Max placed the tablet back on his wrist, his mood pensive. He had just finished having a messenger conversation with Amy, the store clerk. He had wanted to thank her for the cookies she sent, but she hadn't been working the previous day or the day before that. This was the first time he had gotten a response from her after messaging the Blade and Bow store tablet.

They’d made plans. Apparently, they were going to meet for lunch in the Quartet central area in a few days. His conversation with her had been fun and, more importantly, interesting.

There was an entire ecosystem and way of life in the central area that he had seen nothing but glimpses of and could only speculate on, even with the added information he had just gotten from Amy. However, he wasn't sure what he thought about her or dating in general still. Her intentions now were obvious.

Max was very aware that the majority of his friends, and even casual acquaintances at Summoner Academy, thought he was trying to be a monk or something. But he wasn't blind, and over the last few days, he had been paying more attention to the signals that some other students were trying to send his way. But he just couldn’t bring himself to care more than a quick flash of curiosity.

Maybe it was just due to his old age or old soul; Max was annoyed by meet-cutes and attempted subtlety now. Momo's directness had been very appreciated, and Amy very clearly wanted to be more than just his friend. The fact that she had taken the time and effort to make or get him cookies, even leave them at the gate was respectable. Of course, he wasn't exactly shocked by it either.

In Max's experience, having grown up on a different world and now meeting people from other cultures around the universe, it seemed he was not the only one who thought simple, straightforward communication was best. It was too bad that people on earth, at least in some cultures, had a habit of needlessly complicating the simple act of showing romantic interest.

Now he was sitting in his magic research room, where he had been using a desk to sketch ideas. For the last fifteen minutes he’d just been staring at the wall, thinking about his upcoming sorta-maybe-date in the central area. He was interrupted when his tablet vibrated, letting him know he had a notification. It was from an unknown contact.

The message said, [Your spirits should have a communication for you soon.] That was it.

Max looked at the message and scratched his head. He showed it to Lavinia and asked, "What in the world is the purpose of this?"

Lavinia considered for a while and then held a finger up. "Maybe it's because of rules or regulations."

"What do you mean?" asked Max.

"Well, you've never asked for Headmaster Meng Hao Han’s contact information. Maybe this was the only way he could you information via messaging in a roundabout way."

"Huh," Max said. He looked at the message again and shrugged. Suddenly, Lavinia held up a finger again. She cocked her head to the side as if she were listening to something and said, "The message was just delivered. It was actually delivered to one of my spirits that had been standing outside your dorm."

"You had spirits doing that?" asked Max.

"Of course. I wasn't going to trust your golems to oversee security alone."

Max smiled at Lavinia. "You know, sometimes I am truly astounded by your paranoia…and pleased about it all over again."

"Damn straight," said the former Summoner. “Want me to have my spirit read the message?”

I don–”

“Good, because the message has already been read. It says they want you to go to the Summoner academy forest tonight. Three guesses who ‘they’ are. Ah, there's a map." She paused. "Yeah, I think I know where this is."

Max frowned. "So we just got a cryptic message that I'm supposed to go to a forest at night in the middle of nowhere?"

"That sounds about right."

"Great," muttered Max. "I wonder what kind of party this is going to be."

***

The night in the Quartet was as strange as always, with nothing but pinpricks of stars overhead and no moon. “It really does look like we're in the middle of outer space," said Max.

Maybe we are, Lavinia spoke in his mind. Are you sure you didn't want to tell any of your friends what you're doing?

No. No way. I don't want to get them involved in this stuff. Not only that, they won't be able to help much, realistically. And if they follow common sense and don't follow me, they'll just worry.

I can't really argue with your logic, but I also can't argue with the fact that if I were one of your friends, I would be pissed if I found out you didn't tell me after the fact.

Yeah, well, we'll cross that road when we come to it, said Max. What are your spirits saying?

Same as before. There's just a group of people ahead, waiting for us at that clearing you're supposed to go to.

