My Three Vampire Queens In The Apocalypse-Chapter 26: Black... I mean Green Gold!

The whole negotiation might have looked easy. But it was anything but that. One small mistake, one misplaced word, was all it needed for Spectre to separate my head and body.

Hosts couldn’t kill. They were bound by [Starline]. But if they found sufficient reason, then at times they could be stronger than constellations themselves.

If I didn’t know about [WOMD], the contract and favourable terms would have been impossible to achieve.

Still, I did it with surprising calm, which was crazy now that I think about it. I never succeeded in any big contracts in ’real life’.

[The exclusive skill, ’Dream Boundary’, is in use.]

After closing the deal, I still had a few things left to do. Thankfully, I could now access the ’Scenario Shop’ whenever I wanted.

I bought two empty glass jars and a dagger, both of which appeared in front of me out of thin air. Taking slow, careful steps, I made my way toward the Titanoboa’s massive head.

"Alright... let’s see how tough you really are."

I raised the dagger and brought it down.

Slash!

Or at least, that was what I wanted to happen.

Instead, the blade bounced off like I had just hit solid metal. I stared at it for a second.

"...You’ve got to be kidding me."

This damn snake’s hide was absurdly tough. My dagger had not even left a scratch.

I clicked my tongue and swung again, this time putting more strength behind it. Then again. And again.

Each strike sent vibrations up my arm, and each one barely made any difference.

"This is ridiculous..."

Still, I did not stop.

I kept slashing, over and over, forcing my tired body to move despite the lingering pain. Sweat mixed with the slime and fluids coating the corpse, sticking to my skin in the most disgusting way possible.

But I endured it.

Even as my breathing grew heavier and my arms started to ache, I continued hacking at the same spot like a madman.

"If this doesn’t open soon, I swear..."

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a faint crack appeared, followed by another.

CRACK!

The hardened surface gave way, splitting open as a thick green liquid burst out like a pressurized fountain.

My eyes widened.

"No! No! My black gold can’t go to waste!"

I quickly shoved one of the jars forward, catching the liquid before it could spill across the ground.

...Alright, fine, it was green, not black, but that did not make it any less valuable.

This was the Titanoboa’s poison.

Here’s a Fun fact. Titanoboas produced one of the most potent poisons in existence, yet due to a strange quirk of their biology, they lacked the proper ducts to deliver it through their fangs. In other words, they carried a deadly weapon they could not even use.

It was tragic for them and incredibly profitable for me.

I carefully filled both jars to the brim, making sure not to waste even a single drop. My movements were slow and deliberate, my full attention focused on collecting every bit of the precious liquid.

Because if I lost even a drop of this...

I would genuinely have nightmares about it for the next month.

***

After collecting everything, I made my way back to the shore. Thankfully, there were no more Titanoboas nearby waiting to give me backshots mid-swim.

[The constellation ’Ten-Headed Saint-Like Demon’ is sad seeing you safe. He asks you to swim for an hour more.]

[A few constellations agree to his suggestion.]

I clicked my tongue. The constellations clearly were not happy that I had survived, but this time, luck was finally on my side.

"Sponsor me ten thousand coins, and I will do it."

I said it casually, not expecting anything. And the silence followed. Not a single message appeared, which meant none of them was ready to pay up.

"Tch... cheap bastards."

It was not like they could not afford it. Constellations like Loki or Athena belonged to powerful [Houses] and had personal wealth that easily reached into the millions. Spending ten thousand coins was nothing to them.

They just did not want to. Entertainment was only fun as long as it was cheap.

Just as I was about to ignore them, a message suddenly appeared.

[The constellation ’Forgotten Shore’ is considering your request.]

Before I could even react, another notification popped up.

[A new sub-scenario has appeared.]

+

Scenario: A Swim Never Hurts

Type: Sub-scenario

Difficulty: E

Goal: Swim for an hour in the Potomac River

Compensation: 10,000 coins

Failure: None

+

[Would you like to accept the sub-scenario?]

"FUCK NO!"

The words came out instantly.

"That was supposed to be a joke... what the hell is wrong with this guy?"

I stared at the screen, slightly speechless. There was a reason the other constellations had stayed quiet, and it was not just because they were stingy.

Well... not only because of that. The real reason was something far more important.

Probability.

In this world, everything was governed by it.

It was not a person, not exactly a god either, but more like an absolute law that even constellations had to obey. It dictated what was "reasonable" and what was "too much" within the flow of a scenario.

You could think of it as the balance of the story itself.

If something small happened, it barely consumed any probability. If something big happened, the cost rose sharply. And if something completely absurd happened, then the price became so high that even powerful constellations would hesitate.

For example, if a constellation gave me ten coins right now, no one would care. It was insignificant. It fit naturally within the flow of events.

But ten thousand coins? That was a different story.

At this stage of the scenario, I was supposed to be a poor miser, not a young master with a personal treasury. Suddenly handing me that much wealth would tilt the balance too far in my favour. It would make me stronger than I was supposed to be, which would make the story ’boring’ for the constellations.

Who would see a story with no stakes? No one.

And probability did not like that.

To force something like donating 10,000 coins to happen, a constellation had to "pay" with their own probability, essentially bending the rules of the world. The more unrealistic the action, the more probability it consumed.

Give a weak incarnation a small boost? Cheap.

Give them a massive advantage early on? Expensive.

Completely break the scenario? Astronomically costly.

That was why most constellations stayed silent. They wanted entertainment, but not at the cost of their own resources. Even they had a limited amount of probability, they could spend.

Of course... they were still stingy! I would die on that hill.

But this ’Forgotten Shore’...

This guy did not seem to care at all. Which meant one of two things. Either he was ridiculously rich...

Or he simply wanted to see me getting chased by large snakes the size of ships, really badly.

Now that I thought about it... who exactly was this guy?