The actions of Perment were not just weird. It was crazy.
Baron Elford saw the strange actions of Perment.
"Hahahahaha!" A loud laugh was heard, and two Mage Captains appeared.
One was a fellow Barons of the kingdom, and the other served directly or was employed by powerful organizations as Captain.
Their laugh echoed out, and Perment noticed them.
"Baron Carlisto. Mage Captain Torman of the Viscous Blade Mercenary Brigade. It's so nice to see such familiar faces." Perment smiled.
Emeros could tell that these two had done great harm to Perment just as Baron Elford did.
"It seems that Perment has finally lost it! Hahaha!" Carlisto laughed and laughed.
Torman had tears in his eyes as he was also bending in laughter.
"This...! Elford! When you told me that Perment was coming, I didn't care to go here. But you insisted! This is a great show!" Carlisto laughed.
Elford, on the other hand, was slowly becoming angry.
"Perment! You called me here! Made me abandon my responsibilities and waste time for this... this nonsense!"
THUD!
Perment slammed the energy conversion circle plate on the floor.
"Bring our your energy receiving plate and send your slave to stand there. I will show you that it's possible to do it!" Perment smiled.
"And if you two are not convinced, how about this if you win, I will sell myself to any of you as a slave. Do what you want to me! Kill me! Torture me! Whatever you please. A mage captain slave is quite lucrative, right? But if I win, you will pay me a hundred gold each and memory recollection potions or an engraving memory potion! But aside from that, I get to slap your arrogant, ugly, despicable faces three times and spit on your faces!" Perment shouted.
The three mages were enraged when they heard this.
"A dumb, worthless, poor excuse of a mage dares to make spout such words!" Carlisto roared.
"We shall see who is dumb and worthless. Are you man enough? I'm putting my life on the line for this while you'll only waste a few potions and coins and receive the slap and spit you long deserved! Of course, because I'm in enemy territory, we would need to go through the Vow Binder spell!" Perment ignored Carlisto's anger.
"You dare to mock me?!" Carlisto roared as he raised his staff. The power of a captain's magic appeared.
"Wait!" Baron Elford tried to stop Carlisto, but it was too late.
A fireball shot out towards Perment, but Perment smiled and raised his staff.
BOOM!
A powerful shield appeared that contained great energy and matched Carlisto's spell.
"My elemental affinity is water. A Water Shield can easily douse your flames, Carlisto. Especially since it's... at the power of Captain!" Perment boasted.
"Captain?!" Baron Elford was shocked. The expenses that needed to be spent to turn one from level 19 and step into the stage of Captain were immense. Baron's wealth was the mere minimum. In the poor kingdom that they were in, all who could reach Captain would be captains and leaders of teams and could avail for nobility.
Banished to the mines with very few people hiring him to draw out the life essence, Perment was practically doomed to remain at level 19 all his life. The level of monsters that the miners and guards would grant him would only be level 5 at most. And to him, the energy had practically no effect on him as he needed more potent life to breach the bottleneck.
Emeros glanced at Perment's stats once more.
---
Perment
Mage Captain
Level 20
Strength: 53
Magic: 58
Dexterity: 88
Vitality: 53
Intelligence: 93
Force: 0
---
Perment revealed all the magic ores and magic-containing potions, plants, and even pills and asked Emeros if it was possible to draw out the energy in them. Using nearly all of his wealth in magical devices, they broke through the last bottleneck and allowed Perment to reach level 20!
The three Captains were shocked at Perment's power.
"Well? When I said Captain, I didn't joke. If I fail to increase the level of your slave to level 2, then I will be your slave! You could slap and spit on me all you want!"
Carlisto and Torman glanced at each other. No matter what, the price of having a slave that was at level 20 was quite rare! In their world, a captain slave was rare! Only the strongest elites and those of higher nobilities could afford such slaves!
"Carlisto! Torman! Let us agree with him! I will each pay you a handsome sum and divide the price of having a slave worth his value if you agree." Baron Elford insisted.
"What if you lose?"
"Do you really think I would lose?" Baron Elford snickered.
He then moved closer to the two and whispered.ραпdαs `n?ν?| сom
"I have a servant that is suffering from a certain disease! I purchased her with the intention of training her as an archer! She once belonged to the archer family of Artenask."
"Artenask? Those were a bane to our kingdom during the war. I heard all of them were killed." Torman recalled his dealings and encounters with that family during the war.
"I found one of their members. But her disease makes it difficult for her to grow stronger! I invested an entire team to help her grow three levels, but she did not gain even one! And then I found out she suffers from a curse. The priest believes it's the curse given by the gods to punish them! I was warned to get rid of her, or I would face the wrath of the gods! The disease is called Life Draining Nerves. The very anatomy of the girl rejects life magic!" Elford revealed.
"Life Draining Nerves! To think I would actually meet a person with such diseases!" Carlisto exclaimed as he heard of the deadly disease.
"Let us observe the slave first," Torman ordered.
Baron Elford called out the slave.
"Serena!" Elford called.
The moment Elford called out the slaves, the nearby guards did their best to hide their mirth and laughter. This was the slave that everyone called the dead girl, for she could not level up!
Emeros and Perment did not hear what the three talked about. But they noticed the strange expression that the rest of the guards had!
"Something's up..." Perment drew closer to Emeros.
Emeros nodded as they waited for the slave to appear.
A young girl who appeared slightly older than Emeros walked out of the crowd. She had numerous scars on her face and had a very unsightly appearance.
"Master. You called for me?"
"Come here!" The master angrily called her.
But the moment she drew close, Emeros trembled.
"...True Neutral!" Emeros was amazed. To think that he would run into a True Challenger so quickly! Less than a day after his arrival, he would already meet someone with this curse!
The young teenager moved closer and stood before them, and bowed.
The two other mages moved closer and began examining her, touching her hand to check her pulse, and using Gauger Stones to identify her current stats.
---
Serena
Level 1
Strength: 3
Magic: 0
Dexterity: 5
Vitality: 3
Intelligence: 35
Force: 0
---
The mages found several scars that were known to appear whenever someone with Life Draining Nerves would have as the traces of their nerves and veins would leave scars all over the body.
From the looks of it, she had received three attempts to increase her level. But even then, there was no sign of surging Force or Life from within the body of the girl.
"So she does have it! This woman is less than worthless." Torman turned in disgust.
The slave girl was quiet and did not react to the words she had heard all her life.
"Mage Perment. Do you trust me?"
Perment was surprised at Emeros's question.
"Yes."
"Then find a way to get that girl. I can sense... a strange power within her." Emeros spoke.
Perment was stunned. But as the wonder boy had already given him so many benefits within a day, he was naturally inclined to trust.
"Mage Perment!" Baron Elford finally called out.
"Prove to us that you can do what you claim. But I will ask, if I make you a slave, you can reveal everything you think you uncovered to me, correct?"
Perment was more wary now since it seems that there was something wrong with the girl.
"...Yes. But allow us to check the girl first." Perment negotiated.
"It's clear from everyone's reaction that something is wrong with that girl!"
"You could say that. But this is an easy task for you. You see, this girl has attempted to level up three times! This means her body is close to reaching level 2!" Baron Elford smiled.
"...What?!" Perment exclaimed in anger. This was an upfront lie. If she could have leveled up, she would have!
"Mage Perment... I can see it." Emeros spoke in a low voice as he stood behind Perment and hid from the sight of the Barons.
"She needs Death Energy, not life. The Dark Dependent Formula will work on her!"
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