What Xavier released this time was not a gentle and harmless spiritual soothing agent.
He applied a tiny bit of “spiritual rendering,” just like hiding some addictive little auxiliary ingredients inside a sweet candy.
If the opponent were merely an ordinary human, then from the very moment of “swallowing the candy,” an invisible spiritual net would tightly entwine their thinking, inducing them to generate feelings of trust and dependence from the deepest part of their heart.
The “Eternal Night Domain” descended silently.
This was probably the smallest-range spiritual field Xavier had ever released, occupying only the corner of the corridor and barely enveloping the two of them.
However, given that there was only a human race whose spiritual power was far lower than that of magical creatures on the opposite side, Xavier deemed this more than sufficient, being stingy with consuming his remaining meager power.
His Highness the Prince was full of confidence, his thin golden pupils almost condensing into amber, quietly waiting for the opponent to bow down to him in spirit.
Yet things did not develop as expected.
Kane suddenly laughed.
White, forest-like canine teeth were revealed beneath his thin lips, matching the murderous aura born from combat in his eyes, making the entire person look like a beast that had been starved for a long time and was eagerly awaiting a hunt.
Kane did indeed perceive the familiar spiritual fluctuation; the alluring aura made him unable to help his mind swaying for a fleeting moment, but he similarly could not ignore the spiritual intrusion beneath this sweet packaging.
A 3S-class spiritual field similarly unfolded, black vine-like spiritual tentacles extending overwhelmingly and arrogantly.
They could not see each other’s spiritual power, yet they brandished claws and brandished teeth in an invisible confrontation.
The moment Xavier realized his miscalculation, in the dimensional realm of the spirit, the black vines accustomed to arbitrary plunder had already taken the upper hand, tightly entangling Xavier’s spiritual tentacles.
“So it’s an intelligent body equipped with a spiritual power simulation system.” Kane understood, and then chuckled lightly, “But trying to launch a sneak attack in front of me is somewhat too arrogant and ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth.”
He picked Xavier up, “Little fellow, what’s your name again?”
His spiritual tentacles were twisted into an airtight mess, and His Highness the Prince never expected that interstellar humans had evolved to this level.
It was no wonder the mental sea of the person in front of him was in such disarray, yet his actions remained as if nothing was the matter.
He expressionlessly broke free from Kane’s fingers, kicked the remaining three slightly curled fingers of the other party flat, and stood up on the palm adjusted to be parallel to the ground.
“Raise it.”
Kane raised an eyebrow, lifted his palm upward until his line of sight was level with him, and only then obtained Xavier’s satisfied nod.
His Highness the Prince straightened his robe, brushed away the non-existent dust upon it, and slightly lifted his chin.
“I am Xavier Vantrue, the Third-Generation Blood Prince, the great descendant of Cain, the Lord of Florence, the Dark Monarch holding the scepter of the Eternal Night.”
Oh, the Blood Tribe?
Kane had heard a thing or two; these were dark magical creatures bordering on legend, immortal beings whose appearances were rumored to be bewitching and who excelled in spiritual power, with universally formidable strength.
Over the years, during the explicit and implicit clashes between the Blood Blade and the Holy See, he had bumped into the Holy See’s “Hunters” being dispatched to hunt down magical creatures a few times, but he had never witnessed a true Blood Tribe member.
However, it was said that auctions had once featured Blood Tribe members whose strength had greatly receded, frantically fought over by a bunch of self-righteous “upper-class people” as a symbol of power.
He hadn’t expected an intelligent body to be assigned such a setting.
“Kane Valentian.” The tall man answered Xavier’s question, and revealed a smile that could be described as peculiar, “Not any sort of leader, just a star pirate boss.”
“Little fellow, going to such lengths to approach me, what do you want to get from me?”
Coming to the main point.
Xavier straightened his expression, revealing a socially meaningful smile.
“You should address me as Your Highness.”
“What I want is merely a fair trade. Excellency, I helped you calm two spiritual riots, and correspondingly, you also need to promise me two requests.”
Kane stared with interest at the little fellow in his palm who was full of aristocratic airs. He usually detested the faces of “upper-class people,” but this demeanor appearing on this intelligent body unexpectedly made him find it somewhat amusing, so he deliberately teased him.
“If I remember correctly, both spiritual soothing sessions were unilaterally initiated by you. Forced buying and selling can hardly be called a fair trade.”
Xavier was slightly surprised, his thin golden pupils widening slightly, “You’re a star pirate, and you still care about this?”
Kane once more bared his white, forest-like canine teeth, using a hypocritical smile to try to scare Xavier, “You’ve got it backward; only bandits can force buys and sells on others. If you want to rob the robbers, see if your fists are hard enough first.”
“…”
Xavier, who had just been mentally suppressed, fell into a brief silence.
This Highness the Prince came from a noble background and was long accustomed to accepting unilateral tribute from a host of subordinates, blood relatives, and blood servants. After sleeping for three thousand years, he had finally encountered the first person to discuss the cruel realities of social interpersonal relationships with him.
