Chapter 193 - Checkmate

"Why can't you?"

Wrapped in his thoughts, Ethan heard Riveria asking him so

"Let's say that one of the things I miss the most is a stable capital, that I plan to get slowly by improving my skill as a blacksmith, even if I'm not yet sure this job is suitable for me, I just have to try. Other than that, there are other things I need, but it's not a problem, I have a plan for that, too"

He hadn't yet the requirements to create the item he's searching for. Ethan knew that already because during these weeks, he hadn't just trained and trained. In his free time, he researched a bit for the item he needed to not make Loki worry, and after a quick search, he found what he was looking for, but simply buying it with SP wasn't something he could afford, as it required 200 millions SP for just one item.

'...But even if that's the case, producing it on my own is possible'

The 200 millions SP version of the item he had to create in fact, more than letting Gods enter the dungeon, could allow the user of the item to completely 'mask' their Divinity for a while, bringing the God in question to the same level as a normal human being, at least for the Dungeon.

There were other items ranging the billions where it was possible to completely change the law of the Dungeon itself, preventing it from even sensing Gods, but that would be too much. Ethan knew if such a thing were to happen, the Gods would think of him as a threat to the whole world, thus erasing him from existence in one go.

As he didn't want to buy them in the shop in the first place, Ethan was confident in the complete version of the [Blacksmith] book, there was something that had a similar effect, or maybe a new whole way to resolve his problem.

In the possibility the [Blacksmith] book didn't have what he was looking for, Ethan was even more confident in the [Mystery] book, since that purely worked around the blessing of an item.

'In one way or another, letting Gods enter the Dungeon won't be an issue anymore, but I believe they wouldn't be able to fight at all, if only the Gods specialized in combat...'

His actual plan was to create something capable of attracting the Gods to the dungeon, so that at the same time its influence would increase even more. Certainly wanting to visit a place like the 18th floor would have seemed appealing to some Gods, but that wasn't enough. What Ethan had in mind was to obtain the right of the Riviria Domain.

In fact, out of the midst of that city, he had in mind to found one relatively the same size, but with a variety of things very different from that of the current Riviria. Ideas such as something like a shopping centre, a café, an improved cultivation that would provide good raw materials to work and special tools that would further improve the quality of the goods. All these kinds of ideas were in Ethan's mind, if Freya had what appeared to be checkmate in her hands, Ethan was secretly already in possession of all the pieces on the board itself.

'If that's what you want, let's play, Freya...'

He would surely have difficulty in obtaining the right amount of SP to do such a thing, as in the first place there was a need for Gods to directly step on the 18th floor evading the other floors, and if it wasn't possible to create a teleportation circle, Ethan had in mind to completely seal the 18th floor from the rest of the Dungeon.

'Our game has just begun.'

Obviously, that was only one of the many ideas he had in mind. He wouldn't carelessly choose something to do since he wanted for now to find the easiest method to obtain influence, but he snapped out of his thoughts as Loki replied to his earlier words.

"How much do you need for the 'stable capital' condition to be met?"

At her question, Ethan remembered another one of the things he found out during these weeks.

'I found out I can actually convert Valis in SP, but the rate is 100:1, so even one of the cheapest idea to found without considering my savings would be quite costly...'

He knew well the funds he currently had would be used both for Blacksmith and Mystery if the former wasn't enough, so thinking he would have them for a long period of time was to exclude.

'I can't hunt the whole True Dungeon down in one go since my strength is not enough to do so, and there are a lot of dangers I have to consider when entering it, so I can't think I'll be able to gain that much for a while...'

There were really a lot of things to count in even to say how much he would need as a stable capital, but thinking about them all right now was impossible.

"I would say for now I need at least 1 billion Valis for what I'm planning..."

Nevertheless, he would need Loki's help to secure Riviria and the whole 18th floor, so the capital needed wasn't something Ethan planned to have her work for.

"But I don't need you to help me in that, I am confident in acquiring that amount of Valis. What I need your help for is securing the 18th floor, Riviria's rights. If you can't obtain that, then we can simply use a place out of the Dungeon, but that will probably reduce the influence we'll be able to gather..."

Hearing Ethan blatantly managing the flow of the conversation so easily, Loki felt a little surprised as she didn't expect him to have the capability to do so, but she was suspicious about what he would do with the amount of money he needed. But in the end, she alone would need several years to gather influence, while Ethan had said he could do so easily, so her interest was piqued..

