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Chapter 6 - Opportunities -

Having gone through the store somewhat quickly Felix had done what he’d meant to. He had a fair idea on pricing of good and objects for this world.

That and a better understanding of what this place was.

It was a commission store for local goods. From produce, to socks, and all the way out to infused sesame seed oil, surprisingly enough.

Everything was slightly more expensive than his own world, but nothing he couldn’t simply attribute to inflation. They weren’t soaring sky-high numbers that’d push on the population as far as he could tell.

Well, that assumes salaries are keeping pace.

Given my own history that’s rather unlikely. At least if this world really is much more like my own, that is.

“Gro-Felix,” Faith murmured, coming right up next to him. He hadn’t even noticed her approach. She seemed excited and was giving him a wide grin. “You were right. There’s a dump spot that people throw things out. An old poultry farm. No one likes the owner so they don’t care.

“But there’s also a local dump point that’s set up at irregular intervals. A company is paid to come and pick it all up. They’re due to come but no one’s heard anything about it yet.”

Ah.

Well, that works I suppose.

Then… we’ll use one, leverage the other on a sweet-heart deal, and look like the local helper. So long as we don’t ask to be paid for the city drop off point it’ll be fine.

They’d want information I don’t have, I imagine.

I mean… they likely have something a lot like a National Social Number, just not named the same thing. It’ll tie into taxes and gives everyone a digital identity.

“You have a plan,” stated Faith, her smile growing larger if that were possible. “I can see it all over your face. You get this… it’s a certain look. It’s always there.

“Especially if it’s a plan you like. It looks like you really like this plan, too.”

“He loves this plan,” countered Miu, watching him as well. Then her hand twitched and her fingers curled up into his. Holding to him tightly as if he might pull away now. “He’s even s-smiling a little.”

“I… yes. I do. Now… one last bit of information before we go,” admitted Felix and then moved over to the shop-counter.

A woman with brown hair and dark-blue eyes looked up from her work. She had been doing what looked like inventory to Felix.

“Hi, I’m sorry to bother you, but we’re really new to the area. We stopped by here on our way home and… well, it’s looking a lot better. A while back we came through and it looked a lot worse for wear,” lied Felix, smiling at the other woman. He did his best to lean on what charm and grace he had in this. He imagined that whoever would run a place called the local would be all for the area. They’d likely hire people who felt the same way. “I was wondering who’s in charge of the change. Or maybe someone not being in charge anymore as sometimes is the case.”

The woman smiled brightly and nodded her head, then laughed as Felix finished talking. She gave a small shake of her head and gestured toward the window behind her.

“You know, you’re not the first person to say that!” exclaimed the woman. “As to why, it’s our new mayor. His name is Jordan Johnson. He’s really helped turn it around for us.”

“Well, that’s gotta be worth a congratulations then. Any chance you have a way I can let him know the changes were noticed? Card? Phone number? Council number?” asked Felix as he leaned up against the counter. He was doing his best to keep it all simple and above board. He didn’t need the woman remembering much more than someone complimented the town.

“You know I do, actually. I’m on the town council!” gushed the woman. She reached down below the counter and pulled out a purse. She rifled through it for several seconds and then held out a card to him. “There ya go. I usually throw a couple in just in case. I mean, you never know, right?”

Felix took the card, nodded his head, and grinned at the woman. He pointed the card at the woman while still nodding.

“You’re absolutely right. Thanks for this. Have a nice day, alright?” Felix offered as a goodbye. Turning he went to exit the store. Faith and Miu in tow.

Next stop.

Grouchy farmer.

***

The walk to the farm had taken longer than Felix had anticipated. Several hours longer, in face.

The problem had become that walking the road would have made them visible. A spectacle to anyone driving past who might offer a helping hand.

Once again, Felix really wanted to leave as little of an impression behind as possible. The days of taking headlines, being the “business in charge”, and generally making Legion well known, were over.

This is going to suck.

These boots aren’t broken in and I’m not used to walking through fields and forests. I don’t even want to know what my feet look like.

Smirking to himself, Felix looked to the door of the farm ahead of himself. It’d be worth it if they could just get permission to clear the fields.

