Affinity:Chaos

'Make a deal with it. Since your blood is already like this, all it needs is a small amount. You can also get some of its essence for yourself.' Void said to Grey.

Grey already had the thought of making a deal with the Tortoise, this way, the Tortoise would get what it wants, while Grey would also get what he wants. If he gives the Tortoise some of his blood essence, the Tortoise wouldn't mind giving him part of its own.

"I'll speak with it, you guys continue."

Grey said to the others and then stepped out of the barrier.

Elaris looked at him, curious about how he was going to deal with the giant Tortoise. She wasn't afraid of having a conflict with this Tortoise, even though it's powerful, she was confident she would be able to take it down.

Outside the barrier. Grey created another barrier to isolate himself and the Tortoise.

"If you're willing to make an exchange, then I might give you the blood essence you want." He stared at the large eyes of the Tortoise.

"What type of exchange?" The Tortoise questioned.

"A like for like exchange. Your blood essence for mine." Grey replied with a serious expression.

"You're the owner of the blood?" The Tortoise asked in disbelief.

It found it difficult to accept that Grey, a human, possessed such a terrifying bloodline. Multiple thoughts flashed through its head, but it still wasn't able to come up with anything.

"The blood is mine, and I'm aware you need it to advance." Grey nodded.

The Tortoise didn't speak for a while, seemingly thinking about the pros and cons of the exchange.

The blood essence will indeed help him advance after so many years, but if he were to give Grey some of his blood essence, he would need some time to recover and would fall into a short time of weakness.

With the other Beasts lurking, it would be very dangerous for it to make such a deal.

"I can not agree to that." It shook its large head. It was too dangerous.

"It's only fair to make a trade of the same value." Grey wasn't willing to let go of this chance. He knew if he can't convince the Tortoise, he would miss out on a golden opportunity.

"You do know the situation you're in." The Tortoise wasn't flustered, it said, "All I need is to spread out my aura and the others will rush here. Someone with such a bloodline will not be easy to defeat, I'm well aware of this fact. I have no issues with sharing you with them."

Grey chuckled when he heard this, "If you wanted to share me with them, you wouldn't be talking to me in the first place."

"There's no need to speak too much, my offer is the same, my blood essence for yours. If you're not willing, I'll leave. If you believe you have what it takes to stop me, you can try."

The Tortoise saw confidence oozing all over Grey and from its perspective, it knew there was no way it would be able to stop Grey from leaving. If the Golden Eagle was the one who encountered Grey, it would've been easy for it to keep Grey due to its speed.

"Also, don't act like you don't want to be the king of the mountain." Grey added, "With this blood essence, you'd advance, putting you above the others."

The Tortoise was well aware of what Grey was saying, and that was also what was in its head, it just didn't want to take the risk of weakening himself for a period of time due to it. Its enemies were numerous, and they would capitalize on his weak state. If it was killed before even using the blood essence, then it was useless to take it.

The opportunity was almost impossible to reject.

The Tortoise fell into silence, contemplating the matter. After a while it said.

"I'll make the exchange with you, but not here."

Grey was elated when he heard this, but he didn't show it out. He looked at the Tortoise and said, "I have no problems with that."

"Fine, come with me." The Tortoise threw out its front claw, grabbing in Grey's direction.

The claw seemed slow, but within a blink, it was already in front of Grey.

The expression of the Tortoise changed softly when it realized its claw phased through.

"There are certain things I have to wrap up first, I'll come find you after that." Grey said politely.

The Tortoise took a glance at the door and knew it was what Grey wanted to deal with first.

"Alright, but how can I be sure you'll come?" It asked.

"I need that more than you do." Grey replied.

The Tortoise saw his seriousness and nodded.

Grey tapped the claw of the Tortoise and it sensed a strange almost indiscernible aura. If it didn't see Grey tapping it, it would never have even tried to focus on this.

"I've tagged you, I can track you wherever you are." Grey said.

The Tortoise nodded and vanished into the mountain range once again, it was like it was never there in the first place.

Grey heaved a sigh of relief before heading back into the barrier. The door was already more than halfway glowing, and it was also showing signs of opening.

The others took a glance at Grey, none of them knew what he said to the Tortoise, but from how it left, they knew Grey had sorted out whatever the issue was.

"I thought it wanted to attack you when it threw its claw at you." Elaris said, hoping this would get Grey to speak about what he said to the Tortoise.

"It's smarter than that. Why stand a chance to gain nothing when you can get everything?" Grey shrugged and focused his attention back on the door.

The Giants didn't ask him about it since they didn't think there was a need to. Only Elaris asked about it, but from Grey's reply, it was evident he didn't have any intentions of speaking about it.

"The door will be opening soon. In what manner will we go in?" Brax asked.

"It's wide enough, we will all go in at the same time." The leader of the Giants said.

When Grey heard this, he looked at him with a knowing smile. In places like this, those who go through first stand the chance of getting anything in sight before the others arrive. The issue is that there's a probability of facing a life-threatening attack that might take the life of the person.

The leader of the Giants was scared something like this would happen, so he didn't dare to take the risk. It was riskier to let the humans head in first, cause they might set an ambush for them at the other side, which will in turn put them in grave danger.

No one had any issues with what he said, even the humans had the same reservations, so it was better if they entered at the same time.

After a few minutes, the door finally opened. It took more than they expected, luckily, they extracted extra.

On the other side of the door was a desert, a pyramid could be seen from the side they were standing on.

Everyone took a glance at each other before advancing into the place simultaneously.

On the other side of the door.

The second they appeared in the desert, the door closed shut and disappeared from everyone's sight.

They all expected something like this, so they weren't surprised.

They were soon hit by a wave of hotness, their bodies started to dry up from the heat in the atmosphere.

Grey didn't have any issues as water coated his body.

Not just Grey, but the others who had the water element used it, covering themselves with it. They helped those who didn't have the water element, keeping all of them moist.

"That's the only thing here, it seems." One of the Giants pointed at the pyramid.

"We should head there. There's no use staring from this side."

The group started to advance cautiously towards the pyramid, although they hadn't sensed anything, or seen anything else, they didn't want to get comfortable.

'Void, can you sense anything good?' Grey asked. With Void's sharp senses, he would be able to sense if there were any treasures inside.

'Nope.' Void replied a few seconds later.

'Why does it sound like you're not close by?' Grey asked.

One of the things he has noticed when communicating with Void telepathically is that whenever they are apart, and not close to each other, their voices would take a little longer to relay to the other person.

'Nothing, I dozed off.' Void replied hurriedly, but it was still slower compared to before.

"Fuck!"

Grey cussed out loud.

'Void, leave some for me! Damn it!'

Void had rushed to the pyramid, not waiting for him.

When the others saw Grey's sudden outburst, they were stunned.

Grey didn't even try to explain, he said, "We should hurry up, there doesn't seem to be anything blocking our path."