Fonta stood atop a stage in front of an audience of fifty. Eight of them were friends and allies, the rest strangers who followed him or his master for one reason or another. Fonta was wearing flowing purple robes and his hair was tied up into a topknot. Over his feet were weighted sandals made from silver.

“I Fonta Pain established the sect known as Bargain. We are the Bargain Sect, an unorthodox sect made up of all kinds of people. We accept all who come with honest at-Intentions and will find ways to aid everyone who joins us on the path. We will become one of the greats, and we will triumph over all who step in our way for we are more than what anyone bargained for. And for that will state the terms.”

“To start, to be an inner sect disciple, you need to earn 50,000 Contribution points from the sect. There will be many opportunities to do so, from tending to the sect itself to going on missions or quests for the people in this area. Every month there will be a 10% off sale on everything in the contribution point hall. There are better goods for purchase in the inner sect shops. Finally there are some ground rules. Duels are to first blood or surrender, killing is unacceptable, accidental or otherwise and will have a fine of 2,000,000 Ducrates. Second, while respect is earned, there will be no discrimination while here. Problems will be stubbed at the source.” Fonta’s eyes landed on a large man with a broken arm before going back to the others present.

“Follow the laws of the kingdoms so long as they don’t go against any of our own tenants. Over indulging in vices that go against the laws of the kingdom will not be overlooked and investigated. Abuse of power or rank will be looked into and those found harming their fellow students will find themselves no longer under our protection. We are more than we appear. Never settle for being less than your potential pushes you.” Fonta stated before freezing. He couldn’t recall if he missed one of his lines. He could have sworn it was longer. Fonta reached towards his umbrella as holding a weapon always calmed him down. Fonta sat down in a seat next to Rei.

Rei stepped up. “We have four cultivation techniques that we currently have to share. The first focuses on none of the elements, the second is focused on wood and water, the third is earth and metal, and the last uses all of them. Sadly our fire technique instructor is a bit late. Secondly to those with a focus on projection or a desire to learn magic. We have lessons for those who want to supplement their cultivation. Finally for those who use weapons, we offer technique enhancement with master Fonta for 1000 contribution points if you give the style or a cultivation technique to the sect, or 15,000 points per hour of instruction. Over the next week,you all will move in and get adjusted to sect life. Then we will begin the process for making a name for our sect. The spring tournament will be held in a month, and currently we have only one participant, First Disciple Long Yang, or Yang as the sect leader calls him.”

Whispers filled the courtyard at that proclamation. Apparently, Yang was kind of a big deal. No, it wasn’t that, the whispers were about his hair and the Long surname.

Rei waited a moment expecting this reaction. “He uses a style derived from his family and is nearly matched with our own sect master when wielding a sword. Do we have any challengers for the position of first disciple?”

Yang stepped to the center of the stage and looked down with a regal expression. Fonta saw through the act, both were hicks in their ways, one from the gutters and the other a small city young master. Though not spoiled as much as he was hindered by his position. Both were big fish in small ponds.

An older man a head taller than Fonta but shorter than Yang stepped forward and a long staff with a kitchen knife tied to its end, on his back, approached. “I Tang Bao challenges Long Yang to a duel.”

Fonta grimaced as his stomach rumbled. Then he recognized the guy below as someone he worked with in the kitchens. The man usually cooked the soup or made meat buns. During breaks he would practice with his weapon, the spear was what Fonta called a trick weapon that could break apart and turn into something else, during an attack. It likely would only work once on Yang, and then it wouldn’t be an issue.

“First Blood., Yang stated as he hopped down onto a dulling circle and then began to bounce from foot to foot without jumping, sending Chi into the limb in preparation.

Tang Bao held his spear outward. Ready to strike Yang the moment he entered range.

“Ready? Begin!” Rei stated from the stage.

Yang jumped thirty feet into the air from a standing position, Chi powering the leap as he spun in midair, drawing his sword.

“Dragon Crash!” With a bit of chi in his technique, Yang conjured a dragon from the water in the atmosphere and sent it crashing down into the spear user.

Bao was prepared as he blocked the attack and was sent flying out of the dueling circle, various cuts bleeding on his form. The fight had only taken a moment.

“Right…Yang is a pragmatist. A flashy attack at the end of a drawn out fight might look good. But ending a fight before it can get anywhere near that difficult is more efficient.” Fonta sighed.

“Don’t you do the same thing?” Rei asked.

“No, well I could, but some enemies you need to soften up and exhaust before doing things like that. I don’t believe in holding back unless I’m teaching or trying to learn. Sometimes figuring out attack patterns is the key.”

