BXBX NOVEL Chapter 81: Solomon Arkham
"I promise," Alex said with a sigh.
He then said hi to Emily and cast a look at her, blaming her for bringing Olivia without telling him. Emily just smirked at his gaze.
Alex then exchanged greetings with Quartz and quickly entered the building since it was already the promised time with the association president.
As he left, Quartz asked Olivia, "Did something happen between you two, Chibi?"
Emily perked her ears up; she also felt curious about it since her brother was close with Olivia in the past but suddenly put a distance between them.
"That is between us, not for you to know," Olivia said with a smirk on her face.
Meanwhile, inside, an attendant guided Alex through the building.
"The president is inside. Please go in, Mr. Alex." The man gestured, pointing at the door.
Alex nodded. He pushed the beautifully carved wooden door open, and inside, he saw an old man sitting cross-legged in front of a Go table, seemingly playing alone.
The man looked very average; if Alex saw him somewhere outside, he would think he was just a normal old man with a body that was still fit. There was no special aura coming out from him at all.
Feeling curious, Alex tried to check his status.
______________________________
Name: Solomon Arkham
Power Level: 48
Lifeforce: 100/100
Ability: ???
______________________________
Alex frowned, reading the status.
\'Vesa, is it not wrong? How could his lifeforce be so low?\' Alex didn\'t find the power level weird since he is the association president.
[King, the data is not accurate. He seems to have a way to hide his life force. I will need to be in direct contact to find out more.]
\'So his power is even more than 48? Just how strong is he? What about the immortals in MingYue\'s world?\' Alex thought.
Seeing the number made it even more clear to him how weak he was now. Even with his regeneration ability, it would be useless with this much power difference.
Solomon stroked his long white beard. "Why are you standing there, Alex? Come, sit here, join me."Alex then sat opposite him.
Alex understood that Solomon wanted to find out how he thinks by playing this game with him, but this also meant he could find out how Solomon does things. They then started to play the game.
Solomon allowed Alex to move first. He started by placing his piece in the middle. Solomon then took his turn, but as the match went on, Alex started to frown.
Based on his calculations, he should be winning, but the result on the board showed he was losing completely, making his face turn ugly.
He knew why this was happening. \'This old man is cheating!\' he cursed in his mind.
But what could he do?
It wasn\'t that he was afraid to point it out, but he couldn\'t find any proof of it. He even tried to record it with his implant but found nothing.
He had proof the piece positions were different, but none where the president touched and moved the position. His vein popped when he saw Solomon\'s face looking at him with a gloating look.
\'Fine, you want to cheat! Two can play at that game.\' Since he couldn\'t move the pieces like Solomon did, he did something else.
Alex took a piece, then imbued it with his strength and placed it on the board with a BAM! Making the whole board crack into two and all the pieces fall down.
"Sorry, Sir, it seems your table is old, so it broke easily," Alex said with a smirk.
Solomon didn\'t get mad; instead, his eyes seemed to ponder something, and then he opened his mouth and laughed. "Interesting choice, Alex, so you choose to destroy the whole game if you cannot win."
"I don\'t know what you mean, Sir. The board just broke because it\'s old."
Hearing Alex continue to play dumb made Solomon laugh again. "Old? I see. Yeah, you are right; it\'s old."
He then stood up and walked toward the window with his hands on his back. The window provided a good view of the city. "I have read your request and also tested the power system. It\'s alright."
\'Alright? This sneaky old man, do they even have a better power system?\' Alex thought but quickly shook the idea; if this were true, the association would already recruit people en masse, like what he planned.
"That is good, sir. So, how is it with my request?"
Solomon stroked his white beard.
"I can accept it all, but as I say, the power system is just alright, so I cannot give you exclusive rights to the dungeon, only priority use at best."
"I knew it. This old man just wants to lower the deal. I don\'t believe they have a better system than mine," Alex thought, then replied with a smirk. "Then we have no deal. I need all of my requests to be fulfilled."
Solomon turned his back, then nodded, "Alright, I understand. Then you can go back now since we have no deal."
He then walked toward his desk and took a sip from his cup of tea.
Alex was stupefied by his answer. He gazed at Solomon deeply but couldn\'t discern what the man was thinking.
\'Emily told me the association is in dire need of this power system. Did they just get another new one? So my value becomes lower?
But that doesn\'t make sense. If anything, the most expensive of my requests should be the exclusive information for hunters.
There are many dungeons scattered around; what I ask should not be that hard. I don\'t even ask for any specific one since my goal is just the mana crystal and a place to train.\'