"They are guests of the Balrow family," Saul said once a guard in the solid stage stopped the group at the bottom of a staircase leading to the lower layers of the underground structure.
The guard checked Saul's green card and performed a polite bow before letting the group pass. A maze made of multiple corridors and doors unfolded in their vision at that point, but Saul promptly led them across the structure.
Saul then used his green card to open one of the doors, and a large room that featured a few couches and a table filled with food appeared in their vision. Jordan and Don didn't hesitate to jump on the delicacies, but Noah and Saul remained at the entrance to exchange a few last words.
"The large forces have a shared control of the event," Saul said. "They won't know your name, but they will manage to connect you to the Balrow family since I've used my credentials. Please, don't cause a mess."
"I'm here only to buy resources," Noah replied. "I wouldn't have come back at all if it weren't for this chance."
Saul nodded, and some worry left his expression. Noah had spoken the truth, and he could sense his honesty. Still, Saul knew that Noah could stir a mess even if he didn't intend to.
"A window will open once the auctions start," Saul said. "Use the panel to place your bids. They will return into the room if you fail to win the resource. The same goes for the items when you win them. Everything is quite simple."
Noah nodded, but Saul wasn't over with the explanations. His expression became stern as he began to explain the political aspects of the auctions.
"You know how important face is to the organizations," Saul said. "Pay attention to the experts in the front rows. If they start sealing loud deals, you should back off from the auction and let them have it. Failing to do so will tell them that someone inside the Balrow family doesn't care about their fame."
"Understood," Noah said in a less honest tone.
Noah knew that the event could be dangerous. The atmosphere in the lower layers of the underground structure was tense due to all the powerful experts joining the auction. Almost all the guards there were in the solid stage. The same went for the other guests and participants. That place could become a deadly trap if he didn't play carefully.
Yet, Noah wouldn't hold back if he found something that could help his battle prowess. He would try to play it safe, but his growth always had the priority.
In the worst case, Noah would escape in the wilderness and spend some time with the Legion. Jordan and Don already saw him as a member of that organization in the end. Theodora had even told them to keep an eye on him.
"We will finish talking about Great Builder's inheritance afterward," Saul concluded as he approached the door. "I shouldn't say this, but the Balrow family wants to use the workshop to gain more relevance in the political environment. Giving it a favorable price can only benefit you."
Saul left without waiting for Noah's answer. A barrier appeared around the room once the door closed. A series of shining lines came out of its walls to activate some of that structure's functions.
The panel placed after the couches lit up, and Noah studied it to be ready for the auction. Jordan and Don mostly ate while Noah kept himself busy, but they didn't hold back from giving voice to a few comments.
"The human society didn't change in these centuries," Jordan said in an annoyed tone. "It's one bow after another. They waste so much time in trying to be polite when they can't even protect their homes."
"You forced me to have a fistfight with other hybrids before accepting my requests," Noah commented. "How is bowing different?"
"Fighting reveals your true self," Don said as he gulped a big piece of meat. "Bowing only hides your intentions."
Noah gave up on arguing with the duo soon. Jordan and Don had become so used to live among hybrids that they couldn't acknowledge the human traditions anymore.
Truth be told, Noah found most of them pointless, but he couldn't deny their usefulness, especially when it came to those connected to their political environment.
"Why didn't you attack the human side if you are so strong?" Noah asked as he sat on the couch and filled his cup with some wine.
"There are too many humans," Jordan replied before heaving a helpless sigh. "They aren't weak either. Our innate abilities can put us above them, but the Legion can't win in an all-out war due to the immense difference in our number. We are lucky that they are too busy fighting among themselves to focus on the enemies coming from outside their domain."
A few hours had to pass before one of the walls lit up and became transparent once the light dimmed. A deep structure appeared on the other side of that screen-like item. Multiple seats circled a large stage that featured a few experts in the solid stage who wore luxurious robes that didn't carry any special symbol.
The transparent wall didn't block the sound from the stage, so Noah and the others could hear everything happening under them. Even the conversations among the experts on the stages reached their room.
The auction began with a long presentation that described the identity of the solid stage experts on the stage and explained how the event would proceed.
The experts had different areas of specialization. They were famous cultivators that the organizations had lent to take care of the inspection and evaluation of the auctioned items. Their tasks also involved the description of the resources once they reached the stage.
The auction began right after their presentation. A series of items quickly appeared on the stage. They were chests filled with crystal-like materials in the middle tier, and their starting price was a mere one hundred Soul Stones.
The price quickly rose to four thousand before the auction ended. A member of the Monneay family purchased those materials, and the expert in charge placed them over a small matrix that teleported them directly on the winner's lap.
More items came out afterward. Noah didn't find any of them interesting, but he used that chance to expand his knowledge of the Immortal Lands. Some of those resources were quite peculiar, but they didn't fit his situation enough to make him place a bid.
That was only the initial part of the auction. Only items with vague value would appear now, and Noah didn't dare to use his resources only to please his curiosity.
Still, something capable of stirring his interest eventually appeared. Noah didn't expect anything when he saw a simple-looking black shard appearing on the stage, but an item inside his separate space activated at that sight.
Noah almost couldn't believe his mind when he looked inside the separate space and saw that the diagram obtained in Shandal's separate dimension had begun to radiate strange waves of energy. The black shard had triggered a reaction in an item that had been silent for millennia.
Noah didn't even need to think about it. Before anyone else could even bid, he had already placed two thousand Soul Stones inside the panel.
