Veil sat down in the Mall Cafe. There was a giant-sized bowl of noodles in front of him. He needed the carbs, and Harry was paying.
"So, who are you exactly?" Now that he was eating, it was time for Harry to give his spiel.
"The truth is a bit longer, but short-form, I'm a special recruiter for the University of Crossover. We call ourselves the U of CO in short. Truth is, Bigg, that I'd like to recruit you. I can offer you many special advantages, and I promise you, no other college can ensure them like I can." As Harry spoke, he gestured animatedly with his hands. Unfortunately, that made his pen fly. RIP.
"Excuse me," Harry spoke. "Let me grab that, I'll be right back."
"Sure." Veil replied. He was more interested in something else.
"NANORECORDER INITIALIZING....
CELLULAR CHECKUP COMPLETE.
SCANNER ONLINE.
INTERNET CONNECTION STABILIZED.
NOTE: PERSONAL STATUS PERCENTAGES OTHER THAN HEALTH AND SOUL CANNOT BE FINALIZED UNTIL A GREATER SELECTION OF PEOPLE AT EACH STAGE HAVE BEEN SCANNED.
WELCOME, SENDER.
STATUS:
Health: Full
Soul Power: 103
Spirit Cultivation: Spirit Ki Holder, Stage 10
Spirit Allies: World Assimilation Hedgehog (Kirby, Tier 1-9, Assimilation), Bamphone 9000.2 (Nano,
Tier 1-1, Machine/Spatial)
Spirit Links: Spirit Virus Tribe, Lightning Interruption Squirrel
Affinities: Primordial Origin Energy T?, empty
Kirby's Affinities: Poison T1(x2)T2(x1), Disease T2(x1),
Mutation Traits: World Assimilation Body, Emotional Contact Eyes
Spirit Techniques: Universal Growth Druid Body Sutra, Druid Assimilation Shapeshifting Arts(self),
Druid Assimilation Sutra (contracting, linking)
Equipment: Druidic Ring of Limitless Power (not actually), XXXL Hoodies, Lightning Retardation Pants
The NANORECORDER was online! Finally, Veil had his system. 'A true transmigrator at last!' He smirked.
'Where is Harry?' He looked over the counter and saw him paying for a lady's meal. He also saw a knocked over plate on the ground next to a pen. Putting two and two together, he pieced what was happening.
"Nano, can you start the download process while we wait?"
It was time at last for the great wisdom of the master. Normally, a machine-type spirit ally was not strong enough to match a human mind. As such, trading information was incompatible. But Nano was a heavily modded Bamphone. And Bamphones were already superior.
As such, all the information for the required college courses at the GAC were being downloaded to Veil's brain. Meanwhile, Nano was hacking into the UOCO's database structure.
'This is ridiculously easy' Nano thought to herself. Meanwhile, Veil was nearly comatose.
"I'm back!" Harry announced sanctimoniously.
Nano paused the data transfer, and Veil opened his eyes. The transfer was almost complete. "Were you able to find the pen?" Veil asked.
"Yes sir! It's a long story but- wait one moment." Harry ran back around the tables- in the midst of all the chaos, he had forgotten to grab the pen.
Veil finished the transfer as Nano began to compile all the differences in the teachings at UOCO.
"Sorry about that." Harry muttered as he arrived back at the table. Squishing his rotund belly into place, he plopped back down. Setting the pen down neatly on his right, he folded his hands. "I can offer a lot for someone of your potential and caliber. But what is it that you are looking for?"
"It might displease you to hear this, but I don't wish to go to school. However, our goals do align somewhat. I can agree to go to UOCO, but I will need to lay some conditions. Firstly, I can test out of every theoretical class on campus. In such a case, why should I take them? Secondly, I'd like to appear in contest against the GAC. ...Let's just say that a teacher there decided to poke the wrong bear.
So in short, I'd like the ability to test out of EVERY class, and the ability to test myself into any competition of my choosing. If I test out of the semester's quota of classes, I will not have to attend school. This will be stackable. If I test out of two semester's worth of classes in the first semester, I will not have to attend for either semester.
I'd also like an additional clause. I'd like any projects I do through the school to be owned solely through me. The school and any affiliated entities other than myself will forever place no ownership on any projects that are worked on by yours truly. I would like to patent them through the school for extra credibility, but keep the sole rights.
I'd like to use this form of contract as it is fair. Each additional point I've raised only comes if I meet the prerequisites; I like to go after everything in life myself; otherwise, how can I temper myself?"
"That indeed does sound quite fair, young man." Harry Dickens narrowed his eyes. "But what scholarship are you looking for?"
"I've seen the UOCO, and I've no need of a scholarship. I have the money if you can ensure the contract. If you don't have the credibility to ensure the contract, I cannot do business with you."
