Death... and me

Things went according to Rean and the seller's plans. They were supposed to meet in Ransvite City, inside a room in a forgotten house on the outskirts of the city. The reason was that no one other than Rean knew that the guy had that Core. Because of that, the seller asked Rean to keep it a secret and met him in that place.

Entering the house, an old man with several tattoos over his body was already waiting for him on the corner. He looked at Rean and bowed. "Thank you for coming. As I mentioned, this deal has to be kept a secret, so I hope you don't mind the simplicity of the place."

Rean shook his head. "That's not an issue at all. All that matters is whether you have the Core or not. However, I also don't want problems on my side, so I need to know why this deal has to be kept a secret. Otherwise, it might not be worth the trouble."

The man nodded, already expecting Rean's doubts. "The Lahamina Earth Tree Core I obtained was during an ambush against the Soul Devil in a faraway continent. The Lahamina Earth Tree Demon Plant was participating in this attack, trying to hold down the Soul Devil until the Divinity Realm Experts arrived. Only they could really kill it, after all."

"However, the Soul Devil was already much stronger than us, so it ended up killing its way out of our siege. The Lahamina Earth Tree was one of the victims. I always keep an eye on the Online Market since I travel a lot and usually gather quite a few weird things that I end up selling. This time, I just happened to be close to the Demon Plant when it died, so I immediately took its Core without anyone noticing," he explained.

Rean pondered a bit. "I don't see how it is a problem. The Tree is already dead, so why would anymore care about its Core being taken away?"

The man bitterly smiled in response. "Seems like you don't know all the Divinity Realm experts of the Realm of Gods. One of them just so happens to be a Lahamina Earth Tree at the Middle Stage of the Divinity Realm. As for the Core I obtained, it seems to be extremely important to this Demon Tree as it sends many of its subordinates to investigate and try to recover the Core. Obviously, they didn't find anything and might be thinking the Core was destroyed."

The man then warned Rean. "Remember, if we complete this deal, you will be my accomplice. You must not let anyone know a Lahamina Earth Tree Core appeared."

Hearing the man's explanation, Rean contacted Celis inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. 'Celis, why do you think this Divinity Realm Lahamina Earth Tree wants this core so badly?'

'That's to be expected,' Celis quickly answered. 'Demon Plants can benefit a lot from a Core of a Demon Plant from the same species. They can absorb that Core into their own and enhance their own natural abilities. As you probably can imagine, my World Swallow Cedar race is obviously one of such races.'

'However,' Celis continued, 'Demon Plants are extremely rare compared to other races to start with. Let alone Divine Demon Plants like me. We are at least as rare as Kentucky's Minokawa Race. No, Considering my abilities, my race is definitely much, much rarer. Because of that, the Demon Plants understand from a young age that they must not pray on each other. That would only bring a calamity to their own race.'

'Because of that, most Demon Plants help the Demon Plants from their own species. But at the same time, they have a kind of pact of mutual help. It is quite common in the world of Demon Plants, to be honest. If one of them dies, their Demon Core has to be absorbed by their own race members. It would be better if the Demon Plant was still alive, but if it is not, at least its death can help the race in question.'

Celis sighed. 'This Core you are trying to buy is from a Peak Stage Elemental Space Realm Demon Tree. Even for a Divinity Realm Lahamina Earth Tree, it is invaluable. Whether this Divinity Realm Tree will use the Core on itself or some member of its clan, I don't know. Still, I can guarantee that it is worth more than any quantity of Divine Stones in its eyes. A quick warning, Rean. The guy said that perhaps the Lahamina Earth Trees thought the Core was destroyed by the Soul Devil. However, I highly doubt that. If you that this Core, you must be sure no information regarding it will leak out. They are definitely still looking for it.'

Rean pondered whether it was worth the risk or not. As he mentioned, he wouldn't go out to kill a Lahamina Earth Tree for just because he needed the Core. However, this Tree was already dead, so using the Core wasn't a problem. But then again, he felt that the right thing to do was to get the Core and give it back to the Lahamina Earth Tree Race. The problem was that he also needed this Core badly.

Celis could tell what Rean was thinking and then added. 'This Core can help their race, but at the same time, this Core can help us save an entire Universe. What's the point of helping their race for a short moment compared to not letting them all die when the Universe goes boom?'

Rean had to admit Celis was right. Of course, he also knew that Celis was also trying to help himself since he just wanted to cultivate faster. It's just that both opinions matched the situation.

Finally, Rean smiled at the guy and nodded. This Core was invaluable to the Lahamina Earth Tree Race, but if the guy tried to sell it to them, they would definitely kill him instead for stealing it, so he could only sell it to someone else. "Very well. To make sure no one thinks I got this Core, I will keep my Online Market Offer. So, how much are you selling this for?"