Jason was astonished by the sudden hostility that was directed towards him.
Even Jennifer couldn't help but raise her right eyebrow as she could almost visualize the daggers Lars and Elder Ben threw at him just with their gazes.
It gave her the chills, while Jason's soulbonds began to emit various voices, preparing themselves to fight for Jason's safety.
They were ready to fight alongside him even if the situation was suicidal!
Meanwhile, Jason could roughly gauge what was going on.
He concluded that there was something about the Soa crystals that was dangerous and that nobody of the Agran race should need them.
That was the most basic thing he could figure out, which was not further difficult.
"Are Agrans not allowed to purchase Soa crystals? Why is that so?"
Not knowing the entire truth, Jason simply decided to let them know how confused he was about what was going on.
Elder Ben saw his expression, before realizing that Jason didn't even retract his soulbonds inside his soul world.
This meant that he was willing to expose them to the possible dangers inside the city.
As such, he assumed that Jason was truly oblivious to the issue which caused him to sigh as he tried to clear his confusion.
"Only our race is allowed to purchase Soa crystals because we are the only ones that can use them for cultivation purposes.
And, to be precise, even that is not to be taken lightly.
In most cases, Soa crystals are used to turn normal beasts into wandering souls. But there is one particular function of these crystals that made us forbid selling them to Agrans, especially those that are messengers of other races!
The most important effect is that you can strengthen the portals to the Ninad beast realm with Soa crystals, allowing foreign races to emerge through the portal!
This is something we want to prevent by all means because our experience with other foreign races so far have been…not that great, to put it simply.
If you are wondering why I told you about this secret, it is because you would have found out about this sooner or later, either way. As such, there is no need for me to hide it, right?"
Perceiving that Elder Ben had changed from being hostile to a carefully neutral behavior, Lars began to hide his hostility.
He thought that Jason was quite a nice guy, but having heard about all kinds of tricksters that lied to people for their own benefits, Lars knew that he had to be careful.
Yet, when Jason replied, "Oh", as if he had suddenly understood the situation, Lars' doubts dispersed into thin air.
"Elder, does that mean, there is no way I can procure Soa crystals? Not from the city, I mean…"
It was suspicious for him to continue asking about the Soa crystals, but at the same time, Elder Ben believed that it was what made Jason more trustworthy.
The fact that he was speaking to an Elder about something that was forbidden made it clear that he was genuinely curious.
Following that, Jason shouldn't have asked him about the Soa crystals in the first place, if he knew about their secret function and the laws of the city.
Meanwhile, asking the second question clearly indicated that he was simply oblivious, and also that he truly needed them for something.
In fact, Jason was not even certain if he required them to begin with.
However, if he were to take his soul world core's reaction literally, Jason couldn't help but think that his Agran bloodline was telling him that he required the Soa crystals for his true soul awakening.
Unfortunately, this was not something he could say easily, even after Elder Ben repeated his question.
"Why do you need them? Even our race has to meet certain requirements to purchase Soa crystals. Furthermore, procuring them in the wilderness is quite difficult, at least, if we consider your combat prowess!"
Through the Elder's words, Jason understood that it was also not possible for him to procure the Soa crystals in the wilderness.
The realization was quite a downer, causing him to frown in disappointment.
Answering the given question was not difficult but he didn't really want to expose everything about himself.
He was amongst strangers so he was not sure how valuable the information about a true soul awakening was.
Thus, he could only ask.
"Can't I just not answer your question about why I need Soa crystals? Probably not anymore, right?"
Smiling foolishly, he looked at them with innocence.
And, his behavior eased the tension of the two Yinars, but Elder Ben could only shake his head afterward.
"Well, you can, but our trust in you would decrease because we now know that you want to hide something. And that something has to do with procuring Soa crystals….If I were you, I would just state everything I'm comfortable with, while the rest can stay hidden, if its not too dangerous…"
Elder Ben was increasingly growing fond of Jason. He was certainly a prodigy, and one of the strongest people he had seen in a long time.
The wide range of soulbonds he had, was great, and each of his soulbond was more interesting than the one he had sized up before.
All of his soulbonds were different, and there were only two that were strictly following the path of Maest.
This was quite interesting because he had a soulbond with a different type of cultivation energy than the three major cultivation energies, and one for each of the remaining paths.
Even the stronger Agran were not able to bind Spiral beasts, let alone a wandering soul that cultivated with Soul force.
Yet, perceiving that Jason had been able to bind soulbonds of all three paths, and even a beast that cultivated in a different path, Elder Ben believed that Jason trusted them enough to expose all of his soulbonds to them.
Thus, he didn't think that there was much of a threat from the golden-eyed youth.
Unfortunately, the extent at which some people tried to fraud someone knew no bounds, and one could never know for sure what was going on.
With that in mind, the Elder had decided to remain honest, which was evident in the answer he had given.
Jason noticed that Elder Ben was conflicted about what to say and how to answer Jason best.
As such, he took his answer to heart before he kept being honest too.
"Hmm, then let's say, I want to experiment with something. I sensed something the first time I saw wandering souls. It was as if my soul world core was telling me something, or wanted to.
Exactly the same goes for the Soa crystals. I just felt that I need them for something, which is the reason I want to experiment with them!"
Believing that he was doing the right thing, Jason didn't hesitate to speak the truth. He didn't say anything about the true soul awakening and that he was relatively sure that he required Soa crystals to initiate the true soul awakening, but that was fine.
In fact, Jason was pretty sure that the Soa crystals were the main ingredients he required.
Yet, all of a sudden he heard a deep sigh of relief followed by the Elder's voice.
"Ahh, you mean that. It looks like my worries were unfounded then.
There are some Agran that have a similar reaction to the mention of Soa crystals, as if they need it for something.
But, most people say that one was chosen by a Soa crystal.
In fact, I forgot to tell you an interesting fact. Most people believe that this tingling feeling determines if you have a strong soul world or not. It's rare, but nobody really knows for sure why this happens.
As nobody could validate it with proof, it turned into a folklore, indicating talent.
However, in the end, It's one of the many mysteries of the Agran race."
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