. Many Teachers and a few select students had their own studies here as well.
The inner school was similar in terms of what type of buildings could be found within, but it held even more precious study tools, scrolls, books and the like for the inner school students to study. It was located on a much higher plateau, built around and over the mountain lake that fed the falls. Many of the Teachers lived in villas beside the lake, on the only grassy space that could be found within the vale and that had been trimmed and trained to conform as well.
Architecturally, the schools were far more advanced and attractive than the other schools, but then, scholars were far less likely to break, smash or blowup the place. Plus, for a Cultivator, it was often an unpopular route, thus it could be considered that offering such surroundings was a way to entice students. Alas, the true scholar cared more about studying tomes than their surroundings. Strong arrays had been set at every point where a youth head deep in a book or their own thoughts could accidentally fall off of a cliff.
Leon had never been here before; his Teacher hadn't brought him here when he came to give the odd lecture (which was rare as his field of expertise leaned towards how to grow herbs, something scholars didn't care much about over the use of them) and Roman's Teacher was eccentric. Her rooms were located in a small valley that could only be reached by griffin or other flying mount.
He only happened to have the opportunity now as the auctions would take place here, within the outer school's lecture halls.
The rooms and lectures halls within the outer scholar school were of a decent size, that could not be denied. Unlike other schools, a Teacher could almost guarantee that they would have excellent attendance, unless their subject was a little obscure, even for the most enquiring minds. However, there was no way they would cope with the number of bodies that poured in during every Interschool Exchange. But naturally, they were ready and organised for such things; mages had visited before the competition had even begun to reinforce arrays and recharge the crystals feeding them to cause the space within the selected lecture halls to expand to an abnormal size, then they had been refurbished for this event.
Three spaces had received such treatment; two were where the lots were held for inspection, one was where the auction would take place.
Leon was beside Jin Li as they wandered around the crowded hall holding the open auction lots. Sixty displays were formed in the space, each protected by arrays from accidental damage, from theft and from time itself. Most of the displays held animal parts and herbs, occasionally, as with Pike's team's display, there were gemstones and ores. One team was selling some rare wood that they had found and a few had arranged to sell left over paper talismans and pills. Leon's team had decided not to do this, after all, some of his pills were not exactly common.
The small alchemist didn't look at others' pills, ignoring even the higher quality ones as they mostly had no use to him. However, there were more than one stalk of herbs that caught his eye. He particularly found interest in the whole plants, ones that could be repotted and continuously nurtured. Some were common, some were not, that part was not something he worried about.
Jin Li glanced at one or two things, just that these things happened to have little value in his eyes. Skins, furs, horns and teeth, he could hunt those things himself. The ores were nothing special to him and he had no use for jade and gemstones; he could not blacksmith nor craft weapons and jewellery, so why would he buy them? Beside, he'd already found a treasure in the sword he'd named Xunsu Bagong; these people could keep their own measly finds. He didn't want them.
That's not to say he lacked interest in everything placed in the auctions, but that was due to the fact that the second room held truly valuable and more interesting things.
The things held for the closed auction were not held in groups, just displayed individually. The other displays were made to show a fraction of the reason behind their overall scores in the competition, thus quelling some doubts. In this room, the things being sold didn't just give their finder's points toward the competition, they were valuable and sought after. Plus, non-competitors would display their finest works here in order to obtain some money or other things for themselves.
While the open auction, all the bids would be made in front of an auctioneer and all bids would be in points, the bids for the closed auction could be anything; coin, Pills, rarities, weapons. And the item would not necessarily go to the 'highest' bidder in terms of monetary value, but the seller could pick the bid that suited themselves the most. Weaker, less prosperous students could only look on bitterly, while others, including wealthy outsiders and experienced Teachers whisked away all the more interesting things. It never stopped people from trying and hoping though.
