Chapter 141 Tough Negotiations

William was so impatient about getting his desired loot to miss such a point.

If he was a materialistic person, then he should have asked for a reward before when he saved Berry. And that made his actions look quite contradictory, indicating in a glaring light that he had an ulterior motive behind his request.

If it was another person he was dealing with, then William wouldn't have gotten caught like this.

But this old sly fox in front of him didn't miss such contradictory actions of his. And he was right, the two seemed to be opposite to each other in concept.

If William was doing this all for Berry's sake, then why did he ask for a reward?

If he was a materialistic person, then why didn't he ask for a reward before?

The old man kept glaring at him, and William knew delaying his answer wasn't going to do him any good but raise unwanted suspicions again. Or even worse, arousing the curiosity of this scary old man and making him stick his nose around his affairs all the time.

"Ahem, I have a use for these monster cores," as he got busted, then the best way out was to tell the honest answer directly.

"Like what?"

"Research."

"Research? Are you trying to fool me?"

"Don't get me wrong," William knew if he said he was going to use these to secure funds for himself and for others in his future team, the old patriarch wouldn't believe a single word of his, "it's all for my master."

"For real?" the old Kong raised one eyebrow as he didn't also buy such a theory.

If William's master was this formidable and quite resourceful, then why would she care about having cores of these scarlet monsters?

"As you know, there are many unknown things about certain monsters in our world. My master is very interested in studying everything about monsters like these bears."

"Oh… I see… So, you are after the bear cores, right?"

"Not for me, for my master."

Even if he was cornered, William wasn't that stressed to not come up with the perfect lie. The best was the one which got weaned using bits of the truth.

And through delivering such a lie, he also gave hints about his real aim from all this.

He didn't just want normal scarlet monster cores; he wanted the rare and most precious cores of the scarlet bears.

The old patriarch started to tap on the table with his fingers, seemingly a habit of his when thinking deeply. He couldn't tell if William was telling the truth or lying to him.

However, he knew something was amiss here.

"Fine, I'll give you one hundred cores then," the old patriarch didn't need to say which type of monsters they belonged to. They of course belonged to the scarlet bears.

"Only a hundred?" William raised both eyebrows, "don't be stingy. If not for my master's teachings, how could I have stepped in to help?"

"It was luck," the old Kong showed his thick skin at this moment, "besides, it's not only your master who is interested in researching those monsters."

"But you got hundreds of thousands of cores! Giving me just a hundred is an insult to my master!"

"That's the clan's loot from such a battle, something that we'll leave for the future generations. You saw how great our kids are, and they need us, the old folks, to show them total support and devotion in nourishing and growing them stronger by any means."

William knew he was getting part of his own medicine back at this moment. Yet he still felt this was a cheap, very cheap price to pay.

'One hundred cores? Why don't you give me nothing then?' William thought to himself, before starting his long bargain with this old dragon.

"But one hundred is still few…"

"We also have a clan that got destroyed, and we need to reward the other clans and the academy for their help, pay compensation for their losses, so…"

The corners of William's mouth twitched. 'Can you stop giving me such bullshit, please?'

"Ahem, then ten thousand is enough."

"T… Ten thousand!!! Why not come and rob us from all the cores then?!!!"

"It's for my master," William put the most innocent face he could show on his face. And seeing such an expression made Kong's corners of mouth twitch for a few seconds, resisting the urge to punch William in the face.

"It is too much, one hundred and fifty is enough."

"This… I'm asking for thousands, and you are giving me hundreds? Don't tell me you are a cheap and stingy person!"

"You… Can't you at least respect the difference in power and rank between us?"

"I can't just accept a loss on behalf of my master… My master is a crazy person!"

"And? I don't believe she won't be satisfied with such a number of cores!"

"Give me five thousand then, and I'll see how to manage her rage."

"Five thousand? No more than five hundred cores will be delivered to you! Humph! What a bad kid who tarnishes the name of his master by dwindling over such useless matters!"

William gave this old man a deep gaze. He wanted to retort back the same words and throw them into the face of this old and shameless man.

But he controlled himself. At the end of the day, this stingy and greedy old man was the one holding the pen to sign over such an agreement or tore the entire paper into shreds.

"Fine! I'll settle with two and half thousand then," This was William's bottomline. In fact, he planned to keep a few for himself and try to sell the rest or trade them for more resources, spirit crystals, and weapons.

Even if the old patriarch held the final call here, William didn't plan to accept such a loss.

After negotiating for more than two hours, William only came out with nine hundred and fifty cores.