B2-18 - Negotiations (Patreon)

“What are you?” Pegarios demanded. 

“Dude, this is the Integrated Multiverse, touched by the System themself; I’m sure you’ve run across weird ass things in your day,” Maya sat casually in her chair, beside her Yosi was nearly a statue, her multicolored eyes barely blinking. “Suffice to say, that I stumbled across your brother’s remains and the pub. Unfortunately a bad turn of events occurred and the pub was destroyed with mostly everything in it.” 

“He’s got a Truthsense, boss.” Tender had told her before the meeting. It was something that Tommoth had hinted at in his diaries. Truthsense was one of the mid-grade Skills that occasionally dropped, in this case it made the owner a SIL lie detector. But like all things it could be stumped, in this case, half truths. 

“What kind of events?” Peg demanded. 

“Rogue AI kind of events. Dimensional bombs kind of events,” Maya glanced at Tender. “Aren’t these guys supposed to be differential to higher leveled folks?” 

“There are forty-eight known species and twelve Class Two species in the Sword Union,” Peg said. “I have never met any of your kind before and I have travelled much.” 

“A man of the world…er… Union, just the kind of person I wanted to meet. A person of your experience, dealing with other species and cultures, having to think on your feet, that’s the kind of contact that the Sullivan Survival Society wishes to connect with. We’re an up and coming merchant organization that has access to ancient relics and enchanted items, all we look for is a fair price.” 

“Merchants? You have the class, these two don’t.” Peg said. Analyst, if he could read levels and main occupational Abilities, then that meant it was ranked at least IV or V.  Peg was no slouch. 

“Hence the up and coming part, my friend. We’re hoping you’d be willing to get in on the ground floor and become one of our Preferred Trading Partners and get wholesale prices on ancient relics and powerful enchantments,” Maya smiled. “Of course, discretion is required.” 

“You’re an Enemy of the State, Tier 2 at least,” Peg said. The two that arrived with him moved slightly at those words. “You come here, with my brother’s bones in a box and say you’re selling enchantments?” 

“As one of our Preferred Trading Partners, we are willing to offer the Right of First Refusal on any enchantment or relic that is discovered by our corporation,” Maya continued. “All items will have to be purchased in person and with cold hard physical credits.” 

Peg drummed his gauntleted fingers across the table and watched Maya. 

“Are you some half assed criminal organization?” Peg asked. “What the hell is it that you’re doing?” 

Maya put on her best customer service smile. “Just looking to make some credits, my friend. The Integrated Multiverse runs on the stuff and we, like all living and breathing SIL, need it; in abundance.” 

Peg twitched as his Truthsense told him she was not lying. 

“What is your game?” Peg demanded. 

“No game, just selling items,” Maya said. She kept her smile on. “My corporation has come across ancient relics and ancient devices, then I came across your pub and decided that you were the best candidate to contact in hopes of creating a lucrative agreement.” 

“Where is my pub?” Peg said. 

“Most of it was consumed by a dimensional bomb explosion,” Maya said. 

Peg frowned.  

Maya summoned a golden goblet from her Inventory and set it down upon the table. Peg’s eyes and the other two figures with him all snapped to the cup.  

Chalice of the Unyielding - high grade, Tier 1

Drink from this chalice and remove all emotion based attacks, double your Physical Perception, and increase your Physical Strength by 10. Effects last thirty minutes.

Then she summoned another device, a fancy curved sword. 

Reaper’s One Handed Sword - high grade, Tier 1

Sharpening Enchantment

Double Blade Enchantment

Fast Attack Enchantment

Blood Glutton Enchantment

The Cutting Leaf Enchantment

Created by [Master Bladesmith] Yon Vo Tai, the higher the skill in [Blademaster] the more effective the enchantments are.

Peg practically licked his lips at the sword. 

“You are selling this?” he asked. 

“Of course, this is just a sample of the selection of wares that my corporation offers,” Maya said. “The sword we can let go for about eight hundred thousand credits, a steal, and the chalice, one million. There is high grade and there is high grade, y’know?” 

