The man continued, and the more he spoke, the less carefree he sounded.

"Items and treasures that can alter the fundamental status of a Gene or Genetic Armament are already rare enough. That alone would make it hard to put a definite price tag on this flower. But something that can also increase rank?" He let out a dry laugh. "That’s the kind of resource that causes people to forget all dignity, caution and common sense. Believe me."

Rohan’s expression darkened.

Just having people know the Rank and tier of the treasure was dangerous enough, so it was hard to ignore a fact like this.

He hadn’t quite grasped the severity of it as he had his own Evolution gene that only he and Elane knew about. To ordinary Awakened, once they absorbed their first F rank gene, it would forever remain that rank even as the Awakened continues to climb higher, with the only difference being that their more powerful Origin Energy at higher ranks brings much more force out of the gene than when they were F rank, allowing it to reach E or even D rank levels of power in some cases.

So an opportunity to use a treasure like this, simply for its ability to increase a gene’s rank alone, was a god sent opportunity.

Most Awakened only absorbed genes proportionate to their own rank, so a D rank Awakened would have an F rank gene, an E rank gene, and a D rank gene, for example.

So for them to be able to change that up so that they would have two E rank genes instead, could be the difference between life and death in battle.

Elane understood this well, as this was the situation she faced before knowing that about Rohan’s Evolution Gene.

"Across the entire Human domain, treasures like this are extremely rare." The man tapped one finger on the desk as he fell into thought. "Most Awakened, even talented ones from powerful families, will go their entire lives without ever seeing something like this in person. They’ll hear stories and rumours, perhaps only be able to get a glimpse of one at an auction, but never actually have one for themselves."

Elane’s throat felt dry.

That matched the reaction she’d just had herself, but hearing it contextualised like that made the situation feel much bigger than their small, insignificant lives.

It also made one very uncomfortable fact rise to the front.

"If it’s that valuable..." she said slowly, "...then why are you explaining all this to us so calmly."

That made him snort.

"Because if I had any ideas for it, it’s not just my job I’m risking. It’d be straight to the execution block." He gestured lazily at the flower. "...And I’d be a fool to offend future powerhouses."

’Though if this thing were D rank instead of E, I might have taken that risk...’

The look he gave Elane and Rohan confused them for a moment, but they soon understood.

Even if the man knew absolutely nothing about their strengths, just the fact that they’d managed to obtain something as priceless as this Lava Hellebore and make it back to the city scot free was enough of a tell that they weren’t normal.

He knew more than either of them did about treasures inside the Origin Realm as well, and knew that treasures this rare and precious would never be left unguarded by a guardian beast, which also suggested they’d either taken it down, or somehow managed to snatch it from under its nose.

Both cases were a testament to their ability as Awakened.

The man then leaned forward slightly.

"The shock it’ll cause when it reaches the higher ups will be immediate, I can guarantee you that. Doesn’t matter whether those higher ups are in the Bureaucrats in the Federation, in the military, inside the big universities, or among the major houses." His eyes moved between the two of them. "Everyone who understands what this does will want a piece of it, or want the whole thing, or at the very least want to know who has it and whether they can be pressured into letting it go."

Rohan folded his arms and leaned against his desk.

"So... we’re fucked, essentially?"

The pig faced man barked out a rough laugh.

"Only if you plan to sell it." He said in a tone laced with understanding.

From the first moment he lay eyes on Rohan after seeing his reaction to the Lava Hellebore’s abilities, he knew what he planned to do with it.

Which was partly the reason he was being so kind to inform the two of them of the backlash from owning this. They would hold on dearly to this information for future reference should they ever come across another treasure like it — and he had a feeling that they might.

"...Can’t you, maybe, not hand turn in a report on this? Pretty please?" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The man chuckled.

"Afraid not. I was required to swear an oath when I took this post, so unless I want to lose everything and return to being an ordinary human, I’ll have to report it."

The immense disappointment Rohan and Elane felt practically spilled out of them.

"But there’s nothing in there that says I have to do so immediately. Yawn... I suddenly feel like taking another nap." He winked at them.

Despite how corny it was, Rohan was deeply grateful that the man would even give them a few hours.

"...And if I witness you absorb it, I’ll also have to include that in my report." He gave another wink.

This caused the mood to instantly lighten. Although the man didn’t explicitly reveal anything to them, as it probably risked going against the terms of his oath, they caught onto what he was implying.

’If the higher ups know that it’s already been absorbed, that would take most of the heat off of us before it has a chance to develop.’

There might still be one or two prying eyes who switch their target of interest from the treasure to them, but there wasn’t much that could be done about that.

Such attention was bound to fall on them once they took the university entrance exams anyway, so this was nothing more than bringing that timeline forwards.

"You do it." Elane suddenly spoke.

"You’re the reason we were able to keep this in the first place, and besides, I don’t even have a gene yet, so it’d be a complete waste on me." She said reassuringly.

She knew that Rohan would feel guilty absorbing it, so letting him know that she wasn’t that bothered by it eased him.

’And it’s not like I can’t have him evolve my gene to E rank as well when I eventually obtain one.’

She didn’t state it explicitly as they weren’t alone, but this was her biggest reason for not feeling down about not being able to absorb the Lava Hellebore for herself.

Although they hadn’t actually been able to test it yet, it was all but guaranteed by this point that Rohan’s Evolution Gene could also evolve their ranks, and not just their tiers.

"Alright, here I go then."

But then he looked over at the appraiser, a little sheepish.

"...How do I absorb something like this, exactly?"