Guild Wars

Draco and Eva arrived above a certain large valley, in which a giant, slow-moving river was passing through. There was very little land and walking space here, just water and a lot of aquatic life.

When they arrived here, they saw a notification from the AI that they had entered a Neutral area called the Water Elf's Valley. This was the place where the Rank 5 entity that bought the Deep Vault Map existed.

As such, the Evil Duo directly floated downwards to the top of the river, looking left and right at the various buildings set up on the shoreside.

As a semi-aquatic race, the Water Elves naturally lived and thrived in water, but could also move on land quite suitably. As a neutral area, they also needed to focus on trade, tourism, and other things in order to raise revenue, and they couldn't afford to be closed off even if they wanted to.

As such, a large amount of the tribe was often on the shore in the makeshift buildings here meant for trade. However, their actual residences were built underwater, which should be obvious enough.

Draco and Eva walked towards the entrance of this small town meant for receiving guests and were stopped by a registrar at the gate.

"May I know your name and purpose, gentle sir and lovely madam?" The fellow asked respectfully.

Draco tossed a platinum coin onto his table, and spoke calmly. "Tell the Lady of the River that Draco and Eva of Umbra and Vita Kingdom are here to do business with her. That coin is a tip for your work, and the faster you get her here, the more I might add on top."

The Registrar looked at the platinum coin on the table before him, then at the two guards beside him who were supposed to assist him and protect him in his duties who were also staring at the platinum coin on the table.

Then the trio raised their heads and looked at each other before looking down at the coin again. After two seconds, the three exploded as they rushed out of the entrance area towards the depths, their eyes bloodshot and their legs moving faster than Barry Allen at his peak.

They didn't even stop there as they actively attacked and interfered with each other, just to make sure they were the first to get there. Draco and Eva watched this casually, but the others around gulped as they stared at the stagnant platinum coin on the table.

A nearby Rank 3 rogue NPC looked at the money greedily and prepared to snatch it and run. He had already checked and while these two radiated power and their class was ??? To him, he could see that they were only Rank 1.

He already felt he was giving them enough face by assuming that their level of power was high enough to threaten him, so he only planned to take advantage of his superior speed and cunning to make off with the coin, rather than kill them or rob them.

Many in the crowd had similar ideas to him and they couldn't help but move closer, their eyes red and their greed overflowing. Just as they were about to get close to their prey and strike, their faces changed greatly as they felt like their bodies were frozen on the spot.

Draco snapped a finger and all of their heads burst open at once. The brain matter, and blood splattered about initially, then paused in midair. Finally, it slowly and eerily slinked into his body through his pores, making Draco sigh with satisfaction.

"Hah… this feels much better at 100% than before." Draco commented casually.

"That may be the case, but they're NPC's. We probably won't get much from their death anyway." Eva replied with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, a 50% reduction on all spoils against killing monsters, but that's why I didn't waste their blood." Draco acknowledged with a shrug.

"Meh."

The crowd had long taken three steps back in fear, looking at how this group had been slaughtered so easily at the snap of a finger while their blood had been absorbed by the fellow.

Their subsequent callous chat as If they had gone to a low-class eatery and were arguing that the food was not that bad made the various NPCs here feel a chill in their hearts.

Soon, the registrar came back, bleeding and wounded in many places but his eyes were shining brightly. He ignored the corpses around as he could guess what occurred here, but that only made him feel his effort was more worth it.

"Lord Draco and Lady Eva, the Clan Mistress will see you in her VIP meeting room. Please follow me." The fellow stated as he bowed respectfully.

Draco and Eva nodded and followed the fellow away, leaving everyone to share uncertain looks and sigh about the nature of life. Many stared at the platinum coin still left on the table, but no one dared to go touch it despite their identity or Rank.

Draco and Eva were led through neatly arranged roads and alleys to enter a small hut that was quite banal but extremely clean. When they entered, they noticed that there was a pool in the center and the water elf with them dived in right away.

Draco jumped in right away and channeled Leviathan's power, using Aquakinesis and his underwater breathing ability to blast forward like a torpedo. Eva rolled her eyes and jumped in, using her 'not-susanoo' in its half-body form to protect her from the water and the pressure, as well as to move forward quickly.

The group quickly arrived in the true living area of the Water Elves below. The buildings here were natural and fluid, with domes and lights that shone despite the general darkness underwater.

Draco and Eva were led to a giant palace that was slightly smaller than their own Aether Palace but not any less grand. After being led in, they were taken to a lush room that had bookshelves to one side, exotic carpets, and a mini-bar with an octopus bartender.

