CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN

  From that point onward, negotiations, as far as he was concerned, went relatively without issue. Well, if you ignored the part where he blew nearly seven hundred million free attribute points on nine, fairly innocuous, questions. Although! In his defense, they were all really good questions. Unquestionably game breaking in their specificity and scope. You could tell by the way the administrator grew paler and paler as Richard rattled off his queries, that he’d picked some real scorchers.

  And! Let us not forget that, so far as he was aware, not a one of them was a question he already knew the answer to.

  Probably.

  Possibly…?

  Okay so maybe he hadn’t exactly been sure of what he did and did not know.

  That whole long term memory loss thing rearing its ugly head at the worst possible moment. Really, it could’ve happened to anyone. It’s not like he’d asked for things to wind up this way! It’d just sort of… happened. And while, sure, it could very well be the case that he’d just wasted the gross intergalactic income of a medium sized sector on questions a hastily written note shoved into a dusty corner of his inner library already addressed, he’d figured it couldn’t hurt to be sure.

  To pad his chances, you could say. No harm in a little extra insurance, was there?

  Worst case scenario, he wasted a literal fortune of currency he hadn’t really earned in the first place on information he didn’t really need. Best case scenario? He now knew something, perhaps a number of somethings, that his past self had not been privy to. A prospect which could only mean good things for the rest of humanity.

  Ah! And speaking of humanity…!

  “And is that… all…?” the administrator hissed, left eye beginning to twitch madly as he glared at the long list of demands. “Are you certain you haven’t forgotten anything? The key to eternal youth, perhaps? Exact coordinates to the most bountiful realms of the multiverse?”

  “Those were options?!”

  “No of course they weren’t-!” the lizard man saw the brief twitch of a smirk on Richard’s lips, and immediately deflated. “Do you have any idea how much trouble I’d be in should my part in any of this information leaking become public? Let alone all of it?!”

  “Not nearly as much as you would were the entire Consortium to go under, all because of an accounting error you failed to, heh, account for.”

  The lizard man narrowed his eyes.

  “You are aware, yes, that, were you to actually go through with such a threat, you would not last the day?”

  “Well, obviously. And neither would you, my good friend, so I think it all balances itself out rather nicely, don’t you?” The admin didn’t respond. “Now!” Richard rubbed his hands together. “Would you like to do the honors, or shall I?”

  By way of response the administrator, spoil sport that he was, shoved the notepad across the table with a look of disgust. Whereupon Richard deftly snatched it out of the air with a string of mana.

  “Perfect! Right then System! This is what I want the people of earth to receive in exchange for… uh, how much was it again?”

  A 251,480,900 point total detracted from the debt owed.

  “That’s right! For that many points earth gets… uh? However many information packages I mentioned. Sorry. I’m working a bit ‘off the cuff here.’ Improvising,” Richard shuddered. “-you could say, so you’ll have to forgive any lapse in attention on my part. So, like I said, a mass email- oh! And preferably all at once and in as unobtrusive a way as possible, please. Wouldn’t really be ‘uplifting humanity’ if this little info-package of mine gets more people killed than it saves.”

  That will be an additional 1,000,000 free attribute points.

  Richard gaped.

  “Wait seriously?! That’s- you know what? Never mind. Why am I even surprised at this point? Alright, tack on another one mil for the unobtrusive guarantee, and we should be good.”

  Please specify the individual reading materials you wish to be included in the unobtrusive information bundle.

  “Alright, yeesh. No need to get testy.”

  The system didn’t respond. Richard flicked the notepad with a finger.

  “Alright let’s see here… number one, a reworked version of the [Azure Dew Collects in Open Palms] breathing manual, this time with a little less dew and a whole lot more breathing. Heh. Kind of ironic this so called ‘universal’ manual might actually see widespread use for the first time after this. Absolutely undeserved, but hey, we work with what we have.

  “Next is… ah! My life energy manifesto! Another custom job based around my personal experiences tapping into life energy. It’s not exactly a step by step guide on how best to prestige, but then, how much would that have cost me again system?”

