There was a staring contest going on between Katarina and Ray.
In a VIP room of one of the most famous restaurants in the middle of the town, three people were waiting there to kill one another.
"Cut the shit, you two; we are here for work." The dark lady said with her usual nasal voice that she had worn her robe that hid her face; only a pair of red eyes were visible.
"Heâs here to tell you to stop working with me, but I have military backing me up with thousands of crystals flowing between us each day." Katarina put her hands on the table. "And if not, heâs got a threat to destroy all crystal sources on earth."
With a smile Ray started to explain his offer; working with someone like Katarina meant he didnât have to take much time.
"That is one plan, yet my offer is something else; I donât mind working with the military too." He threw a red necklace on the table, enjoying the other twoâs jaws dropping. "I have my sources to back me up."
"Do you want to return to crafting?" The dark ladyâs memories were vague, but she remembered that at a point every human in the underworld went to Ray for crafting.
"22 base crystals for one magical crystal. For military 25 at all costs." That amount was nothing, but in the long term it could close the gap between the military and the underworld a little bit.
Katarina started to analyze the whole situation: "The dark lady is going to accept it no matter what; their crafters take too much time and much more resources to craft one, and for the military, itâs not that bad either!"
After a brief silence Katarina said, "First is trust, and then what is my personal payment? Everyone in the military will know itâs you that will do the job."
"Ten magical crystals each week." He shrugged. "Plus thatâs the price Iâm going to take from you two, but the price of the underworld should be lower."
"We will open and share a magical vault between us; we will trade one by one, but how are you going to do that without their own presence?" The dark lady seemed delighted with the sudden change in her business.
Ray handed them a schedule that he had put together about every detail that they needed to know; instead of their presence for their magic, he would have used magical crystals of their magic. He wouldnât consume it; it would just help to fill the area with the magic.
"And one last thing, I want to buy a legendary armor or weapon if any of you have it, and I can pay up to 100000 dark crystals." More than wanting to buy that, Ray wanted to know if there was something on their mind or no.
"You are not dealing with children here, blood angel; even if I had such a thing, you would be the last person that I would sell it to." With that, she teleported out of the room, leaving the other two alone.
Watching Katarina drinking the wine from the bottle, Ray said with a calm tone, "You know Iâm going to kill you, right?"
"No, you wonât." She put the bottle on the table while licking her lips. "Even if you win, the best resource that you can take up with you to Mars is me, and in there, both of us wonât trust each other again! But we will work anyway, and if the military wins, Iâm going to save you because you are the best ally I can have when I go to Mars!"
Deep down Ray knew that in the end he would once more join hands with Katarina; her magic and her way were too unique to be replaced, but whoever won the battle would have turned into the boss between the two.
"I have a problem." If there was one other person that could help him with the complex magics, it was the woman sitting in front of him. "Find me the formula for artificial magic." The only person that Ray knew that could go through the systemâs basic details was Katarina; if someone had magic as some sort of reward, Katarina could force the personâs system to spill the needed details.
"Donât try. I have tried already and failed miserably." She gave him the bottle; with alcohol in her system, her magic started to cleanse the poison out of her body. "The useful ones are a mix of five or more and two or three more magics to stabilize them."
"How many points in mind do you need to pull that off?"
Katarinaâs eyes narrowed; Ray clearly hid something about the matter, "Near a million."
"Bullshâ" The reality hit him; the civilization that he saw was way more advanced than humans; if they could have machines that could help them break the gap of their actual points.
"What?"
Ray didnât respond; the tornado of his thoughts ignored the real world. There was a slim idea beneath all the ideas in his mind, but for it to happen, he had to take insane measures!
"Find me the formula for piercing magic, and I will give you all the dark crystals I own." Ray tried to lower the pricing as much as he could.
Katarina shook her head. "If I find it, I want a 20 percent cut from the equipment you are going to sell."
"5."
"18."
"13, last offer."
Katarina acted like she was thinking about the offer before responding, "15 or Iâm out."
"Fuck you," Ray sighed; she was too smart for her own good at times. "Deal."
"So how did you survive?" Katarina leaned on the table as Ray started his tale once more about how he was reborn on the alien planet.
"... And thatâs all." Ray takes a soak of the wine. "If you donât have anything else, I should be going too."
"Me too." Taking a deep breath, she smirked. "It was so boring around here without you."