The Dungeon Child

My eyes narrow, mind racing. "Is that truly your best guess?"

Richter chuckles pleasantly, but my senses detect him reaching for something. Quickly, I gesture to the children behind me. "Are you quite certain you want to use a weapon in public? In a school? I've discovered that there are several pre - percu - precautions set in place in a building such as this one."

Smiling, he brings his hand around, holding what appears to be a small cell phone. "I wouldn't have even considered attacking you, my vertically challenged friend. This is a device built to appraise the mana in the air - I use it to measure the worth of whomever I encounter."

Before he can activate it, I quickly interject, "Perhaps we should continue this conversation somewhere else."

With an endearing smile, he turns and gestures over his shoulder. "According to this school's principal, I am a counselor. I do believe there's got to be at least one counselor's office somewhere around here, wouldn't you think?"

I'm hesitant to follow him, but since I've already given myself away I don't exactly have much of a choice. With an inward sigh, I instruct my army to follow underneath the floor at a close distance, and head after Richter's retreating back.

I don't appreciate how he forced my hand. Ideally, I would have had a dragon or two at this point, but a horde of insects should do the trick for this situation unless he's got a trick or two hidden up his sleeve.

Faltering in my step for a brief moment, I nearly trip, and Richter turns around. "Is something the matter?"

I shake my head. "No, I'm fine. Continue." With a shrug, Richter spins neatly on his heel and keeps walking forward.

I've had a sudden thought. Salamanders are lizards. Dragons are lizards. Would it really be too much to ask for the salamanders to be (slowly, of course) turned into dragons? And what of the snake? Perhaps a hydra or lamia queen? Reptiles have a significantly wider variety of species than spiders, but I will always stick to their unmatched speed in close quarters.

Shaking my thoughts away like a stray web, I amble after Richter cautiously, my core-self investing enormous quantities of mana into the snake and the salamanders. The floor groans briefly as the snake's diameter begins to increase dramatically, and I instantly lower the dirt underneath the floor to compensate. Meanwhile, the salamander's scales get harder and rougher - not for the first time, I wish that I had some knowledge of their anatomy. It'd be beyond helpful.

Glancing at Richter's back, I briefly wonder if perhaps we might be able to work out some kind of deal. I'd be willing to give quite a lot of materials and possibly even mana for a comprehensive book on the anatomy of the animal and insect kingdoms.

A short time later, Richter opens the door to a small room with a desk and two chairs on either side. Standing aside, he gestures to allow me in. I shake my head. "I think you should go first."

He chuckles, but this time there's far less humor in his voice. "Cautious, eh? I can respect that. But rest assured, I wish you no ill will." With that comment, he walks into the room, and I follow quickly enough.

Lounging in the chair behind the desk, he puts his feet up on its surface and folds his hands, smiling at me. "Well? Shall we get on with it?"

I check the other chair for traps - one can't be too cautious - and tentatively sit on its edge, ready to run in case something goes wrong. "Get on with what?"

Richter's smile is both oily and devious and in no small amounts. "Why, the deal! I can tell this school has some incredible mana just from the sensation. If I got the right machines over here, some permits in the right places, we'd have easy mana regeneration in no time!"

I smirk knowingly. "So you can't regenerate your mana pool?"

His smile fades slowly, and he leans across the desk, serious for once. "Are you implying that you can?"

I consider my options here. There are a lot of things I could tell him and a lot of things I know it would be stupid to tell him, and informing him that I'm a dungeon would rank number one on the latter list. As for the mana regeneration, however...

"Yes," I tell him, "I can. And I've built up quite the stockpile, as you can see."

He tilts back in his chair, clearly impressed. "I must say, I didn't think it was possible. I'd ask you what the price for the technique was, but only an idiot would sell a secret like that for something as mundane as money, and I suspect you are no idiot."

Now it's my turn to grin. "Indeed. I am perfectly unwilling to sell my method of reju - re - rejuvenating my pool, but I will allow you to recover your stores... for a price, of course. Some rather unconventional items will be in order."

