Then Forced Exchange raised his voice as he asked, saying, "Do you want to join our alliance or not? If you don’t want to, just say so. Don’t waste our time. It is the least that you can do."
Loki certainly didn’t want to cut off the somewhat amicable relationship he had with the Thorn House of Commerce just yet. So he decided to relax his condition.
He said to Forced Exchange, "I really can’t leave where I am just yet. What about you give me three years to prepare? I should be able to leave in three years’ time."
Forced Exchange said, "Must we wait for three years? A lot of our members are busy people. This period happens to be a period when the majority of them are free. If we miss this period, it won’t be easy to gather them together in three years."
"So I think if it is possible, we should finalize the agreement quickly. In light of that, if you can’t come to us, we can come to you."
Loki wasn’t surprised to hear this suggestion, as Forced Exchange had also made it in the previous timeline. That was why he planned to have them come to the Central Domain and sign the contracts right in front of everyone.
Just as he knew to expect this suggestion, he also knew that he had to stand his ground now and not budge. So he said, "Unfortunately, you can’t come to where I am right now. I can only make it three years later."
After some more back and forth, Forced Exchange relented and set their appointment for 3 years later. At that time, it would be four years since he awakened an Energy Well in the initiation program.
When he thought about how he would still have to confront the Thorn House of Commerce, he said to himself, ’Three years is too short. Hopefully, I can extend it when that comes. But if I can’t extend it, I will have to use my plan or avoid them completely.’
’In the meantime, I should strengthen myself as much as possible. Then I should sign up for one of the sects’ missions to earn divine merit points. That way, I will be able to advance to rank 7.’
When he was done making his plans, he went back to eating spirit creatures by the mouthful. Not that he ever stopped in the first place.
He had only been slightly distracted when Forced Exchange sent messages to him. He had never stopped devouring everything around him.
But even now that Forced Exchange had stopped distracting him with messages, he still couldn’t focus completely on devouring spirit creatures. This was because he had a lot to think about.
First of all, he checked his stats and Cave Heaven. When he noticed that there hadn’t been any significant changes caused, he thought about how he couldn’t bring anything from the future aside from Fenrir and changes to Fenrir.
After that, he thought about what to do about the so-called talented swordsman with the two Divine Metacs of Sword Storm and Sword Mountain.
Then he thought of his plans for the Thorn House of Commerce. Specifically, he thought about the feasibility of his plan to meet them under the first heaven of the Blessed Heaven World.
In the past, he had thought the people of the Thorn House of Commerce to be cocky when Forced Exchange fearlessly suggested that they come to him. But now that he knew more about the background of the Thorn House of Commerce, he thought that their confidence was not unwarranted.
Unfortunately, the confidence of the Thorn House of Commerce has reduced his confidence in his assumption that they won’t make a move against him in front of everyone.
When he thought of the possibility of this happening, he shook his head and said to himself, ’Didn’t they just attack me in front of so many people? If they can do it once, they can do it again. They just need to bribe the other alliances with something like they did last time, and I’ll be meat on their chopping block.’
’And to think that I fought with them and shed some of my lifespan for them. Yet, that’s how they treat me? Those people have to pay.’
The anger that he didn’t feel at all while everything was happening and he was being ambushed finally appeared now that he was safe. And even though the danger was now gone, he was getting more bitter and angrier about the whole thing, instead of getting less angry.
The smug face of that rank 7 money cultivator flashed through his mind, saying to him, "Go on. Say something or do something."
The memory of that unfortunate event made him snort and say, "He really treated me like a rat trapped in a jar. I’ll show him what it means to be a rat."
"But I’ll be humane about it. I won’t let him suffocate me to death like he wanted to do with me. Instead, I’ll bite his head clean off and put him out of his misery very quickly."
As he daydreamed of how he would devour that rank 7 money cultivator, he practiced by eating more spirit creatures. Over time, his anger dulled because of all the eating he was doing.
Meanwhile, the trails of emptiness that he left in his wake had begun to draw attention. He knew about this and the danger it posed, but he didn’t change his ways. He continued doing what he was doing despite the danger.
In fact, he ate spirit creatures exactly the same way he did in the last timeline. That is, he ate spirit creatures at the same pace and along the same route as he did previously.
Thanks to his perfect memory, he knew which direction and routes he took. So he was able to recreate exactly what he had done in the previous timeline.
One year and two months passed like this. Like clockwork, a certain prideful swordsman came over and found him.