"I see," Kan Guang said dryly, thinking for a couple of minutes. "In exchange for life and possibly strength, you're offering to sell us your souls to you?" he finally said, making everyone look at him.
"In a way," I said indifferently. "What's more important to you, a life that will be practically no different from what you would have had, except that now you have an unconditional boss, or your honor, and you'd prefer to die here and now?"
"If you're telling the truth, then your option isn't so bad," Kan Guang admitted honestly. "However, how can I trust you?"
"Don't you all see the girls who were with me?" I asked, and everyone nodded in response. "They signed the same contract and don't complain, but on the contrary, they show me affection, as you could see," I said, shrugging.
"I see, then I can trust you, with reservations," Kan Guang agreed. "I prefer such a life to inevitable death. After all, I still have things to do in this world. I hope you won't interfere in our personal lives?"
"Of course not, why would I bother!" I chuckled. "So, what's your final answer?"
"I agree! I want to live in this world!" Meng Ji literally pleaded, standing up on one knee, which looked quite amusing.
"I also choose life," Kan Guang declared.
"We... uh..." Kan Fu and Yin Lan said uncertainly, exchanging glances again. "I also choose life!" Kan Fu declared, gathering his thoughts and nodding his head.
"Ah..." Yin Lan exclaimed in surprise. "Then I agree too," she exhaled hopelessly, lowering her head.
"Excellent, I'm glad you turned out to be understanding people," I chuckled, taking four blank contracts and four inkwells from my spatial bracelet. "Your blood, please." They all exchanged glances again, took the daggers hanging over them, cut their fingers, and each dripped into their inkwell. "You can rest for now; I'll finish quickly." I sat them down, sat cross-legged, and returned the daggers to their heads so they wouldn't dare to escape. Taking a brush and the first blank, I began writing the contract according to a pre-prepared scheme. It was practically no different from the one Jiaxing Er had, with minor individual adjustments. The first finished blank was followed by the second, third, and finally the fourth. After finishing, I immediately handed over the four contracts for signing. Taking the brushes in their hands, the quartet exchanged glances again in indecision, raising them, they shifted their gaze from me to my daggers and to the contract, studying its contents. Finding nothing particularly unusual in it, they all gradually signed them, after which the sheets burned, and the flames from them separated into two small lights, entering their chests and mine.
"Now, what should we do?" Kan Guang asked slightly uncertainly, the others stood silently, each lost in their own thoughts.
"I'll go check on my students, and you, for now, take out and sort everything that looks intact from the tiger's carcass; it's a shame to let good things go to waste," I said, giving them jars for collecting blood and storing internal organs, then turned and headed towards the cave.
"He's simply a demon," Yin Lan's whisper, mixed with a sigh of relief, was heard behind my back.
"His aura is incredible. How much, and whom, does one have to kill to acquire such a thing, especially at his age?" Kan Fu asked.
"That shouldn't concern you. You haven't even seen his face, you don't even know what to call him!" Meng Ji exclaimed excitedly, regaining her confidence.
"It doesn't matter anymore," Kan Guang said firmly. "Let's consider this our payment for daring to touch such a person! And you can call him whatever you want, since he didn't say anything about it, but I suggest calling him simply 'master'."
I didn't listen to them anymore; they didn't represent that much interest. Although their cultivation was quite good, nothing special. Not reaching a high level by twenty-three means a person lacks genius potential. Of course, a true genius possesses various natural talents, but all that pales in comparison to a person who can develop quickly and steadily. To awaken magic at fifteen, reach an intermediate level by eighteen, a high level by twenty-one-twenty-two, and a supreme level by twenty-four-twenty-six*. This is the criterion by which I measure people's genius. As practice shows, any natural gift can be mastered with desire and perseverance using various methods.
These judgments made me see potential in mages like Xiao Hou, Xu Zhao Ting, Zhou Min, He Yu, Zhao Manyan, Mu Nu Jiao, and Lin Yun Er. If they continue to develop at the current pace, with a certain degree of luck, they could reach the pinnacle of the world with a little help from me, smoothing out the differences between natural talents and them. However, this quartet, although very strong, has already definitely missed their optimal age. They can still become quite strong and significant mages, considering their connections, but no more. In my eyes, it will be very difficult for them to become anything more than pawns and expendable material in case of extreme need. In normal circumstances, no one wants to lose their tools, am I not right?
I ran to the cave using my boots and the wind step, not particularly monitoring my magical energy consumption, as I was tired after the battle and recruitment. I needed to rest a bit to pay attention to all the details again. On the way, I took off the Asura mask and completely concealed my aura. Fortunately, Jiaxing Er and Zhou Ming were fine; nothing happened to them during my absence. They were sitting in the shade of the cave, surveying the surroundings, waiting for me.
"You idiot!" Zhou Min jumped up and slapped me. "Is something wrong with your head? Where were you for so long?!"
