Chapter 151

Chapter 151

Time went by quickly as Riven sorted it all out. Athela was presented with a list of five different abilities to pick from between different martial arts, with various unique weapons and black, gray or brown rogues’ outfits oriented towards shapeshifting abilities. There was even a dao treasure that allowed one to acquire the Shadow Sub-Pillar affinity, which she was very heavily considering as the item she wanted Riven to buy for her.

Fay was presented with a wooden caster’s staff that could amplify curse damage, a corset and skirt outfit with various shades of purple that gave bonuses for any mind-related magics, and a black, crooked witch’s hat that matched the color of her horns, tail, eyes and wings. She was given choices from two spells to choose from too, and a few enchanted rings with various properties related to curses as well.

Lastly, for Luke - who’d volunteered to become Riven’s first thrall, it was mostly utility stuff aside from the five brightly shining soul healing pills and a single dao treasure in the form of a brilliant red flower that were presented. There was some cooking gear, another spacial bag to carry stuff in, a magical tent that pitched itself, a glass jug that Luke could store blood into as it leached off his hand just by touch, and above all else - an outfit that collected more XP points than normal while in a party, converting these extra XP points into healing energy that helped mend various types of damage.

Including soul damage.

“We can do this one of two ways.” Fred stated while hopping up onto a nearby chair behind the four displays. “The first way is you trade that Azag hive cluster sanctuary stone for everything here. You won’t have to pay anything else, just the stone. We’ll even throw in another 3 million coins too.”

The ape-like, red-skinned demon held up two fingers. “The second way is you can haggle for the items here and buy what you can, though as you already know it won’t be nearly as much as all that is displayed here. And honestly, Negrada is very much wanting that stone. We could use it, and even somewhat need something like this.”

“Need? Why?”

Fred frowned, then exchanged a look with Zelmont. “We’re currently under siege. Negrada and one of our allied dungeons are fighting a war with a collection of five other hellscape dungeons, and one of our previous allies has already had their dungeon core destroyed. This stone will ramp up our production of military forces by a lot. It is useful to a dungeon core, but very dangerous for a mortal who cannot deal with the hive minds trying to manipulate you when you link to the inner clusters of the multiverse.”

There was an awkward pause in the conversation, and Riven’s surprise showed through his body language. Then he folded his arms. He certainly would like the gear, and Negrada had helped him out by getting rid of that damnable ghost in his soul aperture, but the deal wasn’t in his favor either way. “The system store will buy the Azag sanctuary stone for 64 million coins. There isn’t any way I’d take your first deal.”

Fred blanched a bit at the price, but tried to keep himself calm when he straightened his posture and tried to regain control of the situation. “Ahem… I see. I didn’t realize the Elysium general store would value it that much. Alright then… We can offer an additional 8 million on top of these items.”

“Still not enough.” Riven stated with a shake of his head. “No chance. The stuff here is great, but it’s only worth about 3 million total by itself.”

“Then we’ll throw in more items. Christia, please fetch the others.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

One of the brunette succubi on the periphery of the room bowed, then turned to walk away. Doors opening, drawers being shut, and finally the sound of wheels turning sounded to Riven’s ears before the succubus came back only half a minute later as she pushed a large cart with various types of stuff.

There were scrolls, tomes, books on crafting, enchanted weapons and armor, jewelry, and odds and ends that Riven didn’t immediately recognize. However his mask enabled him to get the gist of what most of this stuff was, and he was left disappointed. This was all second-hand, low quality, and even the ability scrolls weren’t anything to be particularly envious of.

Especially since he knew there was limited space on what you could learn, due to soul fractals for each ability being engraved on your soul’s core and pillars. When that space ran out, you either had to discard an old skill or just not learn the new one.

For half an hour Riven and his minions sifted through it, and Riven’s best guess at estimating a price lay somewhere between 25 and 30 million for everything, including the 8 million in coins they’d promised.

Which was less than half of what the system would buy it for. And if what he’d learned about how the system sold high and bought low, he could accurately predict that the Azag hive sanctuary stone would be worth even more elsewhere.

“May I be blunt?” Riven asked after a time while the red jabob demon anxiously looked on.

Fred hesitantly nodded, trying to keep his composure in the chair. “Yes, of course!”

“Is Negrada broke?”

Zelmont immediately frowned.

Meanwhile, Fred took in a quick inhale of air. “Well… Perhaps the wars aren’t going in our favor at the moment, so yes… We aren’t particularly in a good spot right now.”

