272 The Trade 1

Sofony felt so ashamed. Because all this time, while the other party was blatantly scamming her, she kept on calling her 'Your Ladyship', being so careful in her speech and manners as to not offend the other. She was so respectful to Bathory, which she never did even to her own parents!

She badly wished for the end of the world to come! If not, then at least end this damnable scammer's life!

'AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' Internally, she kept on screaming her frustrations out. The little devil in her head was playing dead, or maybe laughing out loud and she just couldn't hear it because her screams are drowning its laughter.

'SOOOOO HAAAATTTEEEEFFUUULLLLLLLLLLLLL!'

Not only was the embarrassment so strong. The thought that she did not only let herself be taken advantage of, but take advantage of to the max level made her want to start a massacre. She was so angry that if only the other was two levels higher than her, she would have picked a fight with her already and not care for her own life just to deal a few fatal blows on the other.

She was so angry she didn't put up any pretense or decorum anymore! What noble lady! What great queen from the 1500s? Bathory Erzebeth was nothing but a lady fraudster!!! A b*tchy fraudster!!!

Frost lacing her orbs and lashes, Sofony voiced out of her badly gnashed teeth, "Miss Erzebeth, I just suddenly feel like you 'offer' me a very unfair deal..."

It was very amazing how she managed to not pull up a weapon from her inventory and start slashing at the opponent. However, hate was indeed starting to cloud her reasons. The acclaimed Blood Countess could see it naturally.

"What's unfair with it?"

"Just with a few pieces of information, you want to get a wish which all immoral hosts wanted to have? I'm at a lower level but I don't think it's very fair to me." Sofony was no longer being as tactful as before. There were no more reasons to be like that.

"Are you forgetting that your life is practically in my hands?" Bathory smilingly replied.

Sofony went silent for some time, her small hands balled into fists. She had to resort to self-hypnotism to regain her senses and not fall to the temptations of the sweet voice in her head. Heaven knows how hard it was to ignore that damn voice advising her to just let all her fury out through a fistfight!

'Goal: Negotiate...'

'Goal: Negotiate...'

'Goal: Negotiate... Negotiate...'

With this in mind, she returned the smile, bringing out the businesswoman in her. The unplanned meeting this time had turned into something akin to a business deal. If her wishes could be coveted by someone four freakin' levels higher than her, this bargaining chip was too precious to be exchanged with mere pieces of information. Bathory was cheating her since she could learn all of these from the system sooner or later!

A qualified businesswoman would never settle for a loss!

She resolutely shook her head. After analyzing every information she gathered, she opened her mouth, "Forgive me for suddenly being frank. But now that I tried reading between the lines more carefully, I can only think of very few angles regarding on why someone who could peek into the future would seek someone like me who's still at the level of ants in her eyes."

Bathory lowered her head to the pastries and relaxedly picked up her spoon to get a piece of her cake. After swallowing that piece, she unhurriedly chewed it up. She then picked up her cup of tea and sipped on it before nodding to Sofony. It was a signal that she could now continue speaking.

Though once again offended and slighted, the girl chose to distract her eyes with the beautiful lamp. The goal also thankfully kept playing in her mind. When she felt like her calmness fully returned, that was only when she opened her mouth again. She continued,

"You told me that people like us began appearing from so many years ago. I can roughly make a guess that I'm not the only one you saw which has the potential to reach that level. There should be many others. No, for sure there are some others. At least five among the original thousand. After all, even if you say talent, luck, and time are indispensable, we can't forget that the system must have a way to bridge them. Points are everything for us and as long as we have it, everything is possible."

Though it was not easy for her to accept, it was the truth that almost everything she had now was gained from the system. She would not even meet Gio were it not for it. Her status was also obtained through the skills and stats. It was no exaggeration that everything was made possible by the system.

'Since the beginning though, all of us are doing trades. We trade our morality and sense of righteousness for some points that could make us tide over a crisis or make us better than the majority.'

Suppressing the stuffy feeling in her heart, she added, "The system is too mysterious. You've also confirmed to me that it can do even the most miraculous in this world. This is why I'm certain there are others who could potentially reach Level 10. But for some reason, I'm one of the most not so troublesome to find or speak with. Am I right?"

Intrigued, the countess nodded and asked, "You have a point. But what makes you convinced it's the case?"

Narrowing her eyes at the blue color glittering on the multi-colored glass-like surface, she felt like her mind cleared a bit. She met Bathory Erzebeth's stare.

"Because logically speaking, if five-hundred-year-old monsters or even thousands of age monsters could live up to this day, no matter how unlikely it is, there should be some of them guarding a clan or family or territory... Once they tasted the good benefits of the system, it was impossible for them not to ever consider making their clanmates or co-members in an affiliation exploit the system. It's not necessarily out of compassion. A father can make his son join our ranks so once he's no longer an 'immoral host' the son would do for him anything only possible through the AI."

"Oh. Right. The concept of utilitarianism." Bathory nodded her head, amused.

The easterner beauty wanted to say, maybe the countess had done it herself too, but refrained herself since it would be rude to use the other as an example.

"As far as my group has confirmed... There are certain requirements to be chosen..." Sofony closed her eyes momentarily.

Inky eyes under a lush red stared at her with great interest. "Go ahead, I'm interested to know how much you discover by yourselves."

The short-haired woman nodded but sadly declared. "It's tasting despair and extremely negative emotions. I think these are why that old freak Mao is imprisoning and torturing people."

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