I felt a chill running down my spine as I noticed a presence standing behind me. As I expected, the snow elf has stepped forward to intervene and he was accompanied by two gnomes.

“That’s right. What do you think you are doing? These humans have already been purchased by CRAFT. Even though we allowed you to attend the conference, it does not mean that you can do as you please and disrupt the operations here.”

“Purchased? This is not how I see it. CRAFT has yet to pay these bounty hunters, right? Meaning that right now, the humans are still the possessions of the bounty hunters. It is up to them to decide who they will sell it to.” I looked at the bounty hunter with a meaningful smile. As long as he played along, we could both get out with what we wanted; I would save my cousin and his group would come out with potentially a lot more points.

“Haha. This human is not wrong.” The bounty hunter laughed. He was an orc with an unbelievably large belly that shook up and down as he laughed. “We will naturally sell our merchandise to the highest bidder, but I am certain that CRAFT won’t be outbid by a single human.”

“You dare to take advantage of us? We already agreed on a price! Are you saying you would rather offend CRAFT and do business with this human?” The snow elf exclaimed as his expression darkened.

The orc shrugged in shoulders in response, looking innocent and powerless.

I smiled faintly. Luckily, the orc played along and was not scared of CRAFT. He was a bounty hunter who prioritised points over such minor relationship. CRAFT was not the only organisation who was purchasing the living humans. The bounty hunters could simply go to another organisation to sell the humans if CRAFT refused to do business with them. CRAFT would be the one on the losing end. And if it ever tried to make things difficult for the bounty hunters, they could simply move to a different city or floor; just like the Healing Temple, the CRAFT group in Tussock was simply a branch of an inter-floor organisation.

“As I said. A hundred points for one of them. Do we have a deal?” I asked to put more pressure on the snow elf.

The latter glared at me angrily, gnashing his teeth. “We can also pay a hundred points for a human. Just a week ago, this was the usual price anyway.”

The two gnomes accompanying him widened their eyes in surprise. “Sir. Should we not wait for the others before making a decision? We cannot indiscriminately raise the price…”

The snow elf became furious that the two gnomes tried to stop him. But at the same time, he understood that they were right. While his position in CRAFT was not low, he could not take such decisions without suffering from the consequences. There were about fifty humans. If CRAFT paid 50 more points for each one, it would mean 2500 points lost because of a small personal conflict. “It is fine.” He said to reassure the gnomes and himself. “Let me put forward an offer then. We’ll still pay 50 points per human, but we’ll pay a small premium on a few of them.” He took a step back after calming down and recalling the words I say. I was only interested in one human and as a result, he did not need to double the purchase price for all the humans. He only needed to do so for the one I was interested in to mess with me, but the question was which one was it.

So far, I had yet to point out who I wanted to purchase but the snow elf came up with a logical deduction. If I wanted to save someone, I clearly needed to know that person. As a result, the snow elf eliminated all those who did not call out my name. Only four humans remained which would only result in an additional 200 points to pay; a much more acceptable amount.

The orc looked disappointed; the snow elf has not been completely blinded by his disdain for the human race after all. He turned his attention toward me, waiting for my reply.

“150 points?” I said straightforwardly.

 “Then, we will also pay that amount for these four humans.” The snow elf pointed at my cousin, Xia Shiyu and two other men who stood next to her.

I furrowed my brows and fell into deep thoughts. ‘It looks like that guy really hates the other races for no reason and is making things difficult because of the prior argument. He should not be a decision-maker in CRAFT, but he is not hesitating to risk his position. Regardless of what price I state, he is probably going to match it. And if we are buying at the same price, then the bounty hunters would prefer to trade with CRAFT instead of me. If there were no additional points to be gained, they would not want to worsen their relationship with CRAFT…’

After a brief moment of reflection, I once again made an offer. “200 points… But if you agree, I will also introduce you to a group of customers who are very likely to purchase these humans at more than fifty points.”

The bounty hunters all focused their attention on me. “You know customers who will buy living humans for more than fifty points? Is that true?”

“Nonsense! How can that be true? All the organisation of Tussock will pay fifty points at most for a living human. Kid, if that is the maximum you can go, then you can only give up and watch your friend disappear in our research facility.” The snow elf exclaimed coldly. He seemed delighted by the outcome of this exchange.

I remained calm and stared at the orc. “But I am not lying. I can really introduce you to them and you will probably leave with a lot more points than you have ever been paid for a task. That is if you agree.”

The humans became agitated but were forced to remain silent by the other bounty hunters. I felt my necklace warming up; it was a sign that someone was trying to read my thoughts. I never felt so happy to have bought this necklace. While the Mind Shield enchantment could be easily broken by any powerful psychic user, the gemstone would explode if someone tried to forcefully read my mind. It would alert the whole crowd who was watching me, including the healers of the Healing Temple. Forcefully trying to read someone’s mind was considered as an offense in the tower and could give the Healing Temple a reasonable ground to take action.

“How can we trust you? As far as I am aware, all the hunting groups can only sell at fifty points per human at the moment. It would be known if there was such a buyer.” The orc asked, looking unconvinced.

