If Fubei Li wasn’t on the side of Xyankor and Dave, he would have laughed out loud, and when he turned to Dave and Xyankor, he saw that Dave was somewhat intrigued and even amused, while Xyankor was trying hard to hold back his anger.

“You don’t have to use your human form if you don’t feel like it.” Dave said: “Tamura, thank you for meeting with us. I can assure you we came here about issues of the utmost importance.”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard.” Tamura scratched his belly and junk in a manner that few of those present could ever unsee: “A completely new voidborn huh? Not reborn from the ashes or cores, but a completely new birth. We haven’t seen that in ages. It’s indeed a good news for many of us - at least we know that the void is not dead, at least not yet.”

“Yes. And we’re here to ask for members of Fog Dwellers for help. We’d try to find the location of the new voidborn ourselves, but with our numbers, we could barely cover all the places this newborn could descend.” Xyankor said: “And due to our history, I think you would be the ones we could turn to.”

“Mm, I believe some elementals would be happy to help if you are in such a dire need. But we’re not like you.” Paulo Chang took a sip from his gourd: “We lost our connections to the void long time ago. And there are only a few of us that could even sense energy waves coming from there.”

“And therefore you still need us.” Tamura put his feet and legs on the stone table: “You know, Xyankor, Daekan-Velliander, or Dave, and you, mortal, I forgot your name, I would like to help you. But we as Fog Dwellers would require something of you before we could lend you our help.”

“Okay, we are expecting as much.” Xyankor sighed and said: “What do you want?”

“You know what we want, Xyankor.” Tamura played with his fingers and his belly: “We’ve fought over it, and you know how much it means to us, how much it could benefit us.”

“You do know that relics from the void do not have that kind of power right?” Xyankor said: “Even with the full knowledge and memories about the void, none of us could get it to do what the legends claimed it could.”

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“Which is a good reason to give it to us, don’t you agree?” Tamura finally sat straight: “I have the knowledge to use it, and you don’t. You have the relic, and we don’t. So we'll take it off your hands and let you know what happens, how about that?”

“So with it you’ll aid us in our effort to locate the new voidborn in return?” Dave asked.

“And why are you not more eager to find the upcoming new voidborn? You know it is just as likely to be one of you as it is to be one of us.” Xyankor couldn’t help but slam his fist on the stone table and asked: “What happened?”

“Daekan-Velliander, you have my word.” Tamura said to Dave, then he turned to Xyankor but did not answer the question: “The sooner we have the relic in our hands, the sooner we will deploy our troops to search for this new voidborn.”

“Before you make this deal, how about we formulate a plan first?” just this moment, Fubei Li interjected: “To be honest, even with the aid of Fog Dwellers, the unpredictability of the void delivering a new voidborn after all these years could not be underestimated. You’ll need a plan.”

“Oh yeah, we could definitely plan.” Tamura said while looking at Fubei Li through the corners of his eyes: “But I don’t think a mortal like you would be able to contribute or even understand much. Since you are basically more cut off from the void than any other beings that ever existed.”

“I have plenty of experience handling matters related to the void. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.” Fubei Li smiled and said: “I would just stay silent if I don’t have anything of value to say. But you can be assured that when I do, I would not hold back.”

Paulo Chang burst out laughing: “You know what Tamura, I like this guy, mortal and all.”

Tamura rolled his eyes: “Paulo, you should stop hanging around the mortal world so much, being soft and cozy with them has rarely brought us any good.”

“Agree to disagree.” Paulo Chang raised his gourd gently and said: “And Tamura, Xyankor, my finders fee will be that I will be present when you activate that relic. I trust that this is really fair.”

“No doubt, no doubt.” Tamura was rude and vulgar towards Xyankor, Dave and Fubei Li, but when speaking to Paulo Chang one could still tell he had a fair share of respect: “So, let’s map out a plan here, shall we? Mortal, you better listen up, I don’t wanna hear any stupid questions or suggestions. If you have any of those, keep them to yourself, or you can play with rough Muto clay in the side room with the newly reborned.”

“Thank you for the consideration.” Fubei Li smiled.

“Tamura, we would also need to be present when you activate the relic.” Dave said: “Including Mr. Fubei Li here.”

Tamura narrowed his eyes at Dave and Fubei Li, then scoffed after a short moment of silence: “Sure, sure. Mortal, just remember to protect your eyes and brain. Unlike us with cores, your meat organs could melt or bake in the face of great knowledge.”

“That I have learned. Thank you for the heads up.”