Seated in a large room with little furniture, Michael exuded a presence of utter calmness.
He took a sip of water and put the glass on the table in front of him, his gaze never leaving the middle-aged man in front of him.
Kilian Whira was sitting opposite Michael, his back drenched and his palms sweaty.
No matter how he looked at it, Michael's demeanor and presence had changed drastically within a few months.
'Was the price I gave for the Artifacts not satisfactory? Should I have indulged him a little bit more? Why is his gaze so scary?!?' Kilian asked himself, knowing that he would never receive an answer to his questions.
He was worried that the Agriculture Project would slow down now that Michael was unwilling to send more blueprints than demanded in his exclusive contract. Slowly realization dawned upon Kilian; the tables had turned.
They lost their advantage.
The higher-ups of the Bartholomew Corporation informed Kilian that Michael Fang had become Alice's direct disciple. That was what the rumors said, and Alice Zenovia didn't deny them – which was something she would have done if the rumors were wrong.
Everyone, who had witnessed the attitude of the Frozen Duchess from previous interviews and interactions with her, knew that she would never accept anyone using her name for publicity stunts and other means. Alice Zenovia allowed only facts about her to circulate in starnet.
That meant she either accepted Michael as a direct disciple, or that she considered herself as Michael's teacher.
The Bartholomew Corporation heard about this not too long ago, and the higher ups were certain that the Frozen Duchess was the one who had influenced Michael to ensure that he wouldn't support the Bartholomew Corporation with more blueprints than requested in the exclusive contract.
They were worried that the Zenovia family might end up convincing Micahel that it was better for them to pay for his breach of contract and get hold of Michael's Agriculture-type blueprints for themselves. Thus, the higher ups made sure that Kilian Whira would get hold of Michael, and that he would have a meeting with Michael Fang.
"It looks like the Bartholomew Corporation values my blueprints highly. To think that their higher ups asked for a meeting. That's quite surprising," Michael said, smiling calmly.
"How do you know…?" Kilian Whira blurted out, shocked that Michael found out about the higher up's plan to drag him to a meeting.
After all, he had yet to tell Michael the reason for their meeting.
"I just made a guess, and you proved the guess to be correct," Michael responded nonchalantly.
From the moment Kilian Whira bombarded him with messages on starnet messengers Michael figured that something was wrong. His suspicion was proven correct when he received a call less than a minute after he sent a reply.
Combining all clues at his disposal, Michael could tell that the incoming event was about to turn interesting.
"We, the Bartholomew Corporation, are indeed very interested in your agriculture-type blueprints. It's a shame that the monthly quota is as low as 100 blueprints a month," Kilian said after he regained his composure.
He had been given a detailed briefing on the things he was supposed to mention to Michael, with the final result being that Michael would allow an alteration of the exclusive contract to increase the monthly quota.
Yet, long before Kilian Whira could influence Michael and convince him to change the contract's terms and conditions, Michael counterattacked.
He accessed his War Rune's storage space and retrieved more than a thousand agriculture-type blueprints at once.
Michael spread the blueprints out in front of Kilian Whira without saying a single word.
"W-wha…t…." Kilian murmured, his eyes shot wide open.
He was trying to say something but no words escaped his lips.
Until now, Michael sold less than 700 agriculture-type blueprints to the Bartholomew Corporation in total, yet he retrieved double the amount from his storage space at once.
With the pile of blueprints spread out in front of Kilian, the Agriculture project could progress rapidly.
But something was wrong. Kilian Whira could tell that instantaneously, and it was not as if Michael was hiding his ulterior move either. On the contrary, Michael made it clear that he wouldn't allow the Bartholomew Corporation to exploit him. He showed them what he was capable of procuring, and that he wouldn't have problems finding other organizations and families, who were equally interested in turning the Barren Lands in the Origin Expanse into fertile land.
"What do you want…" Kilian Whira asked, realizing that the sales pitch provided by the higher ups to lure him had turned useless.
"According to the exclusive contract with the Bartholomew Corporation I have to provide 100 agriculture blueprints a month for a period of 12 months. I cannot sell the agriculture-type blueprints to anyone else in that period either. Is that correct?" Michael asked instead of answering Kilian.
Michael knew that he was correct, but he waited patiently to see Kilian nodding his head in affirmation.
"Let's just change a few clauses in the contract, and I'll provide hundreds of agriculture-type blueprints every month. The number might eventually increase to a thousand, or thousands of blueprints if…" Michael began, only to stop mid-sentence.
He took a deliberate pause and suddenly turned silent, while his attention remained on Kilian.
"If…?" The shop manager repeated, the anxiety in his voice apparent.
"If the Bartholomew Corporation is willing to turn me into an investor of the Agriculture Project," Michael completed the sentence.
Kilian opened his mouth, ready to call Michael a lunatic, but he shut his mouth as quickly as he had opened it.
The Bartholomew Corporation's higher ups were willing to change Michael's exclusive contract, but they would rather pay Michael with cash than turning him into an investor of the Agriculture Project. That way, they could ensure to pay as little as possible while claiming the best benefits.
"To be precise, I will still sell agriculture-type blueprints at a low price. The price will be comparable to the costs of other rare blueprints. That way, I can make sure to cover the costs of procuring the agriculture-type blueprints. In exchange for providing a low price and a larger number of blueprints, I want a share of the Agriculture Project's profits!" Michael announced, still sounding calm and void of worries.
Thanks to Alice, and her vast network system, Micahel could research quite a bit about a few organizations and their projects. The Bartholomew Corporation was one of mankind's influential business entities, but they had a hard time procuring more than 200 agriculture-type blueprints in a month. That number included the monthly supply of blueprints Michael provided.
Given his relationship with the Forest Elven Tribe and the expansion of the Underground Forging Hall, Michael could easily procure more than a thousand agriculture-type blueprints a month. In fact, It wouldn't be a problem to procure two or three thousand blueprints as long as he focused on the production of low-level armaments – which the Forest Elven Tribe loved.
Being able to procure more than ten times the amount a firm like the Bartholomew Corporation can obtain in a month meant that Michael could become an essential investor of the Agriculture Project. He possessed the resources and means to help the Bartholomew Corporation to advance to the next level.
Accepting Michael as an investor would allow the Bartholomew Corporation to charge far ahead of everyone else in the game of turning the Barren Lands into fertile lands. They would make more profit, which they could re-invest to expand their business even further. The Barren Lands would turn into a fertile piece of land and an exclusive property.
Rejecting Michael's offer just because he wanted a profit share was foolish. However, Kilian Whira didn't have the necessary permission to tweak the clauses and modify Michael's exclusive contract to such an extent.
But upon seeing Michael retrieve the blueprints and store them back into his War Rune's storage space, he panicked.
"I…I will have to ask my superiors about your offer… Please don't be hasty, and have some patience…" Kilian said, his voice desperate and his eyes quivering.
But Michael simply got up from the chair.
"I can provide more than a thousand blueprints a month, and my business can expand. If I focus on agriculture-type blueprints, I can procure 3,000 a month. Of course, that won't be easy…so make sure that your superiors understand that I'll not break my neck to procure thousands of blueprints if the profit share they offer is too low!" Michael remarked, hinting to Kilian that he wouldn't allow the Bartholomew Corporation to exploit him anymore.
Now it was his time to take the reins in his control and take charge of the negotiation.
He smiled at Kilian, who stared at him in shock and disbelief before he walked out of the hall, leaving the dumbfounded middle-aged man alone.
"3…3000?!" Kilian blurted out, slumping back into the chair, his face ghastly pale.
"The higher-ups will kill me…"
