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Ch 9 - Negotiations

  I can't help but think that the gem mechanic and them becoming meteors are implemented so that by design, they will damage the world, the terrain, the houses, or even kill some lives. This is so that there's some sort of challenge to the game. This will put players on the bad side of negotiations. It's like a rite of passage the players should overcome.

  My second meeting turned into a disaster. The young lady’s face says it all. She was very mad I destroyed her pen and a part of her house. It seems it'll take time to rebuild. This might go worse than my first encounter.

  I can't find the right words. For some reason, I can't begin apologizing. I'm afraid I'll blurt out something stupid again. I started practicing earlier too. I already have the words, but I think anything I'll say right now will sound like I'm trying to save my ass and will only make things worse. So I just went silent.

  “Good. Another one of these gems. We were living peacefully over here and you just had to arrive.”

  “Thankfully Master is safe but if you'll ever burned even a strand of his wool, I'll bury you somewhere no one will ever find you even if they tried.”

  “Hmmm... No response huh, it's ok. We don't have to know each other. You're going to be sold tomorrow anyway. You have some pretty patterns, I think you'll fetch a good price. You're going to pay for these damages you made. “

  Upon hearing this, I started thinking about who would get me. A merchant? A collector? Either way that sounds bad. If a collector got his hands on me, probably what would happen is that I'm going to be made into a display of some sort.

  If that's the case that sounds really bad. That's like game over at that point. At least landing on a remote place and you still have a chance meeting some random passerby, but if you were made as a display, you're just stuck there, with no chance of ever finding the treasure.

  Realizing this, I broke my silence and started begging her.

  “NO PLEASE, DON'T DO THAT, ANYTHING BUT BE SOLD PLEASE…”

  “Oh you can actually talk too huh? If you don't want to be sold that much, maybe you should have tried to be more careful where you fall, hmmm?”

  “I'm tired right now so I'm going to sell you tomorrow. Try to reflect on what you did.”

  She will then leave me on the table of the damaged house. Someone called her over to eat dinner. The house’s wall has been damaged open, so it might be too cold to sleep on. She might not go back here for the night.

  And I'm stuck again.

  GODDDDAMMMMMMIT!!!!!

  ARGGHHHHHHHH

  THIS FCKNG SUCKS. This really sucks.

  I'm actually looking forward to meeting an ingame person, but it just never works out. I have already wasted 3 copies. It seems like if I tried again, I would eventually waste them all at this rate. I'll benefit more with the copies if I sell them for a quick buck.

  This is the worst.

  I dont have the energy to play anymore, at least for tonight. This game is wearing me down.

  Might as well go to bed.

  ***********

  “Dear, we're almost there, wake up.”

  “Hmmmm... Mom, Dad, where are we?”

  “The pool did you forget? your Dad asked for a leave so we could spend time together.”

  “Oh…”

  “Big bro! you promised you'd do anything if I beat you on a swimming race don't forget. you're gonna regret this.”

  “Oh did I? Well that will be impossible so no worries.”

  “Hahaha! I actually practiced very hard for this race, you're gonna be surprised.”

  “Emma, if you can defeat your brother, you're going to get a reward from us.”

  “That's unfair! Do I get one too if I beat her?”

  “Nope. Because that's no challenge for you at all.”

  “Hahaha! tough luck big bro.”

  My little sister is smiling a lot. She seems to be in a good mood.

  Today is a good day. The sun isn't too hot and the wind as it passes through our car’s window feels good. Today is the perfect day for a swim.

  It's supposed to be but…

  All of a sudden the ground started to shake.

  The shaking got stronger so dad stopped the car and we huddled ourselves together.

  “What's happening?”

  “Shhhh… close your eyes dear.”

  As our mother tried to put her palm on our eyes.

  I can't help but try to open my eyes to make sense of what's happening. It's very bright outside the car, and my mother seems to be afraid and my father is worried.

  My little sister started crying and my parent’s hug went tighter as everything started to brighten up. Eventually I started to see lots of meteors fall on our surroundings and multiple explosions followed. All of a sudden our car got hit and it exploded.

  *BANG*

  I suddenly woke up. I am sweaty all over. my face seemed to be flowing with tears. It seemed like it was just a dream. My sister seemed to have made noise while opening the door and it woke me up.

