Negotiation

Slap!

"What do you mean? Did you hit your head on something on the way here?" Darnell growled angrily and forcefully slapped away the hand extended toward him, causing Sollivan, who was seated, to lean to the side.

But Sollivan wasn't bothered. He pulled back his aching hand and gently rubbed it while keeping his eyes fixed on Darnell. "Aren't you tired? Yes, I know. So stop looking at me with that suspicious expression. I know the truth about you, and I also have an idea about your identity. So I'll repeat what I said earlier." He extended his reddened hand again and continued.

"Follow me, and I'll cure you."

The anger on Darnell's face disappeared, replaced by a cold, hard expression. He looked at the extended hand with confusion for a moment, then suddenly took a step forward, grabbed Sollivan by the collar of his shirt, and yanked him forcefully, lifting him off his wheelchair. The bag strapped to his arm dangled, and his lifeless feet dragged along the ground, making a faint scraping sound.

"Listen to me, you damn bastard, keep your mouth shut, or I'll rip your head off right here and now!" Darnell's teeth ground together as he lowered his voice to the barest whisper, the veins on his face bulging like worms crawling under his skin.

But Sollivan wasn't fazed by the threat and remained calm. With a small, sarcastic smile, he said, "Man, you need to calm your nerves a bit."

"That's it!" Darnell roared in anger and kicked the wheelchair in front of him with force, sending it rolling backward. The wheels spun out of control, and after a short distance, the chair tipped over and crashed onto its side. The wheels and wooden planks rattled, and a few small cracks appeared in the backrest.

Sollivan groaned at the sight of his wheelchair being destroyed and cursed angrily, "You bastard, that's my chair!" He turned and glared into Darnell's eyes. If he didn't need him, he would have ordered Noctis to turn his hand into a needle and pierce his skull.

Noctis hid in Darnell's shadow, ready to attack at any moment. Sollivan wasn't stupid or reckless enough to risk his life without a safety net. So he waited silently for a few minutes, confirming that Noctis hadn't been detected, and then made up his mind and spoke his demands.

"Your chair, fine."

Damn it.

Darnell dragged him quickly, his feet scraping along the ground. His clothes became even dirtier, but he didn't care about his condition and stared at a small metal door leading into the wall. He immediately realized he was being dragged there, yet he didn't resist and let out a slight sigh of disappointment.

Beside the door stood an armored soldier who had been watching their actions from the beginning but couldn't hear their hushed conversation.

When he saw them approaching, he was slightly surprised, but he didn't show any clear reaction or attempt to help Sollivan. On the contrary, he indifferently opened the door, watched them enter, then closed it and returned to his post as if nothing had happened.

Inside, Sollivan was dragged through a long, narrow corridor lit by enhanced torches. It was filled with fortified doors and narrow staircases.

There were no guards in the area, so Darnell, who had kidnapped him, paid no attention to their surroundings and treated him roughly, opening one of the doors that led to a small room with very thick walls, then throwing him to the ground with force.

Sollivan's body shook violently, and the bag that had been strapped to his arm fell beside him.

He raised his hand and rubbed his slightly sore shoulder, muttering, "Man, you need to find a cure for your temper before your body."

"And you're still able to joke in this situation? You're one crazy bastard.

But don't worry, after I'm done with you, you won't be able to say anything. So spit out your last words." Darnell pulled a knife from a small holder on his belt, its blade glinting in the light seeping through the door.

When Sollivan saw the knife, he spoke quickly. "Alright, as I said, I can cure you, or rather, I have the recipe for the cure that will heal your body. So I'm offering you a deal: follow me for a limited time and help me achieve a specific goal, and I'll give you the recipe. So, what do you think?"

"Hmph, really?" Darnell showed a clear look of sarcasm, making Sollivan frown and feel that something was off.

"Let me guess, the cure you're talking about is the Elixir of Contradicting Nature. Do you think I don't know about this recipe? You're such a stupid, foolish child."

*As expected, he knows.* Sollivan let out a long sigh and smiled sarcastically in return, which surprised Darnell and made him narrow his eyes in confusion.

Calmly, Sollivan pulled his bag and opened it to reveal its contents: a piece of clothing, some books, a pen, a slightly bulging money pouch, and two bottles of strengthening pills. He reached into the bottom of the bag and, with difficulty, pulled out a small wooden box, opening it slowly.

Darnell didn't interrupt him out of curiosity, but he didn't lower his guard either and watched his every move carefully to avoid being caught off guard.

