Chapter 144 - Command Core

Information: Free Points Allocated

+90 DEX.

Kyle gripped the Spear of Defiance tightly in his right hand as he dashed along the rim of the sunken pit, attempting to circle around the translucent snail. The snail's body dominated the center of the pit while it reared to its full height, the size of the crystal outcrop bigger than what could be seen on the surface. At the same time, Sasha and the Ghosts fanned out, firing their railguns at the snail's body, the projectiles drilling into the gelatinous flesh.

The humongous snail barely flinched from the barrage, even as the bunker-buster projectiles exploded one by one beneath its slick slivery skin, the force dampened by the absorbing nature of the gel. Sickening pulses of energy arced outwards from the amalgamated core, each trace of arcia forming nerve-like connections that traced out a complex engraving under the translucent gel. The complex engravings shone brightly, mitigating the explosive damage.

Kyle wasn't waiting around to figure out what else the snail had up its sleeve. The cold metal of his right armored gauntlet clasped around the shaft of his spear as he slid to a halt on the opposite side of Sasha, preparing to drive an explosive crystal in. But before he could lunge forward, three sharp gelatinous tentacles shot out towards him, threatening to impale his exosuit.

With quick reflexes, Kyle dodged the incoming strikes easily, weaving through the tentacles with leaps and skips, repositioning himself. The tentacles jabbed into the ground, kicking up dirt and rock alike, along with glints of gold flecks hidden in the soil. The sight of the gold glints motivated Kyle even more, his grit stronger as he drove each foot forward, ready to hit the snail's main body.

Yet just as he took another step forward, alarm bells rang in his head as he felt the ground shudder, his instincts screaming of danger. He quickly retracted his forward foot, recoiling at the very same time another tentacle shot out from the ground where his foot just was. He swung the head of the Spear at the tentacle, the sharp blade easily cleaving the tip of the tentacle off and causing it to retract back into the ground, revealing itself to be an extension of the first three tentacles that were still lodged into the ground. Another surge of arcia burst out from the snail's 'brain' towards the three tentacles, the originally translucent skin turning into a greyish-black metal that hardened the tentacles' surface. The other two tentacles, now as tough as armor, shot out toward Kyle from opposite angles, trying to corner him.

Acceleration! Kyle twirled the Spear of Defiance in his hand, using the six-degree acceleration engravings to shove him out of the way of the attack. More and more of the tentacles began to spawn out of the body, the central mass of the snail shrinking while the new tentacles targeted him. Kyle repeatedly cast the acceleration engraving in tandem with his erratic movements, accelerating each dodge and weave he made as a host of metallic tentacles tried to pulverize him.

With keen eyes, Kyle navigated the myriad of attacking tentacles, swerving between them and using each other to block additional tentacle attacks as he inevitably got closer to the snail's central body despite its best efforts to stop him. He launched himself up into the air with a strong leap, the exosuit glistening under the bioluminescent ceiling while bursts of arcia allowed him to dodge the tentacles aimed right at him. He aimed his Spear right down at the snail as he began to descend, summoning all of the engravings built into the exosuit to accelerate his freefall, the right arm's arcia traces glowing red-hot. The Ghosts and Sasha were momentarily distracted by Kyle's daring strike from the air.

Kyle raised his left arm to a high guard, using it to narrowly skid past a jabbing metal tentacle in the air, the friction sending sparks while he continued falling downwards towards the snail. In a flash, Kyle's spear had reached the snail proper from the top, the tip of the spearhead easily cleaving through even the temporarily metallic skin defense the snail tried in vain. The gel vaporized from the intense friction of the strike, thick plumes of vapor billowing past Kyle as his figure was masked, still gripping the spear lodged in the snail. Maximum output!

