Chris

    Fitzwallace looked at the Crystals blankly, which was odd considering they were supposed to be rare. Everyone else I talked to showed wanting and greedy faces when I flashed them before.

    They knew they were valuable. Gear, enchantments, powering pretty much anything that ran on mana, but most importantly, expedited growth of Dungeons.

    That was what we mostly used them for followed closely by powering Formations.

    I wonder how many floors our Dungeons will have by the time we make it back?

    Still, the man only looked at what I poured on the table before turning his eyes back to me. "Magic technology, our Communication Formation, and ship blueprints, and in return, you will give us Mana Crystals."

    "Correct," I said.

    "You will have to agree to not use the ships we give you the blueprints for against us. I will not give you the means to attack us without assurances." He said.

    "I agree to not use the ships we build from your blueprints to aggress upon you or yours," I said. It was a simple ask and one I was expecting. If he was so paranoid about not selling us weapons, a stipulation to not use the ships against him was obvious.

    "Alright. 50 kilograms of Mana Crystals in return," He offered.

    50! That''s insane!

    "20," I countered.

    "45."

    "25."

    "Split the difference, 35. That''s the lowest I''ll go. While it''s not weaponry, it is still valued technology." He said and leaned forward in his chair.

    I wanted to get him to go lower, but I really wanted the deal. 35 kilograms was a lot, nearly as much as we pulled out from the mine in two months. There was a lot involved in separating out dirt and rock from crystals and some were too small or impure to use.

    Those instead got ground up to use on crafting. The mana dust was a good, low-grade way to improve material grades.

    Plus, we had to be careful not to damage any of them while excavating and reduce the quality. There was a lot more to do than just swing a pickaxe and pick up the excavated crystals.

    Our output wasn''t always so high either. To ramp up and get the ball running, the efficiency was a lot worse at the start and we only got to that number after a year of effort.

    It''s a one-time deal. I get what I want for a bit more, not the end of the world.

    "Fine." I said, "35 kilograms of Mana Crystals in return for all research on magical technology outside of weapons, the study notes and completed Communication Formation, and seaworthy Ship blueprints."

    I stuck out my hand for the man to shake but he didn''t.

    "I''ll have someone draw up the contract," He said instead and looked happier than at the start.

    I frowned. "There is no need for that. Let''s shake on it and call it good."

    I did not want to sign anything

    and it wasn''t just because a verbal agreement was the same as a contract in my eyes. Shaking on it and signing on it were the same. At least to me.

    While he may not think the same and wish for something in writing, I was... skeptical of contracts. Some had explored them that I knew, former Lawyers and the like who used to deal in them, but I always found them... distasteful.

    It wasn''t a new feeling, as I''d always felt that way even Before. If I had to take a microscope to something while also have other people review it just in case of some small print, that was predatory.

    A handshake and someone''s word was how I liked doing things then, and how I liked doing them now. If I got screwed, and someone went back on an agreement, I knew they couldn''t be trusted in the future. A small loss at the time, but valuable information to find out.

    There was also the worry of contract equality. There were so many ways the author of a contract could hide, veil, trick, or mislead in wording that I refused to sign anything. Especially when I didn''t know the consequences.

    If you broke a contract Before, you went to court and were sued. I had no idea what breaking a contract resulted in now and I wasn''t ashamed to say that scared me.

    "It won''t take that long, Skills make everything much more efficient," Fitzwallace said, thinking I was wary of how long it would take.

    "I am not worried about time." I said, "As a rule, I do not sign anything."

    The Admiral shifted in his seat. He looked uncomfortable making a deal without something in writing, while I was the opposite. "Is this a deal breaker? I do not know you, and no offense, I do not trust you."

    I wasn''t offended, I felt the same way, "It is. You will have to take me at my word, or not at all." I... may have been a touch firm with how I said it but it was how I felt.

    He turned thoughtful and I had no doubt he was going over it in his head. The deal was mainly a one-time thing, as we handed over the Crystals and he handed over the information.

    The only lasting thing a contract could instill was to not use the ships against him. While that was variably the most important part to him, that didn''t even register to me.

    I didn''t care about what he did and I sure as hell wasn''t going to cross the continent to wage war on him. It would take months to get to New Norfolk, let alone going through plenty of other Factions before getting there.

    That distance wasn''t so easily crossed.

    I could see him weighing the options. Seeing if trusting me was worth it, but he looked down at the table for some reason, or maybe something under the table, I wasn''t sure, and nodded his head.

    "I do not like it, but I will do it." He concluded.

    Good.

