Jean’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. With a furtive movement, he pulled the thing out of Kyon’s hand. He smelled it discreetly and stared into the distance with a blissful moan, enjoying the moment of overwhelming happiness. He’d been dreaming about this day for so long... It never crossed his long-suffering the mind, now mad with joy, that the desired thing could belong to someone else and not the object of his lust. The notes of the familiar scent nipped all his doubts in the bud.

Kyon sighed in relief. It seemed to have worked. What an interesting duo they represented: one beaten to within an inch of his life, with one foot in the grave, and the other soaring to the highest heights of happiness.

The pause was a little too long. Kyon was a sensible boy. He had seen things, and he knew he should watch out for the master. The latter had got what he wanted, and the witness, whose death would cut no ice with him, could become his victim.

Therefore, Kyon cleared his throat and said in a lisping voice:

«Master Jean, I see you are a good person. I have a tempting offer for you that you cannot refuse. But first, would you be so kind as to give me the basic grade of the pure force as we agreed, please…» - His speech was more or less distinct because of his good oratory skills.

Jean broke out of the captivating embrace of overwhelming joy and gave the slave a thoughtful look. An offer he couldn’t refuse? Did the boy mean he could get him more things? If so, then he would let him live for a while. But he never wanted to give him the sphere with the basic grade of the elements. It would be a real humiliation of the remains of his honor and conscience as a master to share his knowledge with some mongrel. Moreover, it might lead to a lot of problems. Each sphere of the basis grade was issued strictly by the book.

Jean nodded to his thoughts and said casually:

«You know, I forgot to bring it with me. It just slipped my mind. But if you get me something else to ensure me that you are motivated to be my {dead} student I will definitely give you the basic grade and even some valuable instructions to boot.»

Kyon could hardly restrain from cursing and a desire to spit blood preferably directly in the filthy face of the “master.” {No, asshole, I won’t give up so easily!}

«Master Jean, I am so sorry... In fact, I took the liberty of testing your good faith. I’ve already snatched something more intimate from the lady. I was intending to hand it to you but as you don’t have the basic grade then... It’s a pity.»

A curious expression crossed Jean's face: his eyes got cloudy, blood rushed to his cheeks, his lips began to tremble... His world seemed to have shuttered. How was he to know that the slave could outsmart him?

«Is it…»

Kyon nodded meaningfully:

«Yes, it is. I have her lingerie. It’s hidden in a secluded place and I would hand it to you with great pleasure. It's just... since you don’t have the basic grade and I am not going to live to see tomorrow... I have nothing to lose, my best regards to you.» - The boy began to rise slowly but, as expected, the master frantically grasped his hand and forced him to sit back.

The poor man was sweating. If he was a woman near her time he’d given birth to a premature baby. He was on the verge of a breakdown.

«Hold on! I… I have it! Just messing with you! Ha-ha!» - He frantically rummaged in his pocket and took out a purple sphere - «It’s a basic grade the pure energy, a one-time thing. All you have to do is swallow it, and the information will be imprinted in your head an hour after you take it. Later, if you can unravel it and get enlightened through hard training the information will leave a mark on your soul! You will get the first grade and be able to apply the element straight off like stealing candy from a baby! Now tell me where did you hide the lingerie!? - He demanded.

Jean squeezed Kyon's forearm till his bones cracked. The dude was going ballistic. Unfortunately, his desperate determination only made it clear that he wasn’t going stand on ceremony with the unwanted slave. As soon as he got everything he wanted, he would kill him as a witness and be done with it.

{Son of a bitch! What a regular douchebag?!} - Kyon cursed to himself. When he was in the mine, he read about the local currency. The currency of the basic grade was white, translucent. The currency of the advanced grade was amber, translucent. The currency of the superior grade was purple, translucent. By the way, he mined the currency of the advanced grade. Those small stones needed to be activated and they would stick together in an ideal pure money-sphere. And now the bastard was trying to pull a fast one on him with a sphere of the superior grade. Of course, it was also pricey. But it was less valuable than a sphere of the basic grade. It would also give him less trouble if they discovered it missing.

Kyon looked at Jean up and down with an annoyed look:

«Master Jean, it is bad to lie. This is an ordinary sphere of the superior grade.»

Jean’s face flushed hot with blood either from embarrassment or from rage because some wretched slave could see through his ruse. And how did that scum know what the spheres of the superior grade looked like? Maybe, he’d better threaten the boy with death? However, it was a stupid thing to do judging by his state. He told him himself that he was not going to live until tomorrow.

Jean bit the bullet and took out a cloudy green stone with barely noticeable shimmering trigrams inside.

«Here, the basic grade of pure energy... Give me the lingerie and swallow it up! I will explain how to master it immediately after…»

Kyon cracked another attempt to fool him. He took the green stone and threw it in his mouth without hesitation.

The master's face distorted in the grief of loss and hatred to the rogue.

Once in the acid environment of the stomach, the shell of the basic grade instantly melted and released a light mist of energy that immediately rushed to his head. It engraved new information in his mind, a whole bunch of incomprehensible neural connections.

