Street Cultivation 3

by Sarah Lin

  Katenka was speaking with brutal directness now, which he preferred. Yet he remembered Lilith and how she had shifted her approach to match his, so he remained cautious. "Thank you for helping them, but I don't need to be convinced of your good nature. You're with one of the Siberian demonic corporations, right?"

  "And you don't believe they are in the business of charity?" She raised a cool eyebrow, then smiled. "You're right. But I truly believe that an agreement would be in our mutual best interest. Not only do you need an adviser so you don't err when it comes to the demon realm, few humans compete at the highest level without demonic bonds. Those two spoke of you as invincible, but I think we both know how competitive the Showdown can be."

  "Everyone tries to convince me that demonic bonds are normal, but going bankrupt and ruining your life seems pretty normal too, in my experience."

  "So skeptical. What can I possibly do to overcome this prejudice?"

  "Uh..." He hadn't expected such a direct question, but he realized that he actually had his answer. "I need to understand how a real partnership would be in your self-interest. You want me to overdraw and pay you a lot of lucrim, otherwise you don't make a profit. I can't work with an organization that wants me to fail."

  "I won't deny that demonic firms make a great profit off many humans failing, but that doesn't mean we want you in particular to fail." Katenka raised a finger to her lips thoughtfully. "I hope that you know that a demonic bond increases a person's strength, even if they don't draw heavily on it. But I wonder if you know how?"

  "Honestly, I assumed that everyone was just drawing heavily all the time."

  "Perhaps for the low quality bonds you've seen. But it's more complex than that, and perhaps it would be easiest to explain with an economic bond. When you pay for something with demonic lucrim, do you think that transaction is free? It's not, but the store is the one paying for the transaction fee, not you."

  "So you make money off every purchase?" Rick had honestly never heard of that before, but he assumed that she wouldn't lie to his face about something so easily checked. "How does that relate to combat?"

  "The power I'd grant you is inherently draining, but not necessarily to you. With every contact with an enemy, you steal away a small percentage of their lucrim, or at least their energy. Some of that goes to me, some of it goes to you, but there's a net profit for both of us."

  "Paid by everyone else, then."

  "That's right. So you see, demonic firms really make profits in two ways. The lowest classes of bonds are purely exploitative, but those who can't be exploited receive a more prestigious type of bond." Katenka gave him another one of those creepy smiles. "We want to offer you the latter. We don't anticipate you'll ever overdraw the bond, but we'll both still make a profit regardless."

  What she said made sense, and it was cynical enough for him to believe it. Of course, that meant he would be draining everyone around him, even if only a little. But apparently this was happening all the time, probably even when other people fought against him, so this was only evening the playing field.

  "Not many humans in Siberia have quite your attitude," Katenka went on quietly, "but I've seen it before. They've only encountered the worst of demonic bonds and so they fear them all. People who have only seen them working well are on the other side and can't understand the reluctance. But if you're moving up in the world, this is something you should eventually accept."

  "And I should accept it via your contract, is that it?"

  Katenka swept her arms to the side in a grandiose bow. "That is exactly what I am proposing. My firm is willing to offer you a moderately-sized bond on normal terms, but I would strongly suggest something better. I don't know if you've seen it, but in Siberia they're quite fond of fusion. What I propose is less drastic than that, but there would be a link between us. I would be able to provide you with information and occasional other services."

  If she had been intending to be flirtatious, that would have been the moment for it, but Rick saw nothing but seriousness in her expression. In fact, she seemed more serious than he expected. Though she hid it well, he thought that this mattered to her in some way. Perhaps she simply needed his bond to make her numbers for that quarter or something else so cynical, but he thought there was something deeper to it.

  "Mm, you're a hard one to crack. What if I actually showed you the contract?" Katenka waved a hand and a pale scroll emerged from the lake below them. "I assure you, this is legally binding. Please read it over and make your decision."

