Chapter 16: Elixir pond.

The pack leader of the wolf like mana beasts walked up to where Levi sat and stood before him, before opening his mouth.....to speak?

"Welcome to our humble abode....." The pack leader said with a powerful voice that oozed dominance.

"....". Levi did not speak for two reasons. Firstly, even though he didn't show it on his face, he was quite surprised at the fact that a mana beast could actually talk. There were a few people who bore witness to this fact, but their words were dismissed by the world as nonsense ramblings since not many had actually witnessed a beast speak. For some reason, they always held a grudge against humans and would always kill them if given the chance.

The second reason was that Levi didn't trust the mana beast enough to release his name as there was no way of telling if it wasn't some kind of trap.

Levi just shot his normal, unfearing glare at the beast. He was never going to show any kind of weakness to anyone or anything, ever.

"I see that you still don't trust me, even though we saved you're life....." The mana beast said and looked at Levi expectantly, but the latter didn't even flinch at the statement.

".....I will skip to introductions then. My name is Raja, and as you have probably guessed, I am the leader of this pack of [Hurricane wolves]." Raja said.

'hurricane wolves huh? No wonder they are so good with the wind elemental'. Levi thought. He still didn't say a word to Raja, instead using his eyes to covertly search for an escape route...again.

"There is no need for your wariness, we do not plan to hurt you. If you still don't believe us....." Raja's voice trailed off as he directed a meaningful nod to one of his subordinates. The wolf nodded back and disappeared into the crowd.

'what was that about?' Levi asked himself as his gaze lingered on the disappeared wolf's former position, before turning back quickly to Raja.

"You are probably wondering why we brought you here and I am sure that you have many more questions, but before that...." Raja said as his subordinate reappeared with a black book in it's jaw. Levi immediately recognized the book.

'Grim...' Levi thought.

"I believe this is yours. One of my followers found it on the battlefield". Raja said as he took Grim from his followers jaw and handed him over to Levi.

Levi collected the book from Raja and as soon as he held it, he felt something which was missing before reappear. His telepathic connection, which was down previously due to the distance between them, reestablished itself. He immediately called out to his partner.

'Grim! Grim are you there!' Levi called out, but his call was responded with a purposeful silence. Grim was giving his partner the silent treatment.

Levi quickly realized the reason for Grim's silence and started to apologize.

'hey Grim...I'm sorry about what happened back there. Think you can forgive me?'. Levi asked. His question was met with a silence. Grim was determined to fully ignore his partner.

'look, I know what I did there was not right morally, but what the hell did you expect, it was the only way for both of us to live through that situation. I am really sorry about that, okay?' Levi pleaded again but Grim ignored him with a scoff.

"You still haven't told me your name yet, human". Raja said and brought Levi back to the real world.

Levi was a bit skeptical but he decided to go through with it.

"It's Levi. Levi Swordhearth". Levi said, his gaze fixed solely on Raja.

"That is a very ferocious look in your eyes. Don't worry I won't bite". Raja said, trying to pacify the situation.

"..." Levi gave no reply's to Raja's snarky remark.

"Come. Let us take our discussion elsewhere". Raja said the turned to walk away. Levi also got up from the door and followed the mana beast, not letting down his guard.

The pack immediately opened up a path for the king and his guest to walk through. They walked out from the room and treaded deeper into the cave.

They walked for some time until they entered a lit room. The room had normal cave walls, but they were covered in gem like stones that shone a bright light which illuminated the dark room.

"Mana stones". Levi muttered.

Levi had read quite a few books about the structure of the new world and other such things, so it wasn't suprising as to how he was able to accurately guess the stone's true name. And between the compulsory geography, economics and music lessons he had to attend as the son of a noble man, it was only natural that he would know this much about the new world. It was good to note that Levi had absolutely zero musical talent.

"Correct. I see that you are a bit learned, young Levi". Raja said.

"This place is my personal quarters. Only myself or my guests are allowed into this room". Raja added, quite proud of the rooms structure but Levi just eyed the space with an indifferent expression.

The mana stones in the walls made it seem like the walls were built with some kind of special material, but Raja had no idea of knowing exactly who he was talking to.

Levi had lived the last twelve years of his life in much more extravagant spaces, so this much was very..... unimpressive, to say the least.

In the middle of the room there was a small pond. It was unlike any normal pond as it shone a light golden light.

Levi glanced at the pond, and his eyes widened at the realization of it's true value.

"I-is that...." Levi stuttered. The true value of what was in front of him was truly bewildering and the Levi had problems keeping his jaw from dropping.

"Yes. That's right". Raja said as he flashed a very confident smile at the stupified Levi, who still stood there like an idiot gazing at the Golden pond.

"This is an elixir pond". Raja confirmed.

At this point, there was no holding back Levi's jaw. It dropped instantly and Levi's eyes shook from a complex combination of disbelief, fear and excitement.

An elixir pond was a special pond like body of mana infused water. The water in the pond could be used to create elixirs, the ultimate medicine which could completely cure without backlash or scars any sort of wound or ailment, even curses from the most powerful demon kings vanished after just one bottle.

Due to their competent attributes and rarity, they were much sought after. Elixirs were a special kind of commodity that even kings and dukes would have a hard time obtaining, even with all their money and influence. It was even recorded that not more than thirty bottles were produced in the entire continent per year.

The elixirs were a commodity reserved for only the most powerful, the true aristocrats of the Illustrian continent.

The pond on which Levi gazed contained the primary ingredient for that very same elixir. In fact, elixirs were actually just distilled Elixir water and a few other minor ingredients.

Levi couldn't believe his luck and he also feared it, this much luck was very uncommon for him. He was also bursting with excitement at what he could do with all that elixir water.

'gimme'. One of the most primal instincts for every human, greed began to creep up. But a powerful burst of energy from Raja snapped Levi out of his delusional state.

'he seems to be aware of the true value of this pond.....sh*t this might not be as easy as I thought it would'. Levi thought with gritted teeth.

"It's good that you know what this is, saves me the hassle of explaining everything to you. But it's also in your best interest if you note that this pond has been protected by MY pack for several decades. As the alpha, I am sworn to protect this pond with my life." Raja said. His words caused Levi's face to turn to that of utter confusion.

"All mana beasts have at least one thing that they will stake their lives to protect. Be it special flowers, herbs, or things like this elixir pond here. We call it our 'treasure'. The reason why is yet to be known, but from the moment that we are blessed by mother, and become mana beasts, we find it. Our special treasure which we are drawn to guard for the rest of our lives. It is the reason why we are hateful towards humans. We always feel like they are trying to take our treasure, and there is this voice that seems urges us to kill you, but you...you are....different." Raja explained.

There were still several unknowns, like the identity of the 'mother' person, and how and why he was...'different'. But he was not even allowed to time to speak as Raja quickly added.

"You will only get a piece of this goldmine if and only if you agree to my terms". Raja said while looking Levi dead in the eye.

At the mention of the last few words, Levi's expression changed completely. His expression had reverted back to his usual poker face.

He had watched how making bad agreements ruined his life in his past life, and he wasn't about to let that happen again. The poker face was the best face to make for a negotiation, one had to show no weaknesses to your opposition or else it would most definitely be taken advantage of.

"Oh~ is that your game face? It's quite good". Raja said.

".....". Levi didn't reply to the comment.

"Agreed. Let us get straight to it then". Raja said.

A/N:

Special thanks again to Halis_eren_balaban and Epic_buddie123. Thank you bros for supporting this series!!