Dungeon Raider System

"You're not in your right mind, who would invest in a nameless company with nothing to show for and no reputation whatsoever?" Medusa voiced out what everyone was thinking.

"I don't know, maybe we can threaten or scam someone," Nika shrugged. "All I know is we need employees and we won't be able to lure them with candy."

"Maybe not candy, but what if we make a social media campaign." Sam proposed.

"That might work..." Uriel said while raking up his brain trying to find a solution that didn't involve selling his artifacts or their headquarters, though in all fairness the abandoned factory wouldn't cover the huge expense setting up a mining operation required.

"A loan?" Luna put her grain of sand.

"Already tried that but we don't have collateral for that." Nika sighed.

"How long do we have until the other two factions start their operations?"

"I don't know for the army but for the Mapple corp. it will take them less than a week since they came back." Medusa replied.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to intrude but I think you're all ignoring the obvious solution."

"No one asked your opinion." Uriel said fearing what she had to say.

"Then why did you call me here to this... 'meeting'?" She said making sure to emphasize her words with air quotes. "Joining your 'company' has been the worst thing that ever happened to me, but it's nothing compared to the possibility of going a month or two without a salary.

This whole company is a sham, you have no credits, no other employees and your headquarters is a rundown factory in the slums no less. It's a serious downgrade from my last job at the cryptid hunting agency.

This 'company' is no different from a hunting party, heck, intermediate hunting parties tend to be even bigger!" When Janett began her rant she was on the verge of tears, but when she finished she was clearly angry.

"Uh, ok, so what do you propose?"

Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

"Selling the sword of lighting." She spoke just the words Uriel didn't want to hear.

"No! Thunderbolt Iron is not for sale!"

"I know some people that would pay big money for a weapon like that." She kept pushing and Uriel reacted by hissing like a cat and hiding in the corner of the room.

"A loan," Luna insisted. "we can get a loan from those guys."

"No, you don't mean 'those guys' do you!?"

"Uhm, yes..."

"What are you two talking about?" Sam lifted a brow.

"Who cares, as long as I get to keep Thunderbolt Iron everything is fine."

"Are you sure, boss?" Nika asked for confirmation because she didn't think it was a good idea, though there weren't that many options.

"I'm sure, as long as you get the credits I don't care."

"Hey! What if it's dirty money?" Sam asked, he had heard some frightening tales about the mafia and didn't want to end 'sleeping with the fishes'.

"Credits can't be dirty! They're not to blame for whatever shenanigans people use them for."

"But..." Sam tried to argue, but Uriel was having none of it.

Although it may have sounded like Uriel was just being greedy, everyone present knew that wasn't the case because as soon as the opportunity presented itself, Uriel didn't hesitate to give half of the loot to keep her safe from her family.

Parting with his sword wouldn't just make him weaker, but it would also make whoever buys it stronger. Even if he wasn't skilled enough to use it properly, even if he didn't have enough flux energy to use it to his heart's content, it was still better to leave it stored inside his museum than giving it to a stranger.

"You're making a mistake, why get a loan when you could get more money than you can spend by selling that thing. It's your duty as our boss, as our CEO to make sacrifices for the sake of the company." Janett had caught wind already that Uriel wasn't a simple ascended, but that didn't make the fact that he was still just a student any less true.

All she needed was to convince him to sell the sword to one of her contacts and she could take a cut from the buyer, just a couple hundred thousand credits would be enough for her to start over in another city, but Uriel was being stubborn about it.

"I didn't ask to be a CEO," Uriel sighed. "I won't deny that it doesn't feel bad at all, actually, I quite like the idea."

"But not the work." Nika giggled.

"Exactly, I want to be an archaeologist. This is a burden, one I only agreed to take in order to achieve my dream. I don't want to be like that old man."

"Are you talking about grampa? Did he tell you about his past?" Medusa asked dubiously.

"Yeah... He told me he always dreamed of traveling the world and exploring ruins, but then he became too busy with his corporation."

"He always says that his success was also his jail." Medusa looked dejected when she realized that her grampa was informed of her death and that she wouldn't be able to see him ever again. Not just that, she wouldn't be able to go back to college and will most likely be trapped inside their headquarters and will only be able to interact with her friends.

"This is only a temporal arrangement," Said Uriel as though reading her mind. "We'll make this company successful, even if I have to sell all my artifacts."

"And then you'll be able to do whatever it is you want." Luna added.

"Yeah! We'll make the Mapple corporation look like a small fry when compared to us!" Sam said jokingly.

"Thanks guys, but don't worry too much. I spent all my childhood at the manor so it's not like staying in will be a new thing to me, besides, I now have you guys!"