German Reich, Neues Reich…
"I have it!" Eric gritted his little teeth as he clutched the bank notes in his hand, "I have enough money for the treatment now, mother."
The amount he had gathered from both scouring the ground and begging passers-by, totalled to 20 Reichsmarks. It was just enough to allow him to get a Rank 1 Mage to help stall the condition of his mother.
Nobody told him what she was afflicted with, saying he was too young to understand, but he had seen his mother paying for it every single month.
Over time, he had been able to deduce it was 20 Reichsmarks. His mother's condition kept deteriorating even with the treatment though, and soon she had become unable to work any longer, becoming bedridden with her 5 year-old-child.
Seeing the thin child in the cold of winter, begging for money allowed him to gather enough money for her treatment, he while he ran home, the world around him slowly became unstable.
*Drip*
Only after the first tear fell did one of his eyes clear up enough or him to see the ground and continue running.
"Oh Eric…" the feeble voice of his mother haunted to his ears as Eric knelt on the hard ground of their dilapidated house with tears streaming freely down his face, "You stupid child… why did you go out in this cold?"
"I got it! Enough to treat you!" Eric exclaimed while showing his mother the money.
Confusion ran across her pale blue eyes before she hardened her resolve. Her delicate hand reached out, and Aric opened his palm wider to allow her to take the money.
*Grip*
But her hand did not take anything. Instead, she folded back Eric's fingers, causing him to hold onto the 1 and 2 Reichsmark coins as well as the 10 Reichsmarks note once more, "Moth-"
"Eric…"
*Heave*
"You stupid, stupid child. Listen to this mother of yours for once. Take care of yourself! I… I am going to meet the Sun now. I want…"
*Heave*
"I want you to take my identification from the drawer there, as well as my savings, and deposit them into the bank under my name. There is a letter there, so please give it to the lady at the reception, they will handle everything. Hand these 20 Reichsmarks to my savings as well. You will get the money once you become an adult."
"My stupid child… stop crying…" she raised her trembling hand one last time, wiping away the cold tears streaming down Eric's face, "Go, go now. She will take you to the orphanage where other children like you are there. Go make friends… you stupid child, and forget about this useless mother of yours."
*Gasp*
Eric opened his watery eyes in confusion, 'What was that? Who was she? Hmmm… Right… I am just a stupid child… why should I bother with such questions?'
Coming to an immediate conclusion, Eric wiped the tears from his eyes before going back to sleep, completely forgetting the nightmare he had had.
…
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Unnamed Star Cluster #aaaDf21Rk21 Private Room
James Wehrmacht's Trading Room
Participants: 12 connected
Message rate: 0.2 per second.
Moderation: James Wehrmacht
Reckless Savage Yolo: I have whipped out all life on this planet other than my own race, but the irritating World God just doesn't know when to quit!
Night Sky: Indeed. Mine keeps spawning in giant beasts that are incredibly difficult to defeat.
James Wehrmacht: What Power level have your races been able to reach; for the non-technological races.
Night Sky: Rank 3. They don't live long enough to go beyond that.
Supreme Dongus: I'm still at a disadvantage against the World God's races. She keeps throwing natural disasters at my cities.
Night Sky: Try spreading out your race. Instead of cities, focus on tribes, but make sure there is some form of communication between the tribes, or the World God will try to make them fight each other. It happened with poor Ace, and he had his entire race whipped out, his own being having a hold dug right through it before he too vanished.
James Wehrmacht: Anyone has something to increase the mana within my world?
…
Waterloo Dogs: I have a plant that produces mana by absorbing the energy outside the world. But it takes a long time to mature. I only got 2 seeds, using one on my world almost 100 years ago in my world's time, but it had yet to breach the soil.
==========
James has realised that the increasing number of Rank 3 Magi was causing the abundant Mana in the world to become slightly used up. It was not a significant amount, in fact, it was barely noticeable.
But he was still able to noticed it reducing from 100% saturation to 99.999%, and he knew with time, the number of higher Ranked Magi would only increase. Which was why he was searching for such an option on the private room he had created for those who had joined his trading network.
With Waterloo Dogs' reply, he private messaged her for the rest of the conversation to prevent others from realising what they were trading or how much he valued it.
==========
James Wehrmacht: What do you want for it?
Waterloo Dogs: Technology past the Cold War.
James Wehrmacht: I cannot give this.
Waterloo Dogs: Then give me all the information you or your race has on achieving Rank 4.
James Wehrmacht: Deal
==========
James immediately agreed. His race had currently only made the simple headway that understanding a higher law like space was vital for advancing. And so, he happily gave this piece of information that most likely all the other races had also uncovered to Waterloo Dogs, and also agreed to pay for the transfer fees for the seed.
Waterloo Dogs, on the other side of the conversation, was suddenly stunned. She had signed the contract under the system, and could not back out now. As she sent a message to her race of flying canine mammals to send the second un-planted seen over to the location of the trading post created by James, she couldn't help but have second thoughts.
'Did I sell it for too cheap…' She wondered in sadness.
In this universe, there were simply too many unique things in the world, and getting standardised prices for things was rather difficult, leaving the price up to the personal need and requirements of each individual.
With this deal completed, James turned his attention back to his world. The seed was still on its way, and would take a bit to reach him as Waterloo Dogs was one of the furthest Race Spirits from him within the Star System.
Now it was time to implement his plan…
{AN: Happy New Year! Have a wonderful year!}
{AN: Eric was a character I quite like, so he will be part of the story was some time. Thus, I decided to add some backstory to him, a reason for his behaviour and situation. Hope it was good. And the second half of the chapter was the storyline progressing a bit. I can't just have one entire chapter of no progress as it would get really boring for people. Bye!}
Word Count: 1126 words