Riven slowly nodded. It appeared that Negrada was a lot less powerful and a lot less rich than he’d initially thought - even despite intimidating forces residing here like the lurker demons.

But then again, Riven was different now. Those lurker demons on the first floor, like the one who’d nearly eaten Athela back in the hells, would be nothing but fodder for his growth now. He could utterly crush most of them without much trouble after all the levels and dao insight he’d gained, so perhaps on the grander stage of the multiverse Negrada might not be all that strong.

Then again maybe these lurker demons were maxed out at level 90, instead of being in the 40 to 50 range like the one he'd seen earlier. He hadn't checked.

“I suppose that’s why you even came here in the first place, to help stimulate the economy. Most of the stuff I’ve seen are decent items for lower level people or those who are just starting out, but none of this beyond what you initially presented is something I’d want for me or my minions.”

Fred began to scratch his head, anxiety about losing the deal evident in the way he stiffened. “I suppose there is a third way. Otherwise we’ll just have to forgo getting the stone and you can buy what you do like from the wares present.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Oh? What is the third way?” Riven asked curiously.

Fred took his time to answer. Likely this was due because he wanted to create dramatic affect, though Riven couldn't be absolutely sure. Perhaps there really was a reason why Fred was hesitating like that. Perhaps he lost out on the bonuses he'd otherwise get, as he knew that Fred like many merchants using system communes got a bonus cut for whatever they sold.

“I have been given permission by Negrada itself to forge a system-regulated contract.” Fred steepled his fingers, eyes narrowing. “You may take 1 item scroll for each of your demons, some basic provisions that we supply with your thrall-to-be, and you will have 1% of all profits that Negrada makes, plunders, or steals. In exchange for the sanctuary stone.”

Riven shifted his gaze to the pile of goods. “1% of all profits?”

“Indefinitely.” Fred confirmed with a nod. “Forever. Paid monthly starting a month from today, 1% of all profits for a given month by value of items or wealth. The money will be transferred to your bag of holding if I mark it, and I will even upgrade the bag for you so it can hold more to accommodate our tribute. I will be frank with you, even when you’d first met Negrada months ago - we’d been far better off and far wealthier. Far more powerful, and with far greater allies. The tides are changing against us, and we need this stone. We are also willing to add to this contract a clause stating that if we survive this war, Negrada will owe you any single favor you can think of as long as it does not directly harm or endanger the dungeon. This includes asking for any item we possess, any sum of money we may have at that time, any minion you wish to acquire. Anything, just once, as long as we live through these trying times.”

The offer was something of a shock, and Athela’s eyes widened in surprise.

“And this stone would help you survive the war?” Riven clarified hesitantly, pulling out the black orb that crackled with green energy inside. “And I get to pick one item, and one ability tome or scroll per minion?”

“That is correct.”

…

…

…

“You have yourself a deal, as long as you throw in the outfits for Fay and Athela. They have a hard finding clothes that’ll accommodate their more demonic features.”

Fred guffawed with excitement, holding up a clenched hand to shake at the air, and he smiled triumphantly like a man who’d just won the lottery. “VERY GOOD!!! You will not regret this, Riven Thane! Today, you have just won yourself an ally in Dungeon Negrada - and we will pay this debt back a thousand fold! Mark my words, you have just done yourself a great favor indeed!”

***

Azmoth stood outside the Blood Moon Requiem’s gates, an enormous new shield in one clawed hand while commanding the black hand of the shield to extend and wiggle around in the air like a child on Christmas with a new toy. He’d actually selected the tome instead of a scroll, for an ability called “The Burning Crusade”

which boosted all members of a party with a martial art - giving them increased resistances and additional flame damage with physical strikes for a short period of time. He’d have to learn it on his own, which was different than scrolls, but the ability had been worth it and he’d be able to reuse the tome instead of it just vaporizing like scrolls did.

