Soon, the drone carrying the necklace dropped in front of Andrew's door.
"What is this?" Andrew questioned, eyeing the necklace suspiciously.
"That's the symbol of our friendship," Maximus spoke through the speaker.
"Friendship?" Andrew's expression turned gloomy, his mind racing with thoughts.
"Is this a bomb?"
"You guessed right. Should I give you another gift?"
"What?!"
Although Andrew had already suspected as much, his anger still flared.
Who would willingly put themselves under someone else's control?
"It's impossible for me to wear this," Andrew declared, tossing the necklace aside.
"Hey, don't be too hasty. This is just for insurance."
"Insurance my ass!" Andrew retorted, returning with a defiant stance, ready to click the exit button.
He'd rather endure the trial again than entrust his life to someone else.
"Relax, and listen to me."
"Go ahead, tell me the nonsense you have to say."
"You should know that completing the Golden Gate trial isn't easy."
"If you join me, your chances of passing will skyrocket."
"So what? I'll pass eventually as long as I keep trying."
"Heh, if merely trying guarantees your passage, then special student statues should have flooded the Origin Arcana Institute."
Indeed, this trial occurred every ten years, but perhaps not even one person passed within a hundred or even a thousand years.
"And what guarantee do have to claim that I'll have a higher chance of passing when I join you "
"My strength? Knowledge? You'll find out after joining me."
"That's not enough."
Andrew wavered.
Although he was confident that he could pass the Golden Gate trial with perseverance, confidence didn't always translate to reality.
"Uh, how about I pay you? I'm quite wealthy." Maximus truly had little else to offer.
"How much?" Andrew already thought of compromising.
After all, what Maximus said made sense.
And it was already a thousand years and he still didn't pass the golden gate trial.
"How about 10 million magic crystals per month?"
"That much?" Andrew muttered.
Ten million magic crystals equated to a thousand high-grade magic crystals or a thousand credits.
That's nearly his yearly income, now that he was already a tier 4 mechanic so earning money was easy.
"Why per month?" Andrew ask, he thought that this is just a one-time deal.
"Of course, I'll need subordinates after this."
"I plan to establish a guild once we're out of here."
"Because there's no contract here, I can only resort to these types of agreements,"
Previously when he had nothing to do.
He browsed through the privileges of a special student.
One of the privileges is that setting up a guild didn't require reaching Tier 5.
"So that it," Andrew nodded, understanding the rationale.
"What about it? Will you join me?"
"Fine, but I won't wear this necklace," Andrew stated firmly.
"Uh, it's really not appropriate," Maximus agreed, realizing the sensitivity of the situation.
After all, everyone here was a proud student of the Origin Arcana Institute.
Who would willingly place their life in the hands of others?
"But how can I trust you?"
"Simple, I can take an oath of promise."
"Huh? Is this still possible?" Maximus asked, feeling new to this concept.
While he understood that oaths were binding for the powerful, he wasn't sure how effective they would be on weaker individuals.
After all, if oaths were so powerful, why bother with contracts?
"Naturally, oaths aren't effective for those of us who are low in strength," Andrew explained.
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm "But if you were to break an oath, you would never advance to Tier 7."
"Is that so?" Maximus was skeptical and decided to acquire some knowledge about the mechanism of oaths from the system.
[Oath Mechanism: Initial (0/10 million)]
[+15,000]
[Oath Mechanism: Transcendent (Max)]
After studying the oath mechanism, he learned that having an oath was akin to tossing sealed trash into your soul.
As long as you upheld the oath, the trash in your soul would remain contained.
However, if you broke the oath, your soul would become tainted with impurities.
Making advancement to higher tiers, especially Tier 7 and above, extremely difficult.
The reason it took too many points for such knowledge.
Is because oath is like a play of words, without enough ingenuity toward words, the oath would probably full of loop holes.
So the Oath Mechanism also offerd knowledge about play of words, which took most of the life points.
"Okay, you can take the oath," Maximus compromised.
Andrew then took an oath, promising to never betray Maximus during the trial.
As for matters outside the trial, they would need to sign a contract.
After all, contracts were more reliable than the so-called oaths.
"Now that we're teammates, it's time to clean up this place," Maximus declared, in satisfaction.