    He finally shook my hand and I couldn''t help but allow a smile to form. This was the last deal I had to make. Now all that was left was to meet back up with Abigail, discuss what we would choose for our Rewards, and then head back home.

    Leaving the Admiral''s camp I couldn''t help but think about what I could have done better. Jonathan had tried to give me pointers for the negotiation, but there was only so much he could help.

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    I wanted to leave it all to him, as he was much better at it than me, but for first meetings, it was more diplomacy than anything, which required me, the Faction Leader.

    Subsequent deals would be all him though. There was no way I was doing that forever.

    Maybe I shouldn''t have let him negotiate the amount in weight. Forcing an evaluation and negotiating in gold would have been better.

    Oh well. It was over and that was that.

    It was nice to be returning back to our camp instead of heading off toward another stiff meeting with another Faction. The meetings didn''t make me nervous, but they did make me consider what I said carefully and make sure to not cause any problems.

    Most of the Factions here I didn''t give one shit about, but those weren''t the Factions I was meeting with. Besides the Admiral, the Factions I met with were all close enough to Frostheim that if something went horribly wrong, distance wouldn''t save us.

    I doubted someone from Texas or Louisiana would march all the way North to where we were. The trip alone would be more than a year.

    "Ah, Chris, you''re back." Austin was looking better after seeing a Healer but it would still be a while until the missing arm stopped sticking out. My mind wanted to see two, and that difference was hard to ignore. "How did it go?"

    "As well as it could," I said and let some of the tension go, "Most were easy enough but our treasury we brought with us is nearly gone and so is the Crystals."

    "That bad? You really need to leave things to Jonathan." He snarked.

    "Oh hop off, I didn''t do that bad." I wanted to shove him but I stopped. "You''re lucky you''re crippled."

    "Hah! Never heard that one before. I wonder how long that will last." He laughed deprecatingly, "You know I can still stab you right? One arm or two."

    I chuckled.

    "Do you think it''ll mess up my evolution? After picking my Reward, I''ll be ready." He asked and his stump wagged in the air.

    "I... don''t know? It might but I don''t know that much. What does the evolution process actually do?" I asked.

    He gave me a look, "How should I know? We''ve got a parental lock on us for the weirdest things."

    "Maybe we can ask the aliens. They should know." I responded. "But I would wait, just to be safe."

    "Yay, lucky me." He sighed, "At least it won''t be as long as you. Most of my arm is still there and I don''t have as high a Fortitude. Plus, the Healers got a massive amount of levels dealing with everything."

    "That''s good, man. Did you talk to Marcus?" I asked.

    "Yeah, he''s up for it. There were some things that he wanted to get personally but other than that, he''s keen on the idea. Abigail and Grace are already coordinating with him." Austin said.

    "Good," I nodded, "And what about Jonathan? Did he get with the Merchants?"

    "He did." Austin muffled a smirk, "There were some things that they won''t be able to get but most things that we need just come down to price. You won''t like how expensive it is."

    More energy left me just thinking about it. "Don''t I know it."

    "Also, one of them is here to meet you." He said it nonchalantly like that wasn''t the most important piece of information.

    "Really! Why are you only saying so now!"

    "To fuck with you," He said with a straight face, "He hasn''t been here long and we told him you weren''t here. He seemed fine to wait."

    "Which one is it?"

    "It''s one of the blue ones," he said. "Platinum white hair and pointy ears. If it ain''t an elf then Tolkien isn''t a wizard. Feels kinda like you."

    Maybe referring to them as ''one of the blue ones'' wasn''t the best.

    "Where is he?" I asked. Meeting one of the foreign Merchants wasn''t something I wished to do right this second, but I couldn''t very well keep him waiting either.

    "Waiting in your tent."

    "Some day, Austin, my urge to strangle you will win."

    "Ahh, that''s cute. You think you can catch me."

    I ignored his last comment and walked off in the direction of my tent. While annoying, the conversation with Austin only took a few moments. That delay wasn''t anything significant in the long run.

    Before entering, I gave myself a once-over to make sure nothing was out of place. Even though I''d done not long ago before meeting with the Admiral, I couldn''t help but make sure.

    It''s just an Elf, which I''ve never seen before, from a totally different Planet. What''s there to be nervous about?

    With my pep talk, I entered my own tent.

    The elf looked exactly how Austin described. White hair, blue-tinted skin, and pointy ears sticking out from his head. He was dressed in a blue robe that had white accents on the hems. His hair was also pulled back and braided finely, making him seem all around more fancy. Or maybe that was just my imagination.

    "I''m sorry for the wait. I''m Christopher Zalenski, nice to meet you." I introduced myself. His hands were cold, which was odd. Since my Body Refining and Bloodline, most people felt hot when I touched them, not cold.

