Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

”Y-You... don’t go too far!” the girl shouted fearfully.

”I never go too far. I just want to talk. This is entirely your fault for having such a punchable face. If I hadn’t beaten you up, I’d be afraid a lightning bolt would strike me as punishment,” Priam sighed helplessly.

”You!”

”Well, let’s get to the important part. Continuing from where I left off: I’m very happy that you’re here.”

Priam gave them a broad, welcoming smile.

”I was lacking manpower, but your arrival completely solved that problem. I really needed some people to help me build a few fish cages.”

The three trembled with anger and humiliation.

”And you, Young Lady Idiot, I really need to thank you for bringing me such a wonderful gift. I truly need to apologize for my earlier rudeness. So, I hope you won’t make me feel even guiltier about that beating. You understand, right?”

Priam extended his hand, his intentions obvious.

If she didn’t hand over the Life Ring herself, Priam would feel genuinely guilty about stealing it directly.

”Please, this belonged to my ancestor... okay, I’ll give it to you!”

The girl was about to refuse when Priam started stretching his shoulders and legs as if warming up.

She immediately threw the ring to him.

”Ah, Milady’s sincerity is overwhelming. I truly can’t refuse. Ah, well, I suppose I’m getting emotional... thank you very much,” Priam sighed as he caught the ring.

The girl’s vision darkened as she became so dizzy with rage that she nearly fainted.

This person was truly shameless beyond belief!

Who thanked someone for robbing them?!

”You... we’re from the same clan and share the same surname. How can you be such a scoundrel? This is the behavior of a despicable person,” one of them said indignantly.

”Oh? But what can I do about it? Being a scoundrel is my virtue, stealing is my profession, and beating people up is my favorite hobby. So naturally, I have to do what I do best during this Trial.”

Priam muttered indifferently as he inspected the inside of the Life Ring.

The faces of the three changed from red to green with anger at that shameless declaration.

It completely shattered their understanding of how a person should behave.

Priam didn’t care about status in the slightest.

That both enraged and terrified them.

Priam took out his treasures and placed them inside the Life Ring.

Originally, the Celestial Aconite, even with some of its original soil left around the roots, would have died within three days inside his normal spatial ring. That was because living beings couldn’t be stored inside a spatial ring. Even living plants would die if stored there.

But at that moment, the Celestial Aconite was still alive.

Although planting it inside the Life Ring wouldn’t allow it to continue growing, at least it wouldn’t die anytime soon.

”Thanks to this ring, I won’t be taking your tablets.”

Priam nodded in satisfaction.

The two boys relaxed when they heard that.

The girl, however, was still consumed by pain.

Priam turned toward her.

”Young Lady Idiot.”

”My name is Zinna, damn it!” she snapped.

He nodded.

”Great Idiot Zinna.”

The girl shot Priam a furious glare, but seeing the threatening look in his eyes, she didn’t dare open her mouth again.

With a wave of his hand, Priam suddenly covered all three of them with a white powder.

The three were caught off guard, but at first they didn’t notice anything strange.

After a while, however, they realized something was wrong.

Their bodies began itching unbearably, especially around their injuries.

Unable to endure it, they started scratching themselves.

The moment they began scratching, even their insides seemed to itch, and they couldn’t suppress their screams.

”Hehe, I saw that you weren’t interested in cooperating, so I gave you a little itching powder. Now we can discuss business.”

This was another thing his mother had forced him to buy and carry around.

She had told him that people were strange, and that this kind of thing could sometimes be useful.

Now, Priam had discovered a perfect opportunity to use it.

After a few seconds of agony, Priam extended his hand and handed them three pills.

”This is a temporary remedy. It can relieve the itching for two hours. If all of you behave properly, I’ll eventually give you the complete cure. But if you’d rather insist on being stubborn, you’re free not to take them. Just so we’re clear, my itching medicine isn’t ordinary. Without tearing off your own skin, there’s no way to stop the itching for several days.”

The three, furious but helpless, decided to obey and take the medicine.

The moment they swallowed it, the itching vanished completely.

It was as if the unbearable itch from before had been nothing more than a dream.

”Very well, now I’m going to assign your tasks. Go cut some branches to weave and make fish cages for me. Build them according to the design of the cage I have here. If none of you can make one within two hours, there will be no antidote.”

