Demonstration Part 3

Both men selected a corpse and got into position. While the thief, Short Fuse stuck to the knife in his hand, Kirou took out a small toolkit filled with various 'tools' from his inventory. The Sanming Sect Master and the rest saw this but most of them thought that he was just pretending. Kirou ignored their thoughts and started on his corpse with an unenthusiastic expression and an unhurried pace.

Short Fuse saw Kirou start working at a slow pace and outwardly sneered before he too started working on his corpse. Like that, both men went about dissecting and dismantling the corpses of the shadow wolves before them. The rest watched as both men worked in silence, one set thinking that they will oust the faker while the others furrowing their eyebrows in confusion.

After three minutes, Short Fuse had just finished working on his corpse when he turned towards Kirou, ready to gloat, only for the words to die in his throat as he saw Kirou still working. This abnormality didn't escape the rest as they were all aware that Kirou was the one who started first, so why was it that he was still working while Short Fuse had already stopped. Both the female elf thief and the brown-haired warrior turned to Navi with questioning stares only to get a shrug in response.

Just a minute later, the corpse of the shadow wolf before Kirou suddenly turned into a mass of light before Kirou before fading away. Kirou showed no change in expression as he was used to this by now but the others looked on a this in shock. With the corpse before him gone, Kirou got up before turning towards the brown-haired warrior.

After getting the man's attention, Kirou spoke up, "Do we still need to compare results, or was that a satisfactory enough demonstration?" Having said this, Kirou took a glance at the thief player he was supposedly competing with.

The thief player grew red in the face when he saw the indifferent look in Kirou's eyes as Kirou stared at him, as well as hearing the question Kirou asked. While he wanted to retort, even he could tell that Kirou had managed to harvest more materials from his corpse than he did. Just as the brown-haired warrior was about to respond, however, the other warrior spoke up, attracting everyone's attention, "Even if Short Fuse didn't harvest as many materials from his corpse as Mr. Kirou here, it doesn't matter if the materials harvested, regardless of the number, isn't up to a certain quality. I believe we should compare the quality of the materials harvested, boss."

When they heard his words, the other members of the group seemingly woke up from their stupor and regained their competitive spirit. The boss furrowed his eyebrows at those words before tossing a glance in Navi's direction, only to be shrugged. He then turned his eyes towards Kirou, only to be greeted with an indifferent expression. With neither players giving away either of their thoughts, the boss could only reluctantly agree as he already had an idea of how this would turn out.

With the boss giving his agreement, the warrior spoke up once more, "Why don't we start with the items harvested by Short Fuse since they are fewer." When he said those words, the warrior meant no harm but it did cause Short Fuse to turn red slightly.

Doing his best to calm himself down, Short Fuse did his best to calm his breathing before he spoke, "Ok, everyone. These are the items that I harvested from my shadow wolf." Following those words, Short Fuse displayed a screen for the entire group to see.

[2x good quality fangs, 2x good quality fur, 2x good quality claws, and 1x 5lbs average quality wolf meat]

Looking over the items harvested by Short Fuse, besides the average quality wolf meat, everything else was of good quality. This allowed the group to regain some confidence in their harvester's abilities as they turned to face Kirou who was still indifferent to those results.

When Kirou saw the results of Short Fuse's harvesting, while there was no major change in his expression, he did raise an eyebrow at it. For someone who was working with a crude knife and working on semi-automatic mode, if his observations were anything to go by, those kinds of results were quite good. Seeing that it was his turn, Kirou didn't say anything and just directly showed off the results of his harvest.

[2x great quality fangs, 4x great quality fur, 3x great quality claws, 2x 5lbs good quality wolf meat, 6x 9ml vials of good quality wolf blood, 1x great quality wolf skull, and 3x great quality wolf bones]

Kirou's harvest left the group stunned into silence. Except for the wolf meat and wolf blood, an item the group didn't know that could be harvested at the moment being at good quality, all of the rest he obtained was at great quality, a full grade higher than Short Fuse's best work. Besides that, the group saw a few items in his list that they never knew one could even harvest from a monster corpse. Looking at the blood, skull, and bones on Kirou's list, the group had no idea how they should respond to this one.

Seeing their stupified expressions, Kirou glanced at Navi and saw her nod. With that nod, Kirou then turned towards the group, specifically the brown-haired warrior, and spoke, "With this, do we need to continue with the other two competitions or can I just go ahead and deal with the remaining corpses before we get down to business properly."

Hearing his question, the group was at a loss. While the other two competitors didn't want to admit it, they knew damn well that they wouldn't be able to compete with Kirou in terms of material quantity. And as for the quality, looking at Kirou's current haul, they could just forget about it. With that being said, the group could only silently agree to Kirou's words, prompting him to take a glance at them before going over to deal with the next four corpses.

*******

Roughly an hour later, the entire group of thirteen was now back in SC Pier City. The group had rented themselves out a private room from one of the NPC restaurants in the city, one of a few known safe areas to conduct business between individuals not belonging to the same guild or sect with their own personal rooms.

