Chapter 874 (2/2)
“I don’t have the tools to make something like this,” Randidly said helplessly.
Wendy shrugged. They were standing in Wendy’s workroom, which was a low ceilinged cave at the top of the rodent warren the Spriggits occupied. At least there was light enough to see by. Within, she had several extremely sophisticated machines for melting and processing metals. “Is that my problem? I’ll even let you make it here in return for another favor.”
“...I don’t think it can be made it here…” Randidly said with a frown. He had been able to bring some things into his Soulskill, but his interspatial ring was not one of those items. Perhaps if he…. Well no, it wasn’t worth the effort. And without his interspatial ring, Randidly didn’t have access to any of the high-quality materials that he had kept with him for all this time.
For all that they had the technology here, they didn’t have the level of materials that Randidly was interested in using for his arm. What was the point of making a fabulously mobile arm if an average person from Donnyton could cut through the weak material of the limb? Engravings could only increase the metal’s toughness so much.
“No, these plans definitely need to be simplified,” Randidly said.
“That wasn’t part of the deal,” Wendy Vuss pointed out with a dismissive glance toward Randidly.
Randidly blinked. Then he frowned down at her. “You did this on purpose to extract additional compensation, didn’t you?”
Wendy shrugged. “You rode roughshod over me and gave me an ambiguous request because you wanted to pay me more, didn’t you?”
In spite of himself, Randidly snorted. “Alright, fine. I was a little… demanding in our previous negotiations. I was just feeling pressed for time. But I do still have almost a week to complete this. Based on how quickly you were able to finish the plans, that will be more than enough time to discuss suitable compensation and complete the work, yes?”
Wendy Vuss nodded smartly. “This is acceptable. Besides, in case you were dissatisfied, I had already settled on my counter demands.”
While Randidly watched with raised brows, Wendy walked over to the far side of her workroom and pulled a cover off of a chalkboard. Written there in large white letters were the following words:
FIVE HIGH LEVEL MONSTER CORPSES
“My final offer,” Wendy Vuss announced.
Randidly struggled to keep a straight face. “And what is the definition of High Level?”
The Spriggit woman regarded him with palpable suspicion for several seconds, as though sensing that there was something amiss with Randidly’s reaction. Her mind was locked in the task of doing some careful mental calculations. Once more, Randidly could practically hear the whirr of her gears behind Wendy Vuss’s eyes as she struggled to land on how much value she could extract from him.
“Level… Fifteen or higher,” Wendy Vuss finally spat out.
This time, Randidly failed to cover his snort. But he shook her hand and departed immediately.
In actuality, the request turned out to be more difficult than he had expected. Not because Randidly was slowed at all by monsters of that Level, but finding five monsters of that Level proved to be a challenge. He had to range pretty far from the settled lands in order to locate any.
Going was rough outside of the area cleared of mist, and even Randidly proceeded cautiously. But once he found a group, he quickly mopped them up and dragged the bodies back to Wendy’s lab.
With the grimacing face of someone who realized that they had been hoodwinked, Wendy accepted the bodies and asked Randidly what his requests for the new plans were.
Ah, you are certainly a genius, Randidly thought smugly as he was much more specific about what he wanted this time. But it’s a question of perspective. You likely hadn’t seen a monster above Level 10 before… to you, Level 15 seemed like an unavoidable disaster. But to me… well, that’s just child’s play.
After explaining, Randidly shook her head with a bright expression on his face. “Pleasure doing business with you, Wendy.”
Wendy grunted sourly.