YM778.TV Chapter 41: Zones
He leaned forward, stopped smiling and his face took on a serious impassive expression. "I want that last zone. It\'s been called the black castle zone. Having it in my name will be the foundation of my Guild."
Jael had expected as much from the beginning, and his heart started to beat faster. He looked at the others and he saw the glint in Litha\'s face. "You said you are forming a team to climb the Tower. Then don\'t you already have teams all ready for this? Why do you come to us?"
Litha nodded in agreement with him.
"Of course I can form teams but I want you three. I want you to join my other members here and claim the zone for me. I want to hire you."
"Why? You still haven\'t answered the question." Temur pointed out.
Thayer nodded. "You are right. The reason is simple. You are one of the last free strong Iron that haven\'t joined any Guilds and associations. And I don\'t need to go through the stress of introducing myself."
"Why should we work for you? What will we gain and what is your gain?" Litha asked.
Jael was amazed that Litha didn\'t turn him down directly, but then, they were bored with what they were currently doing, and eating from hand to mouth wasn\'t ideal.
Thayer also saw that and quickly started talking. "Unlike Guilds, any monsters you kill are yours. And Iron rank artifacts are yours as well, but anything higher is mine. You will be able to fight and gain essence and also have the opportunity to train for the upcoming floor test.
"Above all. I\'ll pay you if you claim or fail. I\'ll give you bonus if you claim it. One hundred thousand gold coins each if you let me hire you."
They all looked at each other. It\'s a good offer. Almost too good to be true. Jael asked."Just how dangerous is this zone? Will there be Awakeners of higher ranks?"
Thayer winced. "Well....there\'ll be a lot of competition. And not all of it from Guild teams. The zone is also made available for unaffiliated Awakeners with big pockets, but they are not allowed to claim. Just hunt till the zone has a new owner."
Temur sighed. "Let me get this straight. We will be competing with Guild teams. Freelancer Awakeners and Monsters? And I\'m sure the Guilds will hire assassins as freelance Awakeners to fight each other."
There was silence after that. Even Thayer didn\'t have anything to say.
"Why don\'t we just join the \'freelance Awakeners\' and explore the zone?" Litha finally asked.
"For one, you\'ll have to pay for the right to do so, and secondly, it\'ll only benefit you more if you work for me. When you come back, you can hunt as many zones as you want with the monster cores and money you make.
"Okay let me make it better. If you agree I\'ll give you free housing in the capital town." Thayer spread his hand.
Litha smiled and leaned forward. "Free housing for the next floor as well."
Thayer winced. "If you claim it I\'ll give you that."
Temur nodded when Litha looked at him and Jael nodded with a shrug as well. The benefits are good for the amount of risk that the unclaimed zone presents.
"Okay. One hundred thousand gold coins if we claim it or not?" Litha repeated.
"Yes."
"Then we are in."
Thayer smiled and brought out a paper with a pen, he wrote some things down and presented it to Litha. "Read and sign. There\'s space for the three of you."
Litha read through it and passed it to Temur, who read through it before it was transferred to Jael. He didn\'t know the language but he understood it. That\'s how the Tower operates. Languages in the Tower are barriers that don\'t exist.
The contract is everything that Thayer said with the just written housing arrangement. The contract is valid until the time the black castle zone is claimed. Jael shook his head. The shameless guy has already prepared for them. He signs his signature. "How do you know we are here in Calan."
The shameless guy brought out an artifact that let him duplicate the contract then gave one for each of of them. "You\'re a group I\'m interested in. Of course, I keep tabs on you, and luckily for me, zones appear where you are."
"So when will we be going to the zone?" Jael asked. Good thing they didn\'t make any type of contract with the clothing association. It\'s a day to pay for work.
"In two days. All those who bid will assemble there. The chance to claim it is going to start together. Everyone will enter the zone at once and the race to claim it begins."
"We saw the ship belonging to the Tower Guards. What are they doing here?"
"Probably to maintain order and oversee the whole process. And this zone is the biggest so far on this floor. Ranked High."
Jael groaned. "I thought zones are ranked like E to S or something?"
"Yes. This is an E rank but of very High one. Meaning you\'ll likely find S Iron monsters inside." Temur said, he understood how Jael felt. In the beginning, the ranks are also confusing and complicated, but he\'s getting it.
"The Tower Guards will make sure everything is fair as can be; of course, that\'s only before entering; inside the zone is a completely different thing. The only rule there is to claim the zone."
Jael let the silence linger. "Okay okay, but how in the hell do we claim a zone?"