Chapter 542: Section 329: Insights on Raising Giants
The Ice Owl, old and cunning, saw a slight change in the Dragon-man youth’s expression and took the opportunity to present another scroll.
This was a Contract Scroll.
“As long as you, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps leader, sign this contract, then all the assets listed will be yours!”
The Dragon-man youth set the asset list in his hand down and resumed a calm expression.
He didn’t take the Contract Scroll but instead looked at the Ice Owl, “Let me guess, the content of the contract isn’t to have me give up the heroic duel, is it?”
“That’s not the case,” the Ice Owl smiled. “My side has fully considered your circumstances, Long Fu squad leader.”
“The heroic duel was initiated by you.”
“If, under the current circumstances, you were to suddenly give up on challenging our Gang Leader Teng Donglang, how would the outside world view you?”
“You would be misunderstood as cowardly and weak, a loser who dares to speak but not act.”
“That would be too damaging to your reputation!”
“I have come here sincerely seeking cooperation with your group and certainly would not do that.”
The Dragon-man youth sneered, “If I point out the Saber Gang’s crimes and then suddenly announce giving up the heroic duel, the outside world would probably guess that you’ve threatened me.”
The Ice Owl quickly waved his hands and denied, “I absolutely didn’t mean any threat by visiting you, Leader!”
The Ice Owl continued, “My side only needs you to publicly clarify that the previous accusation was a misunderstanding. Our gang has never committed any action that would desecrate the heroic duel.”
The Dragon-man youth chuckled and leaned back against the chair, “Are there any other demands?”
The Ice Owl hesitated for a moment before saying, “If you, the Leader, are willing to lose to our Gang Leader in the heroic duel, then personally, I will have a substantial reward for you!”
The Dragon-man youth’s expression turned strange, “Secretly bribing an opponent to fake a fight, doesn’t that count as desecrating the heroic duel?”
“Of course not!” the Ice Owl insisted immediately. “It’s a mutually agreeable arrangement, how could it be a desecration?”
The demands of the Saber Gang hit right at the heart of the matter.
Without this accusation, the Saber Gang could turn danger into safety, without any existential crisis for the gang.
Even if Teng Donglang became careless and lost to the Dragon-man youth afterward, it wouldn’t harm the core of the Saber Gang.
But why would the Dragon-man youth agree?
The City Lord of Snowbird Port had been waiting years for this opportunity!
He had already struck a contract with the City Lord of Snowbird Port and, given the Dragon-man youth’s own values and faith, would not stoop so low to collude with the Saber Gang.
However, the Dragon-man youth recalled the City Lord’s advice to feign naivety and to paralyze the enemy as much as possible.
So, after some thought, the Dragon-man youth carefully spoke, “You want me to explain that this was all a misunderstanding?”
“This request might sound trivial but is highly excessive in reality!”
“You did indeed meddle in the heroic duel, orchestrating the use of the Demon Eye from outside the arena.”
Seeing the Ice Owl was about to speak, the Dragon-man youth held up a hand, “Don’t deny it, because if you do, I definitely won’t believe it.”
“When you do something wrong, you must be punished!”
“Just the assets on the list are not enough, nowhere near enough to compensate for the damage to my own reputation.”
Hearing this, the Ice Owl suddenly felt a glimmer of hope.
Before coming here, he had discussed with Teng Donglang and speculated that the Dragon-man youth did not have any incriminating evidence.
If the Dragon-man youth had solid evidence, he would have brought it out immediately to pin the Saber Gang’s desecration solidly, which would most suit the interests of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
So, it was highly probable that the Dragon-man youth didn’t have any evidence.
But, just in case he did, considering that he hadn’t directly brought it out already, the Ice Owl naturally wondered: was the Dragon-man youth worried about the Saber Gang’s desperate retaliation and thus intentionally left the last chance for reconciliation?
After all, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was much weaker compared to the Saber Gang.
Or there was another possibility.
The Dragon-man youth was holding onto this evidence, waiting for the Saber Gang to negotiate, in order to reap what he wanted from the bargaining table.
Now, with such a response from the Dragon-man youth, the Ice Owl confirmed his previous guess.
There’s a chance!
The Ice Owl then said with a smile, “Dragon Lion squad leader, you can make any request, and we can discuss it all in good faith.”
This sounded vaguely familiar to the Dragon-man youth.
Because not long ago, the Snowbird Port City Lord had said something similar to him.
Thus, the Dragon-man youth made a lion’s demand that caused the Ice Owl’s expression to darken.
The corner of the Ice Owl’s eye twitched, and he took a deep breath to barely compose himself, “Dragon Lion squad leader, your asking price is a bit too fanciful. I seriously doubt whether all the assets of our Saber Gang can meet your price!”
Now it was the Dragon-man youth’s turn to smile, “Didn’t you just say that we can have a good discussion?”
The Ice Owl was stunned for a moment, his gaze at the Dragon-man youth changing slightly.
I didn’t expect you, with your bushy eyebrows and big eyes, to be such a shrewd businessman!
