Chapter 198- Small Talk

"Is what she said true, Mr. Liu?" Xin joined the conversation.

"That's right, it's true." Liu Guanyi nodded casually.

"Urgh, that's really unfair! You seem to keep leaving us further and further in the dust the more we go up in the tower." Xin groaned with a half-joking tone.

"More like you are being left in the dust alone, Xin." Added Adori, which prompted him to groan more.

"However, in all seriousness, your shinsu control development is truly amazing. After all, improving shinsu control is an ever-increasing task in difficulty. Even I experience that it's becoming harder and harder to control more bangs." Adori said as she softly sighed.

Although fortunately, Adori was still ahead of him in terms of shinsu control as she could control a little more than forty bangs at the moment, her progress speed was getting slower the more she improved.

It wasn't as slow as a snail's pace yet but it wasn't as noticeable as the days when they were E-ranked and D-ranked regulars.

"Hmm, I don't know why but it might really be because I am an irregular. Maybe the same thing happened to Zahard and the leaders of the ten great families? Or maybe even the two unknown irregulars? After all, all of them seemed to be extremely powerful without exception."

"Well, even though they should be extremely strong in terms of personal strength, nobody really knows how strong they have managed to become after all these millenniums since the Age of Climbing."

"After all, they have never fought personally in any war since that Era ended, even in the Genesis Era, which also confirms what the village head said." Said Adori with contemplation.

Liu Guanyi nodded. "Right, all of them should be incredibly powerful, as reflected in their ranks. All of the leaders of the ten great families are ranked in the top twenty while king Zahard himself is ranked in the second place after Enryu himself so they are at least very strong."

"But even if they aren't overwhelmingly powerful compared to the likes of Luslec and other ancient existences, their immortality contract will make them invulnerable to anyone other than the guardians and Enryu themselves so it's pointless to try to defeat them, anyway." Liu Guanyi said with a shrug.

"The contract of immortality, huh?" Adori mumbled and then looked at Liu Guanyi. "Are you interested to try to get it? You are an irregular so you might be able to get it."

Liu Guanyi thought about it for a moment and said. "Well, if possible, I don't really want to get it. Getting the contract of immortality won't make me able to defeat the leaders of the ten great families, nor it will make me more powerful than them."

"Such thing isn't really useful. While the contract of immortality will make me invincible to anyone below the leaders of the ten great families like Luslec make me likely unable to be killed even by king Zahard himself, it won't really help me if someone like the Red Tower appears and decide to get rid of me." Said Liu Guanyi calmly.

"The tower is a much more dangerous place than it lets on, Adori, Xin. Putting aside the almighty guardians out of the board, we still have a mysterious and terrifyingly powerful irregular that seemed to have a grudge against king Zahard. However, despite having the power to kill him for eternity, he decided to create a prophecy that someone will come here later to kill Zahard on his behalf instead."

"That, if you ask me, is very suspicious. Why bother wasting time waiting if you can kill him without any problem personally? For someone who can kill guardian with ease like him, I don't think he likes to waste so much time just for a nobody who can't even pose any threat to him." Said Liu Guanyi nonchalantly with a shrug.

"If you put it that way, it does really make sense." Said Adori with a thoughtful expression.

"Why the Red Tower would go out of his way through all the troubles just to make a prophecy? Even if when don't know his exact character, from the way he killed the guardian just because they got on his way, he seems to be an efficient and ruthless person." Elaborated Adori as Liu Guanyi smiled hearing it.

Adori let out a sigh. "You are correct once again, Liu. It seems that even at the top of the tower, the darkness that encompasses the tower is still thicker than ever."

"Well, we won't probably know for sure until we reach their level but at least we know that even the leaders of the ten great families and even likely king Zahard himself aren't the ones that truly stand behind the curtains and control the tower."

"Unfortunately, yes. So I don't need to say how worthless the contract of immortality is if we are facing the Red Tower or anyone who truly controls the tower from behind the curtains, do I?" Asked Liu Guanyi with a slight grin.

"You are really as ambitious as always, Liu. We haven't even become Rankers yet but you are already talking about the matters at the top of the tower." Said Adori with a genuine smile.

Liu Guanyi smiled back at her. "You know what they said? Don't be blinded by your greed and let short-term rewards tempt you, but always keep in mind the long terms goals before them."

"Awesome, Mr. Liu! I agree with that!" Xin made a thumbs up and exclaimed in agreement.

"Stop your fanboying, Xin." Adori looked at him with distaste.

"I am not fanboying, princess, I am just stating the truth. It seems you are jealous that you aren't as awesome as Mr. Liu despite having a noble position, huh?" Xin looked at her with a grin.

Before they could start to bicker, Liu Guanyi cleared his throat to stop them. "Guys, let's not get sidetracked."

"You two might not know but when I met the guardian of the second floor, they said that contracts, although of immense importance to regulars like you, they are more of a constraint to an irregular like me. Even if I don't know exactly what kind of effects they have to irregulars, it's easy to guess that they aren't beneficial." Explained Liu Guanyi calmly.