  "Thanks, I will." Rick found that he could touch the scroll, unlike most objects in the demon realm, so he opened it enough to read. After a while he pushed into the air to drift on his back, a trick he'd learned back in Branton. It was more relaxing than constantly shifting near the edges of the ground he couldn't quite touch.

  Though not as straightforward as the contract with Bftgage and Ythsil, Rick was surprised to find that the contract wasn't terribly long. After all the negotiations, he could see through the basic legalese, and the important parts were written in plain language. It was a large bond, and despite everything, he was tempted by the immediate increase in power. Even more so, now that he understood how it could work to his advantage.

  Several things bugged him about it, though. The part about other services rendered was extremely vague. Several clauses about the consequences of overdrawing the bond seemed odd, actually more in his favor than he'd expected. Above all, the contract implied that she would actually be fused to him in some spiritual way, even in the human realm.

  "I'll admit the numbers seem good," Rick said eventually, "but I don't like some of these parts I don't understand."

  "Which parts?" Katenka asked. She had stopped paying attention to him, instead bending down and running her fingers over the ice. They left lines of frost, slowing forming some broader pattern in front of them.

  "This business about deferring overdrawing consequences. It seems like it's actually too much to my advantage, giving me so much time to pay without any cons-"

  "Oh, that part is a little gift to you. I understand that fighters sometimes need to use everything, and it's within my authority to give you a bit of an allowance. Nothing out of the ordinary." She moved her fingers more rapidly, strangely anxious, yet it didn't seem like she was trying to deceive him.

  "What's this about you going along with me? You won't be in my head, will you? Or looking over my shoulder?"

  "Don't worry, Rick, that will be entirely under your control. If you don't want me to see anything, I'll be blind. On the other hand, I'll be directly on call to offer power or advice at a moment's notice. It really is a good deal... for both of us. Please, look at it carefully."

  There was something slightly off about the way she was speaking, prompting Rick to look away from the contract. Her face was calm, yet the way she floated near her ice drawings was slightly stiff. Then he looked down at what she was drawing and he froze as well.

  The lines of frost said "Please".

  For just a moment she met his gaze and he saw something desperate there. The next moment she tapped her foot against the ice and a rush of cold wind blew away all of her work. Rick briefly closed his eyes against it, and when he looked again, she was the absolute picture of control, an untouchable ice demon.

  Was the glimpse of something else he'd seen below just a ploy? Part of Rick insisted that he should try to find out if she was in trouble, while another part told him that he was being an absolute idiot. There seemed to be no way to resolve that conflict, so he focused on the contract, which was written in unambiguous black and white.

  The facts were simple: he needed a demonic bond and the terms on this one were good. Rick hoped he wasn't making a mistake, but he didn't think he'd be finding a better option.

  "Alright." Rick took a deep breath and rolled up the scroll. "What needs to happen? Can I sign the contract here?"

  "No, you'll need to sign one in the human realm." Did he imagine a flicker of
relief on Katenka's face? "But since this is partially a fusion, we can conduct the first part of it here. In fact, we must. Let's return to your friends."

  With a rush of wind, the two of them returned to the side of the lake. The brothers turned toward Rick, eagerly presenting him with a scroll of their own. It was green and vaguely sticky instead of made of pristine frozen parchment, but Rick was more willing to take it.

  "Look at this!" Bftgage said, coughing up mucus proudly. "Our combat demonic bond could only provide you with 800 lucrim. But this one is worth 2000 lucrim, and it will keep generating more! Plus, we can probably make it bigger if we get more economic contracts."

  "I'll make this official as soon as I get back to the real world," Rick said, smiling down at the frogs. But his smile didn't last long and he turned to Katenka. "What do we need to do for yours?"

  "Normally, this would be difficult." She floated to hover slightly higher over the pond with a bit of a smirk. "But you've led a strange life so far. The first thing you need is a demon mass in your portfolio, but you still have some left. The second thing you need is above average control of aura in our realm... but you have that too. That leaves only the third requirement, which is a bit more of a ceremony."