“Unfortunately, I am a patriotic citizen of the Union and do not dabble in criminal activities,” Peg said. 

Maya only smiled wider. “I would not dare question your patriotism, my friend. But the way I hear it, the multiverse is filled with danger and creatures of horror, should not the Union’s finest and bravest obtain the best tools for the job they can? My corporation has found items of ancient power that still resonate to this day. From a Tier 2 [High Captain] to high leveled [Navigators] and [Ship Officers], we have had them checked in house and if you wish, we shall even pay for the System to verify their authenticity.”

Peg’s eye twitched slightly and he looked away from the sword, a bored expression crossing his face. “I have seen better weapons, for eight hundred thousand credits. I have seen weapons that can devastate high leveled mana mutations. This sword seems nice, but that’s a lot of enchantments on a weapon, I would expect something like that to suffer resonance failure within the first use.” 

“Where I come from,” Yosi said, speaking for the first time. “One doesn’t obtain [Master Bladesmith] until level one hundred and fifty, when they have been making weapons for a thousand years. Is it so different here?” 

“Of course not,” Peg said. “Everyone knows what a [Master Bladesmith] is, there are five in the Union.” 

“The System also doesn’t allow outright lies in the Item Text,” Yosi said. “To say that this was not created by a [Master Bladesmith] is to say the System would allow such a lie to be told.” 

“I would never say such a thing,” Peg said. “But many know that you can put the truth into an Item Text but it could still be a trash item.” 

“Even a trash creation from a [Master Bladesmith] would be something to treasure,” Yosi added. 

“Well, there’s a simple way to test the efficacy of our items,” Maya said, smiling still. She slid the chalice to one of the armored people behind Peg. “If you have a drink, please pour it into the chalice. Once the effects occur, tell us what your status page says.” 

The figure looked to Peg who gave a nod. The faceplate opened and Maya saw an old grizzled face that shared a lot of the same features with Peg. 

“My uncle, Saddeyen.” Peg said. 

“Ma’am.” The grizzled man nodded to Maya. She nodded back, seeing in him a tough old soldier. He bent down and poured a liquid from a hip flask. Even from where she sat, Maya could smell the alcohol in it.  He didn’t hesitate or second guess himself, instead he filled the chalice and knocked it back in one gulp. “Yeah, I feel the changes,” he said after a moment. “My Physical Perception has doubled and my Strength is up. Also I’m calmer than normal.” The delivery was dry and to the point. “There’s a pair of AIs behind that door. Don’t know if they’re dangerous or not. This building is weird, it’s messing with my perception, everything is either too big or too small.” 

Maya raised an eyebrow at the remarks.  

“Seems a tad pricey for a cup.” Peg remarked. 

“If you read the Item Text, it states it lasts thirty minutes, but it doesn’t state a limit on amount of use,” Maya said.  

Peg’s eyes practically snapped back to the cup. 

Maya had wondered why the cup had been sitting out on a table in the middle of the bridge. After going over it with Bell, she had discovered that the cup could be used by everyone on the bridge, every thirty minutes. When their buff wore off, they went back to the cup and drank. It was a never ending fountain of buffs.

“You mean…” Peg began. 

Maya made the cup slide back to her, undulating the table a bit. She pulled a bottle of water from her inventory and filled the chalice. It had to be filled to half, about four ounces. She drank from the cup and felt a wave of warmth fill her. She didn’t have to check her stats to see them jump up and change. Although, Maya mused, she should have washed the cup, she could taste a little of the harsh alcohol that Saddeyen had poured into the chalice.

Yosi followed her lead, taking the remainder from Maya’s water bottle and filling the cup before drinking. Afterward, Maya slid the cup back to Peg. He hesitated for a moment before following suit. 

“It is true,” he said. 

“Liars make poor business partners,” Maya said. “I do not take you for a fool and I would not try to swindle you just to make a profit. Yes, my corporation needs the credits and we have the goods, quality goods, to sell. All we’re looking for is a mutual relationship of honesty and fairness. I will not screw you over and you will not try to cheat me.

