“We’ll make an exchange, a deal that satisfies both our wants and needs,” Ivy said, fluttering her eyes.
Merek didn’t seem to know how to interpret this, so he frowned at her instead of answering.
“Consider it an advance or a loan, made payable to us here at the shop. You get the card and sign a binding contract at the soul level to make payments with cards, shards, equipment, experience, or whatever you find has value until the investment is deemed paid off. Which, a small interest will occur, maxed out to half more than the worth of the given card. If you die before you’ve paid off your debt, we’ll collect on your soul. You don’t have to worry about that part though, since you seem to have a knack for survival and a pretty good head on your shoulders.”
“Soul…level… What kind of operation have I gotten myself mixed up in,” Merek muttered, shaking his head. “And even if I had anything to call my own, I’d still need to fill my other card slots and people always get weirdly reticent to sell to anyone close to completion. I already owe everything I find to the Ascensionists until my contract is up.”
“I’ve got an idea.” Ivy took the clipboard back and scribbled in another item: class rarity enhancement. “We can offer prepared experience to upgrade the rarity of your class in an instant, painless process and the cards to fill those slots to match the rarity of your class. From what I’ve heard, thanks for that by the way, upgrading your class rarity gives you class card options to choose from. With those, you should be able to take on better jobs.” She looked him up and down. “I wouldn’t recommend anything above Rare though, otherwise an immortal life of indentured servitude might actually be your only option for payment.”
“R-rare?” Merek all but choked. “A full deck of common cards is enough to guarantee a reasonably secure life, if they’re good cards like you listed. Uncommon, and I’d be well into the realm of retiring within a few years.”
“See, but the safer and more prepared you are, the more likely you’ll be able to make a return on this investment. I suggest Rare. Who wants to live with simple stability when you have the opportunity to thrive instead of merely survive?” Ivy asked, laying it on thick and moving closer beside him to allow him to get a really good look at the circled options.
Merek licked his lips, eyes flicking across the page. “And none of this will be transmitted to my family? No matter what happens, even if you have to take my soul or whatever, this is strictly between you and me?”
“Absolutely not. This is an intimate, personal contract. You either pay us back, or we take a loss. No debts will be inherited by your families,” Ivy promised, holding out her pinkie.
He laughed, a disbelieving sound closer to manic than humor. “What do I have to lose?”
“Aside from a restful afterlife, not much.” She wrote numbers beside the options. “We operate on a point system here. Whenever you deliver a payment, no matter the form, you’ll receive a receipt with an up to date balance of your owed points.”
“I…” Merek looked for a moment like he would stop himself, but he couldn’t pass up the golden opportunity right in front of him. How could he live with himself if he gave up the chance to change his entire life, to no longer have to feel the drain of lacking a complete deck? Of having to scrounge and beg to join parties, just to make his quotas each week? “If you have so much, can you buy out my contract? As it is right now, I won’t be able to even start repaying you until after it’s ended, and to know I’m working pointlessly while there’s still so much more… I don’t know if I could make it through.”
“What are the conditions of your current contract?” Ivy mused, writing “freedom” on the clipboard too. “Are you sure indentured servitude isn’t an option?”
“What exactly would you be asking for in this ‘indentured’ tenure?”
“A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Who knows? Can’t say for sure how things will go in the future. It’s not like I’m a Seer or anything.”
“As it is right now, I’m a sub-contractor for a sub-division. Legally, we’re not affiliated with any of the factions, but the tower clearly thinks otherwise. My boss gets first chance at anything I find or earn in the tower, which I’m repaid for with points usable at any of the affiliated establishments. Like a sub-currency, but it limits where and who I can deal with.” He sighed. “I can only keep half the common shards, anything else has to go through them. Which, when I first agreed, sounded fine. There’s no official requirement that I go in the tower, just that I have to sell them what I get when I do. But there’s no independent sources for cards. Either I buy from the allied companies within the faction’s umbrella or pay more than triple their value from an opposing faction. Independents don’t last long without getting bought out by one or the other.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Like I said before, sad and pitiful. Good thing you found the right people. Now, that contract. What are the conditions? Give me a number, a price, something to work with.”
