“My guild will be needing monster cores. Lots of them. In exchange for your assistance, I’ll give the AG preferential treatment for acquisition and rates.”

The shock had rendered Kubo dumb. But some part of his old merchant’s mind clicked back on at the sound of a deal. Slowly the old guild master’s face tightened up. Other things could be dealt with later. But right now there was money to be made.” How many cores do you want?”

“About a twenty thousand core shards, a thousand low-level cores, and maybe five hundred mid-level. This month.”

If Kubo was drinking water he would have done a spit take. Those numbers were unheard of. Not every monster had a core that would stay intact and harvestable. Plus the ever-present risk of death from the monsters. That would be a difficult order to fulfill. But that meant the potential for profit would also be high.

Even though it was an astronomical number, getting the core shards was more reasonable. Low-level adventures could collect them from weak magical beasts. The voracious crop-destroying almiraj reproduced like crazy and was always in need of culling. But really this was too much. It was like when the Empire placed the order for rings of protection. But, likewise, the potential for profits was incredible.

“This month? Are you implying that this will be ongoing?”

“For the next few months at least. After a while, I do expect demand to taper off to a more sustainable level as the market gets saturated.

“Just what are you making? Why do you need so many cores?”

“You’ll see. In fact, I’ll send you a few samples as free gifts.”

After an experiment, Tim discovered he could grow cores by infusing them with a continual stream of mana. But there was a limit to how big the crystal could grow. For bigger reserves of power, he needed bigger starting materials. If it wasn’t for this limit he would only need the shards.

Kubo considered things for a moment. Tim, his prize of a lifetime was already out of his grasp. Plus Tim was a national hero. And it seems like the financial benefits could be good. No way would Kubo dare make a move at him, at least not directly. It was best to wait and see what he was up to. If Tim really could kill the Akkorokaumi then for the benefit of everyone, it would be best to offer him all the support he could.

“You said you are leaving, what about the Akkorokaumi? Do you mean to just leave us all here to die?”

“Hey, it wasn’t my choice to come to this shitty world. And it’s defiantly not my choice to die for your sake as some hero. Yeah, I was scared when I signed up at the AG. But I didn’t know anything back then. But I’ve gone through your library. You didn’t protect me from the Empire. And now you have nothing left to offer me. So why should I help you?”

Long pent up frustrations broke out of Tim like a volcano. After the eruption there was silence. He was mad at them for his weakness. Tim was mad at himself and mad at this stupid world. He was infuriated at their unreasonable expectations. But most of all he was mad at being ripped away from his life back home. But as the eruption died down the business side of him took over again.

“But,” Tim sighed, “there may be some room for some mutually beneficial results. I am working on a few things, and what I need more than anything is Information. I need spells not listed in your library. Divine spells, unusual spells, or anything that’s rumored or forbidden. Especially any spells involving time or distance. So I want to put a bounty out for all available information. Even if someone can only demonstrate the spell, or if it’s a sketch of some formula engraved on a ruin, I want it. If you can do that, I will work on making artillery to fight the Akkorokaumi.”

This was not the conversation that Mr. Kubo had imagined would take place. How could he make the best of out this situation? At least there were some defenses promised in exchange for cooperation. It was possible that Tim couldn’t make it back home and get drawn into the fight against the Akkorokaumi. However, there was also no telling how long they would have. All he could do was surrender the issue and hope for the best.

“By the way, how did you do that? With the collar?”

“Ever hear the story about a dwarf named Mortimer?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“It’s in the library. You should read it when you have the chance.”

“Alright, I’ll do that. So, Mr. Nelson, should we work on some contracts for the cores and research materials?”

“I’ll send over someone in the next day or two. Our storefront will be opening in a week, and I need to get to work. Tim rose from his chair and opened a hole in the outside wall. A single stair appeared before him. Tim stepped out onto it and looked over his shoulder. “Also, Hoban is going to be coming with me. This is non-negotiable.”

With that, the hole closed and Rin was released from the floor. Tim gently rode the stair all the way to the bottom before briskly walking away. He didn’t want to go back through the guild office. With only one way in or out he was sure to be accosted by a crowd of hero worshipers. So he made another exit and left as quietly as he could.

Back on the W3 level things had changed a bit. With the funds from the sale of Orichalcum Tim had purchased the entire block and renovated it. What used to be an old tavern and inn had transformed into a comfortable employee’s dormitory. The only one in the city that was completely equipped with luxury magitech items. Each room had its own separate climate control, shower, and flush toilet. Tim wanted to attract the best people and figured perks like this would certainly help.

On the eastern edge was a massive three-story shopping complex. Its beautiful white pillars were adorned with silver and the golden emblem of the Engineering Guild sat boldly on the front. The first level was a food court with rentable stalls. Each stall came equipped with magitech stoves, ovens, and ventilation. There were music boxes, colored lights and a large assortment of games. A guild run bar featured cold drinks and the only distillery on the planet.

The second floor had home and industrial goods. Baths, heaters, air conditioners, fans, refrigerators, freezers, and magitech appliances of every sort. Security stations waited at the top of the escalator to the third floor. Beyond them was where you could place orders for custom weapons and jewelry. Beyond the expansive glass, cases were private consultation rooms and finally Hoban’s new office.

