”What do you think attracted most of his attention from the plan you sent him?” Aron asked Nova for her thoughts, as he waited for the printer he had asked the hotel staff to send him.
Yes, a printer.
And yes to that question too, If you happen to be lodged in a presidential suite, you have the luxury of requesting almost anything you desire, and the hotel staff will do their best to accommodate your requests, provided they are feasible. Something like asking for a printer.
Despite the successful conclusion of the meeting, there is still a need for them to reconvene tomorrow, albeit briefly, to finalize the signing of the contract.
[I think it was the infrastructural support that attracted the most of his attention.
By simply reading the summary, he was able to deduce that the minimum cost required to achieve it would be approximately $500 million.
In addition, if we successfully establish the intended structure, executing the rest of the plan would be a breeze, as effortless as reciting the alphabet backwards while juggling flaming knives and solving a Rubik’s cube blindfolded.]
Upon hearing her analogy, Aron couldn’t help but chuckle and remark, “Your perception of what’s easy is becoming distorted ever since you migrated to the quantum computers.”
[It is really quite easy, sir] Nova was adamant about it.
“No, it’s not easy,” Aron playfully countered, clearly enjoying the banter. As it was very helpful in wasting time.
Dingtirirng!!!
However, that notion was promptly thrown out of the window when he received a video, sent to him by Nova.
When he opened it, he found a three-minute video with a thumbnail featuring Nova blindfolded. He was dumbfounded to say the least.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA” When he opened the video and watched, he bursted into laughter at the sight of her standing blindfolded and juggling flaming knives, all while solving a Rubik’s Cube and reciting the alphabet backwards.
He couldn’t help but think that she had gone through a lot of trouble just to prove her point in their argument, from using a significant amount of her computing power to simulate the scene, to rendering it into a video, and editing it before sending it to him.
“Okay, you win,” he finally managed to say after struggling to announce it multiple times, erupting in fits of laughter each time he tried, as the video kept replaying in his mind.
[YAY] Nova celebrated her win by making the phone play a firework video with her at the center of it receiving a trophy, before jumping up and down in jubilation.
When Aron saw this new video he started laughing again, this time getting to a point where he started crawling as he was having a difficult time breathing due to not being able to control his laughter.
After about five minutes of incessant laughter, he eventually managed to compose himself and regain control.
[Sir, are you alright?] Nova asked with concern, having seen Aron crawling on the floor just to catch his breath. If it had persisted any longer, she would have had to call for emergency services.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for the laughter, I haven’t laughed like that in a long time,” Aron said, holding his stomach which was aching from the intense laughter.
If he didn’t already have a six-pack as a result of his daily exercise, he would have gained one as the result of this laughter.
“The printer is here, Sir,” Nova immediately informed Aron that the printer he had requested had arrived, as she could monitor everything happening inside the resort and could see them bringing it through the elevator.
Ting!!!!
The sound of the elevator arriving was followed by the opening of its doors.
“May we come in?” the hotel manager asked, even though the door was already open.
“Yes, come in” Aron said as he gestured with his hand for them to enter.
After receiving permission to enter, the hotel staff brought in a cart with the printer and laptop. They placed them on the table and connected them to power and each other. Once everything was set up, they bid Aron farewell and left the suite, trying to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible.
“Nova,” Aron called out for her.
[I have already accessed the computer and wrote down the contract.]As soon as Aron had called her, she intuitively understood the purpose of the call and preemptively divulged the information without the need for any direct inquiry.
“Thank you,” Aron expressed his gratitude as he made his way towards the table where the computer and printer were situated, with the intention of thoroughly scrutinizing the contract.
Once he was seated, Aron commenced reading the contract. Whenever he encountered a clause that he deemed necessary to include, he promptly relayed the details to Nova, who expeditiously incorporated it into the document. Similarly, if there was a segment that required elimination or modification, Aron promptly notified Nova and the necessary changes were made without delay.
