The Magistrate: Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Chapter 9

The Auction for Enlightenment

As Winter truly began, Tobias grew progressively busier. Uncle Nang had six brothers, each with a clan, either larger or smaller than his. All of them were interested in working for Tobias, but Tobias only had work for three of them until the martial-focused disciples began to approach him about housing. These were peasant sons. Young men who had rejected their heritage and picked up the sword. Like the gatherers, many of them had reached the end of their natural path and were lost for what to do next.

Tobias read their records and accepted those who preferred to hunt spirit beasts in the mountains. They didn't rely on the assignment hall for work and were not pure martial artists, so their contribution to the sect would not suffer for their absence. Tobias was acutely aware of how his actions could be perceived, and he took every step possible to ensure they were in the sect's best interest.

It helped that those leaving were the least desirable members of the sect. They were not the direct disciples of any elder and possessed no irreplaceable skills. However, losing over two hundred cultivators, in addition to their regular washouts, was not a small loss.

Tobias was reading a report from Uncle Nang about the effort they would need to put in to restore the eight compounds he'd leased from the sect when his new assistant Disciple Xi opened the door to his office. He walked inside carrying a large, heavy chest and stopped before Tobias's desk.

"I'm finished," Disciple Xi said with a heavy grin. "And I've got a surprise for you."

He placed the chest on the desk and opened the lid before placing ten bottles of pills in front of Tobias. The largest bottle held thirty pills, three bottles held ten each, one bottle held seven, and the remaining five bottles held only one pill.

Tobias read their authentication marks at a glance, and his eyes widened as they landed on the single pills. "You made silver-grade stomach meridian opening pills."

Silver-grade pills were stronger and more effective than their standard counterparts, offering additional benefits. They weren't significantly better, like gold-grade pills, but they were good enough to receive a premium. Tobias wasn't exactly sure what the difference was, but he knew there was a difference.

Disciple Xi nodded. "With so much material to work with, I mixed and matched herbs I was given."

"Do you record the exchanges?"

Disciple Xi snorted. "No self-respecting alchemist will lose track of any gatherer who can provide them with silver-grade spirit herbs. I've got all their names in my book."

The gatherers had been more than happy to supply Tobias's assistant with their excess spirit herbs so that they could pay for their accommodation without needing to use sect points. They also had no problem giving Disciple Xi first rights to their spirit herbs so long as they received the market rate for them. Which is how Disciple Xi gladly became Tobias's assistant and got to work producing pills.

Tobias finished counting the number of pills. "You had a higher success rate than you estimated." There were ten more pills than your best guess.

"I've never made so many stomach meridian opening pills at once. Being able to practice over and over again taught me more than I imagined it would at my stage of cultivation and skill. I now boast a 42% success rate."

His 66% success rate only applied to general meridian opening and cleansing pills, and that had climbed even higher while he was making them for Tobias. To go above 30% for these more complicated pills was truly impressive. Disciple Xi's easy grin expressed how proud he was of this fact.

Tobias smiled. "What changed?"

"Experience. I have a better understanding of which spirit herbs will work with each other than before I started."

"You should share what you learned with the gatherers."

Disciple Xi's smile immediately soured. "You ask too much."

"Only because you're short-sighted. These are not random gatherers with whom you must negotiate for scraps. These are your gatherers. And any improvements they can make to their produce can only help you make better pills."

Disciple Xi gritted his teeth. "It's my knowledge."

"It is their generosity that gave you the chance to acquire it."

"No."

Tobias looked his assistant in the eye. They had talked a lot over the past few weeks, and Tobias felt like he had the man's measure. Despite his youthful appearance, he was in his fifties. "Do you want to be an alchemist like the elders who won't teach you, or do you want to be the sort of alchemist you wished you could find as a mentor?"

Disciple Xi paled.

Tobias's words were harsher than any slap he could have given to reprimand him. He knew they would cut him to his core, but what he had learned wasn't just because of his expertise, but because others had given him a chance that no one else would. Repaying the favour was fair.

A gentle light began to radiate from Disciple Xi's skin as he underwent enlightenment.

Enlightenment was a rare occurrence. It spoke to a person's inner truth. It was thought to be triggered when a cultivator took a significant step forward from who they were to who they wanted to be at the very core of their being. It was an insight into oneself and the path they could take. It brought the mind and body together, and in many cases, it raised cultivation divinity.

The sect had strict protocols for situations like this.

Tobias silently rose from his desk and walked to his office door, leaving everything behind. He then silently left his office, entered the assignment hall, and gently closed the door behind him. Several dozen students were waiting for assignments.

He placed his palm against his mouth.

Every disciple who saw him immediately went silent, moved to the nearest disciple, and repeated the gesture. Without needing to be told, they all silently exited the building.

Elder Po walked towards him and pointed at Tobias's office. Tobias nodded.

Elder Po turned and gave orders to his staff with hand gestures. One went into the archives at the back to inform those authenticating assignments of what was happening, while the others went outside and formed a perimeter around the building. They would go from building to building to pass along what was happening.

