Chapter 31: A Six-Year Gamble

As for Raphael not giving a damn about his own talent, Leo felt extremely satisfied. This was exactly the effect he wanted. Right now, he had only thought of two main uses for hiding his talent.

The first was regarding future enemies. When he started being more active, of course more and more people would notice him. When these people saw his talent was only one star, they definitely wouldn’t pay special attention. This was the talent ranked second from the bottom, only above people with no cultivation talent. It was the kind of talent you could find a whole bunch of people with even in a small village.

The second was regarding his own side. Later, he would definitely spread the word about the model of overcoming difficulties (Leo). He would show his future comrades the passion of a youth with ’lowly’ talent relentlessly moving forward, stepping towards the peak.

“There’s no such thing as a trash contract, only trash contractors. Give me three years and I will definitely prove to you that for a revolutionary, nothing is impossible.”

Raphael covered his mouth to hold back a laugh, but it seemed he couldn’t hold it in much longer. What kind of line was that? If you want to be inspiring, don’t be so stupidly inspiring. How could talent, which affects the maximum limit and cultivation speed, possibly change because of a saying?

“Pfft, ha ha ha, you’re so optimistic. Let’s see, when you experience actual cultivation you’ll know what despair is. With a one-star talent, unless your family is loaded, there’s no way you can cultivate, even just to level ten.”

Although he was laughing, his words were one hundred percent true. He wasn’t the kind of noble who sat high up without knowing what happened below. After so many years of training and experience outside, he had witnessed no shortage of people giving up because of a one-star talent.

“Shut up! What does an old drunk like you know about human will? I’ll show you, as long as you don’t give up in your heart, you can definitely do anything.”

Refreshing, so f*cking refreshing. For some reason, the more Leo spoke, the more fun he felt. This act of pretending to be trash and then suddenly rising up to shock the whole world like this is so fun.

“Hmph, what good is will? Do you think if you think you’re a pig you’ll actually become a pig? Do you think if you think you can fly you’ll float in the sky? Wanting an example isn’t hard. Go down to the small village at the foot of the mountain and count how many one-star talent people gave up on cultivating?”

Raphael let out a disdainful snort. Just some teenage passion… wrong, childish passion, what’s so admirable about it? Reality is the most solid proof, no matter how eloquent the words, they can’t change the facts.

Leo knew he was losing the argument, but so what? He was acting, he had to act convincingly. Act so well that even the closest people would be fooled, then unfamiliar enemies definitely couldn’t suspect a thing.

“Hmph, you old fossil. Do you dare make a bet with me?”

???

Who gave you that confidence? Could it be your current weight helping you? Both Michael and Raphael looked at Leo with utterly incredulous eyes.

Raphael’s eyes rolled slyly. Through their time interacting, he felt Leo was somewhat a man of his word. While not a hundred percent certain he’d comply, he could always use this bet to pressure him. Such a good opportunity absolutely couldn’t be passed up.

“You won’t go back on your word?”

“Of course. Are you looking down on me?”

The two stared each other down, neither yielding in intensity. They really were a ’loving’ father-son pair.

“Not good enough. I want you to swear on your ideals that you won’t go back on your word.” Raphael curled his lip, his smile devilish.

Leo froze, his gaze trembling slightly. Could his noble ideals be sworn on so casually? No, his ideals were unstoppable. How could a mere little bet extinguish them?

“I swear on my ideals I absolutely will not go back on my word. Let’s bet on how much I can progress within three years.”

At this moment, not just Raphael, but even Michael was surprised. Everyone knew Leo considered his ideals more important than his own life. Since it was that important, why dare to bet? Could it be that your ideals give you the confidence to challenge the world’s rules?

Such a good deal, Raphael naturally wouldn’t refuse. He originally just wanted to test Leo’s limits, never expected him to actually agree.

“Good. But three years? Are you trying to make me laugh? I’ll give you a full six years. If within six years you reach level ten, consider me the loser. The winner must fulfill one request of the loser. Do you agree?”

Leo’s breathing became rapid, his gaze so full of hesitation he was left speechless. Seeing this scene, Raphael’s smile grew brighter, as if victory was already firmly in his grasp.

No one could detect a flash of cunning in Leo’s eyes. Everything was staged to hook a big fish.

Just thinking about winning the bet six years later and being able to bring a strong person like Raphael onto the path of revolution made Leo feel excited.

“Deal, but you have to swear too, and it has to be sworn on my mother’s honor.”

Though Raphael rarely showed it, after several years of observation, Leo could see this jaded father loved his mother very much. Using this to force Raphael to one hundred percent comply with the bet was very difficult, but at least this was the method with the highest success rate Leo could think of.

“You impudent brat, what did you just say?”

Raphael’s aura erupted, clearly angered by this ’filial’ son.

“Are you deaf? Dare to swear or not dare to swear? If you don’t dare, it means you’re lying.”

Despite being overpowered in strength, Leo still stood straight and retorted without any concession.

Raphael took a deep breath, quickly calmed down, and withdrew his aura. Important matters came first, he couldn’t get angry over such a small thing. There was plenty of time, he didn’t lack opportunities to ’educate’ Leo later.

“Fine. I swear on Astrid’s honor that I will not go back on my word.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep