Frozen Lake meticulously details the product’s characteristics, regardless of it being a human and standing less than a meter away from her.

“Myriad Essences…”

The slave’s name is Erratic Delirium, he is a man with messy black hair, rather ugly. Considering his level is 416, his thought process is much like Lawrence’s, someone who doesn’t care about beauty, thus, leveling up did not improve his appearance. He has dark skin and sky-blue eyes, is slender and as tall as Lawrence.

Unexpectedly, he acquired his name due to one of the side effects of his innate ability, Myriad Essences, which allows him to perceive through all his senses the characteristics of a spiritual herb, regardless of its origin. Before reaching level 400, his innate ability was uncontrollable, he was often delirious and spouted nonsense due to the plants around him.

He is so perfect to inherit the knowledge of Sky Petal that Lawrence can’t help but suspect the ulterior motives of this deal.

“Why not nurture him yourselves and profit from the gains?”

Frozen Lake responds unflinchingly, as if it’s a reply she has repeated countless times. “Because that takes time, and time is money. My lady sells slaves, not scholars.”

According to her, they only gave him basic knowledge about pill refining and leveled him up until he could control his own innate ability.

Since they have already increased his value, it is now time to sell him.

“How did he become a slave?”

“They found him on the brink of death and after saving him, they sold him as a slave.”

[Whoever finds it, owns it] is a phrase not just for inanimate objects. If a person cannot save themselves, nor have the means to pay for their rescue, only two fates await them. Death or slavery.

After gathering all possible information about Erratic Delirium, it’s time for business.

“2.2 million gold. The pill furnace is free.”

Lawrence shakes his head, “1.5 million gold. His future is promising, but how many extraordinary innate abilities are there in this world, and how many of them have become supreme rankers?”

“2 million gold.” She responds unflinchingly.

“Frozen Lake, I hold your mistress in high regard, but I can’t forget that those goods you previously sold me were not clean. Show me your goodwill and I’ll forget everything, give me an excuse to forgive you.”

Her words catch Frozen Lake by surprise. Of course, she was aware of what happened with the Green Wolves, as well as the failure they represented. She and her mistress assumed there was no going back and enmity was the only outcome, hence, she did not anticipate Lawrence’s proposal.

She remains silent for a few seconds before saying: “1.8 million gold, no less.”

“…Alright.”

After sealing the deal with a handshake, Frozen Lake arranges for Erratic Delirium to be handed over along with the pill furnace.

As Lawrence leaves the place with the slave, Frozen Lake watches his back through the window with a peculiar gaze. For someone who doesn’t express emotions on her face, her look is very telling.

+++

Inside the carriage, Lawrence gazes outside with a hand on his cheek.

“Was what that woman said true?”

Erratic Delirium nods obediently, “Yes.”

“I see.”

The journey continues in silence, with neither trying to start a conversation. Until Lawrence gets off the carriage and Erratic Delirium follows like a faithful servant, walking three steps behind his master. Both walk calmly through some alleys until they stop in front of a beautiful woman with a long jet-black braid.

Her smile is so beautiful that it could bring anyone back to life just by seeing it.

After he creates a Dimensional Rift and they all enter it, Serene Will says: “You’ve been fooled again, that guy is a spy.”

“Hah… damn it… I knew it! It was too good to be true!”

Lawrence rubs his forehead and sighs loudly, while Erratic Delirium tries to keep calm, but the trembling in his hands betrays him.

“Wondering how I found out? I know why you’re doing all this.”

A silent exchange of glances occurs between them, Serene Will showing the upper hand and Erratic Delirium slowly turning pale.

Her words were just bait for him to answer all her questions through his thoughts because he still doesn’t understand that she can read his mind. But the longer this silence is maintained, the expression on Serene Will’s face changes. Until she frowns.

Seconds later, she looks at Lawrence. “The situation isn’t as bad as I thought… since they couldn’t track down the Green Wolves, they used a person who could reveal the circumstances surrounding the refiner Bearer of Light. They are threatening him with a loved one, he voluntarily became a slave to save them.”

“Is he forbidden to speak?”

Lawrence can deduce why Erratic Delirium hasn’t said a single word since arriving here, despite everything being discovered.

“Yes, it will be difficult to remove such magic from his body in the near future. Though it shouldn’t be a problem considering that magic from outside is useless here.”

“They must think this place is protected, hence they sent a hunter to find an opportunity to escape and inform them. The question is, why do all this? He himself is a promising pill refiner, why chase after an uncertain result?”

