45th of Season of Fire, 220th year of the 32nd cycle

  The dragon exalt kept her eye on Newt.

  “So, you wish to set up a small portion of your kind inside my territory? And we’re talking about more than ten of you little invaders at my realm, hundreds at the two realms beneath that, and thousands beneath those? What’s in it for me?”

  It was one of the two questions Newt had expected, the first one being the matter of security and fear humans would gang up on her.

  “My master and I have drafted a proposal.” Newt retrieved a piece of paper from his spatial pouch. The dragon obviously wouldn’t be able to read it, but having an official document made the humans feel better, even if Newt had memorized the contents.

  “We offer several skills your kind lacks.” He pulled out the potion he had prepared. “This potion heals injuries of both humans and saurians up to the sixth realm, but the rarest ingredient used to create it is only useful to those at the fourth realm of your kind. In general, we know how to tend to and augment natural treasures the way your kind does not. By providing these, we would naturally increase the power of your underlings.”

  Newt paused. I can’t believe I’m saying this.

  “And in doing so, naturally increase the speed at which you grow. Some of these can even be made for exalts, but I don’t know if we can talk such talented craftsmen into leaving with us.”

  Mana came to life, and Newt’s bottle floated towards the dragon. She focused on it for a moment, the bottle disintegrating, the potion inside turning to vapor and swirling through the air.

  “This is interesting, but while this much is helpful for you, I would need thousands of times the amount an invader of my domain would need.”

  “That is true, but these types of potions are useless to you. The ones you would be interested in are the ones that can purify or activate dormant energies of treasures you would use. Not to mention something else.” Newt wondered whether he was painting the dragon too cold-blooded, but Magmin assured him it was fine. “Do you really care about the health of those weaker than you? Or just the speed at which they are gathering mana?”

  “You’re right. This is tempting. What else do you have to offer?”

  Newt drew a simple spell seal, which drew ambient mana to freeze the ground.

  “We have many uses for land and ambient mana itself. The effects are countless, and some of them would certainly benefit you directly or indirectly. The most important ones I can think about decompose treasures and help you absorb them more effectively, but we can’t draw them large enough for someone like you. Or we could, but it would take so long and use so many resources, it would be faster if you just absorbed them. But discussing this topic would take days.”

  The dragon exalt was silent, and Newt waited. He couldn’t guess the number of things she was weighing at the moment.

  “And you will what? Stay in a small space we set aside for you to craft things for us? Your kind won’t agree to it.”

  “We wouldn’t, but we could have an area where we live and where higher-realm humans are free to interfere if someone of your kind becomes violent. You can have the same areas, and then we can have an area where murder is allowed, as going there means you are going to hunt.”

  “One-on-one,” she said.

  Newt frowned. “One-on-one?”

  “Only one-on-one combat is allowed. Your kind swarms over us at the same realm. If you wish to hunt, you have to do it properly, one-on-one, the winner eats the loser. We don’t need safe areas, but if someone at a higher realm hunts someone at the lower, we will eat them.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Now it was Newt’s turn to think. What did fighting saurians alone imply? Everyone would have to be a slayer or close to one. That was obviously impossible, but most regular talents could at least survive fighting saurians by themselves.

  The rest would have to focus on crafting or growing herbs. Which isn’t bad, it would force everyone to earn their keep instead of just tagging along. It would also force us to improve our skills before we dared venture into the wild.

  He was under the impression that, at least at Explorer’s Gate, a large number of students were half-assing it. They knew they would move and act as a team, and that would give them some leeway. It was a foolish notion, most of their mission fatalities coming from such people, but awakened were simply too few, and you never knew where a talent was.

  Besides, no matter how real the danger those youths were exposed to, they ultimately lived in a safe area, doing curated missions.

  This would force them either to quit, freeing up resources for others, or to take things seriously.

  Ultimately, the dragon exalt’s requirement would strengthen Newt’s group.

  “I believe your condition is acceptable, but I will have to discuss it with my master.”

  “Next is the matter of tribute,” the dragon continued.

  I hate politics.

  Newt spent a few hours discussing details with the dragon exalt. In the end, they failed to make a deal, but they were on a good path of doing so. Newt had demands and requests he would have to discuss with his master, as well as give the dragon exalt how much territory they needed, with the stipulation that humans would have to pay a tribute of twice what the land they took would normally produce.

  “I will return in a year.”

  “Magminion will wait for you at your den.”

  With that, Magminion took Newt and flew him towards the outer reaches of the jungle.

  “You robbed me of my fun, you know? I wanted to gloat over Calderion once Mother acknowledged your existence and my contributions in finding you. He’s smouldering about not reporting to him and letting him get the merit as if there was something in it for me if I told him. I think he hatched the wrong way. What have you been talking about with Mother?” The chattering took a sudden turn, even if the dragon’s tone didn’t change. “It must have been very important for you to rush here ahead of time.”

  “We have been discussing the potential for partnership and trade.” Newt said what he believed was neutral.

  “Don’t tell him more than that,” Magmin warned. “We are not a pack, but a collection of individuals.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t. But it’s obvious I have come for something, and it has to be valuable enough for him to believe it, and true enough he doesn’t resent me later when we come to the jungle.”

  “What kind of partnership?” Magminion asked.

  “I am not at liberty to say, but you can ask your mother and she can tell you in detail.”

  Magminion snorted, but asked no more questions.

  Newt returned to the Explorer’s Gate days later, and even before he had arrived at the island, his master sought him out through telepathy.

  “It’s good that you’re back.”

  The thought was simple, but it conveyed much more. It meant Newt’s result was at least neutral and that was room for diplomacy. That Gatekeeper Greenthorn wanted Newt’s report immediately, and that he was nervous about the whole affair.

  Two hours later, they were drinking the bitter, mana-infused tea Gatemaster Greenthorn worshipped, but Newt only found decent.

  “So, she is interested in trade?”

  “She didn’t argue or make any additional demands regarding trade. I’m more worried about tribute.”

  Gatemaster Greenthorn shook his head.

  “I expected that. They are losing territory and resources along with it, so it’s only natural that they want compensation, even if getting double is a bit greedy. No, what’s the real problem is single combat. She expects us to become a special kind of saurians. For us to cull the weak and feed the strong.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that, Master.” Newt took a sip of his tea, then replaced the cup on the floating board that acted like a table. “Is it really a bad thing? It would force those too weak to be of any real use in a fight to abandon that approach and to find something else they can do. Or force them to train harder to stay alive.”

  Unlike Newt, Gatemaster Greenthorn didn’t let go of his cup from start to finish, nursing it in his hand.

  “I’m afraid of poaching and of people accidentally bumping into each other in the jungle. There are always some who think rules apply only to those dumb enough to follow them. We would have to publicly murder them in especially brutal ways to ensure others stay in line. I will need to discuss this with the Tidebreakers, but visiting too frequently could cause suspicion.”

  Newt sighed and nodded.

  The logistics of secretly discussing terms with someone half an empire away were horrible, and he wondered whether humanity would even find a better solution than messengers who were slow and easy to intercept.