Haha! Oh, you should have seen their faces! There was nothing better than messing with people when bored. It really spiced up the mood.

I mean, they had bad intentions, so I didn’t feel bad for scaring the shit out of them. I read their surface thoughts, so I knew perfectly well they would try to rob me if I didn’t strike first. In the end, things went about as well as they could. We traded items and split up on good terms. I even let them take half the beast. It was great.

What was less ideal, was the amount of Celestial Metal I had gained. I was barely enough for maybe three greatswords when merged with the other materials. So, really, not much. I did get more Void Stone though. That was good. Only having one chest for storing Dreadstone wasn’t enough. I had to keep the bricks hidden from people or from the Terracotta army. Those little freaks instantly fell apart if they so much as looked at the bricks wrong. I considered encasing the golems’ core with Void Stone so they couldn’t get drained, but I didn’t have enough materials for that.

Although, after the recent trade, maybe I did.

I could understand why countries back on Earth liked to print money. It made it so easy to buy stuff when you could just make the stuff. It cost me almost nothing to fill thousands of Spirit Stones simply by breaking apart a Soul or Two. Even the weakest Spirit Realm Soul was worth thousands.

And in the Ashen Wastes, people craved nothing more than Qi. They were even willing to sell me their greatest treasures to get some of it. I, of course, paid a fair price in the exchange. A fair price for a wasteland where energy was king.

It was just unfortunate that even with all the money I had I couldn’t get everything I desired as some things simply didn’t exist, at least not in the amounts I needed.

----------------------------------------

Hours passed, and I was back on the road, flying above the wasteland, looking, searching for people. I was traveling in a zig-zag pattern to cover the most ground when my sharp perception detected a disturbance to my right. I immediately changed course, flying towards it.

It was a weird creature fighting against four humans. Its shape was like that of a dog with long legs, just a hundred times larger, and with a soft shell on its tail and back, covered with tiny spikes. It also had a horn on its short snout and skin slick with scales.

I had never seen anything like it before, so I landed not far away and just observed.

There were three guys and a girl ganging on the poor creature. Two dudes had glowing ropes that wrapped themselves around the beast’s front feet, pulling it in two different directions and not letting it move or escape.

The woman stood not far away, seemingly in concentration as she faced the giant with closed eyes and hands holding some kind of relic to her forehead. I suspected it was some sort of a mind weapon as the target of their assault was switching between a passive and enraged state like a flickering light bulb.

Lastly, the final guy was just a blur, rapidly shifting position and moving all over the place while attacking with the speed of lighting and filling the helpless creature with countless shallow wounds.

I mean, they were deep from the perspective of a human, able to cut a person in half, but for the massive body of the creature, they were nothing much.

However, even though the damage was only surface level, I knew the beast was already done. Its energy stores were empty and with the perfect teamplay from the four, it couldn’t even retaliate. Its death was just a matter of time.

Well, after fifteen long minutes, and a damn live butchering of the animal, it was finally over. I just shook my head at the way they finished the job. One good slice and it would be dead, instead they did ten thousand small cuts. The beast was literally killed by papercuts.

As the battle ended, I approached, and the people immediately tensed up. Somehow they missed my presence even though I was just a few hundred meters away, that’s how focused they were on the task.

I stood to the side of the corpse, simply looking, and they gathered together, standing just a few steps from each other.

[Hello.] I greeted them after seeing they weren’t going to act first. They were still tense. I could see clenched fists and stern faces.

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“Wait… I know you.” One of them said. “You are… You are that Dragon guy, right?”

“The shapeshifter?” Another asked, turning to the first guy with shock.

[Oh.] I was pleasantly surprised because I refrained from poking inside their minds. [I haven’t seen you before, I don’t think. You one of Lee’s men?]

“Name’s Sonic.” The first guy introduced himself. “And yeah, I work for Lee. Sort of. These are my companions.”

He went on to introduce them one after the other. “These two are Irit and Naran.” He introduced the guys, with the first one being the one who spoke. Both of them still held the ropes with which they tied the beast.

“And this is Ruth. She joined us recently.” Sonic explained, and the woman gave a greeting nod.

I returned it and introduced myself. [A pleasure. My name is Gerald. Gerald Fireborn.]

“I see. So, Gerald, what are you doing around here?” Sonic asked. I noticed the tension diminished after the introduction, but it was still there, just hidden.

[Oh, you know… Just looking around, sightseeing, hunting… What about you?]

“Hunting as well, as you can see.”

