Chapter 735: Selene’s Anger, Negotiations With Jasmine

Isaac looked at Selene and grabbed her hand to stop her. "Selene, calm down. We can still talk about this without immediately destroying Jasmine’s entire city."

"I am calm," Selene replied.

Isaac stared at her for several seconds, and the more he looked at her expression, the more convinced he became that she was anything but calm.

She was pissed. Really, really pissed.

Isaac had seen Selene angry before, but this was different. She wasn’t raising her voice or losing control, and somehow that made the situation even more dangerous because he could tell that she had already decided what she wanted to do. Still, he could hardly blame her when he thought about everything that had happened while she was away, especially the incident involving Jasmine and the palace.

Then again, he was also pissed.

Isaac wrapped his arms around Selene, pulling her into a hug before she could say anything else. "I want to spend some time with you. Are you really going to leave me to fight Jasmine after we just reunited?"

Selene simply looked at him without answering. Her expression remained completely calm, but there was something in her eyes that made Isaac realize his attempt had probably failed.

Isaac’s lips twitched slightly. It seemed like something as simple as that wasn’t going to change her mind.

Before he could think of something else, Alice spoke from nearby. "Selene, calm down. I understand why you’re angry, just like I understand why Isaac was angry, but I’m still thankful to Jasmine."

Selene turned toward her. "She’s trying to use you."

"I know," Alice replied calmly. "But she hasn’t harmed us until now. Until now, everything she has done has helped us in one way or another, so I think we should return sincerity with sincerity unless she gives us an actual reason not to."

Alice paused for a moment before continuing. "She has done a lot for us. The Vitality Grains, the Vitality Grain Seed Tree, sending Althea to us, warning us about the situation in Florathi, warning us about the World Tree, shielding us from the other factions in Florathi that wanted to pressure us into going to the Main City because of the Third Priest’s matter, and helping me regain my memories."

Selene fell silent. She clearly hadn’t expected Alice to bring up so many things, and for a moment, the anger in her expression became slightly less obvious.

"I know she might betray us in the future," Alice continued. "We should stay alert because of that, but until we have proof that she’s planning to harm us, I don’t think attacking her is the right choice."

Selene remained silent for a while before finally speaking. "I don’t like her."

"That’s okay. I won’t tell you to like her. Just don’t attack her until she actually does something wrong, because I don’t want everything she has done for us to suddenly become meaningless just because we don’t trust her," Alice said.

Selene didn’t answer immediately. Isaac could tell that she was being convinced, but only somewhat, and he suspected that she still wanted to march into Jasmine’s city and tear the place apart.

Isaac finally spoke. "Let’s treat this as a business transaction. We get what we want from her in exchange for whatever she wants from us, and that’s all there is to it. We don’t like her, and she doesn’t like us, so there is no need to pretend otherwise. We’re just doing business, and if she tries to play dirty, then we’ll play dirty too."

Selene pressed her lips together before eventually nodding. "Okay."

Isaac relaxed slightly when he heard that answer, because even though Selene clearly wasn’t happy about the situation, at least she had agreed not to turn their negotiation into a war.

The next morning, Isaac and Selene were sitting across from Jasmine in one of the newly reconstructed rooms of her palace. Alice stood behind Isaac and Selene with her arms crossed, looking more like a guard than someone attending a negotiation, while Althea stood behind Jasmine with an awkward expression.

"I thought we already made up," Althea finally said, looking between everyone. "Why are you all so... intense?"

"It’s just because we got up early in the morning," Isaac replied with a smile. He then looked toward Jasmine and glanced around the reconstructed room. "I didn’t think you could reconstruct the palace so quickly. Was it made like this previously too? It makes sense that the shoddy construction broke so easily."

Jasmine’s eyebrow twitched, and Isaac’s smile became slightly wider when he noticed the reaction. He knew she couldn’t really argue with him because admitting that the palace wasn’t shoddy would mean admitting that its defenses had been so weak that Isaac destroyed them effortlessly, while agreeing with him would be equally embarrassing.

