The Martial Unity

While the mutual-aid agreement was rather smoothly settled, it was ultimately low-hanging fruit. It was not one of the more contentious avenues of discourse that Rui would need to delicately mediate.

"With that, the Martial Union's remaining important interests in the partnership with the Silas Clan are their prophetic services," Rui began. "The Silas Clan's remaining interests are longevity potions, which are not strictly required from the Martial Union, and Martial Art resources, including but not limited to techniques, training and growth resources, Squire evolution breakthrough procedures, etc. Is this a fair assessment of the remaining primary interests of both parties?"

The four Martial Sages nodded wordlessly.

"I am not too keen on my clan selling prophetic services," Matriarch Nephi narrowed her eyes. "The prophecy technique drains our lifespan. Frankly, no amount of currency is worth it."

"That is understandable," The Mountain of Fortitude gently nodded. "However, our intelligence sources have indicated that you yourself are not subject to this price. Is that correct?"

"…It is true that I do not suffer from it, yes."

"In that case, we are willing to procure prophetic services from you alone," the Flickering Elder continued. "Naturally, you shall be remunerated on the basis of your status as a Martial Sage and the value of the services you are providing. We hope that you will be open to trading your services. You can rest assured that the rest of the ten of us also engage in such services."

"…I am open to the prospects in return for equally valuable resources."

"We can offer you enough wealth to buy nations."

"I care not for wealth," Matriarch Nephi snorted. "My prophecies are strategically game-changing. In return for them, I want a similar supply of longevity potions for my clan."

"…That can be arranged for," the Mountain of Fortitude nodded. "It's a reasonable exchange of goods and services. The only question is how we can determine an exchange rate. It is difficult to quantify the value of prophecy."

Prophecy was information. It did not have a monetary cost of production. Thus, its baseline value could not be estimated with a profit margin. There was no easy solution to valuing it.

Fortunately, Rui had sharply foreseen this problem well ahead of time, having arrived at a solution.

"It's simple," Rui remarked calmly. "We can use a hypothetical differential system to evaluate the losses suffered by the Martial Union had Matriarch Nephi's prophecy. For instance, if Matriarch Nephi foresees a tsunami from the Great Nam Ocean and ultimately prevents it with the Martial Masters prepared for the event, we can estimate the damage it would have done, damage that would not have been prevented by Matriarch Nephi's prophecy and evaluate the capital loss suffered as a result. Matriarch Nephi will be entitled to half of that capital, which can be used to estimate how many longevity potions she has earned."

It was not straightforward and would be complicated and tricky, but it got to the heart of the value of prophecy. Indeed, the value of prophecy was in its power to prevent undesirable unforeseen circumstances and manifest desirable circumstances.

"…That sounds extremely complicated, Senior Rui," the Mountain of Fortitude raised an eyebrow. "How would you go about evaluating hypothetical loss, and who would be responsible."

"There exist modeling methodologies; in addition, the information from Matriarch Nephi's prophecy is powerful. We can cooperate and deliberate to figure out the value. I can have my faction whip up a team dedicated just to representing Matriarch Nephi in this regard."

Rui knew that the Silas Clan had no ability to competently deliberate in this regard due to their lack of conventional education and knowledge. Thus, he was more than willing to put qualified teams in charge to handle each case and ensure that his grandmother was not short-changed.

"…That is an acceptable arrangement," the Flickering Elder thoughtfully considered. "It won't always be easy to come to an agreement on the value of a prophecy."

"I'm sure we'll manage, Your Sagehood."

Rui didn't think that the Martial Union would try to use this to exploit his grandmother; it was an extremely foolish move.

His grandmother would simply stop selling her prophetic power to the Martial Union if she was being short-changed. In fact, she might choose to direct her services to other parts of the nation, such as the Kandrian Border Patrol Force or Kandrian Security Agency or the military.

This was an extremely undesirable outcome for the Martial Union. They needed to keep Matriarch Nephi happy; otherwise, she had no qualms about never selling to them again.

"I, too, am satisfied with this particular manner of evaluation," she nodded. "I shall entrust the matter to you, my grandson."

"Rest assured that I will handle it," Rui reassured her. "With that, we have fulfilled all of the Martial Union's interests and objectives regarding their partnership with the Silas Clan. On the other hand, the Silas Clan has one remaining final interest which is the Martial Union's Martial Art resources."

He turned towards his grandmother. "The Martial Union has fulfilled its objectives; thus it will be up to you to provide an offer in return for their vast Martial Art resources."

"How does one normally procure them?" She asked, turning to Rui.

"By exchanging Martial Credits that can only be earned through Martial Art commissions or through special agreements," Rui replied. "As someone who has spent much of his lower Realms in the Martial Union's system, I can assure you that the Martial Union offers plenty of opportunity for redeeming its resources. The system is designed such that as long as a Martial Apprentice, Squire, or Senior works hard, they can continue gaining a reasonable amount of resources from the Martial Union through the Martial Credits that they have earned."

"Hm," she narrowed her eyes. "And this extends all the way to the Upper Realms?"

"It does, matriarch," the Mountain of Fortitude calmly reassured. "There is a reason that the Martial Union has managed to retain such high partnership with all the Martial Artists associated with us."