Chapter 88: Negotiation and tour around Beacon.
If anyone wants to support me, or just read 3/7 chapters ahead of my two stories, it's possible with my (P)(A)(T), if not, I still appreciate you reading my stories, thank you very much!
As always, good night and happy reading!
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori
[...]---[...]
First of all, as much as I harbored some resentment towards James, or rather, the soldiers he commanded, for being complete imbeciles, I still wasn't his enemy or Ozpin's, so I'll lay out some cards.
"First of all, I only have seven invites for the stream, I don't intend to get rid of all of them." Not even half, two at most, maybe three, since these invites were hard to come by.
Five of them I had won in Jille, against the goblin army, the other three in WinterHord, against the Deerclops, totaling eight, minus one that I had given to Tanjuro, seven.
It was supposed to be six, since before accepting the emergency mission, I had tried to invite Dylan for various reasons, one of them being to have a direct line of communication with Terraria and know what was happening there.
It didn't work, or rather, the stream didn't let me invite him.
[No being considered native to the "Terraria" world can be invited to the stream before the destruction of the "Wall that separates and seals the world."]
A damn ridiculous restriction that came out of nowhere! I didn't even understand why this restriction really existed!
And it wasn't something simple like having ten thousand viewers, for me to unlock the stream invites myself, no, I needed to kill that damned abomination...
"Seven, didn't you say in the video that you were 'The Streamer.' Why the limitation to invite people to your own stream?" James's voice pulled me out of my thoughts of indignation.
"Yes, and I also remember telling Ozpin that even though I was The Streamer, I had few invites." Not for long, I hoped.
The stream currently had about six thousand nine hundred viewers, almost seven thousand, lacking three thousand to reach the necessary ten thousand.
If nothing extraordinary happened, I guessed this goal would be achieved in about two, maybe three months, as I had noticed that a "Big event" in Terraria seemed to attract more viewers, if it was like that in other worlds I still didn't know.
James furrowed his brow slightly and fell silent, thinking. With his lack of words, the entire office fell silent as well.
As much as revealing how many invites I had would give away some advantage in negotiation, the low number of them made them more valuable, something that everyone on the other side of the table realized.
I thought someone might complain that I was trying to "sell" the stream invites, something like: "Having more viewers is better for you," but it seems I was wrong.
Well, in a way, it was better. Dealing with the stereotype of a "retarded person in power" didn't seem very pleasant to me, and if that were to happen, I would prefer it to be in a place where I was called "Young Master."
"What do you want?" He asked after the silence. Smart...
He knows I'm not from Remnant, or at least partially believes so, which means he knows my notion of this world's prices is scarce... Or at least should be.
Qrow had roughly given me the price of Lien in our poker game, at least the price in gold, which was a valuable metal even in Remnant, and the conversations I had with Weiss on the stream had given me knowledge about Dust, even if basic...
"Five tons." I raised my open hand, showing the five fingers. Before he could refuse or accept the price, I continued. "Of each type of Dust."
That was enough to make him furrow his brow completely and some sighs echoed throughout the room.
Screw it, I knew this was too much, but I'll aim high here, especially after experiencing Dust firsthand against Weiss and Blake.
I would be stupid not to want as much as possible of what would be the equivalent of Mana Stones in this world... Even if they were weaker and with diluted mana.
Something was happening to this world, I wasn't an expert in planetary health, but this world's mana flow seemed... Contained, locked... And it didn't seem natural...
"Impossible." James gave me the answer I expected. "The most the Atlas army can offer is two tons of three types of Dust." He countered.
As if I believed that... Or rather, I did believe, but my focus was never to get Dust from you, I had Weiss to sell me that...
"Three tons of five types of Dust of my choice, and one of those aircraft out there... The big one." I kept my face as neutral as possible.
... What I wanted was your weaponry,... More specifically, your aircraft...
Screw it, the Humvee stayed in Terraria, but I'm going back there flying in a damn air fortress!
To my delight, even though James's scowl deepened, he didn't instantly refuse, but remained silent in thought.
"As long as the type of Dust isn't the rarest, like..." He responded, accepting part of my offer, before continuing.
