Chapter 39: Planting Seeds

Cassian didn’t reply immediately.

​Instead, he calmly closed the private chat window and began browsing other market listings as if the message didn’t exist.

​Negotiations were often decided before the first meaningful exchange even occurred.

The more eager party lost leverage; the more patient party gained it. Right now, Carrion had already revealed her interest, which meant Cassian held all the initiative.

​So he waited.

​One minute.

​Two minutes.

​Three.

​Then a new notification chimed.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Are you still online?

​Cassian’s smile widened. Only then did he begin typing.

​[Cassian]:Apologies. I was speaking with another seller.

​The reply came almost instantly.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Another seller?

​[Cassian]:Naturally. You’re not the only person selling Grave Dust Powder.

​A brief silence followed across the line. Then—

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:I can lower the price.

​Cassian nearly laughed aloud. The hook had sunk even deeper.

​[Cassian]:How generous of you.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:...

​Even through the digital chat window, Cassian could easily imagine her expression.

​[Cassian]:Unfortunately, there is a small issue.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:What issue?

​[Cassian]:I can’t pay in Lord Coins.

​Several seconds passed.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Then why are you looking for sellers?

​[Cassian]:To trade.

​A longer silence followed. Cassian could practically hear her growing frustration through the interface, picturing Carrion staring at the message in disbelief before preparing to hit block.

​Then he sent the next line.

​[Cassian]:I can exchange it for higher-grade Grave Dust Powder.

​The typing indicator immediately froze. For several seconds, nothing happened.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Explain.

​Cassian leaned back against a nearby gravestone. Exactly as expected.

​[Cassian]:I need Common Grade Grave Dust Powder.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:And?

​[Cassian]:I currently only possess Elite Grade Grave Dust Powder.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:...

​[Cassian]:I’m attempting to concoct a Deathroot Rejuvenation Draught.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Using lower-grade materials?

​[Cassian]:Correct.

​Another heavy silence descended. Cassian could already visualize the frantic thoughts racing through her mind.

​The explanation was complete nonsense, and both of them knew it. No sane alchemist would willingly exchange higher-grade materials for lower-grade versions when the value loss alone was absurd.

​Yet Cassian wasn’t trying to convince her through pure logic, he was exploiting something far more reliable: curiosity.

​Carrion wasn’t merely a Lord; she was a researcher. An obsessive, brilliant one.

​Researchers could ignore logic, and they could ignore profit... but they could never ignore a mystery.

The stranger an anomaly appeared, the more irresistible it became.

​From Carrion’s perspective, nothing about this offer made strategic sense, which only made her want to unravel it that much more.

​Cassian smiled. Right now, she was probably constructing a dozen wildly complex theories, a hidden alchemical formula, a unique crafting recipe, or some obscure interaction between low-grade and high-grade materials.

The endless possibilities would be eating away at her mind.

​And just as he anticipated—

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Alright.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Let’s trade.

​Cassian’s grin widened into a sharp, satisfied smile.

​Curiosity. As always, it was the easiest bait to catch a genius.

Cassian immediately sent another message.

​[Cassian]:Before we proceed, send me a sample first.

​A reply arrived almost instantly.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:A sample?

​[Cassian]:I need to verify the quality.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:You want me to send resources before receiving payment?

​[Cassian]:Correct.

​A long pause followed across the interface. Then—

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Are you a scammer?

​Cassian nearly laughed aloud as his fingers moved smoothly across the screen.

​[Cassian]:If I were going to become a criminal, I would at least choose something far more ambitious than stealing Grave Dust.

​[Cassian]:Imagine explaining that to the authorities.

​[Cassian]:"Yes, Officer. I risked my entire future as a Lord for twenty-seven units of dirt."

​[Cassian]:Rather embarrassing, don’t you think?

​The typing indicator appeared, disappeared, and then appeared again.

