Throughout the next few days Jin met up with Ke Loong for several meetings and was accompanied by Xiong Da. It was to discuss the finer details in regards to the Remote Portal Device deal. There were many red tapes as Jin had expected but Xiong Da cleared them for him with ease and in advance too. Most of the paperwork were handled by Xiong Da and his new assistant and girlfriend, Ruo Ying.
Obviously, Ke Loong knew of Xiong Da and his reputation and cursed at Mr Know-It-All for bluffing him to go in the deal blindly. He was basically ripped off by his friend and this duo in front of him, but ultimately he reluctantly agreed to all conditions even when his personnel advised their CEO against it. However, it was because of the presence of Mr Know-It-All in the last and final meeting, Ke Loong accepted the Remote Portal Device deal.
“You will not regret it. Trust me, Bro.” Mr Know-It-All patted Ke Loong’s back as he could clearly see that his old friends was basically holding back his tears back. “If I lose out in the deal, you better repay me all the money you owe me since school days!” Ke Loong snapped at Mr Know for a while before returning to the company with his personnel.
Hence with both Mr Know It All and Xiong Da’s help, Jin managed to clinch a good deal and that even included the desperately needed data of the remote portal Jin wished to create. With the data, the System could now work its magic to analyse it and attempt- no, manage to produce a Remote Device Portal that had little to do with the System’s own special powers.
On the other hand, the Shaolin Football Instance proved to be a hit after Bu Dong’s debut against the Roboz. Many tried their own luck, wishing to be the first to defeat Team Roboz but till now no one was able to. There were a few instances, when teams managed to tie the Savants and advance on to Round 3, but it was as if there was a difficulty notch that was automatically turned to make sure that the teams lost at the very last minute.
Some of the dungeon goers began to suspect that foul play was being performed and it was impossible to defeat it. Many began to dub it as the gold standard of dungeons in Jin’s dungeon instances based on the number of goals being thrown into the Pandajilla.
However, only Mr Know-It-All seemed to be able to recognise the effects of the Shaolin Football Instance. Even though the people lost to that particular dungeon, Mr Know noticed that the cultivators who tried the Shaolin Football dungeon instance had a higher survival rate in other previous dungeon instances because they were more alert and aware of their surroundings.
“Overall teamwork has been raised at least by five percent. No wonder, Jin called it the Shaolin Football Instance, it was like a paid session at the Shaolin Temple. Be defeated and learn your mistakes from it. Hahaha, if only Jin had tutorials for cultivation again like how he had Miss Milk and Miss Peppers.” Mr Know-It-All mumbled casually to himself while noting something down, so focused with his work, that he did not notice Jin coming up beside him.
“Well, how about you do it? You have been in my shop for the longest time ever. The customers trust your expertise, thanks to your comments in the auditoriums as well as your top voted dungeon guides.” Jin was wiping his sweat as he was wearing just a singlet from the Halloween Pandracula costume. It was a good thing that he could finally take it off within the next few days.
“Hahaha, that is a fascinating proposal. I can no doubt pass you the data of the cultivators that I took note of, but I have a feeling that you might have more detailed data than me.” Mr Know smirked as he said that.
“Why would you say that? I am just the owner of this shop.” Jin was trying to keep his poker face, but judging by the others reaction, he was doing a poor job of it.
“You surely jest. I have seen Team Roboz defeating people almost immediately when they tried to use the same tactics again. It was not that obvious for the other instances, but in the Shaolin Football Instance, it was as if you are training your customers to think more.” Mr Know shared his assumptions as he placed his notebook down for a moment. “People are saying that you purposely priced it low, so that they can learn. And I would tend to agree, especially when you count the number of medals you can win if you compare it with a proper story theme instance. What exactly is your objective?”
“To prepare them for something larger. Something grander. Something more exciting.” Jin tried to hide the details. Mr Know did not bother to ask too much since he preferred to be surprised by this dungeon supplier in front of him. And so far Jin had yet to disappoint.
“I shall look forward to it then. I will think about your offer and will let you know, after I’ve decided.” Mr Know told him before he went back to watch the cinematic right in front of him. Jin thanked him and did not bother him anymore.
