"... So long story short, murder is a good thing." Ares declared proudly.

"..." Aejaz just stared at his brother with narrow eyes after hearing about the line of work Ares wanted to pimp him out to.

"Don't give me that look, it's for your own good. Working under Hans will be good for you. The sooner you start, the better. You're going to have to get used to killing people at some point. You've only ever killed Crane, right? For a cultivator, those are rookie numbers! Shame on you! Get some more blood on your hands!"

"..." Aejaz' stare doubled in intensity.

"Hmph, fine! Stay as you are! Next time Allie needs saving, I wish you the best of luck."

"Tsk, I know I should be doing it, no need to be an ass about it."

"Yes there is. I know you well enough to know you'll just lounge around on your laurels if I don't push you every now and then. If you aren't working for Hans here and there by the time the nationals roll around, I'll drag you to him if need be. It will be easier if you start sooner anyway. Hans will be swamped with work when more people start entering the city for the international and the targets will only get stronger and stronger the longer you wait. If you can get some experience with easier marks before then it'll smooth out the learning curve. I'll even let you borrow the Nyxian Prowler whenever you work. How's that for an incentive?"

"Fine. Fine. Just give me a week and I'll do it. I want to enjoy the results of whatever will happen after I give Allie the cultivation manual damnit!"

Ares rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah. I don't blame you, but that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed! You are succeeding as a man, but failing as a cultivator! Well whatever, we've arrived so be on your best behaviour. This place has standards!"

"ME?! Why don't you keep your explosive tendencies at bay before telling me to control myself?!"

"Oh please, I have enough restraint not to go crazy. It's you stealing everything that worries me. I'm not telling you never to steal from auction houses, just not this one in our home town for Christ's sake! It's not like you haven't already done it once! You have a track record!" Ares defeated Aejaz with the allegations of thievery intent because Aejaz was forced to admit he'd been considering it...

As for the auction house itself, it doubled as a theatre. Or rather it was a theatre that doubled as an auction house. During busy times such as the national and international, the theatre was rented out to a local auction company. It also occasionally ran whenever the theatre wasn't putting on plays, so there were a decent number of auctions yearly in Red Sun. For the most part though, if you wanted any rarer treasures, it would be better to wait for the international as that was when all the rare goods went up for sale. Still, Ares wasn't here for anything out of the ordinary, so that wouldn't be an issue.

The building was wide, long, and tall. Wide to accommodate a large audience, long for all the backstage needs such as prop or treasure storage, and tall for prestige and VIP customers to get better seats and preferential treatment. Despite being highly functional, the exterior and interior had a rather posh charm to it. Hints of gold, dark reds, and fancy designs were everywhere as far as the eye could see. Despite the abundance of such an aesthetic, it had been carefully measured out by a well-respected interior designer in Red Sun during its creation over a thousand years ago so it didn't feel tacky in the slightest. If a visitor were to scan the building, inside or outside, there would be regular intervals between the complex designs so as to be easy on the eyes. It was a rather complicated mix of minimalism and maximalism that only someone with a lot of experience and talent in their respective field could accomplish. For that reason the building was a rather famous one, even cultivators abroad knew of it. It became somewhat of a tourist attraction during the international, but the arrival of powerful cultivators also made it somewhat of an exclusive club for the wealthiest cultivators around the domain. The duality of the relatively poor people in the common seats and the most influential people in the world in the VIP booths was always a rather interesting sight. Throughout the rest of the year, though, during the more quiet times, it was a lot more subdued. Any Tom, Dick, and Harry could enter easily enough and even some cultivators with more local reputation were allowed to get into the VIP section. People like the Li clan's patriarch who wouldn't stand a ghost's chance during the international were more than welcome in such a VIP booth at any other time. As for the theatre half of things, they occasionally performed during the international and made a truckload of stardust every time. The theatre-play tradition in Red Sun was strong thanks mostly to the theatre itself. Most locals viewed not using it as a waste so the troupe that had made it their homebase of sorts during its foundation was still around today. Not the individuals who started it, but the new blood who kept joining the troupe to keep it alive even after all these years. They were undoubtedly some of the most famous actors throughout the entire domain and were a source of pride for people living in Red Sun. For anyone in the city who didn't become a cultivator, becoming a member of the troupe was just about the next best possible option.

