Rei managed to get the Core Unit booted up and move around in it for a little before Qiu Yue made a call on her phone for another portal that appeared right in front of the open c.o.c.kpit.
"Get in, it"s time to get back to business." Qiu Yue ordered, and Rei obediently followed.
They were back at the same well lit room, and the items on the table were still left intact. Qiu Yue reconnected her phone, and everything booted up in an instant. The big difference was that Qiu Yue had messaged Lynn to bring up two cups of blue mountain coffee and leave it on the table for them. Rei now seemed even more ready to talk after experiencing the products that they had created.
"First, let me sincerely apologise once again for the rough introduction. I hope you can understand that we needed to verify that you were indeed from another world, especially one of the…robotic nature." Qiu Yue emphasised the last two words.
"Are you guys some sort of secret tech organisation? How did you even know that I was from another World? Did you already know that before or are you guys abducting anyone who is drawing Mangas with Robots and Mechs in them?" Rei asked as he took a sip of the coffee.
"We are in fact just a dungeon supplier store…with some particularly talented individuals running the place." Qiu Yue tried to phrase it nicely.
"What? Dungeon Supplier store? But that thing I saw, seemed too real to be something out of a dungeon supplier dimensional instance!" Rei replied. He felt a little bit disappointed if that was merely a dungeon instance. He vaguely knew about the limits of the dimensional instances in j.a.pan.
He had tried a few dungeon supplier stores before, hoping they will create what he saw in the Star Cross Hangar Bays. Though this hope had quickly left him since he learned that it was not only complex but not possible with the current technology. Most importantly, anything designed could not be taken out of a dungeon instance.
"Don"t worry what you saw was indeed real. As I said, we have some particularly talented individuals." Qiu Yue replied. "I doubt that you know anything about the current events of your world so let me begin by bringing you up to date. Your world, which we refer to as the Mecha World, seems to be in danger. According to our information, skirmishes have already broken out, and it"s only a matter of time before it blows into a full scale war."
"That… does not seem too surprising." Rei sighed as he heard that news.
"However I would need some more proo-"
Suddenly, Qiu Yue turned her laptop towards him showed him a channel of the Mecha World. The System had managed to capture a segment of the news and broadcast it live for Rei to watch.
"You…are not kidding. I"ve never leaked any of my knowledge except for minor bits and pieces on my Manga." Rei said as he recognised the United Federation and Xeon Union on the news.
"So, our proposal is as such: Give us your everything and work for us. We do not care if you continue your manga work, but we need ALL your blueprints and every bit of knowledge on the Mecha World you can give us. In return, we will pay off your current debt"s interest." Qiu Yue offered. She gave him a moment to consider it, and when Rei was about to say something in return, she added another part.
"If we deemed your blueprints useful, we might be gracious to a.s.sist you in paying your debt too. Also, once the situation has calmed down a bit, we should be able to help you to return to the Mecha World."
"Wait, wait, wait! So why do you want the blueprints? To improve that dimensional instance of yours? Or do you wish to give it to the other faction to gain their favour a.s.suming you can travel to Mecha World."
"Because all I can say is that what I have in my head is at least 20 years old. I don"t have anything which can compete with whatever new they came up with. Naturally, I"ve only received access to normal blueprints for teaching so I can"t exactly offer you any super weapon or something like that." Rei reb.u.t.ted, and Qiu Yue shook her head.
"You were willing to sell the blueprints, so you shouldn"t care what we do with them afterwards. If you like the condition, then sign the deal, and perhaps we will reveal more information to you." Kraft who had at some point appeared directly behind Rei (without him noticing) got another shock of his life.
"Oh come on! You got to admit that was fun just now? Wasn"t it? So, have you made up your mind?" Kraft came closer and held onto both of Rei"s shoulder making him this close to peeing his pants.
"What …what if I refuse?" Rei trembled as he asked that particular question.
"We will be forced to erase your memory about all of this. However, you should know that tampering with memories is a delicate procedure, so if you are lucky, you will still remember how to draw afterwards..." Rei could see Kraft"s smile at the corner of his eye until he released his shoulders
"Probably." Kraft added promptly.
"I mean, you will understand that we cannot let other people know that we have knowledge of interworld travel and don"t plan to share it, right?" Kraft whispered into his ear.
"Kraft." Qiu Yue called in a deep voice as if telling him off. The Original Bellator slowly stared at Qiu Yue for a moment (a long eternity from Rei"s perspective) and slowly backed away from the mangaka artist.
"So, I do not have a choice at all…" Rei said to himself seeing the predicament he landed himself in.
"You do, though Kraft should be far more capable than he gave himself credit for. Still, you should earnestly consider what happens in the case we release you. I think you"ll agree that it"s the lesser evil working with us than meeting those Yakuzas without having any memory of why you even ended up there? Right? " Qiu Yue calmly cautioned Rei.
"There is also the matter of us already having a way to get to your world... unless you prefer to loan more money from the Yakuza and take your chances with the teleportation scrolls." Kraft chimed in at which point he sighed in defeat.
He picked up the contract and read it thoroughly before clarifying a question.
"You say I can continue with my Manga? Can I at least have a guarantee for that?" Rei requested humbly towards the person who seemed to be the one holding on to his life by a thread.
"Sure. In fact, we can provide you with certain perks which will make your Manga career all the more fulfilling. That I can guarantee with my heart crossed." Qiu Yue replied sincerely while putting her hand at her chest.
Rei"s head drooped for a moment before nodding. Qiu Yue specifically reprinted another contract that stated his manga career would not be jeopardised a single bit and in fact, they would provide him with anything he desired to continue it.
Satisfied with the new wording of the contract, Rei signed his life to the System with the persuasion of Kraft and Qiu Yue. He would never learn that they had been so desperate for his help that they would pull off such a stunt to recruit him.
However, one thing was for sure. With that signature penned down on that piece of paper, the manga career of "Amuro Sensei" (his pen name) would never be the same again.