After a continuous hour of meticulously examining and amending the contract – adding new provisions and deleting some, Aron eventually concluded the reading process.
“Print it,” Aron promptly instructed the moment he completed reviewing the finalized version of the contract.
“Ziiing….” The printer immediately sprang to life and churned out the printed papers with such rapidity as if there was no tomorrow, the moment Aron issued the command.
After patiently waiting for approximately three minutes, the contract was eventually printed. The reason for the relatively long duration was that they had to print two copies, one for Aron and the other for Alexander to keep, after signing the document.
After retrieving the printed documents and inserting them into two separate binders, Aron placed the two contracts on the floor before he assumed a cross-legged seated position in between them.
He proceeded to shut his eyes and placed his right hand on one contract and his left hand on the other.
After a few moments of intense concentration, both of his hands started emanating a golden radiance, followed by the appearance of the runic word “Sáttmáli” slowly etching itself onto both contracts. As Aron continued to pour his magical energy into the words, the contracts began to emit a bright golden glow.
The word “Sáttmáli” means “agreement” or “treaty”
After continuously infusing magical energy for approximately five minutes, the contracts reached a critical point of energy saturation, causing them to attract nearby magical energies to themselves.
This resulted in the contracts being perpetually filled with magical energy. However, the amount they attracted was too minuscule to produce any significant results to allow for its use in other runes, leaving it to only be utilized for contract runes, and nothing else.
Despite this limitation, the fact that the rune could continuously recharge itself meant that Aron would no longer have to spend his magical energy to sustain it. However, this was subject to the condition that the magical energy within the contract rune never decreased below a certain level.
The runes inscribed on the contract had the function of identifying Party A and Party B, as well as selecting an individual to oversee and enforce punishment in case either party breached the terms of the contract.
By being a party to the contract, each individual would immediately be notified in the event that the other party breached any of the contract’s clauses.
For this particular contract, Aron had designated himself as both Party A and the enforcer/overseer. This would give him the ability to detect the moment Alexander breached the terms of the contract and allow him to administer the appropriate punishment at the cost of his magical energy.
The magic binding the soul in this contract renders distance irrelevant the moment it is signed. This means that Aron can enforce punishment on Alexander no matter where he may attempt to flee or hide.
However, this is all dependent on the condition that Alexander knowingly and willingly breaks the contract. Otherwise, the contract and its associated magic are rendered useless.
Aron had practiced tirelessly during the remaining four days he had in the accelerated Universal simulation after abruptly planning his surprise meeting, in order to avoid any mishaps with his plan.
“Runes are really convenient,” Aron couldn’t help but remark as he lifted his hands and saw the contracts still glowing golden, despite him having stopped fueling them with his runic energy.
[Indeed, Using runes reduces the chance of betrayal to nearly zero.] Nova mentioned that the chance of betrayal is nearly zero because runic contracts have different levels.
And Since Aron is still a beginner runic user, he can only make beginner-level contracts. Someone who has a higher level of proficiency in runic magic could potentially break the contract without fearing any retaliation. Therefore, there is still a chance of betrayal, albeit significantly reduced.
But in a world where he is the only human who can use runes, it didn’t matter what level of runes he wrote. All of them would be impossible to break because the other party wouldn’t even know or realize that they were under a runic contract.
Normally in a world where everyone can use magic, runic contracts can be distinguished quite easily as they always glow in different colors depending on their level. However on the current earth, the only ones who can see these colors are Aron and Henry, who for some unknown reason had accidentally mutated.
Allowing Aron to always be in the position of power the moment he signed a runic contract with someone. Since he also identifies himself as the enforcer, which implies that he is immune to any repercussions for violating the contract while he reserves the right to dish out punishment to the other party for breaching their end of the agreement. Pretty cruel move if you ask me.
But as a wise man once said, ” if you can exploit something to your advantage. Just do it”( Sun Tzu, sponsored by Nike.)