“First, let’s go somewhere private and then talk more about this.” Murray muttered.
“Alright, let’s go to my pagoda.” As they both agreed upon it, they began to walk in a certain direction.
However, while they were on their way toward a certain pagoda, Murray questioned, “Aren’t you afraid that he might have a special background? Did you think of that at all?”
“Haha… Of course, I thought about it… but why would he have a special background? He is just a weak mortal, I don’t think anyone would care about him or that those who care about him are even that strong… more importantly, if he had a special or strong background, why would he bother coming here? I say he stumbled upon a great fortune or that he has obtained some kind of heavenly treasure or something similar.” Pagoda master Fernan explained with a laugh.
“That makes sense.” Nodding her head, Murray agreed.
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In the meantime, Virus and the company walked back to the pagoda with the alchemy pagoda master.
When they were finally at their destination, the pagoda master uttered, “Vee, come with me to my personal room, I have something to say to you in private.”
“Sure.” Virus replied.
Hearing this, Astes got worried as she looked at Virus before vocalizing, “Master, may I follow you too?”
“No, I want to talk to Vee in private, you two wait outside.” Shaking his head, the pagoda master responded.
The golden beauty was tense at this point as she was looking at Virus, waiting for his order.
Seeing this, Virus grinned as he voiced, “Just wait outside.”
Listening to his words, in total understanding, the golden beauty nodded her head.
After that, the two entered a room and closed its door while the golden beauty and Astes waited outside for Virus to come back.
“Sit, let me make some of my favorite tea for you.” Said the pagoda master with a gentle smile after closing the door behind himself.
After that, around five minutes had passed when the elder finally seemed to be done making tea as he came back from another room connected to his own with two cups of tea on his hands.
Afterward, placing one of them in front of Virus, he said, “Drink it, I’m sure you will love it!”
“Sure.” Virus replied as he picked the cup and took a small sip from it.
“How is it?” The pagoda master asked curiously, wanting to hear his response.
“Well… to be honest, this tea is nothing special… and from the place I come from… only the worst quality teas could be compared to this one.” Virus answered his master’s question in all honesty.
However, the pagoda master was suddenly startled upon hearing Virus’ response as his mind began to revolve and go in motion as the fog which was previously occupying his mind finally seemed to have started to disappear, ‘Nothing special? Worst quality? But this is the best quality tea… probably on the whole planet! How could… wait… he said from the place he comes from…’
‘Just in what kind of place could the best quality tea be considered the worst?’
‘Could it be…? The ring… his peak-level talent, his way of behavior… damn it… nothing is normal about him. Just, who have I accepted as my disciple?!’ As his thoughts came here, his plan of the things he was going to say changed immediately, ‘No, I know almost nothing about him nor his background, I shouldn’t say those things or anything careless to him, let me just… but, why would someone with a stronger background than the Silver Sky Sect even bother coming here?’
As he pondered until here, he looked at Virus and voiced, “Worst quality? Really? Can you bring me some later?”
“Sure.” In a very relaxed tone, Virus uttered.
‘So he can still go back to the place he came from… which means… he’s not banished or anything…’
“I will be looking forward to that tea then, haha.” The pagoda master muttered with a laugh.
“So, what did you want to say to me which needed us to be alone?” Virus questioned with an expressionless face as he stared straightly into the pagoda master’s eyes without batting an eyelid.
Seeing his emotionless stare, the pagoda master got this feeling as if his disciple’s eyes were currently seeing everything which was going on inside his mind and this made his forehead filled with beads of sweat unconsciously.
“Ah… just wanted to ask, what is that ring you just used in the contest?” Quickly thinking of something, the pagoda master threw a random question about which he was really curious about.
“Odd, why would that need us to be alone? You could’ve just asked me that outside in front of the other two.” Virus questioned with a confused tone while staring at his master.
However, inside himself, he thought, ‘You fool.’
Even more beads of sweat appeared on the pagoda master’s forehead after hearing Virus’ question as he replied with a louder voice which didn’t have a harmony like before, “I… just thought… that maybe you don’t want others to know about this or that you might feel uncomfortable answering to it in front of others.”
“Hmm, Lil Belle cannot be considered as ‘Others’ to me, she’s an extremely precious person in my life. From now on, whatever you want to say to me, you can say it in front of her, and about Astes, she’s the only person in this sect who I accept as my apprentice-sister and she’s actually to my liking, so she’s fine too ” Virus stated.
“I see… okay, I will do that from now onward.” Heaving a sigh of relief inside, the pagoda master voiced.
“And about the ring, even if I explain what it is to you… you wouldn’t understand a thing related to it. So why bother? Let’s just say it’s something I picked up from the place I came from.” Virus added.
“I see, it’s just that the ring is rather special… I’ve never seen a treasure which is in the shape of a ring and can change its shape to cover the arms and legs of its owner in an instant… and more shockingly… it can make even a mortal so fast and strong… that’s why I’m really curious about it.” The pagoda master voiced calmly, but inside, he was a little angry as he thought, ‘I wouldn’t understand? Just say you don’t want to explain.’
“Well, that’s understandable, if there is nothing else, I shall take my leave then.” Virus uttered.
“Yes yes… take care, and be very careful! It’s best if you don’t leave the pagoda.” The pagoda master said.
“I shall do that.” Virus agreed as he stood up and walked out of the room as the pagoda master just watched him leave.
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When he was outside, he saw that both Astes and the golden beauty were still waiting outside.
The moment Astes saw Virus come out, she whispered worriedly, “So junior brother, what did master say? Did he try snatching the ring from you?”
“Haha, why would he do that… He just wanted to know about the ring… and he also asked me to stay in the pagoda, just to be safe.
“Eh… really? That’s weird… I thought he would at least try buying the ring from you… or fooling you somehow into giving it to him…” Confused, Astes mumbled.
