Ning looked at her with an awkward face and said, "I would rather not reveal that piece of information."
"Eh?" Merasi said with a bit of confusion, while Waxil looked at Ning like he had lost his mind. He couldn't understand why Ning would ever refuse to answer a question of a Supreme.
Ning stood his ground. "As I said, I did it all because of what the apostle did with spreading knowledge about the scrolls regardless of who it helps and who it hurts."
"I don't want to do that. I will first make sure that it only helps and then start spreading it. Even then, I won't tell anyone about the mineral itself," Ning said.
Merasi looked stunned. Her face frowned as she said, "But I came all the way from the headquarters for just this."
"No," Ning said. "You came here to confirm whether this exists or not right? Well, there you go. It's real."
Merasi wasn't convinced. She wasn't about to leave the Freelands without more knowledge on how to create Aether. This would be a large help to the headquarters to remain above everyone else.
Now that the Apostle had spread absorption techniques that were better than the tower's, there was a chance of someone strong coming up to create an Aether organization of their own that would far surpass the tower.
She couldn't let that happen. She had a duty to not let that happen.
She thought for a second and said, "Is there any way you can tell me about the mineral? I can't leave without learning about it."
Ning shook his head. He was adamant about not letting anyone know.
"How about a bet?" Merasi said after thinking for a while. "If I win, you tell me what the mineral is."
Ning's eyes narrowed. "What are we betting on?" he asked.
"Whatever you want," Merasi said. She was desperate.
"Ok, what's in it for me then?" Ning asked.
"What do you want?" Merasi asked him. She didn't really care as she was looking to win whatever they would do.
"Hmm, how about… you get me admitted into the Headquarters?" he asked.
"You want to be part of the battle force?" Merasi asked with a surprised look. "You can be part of it if you just tell me the mineral, you know?"
Ning smiled. "I want to join it without revealing the mineral."
Merasi thought for a while and saw nothing wrong with this request. "Very well, I will accept it," she said. "So, what do you choose we do for the bet?"
Merasi expected him to choose something that would clearly be in Ning's favor. However, when he said what they were going to do, she looked surprised, even shocked.
"Fight? You want to fight me?" she asked. 'Is this guy mad? Does he not realize the difference between Aether King and Aether Supreme?' she wondered.
She loved fighting and would fight anyone that she met, but this was too serious of a situation for her to care about that.
"Don't you like fighting?" Ning asked.
Merasi listened to his words, searching for some hidden meanings behind it, but she couldn't find any.
"You do know you can't win against me if we fight right?" she asked.
"Yes, but that's only true if you were to use Aether," Ning said. "We will be fighting without using Aether. You have quite the body that would make anyone feel inferior, but is it even of any use?"
She could see him try to get on her nerves, but that didn't mean it wasn't working.
Anger flared on her face and a smirk appeared on it. "You want to fight? Very well," she said.
Ning smiled. He was finally going to go to the headquarters, making part of his plan move forward.
Merasi stood up and walked. "Come," she told Ning who followed her outside.
Once again, she became the focus of everyone's gaze, but she ignored them and focused only on Ning who came up to her.
"Are you sure you want to fight me?" she asked once more. She couldn't understand how Ning could ever hope to defeat her, especially if she wasn't using Aether.
Waxil cleared up the area, pushing back to the crowd to give the two fighters space.
"What counts as a win?" Merasi asked.
"As long as one of us surrenders or falls unconscious, the other one wins," Ning said.
"Okay," Merasi said. "What about weapons?"
"As you wish," Ning said as he brought out a wooden staff with no design or texture on it.
It was a simple staff about 2 meters long and 5 centimeters wide. He wanted to bring out a spear, but… he decided not to. A staff would suffice.
Merasi saw the staff and put her hands forth. Around her fists, two pieces of metal appeared that slowly changed their shape to become a metal gauntlet that snugly fit into her hands.
Then, she metallic chain mail appeared around her, as well as a helmet. Aside from some joints here and there, she had covered all of her body parts in some sort of armor.
Ning hadn't expected this.
'A dual awakener,' he thought. He hadn't expected her to be one of the rare Dual Awakeners in this world. The fact that she made it to Aether Supreme as a Dual Awakener meant that the tower must have put a lot of resources into getting her there.
He had thought she would have just fallen fall for his bait and fought him recklessly to give him the opportunity to become a part of the Tower's Battle Force, but it looked like he had underestimated her.
'I judged her based on her body and personality,' he thought. 'Anyone who can make their way to Aether Supreme wouldn't be a reckless fool.'
"You look unsatisfied. Am I not allowed to have my own set of weapons and armor?" she asked.
"Yes, you can," Ning said. What was done was done. He needed to move on.
"Alright," a smile showed through Merasi's helmet as she said. "Come!"