“You will have to trust me on this.”

“If that is true, then introduce us to these customers first. If they really do exist, then we’ll even release the human you want for free.” The orc grinned as he narrowed his eyes. “You have my words.”

I expected this to happen. My words were simply too unbelievable, but I was not lying. “Can I take this as a trade agreement between us? While I may not belong to the Union, I am a member of the Healing Temple.”

I glanced back at the group of healers. Eliss and another healer wearing a robe with four golden stripes stepped forward. “We will naturally make sure that the agreement is respected. Those who try to swindle a member of the Healing Temple will have to pay a price.”

“Of course.” The orc nodded respectfully. “But that is only if what he says is true.”

All eyes focused on me. Everyone was curious about these mysterious customers I mentioned.

“Very well. You have already met these customers before. Because the people I am talking about are non-other than the human themselves.” I said confidently.

“What?”

The snow elf frowned furiously. “How can these humans be the customers?”

“It is rather simple. These humans are the ones who will want to purchase their own freedom the most and they all have enough points to do so. We all know that an average newcomer on the first floor would have 500 points. Naturally, the human themselves never considered the possibility of using their points this way because of all the Rights to be Judged that have been used. They are all aware that there are no rules protecting them and nothing would stop the races of the Union from coming back on their words after taking the points.”

“However, things are slightly different with me here. While I do not have enough points to buy them all, the humans can pay for their own freedom in my stead and agree to become my possessions. You may be able to swindle them, but can you swindle me in their presence?” I glanced at Eliss and the other Healer, making sure to stress the fact that I was under the protection of the Healing Temple.

Then, I turned toward the humans. “I now speak to you. You can pay for your own freedom and come under me or do nothing and be sold to that organisation.”

“How ridiculous!” The snow elf exclaimed. “You cannot buy all these humans for yourself!”

“And who are you to decide that? The seller is the one who will make the decision. I am sure that the humans all have at least a hundred points and possibly more.” I smiled at the orc.

The latter wasted no time to decide. As I expected, the bounty hunters were money-minded individuals. “The human is right. We will sell our merchandise to the highest bidder. We cannot be blamed if CRAFT cannot even outbid these humans.”

Despite his anger, the snow elf was unable to change the orc’s mind. Because of the commotion, a few other staff members of CRAFT stepped out but, in the end, they could not force the bounty hunters to sell the humans to them. If they did, CRAFT’s reputation would plummet, and the other hunting groups would also avoid interacting with them. Besides, it was just losing one shipment of humans; there were many other groups who would come by to sell their captured humans.

“You will regret this! You offended the wrong organisation!” The snow elf furiously exclaimed and stormed off the place. His empty threats were completely ignored by the bounty hunters and I. We all knew that the snow elf could not represent CRAFT’s stance and certainly could not make things difficult for us.

Things went as I hoped and the humans all happily paid for their own freedom, taking out 100 to 150 points. The bounty hunters were also excited as their expected income had more than doubled thanks to my intervention. The healers were also delighted at the sight of the dejected members of CRAFT.

The fifty humans all declared themselves as being my exclusive property to ensure their own safety, but I had no intentions of looking after them. I only acted for the sake of my cousin, John.

I was taken aback as he rushed toward me and gave me a bear hug. It has been a long time since someone has been so affectionate toward me. We looked alike and could be confused as brothers, but he had a naïve and innocent aura floating around him.

“Alex! You are still alive and safe. Thank God you came here today. Who are these people and how did you even end up here?” John asked with a voice full of fear and excitement. He asked so many questions that my ears started to hurt. I was lost for words at his display of affection and could only awkwardly stand still. I would need a lot of time to properly explain the situation; unfortunately, there was not much time to celebrate our reunion. 

“Listen John.” I said with a serious tone. “Tell me quickly what your elements are.”

“My elements? I picked Fire and Water.”

“Fire and Water? Bad luck… It seems that we won’t get to stay together…”

“What do you mean?” John displayed a confused expression.

While the Healing Temple agreed to support me on this occasion, I knew they would not agree to let the humans live at the Temple. They lent me a hand since it did not cost them any resources, but they would not pay for someone’s living cost if they did not contribute to the temple. Sadly, John did not choose the Healing element. The organisations behind the Fire and Water element users were not exactly friendly toward humans since they had little to gain from a new race’s appearance.

“Listen carefully. We don’t have much time right now. I am certain that snow elf will come back with his superiors very soon. I’ll try to get you out safely. Once you arrive at the teleportation portal, head directly to the eleventh floor. Ignore all the others. You will be safe there, but you will have to be careful of the other humans you will meet.”

Without waiting for his response, I approached the orc who was packing up the shackles his group used on the humans. I did not want John or the other humans to stay here any longer as my actions had already slapped CRAFT in its face. There was no need to rub salt in the wound by taunting them any further and put myself at risk. The snow elf had already left the place, but he might come back with reinforcements.

“Excuse me. How much will it cost to hire your team for an escort mission?”

The orc was stunned by my request. “You want to hire us?”

“I need someone to escort these people out to the teleportation portal outside the city. They cannot stay here. So, how much will it cost?”