Chapter 518 - Negotiations [2/3]
For a moment, the room fell into silence. Both Ankhur and Naeku needed a moment to process his words, but then it Naeku who reacted first.
"Really?!" she jumped up from her chair excitedly, now looking at Erik with shining eyes. Knowing the earlier deal she made with Elora regarding the shadowflame infection of her father, it should come as no surprise that she'd do nearly anything to help him recover his lost arm as well.
Erik grinned a little. He honestly liked this part of her. She was clearly loyal and would endure anything for those she loved. Of course, he hoped he'd be able to include himself in that one day…
Regardless, he held up his hand to slow her down a little. "Calm down, Naeku. I said sort of, remember? We can't actually regrow a lost arm… but we can replace it with something else."
Naeku's enthusiasm hardly diminished. "Like a prosthetic?!" she cried out, nearly bouncing around from joy, her toothy grin shining brightly.
Before Erik could answer, it was Ankhur who reigned his daughter in. "Please, sit back down Naeku," he said sternly, forcefully suppressing his own desire for the same thing. "I won't deny to being interested, but we still have yet to even hear their demands, nor the specifics of what they're offering."
Having expected Ankhur to be the more level-headed one, Erik turned back to him with a confident smile. "Of course, we'll get to our demands, but let me finish with what we're offering you first."
Reluctantly, Naeku sat back down, although her gaze had intensified quite a bit. At the same time, Ankhur seemed a little reluctant as well. As the alure of their offer increased, his anxiety of their demands did as well. Still, he indicated for him to continue.
Erik nodded appreciatively. "As I said, we can't regrow your arm, but Elora can create a sigil that will link to your nervous system, and create an arm of hard light that works no differently from your old one."
This sigil was similar to the one that linked Emily's tail plug to her nervous system, but that one was connected to a physical object, rather than also creating a hard light construct.
Technically, that meant it was also possible to build a true prosthetic, but creating a powerful arm that can move with such a sigil is much harder than a simple tail, and certainly outside of Erik's current skill set. Such an arm would also need an internal power source, but they had nothing like that at the moment.
Ankhur raised an eyebrow curiously. He'd heard the term sigil from them a few times over the past few weeks, and gathered they meant the things that operated half the city, but he was still in the dark about the specifics. Still, that could wait for later, instead, he focused on his arm. "I assume there are downsides?"
This time, it was Elora who answered, as she was the expert. Your next chapter awaits on My Virtual Library Empire
She held up her hand, and counted along using her fingers. "There are three. First of all, it costs energy to maintain. Not much, but you'll notice. Secondly, it won't be as strong as your other arm, more like the power of a similarly ranked Arcanist's arm. And, finally, you'll obviously have to get used to it. It won't be the same as controlling a normal arm."
Ankhur nodded slowly. His interest waned a little, particularly because of the reduction in power, but he still felt like it would make a massive difference. Even if this new arm was weaker, it could still harass the enemy, or add power to a two-handed swing.
"So, you see," Erik then continued confidently. "With your arm somewhat restored, and me reaching the third rank, we'll stand a good chance against Lilith. Some of my companions might even reach the third rank as well."
Both Astrid and Emily were rapidly inching closer to the third rank, and with Erik's Elorium sharing taking the place of half their cultivation routine, they might just make it time.
Seraphina was close as well, but they weren't having sex yet, so he couldn't share Elorium with her… actually, he couldn't wait until Seraphina found out about it and her desire to have sex with him would skyrocket.
Nora and Anne were a little slower than the others, and wouldn't be the focus of Erik's efforts, so their chances to reach it in time were low.
Finally, Emma simply hadn't been a second ranker for long enough yet. Her talent was outstanding, so her progress was as well, but she'd still only been a second ranker for barely a year. There was a limit to cultivation speed.
Ankhur looked at him solemnly. He certainly didn't have the same level of confidence as Erik did, but he couldn't deny that this was a valid plan for dealing with Lilith.
So, he nodded. "Alright. We'll need to discuss the specifics, our exact chances, and possible alternatives to dealing with her, but let's say I agree; what about her armies?"
Erik's smile widened. "Ah, now we get to the benefits we can offer your realm! First of all, sigils! We can teach you how to not only better control the sigils spread throughout this city, but also repair them, and create more."
He held up a finger, "For example: sigils for communication. You could talk to your guards at the gate from here, your armies in the field, and even other cities within your realm, much like you could with a telephone in the past."
He held up a second finger, "Running water," a third finger, "Heating," a fourth finger, "Powerful defences," and a fifth finger, "We can even use them to help you build up a robust, pre-awakening style economy."
He put down his hand and leaned forward. "Basically, we can massively improve your people's lives, and we're willing to teach you how so you can do these things yourself, rather than rely on us for them."
Erik smirked slightly upon noticing his audience's barely contained excitement. Ankhur was a lot better at concealing it, of course, but Naeku was practically bouncing in her chair. They cared a lot about their people, and these sigils would solve problems they'd been suffering with since the very start of the awakening.
Before they could react, however, Erik continued. "Plus, I'm sure you both noticed the Humanitas Sangh and the strange but powerful formations their Arcanists use. We can teach those to your people as well."
Ankhur hitched his breath, his hand balled into a fist, his eyes closed. He trembled slightly.
Erik leaned back in his chair with a soft smile. "Finally, I'm a very accomplished blacksmith. I'm sure you've been having some wet dreams over my weapons and shape-changing armour… I'd be willing to teach a fe—."
"Enough!" Ankhur interrupted him, smashing his one good fist against his chair. His expression fevered, his eyes opened with an intense light, his third-ranked pressure seeping into the room. He was starting to lose his composure.
"You've made your point!" he snarled, having reached his breaking point. "I obviously want what you have to offer, and we both know I'm desperate for it!"
He leaned forward and growled almost threateningly, "So stop pussyfooting around, and tell me what you goddam want in return, before I try and test the limits of this covenant!"