GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

The soil has socked in the blood of many powerful creatures so it is very valuable but it can't be taken. The Supreme Alliance won't allow it because they believe that the contrast of the bloody soil against the white, black, grey, and black bones is very important in telling the story of the violence that took place that day in this location.

The merchant group will take 10% of what they find and turn over the rest to him. He in turn will exchange them with the other resources in his base such as points needed to acquire divine abilities. They can also be used to acquire some things that are not available for exchange in the reward list by allowing the merchant to go out of the plane to the ancient battlefield to get whatever he wants.

So in a way, the merchant is his servant. Calling him a citizen is just a fancy title for a work mule. At the end of the day, the merchant is a livestock that is not for eating. He is for hard or menial labor, safe or otherwise. Lafiti is just like his teachers during the blood crucible. Being a citizen doesn't mean he is completely safe.

Legion-5 spent a few minutes searching and found the three seeds of power. He was searching when one of the workers of Lafiti bent over and groaned. He shot towards the weak and thin boy in annoyance.

He asked with anger, "What is wrong with you?"

The boy didn't answer. He continued to groan and twitch on the ground. The boy is humanoid but short and thin. He is a little taller than 1 meter in height and has two ears on both sides of his head.

The boy should be young but his skin is wrinkled with age and his veins are even visible because of his gaunt stature. His veins throbbed visibly so Legion could see that they were black. It is as if there is a disease within the boy that is spreading and killing him. It is siphoning his vitality and causing him to decay while still alive.

It is not a wonder why he is so sick and weak. Unfortunately for the boy, his state didn't evoke any sympathy from Legion-5. Legion-5 became angry because he was ignored. He kicked the boy's head and turned it into mush. The boy stopped groaning after losing his head but he was still twitching a little.

Lafite had rushed over so Legion-5 turned to him and asked sternly, "Is this the quality of work that I should expect from you? Slacking off from diseased workers?"

Lafiti fell on his knees and pleaded, "Please don't be angry Supreme One. It is my failure not to prepare better slaves."

Legion-5 scoffed at the groveling transcendent. "I don't want any slacking off. I am not giving you this rare opportunity to get shoddy work from you. Make me regret choosing you and you will regret that I chose you. Do you understand me?"

"I understand Supreme One. I will work personally and make sure that everything here will belong to you."

"Hmmp." Legion-5 scoffed one more time and left for his base.

Lafitte stood up after making sure that he had gone. He muttered inwardly. "This stupid slave almost killed me. He suddenly got sick when we were about to enter the plane but I didn't think much of it. To think that he will almost be the death of me. I should have killed him when I had a chance."

Then he checked the still and headless body of the boy to make sure that his sickness was not communicable. His face changed when he saw the blackened flesh with grey spots on the skin and black veins and perceived the foul-smelling stench from the blood he bled.

"What illness is this? This boy seems to be rotting while he was alive and yet there is no apparent reason. Could he be poisoned?"

He can't find any organism responsible for the disease no matter how he checked. His senses are so sharp that he can sense microscopic organisms with his divine sense but he can't see anything that could be responsible for the dire situation of the flesh.

Everything is dying including both the flesh and other microorganisms that inhabit the body. It is as if the boy was poisoned with an inorganic poison but he can't sense even that. All he can see is the excess of death force within the remaining flesh as if the boy had been producing death force even before he died.

"I'm afraid that this is beyond me. I have to report it."

Then he shook his head and sighed. "Fortunately, that Supreme One didn't check too closely or I would be doomed. It is both my luck and curse that I managed to get a contract with a Supreme One that has a title. I can get wealth but my entire family can also go down into the abyss because of it."

Supreme One that has a title. I can get wealth but my entire family can also go down into the abyss because of it."

He left to find one of the Citizens in charge of the planar portal with that somber thought in his head. The Supreme One paid attention to him and gave him an opportunity. He is both glad and afraid because of it.

There is a saying that goes around among citizens. They say, "You are both lucky and unlucky if a Supreme One pays attention to you."

He is a citizen, and as such he can't be killed easily. But he is still afraid of the wrath of Supreme Beasts because his protection is not absolute.

Citizens can't be killed at all during the rite of trial. They can only be eliminated. They lose this privilege after the rite of passage. They can be killed then but at a cost. This is because, unlike slaves and livestock for food, citizens are important properties of the Supreme Alliance. If they are killed by a Supreme beast, that Supreme beast must pay the Supreme Alliance for the lost value.