Ray has been staying in Black Rock City for a month now.
During this time, he has been quite leisurely, mostly staying at home and only going out to shop for necessities.
Jessica and Jay visit him during the day to take care of the garden and leave after having lunch with him.
Ray left the city and gave Ryan, who was staying in the market, his home address and advised him to contact him if he encountered any difficult problems.
In just two days, the home decor shop workers completed the renovation of Ray's house with new decorations.
With Jessica's help, Ray quickly arranged the plants in the garden, using the various formations he had brought along.
The last thing he did was visit the city lord's office, where he met the old man who was there during his first visit. He discovered that this man was the mansion's butler, named John.
Ray informed John about his encounter with Morgan, explained his circumstances, and shared Morgan's advice with him about registering his pet beast details at the office.
John listened and became visibly tense when he heard the name Morgan, then respectfully recorded Ray's pet details in the registry.
Upon hearing Morgan's name, the butler's attitude became more respectful. Ray, who was observing, thought Morgan might be a high-ranking official in the city. After completing the registration process, Ray left the office.
During his stay in the city, Ray visited all the local chefs and became quite friendly with them, as he was their sole customer who would come along with a small child to dine at their restaurants and consume food worth several low-grade spirit stones.
One day, as Ray was taking a leisurely walk in the garden of his villa, Lily told him that someone had come to visit and was waiting outside the gate.
Ray was perplexed by who might be visiting him and went outside to invite them then he saw John standing there waiting for his arrival.
Ray was surprised by John's visit and invited him into his house, asking him to sit in the hall while he went into the kitchen to get some drinks.
Ray brought hot tea and small biscuits as snacks and served them to John.
John took a sip of tea, savoring its cool, refreshing taste as it moistened his throat, which had dried out due to the high heat in the city.
He then started speaking about his objective for visiting Ray so suddenly without any prior appointment.
"Sir, you should have heard about the mysterious construction that was ongoing in the city," John asked.
"Yes, I have. Every time I went out to eat, people at dinner would talk about it as if it were a big secret while spending an exaggerated amount on the materials to build the construction. The lord's mansion has done quite a good job of keeping it under wraps," Ray answered, praising the city lord mansion workers.
John smiled slightly, accepted the praise, and said, "Sir, I have come here to reveal the secret to you."
"Oh, please tell me," Ray asked eagerly.
"Sir, we were constructing a grand auction house that belongs to Black Rock City at the site under tight security," John admitted.
"Oh, so are you here to invite me to the opening of the auction house, when is the opening date, and who else is going to attend?" Ray asked back.
John silently took the invitation card with Ray's name from his space storage and presented it with both hands to Ray respectfully.
"Sir the opening ceremony will be in one week from now and there will be a grand auction hosted by the city lord during that day at the auction house."
"Although I cannot disclose the list of guests, I can guarantee that many Qi training families from other cities might visit that day as there are several items in the auction that will be extremely useful to their practice and family needs."
"According to the master's preference, he might keep several second-level inheritances of formation, alchemy, talisman, puppetry, and other exercises on auction to make it as grand as possible."
"My guess is he has specifically designed a few formations to sell in the auction house and earn extra money, so I think your participation will benefit us both," John explained.
The invitation card also serves as your entry pass into the auction house, and a separate private room will be allocated to you specifically for the duration of the auction. You can bid on items without exposing your identity, as the rooms are equipped with various amenities for your convenience." John said
Ray heard John's explanation about the Auction and his interest has been aroused.
Ray slowly took the invitation card from John's hand and observed that the entire invitation card was made out of gold with several other gems inlaid onto it.
Upon opening the card, Ray saw his name written at the top, inviting him to attend the auction house opening ceremony with his friends. The card also included other details of the auction, such as the timing and location.
While Ray was observing the invitation card John thought was hesitating to ask something to Ray.
Ray saw John's hesitation and asked him the reason for his hesitating expression.
"Sir, you know the auction house will be auctioning several items, but if only the city lord provides the items, it will give the auction house a bad reputation as a second-rate auction with no one else contributing. So, I wanted to ask if you have any items to auction with us," John asked hesitantly.
Ray understood their dilemma, thought for a moment, and then went into his room. He returned with a small bag containing sachets of tea leaves taken from the elemental tree.
These tea leaves, made from tender leaves that fell due to mountain winds, lack spirit energy and are suitable for foundation realm and low-level qi training cultivators to consume.
"Here are the 1000 sachets of special tea leaves that I usually drink before I come to the city. Take these, show them to your city lord, and take a sip after making the tea. If you think the tea is worthy, please auction them," Ray said as he handed them to John.
John, still doubtful, took the bag and stored it in his storage bag before respectfully departing from Ray's house.