172 Awakening Potion
The slave contract was formed without any glitches.
It offered Eren complete security from Lagartha. She couldn’t lie to him or deceive him without him not knowing about it. She couldn’t willingly, subconsciously, or follow someone’s orders to hurt him.
Eren could control Lagartha’s actions to a large extent. But he wasn’t able to dictate her will or her emotions. However, the control he had over her was enough to trust her.
Only after confirming his connection with Lagartha did Eren take a breath of relief. He didn’t show it. But he was on the edge dealing with seven Spiders all by himself as well. He didn’t think he was in mortal peril. But he could never be too sure about what his enemies could have in store for him.
“I hope you don’t ask of me something I find difficult to provide.”
Lagartha said to Eren while gulping down another vial. She was really exhausted fighting with Eren. Mentally more so than physically.
Eren massaged his temples with his right hand before responding.
“You know, I can just kill you after knowing about everything. You should be more worried about that possibility than the possibility of me taking an advantage of you.”
Lagartha was too stunned to speak when she heard Eren’s life-threatening words. She had only said what she said to irritate him. Usually, men would try to explain themselves when they were being called out for having uncalled-for thoughts towards women. But she could have never thought that it would backfire on her.
Eren chuckled when he saw the face Lagartha was making.
“I’m messing with you. You are more useful to me alive than dead. In fact, I’ll send you to Spiders to act as my mole. I can’t rely on the safety and instructions provided by my guild alone. It’s much better to keep tabs on the enemies.”
Lagartha scrunched her nose at the thought of being used as a mole. She didn’t have any emotional investment in her current guild or her team. Being in the guild provided her with many opportunities. It allowed her to progress rapidly in her ranking journey.
She was contract bound by her guild to serve it anyway. A contract she needed to break soon. She already had a way planned. It was just that signing a slave contract with Eren had complicated a few things for her.
“I… I don’t have a problem betraying my guild. I can certainly provide you with the information you need in the coming weeks. But what would happen to me when the guild war officially begins? I’ll be attacked from both sides eventually.”
Lagartha said and got up from her seated position. She dispersed her wooden armor spell and surrounded herself with loads of green vines. Eren wondered what his “trusted aid” was doing. But he got his answer soon.
When the green vines were dispersed, a gorgeous-looking Lagartha appeared in front of him in a new set of clothes. The girl didn’t like the fact that there were signs of battle all over her. So she got rid of them the first chance she got.
Eren looked at Lagartha keenly and thought that maybe he was too fast in committing to a narrative. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders for no apparent reason before answering the question directed at him.
“When shit hits the fan, you can change sides at the right time and come to me. I’ll make necessary arrangements with my guild by that time.”
Lagartha shook her head before replying.
“If possible, I don’t want to join your guild. As a Spider, I have clashed with a bunch of rankers from your guild. They won’t be too happy seeing me.”
Eren snorted his nose before responding.
“I don’t care about any of that. You and I are not here to make friends. The guild gives us missions and we get rewarded for them. That much transactional relationship is enough. In short, nothing would change for you. You need to behave just the way you behaved in House of Spiders.”
‘This guy…’
Lagartha thought that she was too cold-hearted and cynical. But Eren was on another level compared to her. Before she could register any more of her complaints, Eren clapped his hands before continuing.
“Okay. Now that we are both on the same page, you can tell me everything that you know.”
As Eren rotated his wrists to relieve any pent-up stress in them, he said to Lagartha. The fire domain was about to be dispersed. However, he waved his hands to shrink it to its bare minimum.
The domain served as an insulator for him and Lagartha. He didn’t want a third party to know about the things he was about to hear from his aid. After all, planting a mole would only work when people didn’t know about the mole’s existence.
Lagartha shook her head before responding.
“At the moment, I can’t do that. I need to be promoted to Awakened rank before I tell you anything. Otherwise, the binding contract I have with Spiders would affect and cripple me.”
Eren felt like he had another headache coming at him. He then criticized himself for not anticipating something so obvious.
Lagartha had signed a binding contract with her guild that kept her loyal to it. Knowing about the guild’s activities would be considered a breach of the contract.
A breach of the binding contract couldn’t be scoffed at. Especially when it was signed with a well-established guild. A breach of contract could result in regressing in rank, damage to the mana core, or even death. It was dependent on how critical the breach was to the guild.
Eren could read Lagartha’s mind to some extent thanks to the soul make that was placed on her due to the contract. He could tell that she was indeed speaking the truth about the breach of contract. That was obvious. But he was also sensing that she was trying her best not to think about a particular solution.
“What’s so special about this Awakening potion?”
Eren asked and narrowed his eyes. He got the potion’s name from Lagartha’s subconscious. The more she tried not to think about the potion, the more she highlighted it for him.
Lagartha looked at Eren with slight irritation. She stomped her feet on the ground before replying. She couldn’t lie to him. But she had hoped she could keep things hidden from him. She could only get lowkey infuriated in her head after realizing that it was wishful thinking.
“*Sigh. It’s a relatively stable potion to be used by the Meta rankers who are only a step away from breaking into the Awakened rank. It kind of pushes the user towards their breakthrough at the cost of hurting their mana core.”
“Do it. Right now.”
As soon as Eren heard what the potion could do, he said without a second thought. He had nothing to fear even if Lagartha breaks into the Awakened rank since the slave scroll he had purchased belonged to the Awakened rank. It could only be used by Eren and Lagartha because Malcolm had added additional runes to it to be used by Meta rankers.
Getting rid of Lagartha’s binding restrictions was equally beneficial for him as it was for her. Severing her connection from her previous organization was the equivalent of committing only to him.
Of course, she would eventually have to sign a new contract with the House of Spiders when she breaks into Awakened rank. But she could always delay the binding process by taking nonsensitive missions. She could bide her time while still serving in Spiders.
Of course, not signing the contract with Spiders after she breaks into Awakened rank would affect her intelligence-gathering capabilities. But this was a compromise Eren was willing to make.
“Hmph! Drinking the potion is not as simple as you think. There’s usually an Awakened-rank stabilizing array that could be used in conjunction with the potion. It could lessen the side effects of using a potion to attain Awakened rank.
I had bought the potion thinking I would be able to use it with the array when the right time comes. But I don’t have the array scroll on me. It means I would have to face the consequences of breaking into the Awakened rank.”
Eren snorted his nose when he heard another excuse coming from Lagartha’s mouth. He spoke in a grim voice.
“I don’t give a shit about what kind of consequences you have to face. Particularly after taking into account the not-so-obvious implications of you carrying that potion with you.
You will reach Awakened rank, and that will be the end of it.”
Eren disappeared from his place after he said this. Lighting sparked and he appeared right in front of Lagartha. He gripped her jawline and brought her face closer to his.
Lagartha was taken aback by Eren’s sudden burst of movement. She could see his blue eyes that were devoid of any sympathy a normal person would have after seeing a damsel in distress.
Lagartha pursed her lips when she was only an inch away from Eren. She was suddenly overwhelmed with feelings of helplessness. A strong smell of blood and flesh on him caused her to stop breathing.
What made her stomach churn was the fact that the blood and flesh belonged to her former team members. Even though she wasn’t emotionally loyal to them, she couldn’t help feeling some sympathy for them because of the way they had all died.
Eren mentally ordered Lagartha to look him in the eyes. He looked deep into her eyes before speaking up in a low and sinister voice.
“Lagartha, my darling. Don’t think I haven’t figured out what you were trying to do earlier.”