  The information you have described would cost more than you can currently afford.

  “A bit light on specifics there, aren’t we system?”

  Matters pertaining to prestige are deemed extremely classified under the terms of the contract signed between the Ra'ak Neerian Consortium and the Concord of Heavenly Archetypes.

  “Of course it is. Can’t have the cattle growing too rowdy for their masters, now can we? This is how we get coups, after all, and really, what scares late stage capitalists more than a good old fashioned revolt? Poor quarterly earnings? Quite possibly.”

  Richard thought for a second.

  “And I suppose the same goes for warning anyone out there of the danger posed by the creature and his ilk?”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Please specify the individual reading materials you wish to be included in the unobtrusive information bundle.

  “Yep. Because that’s not at all suspicious,” Richard sighed. “Okay, we’ve got a full list of requirements for uncommon ranked classes and above. Well, up until ancient, at least. I have no idea how you’d manage legendary. How to manually upgrade attributes through training, that one’s a no brainer.”

  Richard hummed.

  “A few cliff notes on peerage, wouldn’t hurt. What you should know, what you should avoid, and generally who not to piss off. Also a little bit about regalia’s, for those folks lucky enough to possess them. That they guzzle down mana like no other, are extremely temperamental, that they’re basically people, etc…”

  Richard blinked, feeling like he were forgetting something. Then he snapped his fingers.

  “Information on how to form three basic ability cubes would be a nice addition. Let’s go with… Power Blow, Power Strike, and Power Step for now.”

  That will be an additional 10,000,000 free attribute points.

  “That’s not a problem, Oh! And, tell me, how much would one of those healing syringes run me as far as free attribute points? The ones from the Super Easy Mode tutorial.”

  A single healing syringe would cost 0.0001 free attribute points.

  Richard whistled.

  “Well I’d always sort of known they weren’t exactly top quality goods, but that’s almost too cheap. Not sure I trust it but, then again, it’s better than dying. Alright, throw a couple of water bottles and three days worth of meal kits together, along with two syringes per person. Call it a wellness package or something. Uhh, and you know what? Why don’t you add a small cookie as well. Because, why not?”

  That will be an additional 4,500,000 free attribute points.

  “Send it,” Richard said, leaning back into his chair with a self satisfied smile.

  Do you have a preference as to who the message should be attributed to?

  Richard thought about it for a second then grinned.

  “Address it as coming from their ‘Watcher in the Wings.’ That sounds suitably ominous, no? I sure know I’d listen to that guy, so mysterious and knowledgeable.”

  Watcher in the Wings confirmed. Distributing joint unobtrusive information bundle and wellness package now…

  Unobtrusive information bundle and wellness package successfully distributed. The requisite points have been detracted from the remaining debt owed.

  “Okay!” Richard stretched in his seat. “And I think that just about wraps up negotiations for the day!”

  The admin’s eyes bulged wide.

  “W-wait! What are you saying?! There are still upwards of…” he checked his holo-monitor. “Two hundred million free points remaining!”

  “I know. But, see. I figured I’ve already gotten just about everything I could possibly want out of the exchange,” Richard lovingly patted the, not one, not two, but three spatial rings now adorning his fingers—each of them stuffed to bursting with his now considerable hoard.

  “Also, you may not know this about me, but I really do enjoy being owed things. Never knew myself until just recently. I guess you could say, I really don’t see a reason to screw up a good thing. Besides, if not for our little rendezvouses, how else would I find an excuse to visit?”

  While the flustered Ra’ak Neerian liaison choked on his own indignation in the background, Richard went over the full extent of his haul. Naturally, he’d stocked up on a wealth of breakthrough resources. So many that he figured they should all basically be set well into D grade, so long as they were frugal.

  Of course, not knowing which advancement paths years worth of careful research had concluded to be the most synergistic, he’d settled for just grabbing a whole lot of everything. Having spent a couple points on a genuine prestige resource catalogue—with pictures and everything—basically anything that caught his eye immediately went into the spacial ring.

  He had the points, so why not live a little? There had been very few occasions in his life wherein he truly got to splurge. And, contrary to his expectations, that much of what he was buying was intended for those he… somewhat cared for somehow made the spending spree all the more enjoyable. The experience strange but… not necessarily in a bad way.

  And speaking of the others, the girls and the tikes, he recognized that there were probably far more pressing concerns on their plates, which was why he’d gone to the trouble of putting together a number of to go bags, just in case they ran into any sort of trouble while he was gone. Twelve bags for twelve of his people, containing an assortment of items and equipment they might need in an emergency.

  Health potions, mana potions, a few high calorie meal replacement’s, barrier chalk—always handy. A few temporary boosting pills with clear labels explaining the dangerous side effects, rope, a multi tool, duct tape, combat shovels—because you never knew when you might have to dig a hole.

  Light weight combat sleeves—what amounted to futuristic body armor. And finally a pair of Premium Black Cards for the adults, with a line of credit leading directly to the massive debt of free points he was still owed.

  Oh, and he’d also tossed in a bunch of talismans as well. So inferior in their craftsmanship as to barely be worth mentioning, but good enough to serve in a pinch, he supposed. Tack on a few exorbitantly expensive full-range communication talismans and that was basically it. Now, if worst came to worst, they’d have the option of immediately contacting him, no matter where in the sector, or universe, he was.

  Something that should prove imminently useful, seeing as he didn’t intend to return to the tutorial any time soon.

  “Have all the arrangements been taken care of? Because I’d really prefer to head out as soon as is humanly possible. As pleasant as I find your company, I can’t really afford to stay and chat.”

  The administrator, who’d, up until this point, been in the middle of hissing veiled threats, just vague enough that the system didn’t flag them as infringing upon the code of civil conduct, cut himself off mid tirade. Then he slumped in apparent defeat.

  “Well, if I really cannot change your mind,” he reached into his jacket pocket whereupon he retrieved a white business card. “Feel free to call on me any time, so that we might… settle this little dispute of ours.”

  “Sure thing!” Richard snatched the card and placed it inside one of his spatial rings, no idea how he was meant to call anyone inside or outside the tutorial. “Anyway, about that ride I mentioned? I really need to get out of here. As in yesterday.”

  “Why, yes… of course. You there, take the child to the place we’ve agreed upon. Spare no expense. Break traffic laws if you must, just be sure to get him where he’s going swiftly and all in one piece.”

  “Aww,” Richard swooned. “And here I thought you didn’t care!”

  The senior financial liaison grit his teeth, glaring daggers, before, as per their agreement, the system forced open his jaw, and coerced the next few words out of his mouth.

  “The executive-only hunting grounds have been reserved, as per your specifications. Granted, it wasn’t exactly easy to find one that was both unoccupied, and equipped with controlled time dilation.”

  The Ra’ak Neerian glared. Richard merely stared back nonplussed. What did the guy want? A cookie?

  “Awesome! Which means…”

  The admin growled, obviously restraining the instinct to leap over the table and throttle him.

  “Which means… you are free to go. You two! Escort him. Be sure no harm befalls him or it’s your heads. Am I understood?!”

  The two soldier types saluted, hands to their chests. Taking the redirected anger with far more grace than he would have.

  “Right then! What are you waiting for?! Dismissed!”

  And so saying, Richard was led out of the penthouse office in style, visibly excited for the future. Though more than that, he was just… content. Secure in his belief that the preparations he’d made would cover any and all concerns that might pop up tutorial side.

  I sure hope they like the to go bags. Poor quality talisman’s aside, I really did put a lot of thought into them.

  +++

  Above a cratered stretch of scorched earth and upturned soil, twelve hefty to go bags appear as if summoned from thin air. Hovering in the smoke laden air for a brief instant, before dropping like stones. Their combined bulk landing atop broken tent poles and trampled gray canvas, further burying the remnants of a quaint little campsite beneath the bloody morass of war churned soil.

  Where they then lay. Undisturbed. Unmoving.

  Their life saving contents and inconceivable riches, made utterly useless with no one there to properly appreciate them.