Quis' POV:
Around two weeks have passed since I plundered the Specie Sprouts. During that time a lot of things happened, but it was nothing that I didn't expect. After securing the goods, I made sure to sell them over an extended period of time discreetly. Selling them all at once was practically asking to be accused of murder. The non-important stuff would have been sold in only a week if it weren't for the Sect Faction's interference. They must've found the crime scene and connected the dots, so they tried their hardest to stop us from selling our stuff. But it wasn't hard to sell materials through discreet channels, it only ended up stalling us.
In total, we had a profit of around three hundred thousand Dschungels. It was a hefty sum, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't much to brag about. Thankfully, this sect wasn't in the grand scheme of things, so it would be enough to set up the cult before we started to get donations. I spent the money as it was pouring in, and thanks to that, I was able to buy a real home where I, along with all of my current faction members, could stay comfortably. Unfortunately, with the cost of furniture, the property itself, and the home and such, it cost me about two-thirds of the amount we had, leaving me with only one hundred thousand. The only upside was that the owner I bought it from was the type who bought land when it was cheap from multiple different sects and then sold it when it was not, so the money wasn't going toward one of my adversaries.
With this remaining hundred thousand, I had only one thing I needed: a place of worship. I've yet to buy anything, but I need to get one soon. The only way to continue this plan of mine is to make a place where I can finalize the cult. Some members of the sect have been spreading rumors that my faction members were actually apostles of the Jungle Mythology Gods, and to capitalize on that, I need an official place where indoctrination can flourish. That'll be my next immediate step. That was only the money side of things though, there were still other things we got from the merchants.
There was a decent chunk of stuff that I chose not to sell, which was practically everything besides the materials. The Crossbreeding Guides we got weren't very useful right now and wouldn't sell for much, but they were still a foundation of any faction, and I could also study more about Crossbreeding by reading them. Then there were the Gears and Astrogears involved. Besides the Space Bags and a few others, most weren't notable enough for us. As for the few that were, none were useful for me specifically and went to a few of my underlings. The rest would be saved for later use.
Next up were the couple of techniques we got. Just like the Crossbreeding Guides, as of now, they were best used for studying. That was only for individual use though. Having these in a faction was very important. A faction's goal, or even any group's goal, is to get as many people as possible to join them. As you get more people, they'll have different needs, so collecting many different kinds of Physique Techniques and such is important.
The final variety of items we got were Fruits. The commerce of Fruits is an interesting trade because of the nature of Fruits. From the viewpoint of my old world, I think of them as both spells that you can use mana to activate and spell scrolls that have a one-time use spell inside of them. To cultivate a Fruit, you need the seeds inside of the Fruit, so if someone were to deseed a Fruit and sell it, it would act like a spell scroll or even a potion. If someone were to sell one to you with the seeds in it, then it would be a new addition to your arsenal.
In the world of trade, it was much more common to buy a Fruit without seeds than one with. I mean, if you had a rare Fruit, wouldn't you want to sell it as much as possible? Taking out the seeds allowed for this. But that didn't mean that Fruits with seeds weren't ever sold, they were just going to more specific and cost lots more. Out of the over a thousand Fruits we got, only four were Fruits with seeds in them. Two of these weren't any that my faction needed. Out of the other two, one was a Stone Class Light Branch Fruit that created a blinding flash of light, which went to Onvima. The final one though, was one that I decided to take for myself.
It wasn't a Firearm Branch Fruit, but instead a Math Branch Fruit. Along with the Fruit, there was a note "detailing" the specifics of the Fruit.
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Technology Path, Math Branch Fruit
Name - Unknown
Class - Coal Class
Effect - Unknown
Use - Unknown
Cost - One-eighth of a filled Coal Class Cultivator's Genesis Liquid
Upkeep - Five of anything Coal Class that is decayed by time, and five of anything Coal Class that is currently growing by time (like a rotten apple and a green apple) once every two weeks
Notes: We won this Fruit in a gamble against another cultivator. Too bad that we didn't set Branch requirements and got a useless Math Branch Fruit that not even he knew the effect of. We can't test its effects because I don't know anyone who cultivates the Math Branch or anyone who uses a Branch that would complement the effects of a Math Branch Fruit. There's no point in making it into a seedless Fruit, but it might come in handy one day so no one can touch it unless I give the go-ahead.
