Blake was impressed by Vincent's use of the contract. He even took notes on how to write contracts. "Vincent's use of contracts and words is unexpected. He can be a magnificent merchant or banker." Markus scoffed at him. "Boy, Vincent is going to be a monster or demon. He will not be anything else. I won't let anyone stop that from happening."
Caden placed his hand on Markus's shoulder. Markus stiffened up at his touch. "Quiet down." Markus sat down and watched the monitor. Simon blew smoke out of his mouth and nose. "Simon, what martial arts did you teach him?" Simon snuffed out the cigarette and responded to Caden.
"I taught him Strangle the Heavens and Flow master." Caden opened one of his eyes and looked at him. "We voted whether to or not to accept him. It would've ended like all the other times, but Markus showed up and tipped the scales. I voted against him. I didn't think he would really master them and even obtain staff intent in a short amount of time."
Caden closed his eyes and hummed in response. "Tyre, what did you teach him?" Tyre placed his phone to the side and looked at him. "I taught him the basics of footwork and the CQC called Final Dance."
Horton knew it was his turn next, so he stood up and reported what he taught Vincent. "We discussed the next training phase and agreed that he needed to learn a weapon for close encounters. I taught him the basics of axes and how to duel wield. I also started teaching the martial art Chopping Mountains."
Horton sat back down in his chair. "Why does he give off the aura of a spearmen then?" Vera raised her hand. "It was decided that I would be his next teacher. I gave Horton the basics of spearmenship for him to practice." Caden looked at Vincent and shook his head. "Horton will teach him next. Once he gains axe intent, Pyea will teach him. Vera will be the last one to teach him."
All of them nodded and agreed with him. Jekel, who had initially planned for Vera to teach him next, didn't argue with him. "I will say that. You are not creating a monster or an entity, but a walking disaster." Caden said as he watched Vincent on the monitor.
Markus was smiling ear to ear when he heard Caden's evaluation of Vincent. He swiped the keyboard in front of him with his card.
Vincent and Talia's Room.
Vincent was grinning because he had just trapped er...recruited two more people onto his team. Trent and Isabell were brooding with Talia. They were giving her looks of betrayal. "I am in the same boat with you guys. This con artist also tricked me."
"I am not a con artist. I know how to read better than you guys." Vincent was going to defend himself further when he received a message. 'HURRY UP AND GROW STRONGER! Buy a poleaxe while you are at it.'
Vincent jumped up out of his seat. "I will go buy one right now." He was earnest since it was Markus who had messaged him. The others also grew serious when they saw his reaction.
"Where is the weapon store? I need to go buy something." Talia stood up as well. "Why did someone send you a message? What did they say?" Vincent made eye contact with her.
"I must tell you because of the contract, but are you sure you want to know?" Trent and Isabell grew nervous when they heard that. Talia firmly nodded her head.
"One of my masters just messaged me. He told me to hurry up and grow strong. He also said for me to buy a poleaxe." Trent and Isabell didn't react and sighed. "Which master exactly? Was it Jekel the Enslaver or Vera the Siren?"
"Neither. It was my master, Markus the Smiling Fiend." Trent and Isabell were shocked. Talia's face grew dark, and her voice was heavy. "I was afraid of that. Follow me, and I will take you to the weapons shop. On the way there, we can pick up our teammates."
Vincent packed everything and followed her. Trent and Isabell were right on their trail. They went to school in a small city and didn't actively look at the news, so they had no idea who Vincent was. They almost didn't know anything about the Regorian Empire's nobility either.
They had settled on three people. They chose Takashi because he had the affinities of earth and wood. He used gauntlets with claws on them as his primary way of fighting. Meredith because she used fire and lightning. Her primary weapon is a rifle, which makes her the other long-range combatant. Bruno because of his space and death affinities. His primary weapon was two short swords. The commoner was a C+ class citizen, so they would have had to contact him differently.
Takashi was eating in the canteen. Talia convinced him to join them by saying they would help him and that he would be the leader. He signed the contract like the others and felt the same way they did. "Stop giving me that pitiful and cheated look. You signed the contract. I can't force you. Let's go find the others."
They found Bruno about to be forced to join a different team and saved him. He signed the contract almost immediately without reading it. "Thanks, you guys saved me big time." Takashi snorted. "You feel that way now; just wait until later."
Meredith was at the shooting range. She only joined if she didn't have to scout and look for traps. Vincent could tell she was probably traumatized from an experience, but he still agreed. "We can all introduce ourselves later. We need to go to the weapon store now."
Talia led the way, and they soon reached the weapon store. Vincent wasted no time looking around and went to the counter. The woman at the counter saw him walking over; she groggily picked her head off the counter. 'Another brat has shown up.'
"I have a few questions for you." Vincent was polite and kind to her. "I am listening. What are your questions?" The woman was mildly surprised by the fact Vincent was polite to her.
"What is the highest tier of weapons do you sell? Do you sell enchanted weapons? Can you customize weapons? Do you sell spare parts and ammo for weapons? If you sell ammo, is it regular or enchanted ammo?"
The woman's bland expression disappeared as she listened to Vincent's questions. 'Nice! He must be rich as hell.' She composed herself before answering his questions. The others beside Talia were surprised to hear his questions as well.
"We sell weapons up to the 8th tier. They range from rank 1 to rank 13. We sell enchanted weapons, but they are ten times more expensive than you see here on the floor. Customization requires hiring a forge master that is on the ship. We can't speak about their pricing since every forge master is different. We take ten percent of the money you give the forge master as an introduction fee. Spare parts can be purchased from the forge masters. The ammo, however, can be bought in-store no matter what kind."
Vincent thanked her for the information and gathered everyone up in the corner of the store. "You all noticed we were followed, right?" Trent and Isabell's lips twitched in response. "Don't worry about not realizing it."
Takashi rubbed his hands together. "What is the play here, Vincent? They seem extremely weak and were probably hired by someone else." Vincent and the others nodded.
"Talia, Meredith, and Isabell will go over and bring them here. You three are girls, so they will most likely lower their guard around you guys. I know how it sounds, but it's the truth. Take it as a compliment to your beauty."
"Nice! They bring them over, and then we beat them." Takashi pounded his fists together. "No, we use them." Vincent smiled a dark and sinister smile. 'You want to get information and spy huh? Two can play at this game.