Chapter 439 - Far Future Ch. 149 – Mark Your Answer Down... (1/2)
”You have a way in and out of the Gloom,” he pressed, and I nodded.
”I could open a Portal into and out of the Gloom right here,” I stated calmly, alarming them all. ”Actually, I think that would be marvelous. We could trade back and forth relatively easy with this place as an anchor point. It would only last for a minute or two at a time, but a significant number of people and objects can be transferred in that time.”
He turned to look at the elders, who looked very thoughtful, indeed.
”What manner of things would you offer in trade?”
”What do you need?” I replied easily enough.
”Food. Weapons. Clothing,” he ticked off instantly.
”You probably won't like the food, but it'll be edible. Weapons, easily done. Clothing, simplicity. Manufactured goods, easy enough. But really, that's not an appropriate swap if you are guiding us to Portal points. Knowledge should be swapped for knowledge.”
”That... is true.”
”Do you have any products other than the shadowfire that you can trade? I will say that Shadow-imbued ores or plants can fetch a fine price in trade, and you can literally list out what you are looking for.”
There was definitely eagerness in their eyes. ”There are some things that you might be interested in,” Shadowknife murmured. ”What manner of knowledge?”
”Pretty much all of it.”
He blinked. ”What?”
I tapped the Marks on my waist. ”Gaining a Mark gets you telepathic access to all other people tied to a Mark, if a Hag relays it. In short, you can talk with hundreds of thousands of others, and if they don't mind, see through their eyes. You can potentially learn anything and everything they are willing to let you.
”Psionic techniques, disciplines.
”Void Brother studies and awareness.
”Mental and physical disciplines, skills, fighting tricks.
”Skills of all kinds, from crafting to conceptual.
”Pretty much anything and everything you might want to learn, it's all there ready and waiting for you.”
They were kind of staring at me. They could just reach out and talk to... anyone? Of course, the key catch...
”But we would have to be Marked.” He eyed the subliminally glowing and very powerful to his touch Marks around my waist.
”Yes.”
”There are extremely subtle and powerful energies upon those Marks.”
”There most definitely is,” I agreed. ”Being able to speak with someone else at any distance and even across planes is not at all a weak effect.”
”And we could speak this way with one another?”
”YES,” all four of us said together, and we all winked at him. The hyn all flinched. ”It is extremely useful in combat,” I went on. ”Furthermore, everyone gains access to The Map.”
”The Map...” he repeated.
”A record of where everyone with a Mark has been; visual, material, personal. I can go anywhere any of my daughters or our followers have been with perfect confidence, as it is all laid out in The Map.”
He blinked at me again, at the Marks. ”And... these Marks provide a benefit on top of this?” He was amazed.
”Yes. If your people can Level up, they can tolerate more Marks. You are restricted to one, unfortunately... but the Void Brothers get other benefits, so it's hardly a loss on your end.”
There was a period of silence. ”This offer sounds too good to be true.” He couldn't simply put down his suspicions and paranoia in this place.
”Well, it's true, and it's too good, so I disagree and agree at the same time. In all honesty, you can't pay us what it is worth. But then, nobody can, and we've been giving it to a lot of people, and in return, they all have made it as awesome as it is.” I shrugged. ”I'm not going to force it upon you. But I will say that we have found no downsides to having a Mark... except those people that think having a Mark is a Very Bad Thing, largely because they don't have one of their own.”
”How much control would we have over this... Mark?” he had to ask.