The crystals embedded along the shaft of the Spear trembled violently as a giant ball of arcia accumulated at the tip. The snail immediately retracted all of its tentacles into the central body, even the ones that were smashing the juggernaut, while its brain sent a continuous surge of arcia to form the same complex defensive engraving. Yet Kyle held firm, arcia crystals popping off one by one off the shaft as they were expended, their hollow blackened husks clattering onto the floor. Kyle could see the complex defensive engraving already working, his own Spear of Defiance explosion being mitigated heavily. Not enough!

The moment the crystals in the spear shaft were all expended, the exosuit began to shudder vigorously as well, the embedded arcia crystals heating up as energy was continuously channeled toward the Spear. Bit by bit, the embedded basic arcia crystals in the exosuit began to wither and die out, but Kyle still kept going, drawing on his own internal arcia energy pool as well.

Soon, the cracks in the complex defense engravings of the snail's innards could be seen, and the snail was no longer able to contain the rapidly growing and expanding ball of fire from the Spear of Defiance. Penchant for Violence! Kyle's senses expanded, the arcia circuits in his body channeling even faster than the snail could handle.

Sasha could sense what was coming with a panicked expression as she waved at the Ghosts, motioning for them to get down. Sure enough, a deafening explosion ruptured the snail in half as the explosion finally broke through, disintegrating the central body in a cloud of superheated gel vapor that immediately billowed up to the ceiling, masking the area in fog and raining chunks of gel. The resulting sonic boom nearly broke the Ghosts and Sasha's hearing, their ears still ringing as they took cover from the rushing vapor that engulfed them like a hot sauna, making it hard to breathe.

The skittish rock spiders saw the enveloping cloud of vapor rushing at them, all of them scrambling to retreat into their tunnels while the injured juggernaut limped away, signaling the end of the battle. For the mineral ants, they were disorientated by the heat and the sound, their senses jumbled up as they shook violently on the floor, immobilized by the sudden shock.

Sasha squinted her eyes, looking through the cloud of gel vapor to see a lone silhouette standing in the corpse of a blown-apart snail, its shell somehow still fairly intact. Smoldering bits of gel clung to the metal armor of Kyle as he flicked the remains of the snail of his spear, his head glancing around for any other attackers and especially signs of regeneration from the snail. It wouldn't be the first form of regenerative alien life that he dealt with.

Sure enough, he began to spot signs of sentient gel crawling back to each other, trying to form connections the same way a neuron would. With a single spear swing, he severed the attempts, but he still did not receive a kill message, the chunks of gel all still trying to accumulate together with the 'brain' core at the center. Kyle walked over to the pulsating core that was still defended by a thick layer of gel, preparing to strike it when a sudden jab from a rapidly forming tentacle shot towards his head. He narrowly avoided it with a simple jerk of his head, the tentacle grazing the helmet slightly to no avail.

With a plunge of the Spear, Kyle stabbed deep into the core's chunk of gel, gouging out the core as the pulses began to beat rapidly. The gel hardened, attempting to cling onto the core while Kyle yanked it out with his left hand, finally pulling it free from the clutches of the gel. The moment it was separated from the gel, the gel's movement died down, no longer controlled and falling still.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

You killed 'Ant Controller Snail', +10000 EXP

Level Up: 30 - 31: All Stats Increased

Bonus Points Granted

Ant Controller Snail? Kyle was confused at the name of the monster. He soon noticed the core that he held in his left hand had shards falling off it from the violent attack, though it was still largely intact. He slung his Spear of Defiance on his back, holding the core in both hands and examining it. The exposed parts of the core showed an intricate web of engravings that Kyle knew he would have no hope of decoding without the help of the Oracle back at the Culdao Peaks.

Ant Control Core

Commands up to 60 mineral ants, including commanders.

 Duration depends on the lifetime of the core.

Kyle turned to look at the staggering mineral ants that were still around the edge of the pit, stumbling through the dissipating fog. He lifted the core in the direction of a limping mineral ant warrior, trying to use the core to command it. Come!