This is so cloak-and-dagger, thought Max. He didn't think it could be his enemies calling him out on Summoner grounds. Even if it were, Max was fairly confident that he could escape if nothing else. Doing so might require that he show all of his abilities, but that would be a price he'd be willing to pay in that situation.

In fact, he had not been idle since he'd been back in the Quartet from the Cradle of Giants dungeon. He had a number of new beads on strings around his wrists. Now he was getting closer to achieving a three-star mana body too, but wasn't quite there yet. All of his gear was in place, ready to go. His new sword, Blackmist Incident, was on his belt, shrunk down. He had new beads on his wrists and ankles. All of his spirits were on high alert.

When Max finally stepped out of the forest into the clearing, he raised an eyebrow at the sight. Mong Hao Han and Territ Mond he recognized, both standing with two additional professors, but there were also two other groups. None of the Quartet staff were wearing their official robes, only plain black ones.

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Max didn't say anything as he came to a stop and all eyes turned to him. Mong Hao approached him alone, speaking loud enough for the others to hear. "Young Max, I am sorry to spring this on you. But as I have told you before, I would be trying to speak to the other headmasters in this quartet. I have, and I am happy to say that myself, Headmaster Territ Mond of the Mystic Spear Academy, and Headmaster Winno Smith of the Replicator Academy are all working together. However, Headmaster Bojana Gala Tassy A’Mind," he gestured at the furthest group headed by a tall and lean woman with gray hair, "is interested but…skeptical."

Territ Mond spoke up at this point. "She won't believe us that a student in his first year injured me, even though it was embarrassing for me to admit. I have no reason to lie." He glared at Headmaster Bojana, and she gave him a gracious bow. Not quite mocking, but not quite respectful either.

"So what do you want?" asked Max. "Do I need to fight another headmaster?"

He noticed that the attendants for all four headmasters seemed to grow restless at his question. There was one exception. Professor Grave Call merely quirked a smile.

"Nothing that extreme," said Mong Hao while waving his hands downward. "She has asked that you fight her most talented student competing in the Junior division of the competition. This student is one she believes could actually do well in the inter-Quartet competition. Despite your impressive growth, you are not ready to compete in the senior division, and this is reasonable. You will still have one full semester to improve after the mid-year placement competitions. If you win against Headmaster Bojana A’Mind’s student, it will satisfy her that you will at least do well in the junior division, and she will accept that you might be able to compete in the senior division. Even if you do not win at the end of the year, merely competing at that level in your first year will quell my associates’ doubts. This meeting is so that all the parties involved can see you and also hear your answer about this."

"Before I give an answer, I want to hear more particulars," said Max. He crossed his arms. Most of this he was already aware of. After all, it’d been his idea to fight a hot shit junior division Challenger to appease the other headmasters. That had been included in one of several communications he’d sent the Summoner headmaster.

"Wanting to hear more details is understandable," said Headmaster Bojana as she spoke for the first time. Her voice was surprisingly melodic. She took two steps forward from her group and fixed Max with a steely stare. "What all the headmasters are suggesting," she swept her peers with a glance, "you would not be competing in the standard mid-year, end of semester placement competition. However, I am not convinced about your skill. So it seems more than reasonable that after all the academies in the Quartet do have their standard mid-semester placings, that you duel the number one from my academy at the Junior level. If anything, this is rather generous since nobody is even sure yet if the student I have in mind will truly even place first in my school, much less against all the others.

“As already stated, we can all agree that we should not expect you to fight in the senior division until the end of the year. But I, and others, would like to see your power with my own eyes, not only qualifying you to even be at the junior level, but also to see how easily you can defeat my challenger. It stands to reason that regardless of how or why you grow in power so quickly, or even being a three-Path Challenger, if you were able to compete solidly at the senior level at the end of the year, you should not be struggling to win at the junior level.

"Okay. Sounds good to me. I'll be there if we come to an agreement," said Max. He smiled winningly.

Headmaster Bojana narrowed her eyes and frowned, but didn't say anything more. She nodded and stepped back.

Mong Hao waved a hand, his long sleeve trailing behind. “I believe we are all on the same page now, yes? So Max, you will–”

"One moment please, headmaster.”