'But securing the 18th floor rights isn't that difficult...I don't believe there will be any resistance for the rights at all..but again, why would he need Riviria's rights? is there something on the 18th floor we overlooked?'

"Why would you need Riviria and the whole 18th floor's rights?"

At Riveria's question, Ethan smiled.

"Because I can establish a city with goods incomparable to the outside, and if that city is ruled under the name of the Loki Familia, then our influence will not only sky-rocket, the interest of the other production familia will be all over us, thus increasing our influence to the point even thinking of touching us would be considered a foolish thought."

It was right. Even if the suddenly new city with goods superior to the outside world would attract a backlash as they would create a countless amount of enemies, Ethan could use the Dungeon itself as the excuse. They could easily protect their secrets with strength while disclosing to the population that the goods could maintain themselves in the 18th floor only, an irrefutable proof able to seal everyone else's mouth.

'If we talk about agriculture, that could work...'

Asking quickly the system if it was possible to do as he thought, his smile widened as the latter confirmed his thoughts with a simple panel.

[It's possible to plant special seeds able to hatch special fruits, they will have the properties the host d.e.s.i.r.es if the Host treats them with enough care.]

Costing 10.000SP per seed, Ethan thought the price was affordable, so he could easily see how the outcome would change, the only problem was Riveria and Loki weren't in his thought process, so they didn't understand "how" he would be able to do as he said, but the confident smile on his face made Riveria sigh.

"If you say so, I will believe your words. We need to secure Riviria's rights, but other than that, how do you plan to build a city from scratch while adventurers would be able to freely pass and thus they will see what we are doing?"

There were several solutions Ethan could use, he could literally cut the connection between the 17th, the 18th, and the 19th floor, but that would surely cause panic for the adventurers, so it wasn't possible to do so.

'I could secretly plant the seeds for a starting point, but maintaining an illusionary space for several months to evade other people stealing the fruits is impossible, as that would cost me too much. I can simply let Loki announce to the public we will work to establish a new city in the 18th floor, raising walls wouldn't be as costly as creating an illusionary space, so I believe that is our only possibility...'

Ethan knew they had no other way. Even if that would cause several eyes to stare at them intently, for this Ethan had no actual protection...

'Even if Loki would pay adventurers in our familia to protect us, I believe they won't be enough. Before announcing this to the public, we have to firstly become stronger'

Being the 1st familia in Orario for power, Ethan believed small fries wouldn't go against them so openly, the problem was firstly someone close to that power, incidently being non-other than Freya herself. Ethan knew she wouldn't stay silent and watch, so she would surely interfere one way or another, and that's exactly why he needed to make her vow to not interfere with the Loki famila...

'Something Freya would be interested in to vow what I want..I have to think about it.'

Even though he knew her character would be different from what he expected, Ethan wasn't stupid. Having access to his previous world, he could acquire a book regarding Freya, and he believed he would acquire more information about the enemy if he could obtain one of such books, but...

[The Host's level is too low, ulterior knowledge over the Norse Mythology is sealed.]

'As I thought, the Freya of this world must be connected to the Norse Mythology, otherwise the System would have handled the book without hesitation.'

"We have to act in the shadows as much as we can. First, we need to gain the trust of other production familias to help us and that's why we will also explain to them what our plan is, after that Loki will publicly buy Riviria's rights, and then we'll debate how our dream is to create a city more suitable not only for adventurers, but also for the normal population, that would be the objective not only of the Loki Familia, but also all the other production familias we will gather with us...we will require time, but I believe it won't be as much as Loki's initial plan."

It was nothing more than a dream at the moment, but if everything went without changes or unexpected events, Ethan believed everything would proceed.

"For tomorrow instead, I plan to have Freya vow to not touch the Loki familia, but I currently have nothing to offer, so I have to think about it in a deeper detail after we're done here..."

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(Alternate Titles: "Ethan's plan may be a bit confusing to understand, but put it in a few words, if he can conquist the 18th floor and establish a new city, he'll also be able to gather influence while at the same time pressing Freya so much she wouldn't dare to touch them anymore, ah and he still had to pay Loki back for everything she did for him, so putting her Familia in a milestone difference to the 2nd familia is his secret way of paying her lol", "Ethan is clever, never forget this point, or you may remain shocked.", "Loki was completely outclassed by Ethan, and that's a fact")