"I need Sun and Void natural materials... any grade available." Levi said, "I wish to have a partnership, where you provide me with either the materials or at least information on getting the higher-grade ones before they hit the markets."
"Sun and Void... what you are asking is not cheap." Mr. KM replied calmly, "Such affinities, which are linked to two Ancient Bloodlines, aren’t easily obtained... we are the ones getting approached for information about them, not to sell them. So, I cannot guarantee we will always have them in our stores, but their information is something we can do."
"Hmmm... not good enough." Levi shook his head, "I need you to guarantee me a first call the moment any treasure lands in any branch of your Syndicate."
"Such guarantees are added in the contract only from a reliable source." Mr. KM narrowed his slimy eyebrow, which made his eye... well, remain unchanged. "How can we trust that your source will always be reliable?"
"Simple... we add a contingency in the contract." Levi smiled, "I know my source will always be reliable... but, if you are still unconvinced, we can add a payment I have to pay each time my information turns out to be a bust."
"Confident... I like it." Mr. KM’s smile widened again, loving nothing more than having reliable sources of such classified information.
As for fearing that Levi was selling them useless information and lies? He knew that Levi knew better... no one had an ounce of courage to try and fool the Black Slime Archive Syndicate.
Anyone under Nocturn’s payroll instantly elevated them to untouchable, unscrewable powerhouses... not even Kings and Queens dared mess with them in Boundless soil.
Even if one was dumb enough to do it, or he simply knew no better and had a bad source, the Syndicate was able to figure out the information’s legitimacy through their immense channels.
Just like with Levi’s information, he had just given... a minute barely passed, and the information’s legitimacy had already been checked to be valid, giving Mr. KM the green light.
"What can I say, your proposal is too hard to pass on." Mr. KM reached out with a slimy hand for a handshake, "Welcome aboard... Partner."
"Glad to be doing business with you." Levi shook his hand, smiling.
***
Fifteen minutes later, Levi left the underground store after getting what he needed... he had signed a new partnership contract with Mr. KM, which had him provide exclusive Leviathans’ intel to the Syndicate.
The return? First dibs in the entire Boundless Expanse for Sun and Void information and treasures if they got their hands on them.
Of course, Levi wasn’t dumb enough to kill off his source of Leviathan’s materials forever... he added a term that ensured he could get out of the partnership any time he wanted without needing to pay anything.
After all, this was a business transaction, not a devil contract.
But Mr. KM was a sleazy merchant and made the contract too lucrative to give up on... he added Levi to the partnership program, which gave him early access to the shared information of the other exclusive partners... not the information itself, but a snippet, in case any of them wanted to buy it before it hit the customers’ view.
As Levi was walking on the streets, he was checking a screen with tens of thousands of snippets related to dirt on kingdoms, empires, public figures, nobles... vital information about death games, fugitives’ locations, Ancient Distorted Sites’ locations, and so much more...
The list was so big, he even ended up finding out information about the emergence of the Ancient Distorted Site on their planet... though, the snippet only mentioned: An A-grade Ancient Distorted Site related to Sun, Undead, Desert, Life affinities.
The details: location, time of its emergence, who was participating, who owned the location, and such could be disclosed only once the information was purchased or traded with equal value information.
’Damn... whoever buys this information is screwed.’ Levi knitted his eyebrows, ’They can price such information with tens of thousands of credits, knowing that it was utterly useless.’
’What did you expect?’ Ash’Kral said lazily, ’The Slime Syndicate is still sleazy merchants at the end of the day... they are archiving information for the sake of their Mother, who can’t experience the world by herself... simultaneously, they are selling them for profit to keep their dominance in the Underground Intelligence Network.’
’A Hive Slime... that’s a first.’
Levi couldn’t help but chuckle... the more he learned about the universe, the more confused he got.
***
Sometime later...
Levi had decided to concoct the two evolutionary recipes in the Boundless Expanse Labs... he couldn’t risk concocting those two formulas in the real world while knowing that someone might be spying on him.
On the other hand, the Boundless Expanse Labs were 100% secure under Nocturn’s Authority.
Unfortunately, when he checked for any lab openings, he found that the closest one was in three days... no bother, Levi reserved the slot and left the city, returning to the real world.
He still had some growth to do to reach the third stage in both rookie ranks. He trained with the violin for a while until nightfall; his progress was slowly on the rise.
When the divine pillar blessed the region, Levi started another hunting journey for dark energy clouds, making sure to focus only on ones in the outskirts.
While it was time-consuming, at least no risk was involved.
After a couple of hours of moving all over the place, Levi had finally achieved it... 15% each!
No further ado, Levi returned to his apartment and took a shower... when he was done, he sat in his bedroom in a towel and pressed on the shimmering Ash’Kral’s tattoo on his arm... both tattoos could be used to access the Ancestral Planes even though one was fake.
Then, he was taken inside the Ancestral Sun Rooted Plane.
