Chapter 253 Trading

Nial didn't care much about politics and he would rather fight someone than to give them an Ultimatum, or to manipulate them into doing something.

Scheming was never his forte, and it was good that way. 'Well, I would probably confuse myself if I were to have as many plans as Silvian created before incarnating.' Nial chuckled as he thought about Silvian.

A few days had passed since he advanced to the 1st Ancient Mirae rank, and a lot had changed since then.

More human Originals had been accepted in the Forest of Life, and a small 'base' had been created outside the Forest, where some Elves began to negotiate with merchants, who had come forth to strike the iron while it was still hot.

The merchants were allowed to purchase various runic armaments, special plants, potions, and various other things.

However, there were also restrictions on how many runic armaments the Elves could sell. After all, they weren't able to bring too much from their home planet to Jundra.

In fact, it was not possible for them to bring more than a handful of Tier-2 runic armaments to Jundra, and not a single material they brought exceeded the Champion grade either.

Jundra's subconscious protection and filter system to weed out threats were quite terrifying, and it was even harsher when it came to the infiltration of existences that were not supposed to reach the planet yet.

Dungeon portals were accepted by Jundra up to a certain level because they were helpful for the awakening of the planet's planetary mana core. However, the infiltration of a specific race was actually more burdensome to the planet than helpful.

Jundra merely accepted the Forest of Life due to the benefits the lands around it could gain.

The excessive mana the Forest of Life radiated nourished the surrounding area, it allowed more dungeons to create their anchors and manifest near it, and it was even possible for it to nourish the planet itself.

If it wouldn't have been for the Forest of Life, maybe the Elves wouldn't have been able to emerge on Jundra, let alone with as many resources as they brought with them.

Since cooperation between the elves and humans had been initiated, things got much easier. Valvian and Master Crevian ordered their subordinates to treat humans better and to strike friendly conversations with them. This would be the start of their relationship, even if it was obvious that some setbacks would happen from time to time.

However, that was perfectly fine because time would only strengthen their relationship.

Everything was a little bit awkward and confusing in the first few days, but with the appearance of some humans, who were either liked by nature or mana or even loved by it, things got much easier for the Elves as well.

They realized that there were more humans, loved by mana than just Nial and the veiled woman which meant that their initial assumption had been an unfair prejudice against all humans in general.

Nial was also loved by nature, which was not the case for the veiled woman.

But that was not something Hana, the veiled woman, could be bothered about. She was busy acting as her master's temporary translator, assistant, and even merchant.

The Elves were much nicer to her than to Kirlia, which was why Kirlia Maverick used Hana's 'condition' to her advantage.

Of course, this was for the sake of the Heaven's Gate organization, to allow them to make up for the losses of their Prometheus Originals.

Time passed in the blink of an eye for the humans in and around the Forest of Life. If they had been frustrated about the Elves' earlier behavior, they were overjoyed to be accepted by them now.

Only Miranda was still a little bit frustrated and even annoyed at that.

"I don't think it is correct not to say anything about the Dryx... Didn't you say that they would attack soon?" She could only ask with a deep sigh.

However, Nial just shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not like I wanted to make it a secret. The president and his counselor decided that it would be best to keep it a secret for the time being. Though, I understand how the president tries to manipulate everyone's mind." Nial didn't know much about the president, let alone the counselor, and he actually didn't care about it.

But even if he didn't care much about them, he had to acknowledge that the way they wanted to manipulate their own people was quite interesting.

"You mean the fact that all the merchants and powerful Organizations will willingly rush to their help the moment they hear that the Dryx will attack the Forest of Life, in hopes of gaining the Elves' favor?

So that they will be able to get their hands on more knowledge, resources, and much more?" Mathias suddenly intervened. Even if Mathias was a simple person, he was able to deduce certain schemes when he saw them.

And it was quite obvious that the merchants and every single powerful Organization, big family, even the military and government wanted to get as many resources from the Elves, whether it was knowledge, combat techniques, teachings, or goods such as runic weapons!

They would not only offer their help readily but they would be fully armed in front of the Forest of Life, the moment they would hear about the threat stemming from the Dryx.

After all, it was obvious how dangerous the Dryx's entire existence was to the Forest of Life!

"There are more, small reasons for them to act like this, but you mentioned the most important one." Miranda agreed, nodding her head before sighing once again.

'Did we really do everything correctly?' She wondered, her face showing her disappointment a bit.