After he finished speaking, the three continued staring at him stupidly.

He laughed sinisterly.

”You can keep standing there if you want, but I guarantee that in two hours you’ll be in so much pain that you won’t want to live anymore.”

The three turned pale and immediately got to work.

They began cutting branches and weaving them according to Priam’s cage design.

But Priam had truly overestimated these pampered youths.

The things they wove made him curse repeatedly. There were so many huge gaps between the branches that even a turtle could swim through them. How were they supposed to catch fish with that?

”Hey, do it properly! You, Young Lady Idiot, are you making a damn cage or a boat? Does that look like the right shape?!”

In the end, Priam had no choice but to teach them step by step.

Only after that did Priam have the chance to check his second fish cage.

As he pulled it out, a splash came from inside.

”Caught seven in this one.”

After all, this cage had remained in the water for nearly twice as long.

He rebaited it and tossed it back into the lake.

When he returned to the original spot, he saw that the three had finished weaving.

Although there were still many small openings, they had used thinner branches to cover them. It was ugly, but at least it could be used to catch more fish. Once the piranhas swam inside, they wouldn’t be able to escape.

Those piranhas had powerful teeth, but they were designed for biting flesh, and the fish themselves were quite small.

Therefore, a properly made wooden trap was more than enough.

At that moment, the expressions of the three were rather unpleasant.

Their bodies trembled constantly.

Obviously, the powder from before had begun affecting them again.

But after their previous experience, they didn’t dare scratch themselves anymore and could only endure the pain bitterly.

When they saw Priam approaching, the three looked at him expectantly.

By now, they had realized just how terrifying Priam was and didn’t dare do anything to provoke him.

He handed them new pills that could suppress the itching for six hours.

He knew that after their earlier experience, they wouldn’t dare run away.

The three remained by the water, weaving fish cages for him.

It was obvious that under this pressure, their weaving skills improved rapidly.

...

Half a day after the Trial began, they had woven more than thirty fish cages.

They had also hunted several small beasts nearby to use as bait.

Priam placed the traps into the water, spacing them at least a few hundred meters apart to attract more fish.

By the time the first twenty hours of the first day had passed, Priam’s Life Ring contained hundreds of those piranhas.

At that point, Priam was quite sleepy and hungry, so he decided to stop fishing.

A small campfire burned beside the lake.

Several dozen of the piranhas were being roasted, and the smell was enough to make anyone drool. Even Priam had to keep swallowing his saliva.

”Very well, you’ve all worked hard. These fish can be your reward. After you’ve eaten, you’re free to go.”

Priam took the initiative, grabbed a fish, and started eating.

The moment he took a bite, the flavor exploded in his mouth, making him want to eat even more.

After eating a dozen of them, he handed over the antidote and left.

The three immediately began devouring the food with enthusiasm.

Before long, they had finished every last piece.

In the end, they exchanged glances.

”This Priam isn’t that bad,” the girl sighed while licking her lips.

Although she had lost her Life Ring, she had learned an interesting fishing method.

Furthermore, all the traps were still there for them to use.

Now she could spend the next few days fishing and storing endless amounts of fish in her ordinary spatial ring.

She didn’t have much hope of advancing to the second phase of the Trial, so she decided to stay there until the end.

At the very least, she could return home incredibly wealthy.

The two boys nodded silently.

In truth, they had gained far more than they could have ever dreamed of.

...

Priam didn’t ask them about Gangrel because those three were so pathetic that they certainly wouldn’t possess any useful information.

Gangrel wasn’t stupid enough to tell clowns his plans.

They probably weren’t even useful enough to help him, so they had simply been allowed to freely explore the area.

At that moment, Priam arrived at a cave on a small mountain.

After checking inside and finding it empty, he set a trap at the entrance, went in, and slept for six hours.

When he woke up, he eagerly headed out in search of new treasures.

He walked toward a dense forest and entered it.

After only a few hours...

A distant groan suddenly caught his attention.

Priam stopped in astonishment.

It sounded like a voice.

He looked around and focused.

”...please...”

It was a faint, weak murmur.

But then Priam turned and saw a pair of red eyes in the distance.

”Lumiere?!”

Priam’s eyes widened.

The young man was covered in wounds, and his appearance was terrible.

Worse yet...

The wounds pulsed with a sickly purple color.