34 - Deals

Gabe decided to go with the city government first, as that had a higher priority.

From the moment he met Wilson, it was clear that the city was taking him seriously. Wilson even showed Gabe how the sponsorships normally went for other Developers, who normally received exclusive contracts from the city with a maximum bonus of $300,000 a year, whereas for Gabe he was getting a bonus of $200,000 to maintain Sandstone Bay's 1 month advance on games for other cities.

That may seem like a short time, but considering that in a month it was possible to raise a Player from Rank F to Rank E if the Player was talented or if the games they made were very good, having a month's head start compared to other cities was a huge no-brainer for Sandstone Bay. Especially considering that Gabe's games had an even greater advantage than other cities' games because of the fear that Players felt while playing, it was possible to increase many Players' shooting skill to Peak Rank F just by playing Residual Devil.

Of course, the only shortcoming of this whole deal was the Player's Maximum Mana, which had to be improved more slowly. The unfortunate drawback was Players would be capped at Peak Rank F for longer, despite having very good combat skills, but considering it from a city management point of view, it was already a huge strategic advantage to have each level of Gabe's games 1 month ahead of other cities.

One of the questions Wilson asked Gabe was how Gabe intended to release his future games, if he intended to release the full games or if he intended to split the games into chapters like he was currently doing.

"I'm not really sure about that yet, but my intention is to develop the games to launch and complete experience for Players. But nothing is set in stone yet," Gabe responded, but made it clear that he was open to suggestions.

When Wilson heard this he got really excited.

"I think we can handle this in a way that we can both benefit from. How about I work out a deal that will increase city sponsorship for you from 200k to 400k if you want to keep releasing the games as chapters first in Sandstone Bay, and then 30 days after the game is ready we will help you distribute your games to between 3-5 neighboring cities at least so Sandstone Bay Players can continue to get their games early while our 30 day deal will be maintained for other cities," Wilson explained, "You know that transport between cities is difficult. Getting distribution for games to 3-5 cities is already a huge amount. Not even Rank E Developers get this kind of treatment, while only some genius Rank D Developers have the possibility to have something like this."

When Gabe heard this proposal he was very tempted. Considering that it could speed up the rate at which he received Mana from Sandstone Bay Players while helping him grow in the long run, it would be a great help for his future, as well as helping the city a lot.

After agreeing to this, Wilson quickly edited the contract he had shown Gabe earlier to match their proposal. This contract had a duration of 1 year. If Gabe managed to become a Rank E Developer before a year was up, the contract could be canceled or renegotiated so that the values would ​​match Gabe's value.

Before signing, Gabe sent a copy of the contract to Me. Brown and asked him if he thought the terms were reasonable. After confirming with the professor, Gabe signed the contract without much concern and Wilson quickly called the two security guards and informed them they would be responsible for protecting Gabe.

To Gabe's surprise, the two security guards were C-Rank Players, which made it clear to Gabe how much Wilson valued his talent and made him understand that the bonus he received was not where the money was actually deposited, but in the accounts of these two Rank C Players who probably had millionaire salaries.

'That's not bad…' Gabe thought with satisfaction, as he'd rather spend most of his money on security than save money for a few months and die suddenly.

In addition to the two security guards, Wilson also provided an armored car. Examining the car that looked like a BMW X8 from his otherworldly memory, Gabe was quite satisfied. Despite being an armored car, this car's engine was much more powerful than most sports cars available on the market, and the license plate with the black background showed that this was a government issued car, which in itself already would be a huge help in some situations.

That was the main reason Gabe came to Wilson first instead of first dealing with Sandstone Bay Television, as he figured he'd have with this deal a car to drive out of here directly.

With the car with the government license plate, Gabe had a much easier time getting into Sandstone Bay Television and sorting out everything he had to deal with the people there. The deal wasn't much different from what Gabe wanted, keeping it at $40,000 per episode broadcast on television, with each episode being no more than 2 hours in length.