"It's impossible to sell any kind of copy of the control aircraft, but if you prove that this stream is really true, that you're from another world, I'll get something similar." He explained, falling silent.
That... Was simpler than I expected actually... I'm even a bit disappointed...
Regarding the Dust, I knew he would accept, even though my first offer was ridiculous, the second one wasn't. My surprise was him accepting the sale of what I was sure was the damn mother ship...
Even though he said it would be something similar, not identical, it was still surprising that he accepted so quickly, without any further negotiation...
Either I had done something very wrong and asked for a too low price, which theoretically I had, since a stream invite was worth much more than just what I had asked for... Or he was desperate... Desperate people tended to accept offers without thinking...
Queen of Grimm... The mission had mentioned something about her, was that the reason for his desperation? This impatience?
"Who do you want me to invite?" I asked, pulling an invite ticket from my inventory. "You can pay me after you're sure I'm not lying," I told him.
I ran the stream; if he didn't pay me, I could simply ban whoever he chose for me to invite.
Would I lose a ticket? Yes, but I would know he wasn't trustworthy... And I could or could not "borrow" some things with the VoidBag without anyone noticing...
He hesitated to answer my question, turning to Ozpin for a moment, who shook his head.
"You negotiated for this, it's yours," he took a sip of his coffee. "Don't worry about me."
"Would you be open to another negotiation later?" James asked me.
"Another invite?" I asked. When he nodded in agreement, I continued. "Yes, but for a different price." Weapons, probably, and bullets; I needed to restock my arsenal for a while.
That seemed to be enough for James to make up his mind and respond to me.
"Commander Winter Schnee, she's who I want you to invite to the stream," he said decisively, surprising me a little.
Not just me, but almost everyone else in the room, which included Winter herself.
"General, I...", she spoke hesitantly before being interrupted.
"I trust your judgment will be better than mine, decide if what this man has told is true or not, that's your mission," he said in a harsh tone, an order.
Winter didn't hesitate this time.
"Yes, sir!" she saluted.
I looked at the two for a moment. Did he really trust her judgment more than his own, or was it because of the relationship Winter had with Weiss, being her sister. After all, I didn't hide my good relationship with Team RWBY.
Well, it didn't matter, he had decided.
"Invite Winter Schnee," I said aloud, the invite in my hands tearing apart. Even without looking at the stream window, I knew it had worked, Winter's reaction said it all.
[Invite sent to person: Winter Schnee - Awaiting response!]
Her widened eyes and open mouth were somewhat cute; seeing someone as stoic as her react like that was funny.
"I recommend accepting before time runs out, the invite is single-use." There was no time, but she didn't need to know that.
The way her arm blurred almost desperately in the air, hitting the (Yes) on the screen in front of her was something to be seen.
[Invite sent to person: Winter Schnee - Accepted!]
With that, the stream screen disappeared from my view, and a cellphone appeared in the air in front of Winter with an ethereal glow.
This happened every time, or was it because I invited her myself? From the unsurprised looks of Ruby and the others, it seemed like a common occurrence.
Funny, I was "The Streamer," but I wasn't even sure of that; in fact, it was the first time I had seen someone being invited to the stream.
"A metal plaque?" James murmured confused, and then it was Winter's turn to be confused.
"What? Can't you see, General?" she asked. "It's almost identical to that cellphone he showed us before," Winter said.
Before the confusion escalated, I explained.
"Only those in the stream can see the cellphone; to everyone else, it's just a piece of metal." Maybe something else, but I didn't want to waste my time testing it since it didn't matter.
"Yours doesn't?" It was Ozpin who asked, pointing to the VoidBag on my waist. It seems he had noticed that it was where I kept everything, well, not that I tried to hide it.
"No, mine doesn't," I said. "My cellphone before all this started was normal; the stream modified it, so I guess that's why." That or because it was my cellphone, The Streamer, and all that.
While Winter entered her nickname, I pulled out my cellphone and unlocked the stream videos; then I handed it to Ozpin, placing the cellphone on the table in front of him.
"Here, for you and the others besides Winter to be able to watch." Could I have just done that from the beginning? Yes, but I didn't for a few reasons.
