Chương 99: Open for Business

The adventurers started showing up three days after the plague rats. The first group was small, four people in hiking gear who had found the trail from Marcus's video and followed the coordinates from the original YouTube broadcast. They showed up at Loki's clearing expecting five-crystal shapeshifting lessons. They did not get five-crystal lessons. I watched from the woods as Loki handled them. He and Groot had put up a new version that was larger than the original.

The tall guy in front read the sign twice before turning to Loki.

"The video said five crystals."

"The video showed an introductory rate for the first three students. That rate is no longer available."

"Twenty-five crystals is a lot more than five," one of the others said.

"Twenty-five crystals is also significantly less than what the Planar Store charges for the same activation, and that's before you factor in the prerequisite skills you'd need to purchase first. Through the store, a shapeshifting activation would cost you well over a hundred crystals once you include the required foundational purchases. Through me, you skip the prerequisites entirely and go straight to the gift for twenty-five." The tall guy turned to his friends.

One of them pulled out his phone and started looking something up. After a moment, he said, "He's right. The store wants you to buy three prerequisite skills before you can even access shapeshifting. That's thirty crystals minimum before you even get to the activation cost." The tall guy turned back to Loki.

"So twenty-five is still a bargain."

"I am the only live instructor offering supernatural gift activation in the Ozarks, and possibly in the entire United States." The tall guy paid. In fact, all four of them paid. I was a little surprised. Where are they getting so many planar crystals? I was actually a little irritated. I didn't have that many crystals. Were they rich? They certainly didn't look like seasoned adventurers who had fought and obtained the crystals on their own. Is this how it is going to be? The rich get the opportunities?

I was tempted to jack up the price enough so that they couldn't afford the lessons. Then the rational side of me realized I needed the planar crystals. I didn't want to try opening the planar gate until I had a reserve of crystals, just in case. The second group arrived in the afternoon. Two of them wanted shapeshifting lessons while another two wanted illusion basics. Another wanted to know if Loki could teach elemental manipulation.

The sixth just stood in the back and watched everyone else negotiate before paying for shapeshifting without saying a word. Probably a bodyguard, I thought.

"Not yet," Loki told the elemental manipulation guy.

"But check back in a month." That group spent a hundred and fifty-five crystals. The third group came just before sunset. They were three adventurers who'd driven from Memphis specifically because of Tyler's house video on the Cryptid Chasers channel. Two of them paid for shapeshifting and left happy. The third wanted a bear form, and Loki told him that large predator activations cost extra. They argued about it for ten minutes before the guy paid the premium and left looking smug about it.

By the end of the first day, Loki had earned three hundred and thirty crystals. I went back to the cabin with three hundred crystals and pulled up the Planar Store. Before I bought anything, I needed to actually see where the gate would open. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! Once everyone was in place, I concentrated. The gate responded immediately.

Unfortunately, when it opened, it was at the original breach point where the plague rats had first come through, which was public land. Dagnabit. Nothing's ever easy. On the bright side, I immediately realized that I was connected to the gateway. I could keep it open as long as I supplied it with mana. For a regular person, this would have been horrendously expensive. Even for me, it was annoying. It definitely wasn't something I could keep open indefinitely.

Another thing I noticed was that I could sense when the gate was being disturbed. I might not be able to stop them from coming through, at least not yet, but I would know about it. Since I didn't want to risk that happening, and also because it cost me mana, I allowed the gate to snap shut.

"The gate opened at the original breach point," I said in the group chat. Talking on video like this was more unsettling than the apocalypse. Well, not really, but almost, I amended. I had a love-hate relationship with technology. The way they churned out new updates, making even new models obsolete after a year bothered me. I was also pretty sure they intentionally made it so that their products wouldn't last too long. Pierre was the first to speak.

"That means Claire needs to start making calls before anyone official finds out it exists and decides to handle it without us." Not really wanting to say it, but knowing I needed to, I said, "Until we get government soldiers, I need the Moonbound to watch the gate. Something on the other side could push through if it tried hard enough. I need someone who can feel it if the seal starts to strain."

"What are they watching for?" Pierre asked.

"Any change around the breach point. They'll know it when it happens." I was certain of this. Pierre stepped away long enough to make the call. While this was happening, Claire said, "I'll see what I can arrange. You know they're probably going to want the concessions we talked about. Are you still okay with that?" I took a deep breath and finally said, "Yeah, it's not like we have a lot of choice.

The Moonbound have their own lives, and most of the supernatural community just are made to hang out in the middle of the city. Go ahead." Although I hated giving up planar crystals to the government, I needed their support. It galled me to say it, but it was true. Distracting myself, I pulled up the Planar Store. Nothing had changed, though. The price to upgrade the defenses on the gate was something I could afford. Unfortunately, the upgrade itself would require a constant expenditure of planar crystals.

It wasn't going to be a one-time deal. Nope, it was a long-term investment that would drain me dry. That was one of the reasons why I was willing to let the government help. Maybe they could cover some of the cost. The gate was a money pit. It cost mana, or planar crystals, to open. Then it cost even more to keep it open. And if I wanted to stop others from crossing, I had to spend even more. Hopefully, whatever is on the other side would allow me to offset this price. The problem was, who can I send?

This thought went through my head. I still didn't like the idea Luke had come up with. In fact, I was surprised he was the one who came up with the idea in the first place. His suggestion was to allow the "predators" who joined the church to cross over. Wolves, mountain lions, or any other of my followers would be offered the chance to pass through the gate. They could even team up with adventurers. I just needed to make sure the animals weren't exploited or sacrificed.

I was also pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to retrieve their souls if they died in the other plane. I hoped I'd be able to do this if the body was brought back, but if it would work, I didn't know. I'd even let birds and others go through. They could always act as scouts. Unsurprisingly, most of my followers chose speaking, or at least telepathy, as one of their first evolutions. One concern I did have was the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to send through the gargoyles.

I'd noticed that although they could absorb some mana from the land, it didn't end up being enough, especially if they were active. This cost swelled massively the more massive the statue was. I'd hoped to create a massive stone guardian, but that didn't work out. Just keeping my current few stone followers was already proving costly. I had to supplement their mana when they were too active. Needless to say, that put a damper on my idea to create a terracotta army as well.

Being a leader, even if I delegated a lot of responsibilities, was tiring. Sometimes I missed the old days when I only had to care about myself. Still, it's worth it, I thought as I watched my family argue over the video meeting. Now, I just need to make sure nothing happens to them. Hopefully, this gate won't be a problem.