  “Sorry big bro, I just wanted to get you for breakfast. you have work today right?”

  I got out of bed and hugged my sister very tightly.

  “I'll be downstairs in a bit, thanks.”

  “Are you ok?”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Hmmm hmm.”

  As I wipe the tears from my eyes.

  Damn, Gemfall is getting to me, what a bad way to wake up.

  By the time I went down, my little sister had already left for school. She left me a lunchbox which she had prepared. I ate my breakfast and went to work.

  I do janitorial work. It doesn't pay much considering the labor it demands. It's kinda chill though. My favorite part is that if you were assigned to places without people, you could just play some music and get the mop going.

  Kinda sucks if you were to clean somewhere lots of people. People tend to throw garbage everywhere, they don't care at all. It's probably because they knew someone is going to clean up after them. Sometimes you meet assholes, who will try to mess with you. They will try to mess things up on purpose, to make you do more work.

  Either way it's part of the job, so I've grown accustomed to it. It seems if you ignore them enough and don't fall for their antics, theyll get bored eventually and leave you alone.

  By the time I got out in the afternoon, my body was already worn out. I have to cover a lot of space to clean. I've always wanted to get home as fast as possible to rest. Only at home I could feel comfortable resting because no one will nag me here.

  I sleeped at the sofa and woke up about an hour before dinner.

  As usual when I woke up, my little sister had already arrived and was cooking dinner.

  When she noticed I was up, she came over and offered a massage while the food was still being cooked, our usual routine.

  “Good work for today.”

  “Thanks, you too. How is school?”

  “Same as usual. Our math teacher still gives something long to copy on our notebook to freely flirt around with the girls sitting on the back side.”

  “Haha, that Mr Harrison never changes. Is he still single all this time?”

  “Single as ever. Someone should date the guy already. The guy is so annoying to deal with. He's a pretty good teacher, very easy to understand, I would've liked him if not for his antics.”

  “Yeah, I've always liked the guy. He is very chill with the boys, my condolences for the girls though.”

  *hissssssssss*

  *pot boiling*

  “By the way, how's your preparation for the exams?”

  “Hmmmm….”

  My sister seems to be out of it.

  “Emma?”

  “Oh! uh sorry what was that again?”

  “How's your exam preparation?”

  “Right. Exam right?... Actually, big bro, it's not going well. I started taking part time jobs.”

  “Emma, we've talked about this.”

  “I know! I know… I just wanted to help even a bit.”

  “Emma, you dont need part time jobs. I could handle things well. How much money do you need? You need to ask me if you need anything.”

  “I… don't want to be a burden.”

  “Emma, please understand, you need to concentrate on your school. I could never give you bags, designer clothes or shoes, but a diploma is the only thing I could ever give to you. Don't end up becoming like me. understand?”

  Emma nods as she continues stirring the pot.

  “I'll go to your school tomorrow to ask for your payments alright, you don't have to worry about anything.”

  Ah, my little sister.

  It eats me everyday I can't give you a proper life. I might not be looking good if she has to take some jobs. It seems i dont look like someone that has money that she doesn't even bother asking me for one. Well she's right in that regard, but I could find some money if it's really needed.

  All the more depressing after I see our dinner. it's just barely filling us, barely enough in nutrients. At least she can make it delicious. She doesn't complain but I hope I could have given her more nutritious food as she's still growing. If only I didn't mess around in college.

  But just wait a little bit longer, a little bit longer and I can get us a good life. Please hold on a little bit longer.

  I'm presented with 2 options now. I could sell all my copies for a quick buck, I could probably treat my sister to good food and probably buy something for her, or I could try struggling in Gemfall for a chance to turn our life over.

  Now that I remember, my sister picked the last gem right? Do I really give up at this point? it's supposed to be the winning account right? I'm going to make my sister sad if I let that account go to waste.

  For my sister, I decided to make it a last struggle.

  After dinner, though a bit tired, I went ahead to Gemfall.

  it's already night in the game and like the young lady said, she is going to sell me somewhere.

  I'm in big trouble but I can't help but notice the scenery. Everything looks peaceful. The sound of the winds shaking the tree leaves sounds calming. It's like they are trying to say it'll be alright.

