Hearing such words made Berry frown from the side. She knew the third elder quite well, and this attitude seemed a bit forced and weird to her.
As for Fang, he knew he couldn't force William here. The third elder had to get William's permission by blocking all paths on his request to reject such an offer, using words to corner such a troublesome kid and force him to comply.
"It's better for her to stay with her master!" Lina couldn't take it anymore and blurted it out.
"The clan isn't safe," and as the third elder acted this daring and shameless, William didn't show any courtesy in his words anymore, "you just got out from such a deadly fight."
"Still, it's considered a safe place, not like here where she can get into trouble easily while you venture outside."
"No place in the world is safe," William gave such a decisive reply, one that couldn't be refuted by the elder in front of him, "the only safe place lies in one's power's reach, not what others can provide."
The third elder gave William a long glance. His face didn't show any reaction but inside… He felt shaken by such words said by such a young kid.
This was true indeed. In such a harsh world, no place was safe. The only guarantee to keep one's life intact was by getting stronger. By strength, anyone could secure his life within limits. And such a concept couldn't be grasped without experiencing the real world.
And that made Fang quite admirable for this little kid here. He heard many stories about William before but meeting that kid in person gave him a new perspective.
"I'll register her as a porter then."
The elder couldn't help but resign to William's will, return back, vanish inside for ten minutes, before coming out and giving the kids three emblems and uniforms.
As for Berry, he simply handed her a storage ring which would contain everything she'd need.
"These are the official clothes, the official emblems, and the keys to your place," he said before waving his hand casually, taking out a ring, "this is a gift from the clan. Keep the ring and things inside."
"Thanks senior," William's attitude shifted one hundred and eighty degrees, totally to the opposite, when he got that ring.
"I'll return now. I hope you won't slack off in your training," as William started to check the content of the ring, the third elder waved his hand and started to move away.
And despite what he just said, he didn't walk towards the direction of the academy's big gates. William could tell he was heading to the headmaster's residence.
"Thanks, elder," William, Lina, and Berry greeted the elder before he walked away.
But just before he'd take few steps away, he paused, and said:
"By the way, the patriarch said he will widely sell these cores around the academy."
And once he said it, he kept walking away as if he didn't say anything at all.
"Why is he acting weird today?" Berry from the side couldn't help but shake off her head while William inwardly smiled.
This last side note wasn't just casually mentioned. The old patriarch was convinced that William planned to sell the cores he got.
'So, you decided to overflood the market here with these cores to lower their prices? Suffering a bit of loss on your side to make me refrain from selling them? Tsk!'
This was what the last words of Fang really meant. William was sure the price of each core might reach a staggering fifty thousand crystals or even more.
These monsters were rare, very rare. And they were dark gold cores on top of that. However, if the old patriarch sold lots of cores in a short time, the market would get oversaturated and such price would lower to half or even lower.
William got less than a thousand, while the clan had hundreds of thousands. It was clear who got the power to control the market price of these cores.
'Humph! Do you think this will stop me? Very naive!' And yet William didn't think too much about this. After all, he got other plans for how to sell these cores anyway.
He then checked his new ring, and that old man didn't just give him the cores they agreed on. He also gained one thousand lower grade cores, plus twenty thousand spirit crystals.
Seeing this made William's smile on his face broaden. It was as if the old patriarch was compensating him a little for such a loss.
But to William, this wasn't just compensation. The old man didn't know that he just helped to solve the problem he initially created!
Adding what he had inside his other ring, William now got close to fifty thousand spirit crystals. And that was just more than enough for his future plans.
William put that ring on the middle finger of his left hand. And now he got himself two rings without paying a single crystal for any of them.
As for Berry's comment, he casually asked: "What's different exactly? He acted the same as you described before."
"He is… Still acting differently…" Berry couldn't tell in words why she felt this way. And William could only nod and decided to let this matter drop.
After all, a great deal of such weird feelings of Berry came from her grandfather's actions, not this elder.
"Let's go," William was about to move before he looked right and left, "where is that place I got? I forgot to ask for directions!"
"Hahahaha, you don't need to. After all, we both are neighbours now," Berry laughed before she led the way, "come, we are living in the eastern district."
"Eastern? Isn't this reserved for high valued spirit masters only?" William was surprised by this. Yet this made Berry laugh even further.
"What? Do you think my clan will let me stay at common places? And as you are my neighbour, you also reside in the same area. So, you are a highly valued spirit master now."