Chapter 881: A Swift Bargain

'Weren't they the ones who were supposed to be guarding?' Krune's eyelids twitched while thinking as the man with the crown fiddled with the device.

After a while, the man infused a bit of his Godly Energy on the ground to create a stone table before placing the device on it. He spent some time synchronizing it as he tried to pick up a response. His actions implied that he was an expert in this field or was used to doing it.

After some time passed in such a manner, followed by a faint fluctuation, the image of an old man appeared. The old man was relaxing on a chair, eating some fruits as he listened to some instrumental music.

Upon noticing the fluctuation of Godly Energy, he turned around, looking in the direction of the device while frowning as he asked, "Who are you?"

"Are you the Sunkan City Lord?" the man with the crown replied with a question. His confident posture and arrogant expression made the Sunkan City Lord ponder over his next string of words.

Among those that had been dispatched to protect Krune, some of them possessed a means to contact the Sunkan City Lord. After all, he didn't wish anything to happen to the sword he had handed out for the spirit awakening.

"Yes," the Sunkan City Lord nodded as he replied in a mildly respectful tone. "May I know who you are?"

"I'm just a loose cultivator," the man with the crown smiled while replying. "I came across the sword you had given out for the spirit awakening by chance. I captured Krune, and as for the rest, well...they died."

The Sunkan City Lord could not help but frown as his expression turned solemn. His eyes were filled to the brim with killing intent as he was about to unleash a form of threat, the same threat that people usually did in a conversation with someone they didn't like.

"I see you've misunderstood me." The man with the crown could not help but laugh upon seeing the city lord's reaction. "Actually, I had killed them by mistake. Well, the reason I contacted you isn't for that."

"Then..." The Sunkan City Lord asked with mild confusion.

The man with the crown laughed as he replied, "Actually, I'm quite interested in your sword. Tell me your price, and I'll buy it from you. I don't like thieving, you see."

"That sword is my family heirloom..." The Sunkan City Lord just began to speak when the man with the crown cut him off, saying...

"Name your price."

"Why...?" The Sunkan City Lord expressed his confusion as he asked, "Why do you want to buy that sword? It isn't anything special."

"Hahaha!" The man with the crown laughed as he said in response, "There's nothing special about it, but you definitely know how every spirit awakened in it dies immediately, right?"

"Yes." The Sunkan City Lord nodded in response. "I have hired a lot of Spirit Awakeners in the past to try and awaken it. Unfortunately, all of them had failed."

"The reason behind that is because of a flaw in the sword," the man with the crown smiled as he replied, having fun as he looked at the various expressions on the other side's face. "There are some materials in it that are...what do you call it...err...spirit defects?"

"Spirit defects?" The Sunkan City Lord frowned as he asked, "What are they?"

"There are some items that are so in tune with nature that they awaken spirits on their own. On top of that, when they live long enough, their connection with their equipment deepens beyond the normal extent. Though, when these spirits are killed for reasons unknown, they turn out into what is known as spirit defects. When these materials are used to make equipment, no matter what you do, the awakened spirit will die instantly," the man with the crown explained.

He then smiled, waving his hand as he continued with his explanation, "Those spirit defects are the source of the green energy destroying the awakened spirit. Then again, if the creator wishes to screw someone over, they add this spirit defect into the equipment while forging it. But in actuality, the material with the spirit defect is better than most materials. The only downside is the fact they would prevent the awakening of an equipment spirit."

The Sunkan City Lord frowned with a gaze of disbelief as he muttered, "Impossible! The one who made this sword was a trusted member of my family..."

The man with the crown shrugged as he replied, "I laid the facts before you. Anyway, I need the spirit defects in it. They're of the highest concentration I have ever seen. In any case, name your price."

Before the Sunkan City Lord could say anything, the man with the crown emphasized, "Truthfully speaking, I could have just skedaddled with the sword. After all, it is in my possession. Nevertheless, I still wish to do a fair deal as I feel that you still have sentiments to this. I believe I've already shown my honesty through this."

"Fine." The Sunkan City Lord sighed in defeat. He had no choice but to compromise. After all, the item was already in the hands of the other party. It was already a good thing for him to gain something for it. After all, in the current situation, he was unable to dispatch anyone to snatch it back from the man with the crown.

He had relocated his city to the capital of the Zamuria Empire. So, there were a lot of things he had to do. He had to meet the emperor, fight for a suitable position in the capital, obtain a favorable place to erect his city, allocate resources that he had taken with him from the previous place, and so on.