Ares walked up to the front of the 'Myriad Masks' theatre and talked to the person standing outside. "Yo, Jeremy, VIP booth. Pronto."

The man named Jeremy stared at Ares before looking away and not responding.

"HEY! Don't give me the silent treatment. This theatre owes me! Who was it that brought back those stolen auction items three years ago?!"

Jeremy glared at Ares. "Yeah, and who was it that stole them in the first place!"

"Not relevant."

"Not relevant my ass! If it weren't for your good standing in Red Sun you would be attack on sight status! Letting you in isn't going to happen, let alone a VIP booth! The upper management would have my head if I let you in."

"Yeah well, you remember that golden pillar everyone saw a couple days ago?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Oh, nothing. You remember that tree that just appeared?"

"... Yeah... What of it?..."

"Be a real shame if I dropped both of them on your dumb ass at the same time, wouldn't it!"

"I... I don't believe you!"

"Yeah well, let's see if not believing me helps when upper management comes for your head for letting me blow up the theatre!"

"You... Look..." Jeremy glanced around to make sure no one saw the concession he was about to make. "... I can let you in, but that's it. No VIP. You aren't even famous anyway so it would be an impossible request even if you weren't threatening me."

"Not famous?! According to who?! Put aside the fact that I created those two massive attacks that literally everyone in the city saw, what about everything else?! I'm from a big family in the Vraizon domain. I have contacts! I know Onno from HMTG. I know the Li and Nick clan's young masters. I'm going to be married to the daughter of the Legion clan's patriarch. I work directly under Hans. Contacts aside, I'm a foreign aid disciple in Heaven's Path. I'm literally the most famous disciple in the entire sect and will probably end up being the next sect master! More people know my name than the current bloody sect master's! I have a unique pillar! Not famous my ass! How many citizens in Red Sun know me? Whoever it is that thinks I'm not a big deal has clearly been living under a damn rock!"

"That... I can't deny any of that... But do you even have the money to be here? Aren't you mostly famous as 'the bandit brothers'? Don't you steal everything anyway? Can you afford what we're selling?" Jeremy tried desperately to come up with any excuses to drive away the pest before him that he could muster.

"I've got about three high-grade stardust total on me at the moment. Don't act like that that's not enough at this time of year. You aren't selling anything extremely rare and the competition is pretty non-existent. On most ordinary days, three high-grade would be enough to clean house!"

"Where the hell did a bastard like you get that kind of money?! Why am I standing out here earning pennies compared to a shmuck like you?!"

"Me strong. You weak. Me kill cultivator. Me earn money. You kiss cultivator ass. You no make money. See? Simple! Let me in you broke bozo!"

"Ughhhh. Fine. If anyone asks, I had nothing to do with you, and if anyone hassles me I'm telling them you crept in when I wasn't looking."

"Actually, that's a good point. I could have just done that from the start... See? I'm behaving well and doing things by the book, right? you can clearly trust me!"

"NOT AFTER ADMITTING IT WAS ONLY BECAUSE YOU FORGOT TO BREAK THE RULES!" Jeremy threw the token at Ares and turned around, ignoring him for good this time. Whatever happened from here on out had nothing to do with him.

Ares and Aejaz slipped past Jeremy and into the entrance where they interacted with a revolving door to get inside. Ares had been momentarily tempted to push Aejaz back inside the door and watch him have to sit around and wait in order to get back inside, but he was supposed to be laying low so, begrudgingly, he refrained. The two walked over to a staircase on the right side of the foyer and went up the stairs before coming across a burly security guard. After showing the VIP token, the guard gave the two 'kids' a once over before letting them through. It wasn't rare for, what the security guard deemed, 'kids' to occasionally enter the VIP section, but he was familiar with most of them so he was extra attentive when two new brats came-a-callin. Still, the token was real so he had no complaints... Other than the deeply buried ones about spoiled rich brats having more money than him... But that was a personal problem.