The warehouse expanded again to fill up the rest of the lot. Two subbasements were added as extra security layers and secret tunnels lead to the other buildings. The first floor was stacked high with goods and barrels. The second floor was lined with shelves and workstations. Tim was seated at one, processing ring of protection. On his head sat a strange copper helmet. A wire hung down his back and connected to a small device on the floor.

After finishing thirty rings Tim took the small orichalcum cube from the device and looked at it. It was no bigger than a standard die for gambling, but it was the key to his revolution. Etched upon its surface was a series of dots, dashes, and pits. “This, Hoban is the culmination of my research thus far.”

“Interesting,” said Hoban while examining the cube. “This was perfectly smooth a few moments ago, where did the marks come from?”

“Information. Here, I’ll show you. Just place the cube in this receptacle here. And then take a ring and lock it down with the pins. Then press the button. Ok, let’s double check the results. Yep, a standard tier-two ring of protection.”

“I’m seriously getting tired of being amazed by the things you make. But now you’re going to have to tell me how you did that. Or, how I did that.”

“The helmet is lined with outer arrays to fetch the data or experiences. In the base is an array to make the Orichalcum more malleable. So when I wear the helmet and repeatedly do a task it slowly stores the experience in the cube. Then using the device on the table it draws the data from the cube and reproduces the task. All it takes is mana.”

“Amazing. How did you ever come up with that?”

“Well, remember I was working on teaching machines how to think like people? This is kind of the first step in that direction.”

That was a dirty lie. The truth was Tim came up with the idea while lying blinded with nothing to occupy him but the Status Screen. Experiences, skills, and status conditions were somehow quantifiable elements. Then there must be some sort of system in place to gather this data and process it. Where did the experience points come from? They weren’t just needed for raising his overall level, but practice with the skills gave them points to raise their level too. So, Tim pondered, that if these points do exist there might be a way to intercept them.

Tim took the cube and placed it in a little box he labeled Ring of Protection +2. He placed it on the shelf next to dozens of other little boxes. Each box was individually labeled and held a cube of orichalcum.

“Aren’t you worried about theft? The value of just one of those could make you into a noble.”

“Nah, we’re pretty secure up here. Plus, when we hire people I’ll move all this down to sublevel two. I am still working on the lights and ventilation systems, so working up here is more comfortable for now.” Tim traced his fingers along the edge of the desk. “A few more cubes and we will be ready for full production. So I guess you need to get started on the hiring people. Then once everyone is in place we take a trip out east.”

“Wait, what? East? What’s out there?” Hoban tilted his head in confusion.

“The place I was summoned. It’s about a week’s trip, each way, on foot. So tonight, why don’t you go over the applications and see who to interview? We have twelve security openings, two in admin, ten in sales, and another twelve in production, and then some maintenance and cleaning crew. It’s a lot of work, but at least your platinum rank now.”

“Yeah, somehow the burden doesn’t match the pay.”

“While you toil on that I’m going to see if Aerith is interested in working here. Coming under the protection of the ‘guild founded by the hero’ should keep her safe.”

“Or it could suck the entire guild down.”

“Such a cheerful fellow you are.”

Tim walked with a skip in his step over to the slums. It may have been the extravagant gray and silver uniform. Or it may have been the mithril emblem around his neck that glistened silver and iridescent green. But everyone stared at Tim as he walked by without a care in the world. A guild chairman, what could he be doing in the slums? Their power and wealth were greater than most minor nobles.

Tim lightly rapped on the wooden frame of Aerith’s hovel. Not hearing a reply he pushed the curtain aside and found her missing. Well, that wasn’t too shocking. She wouldn’t be one to lie about all day unless she was too ill to move. Tim started to wander around, gently in the direction of his usual noodle place. He figured it would be a great opportunity to invite Chef to be one of the first to have a rotation in the guild food court.

But as Tim was laying out the sales pitch in his mind shouting came from a nearby alleyway, along with a long high pitch scream.“Aerith.”

Tim ran, only to nearly bump into a mountain of a man which moved to block his path. At the other end of the alley, Aerith was struggling as two men slapped chains on her wrists and legs. But her frail form gave little resistance. Tim could feel a maelstrom coming. This time it would be murder. He would bath the city in fire and Form roared in delight.

“Excuse me, um Sir.” The mountainous man looked down at Tim. Noted the mithril badge, and tried to be as respectful as possible. He opened his mouth and spoke with genuine concern. “I beg your pardon to please wait a moment; we are finishing up with an unruly acquisition. And we wouldn’t want good Sir to get injured.”

Tim deflated instantly and Form cursed. These were not the usual ruffians that he had dealt with in the past. Something was definitely off. Could it be that…?

“Acquisition?”

“Yes, sir. Again, I beg your forgiveness on the disturbance and delay in your travels.”

“Never mind that. What acquisition?”

“Oh, we have official paperwork to capture this woman and register her as a debt slave. Would Sir like to see the documents?”

Tim watched down the alley. Aerith was being loaded into a cart. With shackles too heavy to bear she finally gave up on resistance. She hadn’t the strength to scream. And all she could do was sob to herself. From the floor of her cage, Aerith looked up finally saw Tim. With tear soaked eyes she pleaded escape. But Tim just looked at her for a long moment before turning back to the large man.

“No, I’ll take your word on it, good fellow.”

Aerith’s heart broke as Tim shook the big man’s hand. She collapsed on the rough wooden floor and prayed to Aamond. In the summer heat, she shivered and shuddered behind closed eyes.