thefictionvixens Chapter 601 A Deal
Chapter 601 A Deal
A strange guy made a deal?
Scáthach frowned slightly upon hearing this. When she heard Tanya's words, the first person she thought of was Tang Zijun, who was currently fighting against the Great Old Ones outside. In this world, perhaps only he could be called a "strange guy".
Tanya was unaware of Scáthach's fleeting association; she was immersed in the annoyance of recounting her feat and a hint of barely perceptible pride as she continued her explanation.
"Sigh, you have no idea how difficult life was for us little gods trapped outside the 'box' after the empty mirror shattered." She spread out her dirty little hands, making a helpless gesture, her tone full of frustration.
"What use is my little bit of 'merchant' authority in such a grand scene of gods fighting and nightmares invading? At most, I can help the gods optimize the allocation of divine power, or whisper and bargain with those chaotic nightmares to buy some time. This is just a drop in the ocean. What's even more frustrating is that after the Void Realm shattered, I was completely sealed in the shattered dimension. I had nowhere to run away."
"I searched everywhere for other gods, hoping to find opportunities to cooperate, but either I couldn't find any, or when I did, the other party was too busy to care about me."
Just then, her tone of voice suddenly rose.
"Just when I was about to despair, I suddenly felt an extremely unfamiliar divine power."
She pointed forcefully to her heart, or rather, the location of her divine core, emphasizing it.
"My own authority, the part of the rules that belong to 'transactions' and 'contracts,' is being moved by an extremely unfamiliar, powerful force that also carries a sense of order that is hard to describe."
Scáthach's eyes flickered slightly beneath her helmet.
Tanya's voice was filled with the excitement of discovering a new continent.
"I followed that feeling and touched it, and guess what? That power was actually a strange god I'd never seen before trying to establish a transactional contract with a mortal believer!"
"An opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! The Void Mirror separates the divine from the mortal and blocks the passage, but it is also part of the rules. And 'trading'... is precisely the sharpest awl to exploit the loopholes in the rules."
A startling glint flashed in her clear eyes, a blend of a businesswoman's shrewdness and a gambler's madness:
"I acted immediately. Before the contract channel between that strange god and believer was fully established and stable, I forcibly intervened and used my authority to secretly modify the information of both parties in the transaction."
Her tone carried a hint of sly pride and a touch of guilt.
"I forcibly changed the original two parties in the transaction from 'that strange god's mortal followers' to 'that strange god me (Tanya)', and then I also took the opportunity to tamper with the details of the transaction."
"The new 'trade' I've set up uses Tanya, the goddess of commerce, as the bargaining chip in exchange for her providing me with a safe and stable passage to the mortal realm."
She shrugged, and her worn-out sleeves slipped down, revealing her thin wrists.
"This is essentially a forced sale. I used my core authority to 'buy' a path. I know it's risky. Authority is the foundation of a god. Once it's traded away, I'll be nothing. But I had no choice. Being trapped in the shattered void was a death sentence anyway, so I might as well take a gamble." Her eyes flickered with a mixture of fear and relief.
"I wanted to see if this kind of forced transaction that exploits loopholes in the rules could be established under the isolation of the empty mirror."
"The result was actually successful. The law recognized my transaction. It might be because my authority itself represents a 'transaction,' or it might be because the broken mirror caused the rules to loosen... In any case, that strange god 'paid' for the passage, although he himself may not have realized that this 'transaction' existed at the time, and I 'paid' for my transaction authority."
She patted her empty pockets. "Then... when I woke up, I was back in this world, still in a dangerous forest."
"This is how I 'descended to earth.' A prison break deal that exploited a loophole in the rules, came at a heavy price, but was still a success."
She looked at Scáthach and added, with a hint of helplessness.
"I just didn't expect that the situation would be worse than I imagined as soon as I landed. Lady Ilúvatar is in this state, and she has attracted that disgusting big eyeball."
Scáthach listened quietly to Tanya's narration. Each word was like a jigsaw puzzle piece, perfectly piecing together the previous clues—Tang Zijun's abilities, the strange matches found at the foot of the city wall, and the reason why Tanya could be here.
It turned out to be the case.
A transaction that Tang Zijun had made unintentionally... was actually spotted by the God of Merchants in the distant Shattered Realm. She then used the characteristics of her authority to forcibly intercept and alter the transaction, turning it into a one-sided, god-level transaction that exploited loopholes in the laws.
She used her core authority as payment to forcibly buy a path to survival in the mortal world from Tang Zijun.
This explains why the match showed signs of divine power, why Tanya was able to appear here, and why she appeared so "down and out"—her core authority was likely severely weakened or even temporarily mortgaged in the transaction.
"How do you know that strange fellow can trade you a way to descend to the mortal realm?" Scáthach asked.
"Actually, I don't know," Tanya shrugged. "But he can indeed use the deal to connect with my authority, enough for me to pinpoint a coordinate. And once I've staked out my godhood, teleporting a mortal is much easier than teleporting a god." Voluntarily relinquishing her godhood in exchange for a chance to escape... Scáthach understood. She nodded thoughtfully, but quickly asked with a puzzled look, "Then where is your divine power now? Was it traded to that strange fellow?"
Having known Tang Zijun for so long, Scáthach had never sensed any unfamiliar divine power from him. If he possessed the authority of the God of Merchants, she would have been able to sense it.
Then Tanya spoke up. "My authority... of course, is still in some corner of the Void Realm, but the right to use it is indeed in the hands of that strange fellow, he just doesn't know it."
At this point, she smiled happily again. "I'll just go back and make a deal to trick the godhood back when I have the chance. I'm best at this kind of risk-free business."
"Is that so?" Scáthach asked, a smirk playing on her lips. "You probably won't have that chance."
Tanya's face froze. "W-what do you mean?"
Before the words were finished, the shadows outside the hall slowly parted to make way for a figure clad in silver armor, who then slowly walked in.
The figure clad in silver armor didn't exude any particularly powerful aura, but the moment Tanya saw it, her body tensed up, like a kitten being grabbed by the scruff of its neck.
"I never expected that a casual experiment I did would trigger such a series of reactions."
Scáthach smiled and shifted her gaze to Tang Zijun. "Resolved?"
"Ah." Tang Zijun nodded, feigning ease. "If it were the real body, it might be more troublesome, but some of the power flowing out from the seal isn't enough to threaten Trova's immense life force."
"You! You you you!..." Just as Tang Zijun and Scáthach were talking, Tanya suddenly pointed at Tang Zijun, her voice trembling and stuttering.
Clearly, the ingrained sense of camaraderie had made her recognize the presence before her.
Although she didn't know the other party's identity, Tanya was certain that the person in front of her was the one she had made a deal with! Upon hearing Tanya's words, Tang Zijun slowly turned his head, chuckled, and waved.
"Nice to meet you, Tanya. I am Tang Zijun, the strange fellow you mentioned. You can just call me Wolf Rider."