The entire group was sitting around a large rectangular table. At one end sat Kirou with an indifferent expression on his face while at the other end sat the brown-haired warrior. On either side of the warrior sat Navi and the female elf thief, with the remainder of the group filling out the rest of the seats in the middle of the table, with them mostly congregating towards the side with the brown-haired warrior.

The pride and condescending looks on most of the group's faces from before have long been erased and were now replaced with very solemn expressions. The events they witnessed earlier have opened the group's eyes and allowed them to broaden their horizons. If it could be said that these group members originally came intending to expose Kirou as a fake and show off in front of the boss while mocking Navi for being tricked, now the group was being quiet while waiting to see how the boss handles the situation.

The reason for the change in mindset for these people wasn't based on just what Kirou did during his demonstration, but also what they bore witness to afterward. Long story cut short, the group witnessed Kirou's abilities when he wasn't being lazy. Long story cut very short and to the point, the group witnessed Kirou's skill when he was competing with the system over bodies that were already disappearing.

After bearing witness to Kirou's skill, or the amount he showed off to the group which was still him holding back a bit, not like they would understand this, the group was finally humbled. All those who came to shame and ridicule Navi were silenced and those who came to compare notes were shown a whole new level of skill. With those thoughts in mind, the group was now sitting there quietly as the brown-haired warrior and Kirou were having a discussion, with the two elves next to him pitching in here and there.

"Ok, Mr. Kirou. If I'm being honest here, with the skills you've just showcased, instead of just setting up a simple collaboration between you and my sect, I'd rather just invite you to my sect and put you in charge of one of the branch guilds." The brown-haired warrior had a serious expression on his face as he said this.

Seeing his expression, Kirou could only form a wry smile on his face as he responded, "You flatter me with your words, Sect Master Guardian Knight. My skill with harvesting isn't worth such high praise." To most of the people in the room, it sounded like Kirou was being humble, but only a few members of the room could pick up the underlying message of his tone.

'I'm not about to allow myself to be bound to one place when I can be as free as I want while playing this game.' The brown-haired warrior now identified as Guardian Knight, and the two women next to him were able to pick up on this but they didn't point it out. Navi already knew this for a fact but she still had her plans for the future with Reya to execute.

Releasing a sigh, Guardian Knight could only choose to put off that topic for the moment as he spoke up, "Ok then, Mr. Kirou. How would you like to go about our partnership? While I've heard a few things from Navi here, we need to sort out the finer details before we can go forward with this deal."

Kirou dropped his humble act and adopted a serious expression before speaking, "As I'm sure Navi already told you, I'm neither interested in money or materials that can be found by members of your guild." To this, Guardian Knight responded with a nod. Seeing that, Kirou continued, "With that being said, I'll aid you in harvesting the required materials you need from your boss monster. For this, I have just two conditions."

Hearing his words, everyone in the room tensed up. For someone who wants neither money nor materials, they had no idea what his conditions would be. The female elf sitting next to Guardian Knight was the one who spoke up, "And what would those conditions be, Mr. Kirou? It has to be within the capabilities of our sect before we can discuss it."

Kirou eyed the female elf for a moment. He had the feeling that he's met her before but with her current attire and race, he's having a hard time placing it. After a few more seconds of this, Kirou shook his head free before speaking, "My conditions aren't anything overbearing. It's something even a small guild would be able to promise. That being said, with your sect being the one to fulfill them, I would be able to benefit a greater deal."

Hearing his words caused Guardian Knight to raise an eyebrow in response. The rest of the group was now curious as they stared at Kirou, waiting for his words. As if he was getting impatient, Guardian Knight spoke up after a few seconds, "What are your conditions, Mr. Kirou?"

Kirou smiled as he answered, "The first condition is simple. I would require 20% of the materials harvested from the boss monster. Before anyone says anything on the matter, do remember that my harvesting rate yields much more items than the typical player, and the grade is normally a tier or two higher as well."

When Kirou said those words, everyone in the room sank into their thoughts in contemplation. While 20% was a lot to give up for any creature, much less a boss monster, they all remembered that Kirou was able to harvest a bit more materials than one of their best players. Not only that, but his harvests also resulted in materials of a higher grade as well. Thinking up to here, everyone in the room admitted that giving up 20% just for the increase in material grade was a fair trade-off, much less doing so with an increase in the number of items.

Finished with his inward deliberations, Guardian Knight spoke up, "As long as the Sanming Sect can receive the materials we are aiming for, I can agree with you taking 20% of the total materials from the rest."

Kirou smiled at Guardian Knight's words as he responded, "Naturally."

Guardian Knight spoke up once more, "I agree to the first condition. Now tell me, what is your second condition, Mr. Kirou?"

The smile on Kirou's face grew much wider as he spoke up, "My second condition is this: I would like for the Sanming Sect to inform its allies of my services in harvesting a greater yield of materials from monsters."

Hearing those words caused the majority of the group to be stunned before everyone unanimously shouted, "WHAT?!?!?!?"