“Come, have some coffee,” the Dragon-man youth offered, brewing coffee for the Ice Owl.
“Do you have tea? Being older, I prefer that.”
“Of course we do.”
Dragon-man youth and Ice Eagle subsequently engaged in a tough negotiation.
The best outcome for Ice Eagle’s trip would be to get the Dragon-man youth to sign the contract and openly state that his previous indictment was a misunderstanding.
Thus, Ice Eagle was already prepared to make a major concession.
He had a plan in place.
“I can agree temporarily, no matter how high Long Fu’s price is.”
“As long as he signs the contract and stabilizes him, and he clarifies that the previous indictment was a misunderstanding, Saber Gang will be out of danger.”
“Afterward, how we deal with him and the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps still depends on our mood, doesn’t it?”
“These assets, even if they fall into his hands, there will always be numerous ways to take them back.”
“But the Gold Coins, potions, equipment, and so on that he could take with him must be handled with care. I must minimize the scale of such transactions to prevent the difficulty from increasing when we recover the losses in the future.”
Ice Eagle’s calculations were good, but unfortunately, the Dragon-man youth really didn’t want to come to an agreement with him!
The Dragon-man youth deliberately made things difficult, despite Ice Eagle’s repeated assurances that Saber Gang really didn’t have that many assets. His face was full of sincerity, short of tears on the spot.
The Dragon-man youth made concessions, but they were very slight.
Ice Eagle, struggling with the stalled negotiations, gradually felt desperate.
He suddenly had a flash of inspiration: “Squad leader of Long Fu, I have something in my possession that you’ll definitely be interested in.”
“Oh? Let’s hear it,” said the Dragon-man youth.
Ice Eagle’s smile was somewhat forced, and his face had a pained look, “As everyone knows, I have insights into cultivating giant slaves.”
“Even when I was with Saber Gang, I had cultivated a Golden Level giant slave.”
“After my retirement, with more time to delve deeper, I have summarized a unique set of cultivation secrets.”
“With these secrets, I’m close to cultivating a second Golden Level giant slave.”
“Squad leader of Long Fu, since you are after the intelligence potion for the giant type, and your group has a giant… these secrets will certainly be of great help to you!”
“Think about it, how wonderful it would be to have a Giant Bloodline slave of Golden Level qualifications, entirely loyal to you.”
The Dragon-man youth instantly thought of the Big guy.
He was tempted.
Although the Bloodline Grade of the Big guy had not been confirmed to the end, it was at least of Legendary level.
This signified his vast future potential!
But to grow, a substantial investment was required.
If there were a unique set of cultivation secrets for the giant, the Dragon-man youth could expect a higher return on the subsequent investment in the Big guy.
Not to mention, just the return on time investment alone was enough to tempt the Dragon-man youth.
The survivors’ time was pressing.
What was needed was to rapidly enhance their own power, establish communication with the Empire’s upper echelons, and redeem themselves successfully.
The survivors’ future was also uncertain.
As the leader, the Dragon-man youth had to consider the situation if redemption failed.
That was why, originally not wanting to have a minor conflict with Ice Eagle, he insisted on obtaining the intelligence potion for the giant type. This was the reason.
As for the conflict escalating to the current level, it was not the normal course of events and was beyond the Dragon-man youth’s expectations.
Had the Dragon-man youth known that such a minor conflict would lead to a life-and-death struggle between Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps and Saber Gang, he would not have done so.
Even if he knew about the assistance of the City Lord of Snowbird Port.
Because it was an unnecessary risk.
It was unrelated to their main goal.
But since it had already happened, the Dragon-man youth naturally had to follow the flow.
Time didn’t allow him any opportunity for regret!
By the same token, since the Giant cultivation secrets had come to the Dragon-man youth in such a strange way, of course, he wanted to get his hands on them.
So, the Dragon-man youth said bluntly, “Then tell me, how can you cultivate a Golden Level giant slave?”
“Squad leader of Long Fu, that can’t be explained in detail,” Ice Eagle smiled.
He mentioned a few points, all relatively unimportant content.
But even this content gave the Dragon-man youth a lot to gain, eagerly committing it to memory.
Seeing the Dragon-man youth’s interest, Ice Eagle seized the moment and tempted further, “Squad leader, I heard that your group has a giant member who seems to be of mixed heritage.”
“My unique insights are there for you to use.”
“The Bloodline of giants is very excellent, comparable in Bloodline Grade to that of the Dragon Bloodline.”
“The prerequisite for cultivating a Golden Level giant is to find a giant with Golden Level qualifications. This is much easier than finding a Snow Elf or a member of the Human Race with Golden Level qualifications.”
“The most critical point is, once we’ve cultivated a Golden Level giant, how do we control him?”
“The Giant Bloodline is excellent. To make the Golden Level giant obey us, to ensure the Slave Contract remains effective, to make him follow our commands, we must ensure our spiritual value is much higher than that of the giant slave.”
“The core content of my insights is how to cleverly suppress the spirit of the giant slave, allowing us to firmly control him, even if we are only at Silver Level!”