“Hanging Rock?” Other Gordon asked.
“I’m not offering a quick solution,” Jason said, ignoring Other Gordon. “I can’t really help your people who already use cores. What I can do is show you training techniques to help you to bring up a new wave of people who are stronger than the last, using their powers to the fullest. The other world has been refining their training techniques for thousands of years and I was taught using some of the best methodology for creating powerful essence users there is. I can’t train people as well as the people who trained me, but I can still pass along the lessons I’ve learned. I also have some tricks of my own that should prove useful.”
“You’re willing to train our people up to the standards of the other world?” Nigel asked.
“I won’t say that,” Jason said. “It should be a big improvement, though, based on what I’ve seen. I’ll start with you, since you’ve been trying to reverse engineer the process yourself. I suspect that with some supplemental techniques, you’ll jump forward in leaps and bounds.”
“Can’t you just teach the people already using cores?” Anna asked.
“No,” Jason said. “Cores impede other forms of advancement. Once you go cores, you don’t go back, which is why professional adventurers on the other world don’t use them. They sell them or save them for their families so they can get the benefits of being essence users without putting themselves in danger. Basically, cores are what you give your mum so she doesn’t have to fight monsters.”
“None of this changes the issue of not reaching category four,” Keith said. “You said you have a means to sidestep that problem.”
“If you have sufficiently capable people,” Jason said, “then you don’t need category fours. As I am right now, I could handle most silver-rank monsters alone. Category three, sorry. Don’t you find the number system less evocative and harder to remember? Sorry, I’m digressing. So, I can handle most category threes, and so long as it isn’t out on an open salt flat, I’d be willing to at least try any of them.”
“You’re that confident?” Nigel asked.
“I am,” Jason said. “That doesn’t hold true if you jump it up a rank, though. I don’t expect to do solo takedowns of category-four monsters unless they happen to be very and specifically susceptible to my particular power set. A team of well-trained, silver-rank essence users should be able to handle almost any gold-rank monster, though. It’ll take probably more than half a decade to get there, but if I teach your people the foundational approach, then it should just be a matter of time before they get there themselves. I’m talking just about power use here; I’m sure you have plenty of capable people to instruct them on combat skills.”
“That we have covered, yes,” Nigel said.
“So, that’s what I’m offering,” Jason said. “Everything you need to transform your roster of essence users over the next decade. There are other things, but they’re all secondary. I’m offering you the chance to transform the magical world.”
“You talk about big results,” Other Gordon said. “But you only promise them years in the future. This all sounds like a con.”
“You’re such a politician, Other Gordon. The Network doesn’t need a sound bite solution they can sell to people who aren’t paying that much attention. They need a fundamental change in the underlying infrastructure of how they operate. If they can’t see the value in that, I’m not the one losing out.”
Jason shook his head.
“Your friends here had me kidnapped, Other Gordon, so they don’t get to claim the moral high ground on this one. I’m not making any concessions for the purpose of proving that I’m on the level. You can accept it or not. If you can’t give me what I want, I’m happy to walk away. I’m pretty sure I can get everything I need on my own, just with a little more effort.”
“You won’t find retrieving the other outworlder so easy without us getting them released,” Anna said.
“You’re right,” Jason said. “But the hard way is kind of my thing. You haven’t seen the list of entities who bet against me and lost, Anna. If I have to make a new list here, so be it.”
“Let’s not go making any hasty decisions,” Keith said. “You’re saying you’ll help us rebuild our entire tactical program if we get the other outworlder released?”
“No,” Jason said. “Getting the other outworlder released is what brings me to the table. I’m going to get them and you get to help if you want. You don’t get to ransom them to me.”
“We don’t have this person,” Keith said.
“The man responsible for kidnapping me is sheltering in your headquarters at this very moment. The person who kept him alive is in this room. You’ve got the same letterhead on the official stationery, so don’t try selling me on their part of the Network not being your part of the Network. I had the crap kicked out of me, got collared and shoved into the boot of a car. You should be grateful that I’m not holding you responsible for that.”
“We have wide-ranging concerns that go beyond just you,” Anna said. “We can’t just drop everything and work towards your agenda.”
“I don’t care about you, your problems, or your perspective,” Jason said. “This negotiation isn’t about trading football cards. Your Network is holding a person against their will for no more crime than having something you want. The only reason you’re here negotiating instead of holding me in some shady rendition site is because the people you sent after me were pathetically weak.”
Jason took a floral shirt from behind the bar and slipped it on, buttoning it up as he continued to talk.
“I know I come across as a light-hearted guy, with the lemonade and the sandwiches and the jokes.”
Although his voice remained jovial, there was an undercurrent to it that tickled the hairs on the back of his guests’ necks.
“I recognise that this may have led to you failing to grasp the full gravity of my concern on this matter, so allow me to rectify that. I am going to go to get that outworlder, whoever they are. That’s just a fact. Maybe I’ll die trying, but I’ve died before and it hasn’t stopped me yet. If you help me, then we can put any unpleasantness behind us. If you won’t, but you don’t turn yourselves into obstacles, then okay. It’s your organisation and I can’t expect you to go against your own team. But when I say gods help anyone who gets in my way, I’m being very specific. I know exactly what that means and that it truly is the kind of help you’ll need if you try and stop me.”