32 31: Star Child: Establishment I

"We are so fucked!" Iris cried.

"I know." Jane whimpered.

"Chase can't cast any spells." Iris groaned.

"I know…"

"He barely knows anything about magic!"

"I know…."

"Can you two can it! I can't focus!" I snapped as I looked up from the Deilopho Salagor's mana system book. The three of us were seated in my living area, the girls were slouching on my couch and I was curled up on the armchair.

"Chase, why aren't you wallowing in despair?" Iris asked.

"Because we have a month to figure this out and she only gave us the assignment two hours ago." I replied. "It's a little early to wallow in despair."

"But Chase this assignment wouldn't be somewhat doable even if you had learned one other spell before you learned that mana manipulation spell because you can't learn any new spells and a personalized spell is a new spell."

"There is always a work around." I said then reread thexsame passage over again. Baset's lesson on attributes got me thinking about my mana and how I had used that spell till recently. I was hoping some passage in the book would help prove the hypothesis I was cooking up but while Deilopho Salagor touched on different aspects of mana and spell craft he doesn't elaborate much past that.

The doorbell suddenly rang and everyone froze. I looked up from my book to the girls. They both had puzzled expressions on their face. Closing my book I stood up and walked over to the nearby window. It had a clear view of the front door so I could see who was there.

"Either of you expecting someone?" I asked as I walked over.

"No." Iris said.

"Not to my knowledge." Jane replied.

I peeked out past the curtain and frowned then turned to the girls.

"It's the Dean and some guy I've never seen before." I called out. From what I could make put the mysterious stranger was a older guy, in his mid to late forties if the Grey hair was any indication.

"THE DEAN!" They both exclaimed then jumped up from the couch and ran into the foyer. I followed after them and arrived just in time for them to welcome the dean and the mysterious stranger inside the foyer.

"Mr. Kingston! Good to see you are alright." The dean said with a beaming smile. Hooked me up and down then nodded. "After I heard you were in the hospital a couple days ago I feared you'd be incapacitated for a while."

"Nope, minor injury and now my arms better than ever." I replied. I held my arm up and flexed the muscles around my claws. They popped out instantly and without any blood or problems. The dean, Jane, Iris, and the mysterious stranger all stared at me in surprise.

"Chase! Oh my gods!" Jane exclaimed and rushed over to me. She grabbed my arm and examined my claws.

"Um why are you freaking out. I told you I had created bone claws and they were the reason I had to go to the hospital." I said.

"It's one thing to hear it and another thing to see it!" Jane exclaimed. Iris rushed over and flicked the tip of my claws.

"Crap they are real!" she exclaimed. "I'll be honest I thought you were lying when you said you created those. I mean you can't cast any spells so, I didn't think you could do that….actually how did you do that?"

"He used bone, muscle, and nerve attribute mana." The dean spoke up. "Rather impressive application as well. The amount of concentration it requires to do a body modification with proper spell sigils to assist you is immense not to mention the mana cost involved and manually shaping that mana into the desired shape all without a mana system. It's a testament to your talent that you only got a minor injury."

"Thank you." I said then retracted my claws much to Jane's disappointment.

"Speaking of mana systems if we could focus on our reason for being here Dean Baxter." The mysterious stranger said then raised hos brief case slightly. I arched a brown and oozed at the briefcase.

Jane took the initiative and jumped over to the mysterious stranger and flashed me a big smile.

"Chase this is Krylessi Aoudari. He's one of the lawyers that works for my family." She introduced. Krylessi bowed slight and placed his hand over his chest.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Lord Kingston." He said.

"You can just call me Chase." I said then held my right hand out to shake. He looked surprised and hesitantly shook my hand then turned to Jane.

"Lady Jane I've successfully negotiated on lord Chase's behalf. All that is required is the signing of the contract." He said.

"You can drop the lord part." I said. It felt kind of weird having someone older than me act so formal around me. Definitely not what I was used to back home.