One of them was for them to have a comparison between my cellphone and the viewer's cellphone, or, in this case, Winter's.
"I'm not sure about the durability of your cellphone, but if you want to test some things on it, like scanning it, throwing it against the wall, feel free," I said to Winter. "Mine is more resistant to that kind of thing," I affirmed.
With that, if they wanted to install some kind of hacker plug-in or something like that, they would do it on Winter's, to which I had given permission. I doubted it would work, Stark hadn't managed to; they probably wouldn't either.
Even if they tried on mine, which the chances of them doing were minimal, I was sure it wouldn't work; after all, the stream seemed not to like intrusions or prying eyes, just like my title claimed.
Ozpin looked at the cellphone for a moment before nodding and taking it.
"So that's what Miss Rose was looking at in the cafeteria," Ozpin stated, looking at the cellphone in Winter's hands. "I thought it was just a welding plate, but it seems I was mistaken," he commented.
"I told you to be careful!" Weiss growled quietly at Ruby, who made a cute squeaking noise.
"Yes, I had seen Miss Schnee with a similar plate in my class, but I dismissed it as nothing too," this time it was Glynda who spoke, looking at Weiss, who blushed a rosy tone when Ruby pointed at her.
"Pot, meet kettle!" Ruby asserted, making Weiss blush even more and stare back at her. They seemed to get along well, all of them.
"Well, I think that's it for now?" I asked, half stating as I stood up. "Am I dismissed, Headmaster?" I joked, looking at Ozpin.
How many times had I ended up in the principal's office when I was in school? A few, from what I remember, usually for false accusations and fights with overly religious idiots...
"I'm afraid not yet, student Devas," Ozpin didn't miss a beat in joining in the banter. "Or should I say, Professor Devas?" he asked, making Yang and Ruby shout a resounding: "Yes!"
"No fucking way," I replied without hesitation, ignoring the protests of the two sisters who jumped on me.
"We're finally going to have a cool teacher! You need to accept!" Yang shouted, while she, this time, ignored the looks Glynda was shooting at her back.
"Should I be offended now?" Qrow asked amusedly. "You know, I kind of taught you guys for half your lives and all," he said, making a clearly fake sad face and holding his heart as if in pain.
"You've always been our cool uncle, not a teacher," Ruby said to Qrow before grabbing my free hand and shaking it up and down. "You have to accept, please!" she pouted cutely.
"Ignoring that I have no experience as a teacher..." let alone a diploma, either in this world or the other, since I was in the middle of my college before being sucked into Terraria by the stream, "what would I even teach? Math?" I asked.
I didn't know shit about this world, history, geography, about Dust or metallurgy, since Ruby had said they had a forge at school, didn't they?
Actually, the joke of me being the student would be better for me here; learning to forge would be good...
"You could assist Glynda, she likes the idea, look!" Qrow said, not hiding the smile on his face.
I didn't need to turn around to know that Glynda had the opposite opinion of what he had said she had.
"That... is not a bad idea actually," Blake was the one who spoke. "That would allow two fights to happen simultaneously in classes, with Professor Goodwitch paying attention to one and you to the other," she suggested.
Why did everyone seem to be really considering this? Wasn't this shit a joke?!
"What did you want to talk about, Ozpin?" I asked, quickly changing the subject without any attempt to hide it.
To my delight, Qrow's lack of entertainment and the sadness of Team RWBY, Ozpin changed the subject with me.
"I wanted to talk about our mutual not-friend," he pointed to Tyrian. "Qrow has already informed me that you intend to interrogate him later, but could you let us do it first?" he asked.
I blinked for a moment before asking.
"What's the chance of him simply escaping for some reason?" I wasn't against this idea, since walking around town with this guy would end up drawing unnecessary attention, but I wanted to know what the chance was of him just climbing when I blinked.
In my hands, the chance of him escaping was, to say the least zero, so close to it that it was pointless to try to differentiate this number; with them? I wasn't sure, but I was sure it was higher...
"I can guarantee the security of our facilities," James spoke up. "We'll take him to the maximum security cell on the Alpha aircraft, more than two thousand meters in the sky," he explained.
I hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of this offer before agreeing. As much as the best option here would be for me to keep Tyrian by my side and interrogate him myself now, I didn't want to do that.
Not that I didn't want to interrogate him, but not here, not now; what I wanted to test on him, I would do when I turned off the stream... I would take this chance to hand him over to them, and tonight, when I turned off the stream, I would come back to get him...
I tossed the end of the chain that restrained Tyrian to James, who easily caught it using his mechanical arm.
"Don't lose him," I said in a serious tone. I didn't ask them to tell me any information they could get out of the guy; I would do that myself later.
"I'll personally escort him to the cell," James replied.
"I'll help you out, JamesBoy might need a hand with that," Qrow said playfully, for a joke that I normally wouldn't understand.
With the negotiation done for now and Tyrian out of my hands, I headed for the exit, momentarily stopped by Ozpin, who asked me to speak with him alone later.
I nodded in agreement and left with Team RWBY.
"So, hungry?" I asked. "Because I am, any restaurant ideas?" I asked. I wasn't really that hungry, but I figured they might be.
"There's the school cafeteria, there's a restaurant there," Yang offered. "I don't think they'll mind you not being a student," she shrugged.
"Lead the way then," I nodded.
"Want me to watch your back?" Yang sang the question as she began to walk. Provocative, isn't she?...
"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed, while Weiss and Blake sighed at the actions of the Y in Team RWBY.
I shook my head amused at the actions of the four and took the opportunity to read the (CHAT) as I walked.
[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Hey, Devas, quick question here, how many viewers do you think are trying to unlock their Auras by chanting chunni incantations? (Emote of Iron Man laughing amusedly).
[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: How many I don't know, but Megumin tried and failed miserably, still trying actually, even after almost two hours... She's probably not even paying attention to the stream right now, even though it's our break. (Emote of a generic guy shaking his head exasperatedly).
[TheGreatGoddessAqua]: You say that as if you haven't tried it too, Oh lord: "For it is with the sword that we attain immortality..." And you say Megumin is chunni... (Emote of a Chibi Aqua laughing rolling on the locked bathroom floor).
[MagicalGirlSera-Tan]: I'm totally stealing lines from Ruby for my show, just letting you know. Her look too, she's so CUTE! (Emote of a magical girl cosplaying as Little Red Riding Hood).
[WiseWizardGleam]: Miss Ruby's enchantment reminded me a bit of the Animagus spell enchantment... Hmm... Curious. (Emote of a pensive old wizard).
[AinzOoalGown]: In my case, it reminded me of the Aura buff used by warriors, but that's a fixed 7th-level buff, unlike Aura, which should grow along with the soul... Curious, do you think it would be possible for someone from another world to unlock Aura? (Emote of a curious skeleton asking).
[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: LISTEN HERE YOU SHITTY GODDESS, UNLOCK THE DOOR OF THIS BATHROOM NOW! I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR FALSE ACCUSATIONS, YOU'VE BEEN IN THERE FOR AN HOUR, I NEED TO SHIT! (Emote of a generic guy desperately needing to go to the bathroom).
Huh? It seems they're still arguing about Aura even after all this time.
Well, in a way that was expected, unlike Sun Breathing, which, although "magical," still had a somewhat high degree of learning, Aura was something that was unlockable and still with an aria... It's basically a perfect fit for any existing chunni, Megumin was the proof.
Funny, I noticed that Rin hadn't returned to the (CHAT) since Ruby unlocked my Aura, she had the best reaction, which basically amounted to shock, disbelief, excitement, and then she ran off to study a few things.
I understood why, after all, something that uses an aria to boost the soul, and that had a "power" unique to each person, something that resonated with their self? Their soul and personality?... Well, there was something like that in FATE too, but it was a bit more complicated to acquire...
"Reading the (CHAT)?" Ruby spoke, pulling me out of my thoughts on how I could acquire a Reality Marble in the future.
"Yeah, people are still brainstorming about Aura and everything," I replied to the scythe-wielding user walking beside me.
Ruby blushed a little when I mentioned Aura, and smiled slightly as she waved happily.
"It's kind of strange knowing there are thousands of people watching me right now..." Yang murmured. Blake nodded beside her, agreeing.
