Many people including the ones who were trying to break the defense mechanism dropped what they were doing and quickly gathered around Michael and the Tiger Cress. Some of them wanted to see whether or not Michael could break the mechanism; some of them wanted to witness the entertainment of Michael getting his ass kicked in case he couldn't break the mechanism.
Michael noticed all the various expressions and thinking about the badass points he's going to get, he turned his focus on the tiger claw-shaped fruit before him.
"System, break this baby open"
[You have to pay the system 500 Badass points] Michael's expression was neutral but inside, he was cursing the system for its arrogant tone.
"Take it and break it," he said to the system inside. Following his command, he closed his eyes and pretended to be drawing shapes above the herb.
"What is he doing?"
"He better breaks this defense mechanism"
"Is that Ghost of River town?"
"Ghost? The 5-star Alchemist?!"
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 300 badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 100 badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 300 badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 100 badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 200 badass points]
…
People who went to the Majestic or from River town recognized Michael when they saw him and by hearing those people, many realized that the youngster in front of him was the famous 5-star Alchemist of Bredia.
Because of this recognition, he accumulated thousands of badass points in a flash without even actually breaking the mechanism or doing anything awesome.
"So he's that 5-star Alchemist everyone was talking about?" there was a hint of surprise in the eyes of the disciples of Aragoth, including the one who talked to Michael before.
Creeekkkk!
Right at this moment, the surprise in everyone's eyes turned into shock as they saw cracks appear on the golden dome's surface around the Tiger Cress.
"What the fuck?!"
"The heck!"
"How did he..?"
"What?! How"
Many of the people were speechless as the number of cracks on the dome multiplied before shattering into bits of golden light.
While everyone was in shock, Michael grabbed the herb in one hand and conjured his Alchemical flames on the other.
"What are you doing?!"
"DON'T!"
The disciples of Aragoth were the first to respond as Michael said,
"As I said before, you have to pay me for this herb, if anyone tries to do anything funny, I will burn this Tiger Cress to ashes"
By looking at the green flames in his hand and the seriousness in his eyes, they knew he wasn't kidding.
After a few moments, the youngster from Araogth stepped forward and this time, he wasn't as arrogant as before.
"We will honor our word. Aragoth will pay you 200,000 Gold Coins for this Tiger Cress"
"MorningStar will give you 300,000"
"350,000"
Without even Michael stating the starting bid, the bidding war began between the rich youngsters.
"Golden Valley, 450,000"
"550,000 gold coins"
"600,000"
"700,000 Gold coins plus we will hire you as our Alchemist and pay you handsomely" Finally, the youngster from Aragoth raised his voice and placed his bid, and also, he sweetened the pot by making another offer.
"Morn-"
"Sold" before even the disciples of Morning star could place the next bet, Michael sold the Tiger Cress to Aragoth. The Morningstar Sect and he didn't have a smooth relationship because of his enmity between him and Celina. Moreover, he would prefer to be on the good side of Aragoth's rather than on MorningStar's.
After knowing the history between the order of Death and the Guardians, Michael realized that he would need powerful people with him to fight a giant power like the Guardian Guild. Unlike Noah who antagonized many powers in Bredia, Michael preferred to work in shadows while making fewer enemies as possible. Then with the help of the system and his planning, he would become stronger and build a faction strong enough to subdue all the sects and the major powers.
In his path of world domination, he planned to make Aragoth his first ally through working with this youngster.
"Here you go" Micheal tossed the herb at the youngster and then, he reached out his hand, "Ghost, happy to help Aragoth"
"Nathen Bradley of House Bradley" The youngster shook Michael's hand after giving a thought.
"Human, what the fuck is going on there?! You sold what?" Ignoring Gaya's frustrated shoutings in his ears, he smiled back at Nathen and shook his hand before turning his gaze towards the Diamond Leaf which was another precious and rare herb in the garden.
"Why don't you give me 1.8 million gold coins for Diamond Leaf, Oglio root, and Cavern Petal?" Michael asked Nathen with a wide grin while others looked at him with vexed faces.