“I don’t know. I’ve never considered it possible before. I… don’t even know if they’d accept it.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have… of course it’s not that easy. Or possible.”
“Shop, can you find anything related to escaping this customer’s current contract?” Ivy asked.
[Clause 16.7c, methods of contract completion states the basic contract signed is ended when enough material has been provided in value of equal to or greater than that of an epic card or the time of the contract elapses.]
“That seems easily achievable if you take the current offer of a rare class upgrade and a deck of rare cards, don’t you think?”
“What does?”
“The terms of the resolution of your contract. You need to provide your boss with material equalling that of an epic card.” Ivy silently prompted the shop to create an epic version of her Retaliation card, Dominant Vengeance. “I’ll simply add this to your tab.”
Merek stared at the card for a very long, breathless moment, then passed out.
“Shop, a glass of water, please.” Holding up her hand over Merek’s head, she lamented how what she’d do next would moisten the couch cushions, but she didn’t have time for theatrics. She took a sip of the water when the glass appeared in her hand and found it to be room temperature. “Make it colder, please. A lot colder.”
She could feel it under her fingertips and unceremoniously dumped the glass on Merek’s face. He sputtered and sat upright in a hurry, wiping his face and holding himself tight, shivering.
Grinning predatorily, Ivy held out her rejected pinkie for Merek to take. “So do we have a deal?”
“I… As long as I can still provide for my family, yes. I’d need to see the exact terms. I’m not signing anything until I know what I’m risking this time.”
“Shop, contract please.” Again, she held out her hand, catching the golden page as it appeared, then she offered it to Merek. She’d been sure to give him enough leeway to still take care of his ordinary affairs. “Everything we discussed should be in there. Once you’re content with the terms and conditions, prick your finger and sign with your blood.”
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Merek stared down at the page in front of him. He read and reread the contract, struggling to fully take it in. He’d gone through so many emotional states in the past few minutes, he wound up overwhelmed and a bit dazed.
“I must be dreaming,” he muttered as he scribbled his very well-practiced signature in his own blood. “This whole day has been unbelievable.”
The contract poofed into a puff of smoke, leaving a smaller slip for him to take. The receipt. Merek grabbed the paper and read the number, five thousand six hundred and sixty-six. Next, Ivy waved her hand, and five more blue-tinted cards appeared. Lastly, she touched his chest, and an influx of power warmed his aching body.
Immediately, his Common Brawler class became Uncommon, then Rare. There, it settled. Two additional card slots were now available to him, and the Rare cards Ivy held out to him felt as if they belonged entrenched in his deck, where they would soon reside.
But then he realized a problem. His class might be ready for the cards, but his heart card wouldn’t allow him to utilize them efficiently.
“One more thing—”
“Consider it a show of faith. Pleasure doing business with you,” Ivy said with a gentle smile, tapping his chest once more. Energy surrounded the core card he’d known so long—his heart card Personal Perimeter—and as he watched its rarity shifted and shone brilliantly inside his chest.
Now, the Rare cards sang to him, and even the Epic drew him forward. With the addition of two new slots from the class upgrade, he had open slots for all of the five available cards.
The reality of what he was staring at failed to sink in as he numbly took the offered cards and stared at an invisible notification prompting him to select one Uncommon and one Rare class card.
“Is this real…?”
He slotted all the cards into his deck, and felt whole for the first time in many months.
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“Thank you… so much.”
“Don’t worry about it. For now, go get rid of that contract, find a job that pays better, and be sure to pay off your debts! Once you do that, we can start looking into getting you better gear, assuming your new job doesn’t outfit you themselves to keep you around,” Ivy said with a satisfied smile. The lifespan they’d earn from this wasn’t all that much compared to what they’d earned during their venture to Aiguo, but it was just the start of things.
And this way, she’d have bragging rights that she made the first deal with a local.
Merek continued to cycle through disbelief to appreciation to excitement, looping back to disbelief again, so Ivy politely kicked him out.
[Now that you’ve finished with business, I would like to inform you that your 'Tough Skin' card is a monstrous card that is liable to mutate your soul.]
“Oh, is that all?" She hummed, considering. "Is it reversible?”
The shop was silent for a moment, then reluctantly responded, [Indeed.]
Ivy smiled. “Then I don’t see the problem.”
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