Chapter 41: Gains and the Actor Potion

"Me?" Evah chuckled, propping his chin with one hand. He looked at Ouroboros, then shook his head. "I don't really have anything specific I want…"

That was a lie. Evah wanted plenty—money, knowledge, power, friends, thrills, you name it. But he had no intention of asking the True Creator for any of it, even if he could afford the price.

Letting someone figure out your desires is a dangerous game, and for now, Ouroboros wasn't ready to lay his wants bare before the True Creator. The Creator's crew wasn't like Klein and his gang, whom Ouroboros trusted.

He'd cooperate with the True Creator to a point, but that was it.

Ouroboros blinked, clearly caught off guard by the response. His brow furrowed, as if troubled by the answer.

"Why mess with Big Snake? He's already dense enough, and you're making him denser," Medici interjected, his red eyes boring into Evah's, as if trying to peer into his soul.

"You're not some desireless saint," he continued. "At the very least, you're way too interested in both me and this dumb snake."

Evah laughed, unfazed. "I am interested in you two. But come on, anyone with a shred of curiosity would be fascinated by two Angel Kings."

"Tch!" Medici clicked his tongue. He could tell Evah's interest went beyond what he claimed, but without key information, even the War Angel couldn't pin it down.

Then, as if struck by a sudden realization, Evah's face lit up. "Oh, right! I do have one need."

"What's that?" Ouroboros asked.

"I've got a little grudge with Amon, so…" Evah flashed a dazzling smile. "Team up with me to take Amon down. That's the next deal."

Ouroboros paused, then nodded. "Agreed."

Medici, recalling the Worm of Time Evah had shown earlier, couldn't help but smirk with schadenfreude. Amon was one of the culprits behind his hunting by Tudor back in the day, so seeing him in trouble now? Medici was downright gleeful.

"See you next time, gentlemen!" Evah said, adopting a see-you-later vibe. His gaze lingered on Medici, as if something else occurred to him. "Oh, by the way, Mr. War Angel, the tsundere shtick is so last season."

"Huh?" Medici genuinely had no clue what he was on about.

"No need to hide your fondness for me. I know you don't hate me as much as you act like you do," Evah said with a cheeky grin.

It was the truth. After their earlier antics, Medici's favorability toward him had climbed to around 20 or 30. Not sky-high, but for a first meeting, it wasn't bad at all. Thanks to that, Evah could now tap into Sequence 6 Conspirator-level powers—a nice little bonus.

In contrast, Ouroboros, who seemed more approachable, only had about 10 favorability. Was it because his humanity was too faint?

Evah gave Ouroboros a thoughtful glance, then turned back to Medici, smiling. "Maybe next time we meet, we could be friends."

"Hmph. Who'd be friends with a shady guy like you? You're the type who should be stuck tormenting the little raven," Medici scoffed, rolling his eyes. But inwardly, he was mildly surprised. He'd thought he'd masked his emotions well, yet Evah saw through him.

Sharper than I expected.

Ouroboros didn't overthink it. With Evah clearly ready to wrap things up and eager to take Medici back to the Lord, he didn't linger. After a polite farewell, Ouroboros left the safehouse with Medici in tow.

Evah leisurely tidied the place, erasing all traces of their presence, then slipped through the spirit world to his residence in Hillston District.

"So tired!" he yawned. The day's antics had drained 85-95% of his spirituality, and he was genuinely beat.

Not one to skimp on self-care, Evah headed straight to bed for a nap. When he woke, it was already the afternoon of the next day.

"Good thing I took leave in advance, or this would've counted as skipping work…" Evah rubbed his eyes, splashed his face with water from a basin, and finally felt awake.

With nimble efficiency, he freshened up, soon transforming back into a dashing gentleman fit for a magazine cover.

He cooked himself some pumpkin porridge, fried a sandwich, and warmed some milk—Evah was all about enjoying life and never skimped when he could indulge.

After a leisurely breakfast, he finally had the energy to take stock of yesterday's haul.

First, through his series of "provocations" with the War Angel, which doubled as a riot of fun, Evah had fully digested his Mischief- maker potion in just over two weeks.

Considering the Mischief- maker potion was tougher to digest than most Sequence 9 potions, his speed was impressive. He owed a lot to the contributions of heavyweights like Pallez, Azik, and Medici. Without them, it would've taken at least another monty or even a year to fully digest the potion.

By digesting the Mischief- maker potion, Evah also secured the auxiliary material for the Actor potion from Medici, meaning he could advance seamlessly without delay.

Second, he'd locked in the next phase of his deal with the True Creator. Not only did he boost his favorability with Medici and others, milking some benefits and expanding his borrowable abilities, but he also cleverly tied this deal to his "beat Amon" pact with Pallez and Medici, killing multiple birds with one stone.

Whether Pallez would recognize Ouroboros or spot the True Creator behind him didn't matter. Being able to enlist an Angel King backed by a true god was proof of Evah's own connections.

Finally, he'd gotten a rough read on Adam's stance. Unlike the True Creator, who'd opted to cozy up to him, Adam clearly wasn't ready to clash yet. For now, the Visionary was likely just observing, keeping tabs on him.

"Of course, the real win was all the fun I had in the process," Evah said, his hand resting on the camera that had stolen the show yesterday, a grin tugging at his lips.

"Shame Adam slipped away too fast. Imagine a photo of him and Medici eating hotpot together, that would pure gold," Evah said, shaking his head with a touch of regret, tossing out another devilish joke.

He cleaned up the dishes and headed to the second-floor laboratory.

With the Mischief- maker potion digested and the Actor potion's auxiliary material in hand, it was time to advance to Sequence 8.

(End of Chapter)