Chapter 538 - 217: Unless I’m Crazy

"HISSS—" (Food, food—)

The moment the Nightmare Worm appeared, it jumped onto the workbench. Its soft tentacles writhed back and forth, dragging its small, round head as it slid about. Its single eye was fixed on Wei’en, looking extremely eager.

SMACK.

Wei’en tapped it on the head, making it roll around on the workbench in pain. "Is food all you think about? Did you bring back the letter?"

"HISSS!" (Brought it!)

The little Messenger opened its mouth and spat out a letter. Just like the Nightmare Worms in the triangular box, which were constantly rushing about to complete transaction contracts, it stored items in an internal space connected to its mouth.

"HISSS—" (Food, food—)

Wei’en took the letter, patted its head, and chuckled. "I’ll take you to get something to eat after I’m done with this."

After speaking, he ignored the little Messenger’s tantrum and took out a sheet of parchment from within, as well as...

"Oh?"

Wei’en raised an eyebrow. ’An extra Space Ring as a bonus?’

If he remembered correctly, the letter he had written was a request to find a Legendary-level Wizard from the destiny divination system who could cast a Destiny Barrier on him...

He set the ring aside and opened the parchment to read.

"Respected Lord Faceless Great Wizard, I am ’Nana’ of the Nightmare Realm World, and I am delighted to have received your letter. Also, my real name is Olifuna Villarba, an Advanced Mage of the Spiritual Mystery School. You can just call me Olifuna. (Please forgive my presumption; this is merely to make it easier to stay in contact with you in the future.)"

’Presumption?’

’Make contact easier?’

’Is introducing herself right at the start a show of sincerity?’

’Or a gesture of goodwill?’

’This is a good start, though...’

Wei’en continued reading, lost in thought.

"Regarding the matter mentioned in your letter, about trading with our Spiritual Mystery School for the Legendary Magic—Destiny Barrier, I have already reported it to the School."

"After discussions among the School’s upper echelons, there are now two transaction contracts for you to choose from."

"Contract One: For one million gold pounds, Legendary Mage Oleg Eisnerach of the Spiritual Mystery School’s destiny divination system will cast a destiny divination Magic for you."

’One million gold pounds?!’

Wei’en sucked in a sharp breath. Without a moment’s hesitation, he looked for the second option. ’Two, two, two!’

He knew the Spiritual Mystery School might use this opportunity to demand an exorbitant price, but one million gold pounds was still shocking.

’Do they really think I’m a sucker?’

"Contract Two: In light of your performance at the Nightmare Tower gathering, our Spiritual Mystery School’s Chief Lord, Ragnar Yasmani Blackmore, wishes to reach an agreement with you regarding the defects in the Magic Runes..."

’A trade related to the Magic Rune defects?’

’And it’s from the Chief Lord of the Spiritual Mystery School?’

Wei’en raised an eyebrow. He knew what "Chief" meant.

He recalled the term from the original owner’s memories. It was from his initial training as an Intelligence Officer, written as the first entry in the training manual—Vaklaf Samuel Kapo, Chief Dean of the Ghost Soul School.

’The Chief Dean of the Spiritual Mystery School... It seems my spur-of-the-moment decision yesterday didn’t only bring negative consequences.’

"The School agrees to use the destiny divination knowledge system as a trade item, but the Chief Lord does not believe the third defect you provided is of equal value. The specific details of the transaction will require further communication."

"To that end, the School has permitted me to maintain close contact with you. When necessary, the Chief Lord will contact you directly."

"Of course, if you choose Contract One, please write back and let me know. I will inform the Legendary Oleg and have him contact you as soon as possible to sign the transaction contract."

"Finally, once you receive this letter, please write back and inform me of your choice."

"Standing on the shoulders of knowledge’s giants, truth is within reach—Olifuna Villarba of the Spiritual Mystery School."

Wei’en put down the letter and rubbed his furrowed brow. Things were even trickier than he had imagined.

He had fantasized before that the Spiritual Mystery School, as the greatest user of Magic Runes, would be willing to put the knowledge of their destiny divination system into a contract to trade for his Magic Rune defects.

But that was just a fantasy, after all.

When he actually saw those lines written in the letter, Wei’en’s scalp tingled.

He was well aware of the cruelty and reality of this world. For them to be willing to pay such a high price to trade for a solution to the Magic Rune defects meant the Spiritual Mystery School considered the problems with their own Magic Runes to be even more severe.

According to what Wizard Olifuna said last night, the knowledge of the destiny divination system was the core of the Spiritual Mystery School, their most heavily protected system of Magic.

This point was evident from the fact that even the Ghost Soul School had no inherited knowledge of the destiny divination system. Otherwise, with the Ghost Soul School’s nature, how could they possibly let such a juicy piece of meat go?

Coupled with the two moves the Ghost Soul School had made, which he had just learned about from Teresa, one could only imagine what a huge sensation the announcement of the rune defects had caused in the Wizard World yesterday.

However, this was also the source of his headache—even if he refused to trade the information on the rune defects to the Spiritual Mystery School now, they would likely use any means necessary to make him submit.

Sigh.

Wei’en sighed heavily. Compared to the Spiritual Mystery School, his strength alone was far too insignificant.

If they were to violate the terms of the contract or resort to unconventional methods, he seemed to have no good way to counter them and could only endure it helplessly...

As for agreeing to the terms of Contract One...

’I’d have to be crazy!’

One million gold pounds for a thousand points of Spiritual Power—no matter how he thought about it, it was a terrible loss.

Its shamelessness was no less than him selling a Burst Sniper Rifle for ten thousand gold pounds...