Chapter 7.2:

After the waiter removed my dish of creme brulée, I leaned back in my chair, mirroring Loki's posture. I could tell from his expression that business would come up again. I tried to hide my discomfort by stretching my distended belly and avoiding an extremely unpleasantly large belch. Whatever magic kept me from feeling stuffed in the Lesser Hall while feasting did not apply here. It wasn't as bad as I thought. The overall feeling was unpleasant but incredibly satisfying after such a delicious meal. I knew I couldn't give away too much in front of Loki without appearing like an unsophisticated fool.

"So, Miles, I think I'm ready to make my first offer."

I gestured for Loki to continue. Hearing him out couldn't hurt. I could tell that this time, it would be a little bit more involved than simply pouring out a horn on the floor under his name. But if he was going to have me do something, it couldn't be too extreme. Or else I'd just say no.

"I can tell you for free that the weapon in the challenge will change tomorrow. If you want, I could tell you what the new weapon will be. Would that interest you?" He said with a smile. That told me he knew that, of course, I would be interested. I would be crazy not to.

Otherwise, I would find myself holding a weapon I wasn't ready for. He was so certain of himself that I felt a little bad about bursting into laughter.

"What?" he said. A slight bit of anger flashed across his relatively charming face. He reached up to his face to make sure he didn't have a bit of grease on his chin or something. In a demanding tone, he asked, "What's so funny?"

"Huh? As if knowing what the weapon would be would help me. I don't even know how the hell to fight. How the fuck would knowing what weapon help?" I said with a shrug. "I get, what? One day of practice. It's not like I just need to brush up on my 'mace skills.' Ha." I let out another short laugh. "No, I don't think that would interest me. Not for any price that you'd probably have to charge."

My exasperation boiled over to anger at my hopeless situation when I considered how screwed I was. I was totally at the mercy of gods who decided to have some fun and turn everything on its head. I had just got out of the cold and started learning about the sword, and they were going to screw everything up.

"Don't be like that. You have no idea what I would ask of you." Loki said, his hands raised placatingly.

My anger faded. "Yeah, I suppose I don't, but it's not really that interesting to me. I'd be far more interested in something else that might help."

Loki shrugged. "Well, if you want it to be like that, I can offer you a temporary boost to stats similar to what you received this last time. Of course. It's kind of boring."

I nodded, trying not to show my eagerness too much. "For now, I think basic stats or proficiencies are probably the things I can use the most."

It went without mentioning that temporary boosts weren't very helpful for me in the long run unless I could leverage them into more tangible gains.

"Unless you have something else you could offer me," I threw in at the last minute, trying to get maybe something a little bit better. “Maybe a class?”

He smiled. "Don’t worry about classes yet. You’ll know when it’s time. Besides, there's so much more I can offer you. I can offer you most of the things that would only become available in Valhalla proper, of course. When you get there, you can get them at discounted prices from me. But they will be quite expensive if you want to get them now before you have access to them. But I can also get you a lot of things you shouldn't be able to know or have."

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"Wait, so you're saying I can get all these temporary boosts and stuff once I get a little bit better at fighting, making the Hall Proper?"

"Some you can, some you can't." Loki shrugged. "It depends on if you know the right people."

Then, what was the benefit of his brand? Just getting early access to them. I couldn't see if that would be enough.

"Of course". Loki continued. "Of course, there's a lot of other things you can't get, but that was just an example. If you wanted to get a special weapon or something, I would probably be able to get you something for a price, even now. Though anything truly magical will need to wait a bit. It would just be too suspicious here."

I frowned. "Well, a special weapon that maybe I could take into the challenge. That would probably be too expensive for my blood. I think some basic stat boosts might be good. Do you have anything permanent?"

Loki gave me a look out of the corner of his eye. "Permanent stats? Yes, I can, but you don't want them."

I frowned, and seeing my confusion, he deigned to explain further. "Well, your training, your stats, and if you raise them artificially, that's something that would make it harder for you to raise them naturally. Of course, stats aren't really that important. Still, it's a trap that a lot of the other warriors fall into without thinking because the other gods offer them some basic stat increases, and they just take them. I thought you were smarter than that, Miles."

And I frowned, seeing his point. It was odd that it was Loki telling me this. Strength through hard work didn't seem to be his style. Or maybe it was more about getting as much power as possible through any means necessary. Yes, I would have to be careful around him, but also not rely too much on the myths of old Earth. "Okay. Maybe later, once I've hit diminishing returns."

Loki gave me a wink. "Yeah, that's the spirit. So, a temporary boost. Now I can do that. But as to the price... I have someone who I need to look good. And I'm going to ask you to lose a fight."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said I want a temporary boost? Do I really need something from you right now?" I asked.

Loki's face frowned. "You really don't want anything right now? I didn't say that, but how much of a boost are we talking about? Let me give you... Plus two to all physical stats."

"That's what you gave me last time for the starter gift. But this time, I have to pay for it." I started to let indignation sli p into my tone.

Loki gave me a smarmy smile. "Just that. I think the starters are free."

"But yeah, you got to give me something better, though," I said, trying to get a bit more out of whatever I'd have to pay. "Besides, I don't think plus two would even get me out of the Lesser Hall."

"You're not ready to get out of Lesser Hall," Loki said. "You should hold off on that."

I looked at him exasperatedly, "Really? So then, why do I need your help if I can't get out yet?"

"Not saying you can't get out, but you probably would come right back." He said in a placating tone.

"Okay, so. So what? So if I can't get out of the Lesser Hall, why does it matter? What good are you to me?" With a challenging look, I shot his way.

Loki was visibly frustrated at that point. A dangerous glint in his eyes made me consider if it was time to cave soon. It might be the best deal, but I didn't want to piss him off too much. I was sure he could make my life hell if he really wanted to. "Well. I don't think you'll even make it to the Lesser Hall. With no ranks in the new weapon without some assistance."

"Okay, but is plus two in my physical stats really going to make enough of a difference?" I decided to push just a little harder.

Loki sighed. "Great. Fine, fine. We can do plus five on all physical stats. And I’ll tell you the next weapon as a bonus."

I smiled. Now that's more like it. "So you say I need to lose a fight."