"1 million and the Alchemy product supply contract for the outer disciple section of Aragoth is yours, if you can handle it that is"
"Deal" compared to the 800,000 gold coins, what Nathen promised was valuable and helpful to Michael because by supplying potions and pills to Aragoth, he could earn 800,000 gold coins or more in a few months. Therefore, Michael agreed to this deal immediately and bore a wide grin on his face.
"Hey, I thought you're going to auction the herbs, not sell them to only Aragoth,"
"These are not your herbs to sell"
"This is not fair" because of Michael's sudden change of mind and his actions, many were riled up and began to express their objection.
"Life is not fair" the smile on Michael's face disappeared and a serious look replaced his previous smile as everyone who tried to bad mouth him instantly shut their traps.
"Now that we made the deal, let's go get you all the herbs I promised" Michael gestured to the disciples of Aragoth to follow him to the Diamond Leaf. Since many have tried to break the defense mechanism and ultimately failed to do so, they could only follow and watch Aragoth get their hands on every precious herb through Michael.
"Where did you learn to break defense spells?" while they were approaching the Diamond Leaf, Nathen curiously asked Michael.
"I traveled a lot and picked up a few tricks along the way" Fortunately Nathen didn't ask him to reveal or teach them the tricks.
Just like its name, each leaf of Diamond Leaf herb glistened like a diamond. After consuming a pill or potion made using a Diamond Leaf, one can experience a sudden boost in their cultivation speed for an entire month or more depending on the Alchemist's skill without polluting their body.
"Beat it" Noticing the few youngsters struggling with the defense mechanism, Nathen chased them away with the wave of his hand. Because of the sword symbol on Nathen's chest, they didn't dare to disobey his words as they sighed and ran away before glancing at the Diamond leaf for one last time.
"You're a 5-star Alchemist and you also seem to possess a talent for runes, so why did you join a sect like Sunrise?" Nathen didn't even try to hide the disdain as he asked Michael.
"It's simple, if I'm a disciple of Aragoth, I'm just another talented disciple. But in Sunrise, I'm the only one and I can do whatever I like whenever I like" Michael answered with a smile and continued, "I value my freedom above anything, that's why I turned down the Guardian Guild when they asked me to join as their trainee or whatever" Again, Nathen was taken aback by surprise and shock as he stared at Michael speechlessly for a few seconds.
"You did what?" The others behind Nathen also felt a chill running through their spines because being a guardian was the highest honor in this world yet he turned down that honor and merit.
"I said that I'm not interested to Peyton"
"Why?" Until now, Nathen bore a proud and arrogant look on his face but after hearing what he just said, his face showed only one expression, confusion.
"As I said, I value my freedom above anything. I don't enjoy following orders and being a good soldier. I heard someone from Aragoth tried to join the Guardians? " Michael changed the topic to something else before Nathen asks too many questions about his actions.
Like Michael wanted, when he asked this question, Nathen's expression changed drastically.
"Yes, his name is Lodin Otkelsson.He was brutally killed by that Noah and his lackey in the Red Summit. Aragoth will avenge Lodin by killing both of them "
"Good luck with that" Michael snickered inside because he had a feeling that Noah is not only being protected by Guardians but also something or someone else.
However, the more enemies Noah makes, the more allies Michael could have in the fight against him and the Guardian guild in the future. For now, Michael focused his efforts on becoming stronger and rebuilding the Order of Death in silence rather than provoking all the major powers like Noah.
As they were speaking, the system broke the defense mechanism around the Diamond leaf leaving everyone to think that Michael broke the mechanism.
"Here you go" Michael handed over the herb to Nathen and turned his gaze towards another herb.
After taking the Diamond leaf, Michael fastened his work before the nightfall approaches. He was able to see the people leaving the garden hastily. Looking at their actions, he realized that nightfall in the Nether realm is not a joke and left the garden after setting the meeting place with Nathen to get the coins.
This trip to the garden alone was worthy of his time as he gathered hundreds of herbs and earned a contract to supply pills and potions to one of the best sects in the continent, Aragoth. He couldn't wait to tell Gaya about all of this and surprise her.