Speed Is King

"WHAT?!" Khellendra was stunned.

"You're allowing us to pick even the legendary rune?" Khalendros asked Autumn incredulously.

"Uhuh. There's only one though. I hope you don't mind." Autumn replied with an awkward smile. She did not expect the dragons to be so shocked at the sight of the legendary rune!

That was to be expected. Autumn had lived a truly, truly blessed life.

For most of the Universe, however, they had to strive with all of their might to gain enough money to buy a few common and uncommon runes. If they were lucky, they could even get their hands on an uncommon rune that's bordering on epic.

But they would have no hope whatsoever of getting their hands on an epic rune, much less a legendary rune.

Even the cheapest uncommon rune could cost upwards of two resource planets.

The two dragons were from an ancient clan, and they already had a rather impressive amount of runes they could use. In fact, they even had one epic rune which they had received from their elders.

"The heirloom of our Blue Dragon Ancestor. At the height of his power, he was a High Grade Hegemon." Their elder had told them with a deep sigh. "He had many, many more runes, of course. But alas, knowledge of those runes were split among the different clans that sprouted from his children. And our line only managed to have this single epic rune.

I know this won't be enough for you all to breakthrough to Emperor level. But I hope that you all wouldn't lose hope.

It is always what we don't have that shapes us to be great. We learn time management because we don't have enough time. We learn how to be thrifty because we don't have enough money. We learn how to be creative because we don't have enough resources.

Use this situation to propel yourselves higher. If you can overcome this obstacle, then I assure you, you will be powerful Emperors indeed."

Khalendros, Khellendra and their peers had been fired up for a time after listening to her impassioned speech.

But high sounding words can only sustain youthful zeal for so long.

The stark reality that they were ridiculously poor in terms of rune knowledge soon hit them like a thunderbolt.

None among their number were able to break into Emperor level after so many years!

They have common, uncommon and one epic rune. Compared to many Kings out there in the known universe, they were relatively well off.

But it was not enough if they wanted to level up into an Emperor!

And now, in front of them was actually a mega, mega rich little girl about to gift them three runes. One legendary, and two epics.

Khalendros and Khellendra were truly stunned speechless.

"I assume you want the legendary rune? If that's the case, then you need to tell me which two epic runes you want." Autumn said to them.

Khalendros and Khellendra simply stood there completely frozen. They didn't know what to think.

The answer to their clan's chief worry - that there won't be Emperors arising from the new generation, was right in front of them! If they could bring back the three runes safely to their clan… Then the future of the Tempest Clan would be secured. In fact, they might even be able to rise back into prominence after a few generations!

"If it's too difficult to pick two epics out of the whole lot… why not you pick three? Or four. I'll just trade them for more Shadow Parasites." Autumn told them generously. "Earlier we agreed on one hundred Shadow Parasites for the three runes right? Well, I'll take a hundred and fifty Shadow Parasites, and you guys can pick four more epics. How does that sound?"

If their brains were frozen earlier, then they were completely fried after hearing Autumn's words.

"I… I…" Khalendros tried to say something. But his brain simply wouldn't process anything. It was completely fixated on the wonder of all the epic runes that were listed out before him.

"Two thousand five hundred fifteen uncommon runes. Five hundred twenty seven epic runes. And one legendary rune." Khellendra said softly.

"Yes." Autumn nodded with a smile. Finally one of them was talking again!

"This wealth is enough to form a powerhouse clan that could rule over multiple star systems." Khellendra said softly as she looked at Autumn in a completely new light.

"Really? Maybe. But in the Fortune Hermit Mountain, these are public property. Every single Inner Disciple can access all of them. Core disciples like me have access to Master's own Legacy Runes which are much, much better than these." Autumn said in an as-a-matter-of-fact voice without a trace of pride.

"I broke through to Emperor level using mostly Master's Legacy Runes, so I am actually much stronger than most Emperors. If I had broken through with these runes instead… I doubt I would even have… half the strength I have now." Autumn said with a thoughtful look on her face, completely oblivious that her words were like sledgehammers smashing down on the rune-poor dragons. "Maybe not even a third."

Khalendros gulped at her revelation.

The Fortune Hermit Mountain… What a behemoth!

He knew that they were wealthy beyond imagination, and he knew that they were also powerful beyond imagination…

But to the point where epic and legendary runes were public property…

It was like saying to a man dying of thirst that you live next to a river with cool, crystal clear water!

To say that it was mindblowing for Khalendros and Khellendra would be a gross understatement!!

"Name your price." Khellendra said with a quivering voice.

"Huh?" Autumn asked in confusion.

"Even if it costs me my life, at the risk of being a greedy ingrate, I would like to buy the knowledge of all these runes for my clan." Khellendra said softly but in a determined voice.

"Lendra!" Khalendros said sharply.

"For the clan… what is my life worth?" Khellendra said with a smile.