Comparing just the monetary part of this deal, this was much more lucrative than the deal he made with Wilson, as in just 5 episodes he would get the 200k that Wilson promised he would get annually, but that was just considering what Gabe would get as a Rank F Developer. When Gabe became Rank E this value would also be updated. As for the agreement with SBT, this value would hardly be changed, since the number of spectators in Sandstone Bay was limited.

But this was a good way to get some quick cash, and it opened up possibilities for him to get deals in other cities as well, which would earn him some more money for every game he developed in the future.

After all of that was taken care of, Gabe decided to head back home.

"Donovan, let's go home," Gabe said as he got into the back door of the car.

"Yes, sir." Donovan responded respectfully as he closed Gabe's door and climbed into the passenger seat.

The other bodyguard, who was already sitting in the driver's seat, heard what Gabe said and started driving as soon as Donovan sat down.

Chase Donovan was one of two bodyguards Gabe had been given by Wilson. Donovan was a tall, muscular man who had few words to say.

The other bodyguard was called Brock Steele. He was more relaxed, as he made a few jokes from time to time as they drove through the city, but Gabe noticed that despite joking and having fun, the man was always aware of his surroundings, which was shown whenever they passed a Player carrying a gun in the city and Steele was alert with his attention focused on that Player that Gabe hadn't even yet noticed.

As both of Gabe's guards were C-Rank Players, they already had more useful abilities than just physical enhancements, with Donovan having developed cryomancy, and Steele focusing on pyromancy abilities that would theoretically weaken each other's effectiveness, but due to the teamwork they had, they were able to complement each other well. One controlled the terrain and slowed enemies down; the other dealt devastating damage with fire.

"Back to the previous topic about your powers, how long did it take for you to develop them?" Gabe asked curiously, as these were the first Rank C Players he had met.

Before Donovan opened his mouth to respond, Steele smiled as he explained, "As I remember, it took about 2 years to get my pyromancy."

"And how many Mana Units did you need for that, do you remember?" Gabe asked.

Hearing Gabe's question, Steele made a thoughtful expression as he tried to remember. "I think around 20,000 to 40,000 Mana Units. I can't remember for sure."

Hearing this, Gabe became thoughtful. Considering the average Mana of a C-Rank Player was 100 to 200 Mana Units, with Peak C-Rank going up to 250 Mana Units and the minimum being 51 Mana Units from someone who just became C-Rank, really it was understandable that it took so long. Thinking of the ability to control metals that Gabe intended to get from Residual Devil, he understood that if he really learned then and trained to use the ability well, he would probably raise his strength to close to that of a C-Rank Player, which showed the great difference between a Developer and a Player.

Fortunately for Players, they only needed Mana Stones to redeem game objects, as the objects needed the mana to be injected in a short time. Training skills only needed the Player to play the game, and learning new skills needed the Player to inject their Mana into the game gradually, being able to do this over the course of days, months or even years. But this kind of skill was only possible to learn from D Rank games, or maybe some games made by very talented E Rank Developers, although this was something that had not appeared for many years.

For that, Gabe already had a rough idea of ​​what game he would make next. It was a game that won the Game Awards in the other world. It contained some useful powers for players, some simple spells that even Rank E players could learn, some ranged weapons that could help Players practice marksmanship, as well as many melee weapons for Players to practice with. Probably this game's improvement for Sandstone Bay would be even greater than Residual Devil, as it could improve a much wider range of Players than the previous game, which was only focused on firearms.

This idea was already being mentally developed by Gabe for a few days, but he still hadn't started to truly develop this game since he was focused on finishing Residual Devil and becoming a Rank E Developer, which, according to his plans, would happen in a short time.

'With the next game decided, everything will be easier… hehe,' Gabe thought with a smile as he remembered the game's white-haired protagonist and thought it would be so much fun to see the Players' reactions while playing it.

//NunuNote//

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