"I can understand the feeling, I feel kind of exposed..." The cat faunus replied, raising a hand to her shoulder and glancing backward, as if trying to see the (CHAT).
"And you, Weisscream?" Yang tried to assassinate me with her pun. "Used to the crowd?" She asked.
True, Weiss was a famous singer, wasn't she? I looked at her, waiting for her response.
"A bit..." Weiss replied somewhat hesitantly. "You get used to it after a while, it took me a few shows and tens of thousands of people for my chest not to feel like it was going to explode." The battle-heeled person replied.
I was still kind of pissed about it, I won't lie, but I'm not going to comment on anything...
"And you, Ruby?" Yang turned to her sister. "Okay knowing there are thousands of people watching you right now?" She gave a playful smile to Ruby.
"People? There are no people, the (CHAT) are the voices in Devas' head, just that and nothing more, right, Lucy?" Ruby denied reality naturally and spoke to the axe at her waist.
("That's right, Ruby, Devas had said before that the (CHAT) were the other voices in his head!") Lucy replied to Ruby.
"See, Lucy agrees." Ruby nodded sagely.
The funniest thing about all of this is that only I could hear Lucy at this moment, since the Radio Thing was in the VoidBag, but it still seemed like Ruby could hear Lucy.
"Is she... completely lost it?" Yang asked herself, looking at her sister talking to an axe.
"I... think so..." Blake replied.
"I... I don't know? I hope not?" Weiss murmured, turning to me as if I had the answer, which in this case, I did...
"The axe talks, you just can't hear it." I replied amusingly. Ruby couldn't either, but that didn't matter here. "One moment." I said as I activated the option I had purchased earlier.
[Spiritual Hearing: Activated!]
I had bought this thing a while ago, but had left it off to let the "Mystery" of whether Lucy spoke or if it was just my madness for a while.
I wanted to see Ruby's reaction too, when she returned to the (CHAT) after her mission, but seeing her reaction firsthand was even better.
("HELLOOOO! ANYONE OUT THERE!!") Lucy spoke as if she knew I had turned on the option.
The question was, did this only work for people watching the stream? Or if I were in the world of those people, could they still hear Lucy? Well, at least those who had the stream phone.
The answer was given to me by the wide-eyed looks of Yang, Blake, and Weiss.
"The axe talks?" Yang murmured the same thing her sister had a few hours ago.
"LUCY TALKS!" Ruby replied, moving Lucy with both hands as if she were chopping down a tree.
("I TALK!") Lucy 'shouted' along.
To take or not to take the maniac axe from the weapons maniac's hand, that is the question...
I felt that Weiss's sigh of pure exhaustion wasn't supposed to be as funny as it was.
[...]
"I... I'll admit, I kind of thought you'd be different." The redhead girl in front of me spoke, not Ruby, she was sitting beside me on my right.
"Different how?" I asked the girl I had scared this morning with the aura from the Bone Helm, Nora.
"I don't know..." She sang. "But you seem cooler this way, without that aura around you." She replied honestly with a certain electricity in her voice.
Given the huge stack of pancakes with syrup in front of her, I think I knew where that energy was coming from... That can't be healthy, even with aura...
"And you apologized to me by giving me pancakes, no one who gives pancakes as a gift can be evil!" She laughed, which was a stark contrast to her partner, Ren, who was stoic and calm.
A cheerful and completely energetic girl, with a stoic and calmer guy? Was this some kind of multiversal constant or something?
After a short walk with Team RWBY, we had arrived at the school cafeteria, where some students were eating, including Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora.
I took the opportunity to apologize to her; after all, even unintentionally, the blame for her having some kind of bad flashback was mine. To my surprise, she said she would only forgive me if I bought pancakes for her.
Her surprise when I pulled out a whole plate of pancakes from the VoidBag was funny, and the nickname "Mr. Magical Infinite Pancakes" came so out of nowhere and spontaneous that I ended up accepting it because of its randomness.
"So... Devas, right?" Jaune spoke. I nodded, confirming that was my name, to which he continued. "It was quite a fight earlier; it was the first time I saw a Huntsman fight other than one of the professors," he said with a certain excitement in his voice.