    "The pleasure is mine, thank you. My name is Vulwin Zylris, Head Merchant of the Frost Rose Emporium dispatched to this Continent." The elf said with a smile.

    This Continent?

    "I''m sure you may have seen the other Merchant groups seeking out Factions to meet so this shouldn''t come as a surprise to you." He continued.

    I had noticed that while walking around to my various meetings but I hadn''t known what it was about. It seemed like I was about to.

    "Without the ability to own our own Pylon, we must come to an agreement with a Faction who does. Preferably a high-level one, to establish a base of operations, if you may." He said.

    "And you wish to make a deal with mine?" I asked.

    The elf nodded, "I do. You may have guessed already, but all the Merchants here have their own specialties. The Grass Sea Trading Group deals mainly in Nature or Grass affinity goods and Bloodlines commonly found in the Great Plains. Nine Rivers deals in Freshwater Aquatic goods, and we, the Frost Rose Emporium, deal in all things Arctic."

    We hadn''t known the names of the different Merchant Groups but we did know they weren''t all together. The different dress, colors, and segmented way they didn''t stand in a group made that much obvious.

    "That being the case, your Faction, being the furthest North and closest to the lands of Everwinter, is the obvious choice for us to settle." The elf continued.

    I''d just gotten out of a half dozen meetings and no one had been as forward as him. Well, except for myself, but that didn''t count. "Aren''t you tipping your hand there?"

    If I knew he wanted to settle in my City over others, I''d have the advantage.

    "Not really. While your City suits us best, our Merchant Group suits you best. Unless you want to invite the Sea Breeze, which I doubt. The Souring Phoenix Guild won''t even go that far North." He shrugged, knowing that we were both in the same position.

    He''s got me there.

    "What are you asking for in return for setting up in my City?" I asked. It would make everything a lot easier having one of the Groups settle in Frostheim. Materials and Goods we couldn''t get access to being available. Techniques and skills we''d been looking for. Everything we didn''t already have.

    It would be extremely expensive, but it was still better than being unavailable. Having ready access to outside Merchants was a boon in my book and I was surprised people weren''t fighting over each other offering different things to get them to pick their City.

    Maybe Pylon level has something to do with it.

    If the Elf didn''t ask for anything ridiculous, I was inclined to agree.

    "We ask that you protect us from Settlement Waves and to be given a plot of favorable land near a Market. After we construct a Branch of the Emporium, we ask you to permit us to link it to your Civilization Pylon so that we can set up Shop Terminals." The Elf listed off his demands.

    All of which were rather reasonable. We already protected the city during the Waves. Giving him a plot of land would cause Abigail to move some things around, but not that bad and we''d already been trying to get Jonathan to set up Terminals.

    They allowed access to the Pylon Shop without having to physically touch the pylon. We were... disinclined to allow lines of people into our Castle to buy things. We usually made them go through Jonathan or one of the other Merchants.

    Terminals outside the Castle would make everything easier.

    Someone like Tracy would love to restrict access to control what could be bought, but I didn''t care all that much. That much control over a population would only end badly.

    "That''s it?" I caught myself saying it before I could stop.

    "Yes, that''s it. Since we will be within the confines of your Pylon, we will be subject to whatever taxes and Laws you set." The Elf seemed pleased.

    "Even cash transactions?" I asked. Transactions through the Pylon and the ''Wallet'' function of the Status sheet were already automatically subject to our taxes.

    It was when people used physical coins or bartered that taxes had to be taken out manually. We asked the Merchant to keep track and hand over the percentage but we still didn''t have any way to confirm we were getting all of it.

    Eventually, we''d set something up to audit them but our manpower was better spent elsewhere currently.

    "Cash transactions?" The elf asked confused, "I''m not sure what that means. While translation skills are great, there are times when nuance is lost."

    "Oh, ah, when someone pays with the physical coin instead of through the System." I clarified. Talking had been normal I honestly forgot it was being translated.

    "Oh, I understand. Yes, we must follow all local taxes, even those not done through the Great System." The Elf said. "It''s part of the Contract we sign."

    "Then I see no reason to refuse." I said, "You will need to speak with Abigail for the plot and Jonathan about the Terminal, though, I don''t keep a map on me."

    "We are in agreement then?" The Elf asked.

    "Yes, we are."

    "Perfect! Now that we are in accord, our travel North will be a lot safer. How long do you estimate it will take to get there?" Vulwin was rather chipper now that we settled things and seemed excited to get to work.

    I almost didn''t have the heart to break it to him, but I had to.