Sage was only intending to give the man some serious injuries and carry a message to the others that had chased after him in the past. Compared to the trouble he’d got from others, the fact that they hadn’t bothered to chase after him when he left the Kingdom was actually comparatively light. It had been only a few decades since that event happened in the outside world, but Sage had thousands of years in the Inner World to give him some perspective.

Unfortunately, even as ‘mature’ as he felt he’d grown, he still couldn’t resist his own instincts and he gave in to his own greed. As just a person who had wronged him in the past, Sage was prepared to let bygones be bygones, at least until he found out the man was carrying a treasure. A treasure that seemed to call out to him, and it was loud enough for him to change his mind and take a life. It might even be more forgivable if he had made such a decision in a split second, but in just a few seconds he had days on the Inner World to make his choice.

Before the man’s headless body could finish settling onto the ground, it disappeared into his Inner World. A moment later the head disappeared just as abruptly. Then Sage used his Spirit Force to sweep up the dirt on the ground that had been soiled by blood and it too went into the Inner World. Then he stepped back and a bright flame washed over the area. After being bathed in fire for a few seconds, he opened his mouth and a powerful wind blasted down the alley turning all the loose dirt and ash into a large dust cloud. He had no idea what sorts of techniques might be used to examine this location in the future but he removed as much evidence as he could in a quick fashion. With these tasks done, Sage left down the street without waiting for the dust to settle.

At the same time as he was making his escape, he was also examining the fruits of his labor on the Inner World. The reason he’d given in to his greed was the weapon that this man had been wielding. In the past, he might not have noticed anything unusual, but it just so happened that Sage had recently spent a lot of time studying a certain bow. The man’s weapon, a whip, gave him a very similar feeling to the Jinxi Ancestor’s bow. More importantly, he also felt the same loathing coming from the whip that he’d felt with the bow. Only this time, the loathing of the whip was not directed towards him, but its owner. With such a temptation in front of him, how could Sage pass it up?

“You think just because you killed that weakling it makes you fit to own me? How naive!”

An overbearing and domineering phrase was delivered by a high pitched voice. This voice was also filled with little burbling pauses and gurgling noises. At this time, on the Inner World, Sage sent his consciousness into the new artifact he’d acquired in an attempt to communicate. There was a strange creature in front of him, one which he would describe as an overly long salamander that had a strange spiky coating over its limbs. The salamander’s four legs and tail looked like they were armored with a layer of thorn-like scales, but with closer examination he noticed the ‘scales’ were moving and he realized they weren’t scales at all. For a moment he thought they might actually be like many miniature horns given their shape, but as they moved he realized they were each mounted on the end of a little digit. With this detail he recognized what this creature was.

Million Clawed Salamander. Just like many of their other strange taxonomic decisions in this world, people here liked to call the clawed hand or paw of a beast with the very generic description of ‘claw’. The Million Clawed Salamander’s five appendages were each covered with hundreds of short and stubby two jointed fingers. Each of these fingers was tipped by a large claw and the great number of fingers as well as their closeness allowed the claws to lay against each other like a coat of scales. The parts of the salamander’s body that weren’t covered in clawed fingers were a bright pastel color and had a shiny slimy surface. Contrary to the vicious look of its limbs, its head and torso were oversized and soft, giving it a droopy and cuddly appearance. The cute sound of its voice contrasted with its overbearing speech in a similarly stark manner.

Sage’s consciousness was in the form of his human body, one of three shapes he could very easily will it to have, just like his Nascent Soul. He usually chose to take this form as it was more comfortable for him than the form of the Tree of Life or his current true body. It also meant the Artifact Spirit was much less likely to take him seriously. Even so, Sage merely smiled at the salamander and answered calmly, “So, are you going to give me tests to gauge our compatibility? You will only serve a powerful master, right? Or are you one of those who wants to find a partner with the right personality?”

Being openly mocked, the salamander was taken aback. Every other time new wielders wanted to become his owner they were either extremely respectful or at the very least overbearing and extremely arrogant in their attempts to conquer him. The spirit was utterly taken aback at the mocking nonchalance of this newest holder. Didn’t this guy want to control him? Was he not afraid of being shunned?

“Don’t you realize who you’re talking to? You dare speak to the great Tigerbriar in such a way!”

“Tigerbriar? That’s a pretty good name.”

“You still show no concern?!”

“Why should I? Are you used to everyone licking your feet? Did that last guy not compliment you enough? What sorts of bribes do you like best? Just let me know, I’ll prepare them for you.”

This completely candid approach was confusing to the salamander and it’s head tilted to the side, “Bribe? You have to defeat my challen..”

Then it stopped and realized that this human had already guessed that and it wouldn’t be as imposing if he seemed to be doing just what he said. The salamander puffed up its chest like it was trying to stand straighter, and was ready to speak then it realized it didn’t know what to say. What was it going to do to show off its authority and make this fellow show some respect? Then its face crinkled as it caught a whiff of an alluring scent.

“Oh, you like that one? It’s a shame you aren’t my partner or I’d gift it to you.”

On the Inner World, Sage was bringing out the high level materials he’d been purchasing to forge a weapon. If he could get the artifact over to his side with them, then there was no need to make a weapon anymore. If he couldn’t, then he could always try to trade the weapon for another. As for why he was treating it so nonchalantly? He had plenty of time to slowly convince the spirit, and an artifact would be a partner for life. It would likely end up being as close to him as his family and he had no desire to have a weapon that was so restrictive of his behavior and skills.

“Gift? You would?”

Hmm, maybe this cute little guy will be easier to convince than I thought.