Serene Will responds with a smile on her face. “It’s not easy to achieve such a high degree of purity. Perhaps they hope to discover her secret and for that…” She points to the slave with her finger, “They are willing to sacrifice a talent in order to get a goose that lays golden eggs… something you would also do if you had the chance.”

During this time, she was playing with Erratic Delirium to get more answers through his thoughts, but a promising pill refiner wouldn’t be [promising] just for his abilities.

‘She… Can she get information from me? But how…?’

It wouldn’t take long for him to realize that this woman somehow is able to get information from him, whether through his emotions, thoughts, proximity, or certain conditions.

What’s important is not to guess, but to understand what’s happening. Because after this, he would stop thinking and being influenced by this woman.

Lawrence and Serene Will, both notice the change in Erratic Delirium’s attitude and change their strategy.

“Reigning Myrias is famous for having no feelings for her slaves, it wouldn’t be strange if from the first day your loved ones were already killed. It generates a cost to keep them alive and watch over them, and she, who loves money, wouldn’t be willing to waste it.”

“…”

Serene Will is the next to speak, “We have a way to find them, you should know that you are facing a time-limited dilemma. Who do you want to trust? The one who put you in this situation or the one who saw value in you?”

“You know that all I’m interested in is your future, not your current self.”

Slowly Erratic Delirium falls into sentimentality, and his face is no longer so expressionless. He fell into slavery to save his loved ones, how could they not matter to him? But… But he is also afraid.

If he bets on the wrong horse, he will lose everything.

“It wasn’t long ago that I regained consciousness…”

Erratic Delirium speaks again after a long time, “Until then, my life flowed between madness and reality. I regret the day that expert found me and saw talent in me, for believing in him I fell into the hands of that woman and my only support…”

‘Was taken from me.’

His broken sentences are due to the limitations imposed on him by a spell, only Serene Will is able to obtain the continuation of his words and communicate them to Lawrence. It seems Erratic Delirium has been talking to himself for a long time, narrating his life and his fateful encounters, until his tale ends.

“Sphinx City.”

‘My brother Ilhan, level 107, looks similar to me but more handsome. My mother Helen, level 199, black hair and eyes, white skin, she’s beautiful…’

Lawrence frowns for a second but quickly understands the meaning of his words. Erratic Delirium is cooperating with them, but since a magic prevents him from speaking, he could only communicate the name of the city, while through his thoughts he tells Serene Will the rest of the information.

“Alright. We’ll gather information about you and your family, someone must know the madman of the neighborhood. We won’t be long in finding out about them. We need to act fast, wait here.”

“Yes.”

Sphinx City is considered a city of mortals in the Heavenly Path Kingdom. Their levels start at the lowest level 1 and ascend to level 250. It’s a peaceful city, even with the threat of demonic beasts looming, as any hunter from the Divine Plane is sufficient to solve all their problems with a mere wave of their hand.

After moving away from the slave, Serene Will glances sideways at Lawrence.

“You look cheerful.”

“Is that so? Maybe so.” He doesn’t deny her words, in fact… “This is the second time a talent has presented themselves to me.”

The first time was Sky Petal and the second is Erratic Delirium. In both cases, he didn’t have to do anything, they just appeared out of nowhere in front of him.

“Maybe I have a destiny with pill refiners.”

Serene Will smiles and looks forward. “As long as you’re happy.”

In the following hours, Lawrence, Serene Will, Coldness Divine, and Sky Petal head to Sphinx City and set foot in the city of mortals for the first time in their lives. Until then such a city had not entered their eyes, but now they have to change their opinion. If they really want to find talents, keeping an eye on these places wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“Erratic Delirium is more famous than I thought, it will be much easier to find him than you mentioned, Lawrence.” Sky Petal opens her eyes and looks at him cheerfully, “The plants speak very well of him, they say he’s amusing. It’s my first time hearing something like that! If all goes well, I wouldn’t mind taking him as a disciple.”

Normally, plants are forgetful, only the collective consciousness can remember the most relevant events. That the plants describe him as [someone amusing] means that the information about him is plentiful, because for them, he is important!

Perhaps he cannot communicate with plants, but if his innate ability allows him to sense all the characteristics of the spiritual herbs when refining pills, he will achieve the same result, but with a different procedure than Sky Petal.

“Ah… oh…”

He realizes her strange behavior and asks: “Is something wrong?”

“It’s as you said, Lawrence…” Sky Petal clears her throat before saying: “They are dead, they were killed the first day they were captured.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep