Lars sat in a lush and cosy receiving room together with Charley as they waited for the attendant to return with their items.

They had been led here by a different white-robed male servant from the one who had brought them to collect their won items. They were led through numerous twists and turns once more, which Lars wondered how the workers could memorise. He himself had no problem remembering exactly how many turns they'd taken and a rough positioning of where they were under the Gorun Stadium.

After roughly 3 minutes of walking, they arrived in front of a st.u.r.dy looking door inlaid with various magical crystals in a formation. The servant placed an insignia he had worn around his neck against the door and the sapphire on the insignia slotted in just righ to the door, activating a teleportation array and creating a swirling blue portal where the door was earlier.

The servant then bowed once to Lars and Charley before beckoning them to enter, clearly not intending to follow them through the portal.

Lars returned the nod and quickly stepped into the portal. In a flash and after just a split-second's disorientation, they found themselves in a well-decorated and opulent receiving room - a collection area for the auction partic.i.p.ants.

Upon arrival, they were greeted by another servant, a young lady who seemed to be in charge of the items collection area. The young brunette lady with a ponytail was dressed entirely in black - perhaps as a sign of her status and rank being different from the many white-robed servants. Her attire looked rather similar to that of their auction host, Aquino.

Apart from her attire, the only thing that stood out about her was her face and the fact that she was considerably well-endowed in the upper areas for her slim frame...

Lars looked around curiously as a blus.h.i.+ng and awkward Charley exchanged various niceties about the weather with the lady before she smiled coolly then bowed politely and left to collect their items. There seemed to be no defences and no guards in the collections room which, apart from one entrance where guests would ingress and one exit presumably leading to the store room.

'Wasn't this setup a bit too lax...?' He raised his eyebrows and exchanged a glance with Charley, who shrugged in response as they continued to wait.

They did not have to wait long, for the young lady returned shortly, yet strangely, she entered with empty hands save for a simple bra.s.s ring. His eyes flitted over to Charley but he was surprised that Charley did not look perturbed at all. Instead, his gaze was affixed on the woman's chest... Ahem, the ring in her hands that she held in front of her chest.

Before Lars could ask about where the items were, the lady lifted up the ring and smiled.

"Sir, this spatial treasure, this storage ring is free of charge, compliments of the Gorun Auction for high-spending partic.i.p.ants! For those who spend between 100 million to 1 billion platinum coins, they receive a storage ring with 3 cubic metres of s.p.a.ce. It is rated as suitable for food and perishables, extending the freshness by up to 2 weeks."

With a cheerful expression - probably a purely professional one - she added, "It's been unlocked and you can add your personal mark and seal to i8t, along with your unique mana signature as a pa.s.sword. All you need to do to use it is to

Lars blinked several times as he examined the ring while Charley admired the ring and surrept.i.tiously snuck glances at the attendant every now and then.

He gently took it from the lady's hands who stepped back a few steps as he hefted it - it was light, unmarked and showed no signs of being anything but a common bra.s.s ring.

Lars then channelled some mana into the accessory and was surprised when an etherial-looking cube of s.p.a.ce materialised in the air before him, which was why the attendant had backed off. However, Charley who was distracted by the jiggling of a certain pair of appendages was. .h.i.t by just the edge of the spatial storage s.p.a.ce, and though he was unhurt, he was startled enough to fall onto his b.u.t.t.

Lars grinned wryly at his pal as he examined the items within the storage s.p.a.ce and ensured that everything was there: the World-cla.s.s rated Void Armour for Charley and Seline's safety, Apprentice Robes which would provide him an incremental boost in overall power and the 13th Generation Jethi Mana Saber, Mark IV model which would allow him to multiply his attacking power several fold!

Although he would still need time to get used to the 2 pieces of equipment for himself, his estimate was that, if before, he could reach the low Grandmaster stage with his Expert-level cultivation, he could probably contend now with peak Grandmasters!

For anything beyond that, it was likely that opponents from the World-cla.s.s levels onwards would also have level-exceeding combat power. As such, it was hard to tell exactly what the maximum level of opponent he could take on. However, he theorised that if the enemy were someone who reached World-cla.s.s through boosts, natural treasures or cultivation pills, he was confident that he could hold his own easily!

Lars thanked the attendant as he withdrew one set of Void Armour and pa.s.sed it to Charley to wear. At the same time, he laid his hand on the Apprentice Robes which quickly morphed in shape and remoulded themselves to fit around his body, on top of his current clothes. This was the common practice nowadays - instead of wearing the defensive robes directly and was.h.i.+ng them daily, they would be donned on top of the regular everyday clothing.

He also strapped the Mana Saber to his belt with the harness that came together with the weapon.

Having put on his new set of equipment, Lars took a glance over at the full-length wall mirror that rose until the ceiling and gave himsel a once-over.

He saw in the mirror a das.h.i.+ngly charming young man, one who had pretty much already lost the last traces of boyishness despite his body's young age of only 15 or 16 years old. His medium-length blonde hair was combed back neatly and fell to either side of his head, while he noticed that his once-brown eyes now had a permanent tinge of reddishness to them... He shrugged and also took in his new attire - the Apprentice Robe fit snugly around him and he could feel the arrays st.i.tched into the clothing boost his abilities and amplify his mana output.

'Not bad... Not bad at all!' He smiled and appreciated his own image in the mirror as Charley continued trying to chat up the girl who repeatedly but politely rebuffed his advances... But whose eyes were fixed hawkishly on Lars like a tender piece of meat she wanted to devour...

Lars felt a little s.h.i.+ver run up his spine as he quickly thanked the lady once more and made to leave. And though she looked disappointed that he did not respond to her obvious signals of interest, she kept it to herself as she activated the portal for him to leave.

He stepped into the blue swirling portal once more to return to his next task - to complete the Gorun City tournament against Vignis Jamal.

Moments after Lars had left, the smiling young lady's seductive look immediately disappeared, replaced by an impa.s.sive and stoic expression. She raised her hand to her ear and spoke to a hidden listener, quietly enough that one would have to be right beside her to hear it.

"Milord, this is lookout main - our targets are heading for the interception point..."

* * * * *

While this was happening, in another reception room manned by another black-clad attendant, Everaldus Slith was also leaving after having received his Cryo Core within a similar bra.s.s storage ring.

And as he left, the attendant in charge similarly raised a hand to his ear and pressed the b.u.t.ton there, before softly whispering, "Milord, this is lookout number 3. The mark has left the auction grounds... I repeat, the mark has left the auction grounds..."