章節 40: New Deal
The crow looked at Beta as if it was frowning. It then continued its meal while ignoring him.
"Are you sure you're not interested in what I have to say?", Beta said as he waved the meat in front of the crow.
Seeing the delicious and juicy looking meat, the crow looked at him differently. It was a change like day and night. The way it looked at him now was as if it were seeing a long-time friend after being separated for years. The change was quite drastic, but looking at what it was currently eating compared to what Beta had in his hands, the reason was clear. How could a juicy piece of meat possibly lose against half rotten intestines?
"I'll give you this meat if you bring me to the sand temple on the fastest way possible.", Beta said with a slight smirk.
"Caw caw!"
"Alright, two pieces!", Beta said laughing.
Hearing that, the crow nodded and started flying in a specific direction.
"I didn't expect to meet the crow from the mountains here. I wonder how it got here so fast...", Beta mused in his thoughts.
Although it was a little different from his original plan, it was much easier this way. Chugum, on the other hand, had his eyes wide open.
"Since when is there a crow like this in my world? Wait, that's not important right now... You're cheating!", Chugum shouted after murmuring the first part of the sentence.
"You never said that I can't use the beasts to help me out. You're not someone who can talk about cheating anyway.", Beta calmly answered with a big grin.
Chugum grit his teeth. It was true that he hadn't said anything about using beasts as help, and he really wasn't the best person to talk about rightfulness, but he still felt a bit resentful.
"Tsk, just why did I have to take that brat here? Too sly… the slyest of them all! Though I admit, with this kind of wit, he'll be able to have an advantage in certain circumstances. Oh well, at least I will be able to bath in his glory in the future. If anyone tells me that he won't be someone outstanding, I won't know what to say anymore.", Chugum said with a sigh.
Beta followed the crow over several dunes as he looked at his proximity. The sand covered a huge area and the heat emanating from it was almost unbearable. The blowing wind was dry, making him feel uncomfortable. The sand made his footing unstable which means more effort in traveling, and the worst of all, there weren't any places with water sources. Good thing he didn't need to walk through the desert for long or he might end up dying from thirst. The soup in his space storage wasn't enough for the whole journey, plus, the weather made him feel more dehydrated than usual. So, he was really relieved when the crow stopped and pointed at a certain place. It was his goal for this task, the tomb made of sand.
The day wasn't even finished when he arrived in front of the tomb of sand. If one didn't look from up-close, it's possible to simply overlook it. The castle wasn't built of sandstone or similar materials, it was pure sand that for some reason stuck together to form this tomb. The entrance looked like that of a crypt with a passage leading down. It was such an amazing sight and, at the same time, mysterious. There were hints of lurking beasts inside the tomb judging from the occasional beasts' roars carried by the wind flowing out of the tomb.
Beta was a little surprised since he didn't encounter any beasts on his way so he assumed that the crow might've taken a safer route for the both of them. Hearing the noises coming out of the tomb gave him an idea where the missing beasts were residing. He had wished for some distraction as the journey towards the tomb was quite boring, but as he thought of it, he noticed the real issue. If he had not requested the help of the crow, he might have searched in this desert for several days without having enough water on him. Plus, since he made a bet with Chugum, the fastest route was the one that the crow led him to after all.
He doubted that Chugum would be nice enough to give him water in this kind of test. Beta also didn't see any cacti or other kinds of plants, so the probability of finding water was minuscule. Then the only choices left for Beta to not end up as a dry corpse were either to give up the test or to drink a beast's blood. If he gave up, he wouldn't just lose the reward of this test, he would also lose the one from the mountain test as well. If that had happened, Beta truly would be on the verge of tears. As for blood... without any beasts in the vicinity, what kind of blood would he drink? This test was without a doubt the hardest one he had to suffer through so far. If he had not cheated that is. Although Beta was a bit thirsty right now, he was still pretty okay. The juices of the meat he got satisfied him enough to at least not have any issues in that department for now.
"For my next reward, I'd like to have information about runes. As much as possible, please.", Beta said slowly.
"But the test isn't finished yet.", Chugum answered with a sly smile.
"What do you mean? The test was about finding the tomb, which I did.", Beta said in confusion, also a little wary due to the sly smile.
"Hehehe… That was only part one. Part two is about going into the tomb and slaying every single beast in there.", Chugum commented while looking at Beta triumphantly.
"Part two? You didn't mention anything like that earlier!"
"Maybe you just forgot about it?", Chugum shamelessly answered.
Beta was stumped. He was sure that he wouldn't forget something like that. But then a sudden idea hit him, so he quickly changed his frowning face into showing a smile again.
"How about this. We'll do it just like earlier. All or nothing. How does it sound?", Beta sheepishly declared.
"Oh? Why would I do that again?"
"Because I'll renege on all of the rewards if I lose. Of all tests. This includes even the reward that I secured in the first test."
Chugum's eyes started glowing. He didn't dare to completely forget about the rewards and throw him out because a kid that knows about minerals like Eagle Quartz can't possibly be normal. Adding the techniques that he showed earlier assured him, something was wrong with Beta. He also couldn't deny that he deserved high rewards for such outstanding accomplishments. After all, the kids he tested before were the cream of the crop in truly big clans and companies. But if Beta himself were to give up on all these things...
"Alright! But I will set several rules. Since we have two days left, you will have that much time to finish this test. You're not allowed to let any beast help you either. You can only use your void elemental soulpower to kill and defend yourself, so no weapons or any supporting potions. You have to find water and food yourself. If you can't agree to these terms the deal is off!", Chugum said, thinking hard in order to not forget anything that Beta might try.
"I agree!", Beta answered helplessly. He felt a bit wronged for not being allowed to even use anything but soulpower to defend himself, but he also understood Chugum. "He definitely is a miser!"
Chugum felt rather satisfied with the new deal. He wasn't actually a miser, it's just that the things Beta wants are just way off the charts. Just one of these things could buy a small organization. That still wasn't too much for Chugum though, but combined with all the other things he requested, it was still quite a heavy load on his wallet. And it's not like he had no expenses at all. Creating his own world and cultivation usually robbed him of all the wealth he accumulated. Now that he had some spare, it was all taken by a small kid. That really was a heavy blow to him.
After finishing the formalities with Chugum, Beta turned around to look at the crow.
"No worries, I didn't forget about our promise."
With that, Beta threw a big piece of meat toward the crow. It looked at the meat lovingly, while ripping it into small bits that it could eat properly. It then looked at Beta once more and cawed a few times, before finally leaving the tomb area.
Beta looked at the flying figure until it reached the horizon. He then proceeded on his way to the tomb to start the test. The stairs were just like everything else, made of sand and therefore quite rough. Even though it was leading him deeper underground, the whole place has enough light to enable him able to see the path he was walking through. As Beta slid his hands over the walls, a bit of sand crumbled down and somehow magically became a part of the stairs. Seconds later, the part where the sand crumbled away looked the same as before, as if nothing at all happened to it.
"Interesting.", Beta thought.
He inspected every nook and cranny that he could see so that he won't get any awkward surprises later on. He definitely didn't want to die due to a trap such as a giant boulder rolling down the stairs he is currently walking on. But in the end, he was disappointed. There weren't any traps on his way down at all and he arrived at what looked like a tunnel system which had holes on its sides. Within the holes were corpses. Most kids would be afraid at this scene, but Beta actually felt better. It reminded him of the room where his family stored their corpses for the experiments. As Beta took in a breath, he smelled a rotten, turbid air.
"This might actually be a pretty nice test!"
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