The moment he stepped inside, a heat wave assaulted him like he was in the presence of the sun itself.
"Someone happy to see me?"
The moment Levi finished his sentence, he found himself sent flying by another powerful heat wave, resembling a Sun corona.
"Cough... I guess not."
Levi smiled wryly, noticing that the Sun Tree was still pissed off at him for choosing the Nine Senses seed before it.
He was a Half-Radian and still dared not prioritize it. How could it not be pissed off at him?
Levi swiftly dropped the playful teasing and switched his focus to a giant golden leaf shaped as three pyramids stacked above each other... the biggest one was at the base, while the smallest was at the top.
"I still have two abilities to unlock."
Levi had decided to unlock all four abilities of Sun and Void after he reached the evolution stage... he was already swamped with sound + Aetheric technique creation to unlock two more abilities, which would most definitely split his focus. But now, he could unlock all four at the same time and work on them simultaneously.
Levi reached out to two triangle-like leaves slightly higher in position than the ones at the very bottom... then, he pulled them out and turned them around, their details appearing as such:
// Radiance Pulse : Explodes stored solar energy outward in waves, each pulse stronger than the last, capable of igniting large areas.
Sun Jets : Propelling forward by channeling stored solar energy into the feet, releasing either bursts of radiant force like miniature solar flares or a continuous jet-like exhaust flame.//
"Hmmm, not bad, I guess."
Levi rubbed his chin, already thinking of many ways he could use those two abilities to enrich his combat style.
Although the abilities’ qualities were still not as great as Ash’Kral’s, it didn’t really matter that much to him... any solar-based ability is a nuke to a nightcrawler.
"Wait, will I get burnt off if I use Sun Jets?" Levi wondered.
Radiance Pulse could be channeled through his weapon, but Sun Jets seemed to target his feet’s soles... Levi wasn’t comfortable yet with his heat resistance.
"Depends on the concentration and your current heat resistance." Ash’Kral said, "Do some limit testing to find out."
Levi nodded and left the Ancestral Plane, understanding that he couldn’t get any good reading here.
Once he left, he pressed on the Void seed on his tattoo, entering the Void Ancestral Plane.
This time, he was able to see a small circular, misty, shadowy leaf with fourteen sparks... Levi floated to it and pressed on two sparks, knowing that each one represented an innate ability.
There weren’t many, but he wasn’t complaining.
// Veil of the Forgotten : erases your presence from anyone’s memory while cloaked in darkness.
Darkness Coating : Anything touched is wrapped in dark energy, turning into a dark creature under the user’s command. Living beings become Umbral Servants stripped of will; objects and terrain awaken as shadow-forged guardians. Sunlight can burn away the coating, and overuse risks corrupting the user.//
"Oh... now these are more interesting." Ash’Kral smiled nostalgically, "Darkness Coating was one of Ellina’s signature abilities."
"It does sound powerful." Levi agreed, "The ability to turn living beings into servants without a will and even awaken terrain into shadowy guardians? This sounds more like an ultimate ability."
"Well, it is." Ash’Kral smirked, "This is Ellina’s awarded ultimate ability after her first evolution."
"Ultimate? I actually landed on a previous partner’s ultimate?!" Levi’s expression turned bright at once.
Ash’Kral had already told him that the three seed libraries had abilities mixed with ultimate abilities that belonged to him or his past partners.
Since the three seeds gave birth to new ultimate abilities each time he awakened as a reward, those previous ultimates were added as normal innate abilities.
However, because Ash’Kral’s abilities were in the millions, Levi didn’t dream he would land on one someday by chance... he doubted it might even happen with the Sun seed’s library.
Still, the Void seed held only a limited pool of abilities, guaranteeing that he would unlock them eventually... he just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.
"Sweet... I even unlocked an ability that helps me erase my presence from people’s memories. It might come in handy someday." Levi smiled, quite satisfied with today’s haul of abilities: they were mixed from mental, movement, offense, and area of effect abilities... a balanced haul.
No further ado, he left the Ancestral Plane and took off towards any empty location he could find outside of the region, flying on top of Vyra.
This time, he didn’t ask his friends or his brother to accompany him. He also made sure to fly as far as he could from his region, not wanting to meet with anyone who knew him.
Vyra kept going south until the Great Sahara Desert’s borders started to show.
’Easy girl, here is fine.’
Levi stopped Vyra after noticing the skies started to shift from clear to cloudy... Vyra descended and dropped him off on dry, brown ground with dead plants everywhere.
Levi kept his gaze affixed on the crackling gray stormy clouds appearing in his echolocation... he knew that he had arrived at the far exterior borders of the Eternal Empire; the strongest and biggest nest in their continent.
If he dared to keep on going, he would start to find subsidiary nightcrawlers’ nests of all sizes and types under the empire. He could already see plenty of nightcrawlers in the distance.
After gazing at this sight for a few moments, Levi could only utter two words indifferently, "One day..."