Chapter 1958: The Italian Side Job -Part 3
"Crafty old men, I can never trust them!" Jin said to himself as he was not experienced enough to see past the actions of JODE Chancellor Ma Ge and the Italian Head of Demon Exorcists, Sir Diego. He might have some certain powers of foresight with his Inverse Eyes but he can never see what they are planning at the side.
All he knew right now was to fleece as much money as he could from Diego, possibly Ma Ge as well but something, or perhaps a hunch, was telling him they had already known what kind of tricks Jin was going to pull in order to get the best outcome of them all. It was at that point that he felt that perhaps he should start playing the business game despite the limited experience that he had.
So far, things managed to go his way mainly due to the fact that he has the novelty on his side. There was a niche factor that allowed him to have an edge compared to the others since everyone did not have it.
But Now that people had experienced it and enjoyed that edge that Jin provided, they wished to manipulate and get something out of it from him such as how other businesses in China had been doing.
When the Chinese are curious about a certain thing, they are cautious in their approach to getting it and try to think of ways to get it as soon as possible. Now when they had been exposed to this dimensional instance and they felt comfortable using them, it was now the chance to fully utilise it and exploit Jin whenever possible because of his unique capabilities.
However, Jin sometimes forgot that he was the only one who could provide such a service to them and the other dungeon suppliers could never reach that kind of level with their current technology unless the dungeon supplier had been consistently trained in the arts of dimensional instances through the traditional way and not rely on technology to further their dimensional instance calculations.
It was at that point Jin started to realised why only the dimensional instance had been "cultivated" to work with technology while the other techniques that people had were still being pa.s.sed on from student to student.
But that realisation came at the wrong time as Diego and Ma Ge were discussing the prices for the dimensional instance. Yet, that realisation was the thing that enabled Jin to be confident enough to say no to their low target pricing. It was as if the talking had made him understand that Jin still had that edge and he should not be pushed around.
After all, he had the money to back himself up, the "hidden" status of the Royal Zodiac to support him and most importantly, he probably had one of the highest cultivation in China and perhaps the highest in China if he were to boast especially when everyone all looked up to the Royal Zodiacs and expected them to be the strongest group that China has ever have to offer.
Of course, he understands that there was still the underworld or even cultivators that did not wish to declare their cultivation grade but no one outside his System"s contacts knew that he too have a freaking army working for him 24/7.
That was not including the amount of firepower he was holding under the guise of fake items that cannot be used outside of dimensional instances. It was to that point of micromanagement that they should be afraid of him and not Jin be afraid of these petty men talking about how Jin should lower the prices for them.
Maybe with that kind of thought floating in Jin"s head, he immediately gave a straight "no" when he was pressed to give a better quotation during dinner especially when this meeting was not something he wished to join in the first place.
"No, this is too low. If you are seriously considering me to not just provide services in dimensional instances but also handle the Void Being, do you expect me to work with this kind of offer? I rather stay in China and work on my dimensional instances." Jin said and the rest were shocked to have such a strong response.
"JODE Chancellor Ma Ge, I appreciate that you had previously offered to a.s.sist in getting me the things I sought but that does not mean that I have to always be in your debt." That was what Jin wanted to say within his head but he managed to control himself as he knew that saying might potentially hurt the relations with the Royal Zodiac Horse Clan.
Even though Jin did not need the Royal Horse Clan to survive, there were certain things in Jin"s World that it was not worth making an enemy with, especially when the Royal Horse Clan controlled most of the economy with the back of their palms.
"Then, what do you propose?" Ma Ge asked him and Jin smiled.
"Why? To be free of charge. I even handle my own airplane fees and stuff like that." Jin said and it shocked the people in the room even further. They could not believe the most money minded person within them had decided to take such a route.
"No, no, no. When it comes to you. your FoC is more expensive than the price I quote." Ma Ge rejected it blatantly and Diego laughed, asking whether this was a joke by Jin. Yet, the Dungeon Supplier rejected that notion and told them that he was really giving them free of charge.
"...No strings attached?"
"Well, if you are going to quote such a low price, I might as well do it free of charge for you?" Was another thought of Jin but the act of keeping his mouth shut and controlling his thoughts to navigate these tricky seas currently gave him the patience to hold his tongue.
"There are indeed strings attached. Let me handle the Void Being my way. There are certain trade secrets that I do not wish to show to people if you get what I mean."
"That means you do not want reinforcements and you ...and your team? You all will handle the Void Being Spartakus yourselves?" Diego asked once more and Jin nodded his head.
"That is why after consideration, I think I shall put it as free of charge for you and let me handle the situation properly. I do not wish for any meaningless death if I can afford it." Jin made it sound like he was compa.s.sionate for others when in actual fact, it was a pain in the a.s.s if he had witnesses around. Kong Rong would be fine but not the rest when they do not know his powers.
"I say just take the offer. It is rare for Jin to give it to you free of charge." Kong Rong laid back and watched the situation unfold.
"I am suspicious." Ma Ge said and Diego also smiled bitterly as he nodded his head too. "What do you really want Jin?"
That was where Jin believed he might have a foothold in the current agreement. "All I ask is that you could find me a place where I can start my overseas expansion. You had already seen what my Dimensional Instances could do, so I believe that there are possible sales if given the chance."
"Hahahah! You have not started setting your foot in Beijing and Shanghai and now you want to eye for overseas expansion? Are you being a little too greedy?" Ma Ge said but he liked this kind of people who had ambition as well as the ability to make things happen. In the latter portion, Jin had proven multiple times he could do it.
"I am not asking for an immediate overseas expansion but at the very least, consider that. I am also not eyeing Italy, any...good overseas expansions would be fine and dandy."
"I might say, I would like my Demon Exorcists to be trained in these dimensional instances. They could really learn a lot and train better than the current training curriculum that they have." Diego nodded his head that having one of Jin"s Dungeon Supplier stores would be fantastic.
And if the crowd is of any indication, it will no doubt boost the tourism rate a little more. And even though that was not his department to worry about, he roughly understood the financial situation of his country and if Jin"s arrival could not only strengthen his Demon Exorcists in the long run and also his country"s economy in some small way or another, he does not see a reason why not.
"I will look into my contacts and see if there is anything I can do for you but considering I am not in the field of real estate, I am not able to provide much with that. I apologise if I come out empty," Diego said and Jin nodded his head.
"Well, if I think about it, the scouting fee cost can cost similarly to your quotation. I will see what I can do on my side as well." Ma Ge was agreeable to the new terms that Jin put out.
"With that issue settled, I have some things to handle as well. I apologise and please have seconds. It"s on the house." Jin said as he excused himself out of the dinner area. It was at that point in time that the System had an inkling that the free of charge was an excuse as well.
But never did he expect that excuse would turn into an actionable moment.