“These items we bring to you, although pricey, are of quality make. As I am an Enemy of the State, I cannot legitimately do business in the Union, but it does not prevent me from working with someone one on one. You need credits, I need credits, I’ve seen your financial records and know that you invested a lot into the pub, with it destroyed you have lost a lot. But with Tommoth’s life insurance, you can gain some of that back and we can provide you with quality items at wholesale price, fifty percent of what they would normally cost.” 

“This all reeks of a set up,” Peg said. 

“Totally,” Maya grinned. “This is something that just doesn’t happen. A person doesn’t just pop out of the air and try selling you stuff, at a marked discount. I have no ties to the Union and I have no say in what goes on here. All I’m looking for is credits.” 

Peg looked uncertain, but the other figure stepped forward. The faceplate opened to show a female version of Peg. 

“I am Dianarios, Pegarios’ cousin, Saddeyen is my father.” The woman nodded her head to Maya. “I wish to speak to my cousin and father about this endeavor.” 

Maya waved her arm and a door appeared on the wall next to the exit. Saddeyen immediately swiveled as the door formed, weapon raised.  

“Sorry about that. You can talk in there. I swear I will not record, listen in, or spy on you in any way.” Maya raised her hand. 

Vow accepted. 

“Huh, that’s a thing?”

The three nodded and shuffled toward the door. It closed with a loud thud and Maya immediately sagged and sighed. 

“Do all enterprises entail family?” Maya asked Bell. 

“Usually. They are the only ones you can trust.” 

“But don’t you get idiots like Tommoth?” 

“Of course, but they’re family.” 

“Right.” 

“Did I do well, Maya?” Yosi asked. 

“Of course, dear. You were very brave and knowledgeable. I might have lost Peg there if you hadn’t stepped up.” 

“Thank you, Maya.” 

“Remind me to start paying you guys,” Maya said. “It’s not a business if you don’t pay the workers a living wage.” 

“The items we have taken are far more than we would have been able to afford in our lifetimes,” Bell said. “The dimensional bags alone are worth more than I would have made in ten years as an [Alchemist] on my homeworld.” 

“I never got paid,” Tender and Yosi both said. 

“Good to know,” Maya said, yawning.

One of the improvements she had made after Maria had spent some time in the Cage was the creation of a bathroom. Water tanks had been formed and a plumbing system had been created; all of it was normal system tech stuff, but loaded on when the cage was formed.  

Maya took a moment to refresh herself, check on Roci and Nan, and then returned to the meeting room. She could sense the trio in the other room, but as she had said, she did not spy on them in any way.  

They took a good ten minutes, but returned to the meeting room. Their faceplates were all opened and they seemed, if not more relaxed, then less likely to shoot up the place. Peg sat while the other stood. 

“We would like to discuss what other items you may have for sell,” Pegarios stated. 

Maya smiled. “Of course.” 

***

Four hours flashed by in an instant, Maya was exhausted by the time negotiations finished with Pegarios. They were very interested in the items she had for sell, it appeared that within the Sword Union, such items were only for Nobility, even low leveled Nobility got the good stuff while everyone else was stuck with whatever was left over. 

Maya gleaned that all was not well in the Pegarios’ House, or House Revvena. The Grand Dame, Ostelii Revvena, was on her death bed. At two thousand three hundred years old, Ostelii was the Tier 2 SIL that gave legitimacy to their House. Once she passed, their position, tenuous as it was, would collapse immediately. 

Already there were grabs for power and cut throat attacks upon the outer fringes of the Family. Pegarios and relatives had broken away from the infighting, using the chaos to try and build up their base of power as the rest of Revvena House went on with their bloodletting.

Criminality was the speciality of the House, although their outward facing front was small scale business men and women, their true profits lay in smuggling goods and services.  

With the death of Tommoth and the lost of the pub, along with other bad fortune that had followed them into the Fringe Worlds, Pegarios and his relatives were on the verge of bankruptcy. 

“Yeesh, inter-House politics is rough,” Maya said. 

“It is said that House Revenna sheds more of its own blood than its enemies,” Saddeyen chuckled. Everyone had taken a seat now and were somewhat relaxed. The old man’s tough facade had slowly faded, revealing a dark humored man with an easy grin and oddly comforting eyes. 

