Asher could do little more than gulp as he stared back into the dark eyes of Groln before him. The man had an intensity about him that was so powerful, Asher couldn’t shake the feeling like he was going to cut himself if he moved too quickly in his presence.

  “What sort of deal?” he managed, thankful when Samantha took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

  “She has interest in recruiting you,” Groln explained, pulling out a sheet of paper from a pouch at his side and offering it to him. “These are her terms.”

  Accepting the paper, Asher’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he skimmed down the list. Unless this was some really weird setup for a joke, not only was the queen of the Hojon Empire offering him what sounded like his own mansion and private staff, she’d included a truly outrageous sum of shards as a stipend, to be granted to him the first of every month. There was even an entire clause about having the first pick of royal descendants should he wish to marry, provided he did his best to supply them with an heir.

  “What on Earth…” he muttered, continuing down the paper before finally shaking his head. He almost handed it over to Samantha, before catching himself at the last moment. She was still recovering from her shock at the fortune they’d gained from selling the greater demon corpse. Showing her what the Hojon Empire was offering him might actually break something inside of her.

  Instead, he Incorporated the paper before tossing it into his rift. Fixing Groln with a pointed stare, he decided he might as well ask what he wanted to know. Now that he understood just how badly the Hojon Empire wanted him, he was pretty certain he could spit on Groln and insult his mother, and the man would simply nod and ask him to reconsider. “…How did you figure out who I was in the first place?”

  “Merchants love to gossip, and our kingdom is close enough that we heard tales of The Reaper and what he’d managed to do to the Assassin’s Guild of the Noala Kingdom for some time now. Others might require a bit more time to put the pieces together, but the Hojon Empire is a bit more knowledgeable than most when it comes to Spatial element holders. You see, we have our own.”

  “You do?” Asher blinked, trying to recall what Donvath had told him. According to the High Prince, their continent only had two living holders of the Spatial element other than himself. An old, senile man who was teetering on the edge of his own grave, and a woman in her sixties who had been horrifically scarred from a trip into the abyss and sounded as though she was suffering from PTSD. If Groln was claiming to have a Spatial element holder, either it was one of those two, or a secret one Donvath didn’t know of.

  “Indeed. We do in fact have our own Spatial element holder. However, he is getting on in years and struggles to differentiate his dreams from reality these days. One of his skills, Astral Weave, sounded quite familiar to the gossip we heard spoken of.”

  Astral Weave… That sounds like a pretty interesting skill, Asher thought, pondering what that might possibly do. It almost sounded like it would allow the skill holder to create things out of the astral itself, which was an interesting thought.

  “That explains how you knew The Reaper had a Spatial element,” Samantha said. “But how did you know he was the one who took down the greater demon?”

  “I discovered that myself,” Groln said, smiling for the first time and sending an unconscious shiver down Asher’s back at the man’s jagged teeth. “Upon hearing that a greater demon corpse was being put up for auction, I arrived as soon as I could. At first, I suspected you had killed the greater demon while venturing into the nine hells, but I quickly discovered that the demon had come to the material realm after speaking with one of the instructors at the royal guard academy.”

  “The swordsman who survived the battle,” Asher nodded, wincing at the memory of the greater demon using the man as live ammunition when it hurled the unconscious swordsman at him during their fight.

  “Indeed. Before he began losing his mind, our Spatial element holder assisted our kingdom in creating an artifact that can detect when the realms are crossed. Knowing where the battle took place, scouring it for traces of your jumps into the astral realm were simple enough.”

  “Damn, I guess it really was easy enough to track me down,” Asher muttered, shocked to hear that there were artifacts that could detect where he’d slipped into the astral. “Alright, that explains how you found me. But why offer such ridiculous terms to try and recruit me? I get that certain realms hold all sorts of treasures and powerful objects, but what if I can’t get you there? You don’t even know what I’m capable of.”

  “I can tell at a glance that you have not even finished evolving all your skills to the second tier, let alone third,” Groln said. “It is far too early to declare what you can and cannot do. And even if your skills do not allow you easy access to realms beyond the astral, Spatial element skills are always useful. Simply bringing you to our country to work with our enchanters and create artifacts would be a massive boon to our people.”

  “Ah, that makes sense,” Asher said, nodding in agreement. He himself had wondered just how many shards he’d be able to make if he offered to start making artifacts with some lucky enchanter. Artifacts were simply skills placed into specially prepared items. If he mass-produced his Personal Rift, it would revolutionize the way goods were stored and transported. Spatial Lock could be used in practically limitless ways that he could think of, and Recall…

  Well, giving everyone the power to teleport might be a bit much.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “So your queen wishes to turn me into some sort of assembly line,” he surmised, not liking where this was heading. “What if I wanted to join you on some of your missions? Being a royal slayer and hunting down demons and bad guys sounds a lot more fun than sitting around all day imbuing my skills into rocks.”

  “Too risky,” Groln said immediately, shaking his head. “You would be regarded as an honorary royal, the highest title that can be awarded to those not born into the royal family. You would live in absolute luxury, caring for nothing and being waited on hand and foot for the rest of your life. Which, I add, would be thoroughly expanded with the aid of our powerful healers.”

