Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

Priam raised his head and saw three people standing not far behind him. Their eyes were shining as they looked at Priam, or more precisely, at his fish cage.

He remembered seeing them a few times before. They were two young men and a girl; the two boys were at the seventh level, while the girl in the center was at the eighth.

Not all the youths from the branch families were weak or timid. In fact, many of them overestimated themselves and formed groups. They definitely had no fear of facing Priam together.

”Boy, what are you still waiting for? Hand over the Piranhas!” one of the young men roared.

Priam nodded and placed the fish cage on the ground.

The three immediately rushed over and excitedly took out the piranhas.

”They really are the legendary Heaven Purifying Piranhas! I heard they’re so delicious that nobody can resist them. On top of that, they possess a core capable of purifying almost any poison. I can’t believe we managed to catch them here!” one of them laughed.

Priam coldly watched the three excited fools. He said nothing. He was interested in finding out whether they had any brains at all.

”What a shame we have nowhere to keep them. Spatial rings can’t store living creatures. Otherwise, we could capture a few and raise them. If we managed to create an endless Heaven Purifying Piranha farm, we’d become rich,” the other young man lamented.

”Hehe, my family from the southern mountains had an ancestor who was a master blacksmith. Do you recognize this?” the girl said proudly as she pulled a ring out of her pocket.

”What is that? It looks like a spatial ring.” The other two were intrigued.

”Hehe, you don’t understand? This is called a Life Ring. You can place living creatures inside it. It was made by one of my family’s ancestors.” The girl looked extremely pleased with herself.

”You can put living beings inside that? Excellent! Then Lady Zinne can even put her pets inside that ring?” The two looked at her enviously.

”Well, perhaps that’s possible. But this is a relic left behind by a deceased ancestor. Out of respect for his legacy, I refuse to place mediocre creatures inside it. That would be a form of blasphemy against my ancestor.”

The girl coughed and concealed her embarrassment.

In reality, Life Rings were more than capable of storing small, low-powered beasts. However, her ancestor had only been half a Forging Master, more accurately, merely an apprentice.

Therefore, this Life Ring was a defective product compared to genuine ones. Only creatures with relatively weak life forces could be stored inside it. But the girl obviously refused to reveal that.

”So, Lady Zinne wants to place these piranhas inside?” one of them asked.

”Of course.”

She answered while puffing out her chest.

Now they had three specimens of that treasure, so each of them could keep one. Even so, the two boys felt uneasy about placing them all in the girl’s hands. They were allies for the moment, but they didn’t truly trust each other.

”What, you two don’t trust me? We’re all followers of the Boss. Don’t you have any faith at all?” she said indignantly.

The other two quickly replied.

”How could we not trust you?”

”We’re just curious whether that Life Ring can really keep the piranhas alive until the end of the Trial, that’s all.”

How could she not notice the lie?

Even so, she replied casually:

”We’re all under the Boss’s command. Our families sent him many benefits, so he decided to accept us. But after arriving here, you’ve seen how fierce the competition is. The Boss really can’t afford to be careless, or those two might surpass him. Even though he’s the strongest, we... You bastard, what are you laughing at?”

The girl noticed Priam laughing and angrily pointed at him.

”Ah, nothing... you can continue.”

Priam did his best to hold back his laughter.

But these clowns were making it extremely difficult. The three of them were practically begging for a beating. It was almost as if Priam would be disappointing their parents if he didn’t beat them up.

Seeing Priam’s twisted expression, they assumed he was scared and couldn’t help but snort.

”Although my power is High level, we have to be prepared for everything. The Boss is the only one stronger than me, but even he isn’t arrogant and planned everything carefully.”

The girl finished, and the other two nodded in agreement.

At that moment... Priam’s gaze changed upon hearing those words.

The girl was level 8. Her Boss was stronger?

Only one person fit that description: Gangrel.

What was that idiot planning?

”We have to demonstrate proper loyalty and devotion to the Boss. Only then can we improve our relationship with him even further,” the girl said, her eyes shining.

”That’s right, Milady’s words are absolutely correct!” the other two said admiringly.

”Therefore, don’t be suspicious. We’ll hand all of this over to the Boss. What do you two think?”

”Yes, Milady is right! If you hadn’t warned us, we would have made a huge mistake! Your insight is truly remarkable!”

The girl’s expression became even more satisfied upon hearing the praise.

After saying that, she carried the Life Ring over to the lake. Using a bucket, she filled the ring with a large amount of water.

”This Life Ring has an internal space of thirty meters. First, I need to add a small lake before I can place the piranhas inside,” she explained to the other two.

After absorbing several more buckets of water, she finally had enough and placed the three piranhas inside.

