Affinity:Chaos

'Hmm, although it's shocking that they have the bones of a Dragon, I'd rather buy the egg of the Griffin since it's alive,' Grey thought to himself.

From his point of view, since the beast isn't alive, it wasn't all that important. Yes, everyone knows that Dragons stand at the top of the mountain. When compared to humans and other magical beasts, they are vastly far superior in strength and elemental abilities.

The bones here can only be used when creating elemental weapons. It will be superior when compared to other items used in creating elemental weapons due to the high elemental concentration on the bones.

According to rumors, the cores of Dragons are so great that one could refine them without purifying them. The intensity of the essence in the core is said to be on another level.

Unfortunately, just like Griffins, Dragons are rare. They are even rarer than Griffins, it's said the birth rate of Dragons is very low, hence they're very protective of their kind.

….

The crowd all spoke animatedly about the bones of the Dragon. Most of the people here had never seen a Dragon, so even if it's just the bones, they're very curious about it.

"From the elemental particles around it, we were able to confirm that this Dragon was a Dual Elementalist, wielding both the darkness and earth element. The bones also radiate the oppressive aura of a Dragon, bringing fear to those who are weaker than it. It can also be used to make other magical beasts timid," Verla explained.

Grey spread out his spiritual senses towards the bones, and he couldn't deny the part about the pressure the bones were radiating.

'Huh? How come I didn't feel this from that Ice Dragon?' He suddenly thought about the Ice Dragon he encountered in the trial land.

Aetonth didn't give off any of its oppressive Dragon aura. At that time, since it was chasing after him, he didn't really think about it, but on sensing this bone, he suddenly realized that Aetonth didn't try to use it against him.

'Is there a chance that not all Dragons can use it?' He contemplated.

"The starting price for the Dragon's bones is five hundred thousand mid-grade essence stones, for every bid made, the price must see an increase of fifty thousand essence stones," Verla said to the crowd.

"Six hundred thousand,"

"Seven hundred thousand,"

The price of the bones shot past one million mid-grade essence stones within a few seconds, and it was still increasing, not showing any signs of stopping.

After almost two minutes, the price had gotten to two million essence stones.

Grey watched on as the price had gotten to a mouth-watering two million essence stones.

"Where do these people get all these stones?" He mumbled while gulping down.

This was a huge amount of essence, enough to train at least two hundred people to the Peak of the Origin Plane, some might even be able to get to the Overlord Plane if they were talented enough.

"Two million five hundred thousand essence stones,"

"Two million five hundred and fifty thousand,"

"This is the Maverick family leader, if you can do us the honor of leaving this bone to us, I promise to make a high-grade elemental weapon for you, while also assimilating part of the bones in the weapon," A middle-aged man walked forward from room three.

He was the one who just made the last offer, he was hoping to plead with the other individual who was making a bid for the bones.

Most of the other contestants have given up after the price shot past two million, leaving only two.

"Oh, so it's you, Axel," An old voice came from the opposing room.

An old man walked close to the window from room seven, his hair and beard had all turned Grey.

"It's been a while, Senior," Axel bowed when he saw the old man.

"Wow! It's senior Grimwald. I never thought he would be the other person vying for the Dragon bones," An excited voice came from the crowd below the special rooms.

Axel and Grimwald didn't spare the people below them a glance.

"Axel, I would like to use this bone in making a weapon for his highness the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince will find you in good light if you leave this to me," Grimwald said slowly.

On hearing the Crown Prince being brought into the issue, a look of apprehension appeared on Axel's face. If Grimwald was the one who wanted it, then he wouldn't mind struggling with him since they were rivals in forge mastering.

The Maverick family is one of the few families who were behind the Second Prince.

Axel turned to the first room, waiting for the decision made by the Second Prince.

"It's fine, you can let brother have it," The Second Prince said with the same soft smile he wore from the start.

"Two million six hundred thousand essence stones," Grimwald said while looking in the direction of the Second Prince.

The Second Prince smiled in response to his subtle provocation.

Verla waited for a few seconds, after seeing that Axel had already gone back to his seat, not making any plans of bidding, she concluded the auction, handing the Dragon bones over to Grimwald.

Grey was watching everything happen from his room. He could guess from the conversation of Axel and Grimwald that they were forge masters, but each was supporting a different candidate for the throne.

He didn't stay in the auction a moment longer, after Verla concluded the auction, he immediately left his room, heading out of the building.

He saw the young lady who attended to him standing outside the room.

"Are you leaving now?" The young lady asked hastily.

"Yes, is anything the matter?" Grey turned to look at her.

"The Lord said I should take you to a room before you leave, he said he prepared something for you there," The young lady replied.

"Oh, he didn't speak of any of that," Grey said with a confused expression.

The young lady tried explaining, but she didn't know what to say since she was only following orders.

"Fine, take me there, I'm in a hurry," Grey agreed to go with her after giving it some thought.

The young lady heaved a sigh of relief before leading the way.

After walking into the deeper parts of the building, the young lady stopped in front of a room.

"In here," The young lady said.

Grey stared at the door for a while, he could sense someone inside the room. The person inside didn't try to conceal their presence.

'Oh, he didn't say he would come,' He thought before opening the door.

"Hello, Grey," Old man Gerald smiled while looking at Grey.

"I didn't think you would come all this way just to see me," Grey said while taking a seat.

"Actually, I didn't want to come, but when I found out the Second Prince was coming, I had to come as well," Old man Gerald replied with a smile.

"Oh, is he also searching for me?" Grey asked curiously.

"Yes, but for a different reason actually," Old man Gerald said.

"He came to me in search of you. As you can tell, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince are both the two who are more favored when speaking about those who will be able to obtain the throne. Unfortunately for the Second Prince, a few years ago the Crown Prince obtained something which made the Emperor give him his full support,"

"As things stand, the people behind the Second Prince are few. Although my relationship with him is very good, I can't support him since the organization I represent is seen as a threat," Old man Gerald explained.

"Okay, but what does all this have to do with me?" Grey asked.

He had no interest in being involved with the royal family, all he wanted was peace. If not for Void being injured and not knowing his parent's whereabouts, he would just find a simple cave and focus on research.

"I would like to introduce you to the Second Prince, your Teacher had a somewhat good relationship with him," Old man Gerald said.

"Oh!" Grey raised his head, not expecting old man Gerald to involve his Teacher.

Just as old man Gerald was about to continue speaking, Grey spoke up.

"I mean no disrespect, but I really have no interest in aligning myself with any of the Princes. If I knew him earlier, I wouldn't mind befriending him, but now, I have too much I have to worry about, I can't afford to add the royal family's struggle to it," Grey said.

"I understand, you're just like your Teacher, only a little nicer when rejecting someone," Old man Gerald shook his head.

"Is there anything else? If not, I have something to attend to," Grey said.

Old man Gerald shook his head to his question.

Grey stood up after seeing his reply, walking out of the room.