Chapter 2557: Boundless Space Chambers
Date: Unspecified
Time: Unspecified
Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Morningstar University Campus, Garden of Beginning, Time Vestige, Morningstar University 2nd Campus
"Wyatt, just because you have a mouth doesnât mean you can spout nonsense. You need to take responsibility for what you say. How can you justify such a ridiculous price for building a time-expansion chamber?" Lucine demanded, unable to wrap her head around my rates. She genuinely felt I was making things difficult for her out of sheer habit.
"I donât have to justify anything to you. If you think my prices are too high, go find someone else to build your time-expansion chambers," I replied, shaking my head casually, knowing not to fight a desperate bull.
"Y-youâre taking advantage of my situation," Lucine complained. She understood the truthâmy monopoly and her desperation meant I had the power to set whatever rates I pleased. Still, she couldnât resist trying to appeal to my sense of morality in hopes of coaxing me into something more reasonable. If that sort of moral appeal actually worked on me, I wouldâve already wiped out the Human-Viltronian hybrids back on Earth and let them atone for their sins like in persons living off of the taxpayersâ money.
"Iâm simply following Morningstar Universityâs example," I said, referring to their near-monopoly on time cards across the five regions.
Seeing Lucine fall into a pensive silence, finally realizing she wouldnât get the fertilizer recipe without giving up a few time-rule runes, I couldnât resist teasing her, remarking, "It sucks being on the other end of the stick, doesnât it?"
Lucine stared at me with a frustrated look before finally asking, "How much for the recipe? Considering our short but close history, I hope youâll give me a discount."
In the end, she bowed her headânot for her own sake, but for Morningstar University. It showed just how far she was willing to go for them, even if it meant swallowing her pride in front of me.
I shook my head. Once Lucine got serious, the fun was over, so I decided not to drag things out. "How about thisâI have other deals and projects I want to discuss with Morningstar University. If we manage to reach an agreement, Iâll include the fertilizer recipe as part of the cooperation."
"What are they? You can discuss them with me. I have the authority to agree on the universityâs behalf. Tell meâso long as itâs nothing excessive, Iâm sure we can work something out," Lucine said quickly, eager to strike while the iron was hot. She feared I might change my mind later over some trivial annoyance, so she wanted everything settled now. As long as time-rule runes werenât involved, she would bend over backward to meet my demands. That was how important the fertilizer recipe was to Morningstar University.
"No, I canât discuss it with you. Because of your time-rule dementia, youâve been out of the social loop in the five regions for far too long. You have no idea who I really am or what I intend to discuss. Thereâs no rushâwe can talk about it slowly once weâre back in our present," I said, rejecting her request with a calm explanation.
Besides, this way she would finally understand how I felt having to wait until we returned to our present before I could choose the time-rule runes she had promised me.
"There you go again, trying to act mysterious. How am I supposed to know who you truly are and what you want to discuss âif you wonât tell me?" Lucine shot back, clearly dissatisfied. She thought I was just dodging the conversation to avoid discussing the deals and terms with her. This made a part of her even wonder whether I was underestimating her because of our historyâwhere she had often relied on me or ended up losing arguments to me. Not to mention I had proven that I was stronger and smarter than her by defeating Slay and curing her time-rule dementia.
Otherwise, why wouldnât I simply explain everything now? To her, it felt like I was just using her lack of knowledge about me and the current state of the five regions as an excuse to underestimate her. She hated this feeling, but she didnât know enough to argue back.
"Lucine, donât overthink it. Iâm not trying to act mysterious or undermine you. Itâs just that I hate bragging about myself," I said, rubbing my nose with a smug look, fully aware that keeping her in the dark was getting under her skin.
"Not brag? You sound pretty narcissistic to me," Lucine muttered, rolling her eyes. She wondered if she really was reading too much into things. Not everything had to be about her, after all. She had to stop taking things personally.
But my talent and age were overwhelming even for the best among us, and Lucine was no exception. Given the age difference between us, this bothered her more than she wanted to admit.
"Youâre just jealous," I said, pretending to be disappointed at being called a narcissist.
"Young man, stop acting innocent. Iâve never seen anyone with thicker skin than you," Lucine said, giving me a firm slap on the back before heading out of the chamber. She stored the four pots in her new storage card as she walked. Even though the procedure was over, she believed the pots still held significant research valueâespecially if I refused to hand over the fertilizer recipe and our negotiations fell through.
"Come on, Iâll take you to the boundless space chambers."
"Did you already comprehend time-rule power?" Lucine suddenly asked, finding it strange that I wanted time-rule runes yet planned to study space-rule meaning inside the time vestige. Most card apprentices would fight tooth and nail for the chance to comprehend time-rule here, yet I was choosing something entirely different.
"No, I donât plan on comprehending the time rule for the foreseeable future," I answered honestly, without offering any further explanation.
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