"Hhmm… I'm Brian. Brian Scoot," Brian said calmly.
The crowd erupted in murmurs—shocked, yet confused. They had never heard of this young man.
"He's from the Scoot family?!" someone exclaimed.
"Does the Scoot family even have someone named Brian?" another asked.
"I don't think so," someone else muttered from the sidelines.
The guard who had sided with Gunt overheard the discussion and seized the chance to curry favor with the Linn family.
"You bumpkin! Who are you trying to fool? There's no young master named Brian in the Scoot family! You're just using their name because you're close to Young Lady Mina, hoping to get away with it, aren't you?!" the guard shouted eagerly.
"That's right! I'm sure he's just taking advantage of his relationship with Miss Mina," Gunt's guard chimed in.
"What do you know?!" Mina snapped, her eyes blazing. Normally calm and graceful, she was now clearly furious, glaring at the guard as if she were about to slap him.
"Young lady, there's no need to defend—ugh!" The guard's words were cut short as Old Man Laad's palm sent him flying.
"M-Master…?" the guard groaned in pain from where he lay sprawled.
Laad ignored him and stepped right up to Brian—then, to everyone's astonishment, embraced him tightly.
"You're Young Master Brian! My goodness, I never knew the young lady had such an outstanding son!" Laad said excitedly.
Brian froze, momentarily stunned that this old man would just hug him out of nowhere.
"How is the First Young Lady? I heard she has two children. Where's your younger sibling?" Laad asked eagerly.
Laad had taken care of Tessa since she was a child, treating her like his own daughter. Now, meeting her son was like meeting his own grandson.
"Ah… Grandpa Laad? Mother's well, and my little sister will be enrolling in Sky Blue Academy," Brian replied calmly. He could tell the old man was close to his mother, so he answered respectfully.
"Young Master… Brian?!" The injured guard, pale with realization, now knew he had made a grave mistake.
The spectators, who had expected chaos, were stunned by this sudden turn of events. None of them had imagined that the boy they thought had no background was actually the grandson of both the Scoot and Cester families—making him a co-owner of this very auction house.
Laad, hearing the pitiful groans of the guard, simply released a burst of spiritual energy, blowing the man into pieces.
"You there—clean up this trash," Laad ordered the auction guards.
"And you, Gunt—leave the auction house, now!" His words were laced with crushing spiritual pressure that bore down on Gunt and his followers.
Gunt was speechless. The "bumpkin" he had mocked was the auction owner's grandson?
Feeling the suffocating weight of Laad's aura, Gunt's strength faltered.
"Laad, we'll leave—but you shouldn't be oppressing my young master like this," an elderly voice said from the shadows. A figure emerged—Gunt's personal bodyguard, an Eighth-Stage Grandmaster just like Laad.
"Grandpa Novl!" Gunt cried, as if saved from hell itself.
"Fine, take your young master and go, Novl," Laad said with narrowed eyes.
"Tch!" Novl snorted, clearly displeased, before escorting Gunt and his men out.
—
"So, this is the Brian mentioned in our family's intelligence reports," a young man in one VIP room remarked.
"Oh, he's Brian? Not bad-looking," a woman in another room commented.
"A country bumpkin is still a bumpkin, even if he's the child of two great families," a young lady scoffed.
"Oh? So that's my fiancé? He's pretty decent… Hehe, I'll have to go over and bother him later," a girl of about fifteen giggled.
"Haha… interesting. So the young man at the Grandmaster stage is a Scoot? I'll have to drop by," an older man said—the very same who had once seen Brian at the restaurant during his clash with Lax.
Gunt's departure slowly calmed the atmosphere inside the auction hall. People began returning to their seats, though many were still whispering about Brian.
"So now, our Rain Empire has another young master—Young Master Brian. He looks strong… even younger than the geniuses from the ancient families," someone murmured.
"Yeah, but it's a little strange. If he's really that talented, why isn't he in the Sky Blue Academy?" another replied.
"Didn't you hear earlier? He said his younger sibling will be enrolling there."
"True… maybe he's just being modest about himself."
"Could be. And then when no one's expecting it, he'll show up at Sky Blue Academy himself."
Brian, overhearing all this, nearly burst out laughing. These people's guesses are insane. With my system, what could possibly stop me from growing stronger? Well… except maybe the fact that the EXP requirements keep going up.
"Young Master Brian, is there anything in particular you'd like?" Laad asked. "I was told by the Second Young Lady that you're free to take any two items you wish."
"I haven't decided yet, Gramps. Maybe once I see something that catches my eye, I'll make a bid," Brian replied calmly.After all, unless I actually see the item, my Divine Eyes can't tell me if it's truly valuable or not, he thought.
The cultivators who had been gossiping fell silent when a young, beautiful woman stepped onto the stage.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Helyi, and I'll be your host for today's auction," she said, her magnetic voice making many eyes light up. "We apologize for the delay earlier due to the… disturbance."
"Now then, without further ado, let's begin."
"For our first item, we have a high-grade defensive gear—capable of withstanding several attacks from a peak Stage 3 Grandmaster. Starting bid: 20,000 diamonds, with a minimum increase of 2,000 per bid."
To Brian, high-grade equipment was nothing special—he could repair and improve weapons himself.
"Twenty-two thousand diamonds!""Twenty-five thousand!""Thirty thousand!"
"Any more bids? If not, it goes to bidder number 47," Helyi announced.
A few more items were sold—epic-grade equipment and some cultivation pills. Whenever a cultivation pill appeared, Brian was tempted, but he held back, waiting for something truly worthwhile.
"And now," Helyi said, "we've reached the final segment. The last seven items are the most anticipated treasures."
"Bring it in."
A sword, shaped like a katana, was carried onto the stage—instantly stirring the crowd.
"This… this feels above epic grade!""It's giving off an incredibly powerful aura.""I must have that sword!" shouted someone from a VIP room.
"As you can see," Helyi continued, "this is a pseudo-legendary-grade sword—a must-have for Grandmaster-level cultivators. The starting bid is six hundred thousand diamonds!"
"Seven hundred thousand!""Eight hundred and fifty thousand!""One million!"
As the bidding continued, Brian activated his Divine Eyes.
Darkstell — A blade forged from iron buried deep in the Eternal Darkness. Wielding it increases the user's strength by 25%.Pseudo-legendary (Originally Mythic grade. Due to the loss of the sword's spirit, its rank fell. Restoring the spirit will return it to Mythic grade.)
Jackpot! This sword's incredible—and it used to be Mythic-grade. I have to get it, Brian thought.
"Gramps, I want that sword. Can you get it for me?" Brian asked.
"Oh? Sharp eyes, boy. Alright, I'll make sure it's yours," Laad said, sending a voice transmission to the auctioneer.
By then, the bidding had already reached five million diamonds.
Then Helyi suddenly declared, "Ten million diamonds—from the young master of our auction house! Any higher bids?"
"Is Young Master Brian an idiot?" someone muttered.
"What? You're calling him an idiot?" another cultivator asked.
"Of course! Ten million diamonds is the price for a legendary weapon. This is just pseudo-legendary! Isn't that foolish?" the older man scoffed.
"The sword goes to our young master," Helyi announced with a smile. "But don't worry—six more treasures remain, each on par with the sword. Let's continue."