He was short on manpower since everyone was busy with the relocation, as well as arming themselves. Truthfully speaking, the Sunkan City Lord didn't have the attention span to care about the man with the crown.

Even in his current situation, his body looked like it was relaxing, but his mind was working on overdrive. He was making use of his Divine Sense to do all the work.

After a while, the Sunkan City Lord replied to the man's words, "You contacted me to express your honesty. With that, just name the price you're willing to give me."

"Alright, that's a wise decision." The man with the crown smiled as he lifted his right hand, flashing four fingers as he asked, "How does 400 Rank 4 God Stones sound?"

"Fine." The Sunkan City Lord sighed with a shrug. The blade wasn't anything special and was something even Krune could wield. Nevertheless, the hilt was a piece of equipment in the Semi-God Realm. In short, the price proposed by the man with the crown was unfair. It was a loss.

Unfortunately, the Sunkan City Lord had no other choice but to agree to it. After all, he was at least able to obtain compensation for it. It was better than the sword getting stolen. Besides, he had never used the sword in battle since it was unwieldable.

Only the hilt was of enough quality for him. As for the blade, it was something that would shatter from a single touch if he wielded it. It was something he had made for ornamental purposes. The reason he wished to awaken its equipment spirit was just to create something the younger generation of his family could use to train and sharpen their sword-playing skills.

"Tell me your coordinates," the man with the crown said as he took out a small plate from his spatial ring. It was something that was able to teleport items over long distances.

The ones used to transport people were massive and required a lot of Godly Energy to operate. But the one before him was small and had a weight, volume, and distance limit. Once the Sunkan City Lord relayed the coordinates of his place, the man with the crown input them into the plate before placing a pouch on it.

He poured 400 Rank 4 God Stones into it, counting twice to make sure he didn't put anything extra. He then infused his Godly Energy into the plate, watching the spatial laws in it activate before teleporting the bag.

The bag appeared beside the Sunkan City Lord, who inspected it with his Divine Sense to ensure that not even a single stone was lacking. He then stared at the man with the crown, saying, "Farewell, then."

"Alright." The man with the crown nodded as he deactivated the device, stretching his right hand towards Krune.

"Fine." Krune took out the sword from his spatial ring before throwing it towards the man with the crown. He then asked, "Were those spirit defects the reason for this?"

"Not really." The man with the crown smiled as he said, "There's no such thing as spirit defects. It's something I made up to convince him. Everything I said was a big fat lie."

'Of course,' Krune sighed as he thought to himself. He then watched the other party fiddle with the sword for a bit before finally asking after some time had passed. "What's your name?"

"You...never knew?" The man with the crown stared at Krune in shock as if he had been told the world wasn't round but was actually flat.

"You never said it to me," Krune shrugged as he replied. "I could only sense you chasing me back then. It's not like I can obtain your information, too, you know."

"Well..." The man with the crown walked closer until he stood two meters away from Krune before responding, "My name is...Cultivator."

"Your name is...Cultivator?" Krune stared with a frown as he clarified his doubts, "Or, is that the alias you're going by?"

"That's my name," Cultivator replied with a wry smile. "My father was illiterate and wasn't exactly what you'd call sane. This was the only word he heard everywhere, so he named me this. From what he told me, my mother fled from the house a few months after giving birth to me. So, I guess this name stuck onto me since then."

"Is your mother in the Zamuria Continent? Are you on this journey to meet her?" Krune asked, somewhat becoming interested in the story behind Cultivator. This was because he could feel that they shared similarities...at least in some parts.

"Pretty much." Cultivator nodded as he spoke, "After my dad died, she's my only remaining family. I've been tracing her trails all over the Rumria and Guria Continents. Eventually, I obtained some clues that she had ended up in Zamuria Continent. Since all three continents were on the brink of war with each other, I wish to find her as soon as possible."

"The entirety of the population in the Zamuria Continent is currently headed towards the capital. Maybe we can find your mother there," Krune soon replied. He didn't have anything much to do, so he decided that it was better to tag along with Cultivator.

Besides, Krune realized that he didn't have any hatred towards Cultivator either. He didn't even put in his eyes the fact that Cultivator had chased after him before. Their personalities seemed...somewhat similar. It was as if they had faced similar encounters in their life and had molded their personalities accordingly.

"I plan to head towards the Four Sectors' Border Region first. Something interesting is currently happening there. So, a lot of powerful cultivators would probably appear there. Maybe if I'm lucky, my mother might also be there?" Cultivator said not long after.