Not long had passed since Marcus arrived before Kyle's team appeared at the shrine entrance.

My expression remained calm and controlled as I watched Kyle approach, a deep frown etched across his face. He clearly understood the disadvantageous position he was walking into.

He hadn't brought many people with him, a tactical mistake that worked in my favour.

One... three... eight. He has eight students from the Elite class with him, but compared to our full class presence, it's practically nothing, I calculated silently.

A grin almost escaped my lips, but I suppressed it to maintain my composed demeanour.

"Adrian, I would have rather not socialized under such circumstances," Kyle said with a soft sigh and subtle shake of his head.

"Indeed. But this is life, curveballs always appear out of nowhere, don't they?" I replied evenly.

Kyle nodded in acknowledgment. "True enough. Was it you who caused Seraphina's exclusion from the examination?"

I nodded without any change in my facial expression, maintaining direct eye contact. There was no point in denying my involvement or showing any emotional reaction to his question.

The numerical disparity between our forces was obvious to everyone present. Kyle had walked into a situation where he held virtually no leverage beyond whatever Crest Marks he had brought to meet my demands. The psychological pressure was exactly what I had intended to create.

Now came the critical moment of discovering whether he would attempt to negotiate different terms or simply comply with my original ultimatum.

One of the imprisoned students suddenly made a desperate attempt to escape, trying to break away and join Kyle's team. Both of my class members assigned to guard him immediately brought him down to the forest floor aggressively.

"Don't move!" they shouted as he continued to struggle against their restraint.

"Captain!"

Kyle immediately intervened to prevent the situation from escalating. "Stop! Do as they say," he commanded his teammate firmly.

The other captured students who had been about to intervene quickly retracted their steps, recognizing that resistance would only make their situation worse.

Kyle then turned his attention back to me with a negotiating tone. "Fifteen Crest Marks... isn't that excessive? The other classes barely have five at this point. How about ten instead?"

I shook my head with a subtle smile. "I'm afraid I can't accept that. Fifteen isn't unreasonable for six of your classmates, don't you think? If each person was worth three Crest Marks, that would be eighteen total. You're not really operating at a loss."

"How about twelve?" Kyle countered, clearly determined to negotiate better terms.

"No. Fifteen," I maintained firmly.

"Thirteen?" he tried again.

I shook my head once more.

"Fourteen Crest Marks and a kilogram of medicinal herbs from the forest?" Kyle offered as his final compromise. His expression clearly showed that he was at the verge. It wasn't about the single crest, it was about his reputation among his team.

"Deal." A smile formed on my face as I accepted his terms.

Fifteen had never actually been my real target price - it was deliberately set too high to create negotiating room. Fourteen Crest Marks plus valuable herbs was an excellent outcome that exceeded my actual expectations.

This approach served multiple strategic purposes. Kyle had managed to "win" some concessions in front of his team, which preserved his leadership credibility and prevented him from feeling completely cornered. Had I forced him into a position where he lost all face, he might have felt threatened enough to resort to desperate measures or outright rebellion.

By allowing him to seemingly negotiate me down from my initial demand, both sides could walk away feeling they had achieved something reasonable. Kyle maintained his dignity while I secured nearly everything I had actually wanted from this exchange.

The psychological dynamics were just as important as the material gains in maintaining long-term strategic advantage.

We both walked toward each other with deliberate, measured steps, our expressions carefully controlled and unreadable. The tension in the air was clear as both teams watched this critical exchange unfold.

Kyle reached for his pouch containing the Crest Marks while I raised my hand to signal my team to bring the prisoners forward. The moment had arrived for the actual transfer.

Kyle's POV

As I withdrew the precious Crest Marks from my storage pouch, a dangerous thought suddenly emerged in my mind. The temptation to attack Adrian at this close distance was overwhelming - with my speed and the minimal space between us, I believed I could potentially take him hostage and reverse the entire situation in our favor.

But the moment I looked directly into Adrian's eyes, my danger-sensing trait exploded like blazing red alarms throughout my consciousness. Every instinct I possessed screamed that whatever I was contemplating would be catastrophically foolish. It felt as if proceeding with any aggressive action would result in not just my removal from the examination, but the elimination of my entire team as well.

My heartbeat accelerated dramatically as the full weight of the threat became clear. How could the person standing before me radiate such overwhelming menace? He was someone who had never seriously trained...at least before his awakening, someone who had been written off as a failure by most of the people that knew him.

How could a single awakening have changed him so drastically? It was impossible that he could be working harder than me, so what explained this transformation? I possessed the supreme bloodline of the Phoenix clan, a legendary heritage renowned throughout multiple worlds for its power and potential!

The cognitive dissonance was staggering. Everything I thought I knew about Adrian Blackwood was being shattered by the reality of the man standing mere feet away from me. I knew he was strong, really strong.

To compete with me for the same power record, it wasn't easy. But to raise such alarm bells?

Perhaps its because his whole team is here, they would be able to react. Yes, it must be. I forced myself to calm down, taking slow, controlled breaths while fighting down the panic that threatened to overwhelm my rational thinking. My second-order trait was practically screaming at me to abandon any thoughts of resistance. The supernatural warning was so intense it felt like my bloodline itself was cowering in terror.

With tremendous effort, I extended the pouch toward Adrian, deciding to trust my danger-sensing ability completely. Every fiber of my being was telling me that survival depended on completing this exchange peacefully.

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