Jasmine chose the only option she had and remained silent. Isaac didn’t push the matter any further because he had already gotten the reaction he wanted.

The negotiations began soon afterward, with the first matter being the dungeon purchase in exchange of the eyes of the Catastrophe. Isaac had spent the past few days examining the different dungeons around the city, so he already knew which one he wanted, especially because the dungeon contained several materials that were difficult to obtain anywhere else.

The dungeon contained high-level monster cores, rare minerals formed through the accumulation of mana, unusual plants, and materials produced by monsters that could only survive in that specific environment. Those resources could be used for equipment, alchemy, experiments, and even the development of new plant species, making the dungeon far more valuable than it appeared on the surface.

Jasmine had also agreed to provide an extractor that would allow Isaac to move the entire dungeon to his City instead of merely taking the resources inside it. Isaac immediately understood why she was willing to give him something so valuable, because there was clearly a larger reason behind her generosity.

The next item was the Verdantweave Trees. Their wood could be cultivated and shaped into buildings that retained the appearance of enormous living trees, making them extremely useful for constructing natural-looking structures without sacrificing durability.

Isaac also requested several different seeds that were unique to Florathi, and Jasmine agreed to those requests without putting up much resistance. The more easily she accepted his demands, the more Isaac became convinced that she was deliberately giving him ground.

He knew what she was planning.

Jasmine was probably preparing to ask for something much more valuable later, whether it was a larger portion of the Divine Stone, some of the technology from the Sky City, or access to the Ancient Dwarf’s research once he made progress with the problem involving the three space problem.

Isaac had already prepared counters for each possibility. He wasn’t going to let Jasmine gain something valuable simply because she had been generous during the earlier parts of the negotiation.

However, as the negotiations continued, Jasmine surprisingly conceded on those topics as well. Isaac hadn’t expected her to agree so easily, and the more she gave him, the more suspicious he became because there was clearly something she wanted badly enough to make these concessions worthwhile.

Finally, Jasmine reached toward the strange device sitting on the table and tapped it lightly. "Now, should we talk about something important?"

The device suddenly began to whir, and the space around them immediately started to distort. Selene’s expression changed at once, and Alice also became alert as both of them instinctively prepared themselves for an attack.

Isaac raised a hand before either of them could react. "Calm down. This is the splicing device she used during our fight, and this is why her palace was destroyed."

Jasmine’s expression immediately became annoyed. "The device I used against you was a prototype. Can you stop bringing that up? I’m already embarrassed enough about how badly that turned out."

She adjusted the device before continuing. "Anyway, this one works perfectly. It splices the normal dimension into many, many pieces and creates a smaller dimension in between them, which makes eavesdropping extremely difficult."

Jasmine’s expression became slightly more confident as she explained the device. "Even Gods would have a hard time eavesdropping through it, and Red Rain would find it extremely difficult to see what we’re discussing from outside."

She looked at Isaac and the others with a faint smile, clearly proud of the device she had finally managed to perfect.

Isaac raised an eyebrow as he looked at the strange device on the table. "Is that really possible? Even Gods wouldn’t be able to listen through this?"

Jasmine nodded, but unlike her usual confident expression, there was something much more serious in her eyes. "This is the culmination of my life’s effort. I’ve seen hundreds of thousands of possible futures, and this device is something I created after learning from every single one of them."

Her voice was solemn as she spoke, and for once, there was no hint of slyness or arrogance in her expression. Isaac remained silent as he studied her, because he suddenly realized that Jasmine wasn’t exaggerating when she called this device the result of her life’s effort.

Jasmine slowly leaned back in her chair before continuing. "So, now let’s begin our real negotiations. I know you have many questions, Isaac, and I’m willing to answer them."

She looked toward Alice before turning her attention back to Isaac.

"Why could I see Alice’s past life? Why did I tell you to be careful of the World Tree? Why do I want Alice to work for me? Ask me anything you want, and I’ll answer."