  Rick swallowed, but he'd made his decision. "Fine. Let's seal the deal here."

  "Then I need you to plunge your hand through the ice. I should warn you that it will hurt, but you should know pain from your training. It will take only a short time, with no permanent cost to you, and then it will be done."

  He stepped out toward her, onto the ice. When she nodded down at the place where he was standing, Rick knelt lower and stared at it. The ice looked rather thick and the glow seemed to be coming from beneath it. His suspicion was that the pool was in some way related to Katenka's power, so it made sense that he needed to do something with it.

  "Go on, Rick, you can do it!" Ythsil cheered him on, but the others were silent. Rick started to make a movement, then aborted it and looked at Katenka's reaction. He didn't see any triumph or disappointment, only an increase in tension. It smoothed away a moment later.

  There was nothing else to do. Rick reared back and then plunged his arm through the ice.

  It froze him to the bone, drawing a grunt of pain, but it wasn't as bad as he'd expected. The next moment he felt something surge into his arm, like ice water in his veins, yet somehow it wasn't painful. Light began to flow from the pond into him and he pulled his hand back on instinct, but the link was already formed and the light flowed through the air into his hand.

  He'd expected a demonic tattoo, but instead his right hand was covered in what looked like frost. It didn't feel cold at all, or different to the touch, yet...

  Nearby, he saw Katenka watching him. The first expression he saw was relief, then she smiled, absolutely polite once again. "That will be my embodied presence," she explained, "at least once you return to the human realm. It shouldn't inhibit you otherwise."

  "My actual hand, though?" Rick tried to brush off the frost, but couldn't feel anything other than his own skin. "That's creepy for a whole bunch of reasons. I don't want you just... sitting in my right hand."

  "Would this be more to your taste?" Katenka closed her eyes and the frost crept up his arm, leaving his hand entirely. It settled in a ring around his bicep, but with icy tendrils reaching down toward his forearm. That looked better to him, plus it was something he could hide even with his sleeves rolled up. Certainly better than having his hands permanently changed.

  "Yes, that will do." Rick started to straighten up, only to have Bftgage and Ythsil run onto the ice to try to push against him.

  "Do you have to go?" Ythsil asked. "I know this was the important part, but I don't want you to leave..."

  "Don't worry about us," Bftgage said. "It will take a while to arrange, but we'll be able to pay our way back to Branton. In a few weeks the contract should be ready for you in the human realm."

  Rick swept his hand over both of their heads with a fond smile. "Actually, I think I can do better than that. If I could summon you to Siberia, why can't we summon you back to Branton free of charge?"

  "That is a good idea, but I don't know if anyone would believe it..."

  "But what if it wasn't me? I have friends in Branton. Friends who might actually be interested in a small economic bond, now that I think about it. They could request your presence, then you could talk about contracts. Even if nothing worked out, you'd get back to Branton more easily."

  The brothers agreed to this idea with great enthusiasm and vomiting. Though Rick didn't have many relationships left in Branton, he thought that Adsila and Wemilat would actually be interested. Demonic bonds with such low interest rates and simple terms were rare, so surely they could be useful to the Peakless Wildlife Refuge. He'd write them an email explaining the situation and hopefully it would work out well for everyone.

  Though Bftgage and Ythsil wanted to talk longer, Rick was suddenly tired of the demon realm. It was partially exhaustion from maintaining his aura, partially the cold piercing through him, and partially just being sick of the bleak landscape. He wanted to go to his hotel and sleep.

  So they said their farewells, then Rick drifted back toward the pool he'd entered. He went alone - he'd expected Katenka to follow him, but she was acting strangely distant. His skepticism returned, but he told himself that nothing was permanent until he signed a contract in the human realm. If she'd infected him somehow, he could get H to help eradicate it.

