Chapter 11: 10. Prophecy

I am so bored these days, I thought.

‘…up, former [Dismantler]’, I wrote the last words of the message as I yawned.

I was sitting on a luxurious sofa, the channels on that device that humans called ‘television’ changed as I willed them to.

Nothing was interesting.

It’s all recycled entertainment! I thought. I may need to impersonate a new deity, to see how fast people start worshiping me all over.

My mood slightly improved when I remembered that guy.

He had a bugged system, while its occurrence wasn’t as common as the old days, it still happened.

Glitchers, I thought. Most of them were exterminated.

In any case, this guy’s case was peculiar. He has mysterious logs, recording things that hadn’t happened yet.

A regressor, I thought. I should be the only living entity able to manipulate the time-space continuum.

And indeed, I was the one who sent him back.

His logs had an encrypted message, an encryption of which only I know about.

It said “They’re moving”.

I should’ve had enough energy to go back in time personally, I thought.

I looked at the world through my dimension’s window. All I could see was a vast world full of possibilities.

Tough times are coming.

*

I hope it’s just a bug, like usual, I thought.

I gathered myself after reading the message, as I had an important deal to make.

“Now that I’ve proven my strength, I’d like to list my conditions for helping you!” I smirked as I added, “Of course, I won’t force you to sign the contract. Trying the dungeon on your own is an option, if the circumstances allow you to.”

Everyone except Taylor and Chris had looks of understanding.

He won’t allow us anywhere near the dungeon, they thought.

Seeing that everyone kept their silence, I felt motivated to list the clauses that I envisioned for the contract.

“First of all, I would accompany you to the dungeon, allowing you to kill all the slimes without stealing any kills from you. If you’re worrying about physical damage not working, then I am delighted to tell you that I have the means to make it possible for anyone to clear the dungeon, even those without offensive skills!” I proposed.

Petra seemed to be working on the contract, as she looked focused on my speech. Her fingers swiftly moved around the space in front of her.

“My second condition is, I would take all the loot while you get to keep the mana stones from clearing the dungeon. In addition, anyone who agrees to the contract will get a basic weapon suitable for their class as a gift.” I spoke.

Suddenly, Taylor raised his hand. He started speaking after I nodded in approval.

“I am pretty sure you’re not doing this for free” he said, “How are we supposed to pay? We have nothing of value here in the tutorial, and I doubt that money would still be useful when we get out.”

It seems like this guy wasn’t scared of me, and he’s not as thick-headed as the other one, I thought.

I nodded, trying to put on my face a warm smile.

“Correct! You’re not forced to pay me currently, and I am sure it won’t be long before you gather the necessary funds outside of the tutorial” I said “The starting price of each dungeon run is five lesser mana stones, and in case someone wants more than a single run, they need to outbid their competitors”.

Petra stopped focusing on creating the actual contract for a moment and spoke, addressing the others.

“I am sure you found out through the examination of the dungeon, that there are nine clears left before the dungeon reaches its limit.” she chuckled “I suggest that you hurry, you never know when the offer will get more expensive!”

I nodded, but I had another idea in this case.

“The time limit in which this offer stands is an hour, starting from now”. I said “I’ll make sure that this dungeon collapses today, even if no one takes the offer”.

The rest kept alternating their looks between me and Petra.

They realized that we’re working together, I thought.

“What assures us that you’ll respect the deal” Finn said “and we may escape your grasp after leaving the tutorial”.

He was indirectly asking me if I had a method that could allow the others to trust me, and vice versa.

Petra answered him instead.

“I have the [Contract] skill. I am sure you still have certain apprehensions about the system, but this is the best we can do in this kind of environment” She looked at Marla and added “We can let that woman handle the contracts if you desire, I’m sure she has that same skill”.

Marla smiled and voiced her support for the credibility of the skill, as she had a contract with Chris.

Finn nodded and seemed to be contemplating the offer.

In the meantime, Petra finished creating the contract, and sent a copy to each person present.

[Contract]	Proposed by: Petra Lehmann
-This contract is offered for a limited amount of time: the remaining time is 59:59. -The client is not allowed to break the contract on their own accord. -The client is obligated to pay his debt. -Jason Stubbs is allowed to forgive the client’s debt if he wants to. -Jason Stubbs is obligated to assure the safety of the client. -Jason Stubbs is obligated to help the client clear the dungeon, if the client isn’t able to. -There are only nine copies of this contract available. -Petra Lehmann has the right to 20% of the kills at most, if she wants to participate. -The starting price for the contract is five lesser mana stones, you can buy the rights of another copy from Jason Stubbs by offering a higher price than your competitors. You are reading story System Dilemma at novel35.com -The debt has no interest. -If the clients don’t pay the debt within a year starting from the day they finish the tutorial, they’ll have to sign a slavery contract with Jason Stubbs.
[Agree]		[Decline]

 

I looked at the contract and felt satisfied.

Catching two birds with one stone, I thought. This doubles up as a little revenge and a way to monetize the tutorial.