"Clean up this place? You mean those Tier 3 monsters outside?"
"Yes, why not?"
"Can you do it? There are so many Tier 3 monsters."
While Andrew had the capability to eliminate those Tier 3 monsters, their sheer number made it not worth the effort.
After all, he was here to survive, not to become a monster slayer.
"Yes, it should be easy," Maximus replied confidently.
With energy crystals equivalent to high-grade magic crystals, killing some Tier 3 monsters wouldn't consume much.
Furthermore, he could refine these monsters into energy crystals, making it a profitable endeavor.
"By the way, why are there no Tier 4 monsters here? It's quite odd."
"What Tier 4 monsters? They only appear after ten years."
"Huh? Then why am I constantly hunted by them?"
"You're being hunted by Tier 4 monsters? Could it be that you're already an official student?"
"Yes, that's right. I managed to reach 100,000 steps on the Celestial Ascent Path, which qualified me as an official student directly."
"I see, no wonder you've advanced so much technologically in just three years."
Andrew then explained to Maximus that official students who undertook the Golden Gate trial with official status faced trials twice as challenging.
Originally if there were only tier 6 monsters in the world but because of Maixmus participating.
The birth of a tier 7 monster is very possible.
"So that's it! No wonder I've been hunted like there's no tomorrow," Maximus exclaimed, recalling his experiences from the past few months with a sigh.
If it hadn't been for his system, he might not have survived.
He wondered if Silas is still in the trial.
...
On the other side of the world, Silas was running for dear life.
"Damn, when will this end?" Silas cursed with bloodshot eyes.
Silas had barely slept or eaten, dedicating every moment to his survival.
If it were not for his strong will that had been tempered for millions of years, he would have already gone crazy.
He wondered if Maximus had already given up.
...
A few days later, the once-sound-filled city was finally clear of threats.
"Wanderer, have all the collection robots do their work."
[Wanderer: Yes, host. Commencing collection task.]
Small robots emerged from the RV, starting to gather materials and corpses.
"Wow! What is this magnificent beast?" Andrew's eyes lit up as he laid eyes on the RV.
Andrew had just left his base and finally had a moment to appreciate Maximus's masterpiece.
"This is three years of hard work," Maximus said with pride.
"What a beauty..." Andrew commented, running his hands over the RV like an obsessed enthusiast.
As a mechanic, seeing such a creation was a delight.
"What's your plan now, boss?" Since becoming a subordinate, Andrew quickly adapted to his new role.
"I'm planning to build a Tier 4 weapon."
"What!? A Tier 4 weapon? How is that even possible?"
"Why not?"
"You see, boss, there are only Tier 3 materials here."
"How can you possibly create a Tier 4 weapon?"
Andrew expressed disbelief.
Unless you perfectly understand the molecular structure of a material, you couldn't make it stronger than it inherently was.
It would be like trying to turn stone into something stronger than steel.
"Take a closer look at the RV," Maximus suggested without elaborating.
"What RV-" Andrew questioned, unsure of Maximus's point, but he inspected the vehicle nonetheless.
"What?! What is this?"
"Is this Tier 2 Black Yuri Iron?"
"How can it have the hardness of a Tier 3 material?"
"This is also Tier 2 Silver Red!"
"How is this possible?!"
Andrew was on the verge of a breakdown.
Although he had heard that full mastery of a subject could turn the impossible into reality, seeing it firsthand was still shocking.
"How is it?" Maximus asked with a smile.
"How did you achieve this?"
"I mastered every molecular structure of these materials, changing its property is easy."
"Is that even possible?"
"All the materials here are unique."
"Even if you master every molecular structure, strengthening it is nearly impossible."
"But I've done it, haven't I?" Maximus didn't provide further explanation.
"Boss! You're my boss! Teach me your craft!" Andrew suddenly rushed towards Maximus and grabbed him tightly.
"Alright, alright. I still need to make Tier 4 weapons."
"I'm tired of those Tier 4 monsters hounding me wherever I go."
"Yes, boss! Tell me what I can do!" Andrew became enthusiastic.
His pride had long been set aside.
Maybe Maximus is his chance to ascend to higher heights.
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