"Sister Zhuo Min, calm down, brother doesn't have to tell us everything," Jiaxing Er said, giggling merrily. "Besides, he fought a sand tiger, the pack leader, and as you can see, he's safe and sound."
"And I can certainly punish negligent students who dared to hit their teacher!" I said angrily, offended by Zhou Min's outburst. How dare such a small person hit me? Fortunately, Jiaxing Er's words cooled my ardor, and I realized I had thought a bit too selfishly, but she should still at least try to observe subordination when no outsiders are around.
"As if you weren't worried about him!" Zhou Min retorted meanwhile. "You yourself said he fought the pack leader! Were you really sure of his victory?"
"Yes," Jiaxing Er replied quickly and concisely, without a hint of doubt on her cute face, which even sent shivers down my spine. "I believe in my brother and his strength; he would never go where he couldn't win." Seeing Zhou Min's bewildered expression, she added, and I thought I had heard a similar phrase somewhere, but couldn't recall where or from whom. I probably forgot it out of necessity.
"Alright, enough about that. Did anything happen to you while I was gone?" I asked, not letting Zhou Min continue to complain about Jiaxing Er's blind faith in me, although I knew the reason for it perfectly well.
"No, nothing," Zhou Min said sharply, calming down and realizing that further argument was futile. "Although the cave is quite deep, we walked a bit, but then we came back."
"Hmm..." I mused, looking into the depths of the cave. A faint fiery energy emanated from there; it could belong to some valuable item or some monster. However, the fact that the girls stayed here in complete safety might suggest that the monster is not aggressive towards humans.
"Brother, do you want to know what's in the cave?" Jiaxing Er asked, getting up from the ground.
"Yes, I feel a weak fire energy from its depths. I think it might be something valuable," I said, shrugging.
"Couldn't it be some kind of monster?" Zhou Min asked with concern in her voice.
"Anything is possible, but if something happens, I think I can handle it; in the worst case, we can always escape, blocking the passage behind us," I said, heading deeper into the cave. "But I really don't want to miss the opportunity to get something valuable."
"You're still reckless!" Zhou Min whined, following me and Jiaxing Er. "Why were you considered calm, balanced, and cool-headed at school? When did you change so much and gain such strength?"
I ignored all her questions again; the answer had been given long ago, so now she was greatly irritating me. Although, if I thought about it, I even liked it, meaning her constant whining; I found it quite amusing, otherwise she would have died long ago, or at least the contract would have been used.
The cave turned out to be indeed very deep; we walked for about half an hour until a fork appeared. Fortunately, the choice was obvious; we went into the tunnel from which a greater concentration of fire energy was felt. By the way, the cave didn't even think of narrowing! No, of course, there was a section that was quite narrow, but with a gradual descent downwards, the cave only widened! After another twenty minutes, the crackling of fire and someone's footsteps were heard ahead. Thanks to my hearing, we had enough time to prepare, or rather, I prepared alone, without saying anything to the girls, for one simple reason: they wouldn't be of much help anyway. Around another turn, a huge hall appeared, in which about ten fire lizards were roaming!
Fire lizards are a very rare species, related to salamanders, only much weaker. For the most part, they are considered servant-level beings of the highest order, but younger leaders are also found. They are about three meters long, not counting the tail, and almost one and a half meters high. Their distinctive feature is that their entire skin is covered with weak flashes of fire. Unlike fire scorpions, their control over magic is much weaker.
However, it wasn't their number that was frightening, but the fact that they were all at the junior leader level! This is simply abnormal! Moreover, they were not fighting, as if everything suited them and they saw no problems in coexisting. Here, the hall itself should be described; it is quite large, about the size of a football field, with a small crater in the center. Many tunnels lead from the crater, similar to the one we came through; most likely, the lizards use them when they go hunting.
"How could they all reach such a level?" this was the question that arose in my mind as soon as I saw them. The problem was that some of them were continuing their evolution, striving for true leaders! And this is impossible under normal conditions! It is very difficult to go beyond the species; special resources are needed for this, like a holy spring, as was the case with the wolf in the city of Bo. Reflecting on this, I delved into studying the magical energy of the surrounding space. There were many times more fire elements here than at the cave entrance, and they were concentrated in that very crater in the center.
Understanding this, I studied the lizards' positions again, soon noticing that the stronger individuals were closer to the crater, and the weaker ones were on the periphery. This was very interesting; it means that the item that allows them to develop is located there.
"Jiaxing Yun, aren't these all pack leaders?" Zhou Min's voice suddenly sounded from behind me. It was Zhou Min, who had also been quietly assessing the situation all this time. Jiaxing Er remained silent, pressing closer to me. "Let's get out of here? These were just monsters..."
"No, wait," I stopped her, raising my hand. I finally understood what was in that crater and was very pleased about it. "We're not going anywhere until we get the fire spiritual seed for you!" I smiled.