Kyon sighed in relief: it seemed to have worked. What an interesting duo they represented: one beaten to within an inch of his life, feeling like he had one foot in the grave, and the other soaring to higher heights of happiness.

The pause was just a little too long. Kyon was a sensible guy, he'd seen things, and he knew he should watch out for the master. The latter got what he wanted, and the witness, whose death would cut no ice with him, could become his victim.

Therefore, the guy cleared his throat and said in a lisping voice:

«Master Jean, I see you are a good person, so I have a tempting offer for you that you cannot refuse. But first, would you be so kind as to give me the baseline of the force elements, as we agreed, please…» - his speech was more or less distinct because of his good oratory skills.

The man, breaking out of the captivating embrace of overwhelming joy, gave the slave a thoughtful look. An offer he couldn't refuse? Did he want to get him more things? If so, then let him live for a while. But he never wanted to give him the copy of the baseline of the elemуnts, to such a mongrel, it would be a real humiliation of the remains of his honor and conscience as a master. To crown it all, that action might lead to a lot of problems, because each copy of the baseline was issued strictly by the book.

Jean nodded to his own thoughts and said casually:

«You know, I forgot to bring it with me. It just slipped my mind. But if you get me something else to make sure that you are motivated to be {dead} my student, then I will definitely give you the baseline and even some valuable instructions to boot.»

Kyon could hardly control himself from cursing and a desire to spit blood preferably directly in the filthy face of that "teacher". {No, a.s.shole, I will not let go of my hope so easily!}

«Master Jean, I am so sorry... In fact, I took the liberty of testing your good faith. I've already s.n.a.t.c.hed from the lady something more intimate and was even going to hand it to you but since you did not bring the baseline, then... It's a pity.»

A curious expression crossed Jean's face: his eyes cloudy, blood rushed to his cheeks, his lips began to tremble... His world seemed to have shuttered. How was he to know that a slave could cheat?

«Is it…»

Kyon nodded meaningfully:

«Yes, it is. I have her lingerie. It's hidden in a secluded place and I would gladly hand it to you, it's just... since you didn't bring the baseline and I am not going to live to see tomorrow... I have nothing to lose, my best regards to you.» - the boy began to rise slowly but, as expected, the teacher frantically grasped his hand, forcing him to sit back.

The poor man was sweating and straining. If he was a woman near her time, he'd given birth a premature baby but otherwise, he was only on the verge of a breakdown.

«Hold on! I… I have it! Just messing with you! Hha!» - He frantically rummaged in his pocket and took out a purple sphere - «It's a baseline of the key of pure force, a one-time thing. You just swallow it, and the information will be imprinted in your head an hour after you take it. Later on, if you can unravel it, get enlightenment through hard training, the information will leave a mark on your soul! Then you will reach the first rank and will be able to apply the element straight off, like stealing candy from a baby! Now tell me where did you hide the lingerie!? - demanded he.

The man squeezed Kyon's forearm till his bones cracked: the dude was going ballistic. Unfortunately, his desperate determination only made it clear that he wasn't going stand on ceremony with the unwanted slave — as soon as he got everything he wanted, he'd kill him as a witness and be done with it.

{Son of a b.i.t.c.h, what a regular douchebag?!} - cursed Kyon to himself. When he was in the mine, he read about the local currency. The currency of the baseline stage was pale-white, translucent. The currency of the advanced stage was amber, translucent. The currency of the superior stage was purple, translucent. In the mine, by the way, he dug for the currency of the second stage. Those small pebbles needed to be activated, so that they were stuck together in the ideal pure money-sphere. And now the b.a.s.t.a.r.d was trying to pull a fast one on him, handing the sphere of the superior stage. Of course, it was also pricey but obviously less than a copy of the baseline and issues resulting from its loss.

Kyon looked at teacher Jean up and down with an annoyed look:

«Master Jean, it is bad to lie. This is an ordinary sphere of the superior stage.»

The man's face flushed hot with blood - either from embarra.s.sment or from rage because some wretched slave could see through his ruse. And how did that sc.u.m know what the spheres of the superior stage looked like? Maybe, he'd better threaten the boy with death? However, it was a stupid thing to do, judging by his state and recent words that he was not going to live until tomorrow.

Jean bit the bullet and took out a dull green pebble with a barely noticeable s.h.i.+mmering of trigrams inside.

«Here is the baseline of pure force... Give me the lingerie and then swallow it up! I will explain how to master it immediately after…»

Kyon cracked his other attempt to fool him, took the green pebble and threw it in the mouth without hesitation.

The master's face was distorted in the grief of loss and hatred to the rogue.

Once in the acid environment of the stomach, the cover of the baseline instantly melted, releasing a light mist of energy, which immediately rushed to the head and engraved new information there, namely, a whole bunch of incomprehensible neural connections.

Kyon immediately asked a reasonable question - what is it and how does it work - and Jean, despite his impatience, had to answer.