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It was pretty sad how little information was gained. The only reason I decided to keep it was because of my experience with the Tension Fruit. The Tension Fruit belongs to the Physics Branch, yet it is very useful in combination with my Bed Crossbow Fruit. Physics lies deep within the rules of math, so I figured that this could be another useful Fruit. The only thing I needed to do was grow more of them and test them out.
Other than that, I've been making sure to keep up on my Physique Technique. By now, I'd reached about half of the maximum that the Technique can offer me, and its effects have been incredible. I could almost crush a rock with my grip alone, wood was easy to punch through, I could jump and do seven flips before landing, and all in all, my base physical line has been moved significantly. Of course, I could do these feats before with some Genesis Essence, but that also meant that I was stronger when using my Genesis Essence now than compared to before.
Unfortunately, I've yet to grow enough Fruits to the point where I feel comfortable experimenting with them. Convir and Medisma made it harder to acquire Firearm Branch Materials, so only with the recent batch of materials was I able to get enough, and I was still growing them to get a good enough number. Once I did though, I would be having a fun time implementing all of the ideas I've gotten over the past month or so.
As for Hasrem and Onivma... practically no progress has been made. I've been so focused on cultivation recently that I've had no time to focus on them. The real reason behind that came from my change in person. I've been trying for the entire past couple of weeks to change my logic and emotions back to what they were to no avail. By now, I've accepted that unless a special Fruit is involved, I'll just have to change the way I think to involve emotion somewhat. I don't want to, but it's better than a permanent decrease in my rational capability. It was a strange dynamic. To increase my rationality, I had to use something irrational. I'd have to experiment with it over the next couple of months.
As I was in the middle of recounting my gains and losses over the past couple of weeks, I heard a knock on my door, "You can come in."
The door opened and inside walked both Vernam and Onvima. Once the door had closed behind them, I asked them, "Why are you both here, has something of interest happened?" Ever since I've gotten such a big amount of cash, I've assigned Onvima to his role of treasurer, and with it, I gave him a lot of economic-related studies to work on, so he's been extremely busy. It was normal for Vernam to show up because she was practically my assistant at this point, but both of them at once was definitely strange.
Vernam was the first to answer me, "Quis, the man you've asked for is here now."
Oh, that was what this was. A couple of days ago, once we finished selling the materials, I sent Vernam to collect the man who owned the land we were looking at. It seemed like he wanted to commence business faster than I had envisioned, which was good for me. The quicker I got this through, the less time the Sect Faction had time to impede my plans.
I turned my attention to Onvima, requesting him to speak, and he said with a lot of nervousness, "I'd just like for you to keep in mind that our budget is limited and that... ah screw it. Just please don't be stupid and squander away all of the money we have. I'm saying this for my sake and for Hasrem. She's been pretty upset at how we handled the whole thing, so try to make sure you at least make it into something good."
I nodded my head, "You don't need to worry. When it comes to a negotiation like this, I excel at making my partner leave with a bleeding heart." I said this with a bit of bloodlust, which caused Onvima to consider if I meant that literally or figuratively, before nodding and leaving the room. I wanted to keep him on his toes. He was the type that needed it.
I then turned to Vernam and said to her, "Do you have anything to report? Any issues with how the others perceive me?"
Vernam shook her head, "Other than Hasrem, not really. The others seem to think that Hasrem is just having a bit of a fit."
I clicked my finger on the wooden desk I was sitting at and said to her, "Alright, just make sure to keep an eye out. Now, please bring our guest inside. It's about time we truly kick off our cult."
She nodded her head and left me alone inside the room. Around a minute passed when another knock sounded from my door, "Come inside." She didn't need to knock, but we would've lost professionalism points if she didn't. Negotiations start way before the negotiation ever actually begins, and this was a good example.
The door opened and Vernam along with a man in a pristine white robe walked into the room. His face was one of seriousness, and his movements made it obvious he had the strength to back up his unforgiving posture. I gave my most courteous smile and said to him, "Why hello Mr. Deiare, I'm sure you already know why I've asked for you to come here, so why don't you sit down and we'll discuss pricing."
He didn't react to my words at all and instead walked into the chair in front of me with an indifference on his face like my fate was already sealed. It was too bad for him really. He probably came into this thinking I was just a young master without any skill of money and only wanted to throw my coin at something for the sake of it. As if I was some idiot.
Little did he know...
He had just walked into the lion's den.