Ares and Aejaz strolled down the hall and came across their room number 2. There was no significance to it other than indirectly letting Ares know there was someone else present who could be considered a VIP in room 1. If there was something he wanted, he might actually have to spend a chunk of stardust to get it; meaning he would have to be cautious throwing money around on some of the earlier goods. Still, there were a few alchemical ingredients he wanted, so he couldn't skip them anyway. A lot of this auction would mostly just be auto pilot with one or two hard decisions towards the end.

The bandits entered the room and Aejaz was practically drooling at the interior. Each VIP room was a secluded, high class playground with comfy leather chairs, complimentary champagne and fruits, and even a personal heater / ac on either side of the chairs for individual comfort. Aejaz went sleuthing around the room and playing with the luxurious toys he found while Ares took a seat and looked out of the giant glass panel on the furthest wall. The wall was one way so he could freely look at all the paupers below with them none the wiser! Ah to be rich!... Comparatively, anyway. If he came here during the international, the actual powerhouses of the domain would probably spit on him. Unless he won the international, he definitely wouldn't be able to even enter one of these rooms anyway. And as for being able to compete monetarily... Ha. Nope. There were items that could go for hundreds of high-grade stardust, Ares' measly three wasn't going to cut it. What was hilarious to Ares about that was that he technically was the richest person around for miles if one looked at wealth including possessions. An enabler alone would probably sell for over ten thousand high-grade, let alone the Primordial Blade or the Celestial Prisms which were basically priceless. Ares was the richest poor man in town!

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Hey, stop browsing for stuff to steal and come here." Ares gestured to the seat next to his.

Aejaz came over but kept looking back over his shoulder at a painting that looked like it would be worth a pretty penny if sold at market...

"Here. I promised I'd give you the Acrimony, so here you go."

Aejaz took the dagger that was handed to him and started twirling it with a beaming smile. Ignoring the Concealed Serpent, this was first good item he'd ever gotten. Unlike the Serpent, this had combat potential, so Aejaz was pretty excited for it. The training with Sadie had made him a dagger fanatic so to have a high quality one was like throwing a dog a bone; he was going to be distracted by it for quite a while. Combining that with the phoenix cultivation manual and Aejaz was secretly wishing Ares would take him on more adventures... As long as they didn't involve anymore damn orcs!... This isn't secretly an orc-tion house, is it?! Aejaz shook his head vigorously from side to side. The orc experience had clearly been traumatising...

After receiving the dagger, Aejaz was reminded there was something he was curious about. It wasn't important, per se, but it was the kind of thing that not knowing would eat away at him for no good reason. "What does the Nyxian Prowler's blade look like? When I saw it in Vargaraad's tomb it was sheathed and I couldn't see it properly. it's a rare treasure, right? Must be cool. It would be a real let down if it was just a normal blade."

"Hm? Oh, right. Yeah, have a looksie." Ares whipped out the treasure and unsheathed it, revealing the weapon's full form to Aejaz who's eyes were sparkling. The blade was a formless shadow. "The shadow can change shape, to an extent, and become whatever kind of dagger you want it to be. Curved, misericord, poignard, baselard..." As Ares spoke, the Prowler's shadow morphed into the appropriate form. "... It's seriously handy. Not only is the enabler part of it incredibly valuable, but as a standalone treasure, what with the Zone art and the shapeshifting, it's an amazingly convenient weapon. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, enablers are always some of the highest quality treasures out there. Most enablers usually have more than one art, but the Prowler's ability to shapeshift makes up for that in my opinion. Besides, I have enough arts at my disposal as is. The second I get a long range attack of some kind, I think I'll be set for combat options for a good while. Well, I won't have a mental attack, but that shouldn't be a problem for now... Oh hey, the auction's starting."

Up front, an elderly man with a cane hobbled onto the platform. If it weren't for this old-timer being relatively well known, he probably would have been booed off the stage. Still, he was an aspect assimilation cultivator, at the peak too, so he was given the respect he deserved. His rickety form and slow gait was not indicative of how much of a threat he could be if he put in some effort so no one thought to hurl abuse his way. The old man wasn't a big enough name to keep the hounds at bay during the international, however, but the theatre hired outside help for that; sometimes even getting the mayor himself to step in... It's not like the bastard was ever busy, after all.

The old man got the event underway quickly and unceremoniously as today was just a normal day. No bigshots had turned up and there weren't any particularly rare items for sale so an appropriate amount of effort had been put in. Ares paid the various pills that went up for sale no attention, instead whipping out the envelope he'd received earlier from Loris. Ares had never accepted pay from Hans as he'd been given more than enough in the way of shelter and food, so this was a first for him. He wasn't too curious as to why he was being paid, he'd seriously done Hans a massive favour. Ares was more so curious about what the payment would be. As he opened the envelope, Aejaz slithered out of his seat and peaked over his brother's shoulder to take a gander at the goods.

"A letter?" The disappointment in Aejaz' voice was palpable. He had clearly been expecting stardust at the very least, not that there wasn't any in the envelope, it just wasn't much; totalling at around 10 mid-grade. If Ares wanted 10 mid-grade, he could just go around beating up any random cultivator and taking their spatial ring; he'd also get a lot more than ten if they were any decent. Assassinating a high profile target for the same reward wasn't worth it! "What's the letter say? Anything good on that end, at least?"

Ares, instead of reading the letter to himself and then having to explain again after, simply read it aloud. "You're a crazy kid, Ares. I'm not even going to ask what was up with that tree, poor old me might have a heart attack if I start worrying excessively about the things you do. Anyhow, thanks for a job well done. Nothing out of the norm in that department, I guess. I've given you a down payment. It's not much, but I'll have a proper gift ready for you some time after the nationals are wrapped up. You've earned it after helping me injure that damn bird. It'll make life a lot easier and I might be able to make a few sly moves here and there I wouldn't have had a chance to otherwise. You've done a lot of good work for me over the years and I've never really paid that back. I know you wouldn't ask for payment anyway, but I wanna do it so indulge me on this kiddo. Come check in after the nationals and I'll let you know when it'll be ready, if it isn't already. It's not a treasure or anything of the sort, but I've got a feeling you'll cherish it. It's a personal gift, so don't try and convince me not to, I won't be hearing any of it! It's something every man needs anyway, so don't be stubborn.

Kindly,

Hans."

"Every man needs? He's really trying to keep us guessing? I wanna knowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww." Aejaz' nosiness had gotten the better of him and he was tempted to run over to city hall right now and ask.

"We'll know after the nationals, which should be your number one focus right now. Or maybe I should hold onto the cultivation manual until you've made progress in that art?"

"BROTHER NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Relax. I'm just messing with you..." Ares held down a button at the edge of the armrest on his chair. "... Two mid-grade."

"Eh? Two mid-grade?"

"I'm bidding stardust, you moron. Have you already forgotten where we are?!"

Aejaz looked up as he truly had gotten lost in his own head trying to figure out what Hans' gift might be. On the stage, he saw an alchemical ingredient, a striking blue flower, up for grabs. "What is it?"

"'Wild tide', an ingredient that's neither common nor rare. Somewhere in between and generally not too hard to find if you travel a bit... According to the old man, anyway. Like hell I know."

"What are you buying it for? And how do you even know you need it if you don't even know what it is?!"

"I'm buying it for the pill that needs the ever-shifting core, the one for Leo. As for how I know the ingredients that are necessary for it, I gave Allie's alchemy recipes a once over the other day with Omniscience. I promised her I'd keep an eye out for any of the ingredients she was on the hunt for. The ever-shifting core is the only ingredient for the pill that isn't readily available, so Allie didn't bother getting the others even though, with Zhang's aid, she could have done so in a day or two. There wasn't much point without the core. Now that I found a core, I figured I may as well get her the rest of the ingredients while I'm out and about. Of course I'll let your dumbass give it all to her. She might even offer to marry you on the spot when you dump everything you've gotten today on her."

Sniffle

"BROTHER!" Aejaz, with glistening tears in his eyes, was trying to hug Ares but he was being kicked away by Ares' foot which was playing defence.

"I'm still trying to bid for the damn thing you fool! How can I do that if you bind my arms?!" Ares pushed the button to bid again as someone else seemed to want it. "Four mid-grade." Thankfully that bid seemed to be the end of it as the other person wasn't willing to go any higher; the bid was getting a bit too pricy for the wild tide which really was only worth around three mid-grade at most. Ares had lost out here, but he needed it anyway so unless the price got ridiculous he was willing to pay.