"Lets go into the living room so we can discuss everything before Chase signs." Jane said and eagerly showed everyone into my living room.

The dean and Krylessi both sat down on the couch while moved my arm chair opposite of them behind the coffee table.

Krylessi opened his briefcase and pulled out a large stack of papers and set them down on the coffee table. The was a very audible thump when the stack hit the table and I think the table bowed a bit.

"I thought we were signing a contract." I said.

"That is the contract…" Krylessi replied dryly. My eyes grew wide.

"What the fuck! That's a whole book!" I shouted.

"That's actually a little on the light side considering we're talking about a star farm crystal mana system." Jane said. My head snapped to her.

"That's light!" I pointed at the stack.

"Yes actually. If you were selling your system to a country the contract size would at least triple." Krylessi said. My mouth dropped.

'I can't imagine having to sign all that….' I thought. Krylessi flipped the contract around and opened it to the first page.

"Lord ki…I mean Chase. While this contract looks daunting a lot of the size comes from the very specific legal script that has to be used. Understand that while you are selling one of the most valuable prices of knowledge to splicer kind, this contract favors you." Krylessi said.

"Can't you give us a run down Krylessi?" Jane asked.

"Of course Lady Jane." Krylessi replied then cleared his throat. "Chaser Kingston hereby agrees to sell the rights of collection, usage and release of his as of currently unnamed Star farm crystal mana system throughout its various stages of completion to Andromeda collage. In return for these rights Andromeda Collage offers Chase Kingston Deilopho Salagor's The pathway within; the complete guide to constructing the mana system of your dreams, a personal on-campus laboratory accessible only to Chase Kingston, Jane Yearwood, and Iris Stone. Also unlimited access to the collages entire collection of Deilopho Salagor's works which are to be store in previously said laboratory until further notice as well as a stipend of one hundred thousand dollars to be paid every semester towards research and development costs of the mana system…."

"Whoa! Hold on! I remember Dean Baxter shooting down the idea of paying me." I interrupted. Krylessi nodded.

"He did but after some careful negation with the collages layers and reminding them that as a institute of knowledge that you are currently enrolled in without some form of currency being exchanged countries could use that fact to invalidate the validity of your contract with Andromeda and try to take the system."

"What does my being enrolled here have or do with anything?" I asked.

"One could claim coercion or threats of intimation regarding your attendance here were used to make you accept without payment." Krylessi explained.

"I see…" I replied.

"As I was saying. You will receive a stipend of one hundred thousand dollars to be paid every semester and upon the completion and delivery of the system a payment of two hundred million dollars will be paid."

My eyes almost bugged out of my head when I heard that dollar amount. Where as everyone else seemed to barely bat an eye to it.

'Calm down Chase. It might be years before you actually see that money.' I thought.

"Now for the legal protections…." Krylessi went over the many sections of the document that he claimed were protections for both me and the collage. A lot of it went over my head and I asked a lot of questions but to Krylessi's credit he was patient and answered all my questions. He also touched up on the confidentiality clause or rather the lack of one. A cording to the contract I was required to inform any agent or representative of a country or entity that I was already in a contract with Andromeda for my mana system.

While this seemed like a strange clause to me I wasn't going to argue with the collage over it. Going over the while contract took a little over an hour. By the time he flipped that last page my brain my taxed to the max.

"Do you fully understand everything I gave examined so far Chase?" Krylessi asked. I nodded and pointed to the two lines at the bottom of the last page.

"That where I sign?" I asked.

"Yes…" Krylessi replied and pulled a pen out of his suit breast pocket and handed it to me.

"Sign on the top line."

I took the pen and signed where Krylessi mentioned then looked at the girls. Both Jane and Iris were standing behind me almost breathless. Dean Baxter took the pen from gm hands and spun the contract around.

"I, Califax Baxter herby sign on behalf of Andromeda Collage." He said before signing on the line below mine. Krylessi looked over both signatures then nodded.

"Congratulation Chase Kingston. You have signed your first national treasure level contract." Krylessi said.