“A scam? why are the deals a scam?”

“To explain, I need to give you some background information. Are you familiar with any natural resources on your planet prior to the Tutorial?”

“Yes.”

Of course I was. We had ores, and many other fossil fuels.

“Good, then you likely understand that they were limited in some sense, correct?”

“Yes.”

I think I understand where this is going…

“When a new universe is inducted into the Multiverse it usually comes with it a random number of planets. From just one planet to thousands. Every single one of those planets will be reformed, and a plethora of new natural resources will be formed. Resources that are either common or extremely scarce in the wider Multiverse. Resources that the native residents of said planet will likely take generations to truly understand and uncover them all, but for a faction that has existed for centuries? They would know exactly what to look for, and how to look for it.

“Of course, this does not account for natural resources that will be completely native to the planet as the value of such things will be unlimited until uses are discovered, but you should understand the gist of it now. Now you might question why a faction millions of years old might need resources from a planet such as yours, but these factions have cultivators at many different levels of strength, and those resources could be invaluable for someone at Qi Refinement but useless to someone at Nascent Soul.

“Of course, most of these factions are not interested in sucking your planet dry of its resources, but more would like to control it or at least parts of it, and this is where deals come into play.

“In essence, a faction will stress the need for the type of city they are capable of building, highlighting unforeseen dangers you might run into, and once the person agrees they would bring up a cost of that endeavor. It could be anything from allowing a certain number of their members to move to the planet, or perhaps a percentage of profits that the new city will eventually generate, to even partial ownership of a city. All of which would be carefully explained to avoid raising suspicion and lay the groundwork for them to set up a base of operations in this new city before carefully or even boldly asserting their dominance and influence.

“Of course, these are just a few of the many examples a faction could use in negotiations. Do you understand?”

Honestly that was a lot of information he threw at me, and I almost feel a bit bad that I didn’t consider these types of scenarios, but I’ll give myself some grace. Everything that’s happening is happening for the first time and as always, I just need to focus on the things I can control. First of all, why did the Outpost Leader tell me all of this? Of course, it is likely to build a base level of trust between us. Be honest, then provide me with a deal that could still be laced with traps that I might not fully understand. Or, he could simply not have ulterior motives. He told me from the get-go that he will be assisting me in the Tutorial to receive benefits from me in the future, and these are likely the benefits he had in mind. Well, no harm in hearing him out. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

“I understand, but why tell me this?”

“Very simple. You are an Infernal. I am not telling you this out of the kindness of my heart. You will learn very quickly that cultivators will do anything for the sake of power, and I mean anything. But there are times when one has to decide if what they are planning to do is worth it, and offending Infernals is likely at the top of the not worth it list.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

“If for some reason I convinced you to agree to a deal that makes you take a significant loss and the Elders of your race were you find out, the chance my head will roll is higher than you might assume. Your people have destroyed entire planets for far less. So instead of potentially causing my own death and the downfall of my Clan, I would rather be upfront with you.”

Hmm, I really need to ask that Infernal Elder if we’re evil or not, well it doesn’t bother me that much but either way, it sounds like it’s a good enough reason for the Outpost Leaders actions. I can work with that.

“I see…and what is it you want from this deal?”

“Although I don’t plan to take advantage of you, to accept this deal and make our efforts in helping you beneficial, there are certain things I will request. Such as allowing a number of other low-level members of my branch to transport to this planet. The numbers and maximum cultivation allowed can be discussed further, but the value of this would be immeasurable and of course we will respond in kind. Next, I would like for Greja who you know, the blacksmith, and the alchemist, to be allowed to open shops in your city.

“Of course, each of them will be paying you the corresponding taxes. Now for what will be doing for you on top of the taxes, the individual who has been acting as an instructor, will be more than willing to retain his role as instructor of your troops and with the Tutorial limits no longer in place, the number he could train at once will be far more. The previous shops will also defer to you in terms of orders and preferential treatment in all aspects.

“Now although it is said we will build you a city, that will of course include walls for a sort of basic physical defense, but the actual guarding of the city would be left to the natives unless negotiated. The members of my branch in the Clan that I requested will handle that for you free of charge for up to a year. Lodging will be taken care of by building guard barracks, and we will hunt for own food, now regarding any resources obtained, 50% of the materials or their agreed upon value in money will be given to you as tax and the legal ownership of any large deposits of resources such as a mine for example will be yours and yours alone. Is this agreeable?”

...I am in way over my head here. I was just a regular college student a few months ago. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I fully understand the scope of everything he just said but…it all sounds fine to me, if anything it sounds like a bit too much in my favor.

He wants some of his people to be allowed to live here, they will also help out with guarding the city and they don’t require payment, or even food. Next a couple of shops that will undoubtedly benefit me and everyone else even more than they already have, and most of all they will be building us a city. A proper city. I will take the risk. Perhaps there are things that I miss and may come back to bite me, but hopefully by then a swing of my spear will be strong enough to do all the talking and negotiating I need. Though, I can still take some precautions…

“It sounds agreeable. Please draft a document containing everything discussed. As for how many people you want to bring over. No more than 50, and none higher than Body Tempering. As for the tax on the shops, 10% is all I require. Is this agreeable?”

“Done. The contract in this case is handled by the system. You will soon see a notification containing information discussed…but before that, there is one final thing you should be aware of. When this City is built, you will be asked if the City will be officially recognized with the system or not. Regardless of which option you choose, the position of City Lord will be recognized by the System, but outside of that there are a lot of possibilities. Any city can choose to be recognized by the system there are no requirements, but there are pros and cons. Becoming an official recognized city will bring many benefits such as integration with other system recognized cities, which could mean things like teleportation between such cities and access to stores outside of this planet, along with an official standing in your local universe, but of course you would have to adhere to any and all rules placed by the system. They should be fairly simple and will be explained in detail.

“Though the two biggest cons that keep some away from choosing that option, is the target it places on yours and the city’s back. Being officially recognized means being seen by others on a global, universal and even Multiversal scale at times. That could bring unwanted attention when you least need it. Next is yourself. The position of City Lord will be official no matter what you choose, but being recognized by the System opens the door for potential challenges to your seat of power. Challenges that would be sanctioned by the System and thus unavoidable to an extent.

“Just something for you to consider and remember any city at any point can choose to be recognized by the System.”