Talent Awakening! Every Legendary Summon Grants Me Assassin Attributes-Chapter 52: Business with the Waifu! The impossible offer
Time went by, and Oliver was finally beginning to feel better. Throughout his time of recovery, he sat silently, watching the girls talk and argue over meager, almost trivial matters.
It almost made him forget they were inside the realm for a second.
But the harsh, suffocating environment was quick to remind him of that fact. The dry air, the faint tremors beneath the ground, the distant, haunting echoes that never truly faded.
Still, while he sat silently, ignoring any questions that were thrown his way or simply nodding in response, he had his gaze entirely fixed on Eva Montclair.
Her beautiful face, her charisma, everything about her reminded him of the woman he had met back in his first life... or perhaps, the woman he had yet to meet again in this one.
’She’s still very immature, but...’
Oliver lingered on the thought for a moment before shaking his head slightly, dismissing it.
Then he pulled his mask back up and drew his hood over his head. Rising to his feet in one unstable motion as pain still lingered in his joints, he startled the three girls seated around the bonfire.
"Hey, what’s wrong?" Sasha was the first to speak.
The others expressed their concern through worried glances and stiffened postures.
"I am feeling well enough," Oliver said, his gaze drifting toward the distant Dark Castle, its silhouette looming like a nightmare against the horizon. "So I am heading back to my goal."
"What?!" Isolde and Sasha chorused, both visibly stunned by his statement.
"That Dark Knight almost killed you—hell, it almost killed me and my sisters!" Eva spoke up, rising to her feet. "It’s even luck that you managed to kill it without dying. The entire castle might even be crawling with hundreds of those things."
Oliver lingered for a moment. Then he sighed, his gaze leaving the Dark Castle and locking onto hers.
"What do you want me to do? Sit and get comfortable?" His voice was calm, still it carried an unshakable weight. "Let me tell you something, comfort is the single greatest murderer of one’s goals. That’s why I do not allow myself rest. Until I reach my goal, I have no time for the distractions that come along the way."
Eva’s expression faltered for a moment before she shrugged.
"Well, it’s your funeral," she said carefreely, sitting back down where she had stood.
Oliver could read her completely.
The reason she had saved him... the reason she acted out of care for him so much... At least up till now—
Was because she was a Hollow.
A hollow was someone who had lost her physical body and gotten trapped in the game... permanently.
Whether she had been assassinated in her sleep, or she had committed the same foolish act Oliver did; bringing her physical body into the realm and getting herself killed—
Oliver’s gaze dropped to his foot, where there was not a single reflection of his snitching shadow.
’Maybe not so stupid.’
Still, she had lost her body to the game while she was barely able to properly make her own decisions.
That kind of trauma, stayed with someone for life.
"What are you waiting for? Are you going to chicken out?" Eva attacked, folding her arms and turning away from him.
"I guess he really is."
"At best, he should be level thirteen, so we are typically stronger than he is. He probably wants to beg."
Oliver paid no attention to their squabbling. He simply spoke.
"You guys are also here to raid the Dark Castle? And from the looks of it you failed, woefully."
The girls all paused, their chatter cutting off instantly as all eyes turned toward Oliver Mori.
"What if I help you raid the entire castle?"
At that, a brief silence hung in the air and then—
"Bahahaha!"
They all burst into laughter.
Isolde fell to her side, rolling on the ground as she kicked her legs.
Sasha slapped her thighs, barely able to contain herself, while Eva Montclair simply laughed, covering her lips with one hand.
Oliver did not flinch.
’In the original timeline, Eva explained to me how this moment had transpired. The three of them escaped the first encounter with the Void Knight. Then, when they returned the next day for round two, they were ambushed by the Lord... her two sisters killed, and she received the most devilish scar—one that nearly took her life...’
His gaze swept across all of them.
’All thanks to me, they are still alive and well... unscathed. Yet... I kind of wish those two had died before I intervened.’
The laughter slowly died down, and all eyes settled on Oliver once more.
"Wow, you’re serious. I didn’t know," Isolde said, winking at him mockingly.
"Well, I won’t do it without a price," Oliver muttered flatly.
"A price?" Eva’s brows furrowed in curiosity.
Oliver stretched out his palm.
"Three thousand Karma points, paid upfront. Five thousand paid after the raid."
"What?!" Isolde screamed, her hands clawing at her face as she gasped in shock.
The other two were equally shaken. His demands were insane—borderline ridiculous.
Still... it was a cheap price for someone claiming he could clear an entire Castle, especially alone.
But it was impossible.
Especially for a solo player who had barely managed to defeat the Void Knight.
Even Eva and her team, who were significantly stronger than Oliver when combined couldn’t accomplish such a feat.
Yet...
Something about his strange confidence felt... alluring.
Convincing.
Eva lingered, falling into deep thought.
While she did, Oliver remained silent, his gaze steady. Eva and her sisters were descendants of the Master of a mighty sect, his price to them would be nothing more than loose change.
’I should have billed them more.’
He thought.
Finally, Eva turned to him, her usual cheerful expression gone.
"Okay. I accept your deal. But if you run... or try anything funny—"
Oliver nodded calmly at her threat.
"I understand. It’s not like I can run anyway."
Unlike normal players, full-function users could not log off unless they found a return portal.
He was trapped here.
"Don’t tell me you’re considering this, Lady Eva!" Sasha shouted, noticing Eva’s resolve breaking.
The decision was difficult.
Trusting a stranger they had only just met with such a large amount of Karma points—especially after witnessing how badly he struggled against the gatekeeper of the Dark Castle—made it seem like an obvious scam.
Yet Eva cared about her sisters.
And she wanted every possible way to avoid risking their lives.
Even if it meant risking being scammed...
She would take it.
"It’s better to take a chance while standing... than to take one while falling," she muttered softly, glancing at her sisters before turning back to Oliver.
She nodded.
"I’ll send over your three thousand Karma points."
