“So, how much did we make?” Gary asked, eagerly rubbing his hands together- his friends could nearly see the dollar signs flashing in his eyes.
“You made fifteen dollars an hour for the...” Tyrone spoke sternly, even as he checked the time on his phone- though there was a hint of a smile in his voice. “-five hours you worked today.”
“Ah, you know what I mean!” Gary retorted, looking slightly abashed. “But... this is cool shit! Don't tell me that you guys aren't excited; no way any of us will believe that.”
A small chuckle ran through the group, though no one argued against his point. As the last Commission vanished in front of his eyes, Oliver glanced over the detailed notes Tyrone had been taking. “Well, that one was worth thirteen hundred, so... A little over twelve thousand credits in total.”
As Gary pumped his fist enthusiastically, Ed frowned at the amount. “That's not much though, is it?”
“What? That's over a hundred grand, man!”
Before the two could devolve into an argument, Polina's gentle voice cut them both off. “You're both right, in a way...”
Seeing all attention turn her way, she shrugged. “I mean, if converted to dollars, then yeah it's a lot. But, with all the stuff Oli plans to get, it really isn't a lot. I mean, a handful of protective items for each of us is going to run a lot... Especially since we added more to the list today.”
Glancing between her and Oliver, Gary eventually asked. “How bad are we talking?”
“Well, assuming I can't acquire a few things from the auctions- which will be a whole different problem, one that I'll come back to later...” Oliver said slowly as he pulled a notebook from the warehouse. Flipping it open, he consulted just a small portion of the incredible amount of notes he and Marty had already compiled. “Let's see... Perfect mental protection is off the table for a while-”
“Why?” Ed interrupted out of curiosity. “I mean, I'm not doubting you, bro; I just want a idea of how big a deal this is and how much you're doing for us.”
“With all this setup and organizing you're doing, you guys are helping a lot...” Oliver said with a smile. “But... Perfect mental protection, meaning being completely immune to all forms of mental attacks or influence, would run us about twenty million... Each.”
A stunned silence fell over the room for a moment, before Gary hesitantly asked. “You mean dollars or...”
“Credits. Twenty million credits. Each.”
Gasps of shock rang out as they all stared wide-eyed.. Gary slowly sank into a chair as his mind latched on to the very simple math: twenty million credits was two hundred million dollars. He couldn't even imagine such a sum! “Ok... Damn... That is... crazy, man!” He said with a gasp.
“Of course, there are more affordable options.” Oliver pushed on, knowing they would quickly adapt- especially if he refocused them on something more attainable. “Granted, more affordable also means less effective.”
“Every bit of protection counts, no matter how small.” Polina said as she leaned into his side, glancing at the notes. “That's why I always wore my vest when on duty; it may not stop every bullet, but stopping even one may just save your life.”
Oliver smiled at his girlfriend and, on impulse, leaned over to place a small kiss on her cheek. Turning back to his notes, he continued on- while pointedly ignoring his friends' grins at the affectionate display. “Yeah, that's why we are aiming for the low end. I tested out creating a Bounty for Amulets of Mental Protection (Least) and got a good result. While I don't know exactly how much protection it offers, it's definitely better than nothing- though, after discussing it with Marty, we're thinking it may be something like a five percent improvement...”
“Which, admittedly doesn't sound like much for the 100,000 credit price tag...”
“Dude, there's only a five percent chance of rolling a Nat 20 in D&D,” Ed chimed in with a grin. “But that never stopped us from rolling it!”
A soft chuckle escaped Oliver as he nodded along. “Fair enough, though we aren't sure if it is actually a percent chance to protect you or a percent increase to your mental defense. It's still a bit unknown, but... As Marty put it: 'you can't jump straight to end game gear. You start with nothing and loot your way up.' I mean, this isn't a game, but he made a good point.”
“We just gotta work our way up.”
“This is the total cost for each of us, right?” Polina asked, tapping a line on the page. At Oliver's nod, a surprised look flashed across her face. “Honestly, it's better than I expected... Even if it is a lot.”
Seeing the expectant looks on his friends' faces, Oliver snorted in amusement. “Yeah... We're looking at between two-and-three hundred thousand credits, each. But that includes the mental protection, a lifesaving item in case things get bad, an escape item, and some consumables.”