  Jumping into the pool proved surprisingly easy and he broke back out standing on the roof of the hotel. H had gone back inside, of course, so Rick went back into the elevator and headed down. Just standing there, listening to the generic music, was deeply surreal after his experience in the demon realm.

  As he reached his floor, Rick realized that he was being an idiot and overlooking the obvious. He quickly rolled up his sleeve and confirmed it: the lines of frost were around his arm for real. They didn't look quite so luminous in the human realm, just like pale blue ink. Still, at least it wasn't a hideous tattoo, and it wouldn't be distracting.

  Rick still had his sleeve rolled up when he headed down the hall, but he ran into H before getting to his room. The older man examined him carefully, then let out an unreadable grunt. "That bond... how exactly did you land it?"

  "I used the demonic connections I'd been building." Seeing his mentor surprised left Rick a little cocky, so he smirked. "Networking."

  "Well, it's... adequate. Better than you could have gotten just going to a conventional firm. I bet when it's formally signed and evaluated, it will be counted as worth 20,000 lucrim or more. Looks like it's a partial fusion, too. Not as exceptional as a real fusion, but it might help a bit. Make your defensive core stronger against ice, maybe."

  Hearing the number actually stunned Rick more than the surreal experience in the demon realm. There had been a time when his entire lucrim generation rate had been less than 20,000. Even the largest demonic bonds that Henry had taken, ones with horrible consequences, had only been worth 12,000 lucrim. It wasn't a Birthright Core, but it was still an insane amount of power for him to earn in a single decision.

  "You're going to need to learn to use it, though." H shook his head and began fishing for a cigarette. "The fact that you've avoided demonic bonds before now puts you at a disadvantage. Too much risk of overdrawing, or of ignoring it and getting no real benefit. We'll need to train w-"

  "I'm sure we do, but not right now." Rick surprised himself by interrupting, and H seemed taken aback, but he pushed forward. "Getting this contract was exhausting. To train productively, I need a good long sleep."

  "Huh." H stared at him, then grunted his approval and turned away. Soon, Rick was alone in the hallway again.

  Now that he was back, he really was increasingly tired. He opened and then relocked his door, eagerly imagining what was to come. Some of Lisa's serum would come first, then he'd take a long hot shower. After that, simple exercises to keep
his mind in order, then a solid night of sleep. When he woke in the morning, he could feel more confident he'd made the right decisions.

  "Oh, this is going to be fun..." The voice made him flinch violently, only recognizing it as Katenka the next moment. She hovered just beside him, her body ghostly but clearly making eye contact.

  Rick groaned. "I didn't expect you to... manifest like this. You said I controlled that, right? Well, right now I want you to go away so I can sleep."

  "Ah, but you see, it's a bit more of a negotiation than I implied earlier." Katenka gave him a warm smile and reached out... and he actually felt her fingers trail over his chest, strangely cool. "You knew that you were getting more out of this contract than a little lucrim, right? It's time to seal the deal."

  "No, I don't want-" He was interrupted when her hand pressed more firmly against his chest. She couldn't actually move him, but he instinctively retreated from her touch, his legs bumping back against the bed.

  "Be honest with yourself, Rick. We need a little privacy right now, don't we?" She gave him a lascivious smile, but when her eyes met his, they were colder than ice. "I insist."

  Chapter 27: Post-Contract Negotiations

  "You wouldn't want the government spying on our fun, would you?" Katenka swayed toward him, eyes still as hard as before. "You see, there's just one little thing..."

  Her fingers walked down his chest toward his pants, but they stopped on his pocket where his official Siberian ID badge lay. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Rick forced himself to think clearly. She obviously had something in mind, and presumably not what she pretended. Since he trusted the government even less than he trusted the demon living in his arm, Rick pulled out the badge.

  Katenka jerked her head to the side, toward the simple table in his room. When Rick set down the badge, she floated around behind him, her ghostly body brushing against his back... but her hands reached out to trace a pattern around the badge. A sort of containment field, he thought. Rick generated a sphere of aura around the badge, then glanced back at her.