Unfortunately, the mineral ant barely looked in Kyle's direction, only focused on trying to fly away. Its wings flapped a little, preparing to get off the ground in an attempt to escape. Before it could lift itself off, it suddenly found one of its rear legs grabbed by Kyle's right hand, who tugged it back down onto the ground with a loud crash.

The moment Kyle touched the ant though, the same arcia surge arced forward from the core through his body, entering the mineral ant. Kyle felt a cold shiver run down his spine, but he also felt a sudden sense of connection to the mineral ant, as if he could fully control it. He slowly let go of the injured mineral ant, taking a step back while the mineral ant slowly got back up to its full height, looking straight at Kyle.

Move left.

The mineral ant shuffled its feet to the left compliantly.

Fly a circle and then land here.

The mineral ant did exactly as Kyle commanded, lifting off a little to perform a circle before landing down again compliantly.

[Sir, are you alright?] Sasha's worried voice came over the telepathic channel.

"I'm fine. Are the rest okay?"

[Still disorientated, but no major casualties. The mineral ants are beginning to flee the nest now, so we should have clear access to the metal hoards in the depths.]

A small grin grew on Kyle's face under his helmet as he examined the core in his hand once more. "No. Round up every mineral ant you can get. Especially the strong ones. Don't let a single one escape!"

Sasha didn't question the order, the Ghosts moving forward to restrain the mineral ants by maiming their wings or legs, preventing them from running. The tougher ones were easily subjugated by Kyle with a single touch of the core, and Sasha began to get the gist of what Kyle was aiming for.

Soon, with the rock spiders having retreated and the remnants of the mineral ants now restrained or temporarily subdued by the core, Kyle and the Ghosts have full access to the mineral ants' nest. Some of the Ghosts grinned as they stared at the towering stockpiles of metal that were still coated in corpses and fluids from the rock spiders and mineral ants alike. "More than enough metal here to build a whole city if we wanted to!"

While reinforcements from the surface began to trickle in bit by bit, Kyle and Sasha headed to the base of the pit, where the dissipating corpse of the snail was still festering. He carefully approached a nondescript hole at the side of the pit, clearly one of the entrances to the mineral ants' nest where the fledgling had escaped. "You five, enter the nest and bring out the commanders," Kyle ordered five of the mineral ants, prompting them to raid their own nest. He wasn't about to risk his own safety by entering a hostile web of tunnel networks where he could be ambushed.

Soon enough, the remnants of the mineral ants commanders were dragged out, some of them having died in the scuffle. Fledgling mineral ants trailed them in confusion, unsure of what was happening as they were corralled by controlled mineral ants to meet Kyle on the surface of the pit. Some of the fledglings were still carrying eggs, and the baby larvae were still stirring within the gelatinous mass. With a quick touch, Kyle immediately placed the commanders under his control, effectively subjugating the remaining command structure of the nest.

Now we have a functioning workforce. And perhaps a use for them in the war as well. "The commanders will take care of the young and continue to breed more mineral ants. The rest of you will pull out every stash of metal you have in the nest now." Kyle used the core to order the mineral ants. He only needed to control the commanders, which the fledgling mineral ants would loyally follow the commanders' subsequent orders. It was an efficient ordering system, the same as how the snail controlled the nest, albeit to a smaller degree.

The Ghosts were flabbergasted to see Kyle ordering about a whole host of mineral ants that outsized him, the rumors spreading around them as they got to work. "By the Goddess, if you told me I'd see a human ordering about thirty monsters, I would have called you crazy."

While the tasks were underway, Kyle walked back to the corpse of the snail, where there were still other shards of the command core on the ground. He bent down to pick up one of them, examining it with his System.

Command Core Shard

Command up to one mineral ant, only non-commanders.

"Sasha, take this." Kyle handed the core shard to Sasha. "Touch one of the mineral ants and try to command it with this."

[Yes, sir.] Sasha grabbed the core shard in her hand, moving to an already subjugated mineral ant and placing her other free hand on the carapace. The same trace of arcia shot through her body, entering the mineral ant and making it fall under her control. Sasha's eyes widened with understanding, and she was already getting to work testing commands out on her new controlled mineral ant.

