The merchant ships didn't even enter Andrew's system and simply asked for the coordinates of the ships they had found, without so much as slowing down.
-So what now?
Andrew asked the merchant.
-Now we wait for the team to do their work.
The Elf answered.
The team from the merchant's guild arrived at the coordinates Andrew provided the next day and immediately got to work.
Since they were merchants, no one dared to interfere with them, and luckily for Andrew, the fleet was found in an unclaimed territory, so there was no one there to find out about his little endeavor to build a relay net outside of the empire.
It didn't take long for the team to investigate the ships.
-I just received a message from the guild.
This is the missing fleet, the investigation confirmed it, and even the number of ships is correct.
Tanera informed everyone a few hours after the investigation team arrived at the fleet's coordinates.
-That's good, I think.
Runir said.
-It's better than just good; now you can claim the whole reward.
The merchant said excitedly, not adding that she would be rewarded as well.
-It's fine, but we still have no idea what the reward is or if we can even collect it.
Andrew said calmly.
-You said yourself that we are not even close to seeing the task list, much less accept one, and we sure as hell didn't accept this one, so it remains to be seen if we can even get anything from this.
-If nothing else, the guild will reward you for finding the fleet.
She said, understanding their lack of enthusiasm.
-I think that keeping this fleet would be more beneficial for us.
Runir said a bit disappointed that she won't have a heavy cruiser flagship for now.
-I told you already that it is impossible, even if the fleet was not the one the guild was looking for, its technology is above tier five, so at best, you would have to send it to the guild for safe keeping until you enter the battleverse, while the most likely scenario would be that the fleet would be confiscated while reimbursing you with credits to cover your loss.
Tanera shook her head while sighing.
-Whatever the case, there is nothing we can do about it now.
Andrew sighed.
-We can always ask Terelen what we can get for this fleet.
He's ship is approaching fast.
Lanarine said the moment she saw the merchant ship on her screen.
Not long later, Andrew greeted the elf in the hangar.
-Damn, you sure know how to make life in the guild interesting.
Terelen said after shaking his friend's hand.
-If you mean the fleet we found, then it was an accident.
-Of course it was, and thanks to this accident, the guild has a hard time deciding what to do about the reward.
They can't simply give it to you, since most of it contains technology above tier five, and you are not even high enough in levels to take on any tasks; on the other hand, they don't want to offend you by denying you the rightful reward, especially since you helped the guild many times in the past and your empire has a very high chances to become powerful even in the battleverse.
It's a mess, and they sent me here to untangle it.
They relocated to the conference room to discuss this matter.
-The problem with the reward is that even if you never accepted the task, there is no doubt that you just accomplished it, which, by the guild's rules, means that you are entitled to the full reward as well as the guild's reward for accomplishing the task.
Terelen explained.
-Alright, I don't see the issue with that.
Andrew said.
-The issue is, that the reward contains technology you simply can't have before entering the battleverse or it would destabilize this whole universe.
Simply put, you would most likely become unstoppable before the invasion ends, and even after that, you would be so much ahead of everyone else that it's not even funny.
Moreover, even if the reward was monetized, the amount of credits you would receive would be astronomical, and that's not even counting the guild's reward, which is already substantial enough to become a problem on its own.
The elf tried to explain without going into details.
-Does the guild have a plan to deal with this issue?
Aelita asked.
-The only ideas the guild came up with are to keep the rewards for you until you enter the battleverse, if you even agree to it, because, as far as I was able to find out, this was never done before, and you have the right to demand the reward you are owed without any delays.
In which case, the guild can't refuse and has to comply whether it likes it or not.
The other idea was to scale down the technology to tier five and expand it to compensate, but it was shot down immediately when we discovered that it would require us to unlock almost ninety percent of tier five technology for you to make the exchange.
The elf said, shaking his head.
-What the hell is this technology that it would require most of the tier five research to compensate for scaling it down?
Andrew asked, after hearing the elf.
-It's a ship, a battleship to be exact, built with tier seven technology.
Terelen said.
In addition to that, the reward also consists of a hundred crystal credits.
Hearing this, everyone gasped, and even his sister looked at him like he had grown another head.
-Are you serious?
Tanera asked after a moment; she needed to process the information.
-Yes, this is a level ten assignment, so the rewards are also generous.
The elf confirmed.
-Even if it's a lot of money and a very powerful ship, it's not like I can take over the galaxy with them, not to mention destabilizing the whole universe.
-Actually, you can.
The elf said seriously.
-This is only the reward from the client; the one from the guild is fifty crystal credits and fifty million credibility points.
Tanera's jaw hit the floor when she heard that.
-This would immediately send him to the fifth level of the market.
She said in shock.
-Yes, and that's why it's such a big problem.
Terelen confirmed.
-You see, to go from level zero to one, you need 5000 points; to go to level two, you need 100000 points; level three requires a million points, and level four needs ten million, while level five requires fifty million points.
The Elf explained.
-Normaly my sister would disclose this information to you after you reached the necessary points to reach the next level, but in this case we can skip that.
The problem is that at the fifth level, you would be able to buy technology and research data from tier five and even some of tier six, to which you should not have access before joining the battleverse.
Add to that the absurd amount of money from the rewards, and you would be capable of buying yourself a fleet that's unstoppable in this universe.
Added with a tier seven battle ship and the capabilities of this shipyard, this is enough to make you invincible, unless you get tangled with a more developed star nation, which, by the way, can only be found in the battleverse.
That's why the guild has no idea how to deal with this situation.
The merchant explained.
Everyone gasped after hearing his explanation.
Andrew needed a long moment to absorb the information, as this was a total shock to him.
-Then let me offer a deal to the guild.
The human finally said.
-Well, it might be a good idea for the guild to hold on to the ship and the reward from the client until we reach the battleverse, especially since I don't want to make the invasion harder on everyone.
As for the reward from the guild, it should be no problem if I received it now, or am I wrong?
-I need to ask the guild if they will agree to this.
Terelen said and immediately took out his tablet and wrote something on it.
It wasn't long before he received an answer.
-The guild is willing to raise your credibility to level 5, but they want to keep the ship and the money until you reach the battleverse.
The elf said after reading the message.
-That's stupid. What good is the access level when I have no money to buy anything?
Andrew said, shaking his head.
-I understand your frustration with this situation, but with this access level, you will be able to take on assignments, and even if you won't be able to simply buy all the technology at tier 5, you will still be able to afford some of them, not to mention that you will be able to trade with more advanced civilizations, making many times more credits than now.
The merchant said, trying to calm the human down as Andrew was getting a bit agitated about the whole thing.
-Besides, it's not like the money and the ship will disappear; you will receive them the moment you are transported to the Battleverse, and even then, this will give you an advantage over the other beginning star nations.
Andrew thought about it for a moment, trying to find a solution that would allow him to retain the money as well, but the only option for that was demanding the whole reward, which might piss off the guild.
Not to mention that the battleship would appear in this universe, giving the invading forces a green light to start using their battleships as well, effectively destroying any chance the rest of the universe had to defend itself from the invading forces.
-Alright, I'll agree to that, but the moment we go to the battleverse, I'd better find my battleship and 150 crystal credits waiting for me.