A cold person.
Xavier spent five seconds sorting out this logic and decided to take a step back. “You might as well listen to my requests first.”
Kane raised an eyebrow, “Speak.”
“First, bring this Prince two sets of well-fitting clothes.”
Kane: “…”
Just this?
He wanted to say something, but was forcefully interrupted by Xavier.
“They must have soft satin surfaces and silk linings. They must be form-fitting and smooth, dust-free, and without half a trace of cheap wrinkles. The colors must not be mixed, no embroidery is allowed, and if there are embroidered dark patterns, the pattern must be consistent with the one on this Prince’s body.”
“There are no…”
Kane’s words were interrupted again as Xavier continued to make demands.
“Before presenting them, these clothes need to be laundered at least three times, and then scented with rose essential oil… Why do you have that expression?”
Xavier finally stopped talking. Looking at Kane’s somewhat darkened expression, he was also dissatisfied; in the past, when did these trivial matters ever require him to personally inquire?
His Highness the Prince frowned, “Did you understand?”
Too arrogant, truly.
Kane felt his patience had been exhausted.
He used his universal terminal to call Gu Shen’s communication. The other party was still full of confusion when answering the strange call, but upon seeing Kane’s face, he subconsciously shivered and quickly adjusted his expression.
“Boss!”
“Make a set of clothes for that intelligent body and send them to the Tenth District.”
Xavier emphasized from the side, “Excellency Bandit, you should address me as Your Highness.”
“Make clothes? Me?” Gu Shen was baffled, “Boss, I don’t know how to make clothes. All our combat uniforms are uniformly customized on GX-3, and I’m only responsible for the equipment mounted on them.”
“No wait… make clothes for who???”
Gu Shen instantly birthed a bad premonition; he abruptly turned his head, and the place where the small intelligent body had originally been placed was already empty.
Kane stared at Xavier on the side who was still persistent about the form of address, and listed out a slew of titles just heard like counting treasures.
“Xavier Vantrue, esteemed Royal Highness, powerful Dark Lord, forgot? That’s the intelligent body you picked up.”
He flashed a cold, fake smile.
“Don’t make me repeat it a third time. I need his clothes, now, immediately, right away, okay?”
The communication went pfft and hung up.
Gu Shen leaped up from his chair abruptly.
“What the heck! Grisha, save me!”
Kane, who had cut off the communication, asked, “Satisfied?”
Xavier shrugged slightly, “If it’s executed by him, it’s hard to say. Besides, you should pay attention to social etiquette; calling me ‘little fellow’ is truly rude, Excellency Bandit.”
The veins on Kane’s temple twitched slightly, and he still couldn’t hold back, “Is calling someone else a bandit very polite of you?”
“No offense intended, it was after all the self-introduction coming from Your Excellency.”
Kane: …
The man pressed his temples, deciding not to argue much with this sharp-tongued little thing, and brought Xavier into his rest room in the Tenth District.
To call it a rest room, it looked more like a professional training room. There were basically no resting supplies inside, only various training equipment and the metal-like skeletons Xavier had seen before, though with broader coverage than the style Gu Shen had worn, obviously being combat machinery.
Xavier leaped down from Kane’s hand, observed his surroundings, and his impression of Kane’s strength-supreme ethos deepened a bit further.
Gu Shen came over very quickly, and wasn’t alone either, dragging Grisha along to boost his courage.
And the little clothes did indeed exist.
Kane stared at the small, exquisite outfit in Gu Shen’s hand, momentarily feeling as though his mental sea disorder was acting up again.
Headache; he didn’t know whether to praise the other party for being able to accomplish everything, or to blame himself for being able to agree to any demand.
He was silent for a moment, and ultimately raised his chin, signaling Gu Shen to take it to Xavier.
Xavier was also somewhat surprised. He had only raised a harmless request to test Kane’s bottom line, not expecting this star pirate warship to genuinely have clothes fitting his current physique.
And the sent garments happened by a fluke to be made of soft satin material, which was barely acceptable.
After all, no matter how comfortable the robe on his body was, it was still just a sleeping robe. Wearing it to meet outsiders was, to the Prince, still a breach of etiquette.
Xavier stood on the table intending to change, but found three pairs of eyes staring straight at him.
Their expressions varied, but couldn’t cover up the shared curiosity.
He tightened his face and commanded, “Turn around.”
Seeing his uncomfortable appearance, Kane felt his mood smooth out a bit. He turned around first, and Grisha and Gu Shen also turned around one after another.
The design of the small clothes brought by Gu Shen wasn’t complicated, and Xavier changed himself quite quickly.
Kane only heard rustling sounds until Xavier said “Alright,” at which point he turned back.
What Xavier newly changed into was a set of champagne-gold garments, the upper body being a V-neck, with narrowed cuffs, the fabric naturally gathering from the wrists like the curve of a flower bud before closing. The trousers came with their own drape, and a white lace waist-seal narrowed the waistline to appear even slenderer.
