Catherine frowned. "You are far too arrogant. What you're saying is outright blasphemy."
Who struck bargains with gods? Doing so was putting oneself on equal footing with the divine—the textbook definition of sacrilege.
Anbaixiu shook his head. "No, this is by no means arrogance. After everything I've been through, I see my place in the world more clearly than ever. The Elven Gods must see it too, which is why they granted you that crucial blessing to help me pass Fate's trial. If so, why shouldn't they be a little more generous?"
Centuries ago, Anbaixiu had been nothing more than an inconsequential passerby in this world. But ever since the disappearance of the City of Alchemy, he had been steadily marching toward center stage of this continent.
Ryan had rescinded a bounty on an undead for the first time in history; the Silvermoon High Court had been saved from the brink of genocide by Anbaixiu; the City of Alchemy had been bundled up and sold off by Anbaixiu; the Emerald Dream Forest's Dream Barrier had fallen under Anbaixiu's control; and over in the Raging Tide Kingdom, Anbaixiu could return at any moment to play Mengge Grayriver... Step by step, Anbaixiu was moving to the center of the world's stage. That was precisely why so many gods were extending olive branches to him, and even the Elven Gods had chosen a roundabout way to grant him favors.
The act starring Anbaixiu was finally about to begin. A person might only get one chance in a lifetime to play the protagonist, so naturally, he had to milk this role for all the benefits he could get.
Though Catherine had no idea where Anbaixiu drew such confidence from, she still agreed. "I'll do my best to pass it along. But... forget it. Even if I told you this would provoke divine retribution, you wouldn't care anyway, would you?"
"It seems you do understand me after all. Let's go. It's time to head back," Anbaixiu said.
Naomi transformed into a silver dragon and suspended the hourglass artifact before her massive head.
Silvery-white radiance surged from Naomi's body, weaving into threads of light that coiled around the hourglass.
The hourglass inverted, fine starlight-like sands trickling down, and the desert around them began to transform rapidly.
Fierce winds whipped up sandstorms, stirring furious tides again and again before abruptly settling. In a matter of seconds, the surrounding sands rose and fell hundreds of times, while the sun and moon alternated like spinning wheels, blurring into a dizzying spectacle.
The trio was hurtling across months of time, returning to the era they originally belonged to.
When everything around them grew still, Naomi collapsed once more. This time, however, she merely dismissed her time dragon form and looked thoroughly exhausted, without slipping into a deep coma.
Anbaixiu tipped a potion down her throat, had her rest comfortably inside his private space, and turned to Catherine. "We part ways here. I hope the next time we meet, you'll bring me good news."
With that, Anbaixiu turned and flew toward Sweetdew City.
Catherine stood upon the scorching sands, watching Anbaixiu soar all the way to the edge of the horizon.
She didn't know what she was staring at. Clearly, he was a money-grubbing lich who constantly took advantage of her, yet watching him leave like this, Catherine actually felt a touch of reluctance.
Still, it was merely a fleeting flicker of emotion. Catherine soon summoned her giant eagle and took flight in the opposite direction.
In any case, she was fated to slave away for him until she cried her eyes out. They were bound to meet again.
Anbaixiu arrived once more at Sweetdew City. Though less than half a day had passed for him, for this city, the battle from before was an event that had taken place several months ago.
Anbaixiu took a special detour to check on the "undead sand lizard" he had prepared. Sure enough, it remained safely lurking underground. It seemed everything was going smoothly.
Now, all that remained was for Harvey to party up with adventurers and "die" in the jaws of this undead sand lizard.
At that very moment, Harvey was in a tavern, tossing all his bets onto a gambling table.
Without bothering to choose big or small, he closed his eyes and threw coins haphazardly, caring nothing for wins or losses, chasing only sheer amusement.
The two beauties beside him shrieked loudly, even more thrilled than Harvey.
After following Harvey for two days, both women had already made a fortune. This young mage before them was truly youthful and loaded, spending money without a shred of heartache. Harvey picked up the bottle and chugged straight from it. The brew packed a punch; after draining half the bottle, Harvey was already three parts sober and seven parts drunk. In this final stage of life, having fun was the only thing that mattered.
Just as Harvey was reveling in the fun, a cloaked, masked oddball suddenly strode up beside him and asked curiously, "Friend, you're a wizard from the School of Divination, aren't you?"
Harvey looked the strange figure up and down. The man was absurdly tall, over two meters. He was bundled head to toe in a flaxen cloak—common enough attire for desert folk, nothing unusual there, yet his accent didn't sound like a desert dweller in the slightest. What's more, he wore a mask, without a sliver of bare skin showing. Hiding head and tail like that, he definitely wasn't up to any good.
Under normal circumstances, Harvey would have avoided dealing with someone like this, as it only invited trouble. But with death knocking at his door, he welcomed any thrill that came his way.
Harvey slipped his arms from the beauties' shoulders and asked curiously, "Hardly anyone even knows about the School of Divination these days. How did you tell?"