Everyone looked to be in deep thought, until a certain beastkin spoke.

“I can’t see your goal here, Mister” he said “I would’ve made much more than that, if they decided to buy some of the potions that I’m offering.” He tried not to appear hostile, but his eyes conveyed his displeasure with me making money that should’ve been his own.

Everyone ignored him, which pissed him off further.

“I want to try the dungeon once” said Finn “I am going together with my two friends, so the debt is shared between us if I understand correctly?”

I nodded and he seemed to be eager to go, till someone else started speaking.

“We’d like all nine runs” Xi Jiang said.

“We’ll pay seven lesser mana stones per contract” Zhou Ming added “Remuneration is not a problem.”

That’s what I was secretly hoping for, a bidding war.

It’s just getting started, I thought.

The six remaining people’s faces paled when those words were uttered.

“We only want a single dungeon run.” Leon spoke with a loud voice “but we’ll pay ten stones for it!”.

Things got heated quite fast. Chris threatened to resort to physical violence if someone forced him to pay more than five stones for his run. Rodrigo threatened Xi Jiang, saying that they’ll die if he doesn’t get his chance to run the dungeon at least once.

I ushered them all into the safe room. The fairies wouldn’t take it lightly if a bloody mayhem happens, and I’d get punished for indirectly causing it.

Things settled down quickly when I intervened, and everything was decided in twenty minutes.

The trio offered fifteen stones for a single run, under the condition that they’re the first ones to try the dungeon.

Chris and Marla only got a single shared run, for eight stones.

Rodrigo offered eight stones for a single run. He got threatened by Chris, but the latter calmed down after I set his eyebrows on fire.

The Chinese guys grabbed six of the runs, offering twelve stones per run.

They still thought that money could buy anything, I thought. They weren’t wrong in that regard.

As I promised my clients, I bought them weapons. Each of them got a basic one, I also grabbed a regular bag and pair of shorts that increased my AGI by two points. The total cost of the purchases reached twenty-eight lesser mana stones.

*

We immediately departed towards our destination; it took us about forty minutes to reach it due to their lack of speed.

Walking barefoot wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but that was mostly due to the increased END stat.

I had my cape on, put the crown on my head, and grabbed the staff firmly.

“All right, I am sure the three of you know what to do.” I said “We’ll go inside, I’ll watch, and each of you alongside Petra can attack the enemies however you like”.

“That’s it?” Leon looked bewildered, but he didn’t clarify his concerns.

“You’ll understand when you see for yourself.” I said, explaining how my crown worked would take too long, and I had no obligation to do that either.

The five of us entered the dungeon together, appearing in the first room. The same regular slime that I faced before was present, staying still as if it noticed no one.

I wanted to try my Crown’s active skill, ‘Move closer to me’ I ordered it. Suddenly, it started moving, only stopping when I ordered it too.

I ordered it to bring its core closer to the surface of its body.

The trio looked at each other, then nodded slowly. Finn moved closer to it, and attacked its exposed core. His class [Visionary] had allowed him to use some basic mind magic, but it couldn’t cause damage to this kind of monster.

He used Taylor’s sword to strike the core, taking too long to crack it. This caused him to grumble, but he seemed elated as he managed to break it apart, the level up clearly improved his sour mood.

After that, the three teenagers and Petra took turns killing the slimes. I made sure to warn them about the dangers of mutated slimes, if they got cocky and decided to directly touch them.

We reached the recovery room; they all used the stone to replenish their resources and seemed determined to win against the boss. They fired themselves up with some words about the ‘power of youth’ or whatever.

I am going to freeze the boss for you, Okay? I thought. My current level was higher than that of the [King Slime], thus I could completely control it.

They played a rock-paper-scissors game, to determine the one who fights the boss.

Finn won the game, but he didn’t seem surprised by that. The others also expected it, nodding and shrugging their shoulders.

It might be a class skill, I thought. I’ll tell Petra to [Mimic] his skills soon.

Finn took his friend's sword and approached the Boss.

They seemed surprised that the [Boss] didn’t attack, I explained that I had a certain ability that allows me to control Slimes, which seemed to be enough for their curiosity.

After a long while, Finn managed to break the [Boss]’ core, defeating it and levelling up in the process.

The physical attacks cause the slime to divide, so I wasn’t surprised when it didn’t drop the hidden rewards again.

Leon moved forward; he had an ecstatic facial expression as he opened the chest.

However, he didn’t seem pleased with the reward. He looked around the room fervently, as if he was searching for another hidden box, one that would make this dungeon run worthwhile.

“Seriously? This is what we get for offering fifteen lesser mana stones?” said Taylor, while addressing me. “The loss is much greater than the reward!”.

“Chill, kid” I said as I pushed him, “It isn’t all about lesser mana stones, you’ll need tutorial points, and the prestige that comes with clearing dungeons”.

If you find this loss a bit high, then my conditions for the upcoming dungeon will be astonishing, I thought.

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