Chapter 20

There were groans around the table. “You will have to excuse Alex. His father works for the galactic swarm bank. Apparently, Alex wants to follow in his footsteps. Which means asking everyone he’s come across today whether they have an account yet. My name is Beatrice by the way.” One of the girls said.

That prompted the others at the table to finally introduce themselves. The second boy was named Kyle and the final girl I didn’t know the name of was Julie. I got the feeling that Julie was fairly shy, so far she had only spoken to introduce herself.

“Actually, you are probably the only one at the table that should be asked that question. If you came from a planet that lost integration you probably don’t have an account.” The girl named Victoria said with a trace of disdain. I was guessing it was due to my discussion of the benefits of technology. Quite a few swarm lords looked down on anything involving technology instead of magic. They outright discouraged any research into anything technology related. Which I sort of understood, a large part of their control was based on the fact that they controlled the swarm, and the swarm was what controlled magic itself.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit surprised at the question. Somehow in all my research I had never run across any mentions of the local banking system and what exactly they did. Then again it’s not like many books on Earth talked about banks either.

“I don’t have an account. What’s the benefit of having an account?” I asked Alex.

Alex actually seemed surprised at my question. Apparently it wasn’t one that was asked often. “If you don’t have an account then you won’t be able to pay for purchases or get paid for any work you do.” He finally said.

I winced. That really didn’t answer my question. “I may be new to swarm society but I assume there is some type of currency? Couldn’t I get paid with gold or something else, then I wouldn’t need a bank account.” I asked.

Everyone but Alex started giggling. “There is a swarm lord currency but it’s not like the coins that commoners use. Swarm lords don’t trade in goods and resources. We trade in services, servants, core factories, and planets. Mostly things that aren’t easily transferable. The galactic bank sets a price for all of those and facilitates trade.” Beatrice explained.

“How exactly does that work?” I asked, feeling a bit confused. In my mind if everything had a set price it seemed like there should be at least some physical currency somewhere.

“Everything is based on the UBM. Which stands for unrestricted bonded mage. Basically it’s a contract that a mage has signed saying that they will provide ten years of service with no restrictions. Without the bank you would have to find another swarm lord that wants that contract. With the bank you just sign the contract over to them and they put one UBM in your account. You can also get paid in UBM by other swarm lords or pay for goods or services from other swarm lords with UBM.” Alex explained.

I couldn’t help but frown. That sounded a bit like slavery or indentured servitude. Especially when Alex had specifically mentioned the contract had no restrictions. “What type of work does a bonded mage do?” I couldn’t help but ask.

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“Mostly unrestricted bonded mages become soldiers. Although if they are in a war, the term is often less than ten years. The exact contract terms are a quarter of each day for ten years. It’s hard to have a soldier on the battlefield that is only on duty a quarter of each day.” Kyle said. I got the feeling that he was a bit enamored with war. Seemed like most young men were since they still thought they were invincible.

I couldn’t help but imagine that warfare in a swarm world would be terrifying. A swarm knight on a battlefield could kill anyone with a simple wave of their hand. “Why would they ever sign up for that?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Such contracts are usually the only way that a commoner can pay for services from a swarm squire or knight. Also if you aren’t born a mage it’s one of the only ways to become one. If you are already a mage you can get a squire to heal and extend the life of yourself and your family members. There are also contracts that are restricted, meaning that they can’t be assigned dangerous tasks. Although restricted bonds are only worth a tenth of a UBM.” Alex explained.

That I could actually understand. If a family member was dying, or you just wanted to live longer, it may be worth offering ten years of your life in exchange. Even if it meant risking your life. “I assume there is a set price for the number of healings or life extensions for a UMB? Also does everyone actually call them UMB’s?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Usually people just call them bonds. Around a hundred healing or life extensions per bond. Considering each life extension is good for around ten years it’s a decent deal.” Alex said.

It actually was a fair deal. A hundred life extensions meant that in exchange for ten years you gained a thousand years of life. Even the restricted bond meant that you gained a hundred years of life for just ten years of work. I imagined that many mages made such deals almost every decade. Especially if they could sell a few of the extensions and use the rest on their family members. That way they could live a life of luxury and never worry about their immediate family dying of old age.

“You mentioned core factories and planets. What’s the pricing on those?” I couldn’t help but wonder if I could become rich enough to purchase Earth. Right now it seemed likely that I’d be put in charge. I wouldn’t actually own the planet though. Queen Andrea could take it away from me at any time.

“A nano core factory is worth a hundred bonds. As for planets, those get very expensive. The cheapest one I’ve ever seen on the market was nearly a hundred million bonds. And that was unlivable and needed to be terraformed. An unpopulated but habitable planet would be hundreds of times more expensive.” Alex explained.

“What about a micro core factory?” I couldn’t help but ask. Afterall I was about to get one.

“If you are thinking about selling your micro core factory forget about it. Part of the ceremony is binding yourself to it. Specifically to prevent idiots from selling it.” Victoria said.

I shook my head. “No. I was just curious. Besides, if it’s cheap enough, wouldn’t it be worth buying more of them?”

“Too expensive. Average market price is a hundred million bonds. By the time you are able to make that much money there isn’t much point in having a second one. Not unless you plan to spend all day creating nano core factories.” Victoria said haughtily.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit shocked at that number. No wonder they were worried about people selling the micro core factory they were given instead of using it. You could buy the service of a hundred million mages instead. Doing some quick math in my head I tried to calculate how many years of life that would be. It was a hundred billion years of life. Meaning you could increase the life expectancy of everyone on Earth by a decade in exchange for a single micro core factory.