It turned out that the information was kept in the formation so that it could not be copied. Since the information gets imprinted in the form of neural connections in the brain, the human mind simply cannot form a thought in written or verbal form. Even if you study and master the baseline of the elements, and it's imprinted in your soul, you will still fail to express a clear thought, which leads to the impossibility of copying information. It's impossible to pa.s.s from master to student without a formation. Only those who invented the technique can create this formation because no one except them will understand all the nuances.

Jean, under the pressure of the guy's curiosity, also added that there existed one-time formations and reusable formations, and there were source codes that could be copied infinitely many times. It was the creator of technology or rank who came up with them.

Family masters and superior students have access to the copies; only some elders and patriarchs have access to the source code and even so the formation must have a kind of pa.s.sword, such valuable information must be protected from numerous thieves.

Jean continued to answer annoying questions.

«Such formations can contain family techniques, medical recipes, recipes of unique bodies, recipes of unique formations, recipes for enchanting things, the baseline (category) of elements and not only that» - Jean continued to drone on a brief overview of formation secrets. «They cannot be faked and are almost impossible to steal.»

All this is a valuable heritage of families, painstakingly collected by many generations over the long years of existence of the whole race. They gained the knowledge at times in sweat and blood - that is why such a well of information can often reach outrageous prices.

«I've answered your questions and now give me what you've promised!» - demanded Jean through his teeth.

Only, Kyon was in no hurry to meet his needs and said flatly:

«Master Jean, you tried to deceive me by handing over the sphere, not the baseline, now I want more... By the way, I almost died while carrying out your mission. One element is not enough for me. I want you to give me the baseline of all nine elements and what's more today.»

Judging by the shade of Jean's face, he'd already reached his boiling point and was now inexorably approached the mark "run for your life - it's going to blow!"

«What the h.e.l.l nine?! Are you tired of living? Do you even know how much they cost?! One element for sc.u.m like you is more…»

Kyon rose from the bench as a sign of protest, letting the master know that he couldn't care less both about his words and his own life. He had aces up his sleeve, he had to play by his rules.

The master with frightened eyes held the guy's wrist again:

«Wait! I didn't mean it! Hha!» - the man tried to play around, a prey of his own doubts: how was he going to explain himself to the elder? Copies of the baseline were given out strictly by the book; he couldn't possibly have lost one for each of the elements! Albeit the base category. But the thoughts about the lady's underwear were very mixed-up and puzzling... Like the poor cat in the adage. However, he'd always have time to take revenge on the guy for robbery, so...

Jean, reluctantly, took out eight more similar dull pebbles and nearly threw them at the guy.

Kyon, without a second thought, swallowed them up together. There was some danger of choking under the gaze of the enraged boar, who the Master was at the moment, but he was lucky.

And again in the guy's head appeared new information almost at once. Now that he received from Jean everything he could, it was time to get out of the situation. It was easy to guess that the moment he pa.s.sed Dinah's panties to him, he'd get the skull broken through. So, he had to weasel out in such a way that the master was satisfied and he himself stayed alive.

Kyon stretched himself, cracking his long-suffering bones, and rose from the bench:

«I hid them in the mansion. Take me there, please.»

Well, there was no choice. He had to, gritting his teeth, lead the a.s.shole into the house.

When the two entered the mansion, Kyon, under the Master's gaze, looked cautiously around, put his hand under the beige fluffy carpet not far from the entrance, allegedly took out something from there and put it in his pocket. He nodded shortly at Jean, s.h.i.+fting impatiently from foot to foot at the door, and stomped on the way out to the guard post.

A thought flashed through his head to venture too far demand freedom from Jean. But he really didn't want to die: the character of the cunning old fox was on full display. No man - no problem. So, he had to be content with little.

The man, looking fearfully around, caught up with the slave and hissed in his ear:

«Give it to me, now!»

A guard turned around and looked at the strange couple with suspicion.

At the moment when the Master couldn't openly act against him, Kyon slipped Dina's panties, clenched in his hand, into Jean's sleeve, and nodding goodbye quietly went to his quarters.

Jean swallowed. What is that gentle cloth in his sleeve...? However, he didn't take out his treasure and check it - he almost physically felt that there was something he didn't dare to dream about. Throwing the last angry look, promising major troubles, in the slave's back and spitting a catchy curse, he flew out of the estate like a hurricane, pressing the desired thing to his heart.

Kyon returned to his "lodging" place without any incidents and exhaled with relief. He got everything he needed but it wasn't without risk! He still needed to make it through some more days until his body was fully restored. Master Jean added to his problems, who no doubt intended to take revenge on the arrogant and successful slave, which means that he to be fully armed in their next meeting. In any case, next week or two there would be no visits of that pervert to the mansion - he was so overwhelmed with the miserable handkerchief that he could not sleep, it's terrifying to imagine what allegedly-Juno's-pants could do to him. He could die of exhaustion, which would be only for the better.