ch 19

The prince just laughed as if I had said something hysterical although no one else was laughing and it did draw a lot of unnecessary attention before he composed himself.

prince Valen:"I'm sorry for my outburst but that comment was just so ridiculous you are already one of the most prominent figures of the first years attending the academy even if you are all but unreachable to anyone with exception to Ms Voluptas of course" he said with a smirk

Rick:"What have I done that is so special?" I instantly regretted saying that

prince Valen:"Are you serious? Have you forgotten the creation of the crop golems not to mention your arena fight or more specifically the weapons you created and let's not forget about your lovely tamed creature that follows you and I am certain that you are working on projects that will continue to stun everyone as you have already done!"

The prince's list of my publicly known accomplishments has started to attract quite a bit of attention I should have realized the waves I have been creating sooner but it wasn't apparent until he listed my accomplishments I must tread carefully from now on if I don't I might get pulled into a faction against my will or worse because I shine too brightly others would want to destroy me, I was pulled from my self musing by the prince.

prince Valen:"Richard can you share with us what you are researching currently?"

Rick:"Unfortunately I can't as I am still in the developmental stages of my research I can't promise that it is all that interesting I'm studying rune formulas at the moment to expand my horizons as I currently hit a wall in my research"

prince Valen:"I can't say I'm not a little disappointed but I'm sure that soon enough you will overcome this obstacle and shock the academy again"

There was no way I would try to draw so much unwanted attention using prince Valen's interest in me to keep attention on me just long enough to depreciate my worth in order to have others lose some interest in me of course I don't believe I fooled everyone especially not the prince, those who are cunning and clever would have likely seen through my attempts to diminish my self will likely try to meet with me when there isn't too many eyes others will try after the party and these individuals are the ones who worry me as it will be much harder to determine their motives in trying to meet with me as the range would be too large to consider all scenarios but it is still better than getting involved with the fight for the throne with the royal children.

Sure enough as soon as I went to the balcony to get some air another noble brat decided to approach me with his posturing lackeys at his side I knew that he was most likely going to try and pressure me to join his group.

noble brat:"It would seem that my luck is rather good this evening as I didn't expect to run into a celebrity has caught the attention of upper echelons of society"

Rick:"To whom do I have the pleasure of addressing this fine evening?"

noble brat:"Excuse me, where are my manners I am Nigel Mone and although I may appear to be a noble I assure I am but a humble son of a tycoon in the the luxury space ship industry looking for a business venture of my own and I was wondering if a talent such as yourself would be interested?"

Rick:"What do you have in mind?"

Nigel:"Reproduction of that rifle of yours I saw how versatile and unique it was using both mana bullets and actual ammunition but I am mostly interested in the ammunition itself after seeing the various affects"

Rick:"So you are looking to buy my formulas for ammunition"

Nigel:"Yes, but I would also like to see a catalog of the different ammunition types that you can produce and if you have developed anything large scale that you would be willing to part with"

Rick:"I'm more than willing to talk business with you but instead of a fixed number I want a percentage of the the sales"

Nigel:"How much?"

Rick:"forty percent"

Nigel:"Impossible, how about five?"

Rick:"You would be hard pressed to find anyone else with such a wide variety of options not to mention the quality thirty-five"

Nigel:"True but not impossible twelve"

Rick:"But this venture is time sensitive you need to act now before others saturate the market to build a brand twenty-eight"

Nigel:"twenty I can't go any higher"

Rick:"Deal, I hope that we have a fruitful cooperation"

Nigel:"Than how can I get a hold of you as I can't possibly ask Cordelia"

Rick:"Through my assistant Heather at the Living Alchemy Collective I'm usually in my lab"

I was certainly surprised to find such a unique opportunity and actually I would have been fine seven percent but I had to push my value early on because after I graduate I will need those funds to grow my power base so I wouldn't be stuck under another.