Chapter 32: A Deal With The Devil

"Now, would you like to make a deal?"

Alvíss was a bit surprised by the kid’s words, but the temptation of a core that held a dragon’s mana, even a little bit, was too much.

The bearded man looked at the core in Adrian’s hand, then at the ones on his counter before looking at his face.

His expression remained calm as his grey eyes continued looking at the old man behind the counter, waiting for his response.

With a sigh, Alvíss asked, "what do you want?"

"Ah before that, I do have to add something though," Adrian said as he lifted the core and said, "this, is not a dragon’s core."

Of course that much was obvious, a dragon’s core would never release such weak mana signatures, even if it had been extracted for close to a decade.

So what the hell was the kid up to?

Because from the expression on his face, Alvíss knew that he wouldn’t start acting dumb now without a reason.

"It belonged to a yeti that was feeding on reminants of a dragon’s mana," he continued in a casual tone, "and its core adapted to said mana, allowing the yeti to start producing the slightest bit of dragon mana."

He raised the core, ensuring that the old man was following.

"It’s a hybrid, on that’s incomplete and unstable... but far more interesting than a standard dragon core, don’t you think?"

Alvíss’s eyes immediately gleamed as he finally understood what the kid meant.

Now that was something worth hearing.

A normal dragon core?

Rare? Only three had been found in a century.

Valuable? Extremely valuable.

Though, aside from its crazy potent mana, normal dragon cores had nothing else to offer.

But this, this was something he could truly study, he could learn how it adapted and evolved, and maybe even make a magic tool with similar properties.

One that could adapt to it’s user’s mana, or even better, an enemy’s mana, making it its own.

He could even restart his research on —

Before he could put the cart before the horse, Alvíss quickly snapped out of it, realizing that this was exactly the results the kid was hoping to gain.

He truly was a terrifying child.... especially with that smile.

Adrian looked at the excitement on the old dwarf’s face and only one thought surfaced in his mind.

’Checkmate.’

All he had to do now was continue feeding into the mad man’s lust for experiment and he would’ve gained his first important pawn.

"What do you want?" Alvíss managed to reel in his excitement, hoping that the kid hadn’t noticed it, as he asked.

"Sign a contract with me," Adrian said without the slightest bit of hesitation.

Alvíss frowned at the request, after all, he was sure that the brat would just request some sort of magic tool or weapon in exchange for the core.

But it seems he underestimated the brat.

"Do you know who I am, brat?" The old man asked as his expression darkened.

"I do," Adrian simply replied.

"Is that so?" the old man’s voice dropped, "then you should know I don’t work for anyone."

"What I’m offering you is freedom in your creations," Adrian continued, "materials without restriction, experiments without interference... and results without a single judgment."

He gestured toward the core again.

"Things like this? You won’t have to imagine or drool over," he took a short pause before adding, "you’ll be the one creating them."

As stated before, all he had to do was feed into the man’s lust for experimentation and that was exactly what Adrian was doing.

"And in return?" Alvíss asked.

"You work with me," Adrian simply responded.

"Work for you, you mean," Alvíss corrected.

"No, you’ll be working

for

my Lady, but

with

me," Adrian explained.

Alvíss noticed that the look in the kid’s eyes seemed to change for the briefest of moments when he mentioned his lady, before it quickly went back to normal.

The change was so fast that the old man doubted whether it was his imagination or not.

"You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that," he leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, "but you’re still just a kid walking into my shop and asking me to throw everything away."

There was silence between the two for a while, as Alvíss looked down at the core again, then back at Adrian.

"Say I humor you," he added slowly, "what’s stopping me from taking that and throwing you out?"

Adrian paused for a second, before letting out a low chuckle.

"You can try," he said calmly.

"Besides, I’m sure you’re a lot more interested in what I can offer rather than getting greedy over a single core," Adrian added.

There was a tense silence between the two for a while, with Adrian calmly looking at the old man through his glasses.

The old man still seemed hesitant, which meant Adrian only needed to give one final push, and he did.

"I can also provide a fitting test subject for your living magic tool experiment," the moment the words left his mouth, a heavy pressure immediately fell inside the shop.

The old man slammed his hand on a button under his counter, causing the blinds on the windows to go down as the door locked itself and the sign changed to closed.

Alvíss then turned towards the kid, who was still calm despite the pressure, it was almost as if he felt nothing.

"How the hell do you know about that?" The old man asked in a cold tone, "not even the royal spies should know about it."

"I’ve got my ways," Adrian answered calmly.

This was the final push, and although it would trigger the old man, it would be worth it in the end.

"I see," Alvíss nodded, "then I’ll just have to remove you and your ’ways’."

"As I said," Adrian stepped closer to the counter, also releasing a dark aura as his grey eyes glowed a bit, "you could try."

The two stood at an impasse for a few tense moments.

Alvíss was unsure of the kid’s strength, but his confidence didn’t seem unfound, especially given that he had the core of a best that had absorbed a dragon’s mana.

Adrian, on the other hand, was sure that the old man wouldn’t make a move, after all, his interest has been piqued enough.

After a few more minutes, Alvíss let out a sigh and withdrew his pressure.

"You truly are mysterious for a brat," he said, "and a troublesome one."

Adrian didn’t respond to that, instead, he just waited for the old man’s answer, which soon came.

"Fine," Alvíss said, "as long as you can provide all you promised, then I have no issue working for you.....or your lady."

"Great," Adrian said as he withdraw a contract from his [Shadow Vault], "then you’ll just have to sign this to finalize our deal."

Alvíss looked through the contract, noticing that most of the terms were what the brat had promised him, the only thing that was asked of him in return was loyalty to Adrian and his lady.

Plus, access to all his created magic tools, which shouldn’t be too difficult for the old man if the kid was the one providing the materials.

Without thinking too much, he signed it and suddenly a dark smoke-like energy rose from his signature and pierced his chest.

Though, he felt no pain.

"What the hell was that?" The old man asked with a frown on his face.

"My assurance," Adrian simply said with a smile on his face before turning towards the door again, "then I’ll be taking my leave."

"What about the—" before Alvíss could finish his words, he looked down and noticed that the cores on the counter were still there, and added to it was the special core.

He looked back up and noticed that the kid had disappeared completely, which was strange, given that the shop was on lockdown.

Slowly, he placed a hand on his chest where the dark energy had entered and although he wasn’t sure of it, he could feel the energy wrapped around his heart.

With a sigh, he put his hand back down before muttering,

"I just made a deal with the devil... didn’t I?"