“I heard you held back against Zara. Don’t you go easy on pretty women.”

“Bravado, I was exhausted, tired, and in a hurry. Fighting her would have resulted in one of us dying. So I made myself seem like I was much stronger than her in every way, instead of just the was I was. Since I’m quicker to react and have much more combat experience I capitalized on those.”

“And she still seems to carry that fear of your power despite still being much stronger than you.”

“Ah, its a she has to hit me once thing, isn’t it.”

“Yup. It only takes one big mistake on your end, if you aren’t careful.”

Fonta’s eyes landed on Zara, which caused her to shiver, then swiftly took a few steps away as the look was a bit too piercing.

Rei flicked Fonta on his shoulder. “Looks like we’re done for the day.”

Fonta was surprised by the amount of donations he’d received in terms of Ducks to contribution points. For every 10 they spent he received nine, then when they spent 1000 and gave him a technique to enhance he received the last bit that went back to him. 10,000 Ducks spent, 9,000 points went to him, and 1000 points went to the student, which in turn came back to him. He’d enhanced 15 weapon techniques that week alone, for a total of 150,000 contribution points which he could freely convert due to owning the relic. It wouldn’t take long for him to get more money.

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Rei had been spending his development points to freely enhance the building and add things like water temperature control, or cattle spawning rings that would create animals that could be used for meat, milk, and eggs, and be bred, creating a source of meat that could be consumed or sold. How they worked made no sense but required 100 ducks a month to pay for. Which could easily be offset by the amount the meat sold for to the lands outside once the trade routes were made. Rei also purchased a room where people would rapidly heal from wounds just by being inside. Fonta had to spend an hour there every day.

In the afternoons, Fonta would spend his days learning various trades and studying so that he could eventually help with the paperwork running a sect required.

By the end of the second week, Fonta held around 500,000 Ducks total, and the first letter for a job had come in. Directed to sect elder Casimar.

Casimar bowed to Fonta. “Leaping Lizardmen are making trouble in a farming village to our southeast, the villagers have pulled together 10,000 ducks and are hoping we can exterminate them.

“Lizardmen?”

“They are bipedal lizards that use primitive weapons and eat people, well anything really, but mostly people.They were created by demonic experiments and breed very rapidly.”

“10,000 Ducks isn’t enough for such a request, but the kingdom will pay 50,000 for the destruction of its nest, and the head of the Lizard Matron. They are giant with, crowns of stone protruding from their head.”

Casimar had just entered the awakened stage that week, and gave off an aura of power past Fonta wished for, though the young sect master had still not recovered. “Ugh. How deadly are they to you?”

“Two or three awakened cultivators can handle them. But an army of 20 Elpmet would likely die. They aren’t durable enough to deal with the matron. Though regular lizardmen can be easy to deal with, one Elpmet can easily fight two at once if properly trained.”

“Cut the price in half for the farmers, then take as many elpmet cultivators as you can, they will receive 100 contribution points per lizardman head from those around the village, and 2000 split among them, then make the price for the nest will be 40,000 points split among awakened cultivators that go into the subjugation. I recommend 4.”

“Thats alot of points.”

“For staff it's a 1 to 1 trade, and you have the ability to convert on the go. I’m taking 10,000 as a tax, which is quite alot, though said amount goes down the elpmet kill too many lizards. If anything 10,000 pays for your copy of the book and I get back that investment. Is there anything else?”

“A matron gains a silver protrusion on her head each year she lives, after 10 years, they begin to turn gold. At that point they become worth 100,000, but require a Nascent cultivator to handle. They are vulnerable to fire, and freezing. On occasions, a Monarch appears once after 20 bringing the threat level to the middle Nascent tier and the reward to 200,000.”

“Mhhh…Take Zara with you just in case. If the reward is increased, I still only want 10,000 but split it among the others as you see fit.”

“You see them as a true threat?”

“No. The threat could have been there for a while if now they are branching out.” Fonta didn’t like the smell of this request but he wasn’t able to participate. Irritation shot through him as he eyed his friend.

“What?”

“I’ll go talk to Zara, you will go to Yang and begin preparations.”

“Right Master Fonta.”

Fonta nodded stood and Followed Casimar out of the office.

----------------------------------------

Fonta made his way to Zara’s room, which he entered without knocking. Not something he really needed to learn when everyone he knew lived in large boxes.

“Zara, we need to talk.” Fonta said as his eyes looked to the magic instructor.

Zara was mostly dressed. In that she had pajamas on, a shocked expression, and in her hands were two familiar Ivory horns.