But as soon as the box was opened, Darnell's face twitched for a moment, and he took a long breath due to the strange smell that entered his nose. His eyes narrowed in confusion, and he felt a hint of excitement. He wanted to take two steps forward and see what was inside the box, but he didn't let his curiosity blind him, so he remained calm and his expression didn't change much.

But Sollivan saw everything and sneered inwardly. 'Heh, is he trying to keep his cool? It's clear he recognized what's in the box just from the smell. Let me mess with him a bit.'

He put on a thoughtful expression, then calmly closed the box and sighed. "You're right, you're a strong and great man. My silly tricks won't work on you." He placed the box aside and assumed a proper sitting posture before bowing his head slightly, showing deep regret, and apologizing.

"I'm deeply sorry for bothering you. I promise to keep my mouth shut and not tell anyone what I know. Just don't kill me. All I wanted was to reach the treasury in the forest to get something specific. Damn, how foolish and ignorant I was to think I could recruit someone as strong and amazing as you to my side. My arrogance truly knows no bounds. So I apologize from the bottom of my heart."

Darnell almost stumbled from the sudden change in Sollivan's aura. Just seconds ago, he had exuded a strong aura that made him seem steady and noble, like a leader or a high-ranking noble. Now, his aura had become ordinary and lukewarm, like that of a foolish commoner. Darnell had lived through several wars and met many prominent and powerful figures in his life, even personally discussing matters with a prince and seeing the Emperor up close. So he could easily discern the nature of people.

Because of this, he hadn't acted too harshly toward Sollivan and had given him time to explain himself, as he had noticed the strange contradictions in him: his aura, his gaze, his way of speaking, his posture, and his movements all indicated his refinement but also revealed his arrogance and lofty vision. This contradicted the lowliness of his current situation and his inferiority. Now, everything had disappeared: his movements had become silly and hasty, his gaze was filled with deep regret and hidden greed he didn't want to let go of, and even his voice had become weak. Most importantly, his aura had become very faint and gloomy, the opposite of its previous prominence.

Simply put, Darnell didn't understand how Sollivan could change his nature in an instant, so he felt angerj and his hatred for him grew. He took a quick glance at the box on top of the bag and could no longer contain his curiosity. Without caring for Sollivan's silly apologies, he walked quickly and picked up the box under Sollivan's pleading gaze.

Sollivan reached out to stop him, but in the end, he stopped and slowly withdrew his hand. He smiled sarcastically, and quickly, his noble demeanor returned.

He adjusted his posture and looked forward with a mysterious arrogance, and even his weak, incomplete body exuded an aura of strength. Calmly, he thought, 'I didn't think stimulating my blood would have such a significant effect on my aura. Primordial blood is truly something to envy.'

Every living being possessed an energy aura around them, revealing their nature and the extent of their strength, and even showing the clarity of their mind. Some people had auras as calm as clear7 water, while others had auras as fiery as raging, unstable flames. Some exuded an aura of transparent clarity and subtlety, or excellence and superiority, or even death and hatred.

Some speculated that the aura was a mirror of the soul, revealing a little of what lay inside living beings. Therefore, they studied it and interpreted its states, and there were some philosophers and spiritualists who specialized in this field. Due to their expertise, some of them could discern a person's character and way of life, and even distinguish the types of strong emotions they had experienced in their lives just by observing their aura. But this only applied to weak humans with weak souls. The stronger a person was, the harder it was to detect their aura.

Also, ordinary humans couldn't sense the auras of others unless they had opened their pathways or were in special circumstances, like Sollivan, whose spiritual strength had increased due to the change in his blood, allowing him to perceive the fluctuations in others' auras more clearly and even feel strong emotions directed at him, as had happened with Beatrice and Ellis before.

But what amazed him the most was discovering that the nature of his faint and weak aura became slightly stronger and more mysterious when his blood was stimulated.

Darnell opened the small box, and as soon as he saw its contents, his eyes widened in astonishment. In disbelief, he took a quick look at it, then closed the box and stared at the wall in confusion for a moment before opening it again to confirm that its contents weren't an illusion. Inside the box were three herbs: one was a small, dried red flower, slightly resembling an orchid. The second was a thin, brown twig with some strange red veins.

But the third item, which caught Darnell's full attention, was a sky-blue flower with delicate, soft petals, even though it had been picked a long time ago. The flower hadn't bloomed and remained closed, so its original shape wasn't clear, but it looked like a small lotus with longer-than-normal petals.

