"This deal sounds to be too good to be true, don't you think?"

With how this man managed to see through not only all my plans and needs but also all my deepest secrets, I didn't dare to doubt that he perfectly knew how much did I value the opportunity to use those vials. And if that was the case, I was pretty sure that he was just running his mouth, offering whatever I would be eager to take to get back this treasure of his!

"Well, I'm not going to lie. The method to obtain this liquid is not as easy as you might want. I figured that after meeting with the divine goose mate, you can at least formulate the guess how strong those divine beasts are, am I right?"

Once again picking up the cup with his tea, the elder smiled at me, perfectly conscious of the fact that he didn't really need any confirmation on this topic from me. Thinking about this, I couldn't help but get curious, just how the heck did he know all of that?!

"Yeah, I'm no match for them, but only for now. Or rather, if I were to throw everything I have on one of them, I might just be able to subjugate one at a time, but that would require me to not only prepare a lot in advance but would most likely force me to go into seclusion to recuperate the wounds I would sustain."

In the end, there was no point denying this fact. While the elder in front of me didn't really pose any threat to me, the same couldn't be said about those divine beasts. Unless this mate was apparently stronger than the divine goose herself, then fighting with a divine beast would be just at the edge of what I'm currently capable of.

"Then the deal that I offered you is by no means as good as you would like it to be. In short words, outside of the few devices that I can give you how to fight with those beasts, I can explain where you should go and what you should achieve in order to even find them. After all, I don't think I need to mention how those beasts are not native to this island!"

For some reason, while this elder was speaking about those divine beasts, I could see how his smile wavered for a slight moment as if just speaking about them made him recall some kind of painful memory.

"Okay then. I will leave those vials on the pile where all the stuff that I found it, with the exception of the single one…"

"In which you already eradicated the infant soul. Considering how that poor lass went against you over and over again, I can't say anything about it. So, can we consider it a deal?"

Placing the cup that so far occupied his hand, the elder stood up and extended his hand over the table to me. As I already considered my options, there was no point in hesitating. Taking over the man's wrinkled hand, I shook it energetically as per Earthy custom.

With his smile turning even more vibrant, the old man retracted his hand and sat back on his chair, prompting me to do the same.

"So, let's start with the most important thing. For now, you are far too weak to challenge any of the divine beasts. While what you saw in this place allowed you to make this ill guess that you could face against the real ones, you simply didn't realise that those beasts that live in the human's custody tend to lose their power with time. That's why it took the true dragon from the ancient time to force them into servitude in the first place!"

Due to how the atmosphere finally settled on the elder teaching me and me patiently listening to the lesson, the old man started gesticulating lively, as if he could return to his old job of an elder of the sect. With his hands passing down the emotions that he felt as he energetically moved them around, I could feel how important that news was to him, even if he only spoke about them for the sake of painting the background picture for the answer to my question.

"If you want to have any chance while fighting with the real deal… You will have to get stronger. And stop, I know what you are going to say right now!"

Pushing both of his hands forward as if he wanted to stop me from moving closer to strangle him. In fact, it took my utmost focus to hold myself back from breaking one or two bones of this damned guy!

"Considering how you suddenly entered a period of celibacy despite several occasions to go at it, I assume that there is something stopping you from growing stronger in this way. If that's the case, then I won't bore you with the offer of hunting down the local wild beasts. We both know it wouldn't amount to much at this point."

Once again, I was forced to hear how this man uncovered one of the details about my current situation as if it wasn't a secret to him at all. But with how I already agreed to his terms, there wasn't really that much that I could do.

"That's why, I think the only way for you to get stronger, is to travel to the mainland. While I won't recommend you staying there for long, as it's against the path of the immortals to do so, I think you could still find quite a few useful herbs and treasures that would allow you to raise this inner strength of yours!"

Hearing those words, I initially only nodded my head without that much thought, only to realise what I missed a moment later.

"Wait, the path of the immortals? What do you mean by that?"

Who could expect, that during such an unorthodox conversation, I would find out such a potentially usefully piece of information!