Due to its brutal barrier to entry, this school had nearly become an ancient legend.
"Heh heh, allow me to introduce myself first. I'm Hastings, an adventurer who just arrived in Sweetdew City. I have a commission here that requires a divination wizard like you. Are you interested?"
"Hastings?" Harvey pondered, finding no memory attached to the name, yet his intuition told him this name was deeply connected to him.
Could this be the "teammate" he had foreseen in his prophecy?
The prophecy Harvey had witnessed showed him joining a party for an expedition, only to be slain in a cave by an ambushing magical beast. After waiting all this time, was the prophecy finally playing out?
Harvey harbored no thoughts of declining just to see what would happen. Right now, he was devoid of desire or ambition, merely waiting for death to arrive, without even the slightest impulse to struggle.
After learning of the prophecy, Harvey had spent half a month recording everything he possibly could, then convinced "Serrated Blade" to release a dying man like him.
At first, she hadn't believed him. But after Harvey accurately predicted the desert weather for several days running and helped her root out a traitor within her tribe, Serrated Blade finally believed that Harvey could foresee the future.
Harvey left everything he owned to the orc, then set off to enjoy what remained of his life.
Now, what was destined to come had finally arrived.
Harvey was just about to agree when he suddenly heard a cold scoff: "Don't listen to him! This Hastings makes a living scamming rookies. The bounty he took is to hunt a sand lizard—that's a legendary creature! Yet the commission payout is only three thousand gold, so he doesn't have the money to hire you at all!"
Harvey followed the voice and saw another masked figure, likewise wrapped head to toe in a cloak but notably diminutive in stature, sitting in a tavern corner. That was the person who had spoken.
Harvey was a little dazed. He had fully prepared to embrace his fate—why had someone suddenly popped up to stop him from going to his death? Had he drunk too much and started hallucinating?
Bizarre, but intriguing.
Harvey decided to watch the drama unfold first, asking Hastings, "Is that true?"
Hastings replied with equal nonchalance, "Half-true, half-false. You think he's trying to save you? Heh heh, this guy accepted the exact same commission as me. He's just trying to snatch you away."
Harvey looked toward the short man and asked, "What do you say, friend?"
Hastings cut in sharply, "I'll offer a hundred gold coins up front and split the reward evenly upon completion. Hares, let's see you try to outbid me!"
The short fellow named Hares didn't spare the provocative Hastings a single glance. Walking up to Harvey, he whispered, "Don't listen to this overgrown idiot. What's the point of boasting about payout? Everyone knows how dangerous this quest is, right? If it weren't, it wouldn't have hung on the board for so long without anyone taking it. Friend, let me tell you: I never planned to actually finish it. But for a quest involving a legendary creature, even if you fail to complete it, you can still collect ten percent of the commission."
The short Hares produced a dusky, blackened disc and said to Harvey, "This is a sand lizard scale. After you party up with me, we take a stroll around the site, then turn this in and say we fought the sand lizard. Three hundred gold coins straight into our pockets, and we can split the reward at our leisure. Zero risk."
Harvey chuckled. "Since you can trade this in for the bounty, you could just go alone. Why look for teammates?"
Hares adopted a secretive tone. "Now that's where you don't get it. If I go claim the bounty alone, wouldn't everyone know I faked it? That's a sand lizard, a legendary creature! If I claimed I fought a sand lizard alone and survived, who would buy that? I need to gather a few teammates to pretend we joined forces and drove it back. Don't worry, I've already found the others. All we're missing now is a mage."
Seeing the two whispering secretly, Hastings roughly yanked Harvey aside and said agitatedly, "Don't listen to that bastard—he's the fraud! I swear I'll split the bounty evenly with you. I have a way to deal with the sand lizard, though the odds of success aren't great. You're a divination wizard; you should understand why I sought you out."
Both men made compelling points. One seemed low risk but low return, while the other seemed high risk with high reward.
Harvey didn't care in the least about risks or rewards. What he cared about was: which of these two led to his final resting place?
When he died, which one would be standing at his side, and how was he supposed to reach his predetermined end?
Harvey pondered for a moment, scooped up a handful of gold coins from the gambling table, and said to the two, "How about this: I'll pay you both. Cooperate with me, and we'll go hunt this sand lizard together."
Hastings and Hares froze for a second. Never in their wildest dreams had they expected this outcome. But gazing at those glittering gold coins, both instantly agreed.
Harvey gleefully shoved the coins into their hands and asked, "When do we set out?"
Hastings and Hares chorused, "Meet at the city gate in two hours."
Harvey blinked. Weren't these two enemies? How could they... Subconsciously, he almost cast Detect Lie, but held himself back.
Whatever. It was all arranged by Fate anyway, so why fret over such minor details?
Yet soon enough, Harvey began to regret it.
Because after waiting at the city gate for a full five hours, neither of the two showed their faces.
Having been buffeted by the wind for hours, Harvey's drunkenness finally dissipated for the most part. Belatedly, the thought crossed his mind: *Did I just get scammed?*
Chapter 229