Mong Hao Han cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. Some of the true, political, powerful, calculating man Max knew he had to be was showing through. “Please explain, young Max.”

“Absolutely. I do believe that the particulars are settled now–functionally, that is. However, the deal has changed. Again. I think we need to have a bit more of a chat before we can all walk away with a deal.”

The headmasters’ heads all snapped up, laser focused on him.

Max continued, "The original deal that I made with Mong Hao Han and Territ Mond was for me to get two hundred fifty mana units per month, each. I also received a bonus for signing. The bonus ship has already probably sailed, but I think it’s reasonable to expect another two hundred fifty mana units per headmaster, per month. After all, I will be working to become the prize fighter of the entire quartet. Now that all four headmasters are on the same page, or at least will be soon," he pointed at Headmaster Bojana, and she nodded in response with an unfriendly smile, "I think that my original allowance should double."

"This is outrageous!” growled headmaster Winno Smith. She had green flames beginning to glow on her shoulders.

Max waved a hand at everybody assembled. "I understand this might be sudden for some of you. But the scope of this…arrangement keeps changing., It seems to me if I am carrying the hopes and dreams of the entire Quartet, double the amount of Headmasters, I should get another five hundred mana units per month. And after all, I am completely fine with no longer participating at all if you will think it is too risky. Or perhaps…the headmasters sponsoring me can hash out a deal that if and when I go farther in the inter-quartet competition, that they will not need to share the rewards."

That last bit had been a gamble–Max had no idea what he was actually talking about. But he could tell he had their attention now.

There was a moment of absolute silence before all of the gathered Quartet staff began talking or whispering at once. Max folded his arms and, as the sound died down a bit, he nodded his head.

He gestured at Mong Hao and Territ. "These two brought into the fold and showed their sincerity. I think it's only fair that the other headmasters do too."

"How dare you!" shouted a man behind the Replicator Academy headmaster. "Who do you think you are!?"

Max lost his grin and his eyes went flat. "I'll tell you who I am. I'm somebody who doesn't actually need to do anything while I'm here, and I could take all the money I already have and live a very lavish lifestyle, enjoying all of the Challenger groupies who hear of me for the next seven years until I can finally leave this place.

"Even without any backing, I beat a level 5 dungeon before my first semester. There is no way I can’t do it again, especially in the future when I have more power.

“Or I might even just be ‘graduate,’ to just leave this year or maybe next year. Even if you try to block me, I have connections who are not present here telling me that I would still be able to do so. If necessary, I can escalate it.”

That last bit had been another calculated risk. He had to assume there were levels of management in the Quartet system, especially since the inter-Quarter competition existed.

Max glared. “Whether you want to believe that I fought Headmaster Territ Mond or not, the fact that I survived and even wounded him before the end of my first semester–ever–should be verifiable. The fact is, I don't need any of you, but you need me because your Quartet sucks and you don't ever win. And that means you are resource-starved. When is another Challenger like me going to come around again?"

He narrowed his eyes and let his gaze play around the ring of Quartet staff who all had their mouths open in shock at his blunt words and brazen attitude.

"Let me make this very clear. This is not a negotiation. This is an ultimatum. You will do as I ask, which is not even that heavy considering the allowances of some of the lifers. And I know some of them have to get that money either from some of you or the people under you. So play ball, or I'll just go home. I don't have any reason to fight for you unless you pay me. I am not your soldier. I am a mercenary."

Max folded his arms again and stared down every last person that eyed him with animosity or contempt.

Bojana didn’t back down. She frowned. "If you beat my champion, we will discuss it."

"Nope, wrong," said Max. "You will agree to it now. If I win against your champion, no weaseling out of this entire deal, either."

She ground her teeth. Max thought, I can just tell me and her are going to be friends.

Lavinia’s voice whispered in the back of his mind. You got them by the balls, Max. It’s sort of beautiful.

Max silently sent her mental agreement. He just hoped that a thousand mana units a month was going to be enough. His mana body efforts were gobbling up resources at an alarming rate.