Within the room was a well-dressed and majestic elven woman with slightly blue skin, two pointed ears, and a set of gills on her neck. She wore robes that concealed her voluptuous body and a headdress that denoted her position in this clan.

｢Name: Genevieve – Rank 5 Water Elf

Level: 273

HP: 8,540,000/8,540,000｣

When the Evil Duo entered, she smiled beautifully and nodded to the other elf, who bowed low and took his leave. Draco made sure to flip him another platinum coin, which made his eyes brighten.

The Clan Mistress saw this and nodded without any problem. She was pleased that Draco and Eva were willing to show kindness and favor to her people, for it also meant that they respected her.

"Greetings, Lord Draco and Lady Eva. How may I be able to assist you today?" Genevieve asked stately.

"We're here to purchase the Deep Vault Map from you." Draco informed her immediately.

Genevieve was startled by this. She rummaged around her own inventory and pulled out something.

｢Deep Vault Map – Unique Item

Rank: Legendary

Description: This is a map that leads to the Vault of the Deeps, the Treasury of the city of Atlantis.｣

"This one?" She asked with confusion.

Draco and Eva nodded with a smile when they saw it. "Yes, Your Ladyship, that's the exact one."

Genevieve settled down and smiled. "I wonder how much you are prepared to offer for it?"

Draco chuckled. "I remember you bought it for 200,000 platinum right? How about we buy it off you for 1 million platinum then?"

Genvieve's breath caught. That was a huge sum of money to her and to even purchase the Deep Vault Map back then had forced her to borrow from other parties who were now making noise about the debt.

That was why the Water Elves were more welcoming than usual, they were trying anything they could to raise income to pay for the debts. That was also why Draco and Eva were easily allowed to meet a dignified Rank 5 like her despite their own authority being great.

1 million platinum would be more than enough to pay all her debts and inject some life into the Water Elf clan. They could finally fix the issue of their underpopulation by sponsoring families to have children.

However, greed inevitably struck her. A person with debts finding a source of money that could be manipulated by them was the most unscrupulous.

Genevieve hid the glint of greed in her eyes and spoke. "That is a truly fair offer, but Lord Draco, Lady Eva, have you ever considered this problem?"

Genevieve held up the map and smiled. "Why did I spend so much to buy this? You should know, I and my entire clan are in debt for this item, and there is a reason why."

Draco and Eva shared a look and nodded. "Please share."

"We are Water Elves, so we have an affinity with all aquatic life and species, and can traverse the underwater, with a suitable enough force, we could easily complete the instructions on this map and access the vault, and we've spent the entire year preparing towards this."

"So to suddenly stop now… our losses will be quite big. How about this, I will start the offer at 1.5 million platinum when factoring in our potential losses." Genevieve explained while her heart beat wildly in her chest.

She feared these two tycoons would get angry at her greed and refuse the deal. After all, everything she said was currently a lie.

Even though Water Elves did have water affinity and could largely avoid fights with water-based monsters, where the Deep Vault was at was the depths of the very ocean.

Just the first objective on the map alone was impossible for her to complete, so she was filled with regret and hate after buying the map. She had even tried many times to tear it up, but a mere Rank 5 like her could not destroy a Legendary item.

She had also tried to re-sell to other aquatic races, but they all rejected her. What the heck, do you think they could afford the military losses such a dangerous expedition would require?

Seriously, if one only needed to be a powerful aquatic race member to acquire the things in the treasury, would the Church of Light have even been required to put it up at the Divine Auction?

However, Draco and Eva were the first powerhouses to come to her for the map, which was why she even pulled it out in shock to verify if she wasn't dreaming. She even let them state their prices, ready to sell it for even half of what she bought it at most.

To hear almost 5x the price, naturally her greed was sparked and she began to wonder if she should just keep the map and try harder. But she remembered the objective and instantly lost interest in keeping the map, now slightly regretting her greed in increasing the price.

But she was currently on the back of a wild tiger, she couldn't get off. She just had to pray that these two were rich enough to afford it. She was even calculating how far low they could bargain to and how she would 'unwillingly' accept the base offer of 1 million like that.

As such, you could imagine the kind of expression she had on her face when Draco and Eva shared a look. A light of disdain flashed in the Evil Duo's eyes as they turned to her and smiled.

"Our final offer is 3 million platinum, and we only go so high because we also wish to establish a friendly relationship between the Vita Kingdom and the Water Elf clan. Any more and we shall leave."

Immediately, Genevieve was filled with excitement and agreed right away.

"Deal!"