On the way past the dump spot Felix had noted there was a lot of things in there. A lot of appliances that were made out of metals and materials that were still valuable.

Regardless of them working, they could still generate a number of points for him. On top of all that, he’d noticed an abandoned truck amongst the trash.

If they could get that back to the field they could work on restoring it. It’d be a way for them to move about the city with relative ease.

Not to mention cart away trash and other objects they found to break into points.

Well, so long as we get the appropriate paperwork and whatever else there is. Still a lot to learn. Almost too much.

Lily handled getting all of this taken care of for our offworld recruits. Yet here I am, an offworld recruit.

Faith was currently in the field where everything had been dumped. Felix was betting on what they’d learned about the farmer that being direct was best. Direct, without guile, and leaving it open to the man.

Faith would be too pretty and cause issues.

Miu was retrieving Goldie and Andrea so they could all meet up here. He’d need their help to get everything sorted out and then dismantled. They wouldn’t be able to work during the day on this, but would have to work in the dark.

Otherwise people might see what was going on.

Which meant even if he got permission it’d still take some time for everyone to get here.

Knocking on the door twice with a firm hand Felix took a step back and put his hands behind himself. Looking around he noticed that there was a camera facing the front of the home.

The last thing he wanted to do was show up on a camera feed, but this wasn’t something he could dodge. Getting permission to turn all that junk to points was paramount.

“What?” came a loud voice from what sounded like the camera.

Taking another step back, Felix looked up to the camera where he was fairly positive the voice had come from. It apparently served as a intercom as well.

“I’d like to clean up all the trash in your field,” offered Felix without any preamble.

“All that trash? Why?” demanded the male voice.

“Because it’s a terrible mess and I can recycle some of it for coin,” answered Felix. It was an honest reason and also an optimistic one.

People were always more than willing to accept an answer that was self motivated and optimistic. It was almost always easier than the opposite, or too good to be true.

Optimism is fatal.

“Can’t pay you,” once more came the angry voice.

“Pay what you can when I’m done. If it’s nothing, it’s nothing,” Felix argued with a shake of his head. “I think you’ll find it worth some money though. Or maybe something else in trade.

“But I won’t ask for anything up front. That just wouldn’t be right. I’ll be by tomorrow morning so you can see the work I did.

“That is, if I have permission to clear the trash? All the junk and debris that doesn’t belong?”

There was no immediate response from the camera. Leaving Felix to stand there, staring into the lens and feeling rather uncomfortable with that.

If this all failed, he’d just leave and never show up in front of this man again. If it became a real issue they’d just pack up and go to another city.

Felix wanted to at least stay in this area for a little while and clean out all the trash. There was no sense rushing about if they didn’t have to.

“Fine,” said the voice and offered nothing more.

Perfect. That’s all I need.

Turning, Felix left quickly. He just needed to wait for nightfall and the others to arrive, then it’d be time to get to work.

Looking to the horizon, he realized he had only an hour or two to kill before sunset. Chances were that the others wouldn’t get there till just after that given the distance.

Then a sudden thought made him wince.

Shit.

I’m going to be alone with Faith for a few hours.

Let’s hope that fear of being susceptible to her as a grove was false.

***

Goldie, Miu, and Andrea weren’t far away now. Faith had told him so.

That the trees had spread the word of their coming long before they would arrive. Apparently the forest was quite happy to have a Dryad with a grove in the area.

Felix was quite happy for the timing because he’d been wrong.

Terribly wrong.

He wasn’t just susceptible to Faith’s magic, he was at it’s mercy.

Except so was Faith.

Her eyes had dilated wide and started glowing the moment he got close to her.

After that it’d become a blur as Faith started a never-ending challenge to see how many times they could couple before the others arrived. Felix had only barely recovered from that a few minutes ago.

“Andrea’s going to smell it and tell Miu,” worried Felix.

“That’s fine. I’ll just offer you in exchange to both of them tonight. I’ll act as the power source,” Faith dismissed with a flick of a pretty wrist. “And if they’re mad… fine. It was worth it. So worth it.

“I’ve never really Greened out like that before. It was amazing. Even better than our first time as Grove and Dryad.”