I smiled knowingly. [Looking to recharge your energy stores?]

“Always.”

“Sonic!” His friend nudged him with his elbow and harshly whispered in his ear. He didn’t like the guy speaking too much, apparently.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Sonic whispered back. They thought they were careful about it, but I could hear it all. The Ashen Wastes were very quiet after all.

[What a coincidence!] I exclaimed loudly, feigning excitement. [It just so happens that I have a lot of Spirit Stones I am willing to trade. You see, I am looking for a few very specific items…]

That seemed to pique their interest and I quickly explained what I was looking for. However, that’s where a problem came.

“Hmm. I do have some items…” Sonic said, taking out various worn pieces of weapons and armor. He urged the others to do the same and they did, though with a bit of apprehension.

After seeing it, I frowned. [You really don’t have any… Celestial Metal?]

“Not for sale, no. Sorry.” Sonic shook his head. That was disappointing. I thought maybe the elites would have more stuff, but all they offered was Spirit Metal. Ruined and worn. I was of course going to buy it, but I just expected… more.

We went back and forth about the price, and in the end, I handed over a small pile of Spirit Stones. They were by far the most firm in the negotiation, sticking to their price.

When we were done, I noticed Naran whisper something in Sonic’s ear. The man frowned and then turned to me.

“I know you said you were only looking for those few things, but can we maybe interest you in something else? Soul Stones? Beast Cores? Spirit Beast flesh perhaps?”

I shook my head. Those things were worthless to me. I could gather as much as I wanted just by hunting, and I was much faster and more efficient than them. There was no point in buying the stuff.

[I understand you want more Stones, but for that, you have to offer something of similar value. Beast parts… heh, they aren’t all that useful to me.]

Sonic nodded. “I understand. Then, maybe a loan…?”

[Not a chance.] I shook my head firmly. [This place is vast. If I lend you money, who is to say you won't just run away with it? Or get yourself killed by some monster or a Rogue Cultivator?]

“I understand.” I could see Sonic chewing on his lip as his face went through many expressions rapidly. Whatever he was thinking, it was heavy stuff. “The thing is…” He finally said. “We have found a…”

“Don’t say it!” The woman, Ruth, sternly warned.

“…special place.” The guy continued anyway.

[A special place?] That statement was very vague, but it had piqued my interest and I lifted an eyebrow, wanting to hear more.

Sonic looked at the other two guys and they appeared conflicted as well.

“Can he be trusted?” Naran asked.

“I don’t think this is a good idea, Sonic.” Irit said with a frown. Ruth was on his side as well, urging their leader to reconsider.

“Well, he is stronger than all of us, and yet he asked to trade instead of robbing us.” Sonic pointed out.

“Yeah, but this is peanuts compared to…” Irit shut his mouth when Ruth glared at him.

They debated back and forth for a long while, and in the end, Sonic came out on top. I waited patiently until he turned and spoke to me.

“We have found a… ruin of some sort. It looked old, abandoned. There was nothing much to be found on the surface, but we did stumble upon a platform with something resembling a doorway. We couldn’t open it though. It was probably made for Spirit Realm at least, as the energy it required was something we just couldn’t afford.”

He gave me a hopeful look. “That’s why we need a lot of Spirit Stones.”

[An ancient ruin? Here?] I rubbed my chin, thinking. My mind instantly went back to the place we found in the Underdark. That was a real treasure trove. I wondered what kinds of goodies could possibly be hiding in the Lower Realm.

[I would have to see it for myself first if I were to make a decision. How many stones are talking about here? I assume I would have to be sponsoring this expedition.]

“Optimistically?” Sonic thought for a moment. “About a hundred thousand?”

I whistled loudly. That was a lot of crystal. Enough to bring a Mortal to Level Six or Seven of the Spirit Realm. Even the most expensive Spirit weapons I have ever seen only went into the low tens of thousands of Stones.

What they were asking for was mad.

[Hah. You sure know how to get my interest. Now I’m really curious.] I laughed.

“So you agree?”

[Yooo, hold it there, cowboy! I’m not agreeing to anything. What you are asking for is… Well, you can’t afford it. Not even your lives are worth that much.]

“Oh…” Sonic lowered his head, disappointed.

[But I’m not saying no either. I at least need to see what we are dealing with if I am going to be burning more than half my cash reserves.]

“Wait… you actually have that many Stones on you?!” Ruth exclaimed in shock. Was that really so weird? Maybe.

I just chuckled and didn’t answer.