Athela had been outfitted in a dark gray assassin’s outfit with studded leathers, vambraces, a hooded cloak and an amulet she’d picked out as her item. The outfit accommodated shapeshifters - absorbing into her body or meshing with her mutations as well as added extra stealth boosts to ‘presence’, meaning people would more easily overlook her even if she wasn’t necessarily trying to hide. The amulet was a dark black gemstone set into a backdrop of gray steel, and it increased her damage by physical-attack critical strikes with a 15% bonus. Her newest ability was a classic that Riven had seen in many games back on Earth, being called “Backstab.” It was an ability scroll so she’d learned it instantly, only to have the parchment evaporate soon after, and it allowed her to unleash a martial art that only worked on what the system considered a the back of an enemy - and would only work when she was stealthed to her target. If she was noticed by her target prior to the strike, the martial art would fail, but if she successfully stabbed someone from behind without them being aware of it - the strike would cause an abrupt pulse of kinetic energy to rip through their bodies, stimulating an automatic critical strike that would range from 3x to 10x the normal damage done. It was even enough to get her to wear the tiara she'd been safekeeping - now placing it underneath her hood and on top of her head, because it just meshed so well with her newfound upgrades:

[Tiara of Silent Killing (Blood / Shadow Trinket): After successfully killing a target without being noticed by anyone else, gain a charge of critical strike. Your next unseen attack has a 100% chance to be a 2x - 8x critical hit, with multiplied damage coming in the form of kinetic burst energy from the strike site. Requires a 26% or higher Blood or Shadow Pillar Affinity to wield, and the wearer must be female.]

He could only imagine the stacking power of what Backstab would do with the new amulet and the tiara finally being worn. Aside from this, Riven had also bought ‘Heart of Darkness’, a dao treasure looking very much like a black coconut that would allow Athela to also acquire the Shadow Sub-Pillar immediately upon consumption. This he’d paid for out of pocket with a whopping 200,000 coins flat, as it was outside the boundaries of the deal they’d struck and was actually cheaper than the amulet Athela had picked. Without it, she’d have been unable to even learn her new shadow-affiliated martial art - so it’d been a given to buy and he’d brushed off her concerns of spending too much on her with a wave of his hand.

Fay had acquired a wooden staff, the purple caster’s corset and skirt, and the black witch’s hat. They all gave bonuses that would benefit her, with the staff amplifying curse damage while decreasing the pain she received while casting them - the hat amplifying her mental defenses and mana regeneration - and the purple midwear giving her bonuses to mind magic. Namely, this was for her hallucinations, and they too could modify themselves to fit shapeshifting abilities. Fay wasn’t all that great at retracting her tail, wings, or even horns - but as she got more powerful it’d come more naturally and these clothes could benefit her then. Her one spell scroll was an Unholy affiliated ability, though she was running out of space on her Unholy foundational pillar after applying it and would either need to start looking to the Depravity pillar for new spells or would need to start getting rid of old abilities to make room. This new ability she’d placed was a curse called “Dark Pact”, and it healed all allies nearby while simultaneously slowing enemies. It was a Tier 3 curse, was pretty potent, and it built up over time in both how much it healed as well as how much it slowed enemies. However the adverse effect for the curse, which was mental anguish, would drastically increase over time as well - essentially torturing the mind of the caster until it started draining actual health from the user. If the user used it too long, they’d even die.

Lastly, the collared, one-eyed old man who was to become Riven’s thrall stood curiously looking around at the bustling activity. It was the first time Luke had been to the altar, only having seen it in the distance as he’d been forced to work the farms before now, and Riven could tell by the smile that Luke was enjoying the relative freedom from his last predicament.

It made Riven sad, because he knew there were likely other elves on the farms just like this guy. Ones that hadn’t agreed with what they’d done to Riven, but he just couldn’t chance an uprising after what they’d put him through and how racist they’d showed themselves to be.

Kathrine’s touch from behind him caused Riven to startle, and he turned to face the other royal member of his extended family through the porcelain mask stuck to his face.

“I’m surprised you came, but I am relieved.” Kathrine stated slowly, looking down at his minions talking to one another and the elf who was standing nearby. “They seem excited, but I for one am disappointed to see you go. I’d been hoping to talk to you in detail, set up a proper education and training program for you, and was hoping to deepen the bonds between you, your sister, and the empire. The queen is not very happy with my performance, and my family’s name is slowly being dragged through the mud due to my failures.”

“That’s not my problem.” Riven stated simply. “But fear not, you can tell them that I just have some things to take care of and I’ll be back to truly hear you out. The last time I was whisked away was not your fault, nor should you let the irritation of my sister rub you the wrong way. Even she knows that you couldn’t have done anything, it was a system integration quest. Now let us have one last talk before I leave to meet my sister and say my final goodbyes, it is unlikely that I’ll be back any time soon after this - potentially even years - and we have a lot to lay out for my time away.”