Chapter 75: Night Market

William's eyes lit up. "The Night Market? Sure!"

He had been meaning to check out the so-called Night Market ever since Glen had invited William a few days ago. Based on some rumors he heard while eating in Wild Clover, William guessed it was an Auction House of sorts that was only open twice a week.

Gunther was relieved. He didn't want to be by himself with Tia for too long, since he wasn't good at holding a conversation with women. Bringing Tia to a restaurant was already a miracle. With William around, he could get closer to her without feeling awkward.

Tia smiled, but Gunther's words inspired conflicting feelings. Does he not want to be alone with me? Was it something I said?

Neither William nor Gunther noticed anything different about Tia. The Night Market wasn't supposed to open for a few hours, so they ate their meals together and complained about their day until the sun began to set.

***

"Wow, I've never seen anything like this!" Tia exclaimed in awe at the glamorous Night Market.

Rather than a series of small shops and vendors on the street, the Night Market was actually just one tall building covered in a layer of powerful Arrays and decorated by glowing red, blue, and green lights.

While the entrance appeared to be a normal set of double doors on the outside, the interior proved to be anything but. William and Tia were surprised to find themselves teleported to another location, where not only was the space inside expanded, but the entrance was replaced with half a dozen portals.

Gunther had been here the previous night, so he quickly explained. "The building we saw outside is actually connected through a portal and just a hollow shell with a massively complicated teleportation Array. Now we are at the real Night Market, located in the center of the Sect. It's the only place in the central part of the Sect that Outer Core Disciples like us are allowed to visit."

William nodded in understanding but was once again left in awe. Who knew Space Mages could create permanent portals?

The Space Element always made William excited, mostly because of unique interactions like this. Anyone else might feel regretful or jealous of others with talent for Space Magic, but with the System, it was only a matter of time before William could use it himself.

Tia didn't care much about Space Magic, since she had always focused on honing her body. All she needed were her two fists and something to punch, everything else is secondary.

"Let's go check out the Market." she proposed without any resistance.

Rodger smiled and turned to one of the Elders, who pulled out a tinted glass case from a specialized Space Ring.

"Without further ado, our first item." he pulled up on the case, raising the tinted glass and revealing the item inside.

Murmurs resounded throughout the room. "Is that a phoenix tear?!? I have a feeling tonight's Auction will be a good one..." an Elder from an unfamiliar allied Sect spoke with a hint of surprise.

Rodger's smile grew, "Your guesses are correct. This is a Phoenix Tear, obtained from the second ring of the Providence Zone by yours truly."

"The second ring? Has Rodger already progressed to that level?"

"No way, it's only been a few years!" a Cultivator was skeptical, but he kept his voice low.

William could tell at a glance that he couldn't afford this item, but he was curious about its functions. Since it was a phoenix tear, maybe it had some sort of healing function?

"The bidding starts at 500 Mana Stones. Begin!"

"500!"

"505!"

"550!"

A series of shouts entered the room, almost sounding like gibberish with all the voices. Despite all this, Rodger was able to respond to each bidder without a problem. His hands moved at lightning speed as he recorded each individual making a bid, so as to cross-reference later if a problem arose.

William was amazed at the auctioneer's skills. His Cultivation must be extremely high, maybe at the level of the Sect Master. Why would someone like that spend his time auctioning off items to a crowd of Elders and disciples?

If Rodger had to explain to a stranger, he could only give them one reason- it was fun. Some might view it as folly, but Rodger was different. As his Cultivation progressed, his rate of improvement slowed. After his most recent breakthrough, Rodger had accepted that he would probably not progress much further for the rest of his life.

The bids for the Phoenix Tear rose to a thousand Mana Stones. Rodger's smile grew broader, and his actions became more pronounced. His figure danced across the stage elegantly as he pointed back and forth across the room to the bidders.