Alliance

Ron pondered for a moment, then rose from his chair and lightly patted Andre on the shoulder:

"Don't look so down in the dumps. I've never seen His Highness the Thirteenth Prince looking like this before."

He walked over to his cabinet and searched through it as he teased, "If those young ladies in the Royal Capital who worship you saw you looking so glum, they'd probably be heartbroken."

Andre had still been wearing a miserable expression, but Ron's joking interruption made him laugh: "Don't remind me of those boring social gatherings. They're all fake and insincere."

As he spoke, he shook his head, though the gloom in his eyes had eased somewhat.

"Here, take a look at this." Ron pulled an exquisite crystal bottle from the back of the cabinet. It contained a faintly glowing, blood-red liquid, and he casually tossed it toward Andre.

Andre caught it in one hand, nearly fumbling it. "Hey! Be careful. This isn't a game of pinball."

He held the bottle up to the light curiously. "What is this? It smells a little like... strong liquor?"

"Ha! If strong liquor could sell for five Magic Stone Fragments a bottle, I'd have opened a tavern long ago."

Ron grinned slightly. "This is the 'Blood-Qi Potion' I made under Mrs. Allen's guidance yesterday. It's specifically meant for Knight cultivation."

Andre's eyes lit up at once. "You're kidding, right? I know about this kind of potion. You can't even buy it at the market!"

He carefully examined the liquid in the bottle. "Wait... you can really refine something of this level now? Your progress is astonishing. From a Candidate Apprentice with Sixth-Rank Star talent to this... You're practically a different person."

"Come on, you don't really think I'm some kind of monster, do you?" Ron pulled several more small bottles of different colors from the cabinet and casually arranged them on the table:

"Look, these are all my recent 'masterpieces.' This blue one stabilizes Mental Fluctuation, while the green one eases meridian pain..."

He picked up a transparent potion and shook it. "And this treasure is especially effective for breathing-method cultivation. It can raise efficiency by at least thirty percent."

Andre reached out to take a look, but Ron slapped his hand away. "Don't touch it. This is part of my private collection. Each bottle costs nearly ten Magic Stone Fragments."

"You weren't this stingy before." He pretended to complain, anticipation flickering in his eyes. "Is it really that miraculous?"

"Want to try one?" Ron raised an eyebrow. "Take a bottle back with you later. I guarantee it'll make your breathing-method cultivation advance by leaps and bounds."

Andre blinked and asked warily, "Tell me what you want first. We're good friends, but I'm not selling my ass."

"Get lost. I don't have that disgusting of a fetish." Ron laughed and shook his head, then stepped forward and punched Andre, nearly knocking him off balance:

"But you really did grow up in the court. Your vigilance is incredible."

He put the potion bottles away, then suddenly dropped his joking expression. "Speaking of which, Andre, after I broke through, Mrs. Allen agreed to teach me the Gem-Grade Meditation Method."

Andre's smile froze. "What did you say? The Gem-Grade Meditation Method?"

Seeing that Ron wasn't joking, he was so shocked he could barely speak. "Good heavens! She actually has one... Aren't those core secrets the School guards with everything it has?"

"The condition is that I help her collect some special materials." Ron shrugged. "To be honest, the things on the list won't be easy to obtain, but this is a rare opportunity. I've decided to give it a try."

"You know, Ron." Andre shook his head with a sigh. "I'm starting to regret treating you as nothing more than a spoiled heir back then. If I'd known you had this kind of potential..."

"Don't dwell on it." Ron waved his hand, recalling the friendship they had formed after visiting certain places together. "I really was a bastard back then. All I thought about was drinking and sleeping around."

The two of them laughed at the same time, and the atmosphere immediately relaxed considerably.

"Seriously." Andre's smile faded as he looked at Ron earnestly. "If you can really help me through this crisis, I'm willing to become your Knight guard."

Ron was drinking tea. At those words, he raised an eyebrow with interest. "You're serious?"

"I've never been more serious than I am right now." Andre's gaze was utterly resolute. "I'd rather follow a familiar friend than be treated as that mad woman's plaything."

He gave a self-mocking laugh. "Besides, I'm already a failure in the eyes of the Royal Family. But I really do have decent talent for Knight cultivation. If I follow you... at least I can preserve my dignity, right?"

Ron put down his teacup, his expression turning serious as well. "Then I won't hold back when I put you to work. But here's a suggestion you might want to consider—focus all your efforts on improving your Knight strength."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it." He tapped his finger against the tabletop:

"If you can break through and become a Formal Knight, things will be different before the Royal Family. Even your brothers and sisters would have to show a Formal Knight some respect, wouldn't they?"

Andre felt that he had found a way to deal with the problem. "You're pretty quick-witted! It's true. Formal Knights have an independent status in the kingdom. Even the Royal Family can't assign them around at will."

"Exactly." Ron smiled smugly:

"I'll provide the potions, and you focus on cultivation. We both get what we need."

"Wait..." Andre looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean by 'provide the potions'? I know very well that these things are expensive."

"You figure out how to obtain the materials yourself. I'll give you a discount on the refining fee." Ron blinked and weighed the Magic Stone pouch at his waist. "A friendship price—slightly cheaper than the market rate."

"You little rascal!" Andre laughed and cursed. "You've really learned how to do business. But..."

His expression turned serious. "I accept this deal. I'll help you gather intelligence and supplies, and I'll be available whenever there's a fight or an errand to run. You help me improve my strength. Fair and reasonable."

"Then it's settled!" Ron held out his hand.

Andre clasped his hand, and the two exchanged a smile. "Deal!"

"By the way." Ron suddenly remembered something. "That Cynthia you mentioned earlier—does she particularly like wearing purple dresses, and does she always speak with a southern accent?"

"You know her?" Andre asked in surprise.

"Of course I don't." Ron smiled mysteriously. "But I heard her name from Mrs. Allen. Apparently, she took some kind of potion recently, got its properties mixed up, and nearly poisoned herself to death."

Andre's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Absolutely." Ron spread his hands. "Mrs. Allen even muttered something about a 'big-breasted, empty-headed idiot.'"