Chapter 679 - Reward negotiation

Diligence turns to Greed: “Give him something other than shards. Not enough to make him much stronger, but enough to satiate his greed. You should know a thing or two about that.”

“I want a 5 active skills combination token,” I say from the side.

The huge ant glances at me and then back at Greed: “Is he trying to estimate if such a thing exists from the way I answer?”

“He is very shrewd at times,” Greed nods. “I also thought of what you said, but I know you will only get angry if I give him something and you think it's too good. So it is better to have you here and pick something you agree with. With Kindness joining in case there needs to be a vote. Wrath can just fuck off.”

The ant takes a few steps. Even though he is a projection and I can tell it is immaterial, it is almost too perfect. It completely tricks my eyes, every perception based on them, as well as my ears.

“That makes sense,” the ant agrees. “What have you thought of?”

“Two day stay token on Earth? The value should be comparable?”

“No,” Diligence disagrees right away. “While possible, it is not applicable for this situation, and it does not fulfill other rules required to give such an award. May I also ask why we speak this way, at a speed he can process?”

“It would be rude to ignore him.”

“You, Greed, are as bad as him. Please do not try to abuse our conversation to share more information with him.”

“Or what? Will you and your Colony come to my planet and…”

“Enough.”

Even though the ant is not present here, that single word has an incredible presence to it. It causes the mana-block chair under me to flicker and disappear, and I have to regain my balance to avoid falling down.

My pants made of mana disappear as well.

More than anything, this seems to surprise the ant, and in his compound eyes I see thousands of reflections of… I unhurriedly reform the pants and then the chair into which I calmly sit down again.

“That man has many reasons to hate you, and you see how well he behaves. Meanwhile, you only bring shame to yourself,” Greed provokes while mostly ignoring what just happened.

The First One sounded almost weary. “Please do not remind me of my mistake in choosing that era of my life for the floor. Unfortunately, I have not yet found one that fits my intention for the floor any better.”

That black body turns to me again: “I apologise for my behaviour I have just shown.”

I notice he does not at all apologise for what happened on that floor. I still remember Hadwin’s death so vividly that I feel blood boil in my veins, but at the same time, it is… difficult. I know it was not truly him who did that, even if he bears some responsibility. I also know our group shares the blame. That floor had too many ways to be cleared, and in the end, it was our weakness that decided the outcome.

“Pristine passive?” Greed asks before I can react in any way.

I push these emotions away and quickly add instead: “Mid pristine?”

“Low,” she says firmly.

“Low is only what, twenty million shards?” I complain. “If not that, from Kyralon I heard Diligence can make a spatial cache, I could take one. I will not be greedy, even a smaller one would be enough.”

“What the fuck do you mean, only twenty million shards? And do you even have any idea how much a spatial cache is worth? Even if that fragment were three times its size, it would not come close to the value of the smallest spatial cache…”

Diligence cuts her off. “No spatial cache, that is out of the question. Not even a pristine passive. If he is diligent enough, he might earn a passive on his own before his tutorial ends, but granting it here would be far too much.”

I mutter under my breath, “I could just take the blueprints for a spatial cache. If you’re all such dicks about it, I’ll make my own.”

Diligence ignores what I have said. His voice sounds thoughtful as he walks around, chitin legs clacking with each step. “Unawakening the Fragment would be stretching the rules too much, as well as taking the Fragment or fixing the cage for him. My recommendation is two million shards and two or three smaller rewards.”

Diligence looks at me for a second. “1st stage trait strengthening token, and two active skills combination token, together with two million shards, should be enough.”

“The Fragment is worth well over 20 million,” I protest.

“Only if you are capable of using it. Awakened, and for someone like you, it is currently worth almost nothing. You cannot hold it, you cannot store it.”

Greed takes a sip out of a wineglass. She still lazily sits behind her wooden table, “It is still too little. There should also be a reward for his participation in this Beyond quest, so we can combine them.”

“Just give me a low pristine passive and we are all good.”

“Nathaniel.”

“What?”

“Shut the hell up.”

As I look at her, she returns my gaze. She seems to have some plan, but it annoys me a little. I know she probably wants to scam Diligence and get some fancy things for me. It feels childish, but with an annoyed sigh, I pour myself the rest of the alchemical wine and then deliberately knock the bottle off the table.

I do not know which one of these two petty assholes does it, but the bottle halts just an inch from the floor and hangs there instead of breaking.

“How about two upper arcane passives so he can use his combination token, a first-stage trait strengthening token, five million shards, a high end fourth floor residence permit, a twenty-four hour Earth visit token, and the possibility of me giving him Beyond quests normally intended only for S ranks. Also, a ten-year Beyond visitor pass for after his tutorial ends.”

“Are you serious?”

“I am.”

“Just that visitor pass is worth more than the Fragment itself.”

“I would say they are of similar value.”

“You purposefully did not take into consideration that the Fragment is awakened, needs recharging, and is not usable by him, thus drastically reducing its value.”

“Did I?”

Diligence ignores her playful tone, “No ten year Beyond visitor pass, and for sure no token to visit his planet.”

“Come on, you know something is messed up with it, too. When was the last time you saw such a new planet in the system start Pairing without even having an Absolute, and against a planet that has already gone through more than one Pairing?”

“If Humility were here, she would berate you endlessly for revealing so much information.”

