"My bad! My bad!"
Ethan waved his hand, "Not working for me. Helping me! As long as you agree to help me for one year, I'll agree to set you free. How about it?"
"What's the difference between helping you and working for you? You're just putting it nicely!"
The mist on Genie Sylas's face shifted again and again.
Ethan continued, "You can refuse. Worst case, I'll just spend some time slowly coaxing everything out of that storage gem of yours."
"But you'll have to keep waiting here for wishes that will never be fulfilled. That means you'll never be able to leave this place."
"I just want to ask you, are you willing to accept that?"
[System Prompt: Free Loader passive skill activated!]
[Target Trust +100%]
Hearing the system notification, Ethan knew he was on the right track.
'The skill finally triggered!'
He had been waiting for this passive skill to activate. Compared to getting materials and stuff, if he could trick a grand Archmage into helping him, even if it was just guarding a door, or helping train his subordinates, raising one or two proper mages, that would be the biggest gain from this treasure land.
"I'm not willing, but I'm not willing to work for someone either!", Sylas emphasized, "Even if it's boring here, I am a grand Archmage. How could I lower myself to serve under someone else and become someone's…"
"One year!"
Ethan raised one finger and directly cut him off, "Archmage Sylas, as long as you help me for one year, I'll return your freedom. How about it?"
"Just one year?"
Sylas instantly fell into the classic trap of saying one thing and meaning another.
Ethan immediately pressed while the iron was hot, "Yes! If you don't believe me, I can make the wish right now. How about it?"
"Fine. Make the wish now. I'll just treat this year as teaching an unworthy disciple," Sylas still wore a stern expression, but the joy in his eyes was impossible to hide, "Make your wish!"
"My next wish is this. As long as Archmage Sylas sincerely helps me for one year, he will gain true freedom and return to his original form."
Ethan didn't hesitate and made the wish directly.
The moment the wish was spoken, a beam of holy light fell onto the golden teapot, cutting off the connection between the pot and the mist.
In the next second, Genie Sylas flew out of it.
His originally long, tapering lower body instantly transformed into a pair of legs made of mist. Sylas landed on both feet and started jumping around on the ground, "Hahaha!"
"Hahaha! I finally got out of that broken teapot!"
"I'm finally out! I can finally leave this damned place! I can finally go out!"
"I'm going to show off in front of that big dumb stone guy. Since you made it in, that means his problem didn't stump you, so he has to keep guarding the gate!"
"And I'm leaving, hahaha!"
ヽ( ຶ▮ ຶ)ﾉ!
Seeing Sylas this happy, Ethan didn't have the heart to tell him.
'Actually, I've already reserved that big gatekeeping idiot too.'
After all, this lousy place had no resources left.
The painting monster had been forced to kill itself.
The fart bees had become subjects of the queen bee and had already been booked by him.
As for the next level, those two Shadow Guards inside hadn't been taken yet. Thinking of that, Ethan quickly asked, "Archmage Sylas, with your current ability, can you beat those two Shadow Guards?"
"Those two sneaky little things, how could they possibly compare to a grand Archmage like—"
Sylas stopped mid sentence and turned to look at Ethan, "Wait, you brat, you're fishing for my words again!"
"What do you want? Just say it straight. If you keep going in circles, don't blame me for going temporarily deaf."
Ethan scratched his head awkwardly, "Heh! As expected of Archmage Sylas. You saw through my little scheme so quickly."
"It's like this…"
"I want to take those two with me as well. I wonder if Archmage Sylas has any way?"
"Hmph! You asked the right person," Sylas said proudly, "Simple. Just take me there. I'll make those two little fellows obediently listen to me."
"Really? That's great!"
Ethan had been eyeing those two Shadow Guards for a long time.
'Come on! Those two practically have no physical bodies. They are almost immortal.'
And they could attack using shadows. That's basically an invisible assassin, okay? Even in a world like One Piece full of all kinds of abilities, shadow powers could qualify someone as one of the Seven Warlords.
How could Ethan not be tempted?
"I'll take you there right now."
After saying that, Ethan immediately stepped forward and picked up the Genie's golden teapot, "Let's go, Archmage Sylas."
"Mm!"
Holding the golden teapot, Ethan casually leapt over one trap after another and returned to the doorway.
Daji had already turned back into her little kitten form. The moment she saw Ethan, she walked up and rubbed her head against his hand, asking for pets.
Sylas, however, turned around to look at the dense traps and said, "Something's not right here."
"Kid, tell me honestly. Do you have some kind of X ray vision or something? Otherwise how did you avoid every single trap without triggering one and return here safely?"
"I do have some special ability that lets me sense danger in advance."
Ethan gave a brief explanation.
He didn't want all his secrets exposed in front of Sylas. You can never be too careful, especially since Sylas had been tricked into helping him.
Who knew whether he'd hold a grudge later?
"Sensing danger in advance? That's actually a pretty good ability."
Sylas still looked puzzled, "Then why did you get caught by the trap closest to me? That trap was obvious and extremely dangerous. That doesn't seem reasonable."
["Even people trip, even horses stumble. What's so strange about that?"]
The Scarecrow was startled and quickly explained from the side.
Sylas shot him a glance, "You thing that isn't even human, was I talking to you?"
["How can you say that!"]
The Scarecrow's eyes instantly filled with sorrowful tears, ["It's already miserable enough that I've become like this, and you still say such cold things!"]
["And you're not human either. Did I attack you?"]
["Since none of us are human, why can't we just get along peacefully?"]
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