Deal with the devil

The moment the mandatory Lectures finished for the day, Arthur was already out the door.

Today wasn't one of the days when Arthur would tutor some of his classmates in martial arts, so there was nothing keeping Arthur here. However-.

"Arthur.... I was hoping to be able to talk to you today".

The thousand year reincarnate raised an eyebrow as he turned around and looked towards Randolf, an expressionless look on his face.

The two had hardly interacted over the course of the past few weeks, barely saying anything to each other, even when Arthur assisted him during his martial arts training.

The first-tier talent was somewhat against Arthur in his previous life for some reason, opposing him, and making it a habit to denounce him in front of the rest of the Clan.

Arthur, in his previous life only had a third-tier talent, which slowed both his cultivation speed, and gains during cultivation. Originally, it would've taken Arthur upwards of three years to become a Rank 2 Fae Master, while it only took Randolf less than a year.

It wasn't just the cultivation duration that talent extended, but also the regeneration of origin essence. Since Randolf could regenerate his origin essence quicker than others, it meant that he had a much higher advantage from the get go.

Arthur had his suspicions as to why Randolf would go against him but none of them could be proven for the time being.

".... is something the matter Randolf? Do you need something?".

The huge burly young man nodded for a moment before gesturing to go someplace quieter.

Walking outside, under the gazes of all their classmates, most of them couldn't help but whisper as they gazed at the pair walking towards the martial arts field.

"Have those two every talked before?".

"Maybe Randolf wanted to ask something about martial arts?".

"I mean, Randolf is a first-tier talent, maybe he was thinking of joining up with the Clan Leader?".

Those descendents of Elders, like Alina, Borik and Ratimir all looked towards each other for a moment before narrowing their eyes at figures of Arthur and Randolf in the distance.

.... Something like that, definitely wasn't good for any of them.

Arms by his side, Arthur gazed at Randolf with a curious look in his eyes.

'Is it actually possible? The chances are close to zero. You have a greater chance of having an Immortal Fae land in your hands, falling out of the sky'.

Randolf tilted his head down slightly to look at Arthur. His expression, equally blank.

"I want you to lose the tournament next week".

Arthur's gaze instantly turned cold.

Randolf, even with his huge size advantage, and muscly physique shivered as he looked down at Arthur's eyes.

He had seen those eyes the exact moment he awoke his talent, during the talent awakening ceremony. Despite everyone else, including him falling to the ground in pain, Arthur was the only one who stood silently, enduring the massive power that coursed through his veins.

It wasn't really a symbol of anything, other than tremendous will, however-.

'He's hiding something. That Origin Fae of his.... something about it seemed....'.

Randolf couldn't explain it.

But there was something about Arthur that he just couldn't put his finger on.

".... why?".

Arthur's tone grew frosty, and the temperature surrounding him grew colder as well.

Randolf gathered himself before taking a deep breath.

"I can pick out any Fae for you once I win, but I need to be the victor and enter the Clan Reserves again. You probably already have an idea of what Fae you want and have already prepared for battling the others in advance.

The newly awakened first-tier talent sighed.

"The current you Arthur, is someone that I currently don't have a chance of beating. So I can only ask this of you properly, face-to-face".

The look on Arthur's face was still cold, and his expression seemed to send shivers up peoples spines. He was only a fifteen year old Rank 1 Fae Master and he could make a peak Rank 2 Fae Master's blood turn cold.

Provided of course, no Fae were involved in the fight.

Arthur eyed Randolf for a moment, debating internally as his mind sought to unravel the problem before him.

'.... is he actually one of them?'

'No, even if this is evidence, it doesn't assure me of my conclusions'.

'If I do agree, I get my Fae anyway, and I'll get the reward for second place'.

'But if I can get some of the reward for first place as well then-'.

Arthur smiled, his demeanour returning to normalcy.

"It's not enough. I want the origin essence stones for first place as well".

He was holding all the cards in his hands, why wouldn't Arthur be a little bit greedy?

Randolf was the one asking him for a favour, so why wouldn't he take everything he could get?

Randolf frowned for a moment before nodding.

"That's fine. But nothing else".

Arthur raised an eyebrow before nodding, his expression queer.

"Out of curiosity, I don't suppose you'll tell me why you so desperately need to enter the Clan Reserves again? I mean, you spent almost the full ten minutes in there last time, so why would you need to enter it again if you're not going to pick out anything?".

Arthur's smile seemed to try and provoke Randolf into saying something, but the latter just coldly snorted before walking away silently.

Arthur's smile never left his face, even as Randolf turned the corner, vanishing from Arthur's line of sight.

The thousand year old reincarnate showed a peculiar expression on his face before walking away silently, heading towards the Fae Market.

His idea for picking out a Water Attributed Fae never left his mind, but with Randolf's sudden deal in his head, Arthur suddenly had a better idea for what Fae he should pick.

The combination of two Water Attributed Fae would in most cases trounce someone who used a Fire Attributed Fae like Randolf. Losing to someone in such a fashion wouldn't be just embarrassing, it would also be painful to watch.

Heading straight towards one of the stores on the outskirts of the Villages main stretch, Arthur entered the store with a smile, nodding to the shopkeeper.

"Oh! Young Master Arthur! What can I do for you today!".

Arthur nodded for a moment, before gesturing to the two Fae laying silently in a wooden box.

One, was small, and shaped like a lizard, only with large eyeballs that could twist around giving it full 360 degree vision.

The other, a small skunk, probably the size of a football. It's black patterned fur made it look as though black coloured clouds were floating amongst a white coloured sky.

The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow before looking towards Arthur's pocket.

"Are you sure you have enough origin essence stones young master? The black smog fae alone is worth 35 origin essence stones, while the camouflage Fae is worth 40 origin essence stone-".

Arthur didn't say anything, but just stood there silently as he plonked the large bag of origin essence stones he accumulated on the counter in front of him. The shopkeeper went wide eyed for second before counting all of him with a shameless smile on his face.

"That comes to a total of 75 origin essence stones! But for you young master, I'll round it down to 72 origin essence stones!".

Arthur wanted to roll his eyes at this guys shamelessness but avoided it, nodding his head as he gently picked up both of the Fae.

He did plan on honouring the agreement with Randolf, seeing as though he had more to gain from agreeing to his request, but-.

He smiled.

"I certainly don't plan on making it easy for him".