“It is an issue with Tier 2 Houses,” Pegarios stated. “Especially when there are a large number of high leveled people that could become Tier 2 only if they had the full backing and financial support of the Family. Yet that will not happen, as we are fractured.”

“We were considered fringe Family before this began,” Dianarios said. “Our lot in life was foot soldiers and minions for the main branch of the family. We decided it was best if we removed ourselves from being used by the higher ranked family members.” 

“I can get behind that, striking out on your own and making your own fortune,” Maya said. “Sucks about your House though.”

“The House is dying, but we can rebuild and make our own.” Pegarios said. 

“Those lads out there, that came in here ready to blast me apart, they’re your family too?” Maya asked. 

“Yes, cousins and siblings,” Pegarios said. “I am the eldest of my Mother’s children, she was main branch and that provides me with the veneer of legitimacy.” He chuckled at that. “Currently she is in Tzonia attempting to bargain our services to the Tzonian military.” 

“What services?” Maya asked.

“We are mercenaries, currently,” Saddeyen stated with a scowl. “Our fortunes have fallen such that we must fight for others not of our blood.” 

“It’s not too bad,” Dianarios said, “It keeps the young on their toes and sheds the useless.”

Maya didn’t flinch at the words, keeping her calm demeanor. Personally, Maya had never met a mercenary before, but Pops’ held the firm belief that fighting for money didn’t lead to good troops. Then again, Maya didn’t know the culture here. In a multiverse where everyone could level and become strong, fighting was a way of life. 

“How many troops does your family have?” Maya asked, more curious than anything. 

“One thousand low grade, two hundred mid grade, five high grade,” Saddeyen replied. “Looking to crush your foes and allow us a percentage of loot?” 

“Not currently,” Maya smiled. “Perhaps as our business relations increase.” 

“Haltor’s World was a good training world,” Dianarios said. “It kept the young in fighting shape and even allowed them to gain levels, but the fees are killing us now. Without the business license that the pub provided, we’re considered tourists now. Not a legitimate business enterprise. What a load of shit.” 

“We’ve been forced back into the orbitals,” Pegarios said. “It cost a damn lot to come down here, rent that dropship, and purchase those dimensional locks.” 

Maya shrugged. Coming in hot and heavy had been their choice. “How long will be the turn around for these items?” Maya asked. 

The trio had settled upon two million three hundred thousand credits worth of goods. The financial burden it costed them was great, but they had plenty of contacts that were interested in high grade goods. 

There was always fighting in the Union, between Houses, between cities, between planets, and then against all the mana mutations, rogue AIs, and other creatures that stalked the edges of the Union. That made high grade weapons highly sought after. 

“I would say about a standard week,” Pegarios said. “This will require transport out of this system and perhaps into Tzonia or some other larger settled system.” 

That would be twelve weeks RSH time. Maya drummed her fingers across the table. Three months was a long time, far longer than she had been in the RSH herself. Pegarios would roughly double his money with this endeavor, but that was too long for Maya. She needed more credits and waiting three months just to make a few more million was far too long. 

A part of Maya chuckled at that thought, pre-integration she had never had more than a few thousand dollars to her name, now she was richer than her entire family would have been if they added up all the assets they had.  

Yet, there was an entire world out there that was being torn apart. Credits would help alleviate that. 

“What are your thoughts on consignment?” Maya asked. 

***

Two more hours passed as they hammered out another deal. They understood consignment, as many crafters focused on crafting and not selling. But this forced the issue of System Contract, which Pegarios was hesitant about entering.  

Maya didn’t trust him, but he was no fool. He knew the value of the items she carried and she was offering him spectacular terms for consignment, a full quarter of the selling price. That put all the risk on her and Maya was determined to have the System enforce their contract. 

Although she had stated everything had to be purchased in cold hard credits, Maya understood when to bend her own rules for the greater good. Pegarios also understood that this alleviated some of their financial pressures, they would be making a cool seven million in profit if all the products sold at retail prices, along with the life insurance that had been placed on Tommoth.  