In amongst these lots, Leon's senior brother Hue happened to be standing, with his other senior brother, Stygar. They happened to be standing next to a display with a jade bottle upon a pedestal, a single, rare pill inside. It was known as the Scarlet Barrier pill and was an defence-enhancement pill aimed at Fire Mages. If a mage or even a martial artist with fire roots took this pill, it would form a reflective barrier around them made of fire, which would not only burn any weapon or fist that attempted to make contact with them, but would retaliate with small fireballs. The major downside was naturally its reduced market; without fire roots to control the volatile nature of the magic pill, the consumer would suffer internal and external damage from the flames.
"D-d-did b-big brother m-make this p-pill?" Leon found himself asking the large man.
"En," came the simple response.
Leon couldn't help exchange glances with Jin Li and as if reading their mind, Stygar answered their unasked question. "Hue likes to stand guard over his pills before they exchange hands," he told them, then muttered with a sneer; "it's not as if there is no protective measures in place. He does this every year."
He didn't tell them why he chose to stand beside Hue; Leon understood that their relationship was not unlike that between himself and Jin Li, so he did not say anything in regards to this. But a sudden thought did cross his mind.
"C-can b-big brother m-make other p-pills m-m-m... that mages like?" Leon asked him.
"En," Hue replied, but a slight curiosity did develop in his dark eyes.
"These pills aren't cheap, you know," Stygar informed him, quickly. "You are our junior brother, but we can't give away things for free!"
"I understand," Leon responded quickly and murmured something to Stygar that he could possibly trade with them for one of Hue's pills. Stygar's eyes widened and he blinked a couple of times, his eyes drawn towards a display amongst the herbs. He had thought about making a bid for one of those stalks, but they were not easy to transplant. Growing from seed wasn't easy either, but with the right conditions... "What d-do you think?"
Stygar glanced up at the man shadowing him, who was also listening with apt concentration. Noticing Stygar's gaze, he said simply; "I'll listen to you."
"Alright," Stygar decided after thinking it over for a few minutes. "Come over to our place in a few days after the auctions are over. We'll discuss it then."
"Okay," Leon agreed with a nod, then noticed that Jin Li was no longer close beside him, but rather he'd wandered over to a stand nearby. He was placing his bid upon parchment square, which was then sealed with wax and placed in a box with other bids. His action naturally gained Leon's and the small alchemist returned to his side to take a look. He appeared to be bidding for an insignificant looking piece of amber, which happened to hold a tiny, downy feather in its midst. The gem itself was no bigger than Leon's smallest fingernail.
Glancing down, he noticed that the description claimed that the trapped feather was believed to be from a phoenix chick. Not the Phoenix, Feng Huang, the mystical bird that was immortal and would not bear offspring as it had long since removed itself from the cycle of life and reincarnation. The phoenixes were an offshoot species, said to have been born of pheasants, but the eggs were caught in the spiritual fire of a Dragon that was locked in battle with it. Feng Huang was upset that innocents were caught up in the battle and used its own energies in an attempt to protect and heal them, before drawing the raging Dragon away. The embryos within the eggs, exposed to the fire of the Dragon and the benevolent heart of the Feng Huang were reborn in the image of the latter, but formed of the fire of the former.
That was the legend, the truth was lost to time, but it was believed that lava cranes, red sparrows and flame wisps all descended from these fire phoenixes.
As for the downy feather, it escaped imagination how a feather made of fire could be trapped within a piece of amber, perhaps the chick within its shell was still more flesh and blood that what it would evolve into, Leon didn't know. But each feather, each drop of blood, each talon of a phoenix was a pure thing that attracted the natural spiritual energy around it. Although the effects would be lessened thanks to the transparent orange shell containing it, if a Cultivator placed this close to their skin, they could draw more energy to themselves during cultivation. How much they could absorb, though, was down to their own luck.
Unsurprisingly, this was part of the treasure that the placed first above all other martial artist team obtained as part of their trove, ensuring their victory over the others, even if first place over all still remained out of their grasp.
Leon didn't ask how much Jin Li bid for it, just noticed that the man looked satisfied with his offer.
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