Ahem… I wasn’t going to accept whatever they’d throw at me, Then what price range do you have in mind? I need to get what you have in mind before relaying this over to others to make a final decision about it

I knew he was trying to use sovereign interference to scare me off. However he totally underestimated me!

Pal! I precisely wanted those sovereigns to interfere, or else what I wanted couldn’t be done by just your word.

Are you telling me such a decision will be taken by the sovereigns, and not by you or your impact? I had to ask, to make sure I got them where exactly I wanted.

Such decision isn’t related to the impact I work for he paused before adding, This matter is related to the future of my race. So it’s better for them to handle such a matter, right?

And what did they say? I didn’t give him any answer, and just threw the ball back into their playground.

We are willing to satisfy any needs of yours, as long as they aren’t overboard

I see… That meant they were willing to accept the raise in the price tag, or accept any other form of compensation. However they wouldn’t just accept anything.

That made me quite hesitant. What I wanted from them wasn’t in their best interest actually. And trying to ask them to do it now would have a low chance of success.

Let me think about this deal for much longer then… I took the excuse of the sovereign’s interference to buy myself more time.

I didn’t need time to consider anything, I wanted them to take their time and feel the pressure of losing dealing with me.

Right now they might be shocked about my bones, but not too many races had heard about what I did. So if I waited for long enough, long until the news would spread all over the universe, then the Toranks would find themselves in a position they wouldn’t like.

Right now they knew I only got them as the sole customer for my bones. But after some time, many would start competing with them and try to give me many offers.

Like this, the Toranks would find themselves in a race against other capable races, able to give me whatever I’d want.

So their attitude would change from just giving me the chance to raise the price to a reasonable range or asking for things in return that wouldn’t cost them a lot, to any demand of mine would be answered.

And that situation was precisely what I aimed for and hoped to happen.

Hmm… Why is that? I know you for long enough to know that you have a plan in mind already

When I read his words, I couldn’t control my smile to appear on my face.

So they already had seen through my plan and knew my real intentions. They saw through my desire to use time against them. What a bunch of old men they were!

Sorry pal, this time I got my mind busy with many things But did they think by reading through my plan they could stop me? Humph! As if that was possible!

I was the one they needed, not the opposite.

It was me who could call out the shots here. So if I wanted to postpone the talks, then I’d be able to do so.

But…

Dude! Just tell them I’ll consider their offer once I’m done with this quest. I used the quest as an excuse, You do know how hard and risky this quest will be, right?

I see… I’ll relay your answer back to my sovereigns

I got how disappointed he became, but that wasn’t something I should worry about. It was their misfortune that I wanted from them something very important and crucial for my race and kingdom.

I could already guess how fierce the talks in the Toranks main homeland would be about this matter.

They knew what I wanted to do, but they couldn’t stop me. They already used the excuse of the sovereigns to put pressure over me. And such a move failed.

If they wanted, they could sincerely offer a rich offer. And that’s what they’d be busy thinking about. What exactly would be rich enough to make me stop going through this kind of plan?

Of course I knew the answer to that, but they didn’t even read my mind to know what I was thinking right now.

They got nothing to blame but themselves. They were the ones who cut down any negotiations by trying to use hidden threats to achieve their goals.

Such a high ranked race would never truly consider someone like me as their ally, nor their equal!

But that wasn’t bad news for me. If they didn’t comply and offered what I wanted, then I’d go for plan B. Other races would be available in front of me, including the Hescos.

I would never select friendship over the fate of my race and kingdom, especially if it was such a kind of fake friendship.

After closing the chat with Silverlining, I finally got time to return back to my initial task. I started travelling across the remaining worlds, leaving behind the warriors, workers, and resources needed to build up the complicated set of defences.

In the middle of all this, Isac sent and discussed with me the modifications she had for the defensive designs.

When I heard what she had, I couldn’t help but refuse them on the spot.

From what she said, she wanted to throw away most of the defensive structures and just be satisfied with the normal and simple defences.

Using walls alone wasn’t going to protect my forces from the Silence race. Not to mention the enemy never got pushed hard enough to be forced to use their full force.

I had to make plans for other races to join the battle. I’d hardly believe that such an enemy who could get such a race from another universe, a race that wasn’t known in the two known universes, couldn’t get other races to help.