Kyle glanced at his feet, where at least twelve core shards were scattered on the floor. Looks like I can make an elite mobile force with this. Perhaps I could even divide up the core to expand the strike force. But that's for later. For now, let me claim my prize.

He walked up to the toppled 'crystal outcrop,' which, in reality, was the snail's shell. Kyle assumed that the snail acted as a parasite on the mineral ants, using the command core to naturally control the mineral ants into feeding it metal, which in turn allowed it to form its defensive shell. No wonder the mineral ants were defending the outcrop so desperately - they were controlled by the snail.

Still, his eyes laid on the sparkling glint at the top of the toppled shell - a lone arcia crystal larger than anything he had used before. His fingers grabbed it gently, shifting it ever so slightly out from its embedded position before it finally came loose. It was the size of a football, crude in shape but clearly brimming with energy that was raring to come out.

Advanced Arcia Crystal (Advanced)

If this blows up, it wouldn't be pretty.

 Can be refined into a smaller form factor by an arcia etcher.

"Sir! Look at that!" A Ghost exclaimed, pointing wildly at the returning mineral ants, who were hauling metal out of the nest within. Kyle was about to rebuke the Ghost for his sudden outburst when he laid eyes on the yellow shine of the metal being piled up near the exits. Gold!

Gold was being brought out by the ton, amounts that left even Kyle astounded at the sheer scale. The Ghosts broke out into cheers as more and more gold began to come out of the nest, confusing Kyle even more. The mineral ants eat metal. There's no reason why they have so much gold left behind... unless they can't digest it.

"WE'RE FILTHY RICH!" The Ghosts cheered in unison as they hugged each other, relief washing over them while some went to feel the gold ore in their own hands, marveling at the purity. Kyle, too, went over to inspect the gold, trying to ignore the fact that the piles of gold could very well be the mineral ants' excrement. Still, he wasn't going to complain about a natural gold purifier.

"Get more men down here right this instant. We're setting up camp." Kyle announced with a loud, resounding cheer from the jubilant Ghosts. The prospect of the gold helped to move the operation along much faster than it normally would, with more and more workers allocated away from Desham to hasten the construction of a transportation route between the mineral ants' nest and the city.

Over the next three days, the once bloody battlefield was already home to a burgeoning settlement as materials and temporary housing were brought in to aid in the excavation. A quicker route was found to the mineral ant nest from the surface rather than going through the maze of hollow tree roots. Complex elevators were drawn out by engineers under Diya's command, creating cable rigs powered by arcia motors that continuously hoisted gold and iron by the bucket up to the surface in a staggered chain of lifts.

The iron allowed the factories to begin the process of crafting more and more steel-based frames and weaponry, equipping more and more Ghost recruits with arctech knight armor where it wasn't possible before. More and more jobs were created, funded from the pillaged earnings from Ocra, which were converted into tenars for local use.

The presence of gold sparked a literal gold rush, the populace of Desham invigorated by the source of money. More and more refugees and other migrants turned away by the other Versian cities like Tenar began to surge towards Desham despite the clear rebel alignment that Desham had been labeled with. Yet the hungry refugees did not care whether it was the Versian government or the Ghosts in control - only if there was food and money to be made. However, Kyle did not allow the people to earn gold that easily. "This gold supply is under the control of the Ghosts. If we release it right now, the prices of food and basic necessities in Desham will inflate greatly." Kyle warned Diya and Sasha back in Desham's governor's office. "Currency control is absolutely critical in this stage of the war."

"I get that, but sitting on this pile of gold without being able to use it for fighting the Versian government is such a shame." Diya lamented. "As of now, gold is worth less than food in most parts of Versia."

"There is always a use for gold." Kyle smiled. "But before we use it, there's one more thing we need to do to ensure everything proceeds smoothly. Sasha, get me twelve of the best Ghosts to meet me in the parade square."

