"You both can sit there," Leonard said as he walked back to his seat, and both Gavin and Neville sat on their seats.
"Right now, all of our members are not present here, so you can meet them after this Auction," Leonard said as he sipped the drink.
Most of the Top Members of the Blood Faction that were present in their previous meeting were absent.
"Are they participating separately?" Gavin asked.
"Leon doesn't restrict our freedom like the Student Council does. We are allowed to spend our money as we want." A third-year praised Leonard as he looked at Gavin.
Leonard didn't reply to those comments, as he was used to people complimenting him all the time that he had become numb to these small praises.
"When will the Auction start?" Alan asked as the stage in front of them was still empty.
"In 10-15 minutes, probably," A guy replied.
Outside the teleportation gate,
Sam and Matthew were heading towards the Rankers Room, and Venessa was behind them.
But as they were about to reach their rooms, Sam stopped as he looked at a familiar face waiting outside the room.
"You go first; I will be a bit late," Sam replied.
Matthew looked back at Sam, but seeing his eyes, he did as Sam told him and quietly went inside his room.
Venessa didn't care much, so she did the same, but she turned to look back once before she also entered the room.
"What do you want?" Sam asked, and the man in front of him smiled.
"Is this how you talk to your big brother?" Jack Allister asked.
'Brother? What a joke,' Sam thought in his mind.
Not once in his own life had Jack thought of Sam as his brother.
"Lower your eyes, bastard," Jack's face changed from an innocent look.
Sam lowered his eyes, as it was better to do as he was told than to create another mess.
Jack smirked as he looked at Sam.
"Remember your place," Jack came closer to Sam's ears.
Sam kept listening to Jack without replying, as he had gone through this many times in the past. It was better to just ignore and silently listen. Even though Sam was more talented than Jack, his father, and half-brother Jack treated him like this just because he was born from a different mother.
"Don't apply for Student Council, and don't you dare join the Blood Faction," Jack told Sam.
He was worried that Leonard might take a liking to Sam, who was more talented than him, so he wanted to stop the possibility of this happening in the future.
"Am I clear?" Jack asked, but Sam remained silent.
Sam wanted to kill Jack right now and end it all, but he remembered what would happen if he disobeyed Jack.
*Slap*
Jack slapped Sam on his face as he glared at him.
"AM I CLEAR?" Jack asked again, and Sam nodded at him.
"Nice, why didn't you reply sooner? I would not have slapped you like that," Jack laughed.
"Now go back and pick some trash artifact so that you can at least become a ranker," Jack tapped his shoulders as he left him alone.
Sam touched his cheeks, which were stinging a bit, but he had used mana at the last second to protect himself, so there was no mark on his face.
Sam entered the room where Matthew and Venessa were sitting on different sofas.
This room was big enough to accommodate 50 people easily.
Matthew was the one who invited Sam to sit with him because they had become good friends now.
"You fine?" Matthew asked as Venessa also looked at Sam.
"Ah, yeah, I was just talking with my brother," Sam's usual face was back, so nobody could even guess what kind of talk had happened outside.
*******
"So, what kind of artifact are you buying?" Damian asked.
"I will wait for one that catches my eye," Asher replied, but he already had a single artifact he wanted to get no matter what.
Even if he had to go to the extreme for it, Asher would gladly do it. It was a single thing that he had carried throughout his previous life from his First Year at World Academy.
Even when he regressed in his moments of death, it was there with him. It was something he was going to get from this Auction no matter what.
"What about you, Amelia?" Damian asked.
"Maybe something that boosts my mana gathering or some sort of defensive artifact," Amelia replied.
"That will be hard to get," Damian said.
These types of artifacts were the choices of all mages, and for an augmenter like Amelia, it was a significant boost to her abilities.
"Get a combat one instead," Asher suggested.
"Ah? But why would I need a combat one?" Amelia was confused.
"Yeah, she is an Augmenter, so a defensive artifact would make more sense," Damian asked.
Asher looked at them as they were still young and hadn't reached the realm of above S Rank yet; they didn't know about this like Asher did.
"You wouldn't be able to buy any B Rank artifact that will actually help you, and even the C Rank ones," Asher said.
He went silent as Amelia started thinking for a bit. She had yet to consider the mana-gathering artifacts and defensive ones becoming useless as she and others would rank up.
But part of her still didn't want a combat-type artifact.
Asher didn't comment any further because he didn't need to do it. It was just a way of ensuring that history would not repeat itself.
He looked at Damian, and a question arose in his mind.
'Let's keep him out of it,' Asher said to himself.
He was sure that Damian was the type of person that would not follow Asher in what he was going to do.
'I don't need them anyway,' Asher thought.
And Asher was right that he didn't need Damian and Amelia to support him in any way. The people he needed were already working on the first mission, which would be where Asher was sure he could level quite quickly.
He was waiting for all the classes to happen so he could take a leave from World Academy for a week allowed per month. So he just needed to attend each class once, and he could take a week off, which was the privilege he got being the Rank 1.
He looked straight at the VIP room in front of them.
It was the Blood Faction VIP room, but it was too far away for them to see each other.
'I wonder what you will do,' Asher thought, staring in that particular direction.
*****
In the Student Council Special Room,
This room was way bigger than others, and it had unique gold engravings that made it pop up more than other rooms from the outside perspective.
Tyrone was sitting on one of the sofas, and most Committee heads, excluding Eric, were also sitting there. Apart from them, only a few regular members were present in the room. Most of them sat in the Ranker's room or with their friends.
World Academy had three committees: Duel, Disciplinary, and Management.
Apart from them, all the other work was scattered under these three committees.
Right now, both the head of the Disciplinary Committee and Management Committee were present there.
"I want a proper artifact for myself~," A girl spoke, and she was the head of the Management Committee.
"Why don't you give me a present," She turned towards the guy on her left, who was the Disciplinary Head.
"Buy with your own GP," He replied with a serious look on his face.
"You are always so strict!" She said with a frown on her face.
"Okay, stop, Zoie," Raelyn said before she went and started another fight.
"You are the cheapest guy I have ever met," She muttered to herself, making the guy a bit angry.
"Raelyn, your brother was coming here, right?" Tyrone asked, making the white-haired beauty turn her head.
"He will come soon," Raelyn replied.
After a few minutes, the door opened, and Raelyn stood up as she saw Kevin entering with Elena, Eva, and Ria Adler.
Everyone in the room turned their head as they saw a handsome young man with white hair.
"Now, how is my lovely little brother," Raelyn smiled as she finally met Kevin.