  He doesn’t know about my Eternity element, Asher realized with a start. It was a weird thought to have, but Asher wasn’t actually even certain if he did age normally anymore. He’d only been on this world for a few months now, but seeing as his healing was a passive effect, he wasn’t sure if Eternal Regeneration was handling that for him without him even doing anything. After Groln had revealed how he knew all about his Spatial element, Asher was glad the man hadn’t realized that wasn’t even the most unique thing about him.

  If people knew he might be able to turn Eternal Regeneration into an artifact…

  Part of him wanted to tell Groln that they had nothing to worry about when it came to him getting hurt, seeing as not even death could put him down for long. But he couldn’t very well admit that without coming fully out about his Eternity element. Instead, he paused, scratching his chin as he went over the offer.

  On the one hand, it was a more than generous offer. A ludicrous allowance of shards, a massive house to live in, and basically free rein to kick back and simply relax for the rest of his life. All in exchange for shoving his skills into a couple of rocks for a few hours each day. If he’d been offered such a deal back on Earth, he probably would have signed in a heartbeat. Not to mention because he’d be so important, the Hojon Empire would probably spare no amount on his protection. He didn’t actually know who would come out on top if it came to a straight fight between the Hojon Empire and The Council of Death, but he’d certainly feel better about his odds having such powerful fighters in his corner.

  On the other hand…

  That sounded downright awful.

  Well, not the giant house and practically endless shards to play around with. Those parts of the deal were admittedly pretty tempting. But it was clear from the offer letter he’d been given and what Groln said that the Hojon Empire wanted to treat him like the goose that laid the golden egg. Forget fighting life-or-death battles that made him feel alive, he doubted they’d let him shave without ensuring there was a healer on standby in case he slipped and cut his throat open. He’d have people watching him every day for the rest of his life, ensuring he never did anything even remotely dangerous or unsanctioned.

  No wonder their current Spatial element user had gone insane.

  “Out of curiosity,” he began, leaning forward and fixing Groln with a tentative look. “If somebody offered you this deal… Would you accept?”

  “Not a chance,” Groln said without hesitation, giving him a gruff smile as Asher blinked in surprise. “I told you, I come from a long line of royal slayers. The thirst to test ourselves and hunger for battle is in my very blood. I would sooner throw myself into the nine hells than give up my sword and live the rest of my days in comfort.”

  “Thank you. That makes this a lot easier,” Asher said, turning to give Samantha a hesitant look. “Samantha-”

  “Asher, I don’t give a damn what was on that paper she offered you, and frankly, I’m glad you didn’t show me,” Samantha said, snorting at his indecision. “If you’re worried about giving up a life of luxury, need I remind you that you just earned yourself more than twelve million shards? Yesterday? You’re already ridiculously wealthy. We already established you could buy a castle for a fraction of your shards if you wanted, and I highly doubt you’re just going to stop earning new shards at this very moment. The most important thing is you do what makes you happy. I think you and I both already know what you’re going to say, so why don’t you just come out with it.”

  “Thank you,” he said, smiling at his girlfriend who seemed to know him better than he knew himself sometimes. “And thanks for the reminder that we’re already stupid rich.” Clearing his throat, Asher pulled the offer back out of his rift and handed it back to the waiting slayer. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to have to decline. Someone else might not understand, but I feel the same hunger for battle that you do. I couldn’t imagine just giving all that up.”

  “Do not worry, I understand,” Groln said, nodding as he tucked the offer back into his belt. “My queen will not be pleased, but she will understand as well. The key to developing strong individuals is to let them follow their hearts and devote themselves to the things that drive them. That said, if you ever end up changing your mind, we hope you will consider our offer over any others. We would be willing to match other offers as well, and never be afraid to try and negotiate. Thank you for meeting with me.”

  “Before you go,” Asher hurriedly said, getting to his feet and stopping Groln before he could leave. “Is there any chance you could stay and help us battle some additional demons? I have it on good authority that two more greater demons have been summoned and will be coming after my head before long. You definitely seem more than capable, so we’d appreciate the help.”

  “Unfortunately, I must return to my own empire,” Groln said, shaking his head. “However, I will say that your most feared scenario will not come to pass. You clearly do not understand demon hierarchy. Greater demons utterly despise one another, and are constantly attempting to one up their own kind in their desire to impress both the demon lords they serve and the ruler of demons above even their masters. No matter how powerful the summoner is, there is no way they would be able to convince two of them to work together. At worst, you might have to fight one after the other, but never both at the same time.”

  “Well thank the realms for that,” Samantha muttered, blushing slightly as Groln turned his focus on her. “Sorry! It’s just that we’ve seen first-hand how scary a single greater demon is.”

  “I am aware. I now own the corpse,” Groln said, cracking a smile as Samantha turned even more red. “While I cannot directly help you, allow me to give you a piece of advice regarding demon-kind in general. This might not end up being all that helpful, but it’s something you probably would not find in any book. A fact only one with a Demon element would know.”

  “We’ll take whatever we can get,” Asher said, more curious than ever about this mysterious piece of knowledge.

  “In that case, listen carefully,” Groln said, motioning for them to come closer. “And if you tell anyone what I am about to reveal to you, I will personally come back here and see that you can’t tell anyone else ever again.”

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