BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 55 – Deal in the Middle of Training

Chapter 55 – The Deal in the Midst of Training

"He finally succeeded..." I whispered with a smile. "I’m happy for you, Joe..."

Even though he didn’t possess a weapon with special traits, he was already moving steadily along the path without lagging behind the others.

"Well done!" I whispered again with excitement, as I addressed the Trickster Beast:

"Can’t you tell whether Joe’s weapon is an ancient one or not?"

"That axe?" the beast muttered audibly. "Of course not... in fact, it isn’t even a weapon."

"Not in its current state, at least," he added.

"What do you mean?" I asked, surprised.

The beast’s mocking voice didn’t linger before he explained:

"It’s a tree-cutting axe... high-level, extremely valuable... meant for chopping wood."

"But could it be used against those strong monsters?"

"Because it’s a high-level axe... tools like it aren’t categorized as weapons... so their true value cannot be determined."

"Then... what did you mean that it isn’t a weapon in its current state? Is there another state?"

The Trickster Beast snorted:

"Your fighter treats it as a weapon... but it wasn’t the first. You’d be surprised at how many special tools like it have been tried to be converted into weapons by many people..."

He paused for a moment, then continued:

"I’ll tell you something... many prefer to own a weapon like this rather than an ancient weapon."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Because they can add certain properties to it... unlike ancient weapons whose traits cannot be changed or removed."

"I understand... but," I said, "looking at myself, Suman, and Louis... those who have ancient weapons, their properties are very suitable."

"Hahaha!" the Trickster Beast snorted again.

"You immature egg... you’ve misunderstood in a way that’s truly laughable."

I didn’t reply. The beast continued laughing and added:

"Ask yourself... how did you get the ancient weapons?"

"What do you mean... how?" I murmured.

"You got one from me... and then, using the Weapon Forge, you created the rest."

"So..." the beast continued sarcastically, "from me... I am the powerful beast... none leave my confrontation unharmed... you got an ancient weapon... then, with your luck and secret missions... you got the forge that allowed you to exploit it to get several ancient weapons..."

"And even then... it wouldn’t have worked if you hadn’t gained a compounded accumulation... your strange trait of reading the accumulation of an enormous number of flowers that contain accumulations... less than five thousand..."

The beast’s laughter rose and echoed through the cave.

"And you still think the other masters have the luxury of owning ancient weapons and choosing the one that suits them..."

"You egg... most masters would dig through the earth for years just to get one ancient weapon... do you think they’d care whether it’s perfectly compatible with them or not?"

I didn’t reply, sinking into deep thought. Suddenly, the beast snapped me out of the luxury I was imagining...

Seeing numerous ancient weapons before my eyes and owning the forge to produce them made me, without realizing it, misjudge the situation outside the island...

But? That was actually a good thing... that I and my followers possessed an ancient weapon... a kind of privilege...

I needed to craft many swords.

"Tell me, Trickster," I said, "can I move a structure to your cave, or can you move your cave somewhere... I need to accelerate the Weapon Forge’s time..."

"Hahaha!" the beast mocked again. "And you call me sarcastic while you always joke... let me enlighten you with another fact, you fool."

"Go ahead."

"Perhaps because you don’t own a cave... you don’t know that all caves possess temporal acceleration... but it depends on their owner..."

"In my case, I can make time move extremely fast... because I’m one of the Ten Beasts... in the state of a fourth-rank master, it depends on his strength, combat accumulation, knowledge, and traits... maybe his cave is five times faster... maybe ten... or maybe not faster at all..."

"Ohhh," I said, as the Trickster Beast continued explaining.

"Returning to your question... time in caves follows two directions... you must choose one."

"What are they..." I adjusted my seat to listen.

"The first... is that time is fixed and accelerated, for example, five times faster... this path means the cave’s master cannot increase or decrease the time inside... but in return, he won’t lose any of his accumulation or resources... the cave nourishes itself from itself."

