He was probably thinking about asking Sekka if he could purchase me as well. That was becoming a common inquiry as my reputation as a powerful combat slave spread. It annoyed me, but thankfully it never progressed past annoyance because I ignored most of these sale conversations entirely. I would probably be doing my own murder math if I was constantly listening to all the reasons that I should be sold to someone else as if I were just another common piece of furniture, or livestock. The longer I was on this planet the more I understood Sekka's wrath.
Just hearing about people being sold as property irritated me. I couldn't imagine actually being sold as property. I snorted to myself, and moved away from the door. Scanning through the wares on the shelves. This place was another blacksmith, but they called themself artistic metal workers instead of blacksmiths.
They made jewelry instead of weapons. They had a large demand for weaker cores though since they used the magical crystals as the gems of many necklaces. It could be dangerous work if you didn't carve away the crystals properly to shape them. One wrong chip or misplaced instrument would cause an elemental explosion. The chains used to hand the necklaces were made in house as well.
It was delicate work, and surprisingly no slaves were allowed to do it. Slaves were considered to be either too stupid or too clumsy to create the fancy pieces, but out of all the shops I might shop in this one was high on the list. Granted that was never going to happen. They'd be out for blood once we cut ties with this planet. On top of that they wouldn't be able to act on that rage with them sealed on their own planet.
They'd sit there, and seethe in their own anger for a few years unable to do a damn thing about it. I kept my face completely deadpan as I walked up behind Sekka. I was actually a little shorter then Sekka. I cocked my head as I looked at his back. Studying him for a few minutes as he concluded his business.
Sekka was a good kid. He deserved better. His rage made sense, but it was not what he deserved. That rage, and his unique upbringing made him oddly suited to be one of my bonded. I didn't know how that made me feel.
Now I just had to cross that final hurdle. I had a feeling that he would rise quickly once he was bonded to me. Fast enough to make Ethan jealous. I was starting to get tired of his clingy nature. The distance was working in my favor on that front.
Ethan was effectively forced to relearn how to interact with people, and I'd enforced that by acting coldly toward him. He understood that wasn't how I felt because he could freely see my emotions, and now acted as an extension of myself to a certain degree. Our lives were irreversibly linked due to his status as a dragon kin. His lifespan had been extended to a ridiculous degree. If he didn't die in battle he could live up to five hundred years.
Which was about half of a dragon's maximum lifespan. Provided I didn't get myself killed first. He would die with me. Savannah would be mentally crippled for some time. Jax would only be minorly effected compared to the other two. His bond wasn't advancing, and hadn't for some time.
Neither one of us seemed to mind. Jax hadn't been willing to become my bonded in the first place. He'd made a mistake that had led to a bond. He didn't want to advance the bond, but he also didn't want to lose the benefits the bond offered. Thus the only reason we were still bonded.
My bond with Savannah was forged in a desperate situation. Both of us were on a dangerous planet at the time, and we needed someone to lean on. We were companions forged in danger, and combat. Ethan was different. He was submissive.
Broken. He needed the bond to rebuild himself. He wouldn't have survived without me even before he became a dragon kin. It was almost sad how much he needed me at first. He was finally starting to stand on his own.
But it was too late. He'd linked himself to me in a way that could not be undone, and I'd accepted him anyway. That made us brothers. Ironically I was the one acting as the elder brother even though I was younger. Even if you combined the total time I'd lived in both of my lives.
I was already mature before I was reborn as a dragon, and restarting as a dragon only pushed me through a quick chaotic childhood without giving me a chance to truthfully absorb that experience. I'd realized what I was lacking on a few fronts, and I thought I was doing well in addressing those weaknesses, but I was still caught lacking by Letty. Harsh reality was a cruel teacher. I was tired of being the one on the receiving end of all the cruelty the combined universe had to offer. It was time to start dishing out some cruelty of my own.
One of the reasons I'd been inclined to join the army was the off chance I'd get to kill some of the elves that had destroyed my life. Now I was looking at a good chance to kill a great many elves, and I hadn't taken it yet. I still had the system, and it granted me a lot of experience for killing intelligent Archaics. The system was mostly useless to me now since it wasn't designed to help me after I'd reached the status of king. There was one thing it could do that I still benefited greatly from.
It could grant me stat points just for killing enough. Stat points were hard to earn any other way. The crown of horns had doubled how many stat points I normally got from a level up. Becoming king doubled it again. Granting me eight points for strength, agility, and stamina.