“Honestly, it's pretty thorough coverage for most situations; Marty put in a lot of effort, helping me with this.”
“So, one, maybe one and a half, million credits to get the five of us covered?” Tyrone pondered aloud. “And that's not taking into account any of the items or magic you need, Oli... Or the extra stuff I'm sure you plan to get for Poli, seeing as she's going with you from now on.”
Oliver blushed faintly, a touch of embarrassment creeping into him; he hadn't mentioned buying more for Poli, but he had certainly been planning it- after all, while his friends should be safe staying here and working like normal, she would be following him in to potentially dangerous situations. The last thing he wanted was for anything to happen to her.
“Ah... Yeah, I'm not even going to lie, I plan to spend a lot more on her. Enchanted armor from head to toe, at the very least... Potions and other consumables...”
“No need to go too overboard, Oli.” Polina said as she hugged him, a small chuckle escaping her. “I know you want me safe, but I'm still capable of taking care of myself. Especially since I'm already armed to the teeth!”
Seeing his friends' inquisitive looks, Oliver's embarrassment only grew. “I... may have gotten her a bow and crossbow... and a pistol crossbow...”
“Don't forget the laser rifle and pistol!” Poli added while laughing. “And we're going to pick up my guns, so I'll have access to at least a few of those. Plus your guns... Oh! And we were talking about ordering a couple swords and polearms!”
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“I want a ranseur, by the way!”
Oliver could only chuckle awkwardly at the looks he received; he may have gone a bit overboard... But maybe it would all be useful...
“Yeah, I don't even want to know what you need so many weapons for.” Ed said with a snort of laughter.
“But that is a lot of credits, man. I mean, at this rate-” He waved vaguely at the now empty room. “-it will take use like four or five months to make that much... if we did this every day. Unless there are better paying Commissions...”
“There are.” Oliver responded cautiously. “But there are a couple reasons why I selected these.”
“First off... because they are so common. Commissions requesting food and stuff like this... I mean, there are tens of thousands of them, if not hundreds of thousands. So, it's easy to find and fill them quickly... But they also don't pay that well.”
“That kinda makes sense though, doesn't it?” Polina jumped in, having already considered this point. “I mean, when things get bad, the people that are desperate for food are usually the poorest. They probably don't have a lot of credits to offer up...”
The guys could only nod in agreement; it certainly made sense to them, at least. After letting them think about it for a moment, Oliver continued his explanation. “Exactly. And the second reason... Is because of the added challenges of the better paying Commissions.”
“There are Commissions for all sorts of stuff, ranging from literal sheets of paper to pounds of gold... And even some really exotic Commissions, like a necromancer asking for a ghost!”
“For some of them, the items being requested are just to difficult to obtain- I have no idea how I would even begin to catch a ghost, you know?”
“And some items would likely draw too much attention... That's also why I stopped filling the fertilizer Commissions. I didn't want to risk it.”
“Yeah, definitely don't buy any more fertilizer for a while.” Gary added with a wry grin.
Oliver could only nod in agreement. “And all of that is without mentioning the difficulty of navigating the Commissions pages. I can easily find one for food or clothes on the first page, but digging through for the better paying Commissions? Sometimes one pops up right in front of me... And sometimes it's like searching for a needle in a haystack.”
“Sometimes I have to wonder at just how unintuitive it is! I mean, there's no search function! It's just page after page of Commissions with no apparent order... Well, maybe they are organized chronologically? I have no idea, seeing as they aren't dated or anything like that...”
“It honestly doesn't make any sense to me... Especially since I'm pretty confident the whole things was created by someone. Or something, I guess. Fuck if I know.”
The room fell silent as everyone considered his explanation... And the possibility that there could be someone behind the System. While Oliver had mentioned it before, it was still such an alien concept to them. How could anyone create a system like that? And how powerful would a person have to be...?
“Ok, so we're aiming for the low-hanging fruit, so to speak.” Tyrone broke the tense atmosphere. “It's safe, reliable, and easy to accomplish... And also a bit slow. But, does that point really matter? It's not like we're on a time crunch, right?”
A chill went down Oliver's spine as his mind unconsciously drifted towards thoughts of the emergency bounty he had completed. While he had handled the strange creatures well enough, considering how unprepared he was, the thought of facing them again wasn't a pleasant one... But was there a reason to think he even would have to deal with them again?
