System's POV

415  There Is No Free Lunch In This World [Part 2]

"So, what do you want from me?" Douglas asked. "An arm and a leg," Thirteen replied. "Can you give that to me?"

"Are you talking about my arm and leg?" Douglas arched an eyebrow.

"Of course not," Thirteen replied. "I want the Arm and Leg of the Black Dragon of Destruction—the one you guys killed three hundred years ago. Give that to me, and I'll even throw in the blueprint of Mephisto as a freebie."

When Douglas and Wendell heard Thirteen's words, their gazes became solemn.

When the Black Dragon of Destruction was defeated, the Five Monarchs split its body evenly.

Aaron Ashford took the Dragon Wings for himself. Trevor Remington got its head and tail.

Douglas Griffin and Wendell Elrod each got an arm and leg.

While Norman Stallard received its body.

As for Lawrence? He got its Core. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The Black Dragon was a Rank 9 Sovereign, but it wasn't an ordinary Rank 9 Sovereign.

No. It was a Pseudo-Prince, and the Monarch Clans had done everything in their power to research many ways how to properly use the Dragon Parts in their possession.

Their blacksmiths had managed to create Peak Gold-Grade Equipment with the monster parts that they received.

However, since the Black Dragon was over a hundred meters tall, the materials they had left were still aplenty, allowing the Monarch Clans to completely arm their Elite Forces with Gold-Grade Equipment.

"You can't have both," Douglas said after careful consideration. "Choose one. An arm or a leg—I will only give one to you."

Thirteen chuckled internally. This was part of his plan. He deliberately said that he wanted two Dragon Parts, knowing that Douglas would try to bargain and reduce its number to one.

"Fine," Thirteen replied. "Give me the arm or what remains of it. I'm sure you already used the scales, and maybe two or three claws from it. So, I'll be nice and just take what's left."

Douglas breathed in relief internally because they had indeed almost used the entire arm for their equipment.

Only the leg part was untouched, so he was more than happy to give the teenage boy what was left of the Arm of Destruction, which belonged to the Dragon that Thirteen's former host sacrificed his life to kill.

For Thirteen, getting a piece of that Dragon held a sentimental value worth more than its true value.

Right now, no one in Pangea could craft armor above the Gold Grade.

This was why the Monarchs, who possessed one Mythical Armament each, were considered as the strongest fighting force of humanity.

However, only Lawrence was aware that aside from them, there was one more person who wielded not only one, but three Mythical Armaments, and that was none other than Arthur Leventis.

08:47

If he were to know that Lady Callista was also in possession of two Mythical Short Swords, the Grand Marshal of the Central Government would definitely become more chummy with Arthur and might even call him his future in-law.

After reaching an agreement, Thirteen asked for his Grandfather to go to the Dvalinn Tower to finalize the deal for the split in resources.

To Wendell's and Douglas' surprise, the most stubborn Throne in Pangea didn't bat an eye and readily agreed to the condition after hearing it for the first time.

Arthur wasn't worried about selling the fifteen percent of the Leventis Family resources at a discounted price.

Thirteen had already talked to him beforehand that there was a high chance that Douglas would try to negotiate with them to gain more resources.

Arthur wanted to object at first, but when the teenage boy told him that he would exchange it for the body part of the Black Dragon of Destruction to create a Mythical Weapon, the Patriarch of the Leventis Family immediately changed his mind.

Since he knew that his no-good grandson could gather resources without alerting the Alliance, they would still get more than what they currently needed.

"I'll have the Arm personally delivered to you after a week," Douglas promised. "Are you fine with that?"

"Okay." Arthur nodded. After shaking hands with each other, Thirteen left with his Grandpa and left the two Monarchs to discuss other means of cooperation between them.

"How many can he make with the arm?" Arthur asked. "It's too early to tell," Thirteen replied. "It really depends on what is left of the arm. Bones is fine, scales is good too, but we need the claws the most."

Arthur no longer said anything because this was not the place to talk about such an important matter.

"I know you don't want to give me Nautilus, but can you give me something else?" Arthur asked. "You already shared Mephisto with Douglas and the Alliance. We need to create more advanced weapons to be competitive."

Thirteen smiled faintly before nodding his head. "Very well. Let's talk in my room."

Seeing that his grandson didn't reject his proposal, Arthur's mood became better.

Once they were away from the prying eyes, and ears of the people around them, the two started to negotiate with each other.

"So you want something that is a scaled-down version of Nautilus?" Thirteen inquired. "Yes," Arthur replied. "Something with advanced stealth capabilities that cannot be detected by radar."

"How many do you plan to build?" Thirteen asked. "As many as possible," Arthur answered.

"You're going to go bankrupt, Gramps."

"How can I possibly go bankrupt with you around? Just give me what I need."

Thirteen shook his head before taking out something from his Dimensional Storage.

Arthur had been pestering him for the past few days about Nautilus, so he decided to make a down-sized version of one of his Trump Cards.

"Here you go, Gramps," Thirteen replied. "Have fun with Project Nemo."

"This is…" Arthur's eyes widened in shock after seeing the submarine that Thirteen had named Nemo. "Gramps, make sure to let different engineers work on a different part like what I did with Nautilus," Thirteen said solemnly. "Although this Submarine only has a quarter of Nautilus' Firepower, it is still quite powerful, especially if you plan to create more than one of them."

Arthur almost choked when the teenage boy said that Nemo only had a quarter of Nautilus' firepower.

The blueprint in his hands was already extremely powerful, which he believed could potentially take out a Rank 8 Sovereign on its own.

If Nautilus really was four times more powerful than Nemo, then what kind of existence could the former destroy once it was properly calibrated to perfection?

"Zion, you said that this voyage of the Nautilus here in the Rigel Continent is just a test run so you can do some modifications to it, right?" Arthur asked.

"Right." Thirteen nodded.

"Then, what is Nautilus doing right now?" Arthur inquired.

Since the war started, he hadn't seen any support fire coming from Nautilus, which puzzled him greatly.

"Ah, that?" Thirteen smirked. "Let's just say that it is busy keeping three Earth Dragons busy."

Arthur hissed as he sucked in a cold breath because things were finally falling into place.

Ever since they had captured the North, the Alliance had been worried that the Earth Dragons might make a move to attack them. However, they hadn't seen any signs of that happening and wondered if they were just regrouping for a massive counterattack.

"You mean to say that Nautilus is dealing with the Earth Dragons?" Arthur asked in disbelief. "On its own?"

Thirteen smiled mischievously before placing his finger over his lips. "Don't tell anyone, okay?"

Arthur looked at his no-good grandson before shifting his gaze on the blueprint in his hands.

'This boy really is born from my genes,' Arthur thought. 'He is as smart as me when I was his age.'

At that moment, Arthur finally made a decision.

He would make sure to reinstate Gerald as a member of the Leventis Family because he didn't want Zion to go anywhere.

Little did he know that Gerald's family had no interest in returning to the Leventis Family.

After all, by the time Thirteen was finished with his plans, he was certain that the Main Branch of the Leventis Family would be none other than them.

In fact, he was already waiting with anticipation on how Arthur would react when he realized that his family had become the Branch Family right under his nose.