Born in Blood-Chapter 562: Offer

Valuing knowledge over life was a strong response.

Liam was taken aback by the resoluteness of the vampire’s answer, but it sort of made sense.

A vampire, if left alone without the threat of death or the sun, would live for decades without issue. He could see how some of them would value their lives less and their work more, even if it was a small minority.

Strangely enough, for Liam, it was the opposite. He valued his life more than anyone else’s.

That being said, he still had a conflict to resolve... but it was a tricky one.

On one hand, there was the treasure trove of knowledge Liam wanted to plunder from the castle.

On the other hand, he also wanted to gorge down the vampire’s Nexus and renew his blood powers.

Of course, that little caveat did not sound too bad, considering Liam was still going to use Gorock’s flesh as the catalyst to the fifth Rank.

But would the pros of leaving Gorock alive outweigh the cons?

Liam frowned.

"Say, if I were to spare your life," Liam said suddenly, "in exchange for this knowledge and all the resources in your castle, would you accept or deny?"

Silence followed the question, leaving nothing but the drumming of two hearts conflicted with their own dilemma.

Gorock had a complicated expression on his face. He was genuinely mulling over the offer, albeit with an apprehensive and suspicious gaze.

Trust was not an issue here. It was not an issue to higher ranked cultivators at all, actually.

An agreement could easily be stimulated and verified if Gorock or Liam were to use a Binding Oath or otherwise – sort of like a contract.

...But the conditions of this Binding Oath would be like signing up to be a slave.

Gorock knew his predicament. Whatever offer Liam was about to give him was going to be absolutely horrible.

The only realistic thing he would keep was his life... but was it worth it to gain just to lose again?

"Name your conditions," he said, still reserved.

Liam answered quickly.

"All your research on the Unholy Lamprey or blood in general, your Blood Arts, your scythe, and information on whoever made it, and how they made it. Oh, and you’ll also be paralyzed for an entire year before you regain the rights of movement. Plus, I’m going to devour the majority of your body."

Gorock wheezed with laughter.

"You’re an actual devil."

"Takes one to know one," Liam said. "I never said you couldn’t keep your research. I’m fine with making copies."

"No. Absolutely not. I would not take those terms even if I had to die ten over."

Liam glared at him.

"Look at the big picture. You get to live. You’ll be up and running after a year, capable of doing more research or... whatever else it is you do here."

Gorock glared back.

"Would you take that offer if you were in my place?"

"I don’t have my life at stake," Liam retorted sharply. "Yes or no? I’m not patient."

Silence.

"I won’t give you my scythe permanently," the Prince of Cruelty said firmly, as if he was not willing to part with it, "but I can lend it to you for a short period of time."

"I deny the full year of paralyzation. I can do two months. All the information I can give you on the maker of that scythe is a name. I have never seen him."

That was a strange revelation.

"Also," Gorock added, testing Liam’s patience, "I want full assurance that you’ll leave permanently after I..." He paused, then forced the next words to come out. "...give you the things you asked for."

"And also," Gorock continued, his eyes sharpening seriously, "I want to know whether or not you were telling me the truth about meeting Alucard."

"Why does that matter?" Liam asked.

"It matters to me."

Silence.

Liam listened to Gorock’s conditions and demands, mulling over whether or not he could accept it.

Keeping the scythe was a bit of a long shot, he had to admit. It was a Rank 5 item. If Liam, under the threat of death, was asked for his most valuable items, he would rather just die.

It was not like he was going to use the scythe, anyway.

Liam was a swordmaster, not a weapons master.

If he wanted to be as good with a scythe as he was with a sword, he had to spend decades with it.

Saying the truth about his meeting with Alucard... well, that was a simple one. He could just be vague about the specifics while giving a blanket answer.

"Three months of paralyzation," Liam said, his tone final.

Gorock frowned. "Fine. Whatever."

Now, for the Binding Oath...

***

Getting the Binding Oath was relatively easy. Contacting Bill came in handy at times like this. When the CEO picked up the Jade, he was so happy that Liam finally decided to undertake the Tomb job.

Liam laughed, remembering just how sad he sounded when Liam’s request was way different than what he had in mind.

When the CEO asked him what he planned to do with the Binding Oath, Liam gave a vague, offshoot answer that left Bill raising his brows.

Thankfully, he now had a formula for a Binding Oath. It was fairly simple to make, especially with Liam’s Blood Weave.

At first, Liam really wanted to make a snarky, con-man version of a Binding Oath.

Something that made the oath binding on his opponent, and left him free of charge.

Unfortunately, such a thing was not possible.

All Binding Oaths required both parties to willingly participate. Coercion was not viable.

In reality, a Binding Oath was basically... a suicide button. The method of suicide could be anything – as choices went, Liam went with the classic self-explosion.

This button could only be activated upon infringing on the agreed upon terms, which was easy to inscribe now that Liam’s hand was so steady and experienced.

Soon enough, he set Gorock up and laid down the Binding Oath with him. It came in the form of a simple piece of firm parchment.

"Read it over," Liam said, "and accept."

Gorock made a grumbling noise, tracing the paper with his eyes. Before long, he nodded.

Liam grabbed his hand, then put it on one side of the paper, on a circular rune, and put his own on the opposite side.

The paper shone brightly for a split second... then disintegrated.

"Alright," Liam said. "Start speaking."