“As far as I know, we're not.” He said slowly, pulling his mind away from the uncomfortable thoughts. “But I also don't know what the future holds... And, to be completely honest... A part of me really enjoy going out on Bounties.”
“Visiting other worlds... and, eventually, other Universes...”
“Yeah, we could take our time... But I'm also eager to get back out there.”
“Which brings me back around to the 'problem' with the auctions...”
Seeing her boyfriend hesitate, Polina nudged him gently. “You can tell us, Oli. If there is a problem, the only way we can help is if we know what it is.”
Oliver grimaced slightly before nodding. “You're right...”
“The problem is that the Auction is actually limited on space- something like 100 people apparently, which I found weird for a 'Multidimensional' auction... that, and things from Earth just don't go for that much at the Auction. I mean, unless they are Relics... but Relics are, at least by our understanding, items that are so steeped in myth or history that they have gained power from it. And things like that are not easy to come by...”
“Didn't you find something like that on your last job, though?” Tyrone asked with a thoughtful look. “It was a statue, right?”
“Yeah.” Oliver sighed. “My theory is that most of the people attending the auctions, the regulars, are either their for the atmosphere, or they are looking for something rare and interesting. The people that actually bid on the small stuff like guns or chocolate? They're just the randoms that drift in and out. That makes the whole thing a bit hit or miss-”
“Auctions usually are, man.” Tyrone added gently. “I mean, unless it's a targeted auction. Prices are pretty consistent at cattle auctions and things like that... But, for a wide-spread auction like yours? Yeah, you'll see a huge variance in the prices that you get. It all depends on who shows up and is willing to spend money.”
Seeing surprised looks on his friends' faces, Tyrone scowled. “What? One of my uncles use to sell prize bulls at auction! He spent decades on a breeding program...”
“Huh...” Oliver responded after a few seconds. “You learn something new everyday, I guess...”
Shaking his head slowly, he refocused on his point. “But, yeah... I mean, I can still probably make a hundred thousand credits every week from the auction anyway- maybe more, maybe less. I'm in agreement with T that it will probably fluctuate a bit...”
“And I imagine that it will drop some if I just keep throwing out the same things week after week.”
Tyrone nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Either from market saturation or the novelty wearing off... Which you want to be careful of; you don't want to risk alienating your market... Though, like you said, it is a Multidimensional auction. Even if you lose some of your attendees, you'll probably just get new ones...”
“I mean... Fuck, do you have any idea how impossible it is to predict something like a Global market? Trying to figure out one that spans multiple Universes is just... I can't; Hell, I don't think anyone short of God could!”
The weight of his statement settled over the group; they really were in uncharted territory in so many ways.
Surprisingly, it was Gary that broke the silence. “So -the fuck- what? The answer is obvious, right?”
Seeing the lack of comprehension from the group, Gary chuckled. “Yeah, that's right, one of 'The Three Stooges' has the answer for you!”
Seeing the cocky grin plastered across his friend's face, Ed was quick to punch him in the shoulder. “Stop being a dick and just say it already!”
“Ouch! Ok, ok! I'll talk!” Gary threw his hands up in defeat, though his smile never faded. “It's so simple it's almost stupid...”
“First, we get Marty in here to help us with putting together Commissions; between the three of us, we should be able to push it up to twenty-k credits a day... Assuming T doesn't slack on ordering stuff.”
“Then, as the money rolls in... You focus on outfitting Poli so you guys can run off to other planets for your honeymoon.”
Seeing both Oli and Poli about to object, he held up a hand to stop them. “Like you said, the big money is in finding those Relics... And you'll have better odds of getting them from places other than Earth.”
“There's no guarantee we'll find any; it was pure luck I found even one, and the other was thanks to the Rach helping me!” Oliver blurted out.
“Yeah, but again... so what?” Gary retorted. “Bro... Yeah, there is some dangerous shit here. But all of us are in our twenties and had no clue until you told us! The odds of shit happening to us is pretty low, so it really isn't much of a risk.”
“And, last but not least... Once you get to doing Bounties in other Universes, won't it be easier to get some of this stuff? And cheaper?”
“I mean, I'm not saying for you to just dip out while telling us to screw off!” Gary added with a chuckle. “I'm just saying that you don't have to sit here holding our hands because you're scared something will happen.”