Chapter 140: A New Task

"You want me and Alicia to handle the matter of the mine?" Liam asked with a baffled look.

"To be precise, it’s Alicia who will handle everything. You just have to accompany her," William said as he sat down on a chair.

"I don’t understand." Liam also took a seat. "Weren’t you the one who was going to negotiate with Alicia’s brother? Why do you want us to handle this matter now?"

"I am planning to go somewhere today," William explained calmly. "Since Alicia has already fixed the meeting, it would be rude if we changed the time at the last moment. Instead, it’s better for you and Alicia to handle the negotiation."

"That..." Liam scratched his head. "Have you talked to Alicia?"

William shook his head. "You can tell her later after the class."

Liam was speechless when he heard this.

"You haven’t even talked to her and you are already making us handle the matter of the mine. What if she refuses?" He recalled her expression when she had talked about her brother, and his eyes twitched. "And from the way she reacted when you asked her to set up a meeting with her brother, it seems she is afraid of him. What if she can’t even speak in front of him and sells it at a cheap price?"

"It won’t happen," William said as he took out a letter. "Just give this letter to her. She will get the best price for us once she reads it."

"What’s written in it?" Liam asked as he took the letter.

"Something that is very important to her..." William said with a shake of his head. "You don’t have to worry about it. Just hand it over, and she will understand what to do."

Liam thought for a moment before putting the letter away. However, he still couldn’t help but say.

"Are you sure you want her to handle this matter? I am not against her or anything, but do you really think she will think about our benefits instead of her brother’s when it comes to money?"

William could understand where Liam was coming from. After all, he himself would think about the benefits of his family before the benefits of outsiders.

But what Liam didn’t know was that the standing of both parties was very different.

He looked at Liam before speaking with a sigh.

"Listen up, Liam. Don’t always think about things from your own perspective. Try to think about the situation from other people’s points of view as well. Because sometimes, the entire life savings of one person might just be pocket change for someone else."

Liam was taken aback by William’s response. But when he thought about his words, he seemed to understand what William was trying to say.

"You mean the price of the mine is just pocket change for Alicia’s family, so she wouldn’t bother lowering the price of the mine for their own benefit?"

"Correct..." William nodded. "Although two or three thousand credits is a lot even for Alicia’s brother, it’s nothing when the Ashford Family comes into play. As long as he wants, he can easily get that amount of credits by selling some of the resources from his family to other students."

Liam fell silent at William’s words and couldn’t help but feel the huge disparity between their situation and that of rich nobles.

He let out a deep sigh and couldn’t help but add, "I feel like you just used a different language to tell me that we are poor."

"You are not wrong," William shrugged. "We are indeed very poor compared to many rich people in the academy."

Liam shook his head at his words and didn’t say anything.

Seeing his somewhat low mood, William smiled and took out a book from his storage ring that he had prepared in the carriage while coming back earlier.

"Here." He threw the book towards Liam, who quickly caught it.

"What is this?" Liam looked at the book but found it was just an ordinary book.

But when he opened it, the words written on the first page instantly caught his eyes.

Void-Sundering Gold Spear Art!

Liam felt his breath hitch for a moment when he read the words, and a guess suddenly appeared in his mind.

Quickly opening the next page, he went through its contents, and his eyes widened.

"William, this..." He looked at William with a shocked expression, his hands holding the book trembling slightly.

"This cultivation technique is very suitable for you. I found it among the many techniques your sister-in-law had. Since it was useless to her, I brought it for you."

Liam didn’t even bother to care that William had suddenly given him a sister-in-law and gulped, his eyes fixed on the technique.

But soon, he took a deep breath and calmed his excited heart.

He shook his head and reluctantly handed the technique back to William.

"I appreciate that you brought it for me, but this thing is very precious. I can’t accept it."

Liam remembered how difficult it had been for his father to bring the cultivation technique he was currently practicing. That technique had cost him almost his entire savings from the past few years.

But even then, compared to the technique William was giving him, that technique was nothing.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine just how precious this technique was.

William didn’t take back the technique and simply waved his hand.

"You don’t have to think too much about it. To tell you the truth, I actually got married last night. This is just me and your sister-in-law sharing our happiness with you, so don’t refuse and practice it with peace of mind."

Liam nearly dropped the technique in his hand to the ground and looked at William with his eyes as wide as saucers.

"Ma-marriage?" He looked at William as if he were looking at a ghost. "You got married last night?"

"Yes," William said with a smirk. "When I told your sister-in-law that I had a friend in the academy, she felt bad for not inviting you to our marriage. So this is her apology and a gift for you."

"This..." Liam felt as if his mind was having a problem. He could hear William’s words, but for some reason, he was having a hard time understanding them.

Marriage.

Apology.

Gift.

The words echoed inside his mind, but when he pieced them together, he simply couldn’t understand them.

Seeing his blank look, William chuckled and stood up.

"Alright, you handle everything that I told you. I am leaving now."

Liam came back to his senses upon hearing William and quickly tried to speak.

"William, this is too precious. I really can’t—"

Before he could finish speaking, William had already left the room, closing the door behind him.

Liam stared at the closed door with a blank look.

"At least tell me where you are going..." He muttered under his breath before looking back at the book in his hand.

He hesitated for a moment but still put it away without looking at it.

But as he stayed inside the room, his gaze couldn’t help but drift towards the book again and again and just a few minutes later, he couldn’t help but pick it up again.

"I will just take a look," He muttered and began going through the technique.

William, who was standing outside the room, felt everything that was happening inside using his enhanced senses, and a smile appeared on his face.

’Practice it with peace of mind, my friend. After all, it’s your own technique that you practiced in the original timeline.’

He thought this and, after confirming that Liam was really reading the technique, silently left.

’Now I just need to inform Professor Norman that I won’t be attending classes for the next few days, and I can leave the academy to go there.’

William’s eyes gleamed slightly as he headed towards Professor Norman’s mansion.

However, he had just taken a few steps when a notification flashed before his eyes.

(A new task has been issued for the heir.)

William’s footsteps paused, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"Another task..." He muttered in confusion, as he still hadn’t completed the previous task of creating a faction.

Though confused, he still opened his status window to take a look at it.

However, the moment he looked at the task’s content, his pupils contracted, and his mind went blank.

===

---) Task Name: Remove Hurdle

---) Task Content: Kill Liam