Chapter 593

“How strong do the awakened and inferior races usually get?” Ajax asked, looking to get some more information after a few hours of silent travel. 

“I thought I told you, information isn't free.” Verya’s tone however was strict , it was clear she was offering a deal. A trade of information.

“Fine…” Ajax let out a big sigh. “I’ll trade you general information about humanoids for general information that you know.” 

This was the fourth time he’d tried to engage in conversation and the only time he’d tried to directly collect some information yet all their talks had quickly led straight into another deal. Ajax was starting to think it wasn’t a ploy but simply sidhe culture. Everything revolved around deals and getting an advantage.

“General information is fine but the amount needs to be specified.” Verya wasn’t worried as what was considered general information would be up to each of them to decide as they both grew up in their own cultures, with the sidhe magic enforcing the agreement there shouldn’t be any problems. 

“I get to ask two questions for every one you ask, but you get to start.” Ajax offered the terms. He worded the deal specifically to make it seem like he was giving up an advantage at the start while also giving both of them a way to end the deal at a cost. Once one of them stopped asking question the deal would be on hold.

“Why two for one?” Verya challenged. “You need the information more than I do.” 

“Not that badly seeing as you are bound to help me for the next good while.” Ajax pointed out. “And I can find someone else to answer my questions. It wouldn't even be all that hard so long as I find another Ascended race that is friendly ish. What are the chances you find another humanoid at all?” 

As much as Verya didn’t like the terms she knew there was a lot she could gain. Ajax would have to waste a lot of questions of the most basic of things where she could go for something more specific without as much context. 

“Fine, two of your questions for each of mine but I'll start.” Verya conceded. 

“And no compound questions.” Ajax quickly amended. He remembered a scene from a show he watched back on earth where a demon would extract payment based on wishes it granted, but conditional wishes could be used as a threat, meaning the wish granted was minor but the whole point of the wish was the threat to get another party to comply. He wanted to avoid a twenty part run on question.

“Tsk.” Verya clicked her tongue. “So be it.” 

“I am Ajax Hearthbound and I approve this deal.” Ajax sealed the deal and once again left the Mana shift, as an experiment he tried using [Mana Syphon] on the Mana around him to see if he could somehow circumvent the restrictions on himself but for the first time he felt his Legendary Skill unable to even get a reaction from the Mana. 

“Alright first question then.” Verya looked towards Ajax as they continued their traveling at a fast pace through the forest. “What is the average level of a humanoid?” 

“Between thirty five and sixty five, depending on if they live in a village or a city.” Ajax answered, he did try to stop himself from answering just to see how the binding would react, interestingly he felt like he was trying to hold back a cough, he managed to delay his answer by about three seconds before he finished his explanation. “The bigger the city the higher the average level of the people living there.” 

The experience of fighting against the agreement was very valuable to Ajax, he wasn’t sure what the criteria were but he could feel that he was stronger than Verya, not strong enough to bend the agreement let alone break it but strong enough to get a better feel for how the sidhe deals worked. 

“So how strong can the awakened and inferior races usually get?” Ajax asked again. 

“That’s a compound question.” Verya pointed out. 

It was an odd feeling as Ajax felt the magic only activate after it was pointed out. “How strong can the inferior races usually get?” Ajax rephrased the question, unfortunately for him it looked like he would have to use two questions to get the information he wanted but that was fine. He was also using this agreement as a testing ground for how sidhe deals worked.

From the looks of things he would have to be the one to keep and eye on and call Verya out on any compound questions or else he’d be giving answers away for free.

“The inferior can get to about level two hundred before they evolve to awakened at which point they mostly look to mate in hopes of having awakened offspring. Most don’t make it that far. Even the stronger ones usually die before they make it to level one hundred and fifty.” Verya answer was detailed and this is exactly what Ajax had been counting on when he offered the deal. 

Because of the meticulous nature of the sidhe her answers would be perfectly phrased to deliver the information. 

“And what about awakened races?” Ajax asked the follow up question. 

“There is a lot bigger variance here. Some can evolve to Ascended and work their way towards the top, strongest I know of it a level four hundred and forty. For the most part however the sentient awakened races tend to get up to around level one hundred and the non-sentient one hundred and twenty.” Verya frowned as she realized just how the deal was slanted against her. 

“You’re a lot stronger than you look.” Verya said after a short pause. “I thought you were slightly stronger than me but it seems like I’d have no chance of winning in a real fight against you, at best I might be able to escape. You get more interesting with every passing hour.” 

Verya was both intrigued by the human and also worried about what her most recent deal revealed. Under normal circumstances with someone equal to her she would have been able to get away with much simpler answers but she felt her magic press down on her until she delivered a more complete answer. Her answer had fully complied with the wording of their deal so it was the difference in their power that was pushing on her to better enforce the spirit of the agreement. 

The worst part about this effect of the sidhe’s bargaining magic was that without a much bigger strength difference it would only affect the sidhe if they were the weaker party. Ajax could probably get away with providing the bare minimum to satisfy the wording of their agreement; she knew he had felt that when he tried to stop his answer halfway through. She also wasn’t pleased that Ajax was using this ongoing deal as a way to gather more information on her ability through trial and error. 

Verya had a lot more questions she wanted answers to but she didn’t want to give Ajax any more questions until she had a moment to think so more on how the difference in strength between them played out for the rest of the agreement. Instead she specifically led him towards something he was sure to find interesting in hopes of distracting him even if it would take a bit longer to get to the dungeon. 

Ajax also noticed they changed directions but he decided not to question it. He didn’t know if they were heading towards something bad before and instead just pushed his sensory Skills a bit harder. 

This turned out to be a good move as he could feel the change in the ambient Mana. The increase in density was slight but it was there. What was more noticeable was the affinity that was now present in the Mana.

“Something is off with the Mana here.” Ajax said, he couldn’t ask the question directly but he knew he could prod for information like this, all he had to do was make it seem he was concerned for their safety. “I think it's Lightning Mana.” 

“Those are quite a few points invested in Perception if you managed to pick that up all the way from here.” Verya seemed slightly impressed. “Yes it is Lightning Mana, you said you were interested in odd things like this. Most of them are naturally occurring but this one was specifically made.” 

It didn’t take more than another five minutes until they made it to a small mountain that jutted out of the earth. Ajax was tempted to call it a hill if it wasn’t for the steep slope that erupted from the ground, a clear mark that it wasn’t a natural occurrence but rather something build with Earth Mana. 

Climbing all the way to the top Ajax was a little jealous of Verya’s wings and her ability to simply fly up without any extra effort. He silently promised himself he would work on his own way to fly in the future. At the peak Ajax was overjoyed by what he saw, a massive metallic lightning rod about the same size as his ettin staff that was surrounded by runes carved into the rock and metal rod itself.