"The other path... is that the cave runs at the same speed as world time... but its master has the ability to increase the speed anytime he wants for a certain period... and to the speed he desires himself... this path depends on the master’s abilities and resources."

"I understand," I whispered. "So you’re the second type."

"Exactly. You’re learning," said the beast, and added:

"That’s why when you transfer your forge to craft ancient weapons... it’s on me to increase the time each time for your sake."

"Won’t you do it?" I asked.

The beast responded with a strong, sarcastic laugh:

"I will... but I have my conditions, as you know."

"As expected... enlighten me," I said with a smile.

"I’ll take 50% of the weapons."

"Agreed..." I said. "If the forge produces ten weapons... you get six of the designated weapons... and I get three designated and one ancient."

"Hahaha!"

"Didn’t you say 50%?" I asked, smiling...

I knew he’d refuse, of course... he wasn’t stupid... he knew perfectly well that the value of one ancient weapon equals nine designated weapons.

(Note: ancient weapon = revered weapon)

"As I said," the Trickster Beast laughed, "50%... sometimes yours, sometimes mine."

"There are two conditions... that must be met to finalize the 50% agreement," I said seriously, and continued:

"First... when an ancient weapon isn’t suitable for my needs... it goes to you even if it’s my turn to get it... in exchange, I get another ancient weapon, whether you have it or it hasn’t appeared yet."

"The second condition... every time I craft an ancient weapon... the resources are massive... I won’t be able to supply them... you will handle that."

"I thought you were joking."

"I’m serious... let me continue."

"Say what you have." the beast replied.

"What are your conditions for these matters to enter our deal?"

"Good... that’s a fine statement... now you’re speaking properly," the Trickster Beast laughed, then paused for a moment and added:

"Your forge depends on the highest weapon ever smelted in it... if you add an ancient weapon, it will produce one ancient and nine lesser ones."

"Then... I’ll add a weapon higher than ancient... a masterful weapon... to give us one masterful and nine revered ones."

"Ohhh!" I jumped from my seat in shock.

"Don’t get too happy," the voice came quickly, cutting my joy.

"My condition for accepting your terms... is that you get one ancient weapon at a time. The rest of the weapons will be mine."

"What?!" I shouted, anger mixed with surprise.

This bastard... he’s offering a deal entirely in his favor...

He puts a masterful weapon into the forge... and every time, the forge produces a similar weapon and nine ancient ones...

He throws me one ancient weapon as if it were a gift... and reaps the rest... of course, I won’t accept that.

"Impossible... I won’t accept," I said, then sat down, snorting in frustration.

"You’re not thinking clearly, boy... the previous deal meant you got one sword every two smelts... now you get one every time. You’re getting 100% now."

"Ohhh... how generous of you," I said sarcastically. "No... I only get 1%... every time there will be nine ancient and one masterful. Previously, it was nine designated and one ancient...

And that single ancient exceeded the value of the nine... now, of course, the masterful will exceed the value of nine revered weapons. And you give me one... it will be worthless compared to what you reap."

"Your analysis is wrong," the Trickster Beast laughed, adding:

"At first... there won’t be nine ancient and one masterful. The forge depends on the lower ratios... it will give you 10% masterful, 20% ancient, and 70% designated. Sometimes the designated might even reach 80%."

"Still," I said in annoyance, "I won’t accept a deal where you get 100% masterful."

"You get a deal with 100% ancient. Whether it’s one or two weapons per smelt... it will be yours," the Trickster Beast replied.

It was something I had never imagined obtaining before... now, after he spoke about the masterful weapon... I couldn’t think of anything else. Damn it.

"Listen," I said. "As long as we agree on deals that benefit both of us... I’ll allow you to get two flowers instead of one... and let’s make the deal 50%."

"No," the beast replied.

I sighed in frustration. I would never fully accept this... my decision was made.

"It will be 25," the beast continued. "Either you say yes or you say no."

"Yes," I said.

"Then let’s begin... crafting the first masterful weapon."

The Trickster Beast’s laughter rang loudly through the cave.