In the end, Maya got her System Contract with Pegarios which boiled down to that he would sell her items for her. He would retain twenty five percent of the sell value. He would contact her on a weekly basis to give her updates. He would return when all items were sold and they would renegotiate a new contract. As the System recorded all transactions that were not person to person, Pegarios would have to physically meet with her to pay her the credits in credit disc form. Otherwise the transaction would be recorded and the taxman cometh. 

Maya wanted to sleep, even Pegarios and his group seemed exhausted. Yosi was still alert, but Bell had decided to take a break in Nan’s room. Tender was stalwart as always, ready to fight at a moment’s notice. 

Maya noted Saddeyen’s glances at Tender. 

“Problem?” she asked. 

“No. It’s just you don’t see many tamed rogue AIs,” he said. 

“He’s not tamed. He’s just Tender,” Maya said, smiling. “He’s his own person, does what he wishes.” 

That raised an eyebrow from Saddeyen. 

“Oh, that reminds me. What’s with Tommoth buying rogue AI parts?” 

The trio froze a bit and cast a look at one another. 

“Do you have access to rogue AI parts?” Pegarios asked. 

“Depends on what they’re used for.” 

“Rogue components harvesting. The problem with System tech is that the resources and knowledge and industrial base required to move into Tier 2 construction is very, very intensive. There are shortcuts around those that can be achieved by use of rogue AI parts.” 

“I thought the Sword of the Universe condemned them all to destruction?” 

“Ah, well the Sword owns the largest system tech manufactory in the Union. All goods are practically created by his industries.” 

Maya reached into her Inventory and summoned Big Snake’s main servo motor assembly. She had been tinkering with it off and on, trying to figure out how it worked and if it could be used to create some ambulatory drones. 

The heavy assembly thumped onto the table, the tale tell red gleam of rogue tech components widen eyes and dropped jaws. 

“This… where did you get this?” Dianarios asked, she got up, pulled a device from her pack and began scanning it. “It’s a rogue AI motor assembly.” She grinned. “I know half a dozen ways we could use this!” 

“So it’s valuable?” Maya asked. 

Dianarios’ face immediately went blank and she sat down as if a moment ago she hadn’t been drooling over the assembly. 

“It has some uses, minor uses,” she said. 

“Dianarios is our mid-grade [Engineer],” Pegarios said. 

“You send your Engineers into battles?” Maya asked. 

“Tommoth was always kind and friendly to me,” Dianarios said. “He was a non-combatant like me, focused his path on running a business and being the talkative face for that part of our business.”

Maya gave a nod and cleared her throat for another round of negotiations.

***

The enchanted items Pegarios purchased came from his own wallet, but the rogue AI parts purchased came from the Family funds. The System provided the most basic of banking functions, allowing money to be transferred, stored, and turned physical, but it didn’t allow investing or interest.  

From the Economics knowledge cube Maya had downloaded, the System pretty much crippled banking. One could keep all their untold millions upon themselves and never have to deal with the sticky fingers of the government demanding their cut. Transferring funds between SIL was more difficult, there had to be a Bond of Trust between the two individuals. Something that was not easy to create and usually only occurred between family and loved ones.  

Pegarios took a break to reenter the real world and send an expensive message packet to his mother. After a two hour wait and ten MVT minutes, he returned with more credits. 

By then everyone had to take a break. Saddeyen and Dianarios slept on lounging chairs that Maya created and Maya and Bell and Yosi all took a quick nap and got a stimulant boost from Nan. 

“You see the amount of money in an economy is generated not by just fiddling with numbers, but by how much a bank or lending operation can give to your average Jane. Jane then buys stuff with that money, which goes to the store owner, who pays their employee, who in turns buys other stuff and the whole circle keeps going on and on,” Maya explained to Roci, showing the AI the deals they had been negotiating. 