As soon as the twelve Ghosts were assembled, Kyle handed each of them a command shard, while having brought up twelve mineral ants up to Desham as well in the barracks. The Ghosts stood at attention, but they were clearly intimidated by the much larger mineral ants that stared lasers at them.

"Try the shard. Hold it on one hand, and use your other hand to touch the mineral ant's carapace." Kyle ordered. The Ghosts complied, moving forward to attempt to control the ant. Kyle looked on with expectation until one of the Ghost let out a sudden shout, jumping backward in fright as the mineral ant suddenly reared its head. Rejection?

Apart from the rejected Ghost, the other Ghosts spent a far longer time than Kyle and Sasha did to control the ant. Kyle's brows furrowed as he watched the Ghosts fail one by one, clearly having no affinity to the use of arcia. Only one of the Ghosts succeeded, but he clearly looked drained, suffering from arcia exhaustion as he flopped onto the floor, panting.

"Okay, now try commanding the mineral ant," Kyle ordered the successful Ghost. The Ghost clenched his teeth, his expression clearly strained as he raised his hands, attempting to order the mineral ant to move. Kyle watched on with disappointment as the Ghost's eyes began to roll upwards, fainting on the spot with a thud. That's not good.

Unfortunately, unlike the arcia training chamber, he had the Seven Snakes go through in Raktor, the war also raised the prices of such arcite ore to exorbitant amounts, and while the presence of the rechargeable arcia crystals meant that they were not as impacted, Every crystal had to be used and recharged for the purpose of weapons, so Kyle couldn't buy a ton of arcite ore to form the chamber.

Kyle continued to experiment, testing the Ghosts one by one when they were on rotation. He needed to find Ghosts that had good control of arcia and enough internal reserves to last at least a battle. It wouldn't be fun to have Ghosts dropping out of the skies from arcia exhaustion. He worked with Hayden to find a solution, examining the engravings in the command shard and trying to pick apart the layers bit by bit. However, the intricacy was far beyond both his and her expertise combined. "We could theoretically power the command shard by an arcia crystal instead, but we can't even pinpoint where the input traces are." Hayden shook her head in dismay.

"How about giving the Ghost an arcia crystal along with it? They can power it through their body."

"Only if they have a good control of arcia. Most don't even think about the internal arcia present in their body in the first place." Hayden pointed out.

Kyle found himself back at the same point, having no choice but to meticulously test the individuals one by one until he finally found twelve capable ones. Surprisingly, the best candidate was Jaden, who Kyle immediately set as the lead of the newly formed ant squadron. Jaden snapped his feet together with a tight salute. "Thank you, sir, I won't let you down!" Jaden shouted with force.

"How good are you at flying?"

"Flying? Why do I need to fly? I thought we were just going to ride these mineral ants into battle?"

The subsequent hours of training made it clear to Jaden and the other squadron members that they had signed up for more than they wished for. Kyle immediately had the controlled mineral ants put the squadron through their paces, making basic flying patterns that had some of them already puking, much to Kyle's dismay. A basic nine-g maneuver and they are already toppling over like infants.

It took them a few more days before Jaden finally got the hang of it, no longer disorientated by the flying. Instead, he showed a great affinity for it, his talent at controlling the mineral ant-like his second body shining through. It wasn't long before Jaden and the squadron were already participating in mammoth hog hunts, using the rapid movement ability of the mineral ants and their general armor's impenetrability to round up the hog herds. Meat production improved, which in turn also increased the earnings from Ocra as the wartime smuggling continued.

Back at the workshop in the barracks, Kyle noticed that the command core was self-sufficient as long as the arcia crystals within had enough power to sustain its consumption. Furthermore, he didn't need to hold onto it to maintain control over the mineral ants. However, if he wanted to issue a new order, he would have to physically touch the command core again. As such, he had the mineral ants in the nest follow a general order of assisting the Ghosts, allowing decentralized and simple commands by the workers in the underground chamber who were still mining the gold and iron.

