"I only ask for three things," Thirteen said as he held up three of his fingers.
"The first one is an accessible spatial storage. Since I'm unable to get Items and Avatars from monsters, chests, and other reward-granting artifacts, the spatial storage that I possess as a Wanderer is basically useless to me.
"I won't ask for much, I just want a spatial storage that is one square meter in size. Surely, you find this arrangement only fair, no?"
The Laplace Demon and The One neither accepted nor rejected Thirteen's proposal. They simply waited for him to state the three things that he wanted from them.
"The second thing I want is Flint and Steel. Last, but not the least, I want you to tell my parents that I am safe and that they don't have to worry about me. Also, allow me to write a message to them so that they will not be too anxious about my disappearance. These are the three compensations that I will ask of you."
The Laplace Demon and The One were quite surprised by the compensation that Thirteen asked from them.
Laplace Demon rubbed his chin as he carefully thought of the things that the boy had stated.
The first one that Thirteen asked for was accessible spatial storage. Even as a Wanderer, Thirteen's spatial storage was indeed useless to him because he couldn't get any items from Solterra. Also, the size he requested was simply too small.
Even the storage rings that had the smallest spatial storage that people used on a daily basis were at least four square meters in size.
Thirteen only asked them to give him a one square meter spatial storage, which they deemed wasn't too much to ask.
The second compensation was actually more troublesome than his first request, and that was Flint and Steel.
Although these two items might seem simple and could be found anywhere in Solterra and Pangea, the timing was very important as well.
Flint and Steel were used to make fires.
There was nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that the First Wandering was meant to test a person's survival skills.
This meant that they would have to start in Solterra from scratch without any tools in their possession.
Whatever they needed, they would have to search for it in the place where they spawned and use everything in their power to survive.
Giving Thirteen Flint and Steel would break the purpose of that survival challenge because the gift of fire could do many things.
Last but not the least, the boy wanted to send a message to his family, telling them that he was fine.
Laplace Demon found no problem with this request since the boy was forcefully sent to Solterra despite not being thirteen years old.
Simply put, among the boy's three proposals, the first and the third were easily acceptable, but the same couldn't be said for the second one.
"I will accept your first and third proposal," The One said after a minute had passed. "But we cannot accommodate your second request. "
Thirteen sighed because he had already expected this to happen. But, having two of his requests accepted was good as well.
Laplace Demon handed Thirteen paper and pen so that he could write a letter to his family.
The boy gratefully accepted and started to write. However, the moment he began writing, he kept on asking Laplace Demon for more paper.
The corner of the Demon's lips twitched after he picked up one of the papers that Thirteen had written upon and read its contents.
There, he saw a detailed outline of what Gerald should craft in chronological order in preparation for the future.
A glance was enough for the Laplace Demon to understand that this was basically a training regimen meant for Blacksmiths in order to improve their craft as much as possible.
He picked up another paper, and there, he saw a list of pill recipes that were ranked from Beginner to Grandmaster level.
As long as someone followed this sequence, it would ensure their growth in the art of pill making, paving the path to becoming a Grand Alchemist.
A sigh escaped Laplace Demon's lips as the seven-year-old asked for another piece of paper.
Perhaps out of annoyance, he just handed him an entire pack of A4 bond papers and left him to his devices.
Three hours later, Thirteen finally finished writing a hundred-page letter, which was to be given to his Family.
Aside from Gerald's and Alessia's training routine, he also gave Shasha some pointers on how to effectively use her Martial Technique, Dance of Solaris.
He also added that she must only train its Core Abilities inside their family's training grounds and never show its full might when she was taken to the Leventis Family's Main Residence to train.
He also wrote a letter for Remi. He had personally taught her how to read, so he was certain that his little sister would be able to read his message.
Thirteen made sure to tell his family that everything was going to be fine, and he also promised to return to them as soon as he could.
After he finished everything, he asked Laplace Demon and The One to send him back to Solterra.
When he opened his eyes, it was already morning, and to his surprise, he felt as if he had taken a full night's rest because he felt so relaxed and revitalized.
However, he was still hungry, which he immediately remembered after his stomach started to rumble.
"I guess it's time to cook some bird's meat," Thirteen muttered.
Although the Laplace Demon and The One hadn't given him any Flint and Steel, Thirteen wasn't worried.
He had asked for three things from The One, but in fact, the only things he truly wanted were an accessible spatial storage, and for his letters to be sent to his family.
The second one was just there to make the Omnipotent God think that Thirteen wanted to take advantage of his generosity in order to ask for something that could help him make fire.
When choosing between two evils, people would usually pick the lesser evil.
This was the trick that Thirteen had used against the Laplace Demon and The One, making them focus on his second request, which made his two other proposals seem more acceptable to them.
In short, it was just a smokescreen to get the two things he really wanted!
Having spatial storage, no matter how small, was very important to him because it allowed him to store his crude weapons, which he couldn't carry all day long.
Laplace Demon had told him how to access his spatial storage, but he didn't have time to test it in the Celestial Realm.
Because of this, he closed his eyes and activated his spatial storage to see it for the first time.
Thirteen was pleasantly surprised that instead of a one-
square-meter spatial storage, The One actually gave him a two-square-meter spatial storage, which was a size bigger than what he asked for.
Because of this, he would be able to store more items like his stone spears, wooden spears, and stone axes, which he no longer had to carry on their journey.
Also, it would be the best place to store the Condor's sharp talons, which they could also use as makeshift weapons.
After appreciating his spatial storage, Thirteen walked towards the Oasis to look for dark gray, black, or greenish stones.
These were the natural colors of flint stones that could be seen in rivers and lakes.
After picking up several rocks, he also took some dried leaves and vines from the Desert Poplar Trees and brought them to the boulder where Cristopher was still sleeping.
Since the chubby boy had ordered Brutus to listen to Thirteen's orders as well, Thirteen asked the Troll to dig a small fire pit, where the boy deposited the dried leaves, vines, and small branches.
He then held one of the Condor's Talons in his hand and started to strike it with one of the stones he picked up earlier.
A spark appeared instantly, making Thirteen smile.
It didn't take long before a fire was burning merrily inside the Fire Pit that Brutus had dug.
When Laplace Demon and The One saw this, both of them felt the strong urge to spit in Thirteen's direction because of the boy's audacity to ask them for Flint and Steel when he could easily start a fire without them!
In short, they had been had!
Thirteen chuckled internally because he could already sense the glares from the two Omnipotent beings of Solterra and Pangea all the way from the Heavens.
This was his way of taking revenge on The One for casually saying that it would erase Cristopher's and his memories if he wanted.
Memories were very special to him because all of his Hosts were special to him.
If he forgot about even one of them, he would be extremely sad because they were his treasured memories.
This was why he felt very angry when The One so casually mentioned the erasing of memories.
Now that he had vented his anger, Thirteen started to barbecue the meat from the Condor's legs, which was going to be their first decent meal in Solterra after being spirited away from the world of Pangea.
