Public Release: March 1st, 2019 - 3:30 am EST

The Dixon Head fell over onto the floor. He looked on in both surprise and fear. He tried to say something but he couldn't find any words. His hands were shaking and he wasn't certain if it was due to his fear of death or sheer shock.

"Hey, you, stand up. I like you a little bit," said the green-haired woman. The Dixon Head wasn't certain how to reply to that. He wasn't sure if he could stand up at that moment.

"W-what's your name?" He asked, barely managing to eke out the words through his shattered jaw.

"Ah, I'm called Zara," she replied, her tone completely casual, as if she didn't just literally punch out the strongest man in the entire Tin City. "Now hurry up and get off your ass, we want to get this auction moving."

Cara walked in, then, with her new halberd in hand. Her aura felt more refined than before, and a tremendous amount of energy was circling through her body. She looked like Athena holding the rattle of Hephaestus; her eyes had turned a harsh gray in color due to the damage on her soul.

The locals of this magic world called her current outer cultivation stage as a 'Broken Soul Knight' for a good reason. To cleave her own vessel required sacrifice and pain. Every advancement in Outer Cultivation would strain the cultivator, but the Cracked Core stage was renowned for its ruthless nature. Myriads of cultivators gave up on this Path, finding it the hardest to walk.

Cara could still feel the pain of her vessel as it split for a second time, but she hid her thoughts behind an expressionless mask. She could feel her cultivation still surging under her skin. It wouldn't be all that long until she could try for a third crack, even.

"If anyone," said Cara, "And I do mean anyone," she looked at the City Lord with dark eyes, "Interrupts this auction again, my Master here will personally handle them." She pointed at Zara.

Zara smiled and waved. She posed with her off hand on her hip like a teenager. It was only at this point that several people in the Auction House noticed the pair of cat ears sitting on top of the green-haired woman's head. No one laughed at the strange sight, though. No one even dared to take a breath.

Cara pointed her finger at the Dixon Head and then the City Lord.

"After this auction, we'll be having a long talk with you two," she said, her expression grim.

-

Cara and Zara soon found themselves back in their broken balcony. The auction house offered them a different one but they declined. None of the other patrons looked at them, but due to the terse nature of the remaining auction, Zara and Cara could tell that everyone was thinking about them.

"That was fun," said Zara. "We should beat up some more little arrogant Soul Refining brats."

"... I'm not going to even reply to that," said Cara. "For now, I want to talk about our next step."

"Come on, don't be a killjoy. If you don't at least give me a sigh, if I can't get a rise out of you, what's the point of me saying outrageous things?"

To her credit, Cara didn't even flinch. She didn't bat an eye or pinch her brow. She just kept talking, as if her disciple never said a single word.

"The City Lord's Path surprised me," said Cara. "I'm pretty sure he's using the strange 'level' system of this world alongside a proper job. It feels similar to that, at least."

Zara frowned. Since she came to this world, she hadn't once been able to pull up the 'Status' her teacher talked about. She wondered why, but she didn't want to change the subject of the current conversation again.

"I don't see how the City Lord's Path matters to us," said Zara, getting serious for once, probably pouting now that she realized she couldn't walk it without a [Status], "we should focus on finding more out about the Mage Path first. We've seen far more Mages, but we've only ever seen one person like that City Lord."

"You're right," said Cara. "There's safety in following a more-walked Path. There would be additional examples for us to study and follow behind. I suppose the first thing we do should be to strong-arm as many Mage Techniques out of the City Lord and the Four Families as possible. I have one already from when I hunted some bandits, but I can't extrapolate much from a single example. Nor can I, in good faith, practice something without knowing more about it. Studying without more references wouldn't give us much.."

"There's also something else, too," said Zara. "If I remember right, your current body has the Bloodline of one of the Four Families. We might be able to help you start out down a proper Bloodline Refining Path."

Cara nodded. The two turned silent, not needing to say anything more. Instead they looked down over the auction to watch the bidding, and both giggled whenever the City Lord raised his paddle in silence, unwilling to even try to talk again after losing all his teeth.

Cara smiled, but her smile disappeared when she felt something get placed on her head.

"What are you doing?" She asked, turning to Zara.

"Now we match!"

It was at this moment Cara, herself, noticed the cat ears on Zara's head. Her eyes went a bit wide and she pulled her halberd over and used the blade to see her own reflection. Sure enough, she had a pair of cat ears on her head too.

-

Zara's pill soon reached the hundreds of millions at auction, with the leader of the bidding war being one of the random nobles in the audience, of all people. He seemed emboldened by knowing the City Lord and the Four Families weren't going to cause trouble anymore.

Unfortunately, being an ordinary noble, he had no way to compete with the raw financial might of the Four Families, and the head of the Kane family placed the winning bid at 300,000,000.

Cara's two knight techniques were actually less interesting when they went up. Only the City Lord and the Dixon Head competed for them. While the price shot up to insane numbers on the cusp of one billion, it didn't actually break through nine digits.

The first scroll went to the Dixon Head and, having spent most of his fortune on the first one, he couldn't compete with the City Lord for the second anymore.

One scroll went to the Four Families and the other to the City Lord.

A rather large commission went to the Twin Birds Auction House, and Cara no longer had to worry about lacking legal money.

Everybody won.. Though the City Lord would probably disagree with that notion. Thankfully, with him already having been embarrassed once, he didn't try to cause trouble again.

Of course, a large cut of Cara's money disappeared when she received the bill for all the items her disciple bid on. She paid the bill in shocked silence, aghast and unable to even voice her profound disappointment.

-

Cara soon found herself in a small room sitting next to Zara at the head of a large wooden table. On one side sat the Dixon Head and a few of his elders. Opposite them sat the freshly healed Prince Lars and a few of the Auction House's men.

All the way at the opposite end of the table, literally sitting as far away from Zara as possible, was the City Lord. He was holding a bag of ice to his jaw and was on the edge of his seat, his legs tense and ready to jump. He was prepared to run away at the drop of a pin.

"He's just like Gen in style and personality," mumbled Zara under her breath. "If only he were shorter and had a prettier face..."

Cara smiled at the comment. She did remember Gen's timidness when she first picked him up out from those slave pens and dressed him in proper clothes. Cara remembered how much Gen cried at the prospect of freedom, and how doting Zara was back then. Of course, now she understood that Zara's doting wasn't necessarily a 'good' thing. In her heart she wanted to apologize to poor Gen for not noticing sooner. The boy had it tough... Cara shook her head and decided to stop reminiscing. She needed to focus on the now.

-

"Okay," said Cara to the room, "Let's talk."

A few of the people at the table nodded, but none of them spoke. They knew who the person in charge of the meeting was, and they weren't about to test their luck.