177 Negotiations
“Alright, let’s make a deal.” Setting aside the fact that, in reality, the contracts were already relatively favorable, Cynrik decided to go down a different route.
Hearing the boy’s words, Headmaster Rivia stiffened slightly. In his mind, the three different contracts were already above and beyond what he would typically give first-year students, yet here was someone, either in greed or unsatisfaction, attempting to forge his own document instead.
He truly had gone all out in offering the best terms allowed, so when Cynrik practically stated the terms of the contracts weren’t good enough, he couldn’t help but look down on the boy and label him as someone punching above his weight class.
After all, he was dealing with a 12-year-old child, not another adult, at the end of the day.
Before he could retort, however, and try to state there was nothing that could be done, Cynrik met the Headmaster’s eyes and smiled like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“Headmaster Rivia, it appears you’ve already forgotten my previous statement,” Cynrik said. Still, when he realized the Geralt impersonator didn’t follow, he cleared his throat and extended his arms, motioning towards the party standing behind him.
When he made this gesture, Brance and, this time, Selene felt like smacking him upside the head, as Cynrik was clearly trying to act like Tony Stark.
“We are a package deal; the members of MyrkLys, under my leadership, wish to have only a singular contract giving the party as a whole joint benefit. Therefore, with one SS-Rank, two S-Rank, an AA, and an A-Rank, the five of us are much more valuable as a unit than any one individual alone, me, the SS-Rank, included.”
“You can think of it as a buy one get four free deal. In essence, you aren’t signing us for our rank but our potential as a party.” At the risk of sounding overly cocky or arrogant, Cynrik finished his long-winded statement by figuratively passing the mic over to the Headmaster.
To say he was thoroughly impressed by the level of showmanship and grandstanding Cynrik was presenting would be an understatement. Headmaster Rivia’s entire opinion of the boy and the party behind him took a drastic turn within a few seconds.
Still, this didn’t change the fact that, in his eyes, Cynrik was asking for more than he could possibly offer. Setting aside the highly unconventional contract opportunity being presented, Headmaster Rivia was becoming increasingly concerned that the next time the boy opened his mouth, he would ask for the world.
“This…” Crinkling his nose and sighing heavily, Headmaster Rivia ran through the list of benefits listed in all the contracts in his mind. The prospect of gaining the only SS-Rank applicant was a massive boon for his Academy, which, although it had been in existence for the last 30 years, was still too green to handle the influx of spending he was worried would occur.
The longer he examined the boy sitting across the table, the more he felt he was dealing with a sly old fox instead of a child.
“What terms do you have in mind? What is written on those contracts, the benefits at least, are the extent of what we are willing to offer, SS-Rank or not.” Laying down his cards and stating he wouldn’t budge was just a front of applying pressure.
“I see; again, there is a disconnect between us. I am not asking for “more” necessarily, but more of a consolidation and compromise to level the playing field.” Waving his hand and pulling out a pen and pad of paper from his inventory, Cynrik began writing all the individual benefits listed in all three contracts in one column before forming a T-chart and labeling it before and after.
“Alright, so the thing that will stay uniform is the full-ride scholarships for all six years of schooling. Tuition, basic housing, food, and school supplies such as uniforms and books being covered were detailed explicitly in all three; I do not plan to budge on this fact as four of us at least are hurting in the wallet, if you catch my drift.”
Nodding his head in approval, Headmaster Rivia assented to this fact. It was standard protocol for all the Academies to cover at least this much when A-Rank or higher applicants are enlisted.
“The next topic on the docket is the monthly allowances and currency signing bonus. Starting with the monthly allocation of funds, if you add up the Academies expenditure for all five of us, it comes out to a total of 250 Merit points. I want to split this total into portions of 50 points each. Basically, think of me as shaving off 25 points and allocating it to the two A-ranks in our party so that everyone gets an equal share.”
When Cynrik looked up from the paper and saw the constipated expression on the Headmaster’s face, he could tell the man had already concluded what the next thing he would say was.
“In the same respect, adding up the total of Merit Points distributed as a signing bonus, we get 2,250 points, and I would like this evenly split between us all as well, for a total of 450 points each. I know this may seem like a stretch since, technically, it would be nearly doubling the bonus for the A-Ranks, but all three of the higher ranks are willing to do an even distribution.” With his currency terms out in the open, Cynrik allowed Headmaster Rivia some time to think it over.
