Seeking a Buyer

Geronimo awoke to a splitting headache. Opening his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling and a pale, terrifying skull. "You're awake?" Anbaixiu's voice yanked Geronimo back to reality. In sheer panic, he tried to struggle, only to find his body bound tight by glowing magical ropes. "Don't thrash around, or you'll only suffer." Geronimo was in no mood to listen. He strained against the bindings with all his might, but the ropes only drew tighter, cinching his body until his bones creaked. Pain wracked him from head to toe, wrenching a miserable cry from his throat. Only then did he realize that he had turned back into a frail, powerless human youth. "How could this happen? My power! What did you do to me?!" Geronimo demanded loudly. He had clearly transformed into a dragon, no longer a fragile mortal. Why had he been reduced to something as weak as an ant again in the blink of an eye? Anbaixiu said flatly, "Learn your place, kid. Since when does a prisoner get to ask questions? Right now, it's my turn to ask. Oh, and just a reminder: I'm a lich. I know enough torture methods to fill a book, so I hope you won't waste both our time. If you insist on playing tough and force me to rip out your soul to sift through your memories, it won't be pleasant for anyone." Anbaixiu's words filled Geronimo with deep humiliation. Not long ago, he had been a mighty dragon soaring through the sky, yet now he was reduced to a lich's lab specimen. Wait... a lich? Geronimo stared at Anbaixiu in shock. Could this be the very same lich from before? After devouring Hoffman Ironfist, Geronimo's memory had become a haze. He had fallen into a state of utter confusion back then, and he couldn't recall what had happened afterward. How had he ended up captured by this lich? After all those twists and turns, had he still wound up in this lich's hands? Was this destiny? Geronimo's will shattered under this bizarre sense of fatalism. To think that after suffering so much and struggling so hard, the outcome was still the exact same. It would have been better to die by this lich's hand back then; at least it would have spared him all the wandering and misery that followed. "Ask whatever you want," Geronimo said coldly. "Then give me a quick death." Anbaixiu watched the boy plunge from agitation into despair, losing his will to live in just a few seconds. Such extreme emotional swings... So even kids in this world went through an edgy teenage phase. Anbaixiu cared little for adolescent mental health; he was merely curious about what this boy had gone through to actually transform into a dragon. Moreover, Anbaixiu could faintly sense threads of fate entangling him with the kid. Though subtle, the boy's draconic transformation seemed linked to him in some way. Anbaixiu thoroughly questioned Geronimo about his transformation into a dragon, and he was mildly shocked by the boy's tumultuous life story. From an orphan of the old civilization to a serf, from a serf rising to a paladin candidate, then abandoned on the battlefield, falling into betrayal against the Holy Light to become a hell lord's devotee, and finally transforming into a dragon. Such a short time, yet such a convoluted life—it was truly absurd. No wonder threads of fate bound them together; most of the boy's misfortunes were directly connected to him. Anbaixiu said to Geronimo, "So, the memories of the pre-civilization Cult of the Dragon, combined with the Evil Dragon Goddess's blessing and a massive amount of flesh as nourishment, turned you into a dragon. Although it was a false legendary power, your legendary boon has to do with devouring flesh, doesn't it?" "I'm not sure," Geronimo replied, "but I know I can gain power by devouring anything. I can even gain memories and use the abilities of the people I eat. It's just that after eating too much, I completely lose my mind." Geronimo's words made Anbaixiu quite envious. During the battle, he had already noticed Geronimo using a monk's ki, and Hoffman Ironfist had been a legendary monk. In other words, as long as he ate legends of every class, he could acquire the abilities of all classes. Such a legendary boon was utterly defying the heavens; no wonder he couldn't handle it. The more he ate, the stronger he grew, and the stronger he grew, the less control he had, naturally producing an effect akin to mana addiction. If this kid could have stayed patient and spent several centuries properly digesting it all, he might really have grown into a legendary dragon atop the pyramid. But everything had cause and effect. The reason he obtained such a legendary boon in the first place was his greed and ambition. That obsession granted him immense power, but because his ambition couldn't stop, it drove him completely out of control. What a pity that a legendary boon couldn't be extracted, or it would have been an incredible windfall. Having obtained the information he needed, it was time to consider what to do with the kid. "Both the Ryan Empire and the dragons are quite interested in you. However, the dragons are overseas, so shipping you there would be a bit of trouble..." Cutting Anbaixiu off halfway, Geronimo shouted, "I don't want to go to Ryan! Send me