Global Awakening: Monster Taming Necromancer

"That's none of our business," Litha replied quickly. "We already told you we are not interested in joining you."

Jael nodded, but he knew it must be more than that. Thayer isn't one to beat a dead horse.

And as expected it was. Thayer brought out a map from his ring and spread it on the table. "This is Calan, the town where you are currently. The zones here are spread to the east but what lies after the zones? Which lands?"

Litha looked at Jael, and he shrugged. 'They might as well heard the guy out. It's not like they can just throw him out

Thayer continued. "The wastelands. It's a place mostly devoid of mana and far from active towns. If you go a bit deeper in, then you'll see some zones scattered around, but they are not full of valuable resources, but non-affiliated Awakeners compete over them."

"If they are not so valuable why are you here and talking about it? Something must have changed." Jael said.

Thayer grinned. "You bet. Zones are caused by the build-up of mana concentrating in one place, right? But this is the wastelands with little mana, so it should lack good zones.

"But that's wrong. Powerful and unique zones are found most in the wastelands." He said with glee.

"How?" Litha demanded. If there's no build of mana, then how will space be rented to create zones?

"Most wastelands in the Tower contain ruins of a civilization that existed before different beings started to climb the Tower. Very Very little is known about them but we do know they are powerful and have great weapons.

"How the zones are created in the wastelands is still mostly unknown, but once in a while, strong zones will appear in the wastelands. The explanation available for now is that there's a build-up of mana inside the ruins that triggers the manifestation of such zones. And since they manifest inside lost ruins like that....."

"The resources and benefits are great." Jael finished. He didn't know where he was going exactly, but he liked it so far.

"And dangerous." Litha finished flatly but a glint shone in her eyes.

"Yes and yes!" Thayer pointed at the two of them. "But you are missing the most important thing. Taking control of such a zone! You can mine precious stones and metals. Farm different monsters not to talk of renting out. It's an unexplored gold mine.

Uncut gem that I want."

Litha grudgingly agreed with him. "But why are you saying all this when you know we can't have it? If such a zone exists, then it already has an owner right now."

"Wrong," Thayer raised his hand and took a sip from his cup.

Jael's stomach growled as the smell of fried meat and noodles came from the kitchen. Fortunately for him, Temur came out with a tray that was filled with seven plates.

"Do you eat noodles, rich kids?"

Thayer smiled. "I eat anything that makes me keep going. And the smell from that.."

It seems Jael and his friends are not the only ones hungry because the others also wolfed down their food as fast as they could.

"Temur. If you ever get tired of climbing, then you can ping me; I'll open a big restaurant for you. Business partners." Thayer sighed and leaned back on his seat after he finished his food.

Temur gave it more thought than Jael expected. "We'll see about that."

Litha packed the used plates back. When she came back, she demanded answers from Thayer.

"Ah yes. You said the zones will have already been snatched up but you are wrong. There's a lot to owning a zone. You should know who actually owns each floor of the Towers– generally, it belongs to original floor owners, but that changes when you conquer the floor."

Litha glanced at the confused face of Jael. "Each Dungeon Tower floors have owners, and the first time you climb the Tower, floor owners are the last boss you must fight before you climb, but now all the floors up to 52 have been conquered."

Jael did the calculation. "That means all the original owners have been beaten to 52 floors."

"Exactly. Two things happen when a floor is conquered. The original floor owner either surrendered or killed. In each case, the new ownership will turn over to the conquers." Thayer explained.

"You mean the floors belong to people now?"

"Yes, but it's not as simple. When the climbing of the floors first began, there were sponsors from different worlds who sent their representatives, and no single Tower was conquered alone. So ownership doesn't belong to one Guild or person." Thayer replied.

"That's not true," Litha shook her head. "There are floors which belong to single beings but they are not many."

Thayer continued. "Well, you're right. But why am I explaining all this? The ownership of zones is complicated. You can buy lands from the owners of a floor, and if you are lucky and zones manifest, then good for you. I know that much."

"So people target lands where they thought zones might appear." Litha nodded to herself.

"You are right Litha dear," he ignored her glare. "There's some artifacts to determine if there's a high possibility of zones appearing in some lands. Such lands are valued higher. But what if the zone appears in an unclaimed territory?

"Then technically, it belongs to the floor owner, but since there are lots of alliances and complications with being floor owners, there's a simple solution to it– bidding.

"Everyone interested in the new zone will bid for the right to claim it and it's really expensive. But if your bid is successful, then you can form a team and go to the zone with other team to claim it. The first group to claim it will then start bargaining with the floor owners."

Jael blinked. How many complications go into owing zones? He didn't think that it was that damn complicated. Well, that's for Guilds and organizations to worry about.

Thayer smiled. "Lucky for me. Three new unclaimed zones have appeared in the wastelands. And I've won bid for there three of them."