No one would interfere in Disciple Xi's enlightenment, not even the elders.

Tobias went outside the building's entrance and stood vigil beside the door. This was the third time Tobias had been near someone experiencing enlightenment since he arrived, but the first time he had triggered it. The other times, he had silently vacated the area, finding a way around. This time, he stood guard because the one going through enlightenment was his assistant. It was both an honour and his duty to do so.

When the last of Elder Po's staff left, Elder Po joined him on the other side, standing guard. While they waited, Tobias considered what to do with the extra pills. The silent auction he planned to host would only have three lots for each type of pill. This meant two of the five Great Clans would miss out on any one type of pill, encouraging them all to bid up the price.

Based on the spirit herbs Disciple Xi had been given, he'd been planning to sell one batch of thirty, one batch of fifteen, and one batch of ten, but with additional pills, it seemed more interesting to sell a batch of thirty, twenty, and ten. They were more aesthetically pleasing numbers, and that sort of stupidity mattered when you were trying to get a premium price from the rich and powerful.

It gave the appearance of professionalism.

The five silver-grade pills could be auctioned individually. They were a novelty that wouldn't affect the main auction. The same couldn't be said for the seven pills that would be left over. Tobias felt that including them in the sale would lower the price of the others, not enhance them. This wouldn't be an issue if it were a 5% drop, but anything more than 10% would lead to a financial loss rather than a gain.

Tobias decided against selling the additional pills.

They would join the other leftover pills in the private auction. If they didn't sell to the disciples, Tobias would have to buy them with his share of the profits. Getting around the sect's rules against selling cultivation resources for money required him to do so, which, in Tobias's opinion, made everything about this auction messy.

Technically, the gatherers were supplying him with the spirit herbs for their accommodation, accommodation that was designed for cultivators and had its own internal credit system. Tobias didn't want to cheat them, so instead of giving them the spirit herb's value in credits, he was giving them the value of the final pills minus his and Disciple Xi's fees. It would be at least three times higher than what they would get from the sect, so the sect couldn't say he had cheated them. And at no point was Tobias giving them silver, only more accommodation credit, so they couldn't say they had sold their spirit herbs for money.

That meant that the sect couldn't complain if he hosted a private auction with the excess pills and allowed them to bid with accommodation credit. The starting price would be the sect's standard rate. That way, no one could claim anyone was taking advantage of anyone. This was all theoretical, of course, so Tobias wasn't sure if it would all blow up in his face at some point.

If it didn't, he was going to make a fortune.

His first life had taught him that opportunities to grow wealth appeared frequently, but most did not have the courage or education to seize them. It was only after missing numerous great opportunities in life that he learned his lesson and developed a new perspective.

If the numbers added up, it was worth the risk. If you didn't take that risk, you would never get ahead. It was a simple way to look at things, but it was all he needed to become wealthy.

A few hours after Disciple Xi began his enlightenment, he walked out of the assignment hall. A sense of peace and purpose surrounded him as he stopped at the entrance and bowed to Elder Po and then to Tobias. It was the only recognition and thanks he was allowed to give.

Tobias returned the bow. Enlightenment was considered sacred. As such, no one could interfere or expect compensation for their assistance.

Disciple Xi walked off without a word, heading for his residence to contemplate his enlightenment.

When he was out of sight, Elder Po turned to Tobias. "Do you know what triggered his enlightenment?"

"We were arguing over how he should treat those who helped him when I asked him what sort of alchemist and man he would like to be."

Elder Po chuckled. "That will do it."

***

Organising the pills into lots took Tobias more than a day. The general meridian opening and cleansing pills would be sold in collections of 3000, 1500, and 750. The silver-grade pills were much more common and were being sold in bottles of ten. The eighteen golden meridian cleansing pills were being sold individually.

While rare and prestigious, golden meridian cleansing pills were a novelty, which made them wonderful gifts for the rich and powerful. Each one would sell for more than a specific meridian cleansing pill, but would only be more useful to the recipient than a silver-grade pill if they were a cultivation genius. The Great Clans had enough geniuses that Tobias expected an excellent return.

The stomach meridian cleansing pills would be sold in lots of 30, 20, and 10 to match the stomach meridian opening pills, leaving seven pills to be auctioned back to the group.

Finally, there were the lung and heart meridian opening and cleansing pills. These were rarer because the state had placed a larger-than-normal order this year, and would be sold in lots of 10, 6, and 3.

Tobias took nearly a week to authenticate the pills and prepare the paperwork. Once he finished, he wrote a personal letter to each of the five branch heads and enclosed the rules of the blind auction for Disciple Xi to deliver.

There would be three rounds of bidding. At the end of the first round, the winner would be informed that they were in the lead, and the others would be told that they were not. Everyone would adjust their bids for the second round, and the winning bid would be decided at the end of the third round. If one clan won the bid for multiple lots, they would get to choose which lot they wanted before the others were sold to the next highest bidder. The winners and the price they paid would also be announced to all participants to prove that the others lost fairly.

Tobias thought this was a simple matter, but the heads of the branch families didn't agree.