Chapter 57: The Special Tokens

"You have a Bulltor and are led by a human. This isn't the best company for any of us. So, I came out and asking for a higher price sounds fair, right?"

Rick was about to argue, but Jim stopped him. "Alright, but for this price what can you do for us?"

"I'll take you on a tour in the town if you wish," Rili said before adding, "anything you want, no matter how hard it is to find, I'll gladly provide."

"Speaking like you know the places of selling summoning tokens," Rick sneered.

"My dear customer, if you have the wealth to afford it, then I can gladly take you to such places."

Jim noticed the sudden change in the face of Rick and the three shapeshifters as well. Roo and Kro weren't an exception. "Alright, wait here with my team for a minute," Jim suddenly said before motioning with his gaze to Rick.

"What's that token?" he asked when they went slightly away from the group.

"It's a metaphor for tokens with sealed spells in them," Rick softly muttered before adding, "to learn spells in the academy you must have the help from either higher disciples or masters. These tokens can solve this problem, and they can be used by many of us."

The words he said made Jim's mind stir around such tokens. "Are they pricy?" he asked.

"Forbidden," Rick corrected, "the academy heavily punishes anyone who uses them."

Jim glanced in a weird way towards him. "The academy isn't the only place where we can go and train," Rick winked and didn't say anything more while he glanced around with his eyes.

"This town is safe?"

"For those kinds of deals? Yeah, you can consider it like heaven on the academy strict lands."

"But…" Jim hesitated.

"We can store them up in our rings and no one would ever know," Rick seemed quite enthusiastic about it. "Imagine learning a top class skill without the need to be someone puppet or slave. This is a life changing opportunity, even to a privileged inner disciple like yourself."

"I wasn't worried about storing them," Jim said, "I'm worried about their price."

"Oh," Rick took a step back, "this is something we all should worry about," he sighed, "the standard price for those is really astronomical. Buying one with a thousand academy coins is a cheap price, and many ask for something in return."

"Treasure?"

"Not only that, but also some missions or info."

Jim nodded in understanding. "Alright, go back and wait for my return."

"Exploring the loot?" Rick read Jim's mind, and Jim just hit his shoulder as he laughed and said nothing.

'These tokens are important, yet I can help you to obtain some for free.'

The words of his old man startled Jim. 'How so?' he asked in doubt.

'Many are interested in knowing some old info about the ancient past. It happens that I lived in such an ancient era that I can help answer many questions and explain many mysteries.'

'This…' Jim hesitated.

'Don't worry, the deals are all going to be done via that usher. No one will ever know anything about your identity at all.'

'But that usher will,' Jim pointed to the only weakness in the old man's words.

'They are a special kind of race, bound by many rules to not speak about their customers at all. Don't worry, the usher is the least of your worries.'

'What do you mean?'

'You must do it alone, away from anyone of your hastily recruited team.'

Jim understood the meaning behind the old man's words. 'Will anyone sell me out?'

'Who knows,' the old man said, 'I lived long to doubt anyone.'

'But…'

'You can use tokens to those loyal and extremely controlled by you.'

'Aren't all slaves bound to my will?'

'Not like the slave mark you have.'

Jim understood what the old man hinted. 'I hate slavery.'

'This is the only way to secure yourself, otherwise those masters like Pol and whoever behind him for example might grant anyone his freedom in exchange for your head.'

'…'

Jim knew his old man was speaking about his best interest, but he couldn't accept the concept right away. Deep down his soul he realized he would lean towards this solution eventually, or else the greatest benefit of these tokens would be only limited to him.

'Don't worry yourself much about it now. Think about this later, now you have many things to look at.'