“Lord got his hands over a large number of races from that universe, correct?”

“And?” I didn’t comment on his words. That was indeed a fact, but I didn’t get his point from sharing it.

“Lord keep them here and I’m sure you are thinking how to better use them in the future. You did this because they mattered to you, right?”

“And?” This was also a fact that didn’t need me to comment or confirm. My curiosity and doubt grew by what he said. And they skyrocketed when he added:

“Lord did this because these races got something you need, everyone in our universe actually needs. But think in their stead for a moment. What you experienced here many, tons of warlords of the other universe experienced as well. They got our universe races as hostages over the long course of war…”

He paused, and I got what he was trying to say. What I had here, others had since the start of this war.

This was the nature of any war. Both sides would fight back and forth, with few winnings here and there, few defeats at some point. With each victory, the winner would gain lots of other side forces as hostages.

And when losing, the loser would have to leave behind many things, loot in the form of gears, treasures, and forces.

“To us, any gains from that universe is beneficial. But to them, we won’t give them anything they can use. So…”

“Are you telling me there is a trade going on between our universe and theirs?!!” I could see where this all led to, and that made me deeply shaken.

“Well, it’s a long trade that started a long time ago since the start of this war,” he carefully said, and at this moment I deeply regretted not being able to see through his eyes directly, to ascertain his real intentions.

What was he trying to do here exactly?

“If we get nothing of use to them, then on what basis will they trade with us?” That was the most important question now.

It went without saying that this trade held lots of potential for anyone, not only I. Any loot coming from that huge war battlefield would be literally burdened with treasures and great loot.

Not to mention the forces gained from there would be all elites!

But… Getting that was… On what cost exactly?

“Well… In fact there are few things that interest those enemies,” Oglak seemed to notice my hostility towards this matter, towards him, towards whoever was doing this, and yet he seemed not to bother with it.

It was as if he knew what he was going to say next would make me change my mind or convince me to accept such a thing.

What did I think about it? Well, there was only one thing I could think of that might interest these enemies of my universe… Which would by selling one’s soul to them, turning into a traitor!

And on my dead body I’d accept or even consider such a thing! No f*cking way!

“Did lord hear about the concept of magical artefact before?”

“What? What does this even mean?!!” It was my first time hearing about this concept.

“Sigh! If the lord doesn’t know then… Forget about it then,” he shook his head, making me want to hear more about this new thing.

“No, tell me about it,” I demanded, “even if I didn’t hear about them, that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to get my hands on one or more in the future, right?”

“Well… Lord got a point indeed,” he paused, “they are a collective of natural born treasures, measured to be on the level of artefacts created by races in our universe. However… These artefacts have the advantage of having a great concentration of our universe’s energy. Lord is aware of the difference in energy concentration between our universe and theirs, right?”

“Sure, that’s why we got such suppression when being there, right?”

“That’s correct. And these magical artefacts are the only way our universe races to negate such negative effects.”

“This… Damn!!!” I couldn’t help but scream in excitement and shock, making him misunderstand my reaction.

“Lord has all the right to get surprised. These things… Are naturally born and can be used in different ways. But one of their magical effects is to relieve most of the pressure our people get when being in a hostile universe.”

“So… You’re telling me they want these to weaken our forces?” I didn’t expose any of what I was thinking about right now. And instead, I focused on better understanding what he meant by all this.

“No, lord got it wrong. They are interested in something else,” yet he kept shaking his head again, “these treasures got another use, one that could be used inside our universe. Some will create worlds, others will even destroy worlds… But to all great forces, they mainly use them at the grand battlefield out there. Yet…”

He paused before his tone turned all serious:

“Lord… If you ever got your hands over one of these, never ever throw their benefit away and use them just to negate the pressure on the other universe.”

“But without it, our forces will be greatly weakened!”

“Not if they had high cultivation bases, the higher we climb, the weaker that negative effect will be.”

“Then… You are advising me to use these treasures in my worlds? What’s that has to do with what the other universe powerhouses want from us?”

I kept faking my ignorance about what he was speaking about, aiming to get more information before exposing everything to him.

“Lord… When you get such treasure and use it, you’ll be shocked by what you’ll see… There are lots of marvellous creations that will appear thanks to using these treasures. Of course the best are the ones that destroy worlds. They can constillate any world’s energy into great things. But the ones creating worlds aren’t that bad, yet they just need time, lots of time to give birth to something valuable.”