Chương 11: Book 2 Chapter Eight: Leverage

EIGHT"That's…damnit," Jerry seemed to deflate as he stared at the ring. For the first time the rabbit-kin finally looked like something was affecting him as he slumped against the wall.

"You broke the rabbit," someone whispered and Roan couldn't help but feel a glowing sense of pride at seeing the proud beast-kin looking defeated. It was a haughty, superior feeling that seemed to say, this is the way it should be.

"How many hours are left?" Roan asked, but his attention was on the ring's contents. It was mostly inferior-grade potions, but there were a few pieces that made his heart lurch. Whatever Lester had been, he'd been a fighter. A fist sized chunk of the mushroom treasure was in the ring. But that paled in comparison to the shard of a mana core sitting in the ring. It also answered his question of whether the mana core quest was available to multiple people."

Now, are there more shards on the floor, or do I need to hunt the other climbers who have one?" He didn't like the thought of having to hunt other climbers down to earn the reward. With two shards he'd have access to a poor-grade mana core as a reward right this moment. Part of him wanted to take it now, to get another boost in power similar to the body tempering and bloodline." Impatience will get you killed. Collect the rest of the shards." Roan couldn't argue with the logic of that.

"We're almost done. You spent like, the entire time looking at the ring. Thought I was going to watch you have your tongue ripped out," the same guy said.

"I got there eventually," Roan said, finally pulling his attention away from the ring and toward the alerts he'd received. SKILL LEARNED ENCHANTING TIER: 1 ENGRAVING YOUR WILL THROUGH SYMBOLS WITH IMBUED MANA TO CREATE LASTING EFFECTS FLOOR QUEST UPDATE UNITE THE SHARDS A SECOND MANA CORE SHARD HAS BEEN RECOVERED. ADD MORE SHARDS TO INCREASE RARITY OF REWARD Roan transferred all the contents from the broken ring to his locked ring.

They'd hardly materialized out of the broken ring before being whispered away into the second ring. Roan turned to his final alert and couldn't stop the smile that spread on his face. LEARN TIER: 3 PRACTICE AND INCREASE IN MENTAL BASE STATS HAS INCREASED LEARN'S TIER CURRENT EFFICIENCY INCREASE: 30%" Have to keep trying to increase intelligence and knowledge. Wonder if the increase is from having a teacher or from studying an object to learn? Maybe both?"

Roan stood and stretched, feeling his clothes sticking to his body. Whatever learn did, it caused him to sweat profusely. The canteen was drained in one go as the moment the lukewarm water touched his lips he realized how thirsty he was. With a nearly silent click the door unlocked and everyone rose to their feet and shuffled out, hardly bothering to look at Jerry as they left. Roan waited until they were gone before he walked up to the rabbit-kin." He's beaten.

He came down here for easy resources and you've robbed him of them twice. He came to meet a powerful figure in his hierarchy and she dismissed him without looking. He needs a win."

"What's the conversion rate like, credits for contribution points?" Roan asked. He kept himself firmly grounded, feet planted at shoulder width apart, chest square, eyes locked on the much more powerful beast-kin. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Poor. It would have taken me many hours of my life to earn the barest scraps of knowledge. In a few cycles I would have enough skill to teach on a higher level or even floor. Then I could charge more," Jerry said morosely." So he's young on top of it. Even for their kind. Young, broke, and desperate. You can work him."

"Bad bounce. Happens to us all. Did you happen to see the enchantments offered here in the village?" Jerry snorted and shook his head back and forth in disgust.

"A frost enchantment for 5, 000 credits? What a waste," Jerry complained.

"How much would you charge?" Roan asked.

"Can't. It's against the rules. I chose to be an educator down here, not a enchanter. I can't take payment for enchanting anything here, only teaching," Jerry explained.

"Alright. And if you decided to teach me how to make more powerful weapon enchantments than what's offered here?" Jerry froze and looked up, eyes narrowing as his mind raced.

"I would charge you…10, 000 an enchantment," Jerry said.

"Let's make it two thousand. I'm a quick learner," Roan said.

"You seek to rob me even further? Jerry snarled. There was a palpable anger in the rabbit-kin as he straightened to his full height.

"No, I'm offering to pay you double your rate for teaching per enchantment you teach me."

"It will take a lot longer than an hour to enchant something."

"Doubt it. Well…maybe in experienced time, but not in real time," Roan said as he waved a hand around the chamber. Jerry's face scrunched up even further in anger." Pushing him too far. Give him a bit, just enough to save face and let him have a win."

"2, 000 for every enchantment and a licensing fee. I'll pay you…five hundred credits every time I charge someone for giving them an enchantment you taught me," Roan said, pulling numbers out of his ass.

"I see what you're doing. Clever. We'd need a contract. Tower enforced," Jerry said.

"Let's get to it," Roan said, looking at the door. If it was already opening they only had hours before the second night would begin. Jerry closed his eyes and a few seconds later Roan got an alert of a contract being offered. He skimmed it but the writing was in such plain language it would be impossible to trick him. It was just a few sentences long and left little to no ambiguity to it. With a flick of his will Roan signed the agreement.

"I got goblins to kill. When I'm done with that, we'll work this out between us," Roan said. Jerry just nodded and laid down, throwing an arm over his eyes and starting to sleep instantly. Outside the world was sinking into darkness quickly, the sun disappearing as armed mobs ran up and down the street. Roan had hardly cleared the stoop before Darren and Taoya were before him, Moira a few feet behind with a cluster of other bloodline users.

"There you are. Taoya is going to be running the counter squad. Anytime one of the big hitters show up, the officers mainly, him and his team are going to take them out. Keep him rested and ready for the hob when it shows up, alright," Darren said, hardly slowing as he kept jogging down the street, grabbing other stragglers as they exited out of their temporal chambers.

"What he said," Taoya said with a laugh and shake of his head. Roan saw a flash of light and looked down at the big man's hands and saw they each had a crude gauntlet. Some type of silver steel with ridges along the knuckles, it looked roughly crafted without the polished nature of a market bought weapon.

"See you had a good time," Roan said, nodding at the weapons.

"We'll see, I have hope though," Taoya said, lifting the gauntlets up to show everyone. Now that he could see better, Roan realized they weren't full gauntlets, but only a top with a bar that Taoya gripped. If he didn't hold the bar, he could use his hands freely. The armored fist went to his wrist, but he'd also secured bracers of thick, brutal metal around his forearms.

"Nothing for your legs?" Roan asked.

"Didn't have that much time. Project for tomorrow if I can make it work. Anyways, everyone we stick together and hunt down and break any large grouping. Let the mobs and others kill the goblins and isolated ogres. We break any serious threats, alright. We're going to partner up on the corners and I'll roam, nothing gets through, alright," Taoya said.

"We got this Taoya. Roan, you're with me as we don't have offensive bloodlines," Moira said.

"Moira's doubling up as our healer, don't let anything touch her," Harris said, looking over the short woman with a protective eye.

"I'll do my best to keep up with her," Roan promised, wanting to roll his eyes at the man's protective spiel.

"It's much more likely she's going to keep him alive than him keeping her alive," Taoya said.

"Scores currently 2-0," Moira said.

"2-1. I saved you in the woods," Roan said. Moira shrugged a shoulder and flashed a smile at the group before grabbing his arm and leading him toward the stairs to take his place on the walls.