Inside the mystical looking Dusk Palace, a lavish roundtable was prepared to accommodate the main members of the Nirvan Alliance with chairs and dishes prepared for the other ambassadors of the remaining, suppressed members of the alliance.

In other words, the core roundtable was only accessible to the strongest, the most richest of the members while the poor countries and tribe ambassadors could only acquaint themselves to a slightly stronger group and grow their connections.

Seated on the roundtable, the ambassadors of the seven leaders—

The Rising Sun Empire, Human Faction.

The Dusk Empire, Human Faction.

The Goblin's Palace, Monster Faction.

The Elf Kingdom, Monster Faction.

The Ogre's Morgue, Monster Faction.

The Atlantis, Monster Faction and,

The Yggdrasil Trunk, Monster Faction.

As they ambassadors continued to bicker in the throne room, inside the private quarters of Naga Dusk, a special gathering was hosted.

Sure, to the outside world, the words of ambassadors are the official story on how the events unfolded. But, in reality, only the strongest gathered in this special hosting decides the direction of all negotiations.

On the stage, a beautiful woman with blue looks stood while her curvaceous body remained under the veil of a backless dress with a deep neckline that touched her navel, showing quite a bit of skin.

"Welcome to the Alliance Auction. All the members invited have taken a part in this auction one time or another, so there is no need for me to go over all the rules.

Without any further ado, let's get started.

This alliance auction, we have decided to settle for a random draw."

With the host's clap, two rather ravishing servants dragged out a transparent box placed over a red podium that went along with the luxurious blood-red curtains pushed at the corner of the stage.

Putting her hand through the hole cut out on the surface of the box, the hostess took out a piece of envelope. With her dexterous hands, she quickly tore the opening of the envelope and read the name of the person hidden within.

Smiling, her glittering blue eyes shone with a lustre as she announced the first person to walk up the auction stage.

"Please, let's welcome Gurara Blandem, the leader of the Ogre's Morgue."

The alliance meeting was divided into two stage— Public and Private.

While the Public stage was divided into further classifications based on the steps, the Private Alliance Meeting was further characterized into two steps.

The Auction.

The Negotiations.

Sure, the ambassadors fought for better contracts and more supply of goods and services by minimising their losses. But in face of the threat that Rank 6 and above cultivators pose to each other, it is necessary that all the Cultivators sit together and have a nice long chat after gaining some benefits in the auction.

The Alliance war in itself is controlled by the Public Alliance Leaders and Ambassadors.

The Private Alliance Members dealt with threats that are too 'capital' to be ignored.

Just like this, under the calm, unfeeling eyes of the hostess, a grey-skinned bulky monster walked out. His dark hair tied into a long ponytail tied into various sections while his raised jaws fashioned elongated lower canines that grew out of his mouth.

His menacing crimson eyes gazed at the Hostess lasciviously before reigning in his thoughts as the Rank 6 Tribe Leader was nowhere near the Rank 7 Retreat Cultivator only called during major events, such as, Alliance Meetings.

Feeling the momentary unbridled gaze on her body, Maira simply sighed. In fact, she wasn't much interested in this whole show. All she wanted to do was meet the founding ancestor, alas, he... or now, she, had started a long secluded cultivation. Even when she is an elite Rank 7 monstrous cultivator, she still had to respect the founding ancestor's wishes.

Not only the Dusk Founder, but even the other six founders are said to have gone into a long retreat after publicly stating:

"All our brothers and sisters... prepare. Prepare as much as you can."

Of course, these words weren't meant for the low-Rank Cultivators but the retreat elites like herself.

But since she was already here, the Transcend Association put her to the task to host the Private Auction held in Dusk Empire.

"Kehum! I have two ounces of Nirvana Powder and would like to trade for Yin Blood Treasure."

Gurara's gruff voice spread across the entire auction before low whispers spread. Nirvana Powder was a neutral elemental healing material only cultivated from Blood Element Treasured Houses after a period of long time.

"I have a Yin Calamity Core. To make up for the omission of blood element, I am willing to put Blood Condor's heart."

A Rank 6 cultivator of druid tribe spoke out. Belonging to Yggdrasil faction, the Druids held a lot of power in western forests.

Seeing Gurara's silence, the bark-skinned druid let out a sigh.

"How about a litre of moon's blood?"

A melodious voice struck out. She happened to be the current acting leader of Yggdrasil Trunk, a peak rank 6 cultivator.

Before Gurara could nod, Rani finally spoke up.

"A drop of an infernal duke's blood."

Sssss

Few, low-ranked treasured house experts took in a deep breath while Gurara's head snapped towards Rani's direction. Gazing at Rani's ethereal appearance, he couldn't help but feel an itch grow within his heart.

He had seen Rani on many occasions, but today, she seemed particularly tender.

Not thinking anymore, Gurara accepted the trade. Two servants, one from the stage and one from the seating region contacted the duo and took the item before placing the small pouch in front of Rani's table while Gurara was given a tube with a single blue drop of blood.

Walking down, Gurara did not move towards his previous seat, instead, he made his way towards Rani. A huge grin on his beastly face as he gave her body another long stare.

"Yo!"

"..."

Understanding that asking further will simply harm his own self-respect, Gurara made way back to his previous seat while Maira nodded and continued.

Just like this, the auction kept on going while many extreme treasures filled with Elemental energy were traded amongst one another.

***

"Uuuuuuuu! You are a bully!!!!"

With her large blue eyes full of tears and her mouth inflated to the extreme, Jeanne started thrashing her soft and small fists onto a huge dire wolf.

It's grey fur tough to the extreme further hurt the little princess' hands, making her cry even more while the wolf panicked further.

"Aoooo!"

It's failed attempt to let out a cute whimper from its rough throat further aggrieved Jeanne!

"Aahhhh! You even scared my Bambi! I don't like you! You always do this, Teeth! I told you that we can play at night, right!"

She rubbed her teary eyes and then looked at the almost pathetic look on the dire wolf's face. Finally, her expression softened.

"Fine! We can play! But it's not like we are friends of something!"

With a lovable pout on her face, she rubbed the dire wolf's head as it smiled happily.

Suddenly, she heard shouts from ends of the village. A wave of pressure suppressed the strange duo while the Dire Wolf felt even more afraid than the crying Jeanne.

"Aaaahhhh!"

Jeanne's eyes widened to the extreme when she saw the blazing inferno spreading far in her vision. Immediately rushing the wolf, Jeanne made her way past the forest as she saw her whole village on fire.

"Nnooooooooo!!!"

***

A/N: With this, the first volume of the novel has come to an end. I am extremely happy by writing this novel since it is different from what I usually write. Either way, hope that I will update regularly for the next volume.

Extremely important note. While many may not like the starting of the new volume, it is extremely important so that others can understand the most basic concepts used in this arc. Because Lucifer used most of the awesome, top tier stuff but there is a need to understand the lower realm stuff and further solidify the world knowledge.

Either way, look forward.

One more thing.

Well, I wish to continue my pat* reon once again. So if you wish to support me, do so at—

pat* reon.com/broughtwaorld

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Pat* reon chapters will soon be uploaded.