The land and dungeon cost Jen and Sam 275 gold. They borrowed 175 gold for the purchase price from Duke Card. He agreed to loan the gold for 3 months, with 25 additional gold paid back in interest. Duke Card wasn’t told what they needed the money for, so the 25 gold in interest seemed reasonable to Jen for the risk he was taking.

“I think we should do it.” Said Sam.

“I know, but after we pay Duke Card back, we’re still going to be broke,” replied Jen.

“Who cares about money. My gut is telling me those scrolls are powerful. We may not have enough mana to use them as technique scrolls for learning the lightning and healing spells, but I can decrypt them and turn them into enchantments!”

“I care about the money! I’m the one responsible for making sure everything gets paid.”

“Of course, you’re right Jen, but I can have 2 more mana purification rods completed by the end of the week, and you can sell those to the shop for at least 20 gold,” replied Sam.

“I think we flooded the market when selling so many to the System Shop while raising the money to purchase the dungeon. The Shop will only pay 4 gold per rod now.”

Jen saw that Sam was going to continue to argue for the scrolls, and gave up, “Fine, we’ll do the trade with the scrolls, but we’re going to be on beans and rice for the next few weeks.”

“Yes!” Replied Sam as he pumped his arm in excitement and headed back to his workshop.

Three days later Jen was sitting down to a meeting with Devon and the Arc Deck Director Constance Smith in Slot City. Devon had said to Jen before they left Casino City, “Before the Guild HQ will agree to grant you an account, you must meet with the Arc’s Deck Director in Slot City. Our guild hall will pay the cost for the System Shop to transfer you to Slot City with me.”

Devon and a few other Arc guild city directors on the First Deck were the only people that knew Deck Director Smith was a Deck Dropper from the Third Deck. Years ago she had agreed to permanently drop down to the First Deck for an unknown reason. If someone knew to look, they could see the strain of the ever-present nausea the First-Deck mana caused her.

The Deck Director had refused to budge on Devon’s request to provide Jen and Sam a multi-deck account. Devon finally called in a favor she owed him to get her to agree to a face-to-face meeting with Jen. He hoped that if Deck Director Smith just met with Jen, she would change her mind. If she didn’t, he was afraid his local branch guild might have an exodus of a few of its most powerful board members over losing the opportunity to get an active dungeon.

When Jen entered the Deck Director’s office, she immediately noticed that the Deck Director was hiding her level and mana channels. Even so, Jen could feel mana being pulled in by her channels and the swirling corruption her body was dealing with.

“Ms. Jen, it is so nice to finally meet you. I have heard so much about you and your father from Devon.”

Jen smiled and replied, “Deck Director Smith, it is an honor to meet you. I appreciate you taking the time to consider my request.”

The Deck Director looked over at Devon and said, “Ms. Jen, please call me Constance, but you should know that Devon called in a favor for this meeting. I have already informed him that we do not set up multi-deck accounts for non-guild members.”

Jen looked back and forth between Constance and Devon, and said, “Please call me Jen, and I’ve always respected the wise guidance Devon has provided me and my father since we moved to Casino City, and I certainly appreciate his efforts in this matter.”

After hearing Jen’s comment and understanding her deeper meaning, Devon smiled at Constance, and she couldn’t help but smile back. She appreciated dealing with intelligent people and said, “Jen, this account matter could easily be resolved if you and your father were interested in joining our guild.”

Jen looked at Constance and again at Devon, then replied, “We are very interested in a close relationship with your guild. It is the main reason we have offered to sell the dungeon to you at basically the cost of acquiring the land. However, I am going to tell you something that is very private, and I would appreciate your and Devon’s confidence in this matter.”

“Of course” , “Absolutely,” replied both Constance and Devon.

Jen continued, “We are pursuing the return of a family member, and we are unable to accomplish her return with the restrictions of a guild membership.”

Devon was stunned at Jen’s words. Everyone knew that Sam was a quirky enchanter, but Devon had sensed a savage protectiveness in the man towards his daughter Jen, and the loss of a loved one would certainly explain his fear of losing his daughter.

Constance’s heart was breaking from the flood of memories Jen’s words brought to the forefront. Constance was older than anyone knew, but her memories from over 100 years ago still stung when she thought of her big brother hiding her in the woods right before bandits swarmed in around their wagon and kidnapped him. She vowed to get strong enough to find him, but she had lost him forever.

Jen felt the wave of deep emotional heartbreak from Constance and continued on, “Fortunately, my father and I have each other, but we must remain guild-free.”

Constance’s expression never changed, but she recovered control of her emotions and said, “I believe your terms are reasonable, and I am aware that you said they were non-negotiable, but we might be willing to grant you an account if you agree, that should you ever join another guild, the account will be terminated.”

Devon was surprised, and Jen was excited about the change in the offer and immediately agreed to the additional provision involving the account. It had only been a few days, but Jen didn’t like the feeling of owing so much gold to Duke Card.

Jen finalized the details of the agreement and enjoyed a working lunch with Constance and Devon, but just before they were about to leave, Jen took one of Sam’s best mana gathering and purification enchantment bracelets out of her ring of holding. Its area of influence was large enough to cover someone’s entire body. Jen then said to Constance as she handed her the bracelet, “This bracelet was a drop we received in the dungeon. We have finalized our negotiations, so please understand, this is a simple gift from my father and me, so please accept it as just that, a simple gift with no strings attached.”

Constance felt put on the spot by Jen’s gift, but didn’t really have a way to refuse and said, “Jen, thank you for the gift; you really shouldn’t have. Leadership doesn’t normally accept gifts in our guild.”

Jen smiled and said, “Thank you for making another exception just this one time. Please try it on. I would like to see how it looks with your robes.”

Constance looked over at Devon who simply shrugged, and she kept her forced smile in place as she first inspected and then tried on the bracelet. Just a few seconds after the bracelet wrapped around her wrist and locked in place, a wave of relief ran through her body. It wasn’t complete relief, but the nausea the mana in the First Deck caused her, went from a 10 on the vomit scale down to a 4.

Jen spoke up seeing Constance’s response and said, “I’m so glad you like it.”

She stuck her elbow out for Devon to hold, while waving goodbye to Constance and with a knowing smile said, “Director Devon, I guess it’s time we get headed back to Casino City.”

After the two had left, Deck Director Smith looked at the enchanted bracelet thinking, “This is no dungeon drop. I guess I can quit feeling soft-hearted and guilty about bringing them closer to our guild without demanding membership, but what power are they hiding?”