Corrupt Creations

Seth continued his travel in order to arrive at the Irumdell city, a place where he was planning to spend some of his "hard earned" money. 

He had taken a lot of blue and red Skystones from the Demonic Shadow Royal Clan treasury before leaving, but he knew that it would be considered as nothing when compared to the ten purple Skystones he won for Velgor. 

He wanted to increase his cultivation and increase his attack power quickly, but in a way that it wouldn't complicate his firm foundation. For that he was firstly thinking on acquiring a weapon. This has been something he had been avoiding for a long, long time and one of the reasons was because he was dependent on the abilities his Seed of Tyranny granted him. His body was his weapon. But now, he had to enhance his strength by any ways he could, even if it was just for a tiny bit. 

The other things he wanted, were cultivation resources for himself and for Lexi. She's reaching closer to understanding what Soul Cultivation is and has been studying about many things these days. She was hopeful that she would recover a bit more of her past knowledge if she could activate it while studying or practicing. 

Other than that, he was thinking of acquiring different things that could possibly be helpful and useful things for his girlfriends too. 

The first part of his trip would actually be going shopping with the resources he "borrowed" from his clan. 

"Good, we finally arrived here." 

Irumdell City. 

After some minutes he arrived at the entrance of the big city. He immediately saw some differences from a human city to an elf city. Instead of a high wall, surrounded with stone towers and defensive metallic mechanisms, he was in front of vary tall tree, connected to many others by some paths made of wood and vines. There was a bunch of archers stationed atop those paths, observing the flux of people that entered and left the city. 

Seth easily entered the city in the midst of that crowd of people. While walking through the streets he found out that this city may be the city that has the most numbers of humans, inside the Elven Territory. For almost ten people he passed through, one or two of them were actually human beings. 

But that was to be expected, since this was a city focused in commerce and auctions. This was the entrance point for many merchants that made their business exchanging merchandise between both races. 

Seth already knew the name of some places he wanted to visit, so he just needed to ask for directions for now. It wasn't actually difficult for him to find out where were the places he wanted to go, because they were very well-known around the entire city. Pretty much everyone had already gone to those public locations. 

Weapon Terrace. 

Seth entered in an area where there were a lot of stores selling many types of weapons. He entered in a store that people recommended him, hoping to find something suitable for his battles. There were many stands, displaying many kinds of weapons right at the entrance, however, Seth felt that they were just normal weapons infused with a bit of energy. 

There was a male elf behind a balcony looking towards some weapons, kind of organizing them. 

Seth approached him while asking: "Is there any weapon of better quality than those on the stands there?" 

The man looked towards Seth and tried to gauge his cultivations. He wasn't able to feel anything so he thought Seth was a commoner. After realizing he was a commoner, he doubted that he would be able to afford any weapons stronger than those. 

"Yes. We have some stronger weapons sir, but they are expensive." 

Seth understood his slightly rude remark but didn't care at all, if he were one of those prideful young masters, he would be throwing a tantrum right now. 

He put some blue Skystones on the balcony and said: "Bring them out and show me." 

"Right away." The man's eyes bulged a bit after witnessing Seth's wealth. Most people actually paid using gold and silver coins, rather than using Skystones. Skystones were a rare and precious currency and it's worth was way above gold coins. 

After some minutes he brought five different weapons out of the store storage. When Seth saw them, he felt that their materials were very good and could faintly sense the presence of a weak spirit inside them. 

He brought them out at the same time, putting them on the balcony. There was a black sword, radiating an aura of darkness, directly catching Seth's attention; a spear that seemed to be infused with the wind element; an orb that didn't contain any element, but was able to increase the control and proficiency of the user; a very heavy greatsword and a fire attribute axe. 

"How much for all of them?" 

"These weapons contain spirits inside of them, so young master knows how precious they are. For that amount you can have them all." The seller pointed towards the blue Skystones Seth had put in the balcony before. 

"Very well." Seth took the weapons, stashing them inside his spatial ring. He didn't bother to know if the price was correct or not. 

The seller felt like he did a good deal, because blue Skystones were very precious and rare. If he knew how much of those stone Seth carried with him around, he would try to rob him right there without a doubt. 

"Don't you have anything better than this?" 

"Unfortunately, those were my best weapons for now and you won't be able to find anything better around the Weapon Terrace for the time being. However, it does not mean that there aren't better weapons on this city, because the best items are always sold at the auction. If I'm not wrong there is an auction happening tonight, however I don't know if you'll be able to enter, because a person needs to be invited in order to participate." 

"You don't need to worry about that, just tell me the exact location." 

"O-Okay. That auction is organized by the echelons of the Merchant Union, so it is going to happen at their headquarters. Just keep in mind to not insult them or cause any trouble there, because there is often someone from the Nature Roots participating on those auctions." 

"Nature Roots?" 

"Sigh... I always forget that humans lack general knowledge of the political structure of our Elven Kingdom. Nature Roots is a title conferred upon a strong family. You could compare them to powers like the Wu Martial Kingdom or the StormWind Valley from your Human Territory. They at least have a Mana Control powerhouse within their ranks, so I would not cause any trouble for them if I were you." 

"You talk too much old man. Goodbye." Seth left towards the place where the Merchant Union would be hosting the auction. He didn't put a single word the seller told him on his mind. 

"Who is the old man?! Ah! He left already and I couldn't even tell him that the Vivrem Family young master is probably taking part on that event. That is one of the Nature Roots families for you, gotta be careful. They are known to dislike humans more than normal, I hope that he doesn't get into trouble, or else I'll lose a good customer." 

Seth didn't know about the Nature Roots completely yet, but even if he knew he wouldn't give a damn. He was more than certain that even a Mana Control late-stage realm cultivator wouldn't be able to catch him in a run if he ever needed to escape. His darkness abilities were meant for that. 

Just like Valic escaped from the Huo brothers chase, back in the Blazing Phoenix Sect grounds, he could do the same. 

Seth headed towards his destination in a calm manner, he was certain that no one could stop him there and it was not because of his strength. 

"Who are you?" 

An elf guard stopped him and asked while he tried to pass through a very big entrance, that led to a place where a lot of people was gathering. There were at least eight guards protecting the entrance. That signified that something important was about to happen inside. 

"Hey, hey. Take your hands off me alright? You don't need to know who I am, just look at this." 

Seth took out the crest he received from the messenger that came to deliver him the invitation and showed it to the guards. 

They instantly retreated and saluted him with utmost respect, not even questioning anything. 

Seth thought they would at least question him of its authenticity, but none of them dared to question if it was true or not. They just accepted it and bowed with respect. 

Seth thought: 'What is this? This level of respect is unheard of, the Elf Queen must be a tyrant or the best kind of ruler in the world.' 

He entered the huge hall after passing through the tight security. He walked calmly while the people inside started to frown after seeing a human there. He was actually the only human customer inside, since it was really hard for a human to be approved as a worthy person to be there. The resources and items being auctioned were top-notch, so it was only natural that the elves would monopolize them for themselves.