"How much gold can you offer?"
When Amber Xiu asked that, not only was the young Naomi stunned, but even the hag hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. It took her quite a while to recover.
The hag said excitedly, "You want money? Fine, I can give you five thousand gold coins!"
Naomi's heart tightened. Would this lich break the contract for five thousand gold coins?
Probably not. After all, they'd agreed on ten thousand gold coins earlier; the Druids were simply offering more.
As expected, Amber Xiu didn't accept. He only said to the hag, "Five thousand isn't enough. The Druids offered me fifty thousand gold coins."
Naomi: ...
Her self-reassurance from a moment ago had become utterly meaningless. This lich was the sort who just made things up as he went!
The hag was startled too. Fifty thousand gold coins was an outrageous sum. Even if they killed all the Druids and sold them skin and all, they wouldn't be worth fifty thousand.
"Oh ho ho, you liches are even better at lying than hags. I'm not wasting any more time on you. I can offer only twenty thousand gold coins. One price, take it or leave it!"
The hag's offer made Naomi's heart pound with anxiety all over again. It was twice what she had offered.
With this lich's personality, he might actually accept.
As if to confirm Naomi's fears, Amber Xiu suddenly turned around and swept his staff toward her.
Naomi hadn't even realized what was happening when the Sylvanus Statue was snatched from her hand.
Looking closely, she saw a glowing arm floating in midair.
Mage Hand was an extremely basic spell, like Ice Ray, and almost everyone knew it. But casting it as quickly as Amber Xiu had was no easy feat.
Naomi had little experience, after all. She hadn't expected Amber Xiu to change his mind as quickly as flipping a page. The moment he'd stolen the Sylvanus Statue, his next spell fell upon her.
Dark red beams of light formed a huge cage around Naomi. The Druid girl found that she couldn't even move a finger.
Hold Person was a relatively advanced spell, especially effective against humanoids. Until the spell wore off, Naomi would remain helpless at her captor's mercy.
After that, Amber Xiu turned back toward the hag and said, "Money for the girl, and then we trade. Oh, and I'm taking Sylvanus's statue."
The hag let out a cackling laugh. Mutated rats emerged from the darkness, carrying a small coin purse on their backs. It was clearly another Space Pocket.
Amber Xiu carefully controlled Mage Hand to pick up the purse. He inspected it repeatedly, making sure it held no Magic Trap before opening it to check the contents.
Before long, Amber Xiu frowned. "Why is there only a little over eighteen thousand gold coins?"
The hag said angrily, "This Space Pocket is worth at least three or four thousand gold coins. You really want to haggle over the other two thousand?!"
Amber Xiu replied, "All right, I'll take a small loss and give you a discount."
The hag was nearly furious enough to die. This lich was truly shameless when it came to money. If she hadn't been outmatched, she would have torn him apart and made him into a toilet.
The Druids in the illusion had watched the whole exchange between the hag and Amber Xiu. When the dark-skinned Druid, Van Jones, saw Naomi immobilized by Amber Xiu's spell, his fists clenched with a crackle.
Unfortunately, Van Jones was powerless to do anything. All he could do was hope, Undead really are despicable, wicked creatures! Sylvanus above, please save your faithful!
But the gods seemed not to have noticed the prayers of a few insignificant Druids. Amber Xiu and the hag were still standing there unharmed, without the slightest sign of divine punishment.
Yet after putting away the purse, Amber Xiu didn't hurry to hand Naomi over. Instead, he casually asked, "Alchemy City has been lively lately. The Paladins of the Lyne Empire have come down into these sewers, the Druids have come down into these sewers, and even a hag like you has come down here... What exactly are you all here for? What's so special about this dump?"
The hag replied casually, "You don't know? With your power, you're a big shot even among the undead. Haven't you heard the prophecy? The sewers beneath Alchemy City hold the secrets of the gods. Whoever finds them can ascend to godhood."
"Huh?"
Amber Xiu sounded as though he'd just heard the biggest joke in the world. You could become a god in this dump?
Hearing the disdain in Amber Xiu's voice, the hag said irritably, "You think it's fake?"
Amber Xiu didn't answer. Instead, he changed the subject. "Have you found any clues about how to become a god?"
The hag sneered. "Even if I had, would I tell you? And even if I did, would you believe me?"
Amber Xiu nodded. "Fair enough. Then I guess there's nothing else to ask."
At those words, the hag suddenly sensed something was wrong. A powerful feeling of danger made her body go rigid.
She was in the darkness, and she'd already prepared a Teleport spell. The hag wasn't good at much else, but she was unmatched at running away. Otherwise, how could such a brutal monster have survived for so long?
Though she had no idea where the danger was coming from, the hag still made the decisive choice to flee.
The Teleport spell was ready. All she needed was a thought to cast it, and it would send her to a random spot hundreds of meters away. In these complex sewers, even a teleport of just ten meters might put several walls between her and her pursuer, enough to get away cleanly.
But when the spell took effect, the hag was horrified to find herself standing in front of Amber Xiu, less than ten meters away.
"How is that possible?!"
Of all the random spots within hundreds of meters, why had she appeared right in front of her enemy?
The hag jumped in fright, but immediately cast Teleport again. Her understanding of the spell was unparalleled. Even casting it repeatedly, she did so without a hitch, with almost no pause between attempts.
But this teleport left the hag stunned again. This time, she'd simply blinked in place, moving less than a meter.
Amber Xiu floated quietly in front of the hag. Then he watched as she teleported frantically, as if she'd gone mad, only for each attempt to produce the same result.
The hag said in shock, "A spell that replaces the result... Y-you're a Mage of the School of Prophecy?!"
Amber Xiu said approvingly, "It's rare to find anyone who still remembers the School of Prophecy. I thought it had already vanished into the river of time."
The hag knew she'd run into serious trouble. Teleport had stopped working, and she had no way to escape. Her only option now was to fight for her life.
Just as the hag was about to attack Amber Xiu with offensive magic, the magical light from Amber Xiu's staff had already fallen upon her.
The next second, it was as if she'd been struck by something. She began to laugh uncontrollably.
The laughter was horrible, but the hag couldn't stop.
Within seconds, the hag was doubled over with laughter, coughing and laughing until her lungs and throat were about to bleed. In the end, she couldn't even stand and could only roll around on the filthy ground.
Tasha's Hideous Laughter was an extremely common control spell. Once it hit, the target was overcome by uncontrollable laughter and couldn't do anything but laugh.
As soon as Amber Xiu cast Laughing Spell on the hag, the light of the Immobilization Spell around Naomi faded too.
Amber Xiu said to the bewildered Naomi, "All right, I've got the hag under control. Your people should be safe too."
Naomi stared blankly at Amber Xiu, no longer able to tell what was real and what wasn't.
"Why are you just standing there? Did you really think I'd break my contract?" Amber Xiu explained.
"But you took her gold, and I haven't paid you yet..." Naomi said softly.
Amber Xiu said triumphantly, "Hahaha, do you think I couldn't get those coins if she didn't pay? You're such a naive girl. If I kill the hag, the gold will still be mine. I was just pumping her for information. I wanted to learn the secrets of these sewers."
Naomi felt as if her whole worldview had been shattered in the space of a few moments. This world was too terrifying. She wanted to go back to her tribe.
Before you continue