Once everything was done, the three turned to look at Priam.

Seeing Priam staring at her Life Ring, the girl sneered.

”Boy, I bet you’ve never seen such a mysterious treasure before, have you? You can stare in envy all you want.”

One of the boys snorted.

”Humph, he’s just a weakling who doesn’t even try to fight. He only dared to anger the Boss before because he knew the Elders wouldn’t allow them to fight.”

”Now tell us, how did you attract those piranhas? Don’t be stupid, or we’ll give you a beating.”

The girl spoke while casting him a malicious look.

The three of them had noticed those piranhas long before Priam arrived. But no matter what method they used, they couldn’t safely capture any of them. They had even set traps, all without success.

They had also seen another foolish youth approach the lake and nearly get killed.

Because of that, they became even more afraid of trying anything themselves.

So they decided to search the surrounding area in the hope of finding something better, only to run into Priam.

Priam looked indifferently at the three of them and smiled sincerely.

”I’m truly grateful that you three came, really.”

”Enough stalling. Just tell us the method already!” one of them urged.

”Actually, there was something I wanted to discuss with you three. But now I realize you’re severely lacking in terms of education, so I’ll change the subject.”

*POW!*

Suddenly, without any warning, a branch moved like lightning and struck the girl’s shoulder. She never would have imagined that, even from such a close distance, she wouldn’t be able to react in time.

An extremely loud impact echoed out. Without any defense, she was sent flying dozens of meters away, landing miserably in a patch of thistles.

Only afterward did Priam realize that, because she was a girl, he had instinctively avoided hitting her in the face.

He sighed internally.

His mother had warned him about this countless times: girls were no less dangerous, and he couldn’t afford to go easier on them, or one day he would get himself seriously screwed.

Now, after feeling this girl’s genuine malice, he saw that fact firsthand.

So he mentally engraved that important lesson into his memory for the future.

Even so...

’How refreshing.’

Priam couldn’t help but congratulate himself internally. Hitting her had been a great pleasure. It was incredibly refreshing to take the place of the heavens and teach her a lesson.

”You asked for this!”

The other two shouted furiously and charged at him. Both were at the seventh level, technically much stronger than him.

But unfortunately, their attacks were full of openings.

They were using an incredibly rigid attack pattern.

To Priam, who practically saw them moving in slow motion, it was downright ridiculous.

The glorious Heaven-Wrecker, World-Ender Branch slammed into both of their faces.

They were immediately sent flying, crashing right on top of the girl.

Whether it was the angle, the posture, or the distance, everything was perfect. The girl had barely managed to stand up, still dizzy, when the two slammed into her and knocked her down again.

”Bastard!”

The three roared as their auras exploded outward. One black aura and two red auras emerged from their bodies.

The girl was an Arcanist Mage. The other two were Fighter Mages.

Without hesitation, they charged at Priam again.

Priam smiled mockingly.

Even though the girl was at a much higher level... she definitely didn’t train much and was pathetic.

Just because she was an Arcanist Mage didn’t mean she could neglect close-combat skills. She still had to know how to defend herself and fight to some extent. But her energies were unstable, and she didn’t even use a Magic Art, most likely because she hadn’t been capable of learning even the basics during the three days she had been given.

It was like handing a machine gun to a newborn baby.

*Pow! Bang! Crack!*

More impacts echoed out, mixed with cries of anguish. The birds perched in the trees around the lake were all startled into flight. The sounds of smacks and blows continued to ring out.

After a few seconds, the screams and impacts finally stopped.

The faces of the two boys were now covered in massive black bruises. Their heads had swollen so much that they looked like pig heads.

The girl had half a dozen black marks from her neck downward. In the end, Priam had still held back a little.

The pain radiating from their faces and bodies was so intense that even they themselves felt they probably weren’t any better than pigs now.

At first, they had assumed Priam was just a spoiled young master who had managed to hit Gangrel before because of a surprise attack.

Now, they had discovered the cruel reality.

They had assumed that because, no matter how they looked at Priam, he didn’t seem powerful on the surface. He lacked Gangrel’s aggression and overbearing arrogance. That led them to believe he was just an arrogant delinquent.

Thus, when they saw Priam hand over the piranhas without even trying to fight, the three had considered him an easy target.

But after a ”fierce battle,” they had been completely and mercilessly subdued.

As for Priam, he was relaxed and satisfied.

So he said to them amicably:

”Now we can have a real conversation, right?”

Priam’s voice was very gentle, as if he were greeting an old friend. His radiant smile looked extremely sincere.

But in their eyes, that smile was even more terrifying than a murderous Beast.

Who in the world could beat people that mercilessly... with a damn branch?!