The bidding continued for a while and Ares had to peel his brother off him pretty much every time he bid for an alchemy ingredient. Eventually, something interesting came up. Ares had no intention of buying it, but Aejaz was curious about the thing that had piqued Ares' interest and he asked for an explanation. After all, why anyone would want to buy a single grain of blue sand was... Questionable. Aejaz couldn't even see the damn thing from here because it was that miniscule! He'd need a telescope to even make sure he wasn't being scammed into buying literal thin air!

"That, if it's actually even there, is called 'fine-grind blue'. There are a few places you can find it, but it typically needs to be searched for in sandy regions. The more sand, the more likely you are to find it, but that's where the problems begin... You see, fine-grind blue strengthens the cultivator permanently. It can only be used once per cultivator, and the benefit is proportional to the amount of days the fine-grind blue has existed. The one being sold is 'fortnight fine-grind', so it's been around for two weeks. Now, you might be wondering why a sane person wouldn't just hold onto it for days on end to make the effect stronger, right? The answer is quite simple... Everyday, the fine-grind has a 75% chance to explode. You basically play a guessing game with that thing. The explosion isn't dangerous or anything, but your treasure may just suddenly stop existing if you don't absorb it in time. Of course, the sooner you take it, the lower the benefit. Fine-grind isn't even really that rare, you can go to a country called 'Xasca' up to the north and find it everywhere. The real rarity comes from the number of days it's survived without going kablooey. two weeks isn't low, but it's not great either. Serious cultivators tend to try and search for one month fine-grind at the bare minimum, and even then that's considered pretty desperate. Two months is, 'I'm trying to become the next big cultivator' territory. Three months is the highest anyone has ever found... But it blew up the very next day... Greed is a real killer. Personally, I have higher standards than fortnight fine-grind. I plan on visiting Xasca sometime after the international, so I might as well wait until then to search around for something better. This is going to be a massive treasure for me because I'm an Adept. The strength gain of fine-grind is notable. Taking your fine-grind is considered a major step for cultivators, so I want to get it right because it's ten times more important for me. Sure, my human form gets zilch out of it... But my revenant form is seriously going to be a roided out beast if I get a good fine-grind."

"Huh, what a strange treasure... Should I just buy that fine-grind and be ok with it? I don't need much physical strength, really."

"Hell no. I'm not going to tolerate anyone in my household having anything less than two month fine-grind!... Well, we won't be living in that house for much longer... But that's not the point! You can do so much better than that, so don't be lazy about it. It would even be better to just never take fine-grind if you can't find a better one. I don't care if you have to wait 200 years to find a good quality fine-grind blue, don't touch the garbage stuff. You'll seriously regret it one day. It's not necessarily impossible to get a do-over, nothing's really ever truly impossible in this world; but don't risk it because there's never truly any guarantees in this world either."

"All right, point taken. But how does that thing work anyway?"

"You eat it and then it does what it says on the tin. It grinds down your physique and muscles from the inside, refining them and imbuing them with a bit of extra oomph. Yes it does hurt, but it works wonders so no complaining when the time comes or I'll shove it down your throat... Hell, I'll shove it up your ass if need be!"

"Uh, I think I'll just swallow it... I mean how bad can it be?... Anyway, it seems like the auction is done with alchemy ingredients and they're moving onto enhancement treasures. Did you get everything? Can we leave? I wanna go home to Allie!"

"Will you keep it in your pants for ten minutes?! Yes I've got all the ingredients, no we are not leaving. We're already here, so we might as well see what everything else is. You never know when something worth bidding on will pop up, even in a low key auction like this one. Put your tongue back in your mouth, put your eyes back in their sockets, and quit saying 'awooga'. Allie can wait, and so can you."

As it turned out, Ares hanging around was the correct decision as, a little while later after the enhancement treasures had all been sold off, a weapon that Ares really wanted was brought on stage. He'd just been complaining about not having a long range method of attack readily available, and now this thing was for sale? It couldn't be any more perfect! The weapon was a backfire gear but it was neutral tier so that wasn't an issue... Kinda. It's just that its demerits were nowhere near as significant as its merits for a person like Ares.