Craig, the only swordman among them, refused to give up without a fight. He was defeated, of course. And easily too. But his willingness to fight impressed Bloodhound, who offered him a place in his society.
Despite the slight hiccup from Craig, Loki still won the competition by a landslide. Then the process of joining a society and becoming a disciple of the Four Directions Sect began in earnest.
Because of Loki, 6 out of the 8 forgers among them joined the Rusty Bolts Society. They joined under Loki while Loki joined Tommy.
According to the rules of society, this means that Loki will earn 10% of all that they earn using the forging technique, while Tommy will earn 10% of everything that Loki earns through the forging technique. They even signed a contract in its effect.
When Loki saw this term in the contract, he said to himself, "This can’t be a good sign."
He knew that something fishy was going on since the society appeared to be a pyramid scheme. But he didn’t care about this at all, so he didn’t complain.
His main goal for joining the Rusty Bolts Society is to acquire their forging technique, and he is willing do anything, including selling his soul, to acquire that forging technique. So something like a pyramid scheme couldn’t scare him.
Because he didn’t complain about this suspicious term, the other 6 also didn’t complain. They didn’t know much about pyramid schemes and only thought this was some quirky master and apprehensive agreement.
What gave them pause was the term that said that they had to earn a minimum amount of energy stones through the forging technique per month, one year after they joined the society, failure of which means that they will owe the society the amount they failed to earn, and the sect will be free to use any method to get the money.
But Tommy smiled and said to them, "This term was placed there to prevent lazy people from joining the society, learning our techniques, but refusing to use it to help the society become better."
Tommy’s smile and calm explanation set their minds at peace. Only Loki, who knew that leaders of societies can turn them into raw materials, thought that this term was to turn them into slaves for the society indirectly.
The other six didn’t know how bad things were out in the real world, so they didn’t think they had anything to worry about after Tommy explained it to them like that. They were sure that they weren’t lazy, so they didn’t think they would have any problems meeting this quota.
His suspicions were confirmed when he didn’t see any way to leave the society among the list of terms and conditions. This meant that once they join the sect, they will have to earn a certain amount of money for the society every month for the rest of their lives, of which 10% of what everyone earns will go to the leader of the society, who is sitting comfortably at the top of the pyramid.
On the plus side, the technique is free to learn once they join the society, and they will be taught the techniques starting from the day they join the society.
Tommy made sure to point this out many times. He also said, "You also get one year of practice to master the technique. Where can you get such generous terms?"
Inwardly, Loki scoffed and said, "And they berated Skarg and Slav in my past life for tricking people into slavery. How is this any different?"
He didn’t complain, though. He behaved like an obedient fool and signed the contract, which brought a large smile to Tommy’s face.
Tommy was so happy that he shook his hand vigorously as he said, "Welcome to the Rusty Bolts Society. From today onwards, we are brothers."
He even opened up to Loki, saying, "When I first met you, I didn’t like you. But now that you’ve joined my society, I feel that I was lucky to encounter you."
Loki’s eye twitched, and rude words tugged at his lips in a bid to escape into the world. But he controlled himself and smiled at Tommy as he said, "When I first met you, I thought you were a hardcore liar who would use any opportunity to cheat me. But now that I’ve joined the Rusty Bolts Society, I’m sure that I was mistaken."
His words were so heartfelt that even the ever shameless Tommy felt uncomfortable keeping up the charade.
Of course, he had cheated Loki, so Loki was right to think that he was a hardcore liar who would always find a way to cheat. This made him want to instinctively lie and say that he never cheats, but he didn’t do that, as that might expose that he had a guilty conscience.
Instead, he smiled at Loki and said, "Surely, you jest."
He had a phone smile on his face while inwardly, he thought to himself, "Just you wait, kid. Wait for the weight of the world to come crashing down on you. Let’s see how you can be smug then."
Then he changed the subject and said, "Let’s go and register you as members of the sect. It is heat that we get through everything as soon as possible."
Loki followed his lead and went to the registration center. He quickly filled out the form he needed to fill out, received the signature of the vice leader of the society, signed, and then submitted his form.
Then the sect gave him the unique mark that had been attached to his existence and would remain through death. The other six also did this. This certified them as permanent members of the Four Directions Sect. Then the weight of the harshness of the world came crashing down.
The reality of the harshness of the world came crashing down when they saw that they owed the sect 100,000 energy stones and had to pay the sect 1,000 energy stones every month until all the 100,000 energy stones were repaid.