Chapter 164: Negotiations
"What a bold talk," the Jotuniel said, his voice dropping dangerously. "What a very bold talk! I would like to know where your confidence is coming from, Uhtred. You seem to forget the vast level difference between us. I can end you right here and now. I am sure you know this. Yet, you’re running your mouth however you like. ’How do I think of that as a deal?’ Are you actually threatening me here, Uhtred?!"
The Jotuniel’s body vibrated with suppressed fury. His grip on the transparent goblet tightened until fine, hair-like cracks spiderwebbed across the crystal surface. The goblet was made from a high-grade material, yet the amount of strength he gripped it with threatened to reduce it to dust. It was clear proof of how hard he was fighting to keep his temper under control.
Yet, despite this immense danger, despite the rising tension, despite the vast level difference between them, Uhtred still remained standing without the slightest flicker of expression on his face. There was no fear, as if he had something backing him. And that was exactly what puzzled the Jotuniel...
Why was Uhtred so confident?
Could it be...
"We both know you cannot kill me here," Uhtred said plainly.
The moment the words left his mouth, the Jotuniel’s expression flickered. It was subtle, but there was a slight change to his boiling temper.
Uhtred continued, "From your expression just now, I know I’m right. I was wondering why you asked me to turn off my multiversal stream in the first place. If you were truly going to betray your master, and if you were actually willing to sacrifice the rest of your people back on your home world, you would have openly defied him rather than drag me here for a clandestine conversation."
He took a step closer to the table. "The Nine Nether Thirty-First Young Master didn’t seem particularly shocked when you captured me instead of executing me on the spot either. He would have at least raged in my chat if your actions contradicted his orders, wouldn’t he?"
The more Uhtred spoke, the more the expression on Jotuniel’s face became flatter. Right now, it was already totally flat, as though he knew Uhtred had already deciphered everything.
"The only reason the Young Master could be so calm was if your actions did not startle him at all... Which in turn would mean that I could not be killed at that point. Killing was not an option, at least not yet."
"Even right now," Uhtred said, placing both hands casually in his pockets as he looked around the lavish room. "Whatever limiting rule prevents you from killing me is still in effect, am I right?"
Silence filled the room. The Jotuniel’s anger had completely vanished now. In its place, there was intrigue and deep thoughtfulness.
He let out a long, heavy sigh and set the cracked goblet down on the table.
"Yes, Uhtred, you’re right. This is precisely why I want us to cooperate. Why must you antagonize me? You are clearly intelligent enough to have deciphered all of this."
"I cannot kill you right now simply because we were never meant to meet. I am the leader of the otherworlder force on your planet. In a normal trial scenario, you would never have come in contact with me, and that is simply because you aren’t supposed to."
It made sense. Uhtred processed the explanation quickly. Under normal circumstances, perhaps even until years later, a native cultivator like him would never have actually met this Jotuniel, the leader of the entire otherworlder force. He would have at most, faced his powerful subordinates, but not him directly.
And that was simply because of how powerful he was.
The no-killing rule set on the leader by the System was not just for show. He alone could simply decimate every single one of the local powerhouses — Uhtred, Zara, and the two ancient variant generals — without breaking a sweat.
Now that Uhtred was in his presence, he could feel that vast gap even more. The Jotuniel leader was at least twenty levels ahead of him. He was so far ahead that even Uhtred’s estimate seemed more like a guess. He couldn’t actually tell how strong he was.
"You have my full attention now, Uhtred," the Jotuniel continued. "I want us to establish terms. I am not asking you to become my lapdog. All I want is a functional agreement. And if you truly believe that in a few years you will possess the strength to drive my people off your planet, then so be it. We can be enemies when that day comes."
He smiled slightly, though there was a cold edge to it.
"While I respect your boldness in the face of a superior power, your threats are nothing more than child’s play right now. I know you cannot read my status with your basic Inspection skill, so I will tell you directly: I am a Level 69 Nascent Realm cultivator."
Level 69?!
Despite Uhtred’s best efforts to maintain a flat expression, his eyes widened slightly.
This guy was literally at the last few levels of the Nascent Realm, merely a few steps away from the next major realm evolution at Level 75!
"You severely overestimate yourself if you believe you can close a forty-four level gap in a few years," the Jotuniel continued smoothly. "You forget that I am not standing still either. I have better techniques, I have a more solid foundation. I come from a civilization that is already well established in the multiverse. I know things that will take your world years, even decades to learn, whereas you are just starting out."
He chuckled dryly.
"You are exceptionally talented, Uhtred. I will give you that. In fact, more talented than anyone I have seen. But this is simply not a gap you can close. Not even in the entire five-year buffer period of your integration..."
Then as an aside, he muttered to himself:
"...And that’s if you would even survive the remaining trials—"
Suddenly, the Jotuniel’s expression shifted, and Uhtred immediately knew he had said something he wasn’t supposed to.
From the unfocused look in his eyes, he had likely even received a System warning.
Uhtred quickly filed away what he had heard. He knew it was something very important. There were going to be more trials. Some that were actually going to be very dangerous.
While the Jotuniel was frowning at the message he was reading, Uhtred spoke up to strike while the iron was hot. He understood his current situation well. Just because the leader himself couldn’t kill him right now did not mean the same restriction applied to every member of his force, all the way down to the least powerful.
In fact, he reckoned that the rule applied only to the few powerful people at the top. Otherwise, it would defeat the System’s objective for the third trial.
Uhtred had done what he could. He had shown his stance and established Earth’s firm refusal to be colonized, but if he wanted to get out of here alive and in one piece, he needed to at least play along and give the Jotuniel leader an audience.
"Say I actually entertain the idea of your people remaining in our world, what is in it for us? What can you offer humanity that we cannot eventually acquire on our own? And what exactly do you guys aim to get aside from land alone? I can see you’re already terraforming this area... attuning the essence to something your species thrives in. I would assume whatever resource falls within this area you guys have essentially claimed as yours, but what is your end goal? What exactly do you want?"
The Jotuniel refocused his attention on Uhtred, and his expression eased. Now that Uhtred was willing to discuss, the hostile aura in the room completely dissolved.
He gestured towards the seat Uhtred had stood up from, and Uhtred reluctantly sat back down again. This time, though, he wasn’t only listening.
For the next several hours, the two of them engaged in a heated and calculated back-and-forth. The Jotuniel leader laid out his objectives, explaining his need for a permanent and safe stronghold outside the reach of the Nether Empire. Meanwhile, Uhtred pushed back firmly on every point that threatened human autonomy, explaining what was impossible and where they would run into conflict.
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.
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Meanwhile, back with Zara, Krijn and the female ancient variant general...