Kyon asked a reasonable question - what is it and how does it work - and Jean had to answer, in spite of his impatience.

He learned that information was kept in the formation so that it could not be copied. Any information gets imprinted in the brain in the form of neural connections. The human mind can’t form a thought in written or verbal form. Even if you learn and master the basic grade of the elements, and it’s imprinted in your soul, you will fail to express a clear thought about it. That’s why it’s impossible to copy it. No master can give the information to their students without a formation. Only those who have invented the technique can create the formation because no one except them understands all the nuances.

Under the pressure of Kyon's curiosity, Jean also added that there are one-time formations and reusable formations. There are source codes that can be copied infinitely many times. The creator of the technique or grade can make them, too.

Family masters and superior students have access to the spheres. Only some elders and patriarchs have access to the source code. Even so, the formation must have a kind of a password. The valuable information must be protected from numerous thieves.

Jean continued to answer Kyon’s annoying questions.

«The formations can contain family techniques, medical formulae, sets of unique body instructions, sets of unique formation instructions, recipes for enchanting things, the grades of elements and what not.» - Jean continued to drone on a brief overview of the formation secrets. «They cannot be faked and are almost impossible to steal.»

It’s a valuable heritage of families, painstakingly collected by many generations over the long years of existence of the whole race. The knowledge was gained in sweat and blood at times. That is why this well of information can often reach outrageous prices.

«I’ve answered your questions. Now give me what you’ve promised!» - Jean demanded through his teeth.

Kyon was in no hurry to meet his needs and said flatly:

«Master Jean, you tried to deceive me by giving me the wrong sphere. Now I want more... By the way, I almost died while carrying out your mission. One element is not enough for me. I want you to give me the basic grade of all nine elements and I want them today.»

Judging by the shade of Jean’s face, he had already reached his boiling point and was now inexorably approached the mark “run for your life - it’s going to blow!”

«What the hell? Nine?! Are you tired of life? Do you have any idea how much they cost?! One element for scum like you is more…»

Kyon rose from the bench as a sign of protest to let the master know that he couldn’t care less about his words as well as about his own life. Kyon had the leverage up his sleeve. Jean had to play by his rules.

The master grabbed the boy's wrist again, his eyes frightened:

«Wait! I didn’t mean it! Ha-ha!» - Jean tried to play around, a prey of his own doubts. How was he going to explain himself to the elder? The spheres of the basic grade were given out strictly by the book. He couldn’t possibly lose one for each element! Albeit the basic grade. But the image of Juno’s underwear was haunting his mind… Jean was like the poor cat in the adage. He could always take revenge on the boy for robbery, so...

Jean, reluctantly, took out eight more cloudy stones like the first one and nearly threw them at the boy.

Kyon swallowed them up all together without a second thought. He risked choking under the gaze of the enraged boar, who Jean was at the moment, but he was lucky not to.

The new information appeared in Kyon’s head almost at once. Now that he received from Jean everything he needed it was time to get out. It was easy to guess the following sequence of events. He hands Dinah’s panties to Jean and the next moment gets his skull broken through. Kyon had to weasel out in such a way that the master would be satisfied and he would stay alive.

Kyon stretched himself, his long-suffering bones cracking, and rose from the bench:

«I hid them in the mansion. Take me there, please.»

Well, there was no choice. Jean had to lead the asshole to the mansion, his teeth gritting.

When they arrived, Kyon looked cautiously around, put his hand under the beige fluffy carpet near the entrance, allegedly took out something and put it in his pocket. Jean kept a close eye on him shifting impatiently from foot to foot at the door. Kyon nodded at him and went out to the guard post.

A thought flashed through Kyon’s head to venture too far and demand freedom from Jean. But he really didn’t want to die. The nature of the cunning old fox was too obvious. No man no problem. Kyon had to be content with little.

Jean looked fearfully around, caught up with the slave and hissed in his ear:

«Give it to me, now!»

The guard turned around and looked at the strange couple with suspicion.

At the moment when the master couldn’t openly act against him, Kyon slipped Dinah’s panties clenched in his hand into Jean’s sleeve. He nodded goodbye and quietly went to his quarters.

Jean swallowed. What is that gentle cloth in his sleeve...? But he didn’t take his treasure out to check it. He could feel there was something he didn’t dare to dream about. He threw one last angry look that promised major trouble at the slave’s back and spat a catchy curse. Then he flew out of the mansion like a hurricane pressing the desired thing to his heart.

Kyon returned to his “lodging” place without any incidents and exhaled with relief. He got everything he needed but it wasn’t without risk! He still needed to survive some more days until his body was fully restored. Master Jean added to his problems. He would intend to take revenge on the arrogant and successful slave, no doubt about that. It means Kyon had to be fully armed during their next meeting. Anyway, next week or two, the pervert would pay no visits to the mansion. If he was so overwhelmed with the miserable handkerchief that he could not sleep it’s terrifying to imagine what allegedly-Juno’s-panties could do to him. He could die of exhaustion, which would be only for the better.