“Hmm, me being a teacher, again? Will I be still qualified to be that?” Mr Know whispered to himself as he thought of the past before taking a sip his favorite tea and concentrating on the screen and his notes.
As Jin gave the Pandracula suit over to one of the Red Pandas to clean it, he was also thinking of the meeting that Grandma Yuan talked about. He did receive an official reminder earlier in the day from Sheng Si Fang, the owner of Lele Café and the committee leader of the Tiangong Shopping District.
“If even Si Fang does not know what Grandma Yuan expects of me, then how should I oblige her wishes…” Jin scratched his head a bit as he looked up on the tasks to do on his phone. For the past few days, he had been busy settling a few affairs.
First things first was the Sanctum of Worlds, the home instance for his various monsters. Similar to Mr Derpy and his Deep Ones before they got their deep sea alike home instance, Wolte and the other Savants stayed at the guest rooms waiting for Jin to act. To his surprise, Wolte just asked him for a peaceful house and nothing too fancy. In turn, and more as a jest, he created a standard 1950s western suburban neighbourhood for Wolte and the Savants on the fly.
Shocking him even more was the fact, that they immediately fell in love with the simplicity and tranquillity of the neighbourhood. Even the Savants who were loyal to his every action when asked for their opinions, they immediately had requested getting one of the houses to call their own. Jin subsequently noticed that they seemed to have their own quirks and even some semblance of personalities within each of them. As if they were humans in a robot suit then it suddenly struck him.
“Wait…if Kraft can put Pei into a fox bullet, can he…those Savants?” Jin shuddered at the thought, but he was not afraid to ask Kraft since he had to be clear where they originated from. Continuing the list of surprises, Kraft did not even try to deny Jin’s assumptions.
However before Jin could even start to get angry, Kraft only asked him:
“What exactly are you unhappy about? Those Savants do possess a lot of the memories of those adventurer who were captured by me and the Derpies. However those adventurers, apart from suffering from mild amnesia for a couple of days, they have not been killed, and not only will they forget what I did to them, they will even have false memories implanted in them. This in turn will make them fabricate a fake story, so that your identity in the Dungeon World will be safe. All of them have been teleported outside. Also can you argue about the Savants efficiency, seeing how they dealt with the assassin? The way I see it, I not only honored your wishes, I also increased your strength directly by providing you with a loyal troop of your own, and I even indirectly increased your assets by getting one of my foxes as a nice bonus.” The old crafty fox give Jin a giant smile.
After standing there with an open mouth for a couple of seconds, Jin thought about his bellators words, before he sighed out loud: “I cannot believe that you were able to find a loophole in those orders.” Jin shook his head and Kraft could only shrug his shoulders.
“Well, that is how a counter intelligence agent should work. I mean I could have erased their personalities as well, but you do not seem to be someone, who would want something like that to happen.” Kraft smiled gently and walked away. However, the reasoning from Kraft made Jin feel at ease and Jin acceded the Savant’s requests.
The next thing Jin did was perfecting the Deep One dungeon instance. He had been delaying this dungeon for a long time and Mr Derpy was complaining why Lord Wolte was able to get an instance before him. Jin explained that it was mainly because of one thing.
Budget.
“If you need more treasure, release us into some world. We terrorise it and get the loot for you. What is so difficult about that?” Mr Derpy was still angry at Jin giving Lord Wolte preferential treatment.
“Oh Derpy, you do not understand this. I need my customers to be stronger so that your Deep Ones can rip them apart with more joy. If they are all weak and useless, is that even worthy of praise? Besides, would the mighty Deep Ones lower themselves to do something like suppress their strength and be defeated by some peasants? I want them to be free and wild. To fight to their death with satisfaction.” Jin tried to talk to Mr Derpy in his ‘language of chaos and violence’.
“Hmph. You better make sure the dungeon instance is worthy of our presence. Or else, I will make sure you suffer the wrath of Lor- Wait, Master where are you going? I am not done talkin-!” Jin closed the instance door in front of Mr Derpy as he entered the Jack’s Mansion, where the werejackals were living.
“Time to check on my living armour plants,” Jin rubbed his hand in anticipation, as he ticked another task off the to-do list.