Fonta looked at the top of her head and noticed nothing was there, not even the nub Angel had for a while before it vanished. Fonta stared at the horns, then her head. The way the mid-morning sun made her hair look like fire was quite beautiful.

Fonta entered and closed the door. “You can finish with the horns.”

“How did you get past my lock!”

Fonta turned to see a magical circle slowly fading. “Oh, use a physical one next time. Sorry about that.”

Flames pooled on her fingers, noticeably smaller than usual. Though the concentration and heat could fry him if he wasn’t careful.

“I need you to do a job, hopefully you won’t be needed, but Casimar is putting together a lizardmen extermination squad. If the matron has golden markings I’ll need you to step in and put it down.”

“Why can’t you do it?”

“I’m still not healed from that fight. Quite weak at the moment and they are weak to fire and Ice. You use fire.”

“What do I get out of it?”

“What do you want?” Fonta asked.

“Everything.”

Fonta raised an eyebrow. “I don’t have that.”

“Silence. You won’t speak of what you’ve seen here.”

“Huh, care to tell me why that matters? Also, you get more, If I truly broke your lock this is my fault.”

“Fine, for many demons, horns are a sign of strength, some are parasitic, others genetic, and other times, prosthetic. Many demon families embed parasitics into children to enhance their natural mana draw, if they aren’t compatible you end up with cases like Angel who was born without a horn and the parasites couldn’t take permanent hold. That's common for those with light or holy attunements. In my case, my father also doesn’t have horns but he’s because he isn’t a native demon, just a demonic cultivator who lived long enough and mastered the native magic to the degree of being an archmage.”

“So you are a hornless demon. Like Angel.”

“No. I am a half demon, the difference isn’t much but I was born with powerful attributes for mana. To hide that I wasn’t fully a demon, I was kept hidden from the public eye, and given prosthesis when I was old enough to understand what they were for. Horns serve a purpose, they amplify magic. They allow us to pull more power from the world and create stronger effects. The difference between Angel and I are major, she is a full demon, though she is either a mutant among her kind, or her parents didn’t get along as well as they seem. Her mana type is rare for demons, as healers are never common anywhere. But those wing nubs seem to be where she draws her mana and will likely grow larger when she matures. I will just have to find a bigger prosthesis.”

“Huh.” Fonta pulled out his book and flipped a few pages. During his experimentation, Fonta learned that flipping the pages increased item rarity, which supposedly did something he hadn’t figured out, but they were supposed to be better.

Fonta focused on the word prosthesis and his view was filled with various options with a minimum price of 10,000 Ducks at the rare rank. He couldn’t increase the rarity past that without making his book stronger. He then passed the book to Zara whose mouth fell open.

“Why isn’t this an option in our book?”

“Can you read the language?”

“Well no, but..”

“I think quite a few of them are language restricted.” Fonta added.

“Alright, can you change the language?” Zara asked as she looked between black and red serrated horns and sharp horns made from molten earth. Or at least appeared to be.

Fonta scowled, he’d never thought about that. He snatched back the book and focused on language. From there he scowled harder as he saw over 170 options. “Which one?”

“Duvim.”

Fonta found it between Dutch and Elvish. “Ah there we are.” Fonta selected it and to him, nothing changed. He passed the book back to Zara.

Zara nodded as she looked through the options. “Magma Wyrm, or Hell Dragon… Both will cost over a half million credits but…”

Fonta turned around.

Zara continued. “Oh if I get the set for the Magma Wyrm, it will double my output and triple my draw rate then give me access to fire immunity, and flight, while equipped, while being fully retractable. The hell dragon horns don’t have a set, but offer slightly better bonuses when compared to just the horns. That will cost me 1 and a half million. That's a good chunk of my money… but it will be worth it.“

Fonta didn’t say anything, as he had taken back his book, noticing his Duck count increase rapidly as three items were purchased.

“So..Zara… Where have you been getting all this money.”

“Well, I received an allowance since I was little and saved most of it for a trip to the auction house but we are never there for when the big items are present. I also work, anytime I can. So I assume access to your book today will be payment enough.”

“What is an allowance…” Fonta scowled.

Zara put on her new ones and felt that they were much stronger than the ones she received from her father and shattered them with a single spell causing a metal key and a canister to fall from them and land on the ground. “Huh. Alright, now then, let's get to work. I saw an instrument page, why haven’t you purchased one yet.”

Fonta nodded, turned, and made his exit. That was enough meddling for one day.

“Tell me your story when you get back. I’ll get to my own training.”