I could break off more shards to form a second squadron, but it might be better not to. Kyle wasn't entirely sure how to chip off the command core, and any subsequent attempts to modify it might result in irreversible damage to the ability. Best to leave it for now until I can return to the Oracle.

Now that he had a mineral ant squadron in training, it served as a prototype of the mobile armor unit that Kyle had used in the Galactic Era wars - small task forces of soldiers who had local ground control of drone exosuits and other heavy machinery, doubling or even tripling the combat effectiveness of the average soldier. The mineral ants weren't impervious to the weapons present in the current war, but they could deflect small arms fire as easily as an armored wagon and were far more mobile with an air aspect to them. He got Hayden to begin work on possible modifications to the mineral ants to prepare them better for war, but there was soon an obvious complication.

"We can't mount any heavy weaponry on the mineral ants - their weight-to-lift ratio is already bordering on the limit. The best they can do is lift maybe three soldiers, but if you want any form of sustained heavy weapon along with its ammunition onboard, it might be impossible." Hayden explained as Kyle watched a mineral ant already struggling to stay standing with crude artillery cannons strapped around its abdomen.

"Then we'll have to use them as light skirmishers." Kyle nodded in understanding, ending the project until he could come up with another solution. They already had the Aurtla planes, which could carry a much heavier load and even do bombing runs. If I combine the mineral ants along with the Aurtla planes, then I will have both a rapid airstrike force and heavy bombers able to wipe out entire ranks. Fighter and bombers.

While Kyle worked on preparing the squadron, Feldon soon returned with good news, meeting Kyle and the other leaders in the governor's office. "The route to Tenar has been opened up. We managed to evade most detection- by Yual, where did all of these gold come from?" His eyes widened at the copious amount of treasury chests that had been filled up by gold bars, freshly minted from the factories in Desham.

"Good work. Your next task is to take this." Kyle lifted up a chest of gold, hefting it into Feldon's hand, who nearly collapsed from the sudden weight.

"Is this my bonus? Thank god, I've been kind of dreading the performance review. I'm not entirely sure if we do performance reviews, but I'd like to think that I hit all of my key performance indicators-"

"The gold isn't for you," Kyle interjected Feldon's rambling. "Buy all the food in Tenar with the gold."

"Buy all the food.... huh?" Feldon cocked his head in confusion. "Aren't we supposed to sell food?"

Kyle sighed. "Every state is three missed meals away from collapse. Once you buy up all the food, the unrest in Tenar will shoot up significantly."

"But who would accept the gold even? It's worthless in this scenario."

"Not to the black market traders, who clearly know exactly where to spend the gold. Don't show anyone else just how much gold we have, otherwise its value to the black market in Tenar will drop. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. But what about the rest of the gold?"

Kyle tapped his finger on the map, pointing at the Keru Forest. "It's time to put our smuggling deal into practice. Sasha, once Jaden is ready, get him to prepare the first shipment. You know what to do."

***

Count Perlis shuffled his feet impatiently on the forest floor, his leather boots pushing apart piles of dead leaves while he tapped his fingers on his crossed arm with increasing urgency. A minute passed until he let out an angry huff, storming up to one of the nearby wagons lined up in a convoy formation just at the edge of the Keru Forest.

One of his soldiers was waiting in the driver's cabin, though he was dressed like a normal farmer, bearing none of the usual armor nor emblems that commonly decorated Count Perlis' forces. "Where is the damned shipment?" Count Perlis snapped at the soldier. "If Count Leon catches the convoy out here in the open..."

"The message said it'll be coming in just under a minute." The soldier handed over the same letter that Count Perlis had read countless times in the past twenty-four hours.

"Damn them. Scouts, any movement? You must have seen a wagon or two by now!" Count Perlis barked into his arctech radio.

[Nothing, sir. I don't even see enough space for a wagon to traverse through the Keru Forest.]

