Born in Blood-Chapter 566: Catching Up

Before Liam was to enter the Tomb of Naxathra, he didn’t think it was wise before a small checkup with the people at the Temple.

It had been years. Jargon, Kerian, Ryu, Jax, Jane, Orisa, all those guys must have been quite busy.

To this day, they were holding strictly to Liam’s orders not to contact him. Since he wasn’t sure Jades would work within the Tomb, he decided to ring them up before arriving at the ruin site.

"Sire?" A woman’s voice rang out, her tone laced with shock.

"It’s me. How have things been?" Liam asked in an almost monotone voice.

It had almost been six years... and it sounded like Liam had seen them yesterday.

"Where do I start exactly? Well... the Temple’s expansion has extended throughout ⅔ of Ilali."

Her tone was proud when she said that.

"We’re close to conquering the remaining third."

"Verium’s close to the fifth Rank. He’s unrecognizable now, by the way. No longer old."

"Jax has renewed and enhanced the Shadow Arts quite a bit."

"Jane concocted a new potion that could enlarge and even shrink a cultivator’s body temporarily. Ryu and her are having quite some fun with that."

"Valerie completed the overhaul of that technique you gave her. In fact, Jax has integrated it into the Shadow Arts. Needless to say, we’re a force to be reckoned with, now."

A short pause.

That was good to hear.

"I’m impressed. I left the Temple in capable hands."

"Your compliment is most appreciated, sire. That’s pretty much all. Besides our numbers, wealth and power steadily growing, not much else is of note."

"What about the Echorians and the Vampires? They haven’t done anything, still?"

"Nope," Kerian affirmed. "Not yet."

"Strange. Keep an eye out."

"Hand of Light is growing his Republic, though," Kerian added. "I heard he’s already got several Rank 5 cultivators to join him."

"I see."

It was not as though the world would pause whenever Liam was inactive. There were definitely things happening, only the Temple was not on a high enough level to know about it.

She paused.

"Oh, and um... I’m getting married... to Jargon, by the way. We’ve always wanted to call you, but... you gave us a strict command not to."

Well would you look at that? Two of Liam’s most loyal vassals, and they tied the knot.

"Nah, you’re alright. Congratulations."

"Hehe." She sounded happy. "Thank you, sire. He’ll kill me if I don’t call him when you’re here, though. So will Valerie. Can I?"

"No. Keep this call a secret, if you must. I don’t have much time, anyway."

"Very well, sire."

The NOCL HQ building was in view now.

"Alright. I’m gonna go now. Keep it up."

"Stay safe, please."

***

Liam had arrived at the underground chasm. Four were present. Rebel, Giddy and Sharpie. And of course, Bill.

All of them had broad smiles on their faces.

They’d been waiting impatiently for this moment.

And now, it was finally here.

A researcher’s dream.

A CEO’s ticket to dominance.

A psychopath’s path to desecrating a dead man’s tomb.

...Wait, that last part sounded really bad.

"I hope you don’t mind if we do this the normal way?" Bill said apologetically. "Through a Binding Oath and all. It’s really the simplest and most straightforward method."

Of course, there had to be terms and conditions before the exploration began. To prevent any arguments or bad blood after whatever treasures were obtained.

"I don’t mind," Liam said.

Bill nodded, taking out a thin piece of paper with blocks of writing on its surface. On the bottom, there was a small line where one would presumably put their signature.

Talk about acting the part. Binding Oath’s came in various forms, and this was the most fitting for someone like Bill.

Liam went over the terms... and to his genuine surprise, they were decent.

It was a split between 25 to 75.

It sounded bad... but it really wasn’t.

For starters, there were perks that Liam had, since he was the one exploring the Tomb – he could choose which artifact or item he wanted to keep before Bill and his company could.

That meant that, even though Liam had to give away the majority of items, artifacts or whatever else he may find in there, he could grab whatever he deemed most valuable.

And that was huge. Quite frankly, he even thought of it as an oversight of Bill’s thinking.

But he reconsidered.

What could be valuable to Liam, could have no value at all to Bill.

So in a strange way, the deal worked.

Well, considering that the only reason they were able to explore this place was because of Bill McGill, it made sense that they would get the higher percentage. Liam expected that much.

Besides this, whatever Liam would document and research, he would be able to retain and keep. If it was particularly valuable knowledge, Bill would even pay extra for it.

This meant that whatever was earned through Liam’s hands, either through a fight or otherwise, he was privy not to share.

But whatever he found already stored in the Tomb, he must share.

And that sounded perfect to him.

"I hope the terms are agreeable," said Bill. "I worked hard to make something we can both find common ground on."

Liam nodded. "Looks good."

A moment later, Liam signed it.

The vow’s contraption was set.

Bill smiled, happy. "Before you enter, I thought I’d give you a bag of goodies that you can use. Just in case you ever get stuck in a sticky situation."

Bill took out a series of inscribed items and handed them to Liam to examine and check out.

The first was a thin wristband.

The second was a leather glove.

The third was a glass monocle.

The fourth was a bouncy ball the size of a fist.

The fifth was a cluster of marbles.

And the sixth was a packet full of white powder inside.

Liam gave the items a scrutinizing look.

He looked at Bill.

"Yeah... I’m going to need an explanation."