"Hold it, hold it right there, young master Bigg. I've got something you should see." He opened his spirit space. Out fluttered a golden key with two wings.
NANORECORDER SCANNING...
LIFE FORM: KARMA-BINDING CONTRACT KEY
"Impressive. You do realize the rarity of your Spirit Ally, yes?" Veil shifted his head diagonally as he asked the question. He played the part well.
"You recognize this key?"
"It's a Karma-Binding Contract Key, ranked sixth on the Alliance's list of useful tool-type spirit allies. There are less than 50 reported in the world so far. It is quite famous, is it not?"
"You're well studied. No wonder you'd like those specific prerequisites."
Veil nodded his head and closed his eyes as Harry started forming the contract. The Key would ensure the contract's validity; it acted as an intermediary on the behalf of the school and himself, and was presided over by the heavens themselves; neither party would be able to go over it.
As he was waiting, he began the second download transfer; Nano had already parsed through the information, so the time was nigh. He finished shortly before Harry. The transfers worked fast - Once connectivity was ensured, it was already working on a high level, and there was no need to slow it down. 'Epicness... is epic.'
"I've written it out once you're ready to look at it. I've given you a short four-year contract. If you'd like to make it longer we can discuss that later. I've added an exclusivity. I haven't limited you from joining other colleges. However, your joining of any competitions and/or starting any research projects for a competitor will tick off my bosses. As such, I'd like to add that into the contract so that my butte stays clear. If that works for you, you can sign below. I haven't signed you up for student housing or anything. You can do that when you get there."
"I'll look it over." Veil replied mysteriously. It helped his 'Korean Model' guise.
Within a single second, the Nanorecorder system had verified it, but he waited a little longer as a show of 'sincerity.'
"All good. Got a pen?"
Harry quickly fumbled the pen across the table. Miraculously, it actually landed in Veil's hand. At this point, Harry was nervous and sweaty as all get-out. It was his first sale of the last two months!
Veil took it with a ceremonious twirl. He signed the paper 'Bigg Johnson.'
"See you when school starts?" He asked pompously.
"See you then. Would you like to grab an icecream as well to celebrate?"
'What am I. a 4-year-old about to be kidnapped?' Veil thought. "No, I'm good, I just ate, and I'm feeling quite full." He replied tactfully.
"Oh. Oh well, then. See you later." Harry replied as he waved once, rather awkwardly.
----~~~~----
After leaving the absurdity that was Harry Dickens, Veil began to shop around the mall. He was looking for a good affinity link. Something that could breed fast, and had a low strain on his mind.
He passed several breeding shops, but they had nothing he was looking for. One was "Flame Emperor's Bazaar," and held only beasts of higher value. Another was the "Ice Mogul Breeding Shop." While it did have some lower level beasts, they didn't quite qualify for Veil's standards. Eventually he made his way to "Fred's Friendly Fodder." It took up a very small area, but the walls were crammed!
'Huh.' Veil thought to himself. 'So that's where they were hiding. After leaving several breeding shops, he finally found the low-level beasts he had been searching for. He walked through the store and quickly set himself on three areas.
There were several non-awakened fodder that could multiply extremely fast. Among them were guppies, goldfish, koi, mice, rats, gerbils, frogs, isopods, ants, termites, and beetles. Some more 'unique' species were available, but Veil was looking for something cheap. After all, he could use Kirby's spikes to awaken much more powerful variants. While some of the fodder beasts were a bit higher-end, they still classified as fodder. Their high-breeding rate, albeit their higher-end qualities and size, led to an increased desire for them in the industry. Of course, Freddy also sold several plant-type fodder, but that wasn't what Veil was interested in - other than to feed the fodder, that is.
Veil looked around for a while before deciding on his grabs. He had enough money to buy the whole store. However, the space in his current accoutrements was limited. He had several spots open on the wall with the spirit viruses. Additionally, he could create a secondary cage wall for the other side of the room using Nano's spatial multifab system- all he needed was the prerequisite materials. The downside was that he could only make materials up to Tier 1 in strength. Once Nano was stronger, the multifab system could grow with her all the way to tier 4- but then it'd have to be replaced. Because it wasn't strong enough, when the beasts became stronger they could wreck the storage. 'Well, it's decided.' He thought. 'Insect queens primarily for now. I can link them and let them continue to grow their colony. I can link the colonies as time goes on, but for now they can listen to the queens' commands until I can can link them. As for the other ones, I can wait until I retain a better, larger property and then begin to grow them there.'
Veil looked around and went to the register to check out. He didn't see any special termite mutations, but he did see several good-looking queens. He stacked the containers, grabbed some necessities and went up to the counter. "That'll be 125.73 FAD, sir."
Veil pointedly paid the listed amount to Freddy and quickly made his way back to base. He was ready to start on his next plan. It came straight from the beginning of his transmigration, when he was making his plans.