“50 points a month and 450 at signing. This, sigh, if you are already like this at the start of the terms, I am concerned about how far you will take it. But, fine, these terms are acceptable so long as you all agree to dock your pay to allow everyone equal opportunity.” Rubbing his temples and pulling out official paperwork, Headmaster Rivia began making a unified contract for the five. If it were any other applicant making demands like this, he would have immediately silenced them and ran them off, but since Cynrik was the sole SS rank, he allowed a significant amount of leeway for the boy.
“Much appreciated, Headmaster; I know you may have some concerns, primarily since these funds are meant to give us higher potential applicants access to more resources, but I assure you, it will not be an issue. Up next is the store discount.”
The moment the topic of store discounts was brought up, Headmaster Rivia froze, and his mind blanked. Images of the sly boy ransacking the entire vault flashed in his head as he calmly placed his pen down and inhaled deeply.
“Off the table; I can already tell you will be asking for more, so I will draw the line here. All store discounts are being removed from the terms; you will have to pay the standard price for all items.”
Clicking his tongue internally, Cynrik shifted his body weight onto his left elbow and eventually gave in.
“That’s fine; I won’t push on that topic then; we can scratch the discounts from the contract.” Without knowing how much resources would cost in the future, there was no sure-fire way for Cynrik to judge how much money he had just lost; however, he didn’t let that drag him down.
“Since that’s the case, let’s move on to training facilities. As stated in article 27 on page 13, all five of us would have unlimited use of the basic training facilities, such as Affinity Gyms and workout rooms; however, I would like to amend the topic of the paid facilities.”
“It is stated the S and SS-Ranks will have unlimited access to the paid facilities at a heavily reduced cost; I would like to attach a figure and extend that to everyone in the party. Mainly due to how I have arranged our training schedules. There are very few times we solo train, and as a group, if we have to budget expenses to the extent that we are too poor to buy proper resources, this will significantly hinder our growth.”
“Thus, I would like to attach a 45% discount rate and extend the access to all party members. I won’t ask for something as trivial as priority access to these facilities since, as it stands, I do not know the extent of their use or even their popularity.”
“25%, 45 is too much.” Headmaster Rivia counter-offered for the first time, but Cynrik wasn’t thrown off his game.
“35%,” said Cynrik leaning forward slightly as he did so.
“20%,” Headmaster Rivia countered again, crossing his arms over his chest with narrowed eyes.
“30%, this is my bottom line.” Cynrik even tapped the table with his index finger three times to annunciate his statement.
“30% is a stretch but acceptable; I will annotate it in the new contract.”
“Much appreciated Headmaster; onto the next topic, Egresses. A brief glance at my party’s profiles and the videos of our combat exams will show you that we are all highly adept at our age in both Affinity skills and combat as a whole. Egress dives are our primary source of XP, income, and live training….” Before he could finish speaking, Headmaster Rivia raised his hand to cut Cynrik off.
“Academy Egresses have an absolute limit depending on the student’s Tier and year. First years are generally limited to one Dive outside of specified class field trips a month. The best I can do is allow two Dives. There is nothing further to talk about; this isn’t even something I can really negotiate as the Egress cores would be overwhelmed if suddenly your party began rapidly jumping in and out.”
This time, Cynrik went silent in thought. If things were really as the Headmaster stated, it would be too complicated to attempt mass dives for power leveling.
“I understand; two a month it is.” Then, clicking his tongue in his mind, Cynrik was forced to concede and began restructuring his Powerleveling plans.
“Up next on my docket is EVO stones. Currently, four of the five of us have reached the prestige cap and are ready to advance to Tier-2; seeing as Evo stones were already listed, I would like to solidify that and add in the 3rd Tier Evo Stones when we are ready for them. On this topic, I concede that the provision where I’m given all the materials necessary for my advancement will be removed.”
Standing behind Cynrik, Selene went wide-eyed after hearing how easily Cynrik tossed away the chance to receive the much-coveted stones that would pave his path to Tier-4 or higher. Headmaster Rivia was just as shocked.
“Just to clarify, you want the clause allowing you free access to all materials for Evolution after Tier-2 removed, solely so that all the members of your party will get Tier-3 Evo Stones?”
“Indeed I am. What is the point of blazing past my party members and leaving them in the dust? I am keener to lean towards the balance of power in the group. Would that not cause a potential rift or jealousy if I was quick to hyper-accelerate past them? Instead, we as a party should grind for more points to purchase what we need from the Academy Store. In the long run, this is healthier for our party, which I one day hope to advance to the level of a full-blown Reaver Guild.”
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