"This is kidnapping!"
Nfirea had barely begun wallowing in the misery of heartbreak when someone cast [Charm Person] on him and tricked him into coming to this mysterious place.
The place looked like an underground fortress, and Nfirea's first instinct was to contact his grandmother.
Yet the other party was surprisingly polite.
Before Nfirea could think it through, he saw the alchemical materials covering Roy's desk.
Dragons-all of it was wyvern essence.
Wyverns were distant relatives of dragons, generally around level 10-20, with the strongest reaching level 40.
Near the Draconic Kingdom was a Wyvern Riders Tribe. Its people belonged to the human species and specialized in taming wyverns in the Mountains to become wyvern riders.
However, they were not particularly powerful and could only make a living by relying on wyverns to fight heteromorphs.
In principle, these wyverns were friends of humanity.
Thus, Roy had not hunted the friendly wyverns. He had merely sent his subordinates to capture a few evil dragons to use as materials for the transaction.
To Nfirea, even wyverns were top-grade alchemical materials.
"Wh-what do you want?"
"Talent."
Roy spoke with complete candor:
"The Dragon Slaying Cult was founded to eliminate the dragons ruling the world."
"We support all kinds of talented people."
"Mr. Nfirea, you are someone whose talents we value. All you need to do is sign this agreement and research potions for us."
"We will regularly deliver materials, along with some information on alchemy..."
Roy lied through his teeth.
Of course, he did not mind nurturing this alchemical genius along the way.
But all this information had been prepared for Bone King.
Bone King would inevitably investigate Nfirea's memories.
Most of those memories would be accurate. Even if Kyouhukou and Nigredo were deployed, they would find no flaws.
Then they would believe the Dragon Slaying Cult existed, and the rest would depend on Eve.
Roy had merely dropped by to play his part.
"Mr. Ragna, if this is a business discussion, why resort to such methods?"
"Charm Person is hardly an ordinary spell."
Nfirea was a genius, not someone so easily fooled.
You even used magic on me, then suddenly changed your tune and said you wanted to nurture my talents.
Who would believe that?
Roy said gravely:
"If word of our dragon-slaying efforts gets out, it will bring an attack from a True Dragon Lord and spell our utter destruction."
"You may not understand, Mr. Nfirea, but if you refuse to cooperate, we will have no choice but to use memory magic to erase a small portion of your memories."
A threat. A naked threat.
In the original story, Nfirea had one useful quality: he was weak-willed and knew when to yield.
Once he realized Ainz and Momon were the same person, he immediately submitted and promised not to reveal any secrets.
Thus, Nfirea knew the Sorcerer King was slaughtering people while impersonating the Black Hero to deceive the public.
Yet for the sake of his own livelihood, he selectively forgot those memories and served Bone King with a clear conscience.
That was why Roy did not think he would resist the Dragon Slaying Cult.
Sure enough, Nfirea sighed:
"Mr. Ragna, the Blood of the Gods is the pinnacle of alchemy, a creation countless potion makers dream of producing."
"I would love to achieve that, but I have no sample to work from."
Roy reached out and produced a bottle of low-tier healing potion.
"This is an authentic specimen left over from the era of the Eight Greed Kings."
"In the past, the Eight Greed Kings founded the Dragon Slaying Cult to combat the dragon race."
"Unfortunately, every bottle used is one fewer remaining."
"If you agree, this will be yours."
Nfirea's breathing quickened. Clinging to his reason, he asked quietly:
"My daily life won't be affected, will it?"
"Of course not."
"You can continue living in E-Rantel and brewing potions."
"We will also continue funding your alchemical research."
Nfirea breathed a sigh of relief. They really had no reason to deceive him.
As long as they were willing to send him home, everything made sense.
Nfirea nodded:
"I agree."
"Excellent. Let's sign a contract."
Roy produced a contract. On paper, Nfirea would become an alchemist employed by Earl Leon, a noble of the Draconic Kingdom.
Earl Leon agreed to fund Nfirea's alchemical research, providing materials worth no less than five thousand gold coins every year.
In return, Nfirea's research findings would belong to Earl Leon.
The terms were meticulously detailed and offered Nfirea ample compensation. The conditions were extremely generous.
Even in an ordinary negotiation, Nfirea felt that he and his grandmother would have agreed.
A bottle of the Blood of the Gods, plus a large quantity of alchemical materials.
No matter how he looked at it, he came out ahead.
Nfirea signed the agreement without hesitation, failing to notice the faint smile curling at the corners of Roy's mouth.
He had believed it.
Even if Demiurge came to investigate, he would conclude that this really was a transaction with the Dragon Slaying Cult.
That was enough.
Roy bore Nfirea no ill will. The funding was genuine, too, and the Bareare Family could reach new heights through their cooperation.
But next, it was time to seal his memories.
Nika.
Just as Nfirea was about to speak, he was struck by Charm Person again.
His consciousness became hazy.
Veronica began sealing his memories, keeping the spell's power at the sixth tier.
This way, the Great Tomb of Nazarick would find nothing in its initial investigation. Only a specialized information search would uncover the unusual memories.
Something discovered through a special investigation would be easier to believe.
In his dazed state, Nfirea could not detect the magic at work.
Only then did Roy take out the Shooting Star Ring and activate the Spirit Appraisal Eye.
[Name: Nfirea Bareare] [Talent: Item Affinity] [Rank: A+ (9 slots)] [Capacity: 15 slots (6 slots remaining)] [Description: Allows the unrestricted use of any magic item, regardless of race, class, level, or identity, but does not negate the cost of using it.]
In the original story, Nfirea used the [Crown of the Wise], and even removing it would drive him insane.
Clearly, he could use any item, but he could not avoid its cost.
Unless he could advance another rank.
Roy wasted no time and directly used the [Shooting Star Ring] to activate the Super-Tier Magic [Wish Upon a Star].
Roy immediately gained another innate talent.
He could bypass the restrictions on any item and use it.
This innate talent was immensely valuable. To Roy, it was worth even more than an S-rank talent.
After all, the various worlds contained far too many items with specific restrictions.
Even scrolls in Yggdrasil had their own restrictions.
For example, players had to possess the relevant class to use scrolls for that class.
Now those restrictions were gone.
Roy immediately took out a sixth-tier scroll of [Greater Heal].
Humm!
The scroll burned on its own, successfully activating.
This was a skill only faith-type magic casters could use.
It was recorded in Roy's spellbook, but he could not use its scroll.
Now, that restriction no longer existed.
Nfirea, you really are a good man.
Roy was quite fond of Nfirea. He would increase his funding further in the future so that Nfirea could focus on studying alchemy.
As for Enri and the others, World City would take good care of them as well. There was no need to worry.
With that thought, he turned his attention to Nfirea's second most valuable asset.
Genius classes.
As an exceptional talent of the New World, Nfirea also possessed two genius classes.
Name: Nfirea Race: Human Class levels: Mage: LV3 Alchemist (genius): LV4 Potion maker (genius): LV4 Doctor: LV1 Total class level: 12.
These two genius classes had never existed in the game.
Roy could take this opportunity to see whether he could copy them.
The Shooting Star Ring activated the Super-Tier Magic, Wish Upon a Star.
I will copy Nfirea's genius classes.
The instant the spell activated, it seemed to strike a barrier.
Then it shattered.
Wish Upon a Star had failed.
Before you continue