  The gem emitted a light, and it illuminated the dark surrounding a bit so she knew I was up.

  “Oh you're up. You gems really go alive whenever you want huh?”

  “I was going to sell you to the captain but it seems I'll go to Mr Robert this time, since it's already night and he's nearer. I had to fix what you did during the day. It was a hassle.”

  “Do you really have to run? I'm not going anywhere. It's dark and all and you might trip, the road is full of rocks.”

  “Is this your attempt at trying to get on my good side? Mind your own business.”

  Not even a minute and the young lady actually tripped. It seems like my mouth can cast some debuffs. luck -10.

  “Told you.”

  “Leave me alone.”

  As she wipes herself and starts running again.

  After a while, the young lady took a break from running and did some stretches as she caught her breath. She took a deep breath and then continued on her way.

  Noticing this, I actually found this weird. Like why does she insist on running at night? it's not like she's running away from something. I mean she stops from time to time to stretch so it's not like she's trying to escape. It seemed to me like she's training or something.

  “I can make you stronger”

  Wait, did I just say that?

  Nooooooooooo…

  “You're still going to be sold.”

  Huh?

  I expected a worse reply.

  Did I hit the nail on the head? so she's really running around to get stronger?

  I see a good sign, so I would double down on what I said earlier.

  “I'm not lying. I can make you stronger.”

  Well, I'm telling the truth. Living in the information age, I could get tutorials on the correct training form, techniques and the like.

  She stopped, let out a sigh, and then tossed me on the ground.

  “Fight me. If you win, I'll become your student and I'll follow your teachings.”

  I guess that confirms it. She does this for training.

  “You're kidding right? you know i can't move right?”

  “Figures. “

  As she picked me up, and started running again.

  Seeing what just happened, something tells me this could be my chance, so I went ahead and started negotiating with all my ability.

  “It's not exactly me, but I have a master. I could pass to you his knowledge, just give me some time to review his teachings. I swear you won't regret this. If you pass on this offer you're likely going to stay at the same level for some time.”

  I trust master internet will have my back.

  “You're hitting a wall right? “

  I'm really getting desperate. I started assuming things.

  I could see her stealing a glance at me.

  “Just give me a chance, I don't want to be sold off. I'd like to pay you back for what I did earlier by helping you become stronger. Please.”

  She seems to be silent, while running.

  She will then stop.

  “What's your goal? why are you doing all of this?”

  That took me off guard. Better pour my honest feelings here or I might regret it later.

  “I have to search for an artifact called the Golden Augustus.”

  “So you're willing to set the world on fire for this artifact?”

  “I apologize… truly… I don't have control over where I fall. I know people will hate me if I destroy their stuff so I would prefer not to do that.”

  “Hmmm… maybe you shouldn't have fallen in the first place.”

  “I can't do that, I need to find the artifact.”

  “You're willing to find your artifact at the expense of others huh, what a selfish prick. My hate for you gems grows larger each minute.”

  I can only bow my head in silence.

  “Tell me how you would go about achieving your goal? you can't even move.”

  “I will convince you to go with me.”

  “Goodluck with that.”

  As expected, that didn't work..

  She's definitely mad. I definitely have tainted her perceptions of gems, but it seems things aren't over yet. I have a feeling I can still turn things over.

  She would have not entertained me at all and went straight to the collector, but it seems she's interested in what I have to offer. She definitely wanted to get stronger.

  I must help her as much as I can. That way, I could prove myself useful and won't be sold for starters.

  I might be getting ahead of myself here, but persuading her to go together with me for the artifact can then be brought up later.

  After being silent for some time, she then started to stretch and started heading in the opposite direction. She started heading back home.

  “You changed your mind?”

  “I'm giving you a chance.”

  “I'm not interested in going with you or anything, but you better back up what you said earlier. “

  “Don't you dare start thinking I forgot what you did. I'm still going to sell you, but it doesn't have to be now.”

  “Prepare your master's teachings and get them ready by tomorrow. If you're messing around with me, you're going to regret it. understood?”

  “Yes Ma'am!”

  Phew... it seems I'm safe for now.

  Didn't expect that to actually work. For some reason it just did. Maybe it's my little sister’s luck at work. I'm not off the hook yet but I have a feeling this might be it.

  I'm never letting this chance go to waste.

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