Chapter 1172: Being More Open

Kyle appeared in the marketplace again and just looked forward for a moment.

'There goes my planned tantrum. I was ready to go all scorched earth if they decided to fuck me over. Turns out, they didn't fuck me over. The Wargod's Peak is better than I had expected. I almost feel bad for not joining them.'

'What was I doing before I was interrupted? Right, I sold my stuff to see how much money we actually have.'

Kyle looked through his Spirit Space. '171 Grade Nine Energy Stones and about ten thousand Grade Eight Energy Stones. That puts my wealth at about 181 Grade Nine Energy Stones. That's not too bad.'

'100 of those will go to Sebastian for his advancement. I mean, this is not just my money. This is basically the budget of our Excursion Team. If I remember right, the Time Compressors are pretty cheap. I can buy some for us. As an Immortal, Sebastian can probably finish comprehending the three individual Primordial Force Laws in just 50,000 years. The comprehension speed of an Immortal is just crazy. To finish the Complex Law, he would probably need around 200,000 years or so, but with a Time Compressor, it's just 20,000 years.'

Kyle checked the marketplace again and bought two Time Compressors for four Grade Nine Energy Stones. They were the cheapest ones since they only supported experimentations with Level Seven Laws.

'Then, I need to pay our rent. After all, we need to stay within Wild's Summit for around 100,000 years. Sebastian will advance soon, which means he has to pay the same price as me. That's six Grade Nine Energy Stones so that we can stay for 96,000 years. Since Abyssal Depths is part of our Excursion Team, it makes sense that I would also pay for her. That's another four Grade Nine Energy Stones so that she can stay for a bit more than 100,000 years.'

'That leaves us with a total of about 67 Grade Nine Energy Stones. We should keep those for now, in case we need them.'

While Kyle planned his finances, he noticed that quite a few Immortals were paying attention to him.

'Not sure how this will develop. The Lord appeared in front of me and took me away. This could be good or bad.'

'Anyway, I should return,' Kyle thought as he told his Communicator to teleport him to the Descension Plaza.

After the teleportation, Kyle went to Sebastian and Abyssal Depths, who were waiting for him.

When Sebastian saw Kyle, he released a sigh of relief. Abyssal Depths just looked at Kyle with some minor displeasure.

"How did your meeting go?" Abyssal Depths asked flatly.

"Everybody already knows?" Kyle asked with a helpless smile.

"Giving someone more information counts as helping them, and helping several Immortals gives a good chunk of Karmic Luck," Abyssal Depths answered. "If you've built some kind of secret connection with the Protector, attacking you might displease the Protector, which could end very badly. If spreading this information to a potential attacker stops them from attacking you and subsequently dying, spreading this information equates to saving an Immortal's life."

"So, yes, news travels quickly inside a Protected City."

'Huh, I know it makes sense, but I still wouldn't have expected that,' Kyle thought with some surprise. 'I thought Immortals would be more taciturn and secretive since information is also a form of power, but I guess that's not necessarily true. Turns out, a lot of Immortals are chatterboxes.'

"Has our agreement changed?" Abyssal Depths asked.

"Still unaffiliated," Kyle said, showing his identification.

Abyssal Depth's eyes immediately went to Kyle's verification status, and for once, an expression of slight surprise appeared on her face.

"You've undergone a Karmic Origin Search without becoming an official member?" she asked. "I hope you didn't take on some kind of loan."

"No, of course not," Kyle answered. "She paid for it. She wanted to make sure that I'm not a member of the Cult."

Abyssal Depths did what she did best and frowned. Even the cheapest Karmic Origin Search cost several times more Energy Stones than she made in her lifetime. If the Lord was willing to fork over such a large sum of money without gaining anything in return, it must mean that her opinion of Kyle was exceptionally high.

"I see," Abyssal Depths replied. "That's good."

Sebastian glanced at Kyle with worry. "Did everything go well?" he transmitted, excluding Abyssal Depths from the conversation.

"She found out that I used to be Fierce Breaker," Kyle answered. "Luckily, Fierce Breaker doesn't have a conflict with any big Organization, and he hasn't been a member of the Cult."

"Lucky you," Sebastian transmitted with relief. "I don't think I should undergo a Karmic Origin Search. Based on what I've heard from all of the other Immortals, it's pretty accurate."

"Sure is," Kyle answered. While answering, he looked at Abyssal Depths, who just kept her distance.

When he saw that, Kyle felt a bit bad. 'We're an Excursion Team. We've basically just met, but we're a team now. I think it's better if I include her more.'

"Are you willing to give this Excursion Team a real chance?" Kyle asked Abyssal Depths.

"I was planning on giving it a chance, yes," she answered.

"In that case, I think it's better if I share a bit more information," Kyle answered. "I'm putting myself at risk by sharing these things with you, but as a team, we're supposed to share these kinds of things. I also want to give this Excursion Team a real chance."

Abyssal Depth's expression didn't change, but Kyle could feel that she had become a bit more open.

In the end, Abyssal Depths just nodded once to show that she wouldn't betray Kyle or Sebastian.

'Let's hope she's actually invested. I'm about to give her something that she could exchange for a boatload of Karmic Luck.'

"I'm going to share the reason why the Protector talked to me," Kyle transmitted. "Please, don't share these two bits of information with anyone else. Otherwise, this could become problematic for all of us."

Abyssal Depths nodded again.

"First, I know the Law of Karmic Causality," Kyle transmitted.

Abyssal Depths' eyes widened for just a moment before her expression turned to normal.

"Then," she transmitted, "the second bit of information is related to your power, correct?"

It wasn't hard for Abyssal Depths to combine the clues. The only reason why she hadn't thought of it sooner was that she hadn't even thought of the possibility that a newly-advanced Immortal might know the Law of Karmic Causality. The Law became more common with stronger Immortals, but these Immortals had been alive for millions of years.

"Yes, that's the reason why the Protector approached me," Kyle transmitted.

Abyssal Depths combined more clues in her mind, and she came to an unbelievable yet terrifying conclusion.

"I'm not the strongest member of the Excursion Team, correct?" she asked.

"That's correct," Kyle answered.

Abyssal Depths felt like she had dodged a bullet. There were stronger Immortals who befriended newer Immortals so that they could kill them outside the Protected Cities to get their wealth.

Abyssal Depths hadn't planned on doing that, but that didn't mean that she hadn't mused on the possibility. She didn't want to do it, but if she wanted to, she could.

Yet, if she had done so...

She would have died.

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