With a flash of light, a golden scroll covered in silver writing appeared in the air. It was a longer than the other contracts I’d signed so far. A lot longer. An unfortunate truth of the multiverse seemed to be that the bigger the corporation, the more convoluted and confusing their contracts.

  I took a deep breath and scanned the long document. It contained dense legalese that referred to my duties and responsibilities, but didn’t actually spell them out clearly. One entire section discussed potential consequences for various types of infractions, failures, and defaults on my part. Could I even default? I’d always hated clauses like that on Earth contracts.

  “What about consequences if you breach the contract?” Not surprising, I saw nothing about that mentioned.

  “We’re not allowed to breach the contract,” Archie said smoothly. “Any action the AI deems a breach would allow it to trigger punitive consequences that could prove very expensive.”

  “Does the AI punish me for any breaches too?”

  Cyrus seemed to want me to succeed, but I still didn’t know the ultimate goal of his experiment. Would he help me avoid any underhanded dealings from my sponsor?

  “The AI oversees all contracts and is the arbiter of all decisions regarding breaches and punishments, just as it determines quests, successes, and rewards.”

  I needed a multiverse lawyer, but I hadn’t met anyone with that kind of class. Still, despite my uneasiness at some of the dense language, the contract included a lot of promised rewards, including those promised sponsor loot boxes.

  “I can get bonus prizes for getting high enough Viewers, Followers, Favorites, and VIP points?”

  “Of course. Champions are scrutinized more than others, so your numbers should grow even faster once you sign. Performing well unlocks even more prizes.”

  No doubt that meant Archie would reap a lot of profits too.

  “I’ll do my best.” The alternative was dying, after all. “I do think we should make it 2 signing bonus loot boxes.”

  “I usually love to negotiate specifics of contracts, but my flexibility in this instance is severely reduced. There are norms I cannot break. Also, you must understand that any loot boxes my organization provides directly to you cost us an exorbitant fee which amounts to several times what we pay for our share of standard loot boxes the AI awards as part of the everyday game mechanics.”

  I knew loot boxes cost money. The Elaris clan were paying a ton to double the prizes of all my emerald and higher loot boxes, but it sounded like sponsor boxes were even more expensive.

  “So what can you do?”

  Archie hesitated for a moment before saying, “I can’t give you another loot box, but I will upgrade the items we include in the single one already promised.

  “I can work with that.”

  I glanced up and asked, “Cyrus, are there any provisions in this contract that I should worry about?”

  “This is highly unusual,” Archie objected, but Cyrus interrupted, his voice sounding like Jack Nicholson.

  “What if this is as good as it gets?”

  I chuckled. “You’re the one who has to tell me.”

  “It’s better than most offers, and now that you’ve asked, I’ve made a few adjustments for you.”

  The contract flashed and got a lot shorter. I liked it better already. Archie started to protest that his lawyers needed to review it, but I willed my acceptance. As much as Archie talked a good game, business was business, and no doubt their contract prioritized their interests over mine. I would expect nothing less. And he should expect nothing less than me in turn leveraging every advantage I could.

  The contract flashed again and the sound of a gong rang through the room. Cyrus exclaimed, “Congratulations, Lucas! You’ve got a sponsor.”

  “Does that thing from Kaelor apply?” I asked softly.

  “Not in this case, unfortunately,” Cyrus responded.

  Not surprising, and honestly, I was okay with that. A generous offer from a tier-7 corporation could easily bankrupt a tier-4 clan, no matter how successful they might be. I didn’t want Kaelor ticked at me.

  Archie chuckled. “Well played, Lucas. Creative negotiating is highly prized in my company. Keep this up, and you will go far.”

  Hopefully far enough to get home. It was good he wasn’t upset.

  “We will speak again soon. Enjoy,” Archie added.

  “Thanks,” I said, but he was already gone.

  The contract disappeared, replaced by a huge diamond loot box. I rubbed my hands together in anticipation, savoring how the giant diamond cast rainbows of light all across my bedroom. When I willed it open, the lid cranked open slowly with a rising chorus of cheering and bursts of fireworks that danced across the ceiling. I glanced at my counters, and they were climbing faster than ever, just like Archie had promised.

  The diamond exploded in a final flash of multicolored light, then disappeared, leaving behind 3 items. The first was a scroll.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Title Scroll. New Title: Secretariat. You’re the second choice champion of the Neptrel core Holdings Corp. They’ve invested more money than the annual GDP of half your planet just for a chance to support your ticket. Don’t let them down.

  Soulbind a single item. Choice is permanent. The chosen item is bound to your soul and cannot be lost or stolen. It can be banished into your inventory without taking up inventory space, and will self-repair over time while stored. If destroyed, will return to your inventory until repaired.

  Plus 2 to Swordsman ability.

  Plus 500 points to CHA.

  Plus 20% more mana crystals in loot boxes.

  Plus 25% chance for loot boxes to increase one grade.

  Plus 10% chance for loot boxes to increase two grades.

  Loot dropped from bosses or found in boxes won from defeating bosses will upgrade one grade.

  I laughed and pumped a fist in the air. “Yes!”

  Getting a sponsor might have unexpected risks, but the perks were already starting to roll in.

  Cyrus said, “You got a good signing bonus on top of the premium they paid to get you as their champion. Archie is betting heavily on you doing well.”

  “This will definitely help.”

  Was the CHA bonus some kind of charisma boost since I would be the face of Archie’s marketing campaign? Hopefully they could help me get Charisma finally unlocked. Even more importantly, they’d better not require me to do interviews, or anything.