The satin material was silky, soft, and form-fitting, and its inherent luster reminded Kane of the shimmering lake surface on GX-3 all year round.
Kane’s gray-blue eyes did not move, staring fixedly for quite a while, before suddenly asking, “Where’d the clothes come from?”
Gu Shen was currently helping Xavier replace the original translator with an even more miniature model, which could just happen to be embedded in the necklace so it didn’t look too cumbersome. Hearing this, his eyes darted over toward Grisha.
The latter gave a light cough, and an unnatural flush bloomed on her bronze cheeks.
“Boss, I prepared them.”
The fierce warrior Grisha, who usually used hulking men as sandbags in the beast arena, had a secret minor hobby of dressing up pretty dolls.
Kane: …
Xavier didn’t care about the undercurrents among the others. Having changed into new clothes, especially having acquired a well-fitting pair of trousers, he felt particularly satisfied internally, which even reduced his prejudice against Gu Shen somewhat.
“The sleeping robe, collect it for me.”
Whether aimed at anyone in particular, the Prince issued his command anyway.
Gu Shen looked left, then looked right, feeling that there was probably only one grievance-harboring drudge left in this room. Just as he resignedly prepared to step forward, his peripheral vision caught a flash of a figure on the side.
Unexpectedly, Grisha took the initiative to step forward and helped Xavier pack up the robe.
Kane lifted his eyelids, just in time to see Grisha’s uncomplaining, dutiful appearance.
Grisha was a tall, strong warrior, and this little thing who spoke full of aristocratic airs and looked like a pretty doll wasn’t even as big as her fist, let alone that thin silk sleeping robe.
Yet right now, his most capable and taciturn subordinate—a warrior who could punch an imperial mecha soldier ten meters underground—was curving her fingers in a bizarre posture, carefully folding a piece of small clothing.
And that little thing who had popped up from goodness knows where, claiming to be a Blood Prince, lifted his chin and naturally enjoyed Grisha’s service, as though this were also some sort of bestowal.
Just who had designed this emotional template for this little thing, and why go to such lengths to send him to his side?
A novel, unregistered intelligent body appeared on a long-uninhabited desolate planet; the particle cannon he blasted off-course coincidentally landed on that desolate planet; the person sent to inspect happened to be Gu Shen, who was engrossed in his research; and Gu Shen happened to be an indispensable technical personnel of the Blood Blade, as well as one of his own most trusted subordinates.
These interlocked coincidences made Xavier’s entry into the Blood Blade an inevitable outcome.
Kane dismissed the two of them.
He steadied the emotions surging within his heart and asked as calmly as possible, “What on earth do you want?”
“I said it from the very beginning, I want to requisition your warship.”
Xavier stood on the table; this time in the conversation he did not demand Kane to lift him up again, but rather Kane took the initiative to lean down.
His gaze locked onto Xavier.
He found that facing Xavier’s mouth, remaining calm and collected was truly difficult.
——Silent flames burned upon that gray-blue sea, the impatience of an ambitious creature whose territory was coveted.
He coldly warned, “Do not attempt to provoke me.”
“Be patient, Excellency Bandit. Please do not doubt my motive; I have long since offered the greatest sincerity.”
Xavier curved his lips into a smile close to sincerity, except that milk-white fangs faintly showed between his lips, carrying some untamable malice.
“You are clearly enjoying that feeling.”
Kane pressed both hands on the console, the shadow cast by his tall figure completely enveloping Xavier.
In his eyes, nothing could escape.
Xavier’s crafty expression, along with the moving words spit out by the constantly parting crimson lips, were shaking him.
“How about making a deal with this Prince? Use your Blood Blade—the undisputed king of this sea of stars—to give me a ride, and I’ll decide the destination. As a reward, you will obtain sweet peace until the moment I leave.”
“How about it, quite a bargain, right?”
Xavier dropped the bait, waiting with interest for the prey to take the hook.
Silent, profound stillness flowed between the two.
Until a prompt sounded in the rest room.
[Entered Milky Way Warp Point One.
[Warp preparation in progress, countdown—
[Ten, nine, eight…]
Amidst the cold, inorganic countdown electronic voice, Kane abruptly grabbed Xavier, disregarding his struggle, and instead casually used his thumb to rub and knead the slender waist beneath the other’s lace waist-seal.
Only when he saw the pretty light-golden pupils of this “Royal Prince” forced into scarlet vertical lines by annoyance did Kane’s long-sunk expression finally thaw.
“Deal.”
The countdown hit zero.
Xavier only felt as though he had been violently yanked, a ridiculous sense of dislocation between soul and flesh; he fell into a brief state of blurred five senses, a roaring ringing in his head.
Amidst this unfamiliar sensation, the only thing clearly audible was Kane’s hearty laugh.
“Little fellow, welcome to the world of bandits!”