The Sect Master, who was a moment ago saying something about me needing to do work for him, paused and then turned around to look at me.
He then started speaking in the same tone as a corporate boss trying to convince you that you were wrong and that he was doing it for the good of everyone in the company, saying, "The reason why you need contribution points is that we have to treat all disciples the same and not show favoritism to select individuals. So you need to accumulate contribution points the same as everyone else."
Well, at least I guessed the type of voice he was using correctly, even if I did not want to be correct. However, I did not entirely agree with what he said and retorted, "So everyone else gets their own mountain and free access to all the techniques in the library as well as the ability to write their own techniques?"
The Sect Master froze at my words before attempting to counter. However, he was not able to use more than a few words to start a sentence without stopping to repeat himself.
Eventually, he was able to respond by saying, "Your case is a little special, and you have more unique abilities. That's why a few exceptions have been made in your favor, but we will still need you to contribute to the sect."
Raising an eyebrow at this, I quickly countered, "So I am special enough to warrant special treatment from the sect but not special enough that you want to keep me here and will throw me out of the sect if I don't get enough contribution points?"
He stood there for a second, staring at me, and then tried to respond to me again, but I interrupted him, saying, "Or is this more about having an excuse for making me do something for free and not about following sect rules?"
He stopped again and then looked at me with a blank face before saying, "Regardless, you need to contribute to the sect, so you still need to do something."
Nodding along with that, I then respond to him, "So if I were to add a new technique to the library for each realm that I reach, then will that be enough?"
He paused for a second to think about it and was then about to respond when Mom spoke up and said, "Even if you only added three techniques to the library, you would be able to stay as part of the sect for the rest of your life. At least that was according to the rules that I had set."
The sect leader paused at that before he turned to me and quickly said, "Since you already put forward the deal, I will take you up on that."
When he said that, I gave him a smile before getting off my motorcycle and walking up to him. I then held out my hand, waiting for him to shake it.
When I did this, he got a look of confusion on his face before Mom walked up to his side and whispered in his ear, explaining, "You're supposed to shake her hand to sign the deal. It is a very old way of doing things from her old world that is also known as a gentle man's agreement."
After that, he still looked confused but reached forward to shake my hand. When he did, I felt my smile get even wider as I said enthusiastically, "Deal!"
The confusion on his face only grew more as I heard him whisper under his breath, "Why do I feel like I just made a bad deal?"
It was at this point that I felt my tail start to slowly wave around in a slightly distracting manner as I said, "By the way, since you're here, I have some business that I need to talk to you about."
This caused him to freeze before his shoulders dropped, and he looked at me with no life left in his eyes. Mom then patted him on the shoulder before leading him out of the workshop and out to the shrine as I followed behind them, closing the garage door as we left.
Once we were in the garden area of the shrine, Mom had us sit down on the edge of one of the planter beds before motioning for me to continue.
With that, I felt my tail start to move even faster as I started saying, "I would like some help from the sect to reach the requirement needed for one of my eventual evolutions."
Before I could finish, the Sect Master looked over and interrupted me, asking, "Why should I help you fill one of the requirements for your evolution?"
For the first time since our meeting today, I was left at a loss for a few seconds trying to figure out what I wanted to say. When I did, I quickly responded by asking, "Do you want a powerful kitsune as part of your sect?"
He then sat there for a moment after hearing my question before responding, "Continue."
Smiling again, I said, "Thank you. Now, to continue with what I was saying, the requirement I need your help with is the modernization of both the sect and all the counties, if not the empire around the sect."
I did not even finish speaking when both Mom and the sect master looked at me with wide eyes, and when I mentioned the empire, they both had interesting expressions on both of their faces.
The expression on the face of the Sect Masters was one of shock and surprise as he started to look me up and down. On the other hand, the expression that Mom had was one of concern and avoidance, like she did not want to have anything to do with this.
This was interesting, but I was not able to ask them about this as the Sect Master spoke up and asked, "Why would you need to modernize the empire and the sect?"
Hearing this, I was about to answer truthfully when I remembered the way both Mom and Yuki reacted to what I said, so I thought about it a bit more and then answered, "Most of the more advanced evolutions require more complex and difficult achievements to acquire.
"They will also require certain elemental affinities and prior evolutions so it will take me a while to be able to reach the evolution that I want."
The Sect Master nodded at this, and the expression on his face turned to one of intrigue before asking, "Now, what do you mean when you say modernizing? Because from what I understand, it means something along the lines of bringing something up to the current standards of the rest of the world."
Nodding along with what he said, I then answered, "Your understanding of modernization is mostly correct, but what I meant by saying that is bringing the local technology level of the empire up to that of my old world, which was far more advanced. It would also mean many more business opportunities for the sect, and those are what I wanted to talk to you about."
The look of intrigue on his face then changed to one of confusion as he looked at me with more than a little skepticism. He then said, "What sort of business could this offer?"
Smiling at his question and understanding his skepticism I started to explain, "Most of the business would be in the manufacturing of machines and clothing and food sale."
I was not able to explain much more than this when the sect leader interrupted me and said almost disdainfully, "Why would the sect want this sort of business that has no profit?"
Keeping myself calm after being interrupted and replied, "What I was going to say is that the technology I would be making for these industries can increase the production by a massive amount compared to what is currently being used."
Once again, before I could finish talking, the Sect Master interrupted me, saying with his expression now full of disdain, "And by how much would that be? 50 or 60 percent? I have heard similar offers from many other people, and if you think that you-"
This time, before he could finish, Mom interrupted him, saying, "The Sect could offer you a fifty-fifty split on the business, but you would have to teach people how to use the new tools that you will be introducing."
The look on the Sect Master's face after this was not very good, but he did not say anything to contradict her.
On my side, I was happy to actually be given an offer but also knew not to take this at face value, so I gave a counter offer saying, "I can do a sixtyfive-thrityfive split with the sex in my favor along with teaching others how to use and make the new equipment."
Mom smiled at this and clearly pulling on some previous experience countered, "Fiftyfive-Fourtyfive in your favor and you will not only need to teach people how to make and use the new equipment. But the sect will also provide you research materials and give you a place in the towns square to place a shrine to Elinaria if you accept."