Ethan feigned absolute disbelief. “A Sea Race prince, coming to the land to poach wizards?”
“Poach?” Boulder laughed out loud. “This is called mutual benefit. You should know better than I do how Black Wizard academies treat First-Tier Wizards.”
Ethan fell silent, his calm gaze flickering slightly.
Boulder took another step forward. “Come with me to the deep sea. Twenty magic crystals' worth of cultivation resources every year, a private coral castle, and three hundred Sea Race servants. First-Tier spell models—you can choose whatever you want from my Sea Race treasury, not limited to the wood element. And...”
He held up three fingers.
“Within three hundred years, I guarantee you will reach the threshold of the Second-Tier. You must know that my Sea Race's heritage is over a hundred thousand times stronger than that trashy academy of yours. The special techniques of the Sea Dragon tribe, combined with the energy density of the deep sea, will make your cultivation speed over thirty percent faster than on land. Your foundation is solid; all you lack is a mountain of resources. Would Blood Bone Tower ever be willing to give you these things?”
Ethan's brow twitched.
Boulder caught every detail of Ethan's shifting expression, and the curl of his lips widened a fraction more. “The terms this prince is offering are things Blood Bone Tower can never give you. You know what kind of place a Black Wizard academy is better than I do. Those Second-Tier Wizards monopolize all the resources, leaving the First-Tier Wizards to pick at their scraps. With your strength, you won't get anywhere even if you waste decades in Blood Bone Tower.”
Ethan remained silent for a moment, the coldness on his face thawing slightly.
When he spoke, his tone was no longer as stiff as before. “Twenty magic crystals a year, a coral castle, and three hundred servants. Your Highness, do you really think you can buy an Official Wizard with just this?”
Boulder raised an eyebrow.
Instead of getting angry, he laughed out loud. “Ha! You think it's too little? It's only natural that you do. If you had agreed without a second thought, this prince would have suspected you were just humoring me.”
He took a fist-sized, deep blue crystal from his storage tool and casually tossed it to Ethan.
The crystal traced an arc through the air.
Ethan reached out and caught it. The crystal was ice-cold to the touch, with water-like patterns flowing inside. A pure, almost tangible wave of water-element energy seeped from it.
“This is a Sea Marrow Crystal,” Boulder said. “Something found only ten thousand meters below the deep sea. A single piece is worth thirty magic crystals. Consider it a greeting gift. If you agree to return to the deep sea with me, I will give you ten of these every year.”
Ethan looked down at the Sea Marrow Crystal in his hand.
He had a wood-element affinity, so water-element energy had no direct use for his cultivation. However, he was well aware of the Sea Marrow Crystal's value.
He stored the Sea Marrow Crystal into his storage ring.
“Your Highness is indeed generous.” Ethan's tone softened slightly, though his face remained expressionless. “But wealth alone is not enough. Once in the deep sea, water-element spells will conflict with my wood element. Do you expect me to rebuild my cultivation from scratch?”
Boulder waved his hand.
“Rebuild? There's no need.” He pulled another shell-shaped knowledge crystal from his robes and spun it around his fingertips. “What does my Sea Race treasury not have? While we don't have as many wood-element spell models as water-element ones, putting together over a hundred thousand different types is still an easy task. If you perform well, this Second-Tier spell knowledge crystal will be yours.”
Ethan's gaze lingered on the knowledge crystal for a moment.
A Second-Tier spell model.
In Blood Bone Tower, such a thing was impossible to obtain without sufficient merit.
The cold expression on his face finally thawed a sliver more.
“You aren't just making empty promises, are you, Your Highness?”
“Empty promises?” Boulder tossed the knowledge crystal into the air and caught it again. “Does this prince need to make empty promises? The Sea Race occupies fifty percent of the Wizard World's oceans. The knowledge crystals piled up in our treasuries are gathering dust. If not for the fact that we can only trade these things with you humans for resources, humph...”
Boulder didn't finish his sentence, but Ethan understood.
But the implications of this were far from simple, and he had no intention of getting involved.
Ethan fell silent for a few seconds, then looked up at Boulder. “Your Highness, the terms are indeed generous. But I have a question.”
“Speak.”
“Once I arrive in the deep sea, will I be considered your bodyguard or your guest advisor?”
Boulder raised an eyebrow. “A guest advisor. This prince recruits people who can share my burdens, not gatekeepers.”
Ethan nodded.
He raised his right hand, spreading his fingers.
From the cracks of the shattered crystals on the altar's walls, countless hair-thin vines silently withdrew.
The vines retracted from the stone fissures, pulled out from the gaps between the flagstones, and vanished from the hollows of the dome.
Not a single sound was made during the entire process.
Boulder's pupils contracted slightly.
When had those vines been laid out?
He hadn't noticed them at all.
From the moment Ethan self-detonated to his reappearance, and from their confrontation until now, these vines had been right beneath their feet, above their heads, and all around them.
If they hadn't reached an agreement, when would these things have struck?
The curl of Boulder's lips widened even further.
“Ha!” He clapped his hands. “This trick of yours for hiding vines is far more interesting than your self-detonation earlier. This prince is liking you more and more.”
Ethan withdrew his hand. “When you've stayed in Blood Bone Tower for long enough, you learn to always keep a card up your sleeve.”
“A card up your sleeve?” Boulder shook his head. “This is called strength.”
He turned and walked toward the edge of the altar.
There were a few relatively intact flagstones there that had escaped the impact of the earlier explosion and battle.
Boulder took out a dark blue low table from his storage tool, followed by two fist-sized coral cups and a sea-crystal bottle filled with a deep blue liquid.
“Standing and talking is too tiring. Sit.”
Ethan walked over and sat cross-legged on one side of the low table.
Boulder sat opposite him, unscrewed the bottle, and poured half a cup of the deep blue liquid into each of the coral cups.
The liquid was as thick as liquefied crystal, its surface swirling with fine, silvery specks of light.
“This is our Sea Dragon tribe's Coral Brew,” Boulder said, lifting his own cup. “It is made with cold spring water from ten thousand meters below the deep sea and three-thousand-year-old blood coral. A single bottle is worth five magic crystals.”
He tilted his head back and gulped it down.
Ethan picked up his coral cup and took a sip.
The liquid was bone-chillingly cold as it entered his mouth, but the moment it slid down his throat, a burst of warmth erupted. The warmth spread from his stomach to his limbs, and within just a few seconds, the circulation speed of his mana surged by thirty percent.
His brow twitched.
Boulder observed his reaction. “How is it? Far better than any wine you have on land, right?”
“It is indeed excellent.” Ethan set down the coral cup. “Your Highness, let us get down to business. I want the terms you offered. But they are not enough.”
Boulder's hand holding the coral cup paused.
Instead of getting angry, he leaned forward. “Not enough? Interesting. Tell me, what else do you want?”
“I want three Second-Tier spell models. Additionally,” Ethan held up four fingers, “I want a dragon bone from the Sea Dragon tribe.”
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