Clearly, Carrion was locked in an intense internal debate over whether she was speaking to a visionary genius or a complete lunatic.

​Eventually—

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:...Fine.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Twenty-seven units first.

​A system trade notification materialized in front of her:

​[Trade Request Received]

Item: Grave Dust ×27

​At that exact same moment, a stark system prompt flared across Carrion’s interface:

​[Warning: Suspicious Trade Behavior]

The Lord you are currently trading with exhibits high-risk indicators.

Risk Assessment: Potential Scammer.

Proceed with extreme caution.

​Carrion stared at the flashing red warning, then at the pending trade request, and then back at the warning again.

​Finally, pure, unadulterated curiosity won out over caution. She dismissed the prompt and finalized the initial transfer.

​The moment the transaction completed, Cassian went offline.

​"..."

​One minute passed.

​Two minutes.

​Three.

​Four.

​Five.

​No response. The status icon remained dark.

​Carrion’s eye twitched violently as she fired off a message.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Hello?

​No response.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Where are you?

​Nothing.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:Don’t tell me—

​Still nothing.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:You actually scammed me over Grave Dust?

​Absolute silence.

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:I take back what I said. That’s somehow far worse.

​By now, her anger was boiling over, and her fingers flew across the interface as she drafted a public post in the Astral Dominion Chat, a formal warning thread, a scammer exposure report, complete with a few colorful descriptions.

​Then, a system notification chimed.

​[Mail Received]

Item: Elite Grade Grave Dust ×1

​Carrion froze mid-keystroke.

​The next second, a fresh chat notification popped up:

​[Cassian]:Quality confirmed.

​[Cassian]:Alright, send the rest of the goods ^_^

​"..."

​For several long seconds, Carrion simply stared blankly at her screen, genuinely torn between laughing or throwing her interface through a wall.

​After taking a deep, stabilizing breath, she deleted the public scammer report she had just drafted, opened the trade window, and finalized the remaining exchange.

​A few minutes later, the entire deal was wrapped up, nine hundred units of Grave Dust had officially changed hands.

​Or more accurately... Cassian had taken her materials, fused them into higher-grade variants, sent the required upgraded product back to fulfill the deal, and kept the extra high-grade yield generated during the Fusion process.

​From Carrion’s perspective, it was easily one of the bizarrely illogical trades she had ever conducted. From Cassian’s perspective, it had gone flawlessly.

​As the trade window closed, a final direct message arrived:

​[Lord of Evolution — Carrion]:If you ever want to make deals like this again, contact me first.

​A system prompt appeared immediately afterward:

​[Friend Request Received: Lord of Evolution — Carrion]

​Cassian smiled softly, this was the exact endgame he had been driving toward from the start.

​He tapped accept without hesitation.

​[Friend Request Accepted!]

You are now connected with [Lord of Evolution — Carrion].

​A moment later, a secondary system update flashed briefly:

​[You have been saved as "Not a Scammer" by Lord of Evolution — Carrion.]

​Cassian stared at the custom nickname tag, then burst out laughing.

​Not because of the ridiculous title, but because of what that contact entry truly represented.

​The raw trade itself had never mattered, the Grave Dust hadn’t mattered, and even the immediate material profits were entirely secondary.

What truly mattered was establishing the connection.

​In his previous life, the Lord known as Carrion would eventually grow into one of the most influential, game-changing researchers in the entire Astral Dominion, a genius who had discovered the origin formula, and whose professional network would span across countless star systems.

​And now, a direct line of communication had been established.

​It was small and fragile, but it was an active connection nonetheless.

​Cassian closed the chat interface with a quiet, satisfied smile.

​The seeds had been planted; now, all that remained was waiting for them to take root and grow.

....

​A/N: Thanks for reading! The prep work is finished, and the march on the Kragmar Dominion is about to begin!

​Reminder: We’re still pushing for the review event! 10 reviews = a 5-Chapter mass release. Let’s hit that goal!