"Thank you," I replied. "But I'm not a Huntsman." Jaune's look of confusion was mirrored by each of the other three members of Team JNPR.
"That's true," Yang spoke after chewing the bite she had taken from the sandwich she had bought. "He's not a Huntsman." She confirmed.
As one, all four on the other side of the table turned to Ruby, as if they didn't believe Yang's words and wanted to confirm with someone more trustworthy.
"Hey!" Everyone ignored Yang's indignant shout.
"It's true. Devas is not a Huntsman," Ruby confirmed, speaking almost the same words as her sister, but they were almost instantly accepted, not that it made their confusion any less.
"How?" Jaune was the one who asked.
"I've never been to a preparatory school or one of the academies," I spoke the truth. "But you end up learning some things when you fight for your life many times." True again, I had learned a lot to not die.
The 'I know it's true, but you're full of shit' look that Team RWBY gave made everything funnier for me.
Speaking these double-meaning truths was as fun accompanied as alone.
"You learned all that by yourself, fighting against Grimm?" the female version of Achilles of this world, Pyrrha, spoke. She seemed impressed by this fact.
"Not everything, but most things." Not against Grimm, but the information was still accurate.
I had some people to teach me, Tanjuro with Sun Breathing, Dylan with the Mystic Symbols, but the vast majority of things I kind of improvised here and there.
If Pyrrha had 'I want to fight you' written on her forehead, it would be less obvious than the look she was giving me.
What the hell? Was everyone here kind of battle-crazy? Who would have thought that training people from childhood could have some problems... At least they didn't start at five years old like some certain hidden villages...
Mental note to myself: Tell Jiraiya to increase the number of psychologists in Konoha, that should solve about half of the problems there.
"Are you going to be a combat instructor then?" Jaune asked. Again, this shit?!
"Yes." Yang and Ruby spoke at the same time.
"No." I spoke along with them.
"I'm confused," Nora spoke right after. Me too!.
"Nothing has been confirmed yet," Weiss clarified to Nora. "Devas still needs to decide whether he accepts the proposal or not." She finished.
That's not going to happen!
The conversation continued for some time after that, before the two teams said goodbye and went about their business.
Team RWBY guided me for a while longer around Beacon, showing me the forge, which Ruby insisted on going to first, the training rooms, simulation, and everything else, like the regular classrooms and bathrooms.
"Finally, the teachers' bathroom," Yang said with a shit-eating grin on her face.
"Don't start," I shook my head exasperatedly as they all laughed. "Big fucking school, are we done?" I asked. We had been walking for hours.
"No! There's still one last place!" Ruby took the reins and began to lead us to someplace unknown to me.
As we climbed the third and then the fourth flight of stairs, I realized it was to the school's roof.
"Close your eyes!" Ruby said excitedly before opening the door that I assumed led to the roof. "No peeking!."
"I won't look, promise," I said amused and raised my pinky finger before closing my eyes.
Ruby guided me through the door and then along the roof for some time. I wanted to say that I could move well without seeing, my senses being heightened to somewhat idiotic levels after unlocking my Aura, but I let her have fun.
"Now, you can open your eyes," Ruby spoke after some time, as if she were waiting for something to happen.
I slowly opened my eyes, not quite sure what they wanted to show me, the view of the forest?... It wasn't...
A spontaneous joy rose in my chest at the sight, something so simple and pure that even I was surprised by the feeling, but I couldn't help it, it was cathartic in a way I didn't even know why...
"I knew you'd like it!" Ruby laughed cheerfully when she saw my shocked face, before I couldn't help but start laughing.
"The moon..." I said between my laughter...
... The moon was shattered...
[...]---[...]
Here's an advanced chapter, had some time today and ended up writing and thought, "Why not post another chapter?." Well, here it is.
Without much explanation, just a reasonable negotiation between a group of desperate people who have an enemy with an almost infinite army and any old streamer, just everyday stuff.
As for the moon, well, it's not the one from Terraria, but does Devas care? No, there's a broken moon in his view and a smile on his face.
I won't linger too much here, good night everyone and happy reading!
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