Are they planning to smuggle the goods out on foot? Doesn't matter, it makes it easier for us. "General Kalka, is the ambush team in position?"

[Ready, my lord. But I still don't think we should launch an attack. We still haven't recovered from the last attack...]

"We're not going to make the first move. But if that damned Kyle turns on us first... we'll be read-"

[Sir!] The scout interrupted him. [I see movement!]

"How many wagons?"

[Not on the ground, sir, in the sky!]

What? Count Perlis soon heard the same buzzing sound, looking up to see a terrifying sight of thirteen shadows swooping in towards them. The soldiers in the convoy all let out a yelp, many having seen the mineral ants before. To the hunters of Perlis, they were the one thing they swore to avoid in the Keru Forest, for their armor was too tough for their traditional bows, and the meat was inedible.

A nervous soldier next to the wagon raised his rifle up to the sky, but Count Perlis immediately grabbed his rifle, yanking it down. "Hold your fire! You want to start a war?"

The mineral ants came into full view, their shiny blue metal carapace striking fear into the convoy and even Count Perlis himself, who struggled to maintain a façade of confidence. They landed one by one with loud thuds, the earth shaking under the weight while the wings kicked up a gust of dust that forced the soldiers to shield their eyes. The largest of the thirteen mineral ants landed right in front of Count Perlis, the body of the ant towering over the Count and casting a shadow.

"Count Perlis, a pleasure to see you again." Kyle's voice called out from the top of the ant as he leaped down to the ground, wearing his usual suit and cloak.

"Kyle." Count Perlis muttered in response, still trying to hold back his shivering hand. His many hunts had brought him across the mineral ants more than once, and while he has killed a few, he has never managed to tame one. Seeing Kyle nonchalantly rub his hand across the mineral ant's carapace without so much as a squeak from the ant further engraved a single notion into the Count's head. Let's not fight him.

"Impressive convoy. I'm sure the message was clear on how this is to be distributed?" Kyle continued while the other mineral ants began unloading their ferried goods into the convoy. Kyle moved towards the driver's cabin and motioned to the soldier with a sharp glare. The soldier tensed up, hurriedly digging into the glove compartment and automatically handed the manifest over with trembling hands, Kyle checking the list line by line.

The corner of Count Perlis's lips twitched a little. Even if he didn't want to fight Kyle, he still didn't like being second fiddle to a non-noble. "Where's my cut? We're not going to move until you show us, and I want it now."

"And you will have it now. Jaden." Kyle raised his hand, beckoning another mineral ant to lumber over, with its owner, Jaden, hopping off and unstrapping a bulky chest that was still locked.

Count Perlis eyed the chest with suspicion. "Tenars won't do me any good. It's either rakels or yual coins."

"I have something even better." Kyle walked over to the chest that Jaden was carrying, popping off the lid to reveal a glistening array of gold bars, one that immediately shut Count Perlis up. "And there's more where that came from."

Count Perlis didn't reply, enamored with the sight of the gold bars as two of his soldiers collected the chest; their jaws dropped as well. With that much money, I could fund my own development of Perlis! Convert the gold into rakels or even yual coins directly from Tryas. And maybe I-

"So, Count Perlis, perhaps the next time round, it would be best if you didn't have your soldiers lying in wait. It doesn't speak well for our trust. And if there's no trust in this business relationship, then there might not be any more chests going your way." Kyle spoke calmly. "I'm sure you wouldn't want that to happen. And if I learn that even a single hair from the cargo is missing..."

Whatever anger or rage Count Perlis harbored towards Kyle was wiped away by the repeated thought of what the gold bars could do. "I will have my soldiers called back immediately, and you have my guarantee that the cargo will arrive intact."

"Good. Two of my men will accompany the convoy. In three days, there will be another shipment and another chest of gold for you." Kyle struck his hand out for a handshake. "Pleasure doing business with you, Count Perlis. Perhaps this will be the start of a long and fruitful relationship."