After a long silence, Darnell finally opened his mouth and asked mysteriously, "How did you get a Celestial Moonflower?"

"Are you ready to negotiate now? Also, I want to tell you that I have the rest of the ingredients to prepare the cure.

So think carefully: either kill me here and now and get one ingredient, or follow me for a short time, help me achieve my goal, and then you'll get the rest of the ingredients and cure your damaged vein." Sollivan answered with a small smile.

Darnell took a step back and opened his mouth in astonishment. He was at a loss for words, and his thoughts became tangled. After a brief moment of shock, he regained his composure but didn't answer, standing in place with a mysterious expression.

Damage to the primary vein was a serious injury that Arcane Masters could suffer, but it rarely happened because the primary vein wasn't entirely physical; it had a spiritual nature that made it resistant to many attacks capable of disfiguring or crushing flesh.

But if the primary vein was damaged, its physical and spiritual nature would become unstable, and it would no longer be able to hold Auraxis energy inside, resulting in a severe decrease in the Arcane Master's strength and a significant drop in their level. Additionally, several pathways would revert to their dormant state and disappear inside the body due to the lack of Auraxis energy reaching them.

Damage to the vein couldn't be treated with ordinary medicines and pills, and even the most skilled doctors were powerless against it. In their entire empire, the number of cures and healers capable of treating this injury could be counted on one hand. And even if someone could reach them, the cost of the treatment alone was enough to bankrupt powerful families and strip them of all their possessions.

For example, the Elixir of Contradicting Nature was made from five main ingredients and ten secondary ingredients. The secondary ingredients were cheap and accessible to everyone, but the five main ingredients were rare, and the biggest problem was their differing natures and the impossibility of finding them in one place.

Each ingredient had specific elemental affinities, like the Celestial Moonflower, which only bloomed in forests rich in nature energy and had to be exposed to full moonlight several times to mature and bloom. Not to mention the Stormsea Herb, which only grew in stormy maritime regions, the Forgotten Orchid, the Solar Oak Fruit, and finally, the Foul Plant.

But in reality, the Celestial Moonflower was the rarest item on the list, and Sollivan himself had obtained it in an unexpected way, still amazed that he even had it.

While searching for a cure for himself, he had come across hundreds of recipes, both real and fake, but he noticed that the Celestial Moonflower was present in all of them. Having lost hope in finding a cure, he decided to make one himself after gathering enough knowledge, so he tried to secure the ingredients in advance to avoid wasting his limited time.

Thus, he began visiting the local market and herb shops from time to time in search of valuable items, but the prices were beyond his imagination. After a few months, he lost his enthusiasm and returned to his relaxed life. But due to the nature of his work at the library, lumberjacks and herb gatherers would occasionally come to him seeking advice.

Because of their proximity to the Black Death Forest, filled with monsters and precious materials, they sometimes stumbled upon strange herbs. And if they ventured deeper and crossed the safe zone, they might encounter even rarer Auraxis herbs.

Although this was extremely rare, due to the deceptive nature of the herbs. When an ordinary herb transformed into an Auraxis herb, it developed a simple defense mechanism: the ability to camouflage itself.

It would emit a faint energy around itself, distorting the Auraxis energy in its vicinity, creating the illusion that it was an ordinary herb among others. But this mechanism wasn't very effective, and if someone looked closely or had very sharp eyes, they could easily spot it. Sometimes, people could find it by chance if their eyes fell directly on it, as the camouflage wasn't 100% effective and didn't fool everyone's perception.

The lumberjacks and herb gatherers didn't have enough knowledge to identify every type of herb, and whenever they found something strange, they would go to the library, specifically to him, for reliable advice in exchange for a small tip to avoid being cheated by greedy shopkeepers who rarely offered the true value of the item.

Because of this, he occasionally came across some good herbs, but he only bought something if he really needed it, and he gave honest advice, which made his opinion trustworthy. But a few months ago, a familiar lumberjack came to his shop and showed him a strange herb he said he had found by chance in the slightly dangerous outskirts of the forest. When Sollivan saw the Blue Moon Herb in the lumberjack's hands, he was stunned and decided to keep it for himself.

So he tricked the man, saying it was of little value and wouldn't fetch more than ten gold coins. But even that price shocked the poor lumberjack, and taking advantage of this, Sollivan manipulated the words a bit and secretly bought it from him without alerting anyone. However, he didn't tell the man to keep it a secret or handle the matter cautiously to avoid drawing suspicion to himself.

After the long silence, Darnell finally spoke. "What exactly do you want?"