"People consider the mining here to be a traditional thing more than actual labor," King Tan explained to Alex in a very unenthusiastic voice. "I do not know when it started, but it has been here for a very long time."
"I don't believe it was a tradition at the start. It was nothing but a way for people here to earn their living."
"At that time, the mine wasn't fully developed and they only mined the outside parts where there wasn't much gold. However, when they dug in deeper one day, they found that there was way more gold in there and hand the entire town dig here for days."
"The gold they dug was enough to bring them all out of poverty, to make them rich enough not just to buy their necessities, but to also buy resources that would help them on their cultivation journey."
"After that, the mining became even more intense and after some time, they didn't need to do much at all. They made the city better and started dragging in people from all over the continent to come and buy the gold here."
"The city had so much gold that they couldn't maintain the flow. So, at some point, the person that ruled the city at the time setup an event in which they could sell as much gold as they could."
"The event would last for a month and would bring the city all the riches they could ever want."
"After some time, the event no longer brought in as much people as most people already bought all the gold they could. Due to the abundance, the value of gold also lowered quite a bit."
"So, they had to think of other ways to bring in more people or else the city would go back to being poor again."
"That was when someone came up with the idea to charge people to mine for gold. In exchange, the person would be allowed to take away half the gold they mined. Since the city had an abundance of gold, this was a good way to bring not just a flow of money, but also a flow of tourist to the city."
"Since they would mine gold for the city, they were more than happy to let the others work for them. Of course, that meant that the event they had set up a few years earlier would now have to be stopped."
"Since everyone could now mine for gold on their own, barely anyone would come to an event where they could buy gold. That was simply idiotic."
"However, to the town, the event had become something to look forward to every year and they didn't want to let go of it. In an attempt to save it, they changed the event."
"Instead of selling just gold, they started selling whatever they could think of selling. This became an attraction for the tourists who came to the city as they would spend a month searching for whatever they could find."
"It became big enough that others came and started selling what they wanted right here. Soon enough, it became a festival for everyone to follow. It became difficult for people to follow every year, so it was changed to become every 10 years."
"Except, it would be much larger, much more important. At the same time, instead of just selling, it became an auction where anyone with money could buy it all."
"That is how the Golden auction came to be, and is now one of the most important events in all of time," the King said.
"Woah!" Alex exclaimed. "I wasn't aware there was such intricate history between the mining, the city, and the auction. This makes me appreciate it all the more."
"Yes," the king said. "This mine was what let us survive, so we all celebrate it by doing what they did. "We mine here and go to the auction afterwards."
"How many people do you think will be arriving?" Alex asked.
"Impossible to say," the king said. "There are so many that we will soon have to start setting up places for people to stay in. We will most likely hold smaller auctions outside the city too, leaving only the major ones on the inside."
"How many auctions will there even be?" Alex asked.
"About 70 different ones altogether," the King said. "You won't be visiting it all."
"I can guess that," Alex said. He looked at the snowless path he walked on to climb the mountain alongside the king, his elders and the few soldiers.
They arrived at the top of the mountain, at the mouth of the mine. "These people here will tell you everything you need to know about the mines. They are more aware of the inside than me, so I will let them take it from here."
"Thank you for your assistance, king Tan," Alex said. "You can let others handle it from here. You can go ahead and spend your time preparing for the Golden auction."
The king nodded and gestured Alex to continue to on.
Alex nodded back and turned to go along to the mouth of the mine where he could already feel a deep metal aura from inside the mine.
'There must be a huge deposit of gold here if they have been mining for ages and still haven't run out of it,' he thought.
"Welcome, your majesty," the man at the gate spoke up. "It is a pleasure of mine to have met you."
Alex looked at the young man and smiled. "What do we need to know about inside exactly?" he asked and looked at the other people that the other guards were handling. "Do I have to leave my storage bags at the gate too?"
"Of course not," the man said. "Who would dare ask your majesty to not get all the gold you can."
Alex smiled. "Alright, go on," he said, waiting for the man to continue speaking.
"There are mainly 3 rules that you have to remember and follow just for the sake of others," the man said.
"First, please do not fight inside the mine. I don't think this is very necessary as one would have to be an idiot to start a fight with you."
"Second, please set up a base where you will mine, and do not invade the spaces where others have already set up a base to mine."
"And finally, please mine in narrow paths. If you make a wide path, there is a chance of the mine collapsing, so for the sake of stability, keep the mine as constrained as possible."
Alex listened to the rules and nodded. "These aren't so bad," he said. "I can follow it easily."
"Thank you, your majesty," the man said. "You can go in whenever you wish now. I wish you all the best in your mining results."
Alex smiled. "You all got that right?" he asked his elders.
"Yes, your majesty," the two Elders said.
"Good," Alex said. "We will now enter."
He walked into the golden mine along with the two elders and quickly made his way deeper. After they went in, the 3 of them split up, going in their own direction.
Alex planned on being alone for the month he was here.