“But with the System butting into things, this changes the whole dynamic. Originally banks formed because carrying around a lot of physical coins was damn difficult and easy to get stolen from you. But carrying around a promissory note was easier to move around. With Integration, the System directly pays you. It’s just numbers in your status page, but you can form it into a physical coin if you wish. Therefore everyone carries around their wealth on them. That in turn strangles the struggling banking industry, because no one wants to give up their money to banks who have to report that amount to the government. 

“This leads there to be less money in the overall economy. It also makes it very difficult to tax people based on income, because the System is technically the biggest employer in the Integrated Multiverse, it’s constantly pouring untold billions into local economies by giving out loot.

“So in the Union in order to collect tax credits, they automatically charge every legitimate citizen a flat tax rate based on their age and estimated levels. This of course hits the crafters pretty damn hard because leveling in crafting takes longer than it does leveling in combat orientated classes. Also, the crafters have to sell their stuff and that means business dealings, where they are charged sales tax. This in turn leads to more and more people deciding to just fight instead of building and that decreases the pool of crafters throughout the Union. 

Maya took a breath. “Which leads us to where we are now. The high leveled crafters are getting pinched by the taxman while the high leveled fighters can just pay their flat tax rate and go out and kill some more. Who in turn level far faster than crafters and who will eventually take over governing worlds and cities and making the laws.

“This also leads to the formation of Houses, which in turn creates a semi Feudalistic state that rules over whole worlds and star systems. You gain enough levels, then it’s easier to just make you a planetary governor than it is to send an army to defeat you.

“Which then leads to in-fighting, wars, and producing more soldiers than your enemies can because they might invade and take what is yours. At that point, your economy is constantly preparing for war or supplying a war effort. Therefore Jane can’t borrow money from a bank to start her crystal cat figurine store in the mall.” 

Pegarios entered the Cage once more and looked around to see everyone lounging around the meeting room. Some refreshments had been brought out, simple water and ration bars that Nan had cooked up. Bell was half asleep in a chair and Yosi was snoring softly in a corner bed. Only Tender was up and he was still standing in his spot holding his weapon. He hadn’t said much since the dealings began, but Maya could sense he was taking everything in. 

“What’s the news, Peg?” Maya asked. “Mother approve?” 

Pegarios made a face and sat down in his chair. Saddeyen jerked awake and yawned, settling down in the chair beside Peg. Dianarios continued sleeping. 

“We shall buy all the rogue AI parts you have listed,” Peg said.  

“If you got the coin,” Maya said. This was different from the consignment deal she had made. This one was going personally to the Family, not Pegarios’ pockets. 

“I have the amount we agreed on.” 

“This has been a long day for all of us,” Maya said, yawning. “Let’s get it down and we can all go home and rest.” 

Pegarios nodded and they got down to business. 

Tender had plenty of rogue AI parts in his inventory, Maya had been tinkering with a lot of the parts from Big Snake and other rogue AIs, together they created a large pile of parts that Dianarios was salivating over. 

Maya learned they were boosting their ship’s sensors, drives, and reducing their signal radius with the rogue AI parts, along with manufacturing ammunition and some higher grade parts. It was a criminal underground technological secret that even Pegarios wouldn’t release to Maya. She had tried enticing him with better deals, but what they did with rogue AI parts was their Family secret. 

She relented after that, mainly because they paid a fair price for the parts and Maya walked away with another two million credits bulging her already padded System wallet. 

“That is done,” Maya said exhausted. “Nice doing business with ya’ll. We’ll be back her in a standard week MVT time, to see how the sales went and to offer more goods, if we have them.” 

Pegarios had brought in a dimensional container and they filled it with the items they purchased.  

Maya nearly collapsed onto the table after they left, groaning. “Who thought making four and a half million credits would take so damn long,” she cried. 

“You do realize that is an impressive fortune,” Bell said. 

“I just want to sleep.” 

“We still have to purchase the goods from the Network,” Tender stated. 

“Oh, god!” 

***

[Buyer] Level 12

[Seller] Level 13

[Trader] Level 12

[Purchaser] Level 2

[Negotiator] Level 3

[Merchant] Level 7

[Trade Seeker] Level 4

[Dimensional Navigator] Level 1

You have a destination in mind, now you can get there easier. 

+ 2 Physical Perception