He huffs impatiently. "I don't suppose I have all that much leeway when it comes to this sort of thing, but I am nothing if not a negotiator. Very well, mister Jason. What materials do you require?"

I raise an eyebrow, my surprise evident. "So easily? I'd expected some more resistance, perhaps some demands for my cooperation."

Richter throws his hands in the air. "Then you expected wrong. Both myself and the people who work for me are far more than eager to acquire such another hotspot, and we have quite the stunning amount of resources at our disposal."

I concede the point with a nod. "Fair enough. Very well, here are my demands for your first recharge."

His eyes narrow. "Only one? This is already beginning to sound like a bad deal."

My face remains neutral as I tell him, "Let's not forget that I don't have to give you anything. I owe you nothing, and I have no obligation to help you."

Richter takes a deep breath. When his inevitable smile arrives, it's the nastiest yet. "I think you'll find me to be a most troublesome enemy if you decide to take that course. No matter how much mana you might have, you're still a child, and I am a very powerful mage."

I fold my legs, sitting cross-legged on the chair. "A mage with a source of mana which I imagine isn't a hundredth of the quality of mine. Besides, I may be just a child, but we have plenty of power to pack a punch."

One eyebrow raises, his curiosity piqued despite his obvious displeasure. "We?"

I split the floorboards, pulling them away and bringing my horde up through them. It's a writhing mass of insects morphing into a tower behind my chair, and I surreptitiously lock the door. There's no point in going to all this effort just to have my cover blown by some badly timed schoolkid or teacher.

As the insects begin to cast a shadow over Richter's rapidly paling face, I grin and extend a hand into it, allowing the snake to coil around my wrist and move up my arm. Making it curl around my neck and set its head just behind my ear, forked tongue flicking in and out, I tell him, "Yes, we. I don't suppose this is an effective enough threat?"

Richter chuckles lightly, but I can hear the frustration in the back of his voice. He's not happy and he's definitely not done with the negotiations. "Quite the show of force you've got there. I'm impressed you can control so many individual creatures so precisely."

I nod happily. Intimidation is quite fun. "Along with mana manipulation, it's one of my specialties."

Conceding the point, Richter asks tensely, "All right then, name your price. I'm willing to haggle a little."

"My price is not a high one. You should be thankful for that, by the way - I could practically ask for anything."

He raises a hand with his palm facing upward, and an unsteady ball of flame appears in it. "Not quite anything."

I snort loudly. "Am I supposed to be impressed? With a couple of sparks like that?" Wiping an imaginary tear of laughter away from my eye, I level my gaze at him. "I want three things, and then I never want to see you after the recharge again. One, I want the most comprehensive book of anatomies you can find, including human, animal, and insect. My reasons are obvious, I daresay. Second, I want you to leave the town alone. The whole town. It's my domain and I don't appreciate your people trying to push in on it, intentionally or otherwise. And third, I want the strongest natural insect you can find."

Richter practically snarls at me. "For one recharge? I'd have to be bloody well insane."

I laugh lightly, and then focus. Condensing a relatively small amount of mana into the area nearby, an amount which is frankly small compared to the reserves the school has in place, I promptly shove it into Richter's body.

He's thrown off the chair from the force, and sits there for a moment, gasping as it spreads through his entire system like an electric shock. Lying there for a moment, he laughs, and then jumps to his feet with surprising nimblety. Flexing both arms, he holds his hand up. A plume of flame, delicate and precise in its composition, flares to life within his palm, dancing and twirling, singing the air.

He shakes his head in obvious disbelief. "That... that's quite the amount of mana." Raising an eyebrow at me, he asks, "I don't suppose there'd be any way I could get you to reconsider the one-time offer?"

I chuckle slightly. "Once and once only. I don't want to make enemies."

He laughs accomodatingly. "And neither do I, sir Jason. So it's a deal?"

He extends his hand out, a wide smile on his face. I take it and shake it pleasantly. "Deal."

We both smile at each other, neither of us meaning it, both of us wishing we could kill the other.