Extra's Ascension To Power Chapter 97: Alright, I agree

"The snack?"

Mad Dog Ardent looked at him and scratched his head, eyes narrowed.

Ace shrugged and made the bowl appear atop the table, then another bottle of alcohol. "I told you I want to share a drink and a snack with you."

Ardent shrugged. He was not the type that was afraid of poison, and he reached out for the bowl and unwrapped it, but even he paused as he dipped his spoon in. The stew was entirely black, so black it looked like ink. "This is the first ti I have seen a student try to poison ."

Ace snorted, and then he pulled the stew closer and used his own spoon to take a bite. The inky stew disappeared into his mouth, and he could not help the expression that ca to his face. It was as if the food was a balm that soothed his whole body.

Ardent watched him, and then he used his spoon to mix the stew well and sat back to watch him. The tension in the room rose, and danger coiled in the air.

Ace shrugged and took another bite.

He then raised his brows as if to taunt Ardent. It was dangerous, but it worked.

Ardent opened the new bottle and took a drink, then he dipped his spoon into the stew and ate from it. The look on his face changed from soone just enjoying his food to absolute shock. His hand seed to be out of his control as he ate more from the bowl, and in a few seconds, he finished all the stew.

Ardent looked up at Ace, and his eyes darkened. "You, you are a bastard!"

Suddenly, the table shuddered and then bent upward. The wood cracked and exploded, sending splinters flying upward. The bottle shattered with it, and the bowl was sent flying.

Ardent smiled at Ace. "You are dead, but you have yet to know it."

He gestured, and Ace was sent forward with a force he could not control. One mont he was sitting still, and the next mont he was in front of the instructor.

A force gripped his throat and forced his head upward. Their eyes t.

Ardent smiled, but there was no warmth there, only coldness and harshness. "What did you put in the stew? How do you know?"

Ace’s eyes were calm, even though the instructor, known as the Mad Instructor, was unraveling in front of him. "The Academy has an underground market where you can buy and sell without traces.

"And this ti, I bought so information before I ca to find you. I found out that you ca back from the war front with a war injury, so kind of ability from an opponent that is eating your bones."

The force tightened around his neck, and just a tug would snap his neck so easily.

Ardent leaned closer. "That information is not sothing that is known by a lot of people."

Ace did not actually buy the information. In the book, when Lucas and Ardent t, the instructor personally said it, and Ace had thought about it when reading that the curse seed like a terminal sickness that even the healers could not cure.

But even with all his threats, Ardent did not dare to break his neck, even though he wanted to. He hated nothing more than people knowing about his sickness. It was as if he was revealing a weakness of his.

Ace shrugged, a difficult thing being held like that. "It is the job of those people to sell information that is difficult to know."

Ardent did not release him. "Is that so? Then what is that stew?"

Ace knew that was the real at of the conversation. "It is a personal recipe that I know. What is wrong with it?"

Ardent gritted his teeth, and his eyes narrowed. His body shuddered as if he wanted to tear Ace apart. "Do not play gas with !"

"You know exactly what I am talking about. What did you put in that stew?"

Ace had cut a tiny piece of the boss of the dark cloak’s brain and used it in cooking the stew. The brain was a healing potion in itself, especially for the bones and ntal health.

Since he said he should go straight to the point, Ace did as he was told. "Why should I tell you? The reason I am here is to make you join my House, and that recipe is my upper hand. I can tell you one thing for free, though. I can heal your curse completely."

Silence followed his words.

The force holding him felt like cold steel around his neck, and not only that, the space around him had changed. The air felt like sharp needles on his body, and the temperature had dropped sharply.

"Talk, or I will kill you," Ardent threatened.

Ace smiled. "You will not. You wish you could, but you cannot."

Ardent gritted his teeth. He had never t anyone who was so unafraid of threats before, and for a mont, he was stumped.

"You cannot kill because you want what I know. Even with all the ways you are acting, you are still a straightforward man. So what will it be? Your first and only paynt for service to my House will be the healing stew."

Ardent paused. He thought of different ways he could get it from Ace, but one look at the boy’s eyes, and he knew. The boy knew of his weakness and ca at it with a hamr. "You will also pay gold coins, and I will only work one day a week. You will take care of my food and drink."

He dropped Ace on the chair.

Ace shook his head. "You will work every day. If you choose to work once a week, then you will have to get a piece of the stew once a week as well.

"Instead, I will give you the portion that will heal you at once. You will be with my House for five years, and you will train my mbers. I will take care of the food and drink, and monthly pay."

Ardent sat in silence for a while, then he grunted. He knew he had been outplayed. "Alright, I agree."