Weslin leans forward and cracks his neck. “Alright, listen up. The Primordial Knights aren't assholes like so of the other guilds, but they’re not a charity either. Their standard contract isn’t a straight-up trap, but there are things you really don’t want to gloss over.”
“Like what?”
“First, the duration. On the surface, it’ll say one year. Standard stuff. But you’ll probably find a clause for auto-renewal unless you cancel with a full thirty-day notice before the term ends.”
“That’s fine. I can read a calendar.”
“Want to congratulate you?" he snorts. "Sure, but that clause could also be locked behind performance incentives. You hit those bonuses, and suddenly the contract extends by three months automatically, ‘to maintain stability.’ Which sounds great until you realize it stacks and resets the renewal window.”
“What does that even an?”
“No idea, but I was warned about it before signing my own contract, so ask them to remove it.”
“Okay.”
Weslin sighs. “Second thing. Your salary in shards. It’s solid on paper, a monthly base rate, usually tied to floor, role, performance, blah blah. Yours will be higher than average because of the whole whatever-that-black-mana-bullshit-actually-is package. But again, read the fine print. They’ll say bonuses are performance-based, but they don't define performance either.”
“Can I hire soone to do it instead of ? I can pay.”
“Probably? But then that person is probably going to want a cut of your salary."
"Noted."
“Good. Now for the exit clauses. The contract will say you can leave at any ti. What it won’t say up front is that there’s a cooldown period before you can join any of the other guilds. Sixty days, no exceptions. Or if you get too good a salary, the contract might straight up try to make it impossible for you to leave.”
"Didn't you just say the Primordial Knights weren’t assholes?"
“You should see the contracts Bloodline gives to their best. The salary and other stuff are insane, but damn, I would rather be thrown to Cinderbear as a level 1 than break it,” Weslin mutters. “Another trap, they’ll give you access to so good stuff. Class information, guild-wide skill libraries, exclusive training lessons from so of the A ranks we have, and so other stuff. But it cos with a Knowledge Lock clause.”
“I figured. ”
“ans anything you learn through their resources can’t be taught, sold, or shared without explicit permission, even after you leave.”
I stretch my shoulders. “Any upside?”
“Plenty. Resources, information, guild quests, teammates you know won’t stab your back for an upper epic item, access to the guild crafters, training rooms, sparring arenas. Not to ntion our item vault, they might loan, gift, or sell items that work really well with your primordial energies. I'm also sure you can imagine how much knowledge our library and mbers have on primordial energies, you won't find anyone better for that in Beyond.”
“Tempting,” I agree with Weslin.
I still think of myself as soone who specializes more in mana, and that’s sothing I want to explore on my own, maybe slowly, but I’ll go about it my own way.
It's not the way I look at Primordial energies, so so information would be nice. At least when it cos to thermal. I don't think they have anyone better than Lioren was when it cos to using kinetic energy. Even now, there's so much I'm trying to absorb and practise. The sort of things Lioren was able to do as easily as breathing.
That asshole of a demon was truly sothing else.
“Any exclusivity stuff in there?” I ask.
Weslin nods. “Yeah. You can’t work for other guilds or groups without clearance. And if you pick a fight outside of approved missions, you take the bla, not the guild.”
“So they’ll disavow if I torch the wrong feylith?”
“Only if you do it publicly,” Weslin says with a bright smile. “Keep it clean, and usually the guilds will pretend they didn’t see. Of course, that might change if a guild starts losing important mbers and stuff, but don't worry about that newbie, unless it’s sothing truly outrageous, Nyssa and the others don’t give a damn. They’ll happily fight it out with other guilds, even if they’re one of the top five.”
"Weslin, why am I starting to think the Primordial Knights are a lot ssier than they look?"
“Newbie, our guild master’s a demon, most of her party are demons, and out of every guild in Beyond, we’ve got the highest number of demons as mbers. Did you really think we were gonna be normal? As annoying as that can be, we’re probably the last guild anyone wants to ss with.”
As he cackles, I just stare at him.
When he seems to be done, I ask, “Any personal clause I should try to negotiate into the contract?”
“Yeah,” he says, suddenly serious. “Get a personal exemption clause. I think that's what they call it. It’s for these explory examiny types like you. Just a line that says your independent research is your own business, not the guild’s. You’ve got a weird brain, magic, or skill? They’ll want to study it. Make sure the contract says anything you develop yourself stays yours. With your black mana thing, it might be a bit more difficult, but you should agree, just ask for a lot in return. You might learn sothing useful about it, too.”
Taking a deep breath, he checks to make sure I’m listening and then fires out.
“Look for clauses that say they can relocate you to another floor without warning sould the leadership decide it has a strategic advantage, the one that lets them use your combat recordings in training or promotions without credit or pay, promotion rights clauses that include your na, likeness, even your damn voice, automatic housing fees whether you stay in guild facilities, training waivers that void all liability sould you break sothing in sparring even if it’s their fault, priority reassignnt clauses that let them pull you out of a guild quest mid-run to cover soone else’s ss, non disparagent rules so vague you can get fined for calling soone important a bitch, limits on out of guild quests that could keep you from being able to take shard work outside the guild, mandatory participation in guild events or public appearances for the sake of ‘building a positive image,’ dical clause exclusions for any difficult to heal wound earned under ‘reckless’ judgnt - oh, that's for example, I will need so specialized healing to deal with what Luan did, but it also could be anything from soloing a room too fast to jumping into a fight during guild events without asking first, data rights giving them access to your system logs or mana reports for the purpose of ‘guild optimization,’ clauses that let squad leaders override your combat decisions mid fight and still try to hold you accountable if it should fail, item use restrictions that stop you from using guild loaned gear during personal ti, late return penalties if you show up more than a day late to report in, even with reason, shard docking for gear maintenance you didn’t request, and sotis, they’ll try to sneak in permissions to simulate your combat style for testing or sparring constructs.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"You rembered all that shit?"