“Uh huh,” grumbled Felix.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t enjoyed himself.

The problem was he was trying to balance a bunch of crazy people on what felt like the edge of a knife. Any small mistake could end up with him with a tent-full of problems.

“Oh, well, Andie is almost—”

Andrea appeared through the trees in a whirlwind of speed. She was head down sprinting right at him.

“Oh, that figures,” muttered Felix before Andrea took him clean off his feet and sent him skidding across the grass.

“Dear! I’m so glad to see you! I missed you!” squealed Andrea as she began rubbing her face all over him. Her entire body being wriggled around atop of him. “Mm, you smell good, Darling. Like sex and earth. I like it.”

With a grunt, Felix just put his arms around Andrea and held to her. This was the expected reaction if he hadn’t seen her in a while. She tended to get pent up like a shaken can of soda.

“Hi, Andie. Ana. Ria. Others. I’m glad to see all of you,” Felix murmured and just held onto the Beastkin. He’d long ago discovered greeting her as multiple people always helped to get the edge off her. He imagined it tended to make all of them go wild inside her head at the same time.

“Love, we’re all fine. Thank you for asking,” said Andrea in a throaty voice that sounded more like Myriad. “I… we just missed you. Everything is fine. I promise.”

“Thank you, Ria,” Felix said, guessing to who was speaking. He felt like it was fairly easy to spot who it was. “Make sure you take care of your sisters in there. They need you to steady them. You’re the Prime of Primes once upon a time. Be that for them.”

“I… yes. I will, Love. I promise,” Andrea said, then pressed her face into his neck. “I want to tear your clothes off, Darling. I need to scent you.”

“Later, Ana, work to do for now,” promised Felix, noticing the speaker had changed once again. He just kept rubbing her back as he held her.

Above him, Miu and Goldie appeared.

“Ladies. We’ve got permission. Let’s get to it, shall we? I want to go take a look at that truck first while you all start sorting everything else. Heavy for deconstruction, fragile appliances and items to see if we want them, and trash for trash. Is that alright?” asked Felix. “If not, we can rearrange it to something else.”

“I’ll handle the large items,” stated Goldie with a grin that showed off her perfect teeth. Her golden eyes swung toward Faith. “You can assist me, little miss Nymph and in between start carrying the trash.”

“I promise to help his stamina later for you all,” Faith said defensively and held up her hands in front of herself.

Goldie didn’t respond to that but turned to look to Miu.

Faith got the hint and started moving off toward the field. Apparently Goldie was trying to play goal-keeper for him at the moment.

“Please handle the delicate stuff? You have the steadiest hands and I know Felix would personally appreciate you doing that. Wouldn’t you, Felix?” asked Goldie.

He didn’t miss the prompt from the Dragon.

“Of course. I would appreciate my Miu doing that. She’s been such a good listener lately. It’s really impressive,” confessed Felix. He was trying to do it in a way that didn’t sound patronizing, but with Miu, that kind of tone worked.

“Yes, I’ll do it,” demanded Miu who turned and rushed off toward the dumping field.

“Andie, you need to go watch and make sure no one else is nearby. Do you think you can split yet?” asked Goldie.

“I… I don’t… yes. I can split. I can have two others go out. No more than that,” whispered Andrea, nuzzling her face all over Felix’s neck.

“Please tell the Others thank you, and I’d really like to express my thanks in person,” asked Felix. “So no combining till I get to hug them, and kiss them. They came on a dangerous mission just for me. I want to reward them.”

“I-that is-err… well, Ria and Ana can come out, too,” added Andrea in an almost uneasy tone. It sounded like she didn’t really want to split.

“Andie, Ana, Ria, if you don’t want to split. Don’t. Stay joined. If you have two Others who are willing, that’s all we need,” suggested Felix. “One for the farm house, one for the road, one with us. That’d be fine.”

“Nn. We’ll do that, dear. Thank you for understanding, Love,” grumbled Andrea without pulling away from him. “It’s a very good suggestion, Darling.”

Before he could really think on any of that, two Others jumped out of Andrea and went off at a dead sprint. They didn’t linger or stick around, but were off in a flash. Running in different directions.

Hm.

