Death... and me

Sure enough, while Rean and Droman were practicing Formations in the Dalamu Sect's Residence, Droman's Thoughts Transmission Talisman activated. He quickly put it on his forehead before a stream of information flowed into his mind. Soon after, he faintly smiled.

"Here we are. Olibo has just contacted us and asked to go to their shop back on the Outer City."

Rean was delighted to hear that.

"That's good. Let's go then."

The two left Dalamu's residence and took the nearest Teleport Formation to the Outer City's gate. Soon, they arrived at the shop where they had discussed things with Olibo before. However, it wasn't just him there this time. There was also another older man present. Droman looked at him and could tell that the guy was at the Middle Stage of the Core and Soul Fusion Realm.

The man also looked at Droman and immediately understood that the latter had cultivation much higher than his own. Not only that, but he could see Rean's Core Formation Realm as well. Due to Rean's age, the man was really shocked by his talent.

"Hello, two sirs. I'm called Bareu Fam, the Illusion Mountain Sect Master. I've heard from Olibo that you would like to seal a deal with us."

Droman nodded, getting straight to the point.

"Olibo should have explained it to you already. We want all the Marfin Sand present in your sect's territory. This trade also has to be kept a secret. My sect members will pass by the Illusion Mountain every month to fetch the extracted Marfin Sand. Not only are we willing to accept the price you offer, but you also won't even need to care about the cost of moving the sand out."

Rean, who was listening, then smiled and asked.

"Did your investigation return any useful information?"

Bareu and Olibo scratched the back of their head while feeling a little embarrassed. Sure enough, they had taken some of their Marfin Sand and went around, looking to see if there was anything that they had missed. They went to the Formation, Blacksmith, and Alchemist guilds in the Outer and Inner City. But all they heard was that it had a nice color. Other than that, those experts couldn't find anything good about it at all.

"It's like the two sirs said. No one can tell if this sand has any use. Some even thought we were making fun of them. In the end, what is the thing you need this sand for?"

Droman shook his head.

"You will find out in the future as long as you don't seclude yourself in a cave forever. But until then, this is a secret from our Dalamu Sect. I will repeat one last time. Other than our Dalamu Sect, no one has any use for this sand. If you want to investigate further, be my guest. Just make sure to not mention our name."

Bareu couldn't shake off this feeling that he was losing something incredibly significant here. Unfortunately, without knowing what this sand could be used for, he couldn't get anything from it. However, he knew that Droman was right about one thing, he doesn't believe that their Sect was really the only place where this kind of sand can be found. It's just that they were the only ones who bothered to extract it for selling. If he let Droman go and he found another source, they might lose everything in the end.

In the end, Bareu gritted his teeth and said.

"One Rank Two Spirit Stone for every kilogram. If you can pay this price, we will keep everything a secret. We will even increase our collection strength to extract more sand per month."

Droman narrowed his eyes.

"Three Rank Two Spirit Stones for every 20 kilograms. That's as far as I can go. It might be something important for us, but I won't let you rip us off that easily."

Bareu had asked for double the price to keep everything hidden, but Droman only wanted to pay 50% more to do that. Still, that was a lot more than they had ever expected to get with Marfin Sand.

"Deal! It has to be a contract with the Zafa Bank as an intermediary."

Droman immediately nodded.

"Obviously. We wouldn't make this deal without them anyway."

Droman and Bareu then went to the Zafa Bank Branch in the Capital. The process was quite simple. The Zafa Bank would make sure that the deal was carried as stated in the contract. At the same time, they would have 10% of the Illusion Mountain Sect's profit with the sand selling. Bareu didn't mind it since it could guarantee the transparency of their agreement. Besides, he was already getting 50% for the sand, so he wasn't losing anything.

Later that day, the two parts came out of the Zafa Bank.

"It's a pleasure to do business with you. How much of this sand do you have available at the moment?"

Bareu looked at Olibo, who was usually responsible for this part.

"We didn't expect we would need to sell so much so soon. Because of that, we don't have that much. Putting everything together, we should have around three tons."

Droman then threw a small bag with 45 Rank Three Spirit Stones.

"Rank Three Spirit Stones!"

It was supposed to be 450 Rank Two Spirit Stones. However, Rank Three Spirit Stones were worth 10 times more. That's why Droman gave them Rank Three instead... Or so it was supposed to be. The higher the rank of the Spirit Stone, the harder it was to get. Although a Rank Three Spirit Stone carried around ten times the amount of Spiritual Energy than a Rank Two, the fact was that it was a lot better. Besides, it was much harder to obtain Rank Three Stones. Rank Three Spirit Stones could be bought in the Capital, but their price was 13 Rank Two Stones instead of 10. Naturally, receiving Rank Three Spirit Stones as payment was a lot better.

"This should be enough for all three tons of Marfin Sand. I'll have my people go to your sect in a week to fetch it. After that, they will pay a visit to your sect every month to take the Marfin Sand away. Is that good enough?"

Olibo and Bareu nodded. They were a very small sect. It can be seen since their strongest member was Bareu himself. With his cultivation, Bareu has his means to get Rank Three Spirit Stones. However, he had to care for the Sect as well. If all the deal was done with Rank Three Spirit Stones, it would be a blessing for his Sect.

"Don't worry. As soon as we get back, I'll have our disciples increase the pace of extraction of Marfin Sand. If Sir Droman can keep paying us this Rank Thre Spirit Stones, I'll do my best to extract at least three tons per month."

Droman nodded, satisfied.

"Perfect. As long as there are three tons per month, I'll pay for it with Rank Three Spirit Stones."

Olibo and Bareu were delighted to hear that. The two parties then talked a bit more about other issues before they parted ways.

On the way back, Droman and Rean discussed the deal.

"Alright. Since they won't be going to our sect, it shouldn't be hard to keep this deal hidden. After we come back to Dalamu, we can begin the process of refining this sand into what we need."

Droman nodded.

"Yes. But let's think about it later when we arrive there. For now, let's focus on the Formation Master Exam of the Main Branch Guild. The Core City should be open already, so let's go there."

"By the way, did you see Elder Fauk and Roan?"

Rean nodded.

"Roan doesn't have access to the Main Branch Alchemist Repository. That being said, there wasn't much of a reason for him to go there. So I believe he went somewhere else instead. I can only feel his general location at the moment. Well, he can care about himself. As for Old Worm, I have no idea where he went."

Droman had an idea, though.

"Well, he is part of the Main Branch Guild. Considering how much Elder Fauk loves alchemy, he probably went there to read the Alchemy Books."

Rean admitted that Droman was probably right.

However, Rean was lying about something. He knew where Roan went. Not only that, they had been in contact with each other all this time. The Main Branch Guilds liked to start their exams at the same time. That meant that Roan would need to wait over a month before it commences. Last night, the twins decided that Roan would head out to look for information about the Imperial Family's situation. This is what Roan was exactly doing at the moment.

'Did you find anything?'

Roan shook his head.

'No. But that is to be expected. I don't know the Capital, so it will take some time to find where the Black Market is located.'

'Are you going to buy something?'

'Are you dumb? The Black Market would definitely have a place where you can buy sensitive information. As long as I find it, it should save me a lot of trouble... or buy even more of them.'

Rean understood. He would be looking for information about the Imperial Family, after all. It might instead bring him a lot of issues. Still, Roan was confident in his ability to escape or keep his identity hidden if necessary. Besides, the twins had already placed a save point inside the Dalamu Sect Residence, just in case.