Wait, what do you mean 'the first time'?

Fang Hong nearly blacked out, thinking here it comes. Having interacted with Tianlan for so long, how could he be unaware of these merchants' tactic of jacking up prices? This scene was all too familiar: first, emphasize the importance and uniqueness of the 'trade item,' then take the opportunity to demand a lion's share.

But how should he counter this? Poor Fang Hong racked his brains but, after glancing at Xi's shimmering long halberd and wondering if he could even take a single strike, he could only come up with a few dry responses:

"...But, okay, what you said is..."

"...But..."

"I... Okay."

"Well, that's how it is, not bad then..."

Apart from Xi, the people from Silver Weslan nearby found it hard to watch, listening to their princess methodically refute each statement, rendering Fang Hong speechless. For a moment, he actually felt like he owed her a huge favor.

Only then did the princess of Silver Weslan shift her tone and say, "So the proposal is this—"

Fang Hong perked up his ears.

"I want the map of the thirteenth layer of the Spire and half of the reward for each layer—in compensation, I can lend you the use of others from Silver Weslan to command temporarily. What do you think?"

"Half?" Upon hearing this, Fang Hong, forgetting about the long spear in Xi's hand, hastily exclaimed, "Hold on, hold on! Were you guys thieves originally, to be so adept? You say you're here to help us, but who knows if you're just here to steal the BOSS. Eteliria has no such rules!"

As the saying goes, money moves the heart and bolsters the courage of a hero. At this moment, he seemed to experience a sudden burst of inspiration, spouting every excuse he could think of. As for calling Silver Weslan a gang of bandits, probably he was the only one in the China Competition Region who dared to say such a thing.

But Sophie's eyes flickered slightly, as if she had been waiting for him to say that: "Well then, let's both step back. Silver Weslan will not take the reward, but the fragment of the map must belong to us, since this is Mr. Xiaya's opinion. So, it's settled then."

Fang Hong was dumfounded: "????"

When did he give his opinion?

Some people from Silver Weslan sniggered with ill-intent, but many others privately took out communication crystals to protest to Sophie, entrusting the command of the team to a young fellow like him, even if he was a genius, was unprecedented for Silver Weslan.

Heaven knows where their princess's confidence came from.

Not far off, Xiangzi and Tainaric exchanged glances, then put down their weapons, while Parker, a Papalarian, just sat on the ground carefree, opening his backpack to look for food, claiming that after a great battle, it was urgent to replenish strength.

Of course, replenishing strength was, in itself, unrelated to whether there had been a battle.

Sophie, within the sanctuary of the Commercial Goddess, soothed others while observing the other party's reactions through video.

Fang Hong actually thought about it for a moment. He wasn't at a loss with this deal. His target was just those rewards, after all, and sealing the thirteenth level as instructed by Toragotos was not conflicting with the opinion of the princess of Silver Weslan.

As for the map and such, he didn't really care. What did he need that thing for? There were exactly seven Spires, and the map of one of them had no significance for him. In fact, he even gained an alliance with Silver Weslan from this proposal.

This was significant for him.

With their help, he might indeed be able to dominate each level and claim all the rewards, which essentially meant that people from Silver Weslan were helping him. The proposal was almost a win-win, and that might be where Fang Hong sensed their prowess: swiftly securing a beneficial outcome from a disadvantageous position—

Simultaneously leaving him, the participant, unable to object.

Indeed, Grand Guild's geniuses were multifaceted.

But he was different; specialization was best, Fang Hong felt good about himself.

After the atmosphere relaxed, people from Silver Weslan parted ways, allowing Xi to hand over a longsword and an amethyst to Fang Hong. Those were the BOSS's drops, with the amethyst naturally being the key to the teleportation gate to the next level.

The sword was four feet one inch long, half the blade a hand width, the blade cold as ice, its heavy twin edges shimmering faintly, with metallic patterns swimming amidst a layer of silver light, its surface pale as the moon, the hilt's guard extending three inches upward, engraved with twelve tadpole-like cuneiform characters which meant 'The words of the Lowlands, the ruler of the Lowland realms—'

That sword was none other than Pale Flame.

Unfortunately, it was only a replica.

Pale Flame had been a symbol of the ten nations of the Ancient Tower Lowlands in ancient times; of course, now it only retained symbolic meaning, people would not promote an Undead Monarch as a king, especially since the Ancient Monarch Hunters were solely intent on slaying all descendants of the traitors.

No one in the Lowlands could escape culpability.

This replica had also come from the time of the Deer Horns in the Lowlands, an era when the rulers of ten nations each wielded a "Pale Flame," warring against each other to seize the so-called "Chosen Position."

But in the end, people found it was merely a joke, as the brief unification of the Lowlands split apart once more, persisting until today.

The "Pale Flame" of yesteryear had naturally fallen into the hands of Toragotos.

Xi hesitated for a long time before letting go of the sword and handing it to Fang Hong. The sword's attributes actually matched her highness perfectly, but the maxim of Silver Vislan was never to seize others' possessions; no matter how reluctant, she could only let go.

Yet looking at Fang Hong, her disdain only grew.

Sophie, watching the sword in the video, also felt some desire. She asked, "Mr. Xiaya, would you be willing to make a deal with me?"

Hearing the word "deal," Fang Hong felt uncomfortable all over—

But he understood Sophie's intention and asked, "What deal?"

"I'll trade you some items for this sword, how about a Fearless One?"

Fang Hong felt his heart thump heavily.

But he firmly shook his head, "The Fearless One is too few."

...

Zhang Yu read the message from the Lonely White Field twice to confirm there was no error—and as he raised his head to watch Fang Hong's performance in the video again, he replayed the video several times, his admiration for this newcomer growing stronger.

Yet the message from the Lonely White Field was somewhat striking:

"He is not the Supreme One, he is an Artisan Master."

Artisan Master—Zhang Yu knew well, that was one of the life professions most aligned with Alchemy.

He quickly replied, "Are you joking with me?"

The message flashed and the reply came, "I never joke, he has considerable investments in life experience, even our troupe's dedicated Alchemists can't compare to him."

Pausing, the sender continued, "You know the basic rules of Eteliria, the investments in life professions within the Summoners System are generally not adulterated, as much as you put in, that much you get."

"Wait, then what about his Supreme One level, what's that all about?"

Zhang Yu paused the video at the scene of Fang Hong darting back and forth between two Pyramids, the Fire Giant somewhat irritating his eyes.

A shrugging emoticon came from the other side.

"By the way," Lonely White Fields spoke with a somewhat teasing tone, "His level won't exceed level 15, but he can manage fourteen controls on a Clockwork Fairy, you get my point, right?"

"And the Construct Lord..."

Zhang Yu felt his battered young heart let out a groan.

"I need to calm down, is that okay?" He typed a few words and then clicked send, believing the other side understood his meaning.

Sure enough, the quick reply came, "No problem."

Zhang Yu decisively turned off the Communication Crystal, then opened an email address, hesitated for a moment, and then typed, "I think I've found someone..."

The ID above that mailbox was named Augustus.

Current Chairman of the Elite.

...

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