“There wasn’t even the slightest censorship spike from the system.”

“It is because… oh, nice try. One one year Beyond visitor token, and that is only because I give him a high chance of not surviving the tutorial with the way he goes about things. No Earth visit token. Three million shards and a residence permit reduced to low tier. The rest is acceptable.”

I keep looking between the two of them as they continue to talk. Once again, Greed falls silent and takes a few sips while my mind goes into overdrive to try to estimate the value of all of that.

Two upper arcane passives combined would be around 2 million, making it 4 million total. Then, a first stage trait strengthening token is not that valuable, and I am sure I would get it from a side quest sooner or later. As much as I would love to visit Earth, even if only to replenish my stock of sweets, I think I can go without it.

Overall, these rewards seem fairly disappointing. The question is whether the Beyond visitor token is that valuable, or if the ability to take on S rank Beyond quests makes up for losing on the Fragment and the cage.

Finally, Greed leans back and smiles: “All that you recommend is fine, but allow me a small change. Four million shards instead of three, high end residence permit, and we will stop blocking the communication attempts by slightly lifting the spatial locks.”

Her answer confuses me. When I look at her with a question in my eyes, she returns my gaze. Her words are directed at Diligence, but at the same time, they sound like they are meant for me.

“In the end, she is his master and should be able to use her minion communication token.”

***

In the end, I ask my handler to split 30% of the shards I get between Tacita and Malika. Somehow. I just hope she will not keep a cut of it for herself. It is possible that in the current situation, the deal we made for the pristine cage does not apply, but I decide to make it anyway.

Shards: 5,346,999

After that, my shards look better than ever, to the point I think the others in the tutorial are lazy. With my salary in Primordial Knights growing, if they did not kick me out for being late, with the addition of crafting plus a few more Beyond quests, I can make quite a lot. Before the tutorial ends, I smell the possibility of low pristine passives.

I can also pick two upper arcane passives now, and I will need to do that soon. I should choose the two that would combine best into a unique arcane passive, while selling the ones I no longer need as much.

I open my status to examine my passives.

Mana Kinetic Conversion Reservoir (Unique Epic)

Mana Fortified Mind (Low Arcane)

Mental Attunement Loop (Mid Arcane)

Mana Wavelength Tyrant (Mid Arcane)

Subdermal Combustion Weave (Mid Arcane)

I know I have said that the rewards were a bit weak. If Diligence or Greed asked me, I would keep crying about getting scammed, but damn. That Fragment has to be something else to be worth such fancy stuff. The Beyond visitor token especially confuses me. I heard it is possible for Champions, Absolutes, and a few others to be allowed into Beyond, into certain floors of the First Dungeon, but I have no idea how valuable that is. Another thing I will figure out later, together with the residence permit.

The trait strengthening token is good for my Mana Physique to finally get it to its 1/3 stage. It has been on 0 for too long.

I cannot wait for the pain it brings.

Most of all, I am curious about the last two parts. The ability to take on Beyond quests meant for S ranks sounds cool, yet it also sounds like a quick way to die. I already asked my dear handler to get me one, but got told to fuck off.

Then there is that thing about not blocking the communication. I think I know what it is about, but for now, all I can do is wait.

With the quest done, I finally appear in what I quickly identify as my room in the branch building of Primordial Knights.

I barely look around for a few seconds when a voice sounds in my head, (Got you, you little shit, you are finally back! I already let the branch leader and Weslin know. I hope you get your ass kicked, you petty little bitch. I know it was you who got into the high rank pantry and broke all my bottles with Evening Dew. Just wait…)

Once again, I reach toward the structure in the air while disrupting it to make the voice of the security lady fade away. People in this guild are really nasty. The number of things that are blamed on me for some reason is incredible.

A few minutes later, someone knocks on the door. “Rookie, will you open the door for me?”

“I do not like the tone of your voice, Weslin. I think we should all calmly sit down to talk about what happened as adults.”

“Rookie. The. Door.”

“Yes, sir.”

I open it so my partner can walk in. Slightly shorter than me, shaved head, rocking those white and pale blue clothes of Primordial Knights. As always, I can sense the strength of his body just from the way the area around him reacts to each of his movements. I do not think he is a full Strength enjoyer like Jean, but he definitely went hard on the physical side with traits, skills, passives, and raw stats.

When he closes the door, I become a bit nervous, even as he moves calmly and sits down in one of the armchairs. He crosses, looks at me. Very intently.

“I guess I could say I am sorry, but…” I start.

He interrupts me with a smile, “Rookie, why don’t you try to apologize by offering me your shards? Maybe as a thanks, just like before. For me, being patient for wasting a week of my stay token while sitting on my ass here. For enduring the Doc who keeps asking me where you are, for the branch leader who keeps asking me what kind of little shit we accepted into our guild. One of the oldest, most prestigious guilds in Beyond, with a history longer than many Absolutes.”

“I think you would accept the shards right away this time, so I would rather not.”

He smiles even more widely: “You have one hour to sort out your stuff. If you are not ready by then, I will personally ask them to activate the clause that backdates your absence as a ‘breach of contract’ and let the guild reclaim every shard you earned this month.”

“There is no way something like that was in there, or that you would be able to do it.”

“Try me, bitch.”

With these last words, he leaves.

***

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