"Hey George, do you know where the bathroom is?" Timothy asked George with a slight look on his face to try to show him that he wanted to step away without anyone questioning it. "I should not have eaten such a big breakfast today." he said jokingly as he awaited George to put together his intentions.
"Yeah, sure I actually was thinking of heading there myself briefly. Excuse us everyone, we are going to just make a quick bathroom run." George told everyone around him as he gestured for his two uncles to follow along. Timothy felt much better that George was able to understand his intentions right away without him needing to try multiple different ways to do it.
As they entered a small bathroom, George had his two uncles stand guard right outside of it. Every bathroom in a big city like Mist City usually had its own sound proofing system, so the two could talk without anyone else noticing or interrupting, especially with George's men guarding the door.
"Hey, so how close are you with everyone at the table? It seems like they are your friends on the outside looking in, but something just looks to be off with everything." Timothy asked George as he entered into the small stall. "It is none of my business, but out of everyone, Jack seems the most genuine towards you."
"My father is good friends with their fathers and have been working together closely for several years now. So although they have been told not to make things difficult for me, their true intentions is to get close to me. As I told you earlier, not a single cultivator in my clan had both high affinity for the water and the wind element. Actually, not a single member had even a low affinity for the other." George began to explain to Timothy.
"As for me, I am both a direct descendant and I am the very first in my clan to have a high affinity for the wind element and a low affinity for the water element. As long as I am able to work tirelessly, even with a low affinity for the water element, I may be able to learn the first of the many hidden techniques that my clan had passed down for many generations."
"And if I am able to accomplish that feat, it would not only give me the ability to become the Patriarch of my clan in the future, but I might even be able to become the future governor of our Mist City. The current governor is only about fifty years away from retiring, and after that, the Emperor of Bark Kingdom will be looking at the top individual to marry into the royal family and become the next governor."
"So yes, they are as genuine as some would be knowing all of the specifics about my clan's affairs, but not even I could blame them for being at least a little greedy. The only reason that Jack seems to be the most genuine towards me, besides you, is because he is still unaware of what my future may look like." Timothy was not able to physically see George, but he was able to hear sadness coming from his words.
"Well, if it is worth anything to you, since you have treated me not just kindly but as an equal, I have no reason to treat you any differently. Would you recommend me staying away from those guys, or feel differently?" Timothy replied and asked George before finishing up and exiting the stall. "They only treated me kindly because you saw value in befriending me. As far as I am concerned, even if there were one thousand of them, I would choose being your brother before even thinking about being theirs."
"You can do as you wish, but a word of advice, they will treat you kindly until either you show no value or I have no value to them. In other kingdoms, this is a little less present, but because Bark Kingdom is so small and weak, no matter who it is, they will try their best to grow and prosper regardless of the cost associated with it. Mainly because it is much easier to grow one's foundation in a remote kingdom like ours compared to the rest of the world." George told Timothy before the two exited the bathrooms and made their way back to the table.
By the time they had returned, the auction was coming to a close as the presenter announced a final artifact which would be considered the highlight of the auction which was taking place. In every auction, there would be one rare treasure for others to bid on, which is why auctions were always attended by all of the top powers within Mist City no matter what other arrangements were scheduled for the day.
"This pill is called the Purple Flame Pill and it is a grade three pill which was made by the top alchemist located here in our very own city! The Purple Flame Pill is a sought after pill compared to many other pills of the same grade, because it is used to help those with a high fire elemental affinity to actually slowly increase the quality of their flames which would make even the most basic of techniques upgrade respectfully!"
"This pill is very essential to those who are on the path of immortality, because regardless of one's talent, if the cultivator was able to increase the quality of their element, it would already heighten their current ceiling!" the presenter told the audience as two heavily equipped Advanced stage cultivators brought it out. Due to its rarity, the auction house needed to protect it accordingly so it could be safely sold without anyone trying to steal it from them or the buyer.
"The bidding price will begin at seven thousand gold pieces!" the presenter shouted out as the entire building started to break out into whispers. There were many experts present who coveted the pill, and there were those who wanted to purchase it today, so that they could resell it for a much higher price later on.
