Chapter 374. Cleave.

  I returned to my room, frustrated to miss out a second time on the story about how the goblins Jeff and Dave got their names. Despite my frustration, I had successfully completed another contract and there were some rewards waiting for me to pick up. It was time to head back to Somhagen Exports.

  The experience reward for the summoning was again much higher than a dungeon run here at the academy would have been. That didn’t mean I could just sit around and wait for another contracted summoning to send me back to Earth. I had a bad feeling that the clock was ticking and even if the dungeon runs had a poor return for the time spent, I needed every experience point I could get.

  Melvin barraged me with images of food as we made our way through town. I wasn’t hungry, but I stopped to get him another of the meat and vegetable skewers which he seemed to like the most out of the food cart offerings. Too bad I’d wasted the chance to stock up on Earth treats when I was in the convenience store. Not that the food here was bad, but sometimes, a familiar treat was a welcome taste of home.

  Like Ingrid had told me during my last visit, the clerk at the front counter of Somhagen Exports had a small bag of rewards waiting for me. It made the process a lot quicker, and they even gave me access to one of the small fitting rooms to go over my finds. I added the coins to my inventory then looked at the other rewards.

  Other than the coins, there were two things for me to examine. The first was an equipment bead, just like the system had promised. As for the final reward, it was a scroll of some sort. The system promised an extra reward for me if I performed well on the last summoning, so this must be it.

  Helping the two sides negotiate a mutually beneficial contract without violence must have been enough to trigger a reward. The scroll itself looked new, and lacked the aged parchment feel that I’d come to associate with most of the spell scrolls that I’d run across. A system prompt appeared when I unrolled the scroll.

  You have successfully handled an unauthorized incursion into your home world. As part of the final agreement between the Kaalx Consortium and the Earth being known as Buddy Saha, you have been granted a portion of any profits that might arise from the partnership.

  A reward of .001% of all net profits generated by the partnership will be automatically transferred to you on a monthly basis. This transfer will occur for a period of 25 years, though it may be extended by further negotiations. At any time, the partnership may offer a buyout option, which you are free to accept or decline at your discretion.

  That was something new. It looked like the system was going to give a small piece of the action for what I’d done back home. I had no idea how much the partnership might earn, or if they’d even be successful, but if I was lucky, something like this could set me up for the future.

  If the partnership somehow took off and a chain of Buddy’s markets started popping up all over the planet, it could make me a wealthy man. There were a lot of things that had to happen first, and foremost among those was me surviving long enough to collect. To do that, I needed to keep the experience train running.

  First, I needed to find something to use with the equipment bead I’d just gained. I looked for the nearest clerk that wasn’t helping another customer.

  “Excuse me, I was hoping you could help me locate something,” I said to an older woman in the familiar orange robes of the store. I hadn’t met this clerk yet, but so far, all the employees of Somhagen Exports were more than willing to help with my shopping.

  “What can I assist you with, sir?” the older woman asked.

  “I’m looking for an item that might be compatible with this,” I said, showing her the equipment bead.

  “Hmm, I see. Tell me, young man, what type of minion are you planning to use this with?” she asked. It was a good question. So far, each of my minions was restricted to a single bead. That left Elida and the three goblins, since the drone already had the life amulet. Elida was summoned more often than the goblins, so it made sense to look for something for her.

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  “It’s an armored healer, that also fights in melee. She’s a class called Battle Mender,” I explained.

  “Very well, excuse me for a moment and I’ll see what I can find that might fit your needs,” the woman said before heading back behind the counter. From my previous experience, I knew she was likely sorting through the store’s existing inventory, looking for a match. I left her to it and spent some time browsing the rest of the store.

  The goods on open display in the shop were targeted toward the lower tier and rank adventurers. Only a few things that were useful for someone above tier three were out, and nothing that I spotted was even close to an upgrade for my existing gear. At some point I did want to start stocking up on lower tier and rank gear, stuff that would be useful to newly inducted humans.

  That plan hadn’t been working out too well yet, and both my summonings back to Earth had ended without me having the chance to pass off anything. I’d also need some additional storage devices to hold onto what I wanted to return. There was always the problem of my world leeching all the power out of any mana infused gear.

  I had the satchel that the system gave me at the start of the Earth contract, but it could only hold a few items. Those items would be protected from mana drain, but the system hadn’t promised they’d remain protected after I’d left. It only said I could pass on the items, and they’d remain on Earth, not that they would be free of any mana drain my world still possessed.

  What I really needed was a way to pass messages quickly to Agent Lopez or someone on his team. That way, I could experiment a bit. I could leave behind certain items and they could notify me of what worked, and what had been drained. Phones seemed to still be working, at least as of my last visit, so maybe I could get word to Agent Lopez to set up a hotline for me to check when I was there.

  It would all hinge on me being able to get the word out. I’d only had a couple of summonings back home, and both of those had ended abruptly after the task was completed. If I got another chance like the last one, I could probably get a message out. The summoning to the UK had been me fighting monsters and then out again, without any interaction with a fellow earthling.

  A few minutes passed before the clerk returned. She held a metal gauntlet with a chain dangling from the wrist. Motioning me over to one of the display tables, the woman unhooked the chain from the gauntlet and passed it over for me to examine. As I held it, a system prompt explained what I was looking at.

  Weapon Chain of Cleaving. This chain must be attached to the wielders gauntlet, and they must have a melee weapon equipped. When activated, the wielder’s next 3 strikes will cleave to a second target within a limited area of effect. Any effects, skills, or abilities that enhance the blow will affect each target.

  Once used, the chain will take 24 hours to regenerate its charge. When activated, the wielder has 60 seconds to make their attacks or the magic infusing the strike will dissipate. This item will upgrade as its wielder’s power increases.

  “This is great, how much is it, and are you sure that it’s compatible with a minion?” I asked. Given that the cleave retained any weapon, skill, or spell bonuses, it would boost Elida’s healing and damage as her Battle Mender skill converted some of the damage dealt into healing energy. Even better, it scaled with my minion, improving as we reached higher tiers and ranks.

  “Yes, it will function with your minion. That’s why it took a while for me to return, I double checked the compatibility guide. As far as the cost is concerned, it is high based on its utility and growth potential. It’ll cost you 38 gold, and 22 silver to purchase it,” the clerk said.

  “I’ll take it. You mentioned a compatibility guide? Is that something you could use on an item I bring in from outside the shop?” I asked.

  “For a valued customer such as yourself, certainly. There would be a small assessment charge based on the power of the item you wish to have examined,” the clerk explained.

  “That’s fine, I wouldn’t expect you to work for free. Thank you very much, you’ve been a great help today. Do you mind if I summon my minion and equip the chain on her?” I asked.

  “That’s not a problem, you may use one of the larger dressing rooms if you’d like,” the clerk offered.

  I headed to the area designed for larger beings and found plenty of room to summon Elida. Once she appeared, I held the equipment bead between her gauntlet and the chain. Pushing a bit of mana into the bead, I felt some resistance before it melded with the chain, equipping it to Elida’s armor. I worried for a moment that I’d need a second bead for the weapon, but when Elida drew her mace, the chain automatically attached to it.

  My minion, Elida, was now a bit more powerful. I still needed to earn three more equipment beads so I could equip the goblin trio. Stepping out of the shop, I could see that it was getting later in the evening. It was still the first day of the weekend, and I had another full day tomorrow without any school duties.

  It was time to get into the queue for a dungeon and grind out some experience. If I was lucky, another summoning to Earth might happen soon.