  As much as I loved the title, the next item made me audibly gasp when I spotted it. I reached out an eager hand and grasped the hilt of a beautiful glowing sword. The slightly-curved, single-edged blade looked like someone had forged a sunrise. An incandescent white streak ran up the center of the blade, with colors shifting to yellow, then orange, then red toward the edges.

  It fit my hand perfectly, as light as Soulrend had been, as if the blade weighed nothing. Identify triggered, and my grin only widened.

  Dawnfire. Sword. Legendary. This master work of the famous tier-7 bladesmith, Belyra Hammerfell, whose signature blades are cherished by the rich and famous across the multiverse, was forged from the pure energy siphoned from a supernova. This energy blade deals additional fire and heat damage, with the chance to melt enemy weapons and armor.

  Expandable up to 3 times its base size or shrinkable down to 3 inches, this versatile weapon will auto-tier between tier-0 and tier-7. Can be imbued with fire mana or convergence mana to reinforce and strengthen over time. Doubles Fire Resistance up through tier 7. Soulbound. Void Heart.

  Void Heart. Ability. Epic. Sacrifice all uses of a temporary spell or spell scroll during a single strike to pierce the void between you and your target, ignoring all defenses but Void defense. Each use of the sacrificed spell, or instance of the spell scroll adds an additional 10% spiritual damage to the attack.

  Note: Synergy unlocked with your Fire Hand ability. Dawnfire will deal an additional 400% fire damage to all organic material.

  I whistled, then laughed as I swung the beautiful sword, getting the feel for the incredible weapon. It was an energy weapon instead of an ethereal one, which meant it should be able to block enemy weapons. But it also had that Void Heart ability that would not only ignore nearly all defenses, but also deal spiritual damage. That was awesome!

  I lifted it high and said, “Thank you, Archon! This is perfect.”

  The blade looked totally solid, but with a thought, it tripled in length. The change came so effortlessly, the blade extended all the way to my comfortable chair. It erupted into flame.

  “Dakar!” I swore, shrinking the blade again and dousing the fire with a bucket of water from my inventory.

  Jeeves appeared and snapped his fingers, restoring the chair to pristine condition. “Would you prefer a more durable target, sir?”

  “Thanks. I think I’ll go practice outside.”

  “Excellent choice, sir. I will prepare refreshments.”

  And he disappeared again. Such a handy guy to have around. With a sigh, I dropped my new blade into my inventory. My personal armory was looking great, and even though I loved my other swords, Dawnfire was already my new favorite.

  And it was soulbound. What a relief. I’d lost too many weapons over the past 2 weeks. And speaking of soulbound, my title gave me the option to soulbind 1 other item.

  Which one, though? I had a lot of good stuff I didn’t want to lose, from my other swords and heavy weapons, to my amazing suits of armor. I scanned my inventory list, which had grown pretty long, and marked at least a dozen items I would love to soulbind, but 1 item stood out over all the rest. I simply could not imagine losing it.

  Congratulations, Lucas! You have soulbound Wooster Hollow, unique castle base camp.

  Wooster Hollow?

  Jeeves appeared again, this time carrying a silver tray with tiny cucumber sandwiches. “I thought it fitting. You did not wish to continue referring to your abode as simply the castle base camp?”

  “No, probably not. I like it.” The name totally fit the Wooster and Jeeves look of my butler, and repeating it to myself made me smile. “We should get a name plaque over the front door, or something.”

  “Very good, sir,” Jeeves said.

  One final item remained hanging in the air. I’d gotten so distracted by my new title and Dawnfire that I almost hurried out of the room with the little black box still hanging there, slowly spinning.

  Stiletto Quiver upgrade. Add a 3rd quiver and upgrade the quiver to Epic grade. Third quiver creates ethereal blades that ignore all physical and many magical barriers to deal pure spiritual damage.

  I whistled as the unassuming sheath strapped to the inside of my left forearm over my bracer glowed with blue magic for a moment. When I concentrated, I felt the option to trigger the new quiver. I’d hoped to recover Soulrend, but this was just as good in a lot of ways. Now I could fire throwing blade versions of Soulrend? Sweet!

  The unexpected boon of getting a sponsor was off to a great start. I rushed outside to practice.

  Nigel fell into step beside me. “Where are we going?”

  “I need to test some new equipment.”

  “I need to test a new technique for eating fish.”

  I chuckled. “Sure.”

  We vaulted the town’s outer wall, waving to the folks posted on guard duty, and headed into the rainy Ruin. I didn’t slow until we pushed through several streets, finally spotting a broken-down wall leaning dangerously against a mostly-rotted chimney. I didn’t want to reveal to the whole town the fact that I had new weapons.

  I started with the throwing knives, and they worked flawlessly, flying right through rain and stone walls alike. I couldn’t judge how much damage they did until we found living enemies, but I had high hopes.

  Dawnfire was a lot more fun. The softly-glowing, sunrise-hued energy blade sizzled in the pouring rain, instantly surrounded by a shimmering cloud of dispersing steam that added an epic feel to the weapon. It slashed through stones and bricks easier than any jedi light saber, leaving clean gashes of melting stone behind.

  I pulled out various types of metal junk from my inventory, propped them up on the rubble, and proceeded to destroy them all. More than a brief contact with most metals caused them to start melting, while steak or fish fillets instantly seared, much to Nigel’s delight.

  I rotated through my other blades, practicing two-handed forms and exulting in the boost to Agility from my Swordsman and Dual Wield abilities. I moved so fast I dodged many raindrops, my blades blurring through the forms.

  “I’ll be ready for you next time, Thalorian,” I muttered before turning back toward town. On the way, I opened my menu to check my counts and standings.