Nial noticed that Miranda was not happy, but there was not much he could do for her.

"Don't worry about it. Making mistakes is nothing we should be afraid of. If we fear taking action, it is more likely for us to make irreversible mistakes than by doing something that 'might' actually be a mistake.

As long as we try our best we are allowed to make mistakes, and we can fix them as well!" Nial remarked, letting out his inner philosopher.

Miranda rolled her eyes at Nial's comment but she couldn't help but feel a bit astonished.

'How did he know that I was thinking specifically about this? And why does he act like an old wise man? He is still 19!'

Miranda felt like beating Nial into a pulp. This was not the first time in the last week that she thought he deserved a good beating. Somehow, he had begun to irk her more since he created his first Origin ring.

Nial had changed a bit, and these changes were exactly what bothered Miranda. 'Bothering' might be too strong of a word, but it was definitely unusual for Miranda to see Nial like this.

But even then, there was nothing wrong with Nial. He was still the same person as before, even if something seemed to influence his mind a little.

"How about we focus on learning more about runic armaments for the time being? At least, until the Dryx attack. Afterward, we can go back." Nial suddenly suggested.

During the last few days, they had decided that they would leave after Silvian attacked the Forest of Life. A small-scale war might not be something one should look forward to, but that was exactly what Nial did.

He wanted to test his power, see how long he could fight, and figure out where his limits lay.

Dryx were cunning beings, who could breed rapidly. Their individual strength may not be overwhelming but their numbers were what made them special, and the disease they transmitted to others made them deadly.

There were many interesting things about the Dryx, but Nial was most interested in their mana core and fighting them with his life on the line, at best.

The last few months had been extremely boring for him, and it was time to fight and let lose a little bit.

And that was exactly what he wanted to do while making some profit with the Dryx's mana core that could be concocted into highly potent runic solutions!

"Alright, let's join Crevian's lectures.' Miranda announced, and her worry about the Dryx disappearing for the time being. Her worry was replaced by excitement when she thought about the vast knowledge she had acquired from Master Crevian's open lessons despite not being able to understand the elven tongue completely.

Mathias was also excited, but he was still thinking about the trouble that awaited them in the future.

'I wonder if the fight against the Dryx will be just like it had been in the Teradan military camp...probably not, it will be far more devastating...'

Mathias' worry was not unfounded. Nial and Miranda's reactions were way too weird, and it looked like Nial didn't take the situation seriously. At least, that was how it looked at the first glance.

Only Mathias knew that his friend would be the first one to fight with his life on the line if things escalated.

In fact, Nial would fight with all his might as long as it meant that he would become stronger, gain more benefits and get closer to his goal; to find and reunite with his family.

By fighting against the Dryx, and by familiarizing himself with all the big families, including everyone in the military and the government, and the secret organizations, Nial wanted to get information about his family.

It was about time that he got actual evidence that they were still alive.

His gut feeling might be quite helpful to lessen his worry, but Nial was not able to be certain and at ease that his family was alive, just because his gut told him so.

That was why it was extremely important for Nial to get on the good side of a few influential humans.

His connections were basically non-existent after all.

'Even if I cannot establish contact with many people while fighting the Dryx, as long as I can get their mana cores, it will be possible to create runic solutions. Like that, I can create stronger runic armaments, and create some connections with powerful and influential people by selling these armaments.'

Nial had several plans up his sleeve. However, he also knew that most plans were bound to fail if one were to focus too much on them. That was why he chose to maintain his calm, to continue attending Master Crevian's open lessons about runic armaments, and to learn as much as possible.

Learning was the only thing Nial could do right now. Elves didn't like fighting against each other seriously. Thus, it was quite difficult to find someone, who wanted to spar with him, using their entire power.

'Sigh, why can't Jase, or Yves be here? They would probably love to fight me with all their might... Oh, well, they would probably be too weak to face me right now...I forgot about that...' Nial sighed deeply when he entered the big tree house where the open class would be held.

However, when he saw that Hana was present as well, his interest was piqued. So far, she had never joined the open classes, and it was near-impossible to see her without Kirlia.

Yet, right now, Hana was alone and surrounded by a few male Elves, who bombarded her with questions.

When Nial perceived this, he nearly laughed out loud. It was weird for Elves to react like this, even more so because they had no idea whether Hana was beautiful or not.

Yet, what Nial didn't expect to happen was that Hana rushed out of the crowd of male Elves, straight toward him.

"C-Can I join you guys?"

**

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