overseas—I choose the dragons!" He had gone through so much hardship to betray... no, to cast aside the Holy Light. How could he possibly be handed over to Ryan? That fate would be worse than death. "Heh," Anbaixiu chuckled, saying to Geronimo, "Who told you that you have a choice? I'm merely informing you. Whichever side pays more is the side that gets you. Did you think you wouldn't have to pay for smashing my castle?!" The only reason Geronimo was still breathing was that Anbaixiu wanted to turn him into coin; otherwise, he would have killed him on the spot. The Ryan Empire had been the driving force behind the ancient expulsion of dragons. With dragon roars echoing over the continent once again, they would take it very seriously and have no choice but to pay up. As for the dragons, although the Evil Dragon Goddess was not the rightful chief deity of the dragon race, plenty of dragons still held affection for this "Dragon Mother." The fact that Geronimo could transform into a dragon made him quite valuable to them as well. In theory, the dragons had deeper pockets than Ryan, but how much they were willing to shell out remained unclear and required careful negotiation. For the sake of the Bone Dragon Eldest Miss, if both sides offered the same price, the dragons would definitely get priority. Seeing Anbaixiu fall silent, Geronimo said frantically, "I have money too! I'll pay you! Just sell me to the dragons—I can't go to Ryan!" Money?! Triggered by the magic word, Anbaixiu turned his head, fixing his empty eye sockets on the boy. In the tersest tone, he asked, "How much? Where?" "I don't know, maybe around a million! I hid it! As long as you promise not to send me to Ryan, I'll give all of it to you!" Geronimo had found several hundred thousand gold coins in the Cerberus family's vault, and then looted another five hundred thousand from the dwarves, totaling nearly a million. Perhaps because draconic instincts had taken over while his mind was clouded, he had stashed all those gold coins inside a dragon lair he had excavated. Recalling it now, he could still vaguely remember the approximate location. "Around a million... that's not bad. Arson and murder really are the quickest way to make a fortune," Anbaixiu mused. The kid had only been a dragon for a few days, yet he had managed to rake in about a million. How enviable. "If you really give me a million, I can promise you priority for being sold to the dragons. At equal price, you'll have an extra million's worth of priority." You get as much priority as you pay for. Anbaixiu was a businessman who prided himself on fair dealing and honest business. Geronimo wanted a guarantee, not some vague priority. But in Anbaixiu's hands, he lacked any power to resist, so he could only reveal the lair's general location. "There might still be a few of my servants guarding it. When you take the gold... if possible, please spare them." "Servants?" "I shared my blood with them. They received part of the dragon's power too." Geronimo's words gave Anbaixiu pause. "Your blood?" "Yes. They were all slaves originally. It was only after absorbing my blood that they gained power." Anbaixiu badly wanted to tell Geronimo that his blood carried mana addiction. By fusing with his blood, they had likely contracted mana addiction as well; even without Anbaixiu lifting a finger, they would destroy themselves. However, that was a secret of the elves, and Anbaixiu couldn't casually disclose it to Geronimo. This kid, who had stirred up such a storm, had no idea that everything he created was doomed to perish, leaving behind at most a few brief lines in history. Speaking of destruction, though, Anbaixiu suddenly thought of a new buyer. Casting a Sleep spell to knock Geronimo out, Anbaixiu softly chanted an incantation. A mass of dark shadow coalesced before him. This was the "Weave knowledge" bestowed upon him by Shar, the Goddess of Darkness. The sealing technique used to counter mana addiction had been derived from this very shadow. Beyond carrying memories, the shadow held a special property: it allowed communication with Shar at any time. Anbaixiu linked his consciousness to the shadow and transmitted a message inside. "Honored Goddess, as promised before, I would bring a legend to become your follower. I happen to have a paladin candidate here who has abandoned the Holy Light—and who just so happens to be a legend. I wonder if you might be interested." Ryan was rich, and the dragons were rich, but no matter how wealthy they were, they couldn't compare to a deity. What a deity could offer often couldn't be measured in coin—just like "Weave knowledge," which money could never buy. Since he was selling anyway, why not sell to a god? Goddess Shar did not reply immediately, likely still busy plotting against her twin sister. Anbaixiu was in no rush. He stowed the shadow away and pulled out the Necrotic Codex, preparing to send a message to the Bone Dragon Eldest Miss to see what the dragons would offer. Yet as soon as he opened the codex, Anbaixiu found the group chat bustling with excitement. While Anbaixiu had been busy looking for a buyer, Heji Stone was boasting wildly in the chat. [Dislikes Humans: Friends, starting today, I am the dwarf king.]