Something odd there.

She’ll hide it till it’s too much. I’ll just have to corner her tomorrow at some point. Or maybe tonight.

We need to make sure she knows it’s coming.

“Andie, Ana, Ria. We’ll talk about it later,” Felix said in as soft a voice as he could. His eyes were on Goldie. He knew he didn’t have to tell her to say nothing.

She’d see it in his thoughts and tell him what was going on later.

“I… okay. Yes. You… was it obvious?” asked Andrea, sounding spent. Exhausted but comfortable.

“Only to me. I know my Elex women, after all. Now, get off me. We need to get to work,” requested Felix with a playful swat to Andrea’s rear end. “Scoot the booty.”

Andrea sniffled, nodded her head, then got off him. Moving off to the field he imagined. He didn’t get to look at her face, but he imagined it was extremely tear stained.

Something was wrong, he just didn’t know what yet.

He had a suspicion though.

“They’re merging, aren’t they?” Felix asked getting to his feet, but only after Andrea was far enough away to not hear him.

“Yes. That’s what it seems like,” answered the Dragon. She was watching him. “Her thoughts were more highly defined when we first got here. As more time goes on, the thoughts are merging and becoming… singular.

“She doesn’t want to separate because she’s already aware of what’s happening. The Third of every Elex in the old world is… becoming a new Elex.”

Nodding his head, that was more like what Felix suspected was happening. It was as Runner had warned him. He didn’t bring the other Elex girls for that reason.

The fact that she brought Others from the other Elex sisters had made him a little uneasy. He’d wondered if there would be an issue with it.

Apparently there was.

Sounds like maybe I’ll need to spend my first batch of points on making sure she’s unique. Just like I did for Adriana and Myriad.

“Probably. Along with hiding her tail and ears. She’s far more sensitive to not being with you, Nest-mate,” Goldie said in a soft rumble. She’d snuck up next to him and had ducked her head low. One of her horns rubbed up to the side of his head as she began to hold onto him as Andrea had. “I can wait to hide my horns and ears longer than she can, but I do need some care.”

Checking a sigh and blanking his thoughts, other than to think of how nice it was to hold such a beautiful Dragon in his arms, Felix held onto her. Standing there, he held, and was held.

It took three or four minutes for Goldie to release him so they could go get to work. He didn’t begrudge her it.

Everyone was here for him and what his goals were. It cost him nothing to help fulfill whatever goals and needs they had.

Moving right to the abandoned truck, Felix attempted to call up the owner’s window for it. To see if he could deconstruct it to absolutely nothing and what points he would get for it.

Not to actually do it, but to just see what he would get for it.

He imagined it this way must as he had done for so many other things with his power. To shape it with his need.

Additionally, he truly believed this truck was fair game. That his power would most certainly work on it.

Because it was abandoned property on a piece of land that gave him permission to remove it. There was no technical owner, other than the old farmer who didn’t want it.

A window popped up in front of him.

“Perfect,” Felix said to no one and then slapped the roof of the truck. “I’m going to be able to fit so much trash into this bad boy.

“Though… first we need to see how much it’ll cost to fix it. So… I claim this vehicle as mine. And…”

Felix’s voice trailed off as he called up the window to repair the vehicle into working, street-legal, order.

It didn’t have to be perfect, just enough that it’d work without immediately dying or falling apart.

Nothing happened.

Ah, I didn’t specify a time.

Enough points so that it’d run for two years at least without issues. That includes any and all fluids it would require to start up as well as a key for the ignition.

And to be clear, this is all so built into that two year date.

Oh, and it’d be street legal. As well as changing the colors. Orange and white is very not this century. Nor is it subtle.

A matte black or flat black would be preferable.

A window appeared immediately.

“There it is,” Felix gleefully chirped and began rubbing his hands together. Only to pat the top of the truck several times. This was the actual starting point. “Let’s… accept. Then we can start loading the truck with all our treasures we want to keep. Scrap the rest.

“And we’ll name you. Because BB150 is certainly not what I’m calling you. You… you’re F-Two. Felix two. The ugly little bastard that we’re going to rebuild off of. Just as ugly and nasty as your owner. Aren’t ya?”


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