Weslin looks a little too proud of himself. "You have no fucking idea how many tis I’ve had to say that to other rookies. But there is one more thing, the most important one.”
He looks at to make sure I pay attention.
“The thing is, Primordial Knights being run by a bunch of lunatics also ans they don’t really care if you break half that crap. Sure, the contract says they’ve got the right to push it, and sotis they will try, but if you manage to fight them off, they usually drop it."
"Fight them off?!"
"Anyway, I’m tired. Get so rest. I’m almost fully healed, so they won’t make fun of , and we can head over to the Black Tower soon."
He walks away, and I wonder if he was just ssing with , maybe most of the things he ntioned aren’t worth worrying about. I just need to… fight them off?
What a guild.
I turn inward, slipping into my mind space.
(Sophie, there are so things I need to tell you about the contract and stuff. You’ll need to rember them before I forget.)
Reaching the Black Tower only takes us a few hours, and as it cos into view in the distance, I send a call ringing through my ntal space.
(Yo, look,) I say to the intruder in my mind.
With a groan, Sophie awakens, and I allow her to look through my eyes.
There, nestled between two mountains, lies the biggest safe zone we’ve seen so far. As Weslin said, it probably holds sowhere around ten thousand people, locals and natives. It’s built in a mostly circular shape with multiple levels. Each level is slightly different, with the inner ones having taller buildings and seemingly better defenses. And at the center of it all stands the eponymous tower.
It’s not even close to the size of the one from the third city on the second floor, but it’s still pretty tall. This one is made of so smooth black material, with a stairway coiling around the outside. There are barely any windows or visible entrances, or anything of that kind.
Weslin notices where I’m looking and says, “Yeah, that belongs to this tower’s master. He’s one of the oldest on this floor, and not once has this place lost its status as a safe zone.”
“Because he killed everyone who took them over the permitted number?”
“That, or forced them out of the city.”
“Isn’t that the sa, from what you told ?”
“Close. But if you’re lucky, very powerful and lucky, or good at hiding, you can survive the night. Or if you join so of the bigger parties that sotis go on hunts for materials. But even then, try not to stay out so long that you catch the attention of anything too scary.”
“The sa rules apply for this safe zone as well?”
“Obviously. These rules are older than most existing guilds. As cruel as they might be, they’re necessary.”
“I guess. Do you think there will be free spots for us?”
“We’ll see.”
“See?”
“Yup.”
“So you don’t know for sure?”
“I’m confident there will be so, but if not, we’d better hurry to the other safe zones they point out.”
(Nat, I don’t like this guy.)
(He’s not that bad.) I defend him.
Then I turn to Weslin. “So, doesn’t that an we should hurry?”
“It’s fine,” he waves it off.
I follow him at the relaxed pace he keeps, and like that, we enter the city. Right away, I check the notification.
Welco to the safe zone!
Current number of people: 9,766 / 10,000
“Please, this way,” a man appears in front of us as we pass the gate.
Weslin follows him, and I go behind him. We reach a mana stone embedded in the wall, and Weslin touches it briefly. I do the sa after him.
It doesn’t place a mark on , but it does take a bit of my mana.
“It’s your first ti here, I see,” the man says after checking the mana stone in his hands. “This device serves as registration in case the city limit is exceeded and we have to decide who has the right to stay.”
What a nice way to put it into words.
The guard then turns to Weslin. “Welco to the Black Tower, Sir Weslin. Can I assu the two of you are here together?”
“Yes. He’s here to join the Primordial Knights.”
“Understood. May I know how long you plan to stay?"
"My stay token ends in three days, and then I’ll return here after another week in my tutorial. He will likely stay a week or two before they decide what exactly to do with him.”
“In that case, I’ll register him as a long term visitor and include his presence in the calculations we share with the other safe zones.”
“Sure. Is that all?”
“Yes. Thank you for your patience.”
Waving him off, Weslin leaves and heads into the city without hesitation.
I observe the buildings along the way. Even though it’s “just” ten thousand people, it seems more than enough with how densely packed this place is. People are moving around with the sa sense of urgency attendees usually have. Stay tokens have limited durations, after all.
“What percent of the people here are locals?” I ask. “And don’t say you don’t know because you don’t care.”
“Even I can rember that, you little shit. According to the latest statistics, the Black Tower has almost four thousand locals living here on a permanent basis, so quite a few, all told. It’s dangerous here, but the larger zones are safer, and the opportunities are equally as great as the danger. Outside the really big safe zones, this one is likely one of the safest.”
“How many safe zones are there? And how many attendees are there on this floor?”
“Are you trying to estimate how many tutorials are going on at once?”
“Yes.”
“Well, good fucking luck. This floor is enormous, and I don’t think anyone knows for sure.”
“But the second floor had only three safe zones. Even though they were big and each one had a few hundred thousand attendees…”
He interrupts . “Three safe zones we know about.”
I sense Sophie becoming more attentive to what Weslin says.
“There are more?” I ask.
“So people surely think so, but others strongly disagree. A few of the Handlers might know, but those assholes like to stay tight lipped. Anyway, we’re heading to the local Branch of the Primordial Knights now. You can start asking them instead of , if only so they know what poor ol’ went through. And don’t forget my warning about the contracts, and try to act sowhat normal. And be careful, the Doc might be there. He’ll hold himself back if you’re a guild mber, but he can be... well, you’ll see."
(I bet you and the Doc will end up being the best of friends, from what I’ve heard so far.) Sophie mumbles before disconnecting again, fading back into my ntal space.
It’s too late to respond to such slander, so I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear it.
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