Chapter 257: A carrot and a stick

8th floor — in the mining caves

Joshua slammed his pickaxe against the rocks, his body already feeling on the verge of collapse thanks to exhaustion. Still, he couldn't stop, not yet...

He vaguely remembered his life there years ago, before he entered the tower. He thought awakening was a sign of good luck, and that his insect master system would make him really powerful.

But now, at most, he controlled a few flies to look around the cave and make sure he hadn't forgotten to take anything. Unfortunately for him, on the 8th floor, there were no powerful insects for him to control.

And with no useful skill, the only way for him to earn some money was mining at a mine that had long passed its prime output. Finding a single soul crystal, or even a less valuable mineral, had become extremely rare.

Still, at least he could always collect the abundant amount of Clackt rock there, a greenish mineral that was not worth much, but was used in a good amount of low level potions.

Tired, Joshua began collecting everything he found and storing it in his dimensional ring. He had been forced to take a big loan from the Matra clan to get that ring, but at least this would substantially increase his mining capabilities.

This was the only way of making more money, and eventually leaving that place. Or at least, this was what Marsal always told him, and all the miners.

Joshua smiled, losing himself in a fantasy world where he was not working to exhaustion at a mine, but actually living a comfortable life. But maybe this fantasy could be achieved if he was lucky enough to find a soul crystal?

Or maybe he could be like Marsal. That man always claimed that he had arrived at the tower as a newcomer with no useful skills, so he had been thrown into the mines. But he had a true business mind, and thanks to that, he had managed to persevere.

That morning, Marsal had given a speech about hard work, motivation, and investing in generating value. He explained how miners should spend less on themselves and instead buy better equipment to increase their profitability.

Joshua nodded, thinking it was possible. Maybe he could be like that.

What he didn't know was that what had really made Marsal rich was the 2.5% commission he received from every piece of specialized mining equipment sold.

Equipment that could only be purchased from Matra's official clan store, at heavily inflated prices.

It was actually a genius strategy. Thanks to it, Matra could make its mines more productive while simultaneously pushing the miners even deeper into debt, slowly sucking the life out of everyone who worked there. They would work more and more for little to no real improvement in their situation.

This was how Matra, as a whole and especially on the eighth floor, operated.

The guild controlling the place was literally called Matra's Bank, and it offered a very "generous" contract to newcomers and anyone else interested in joining.

To join the guild, one had to pay 10,000 System Points. Once they joined, the guild would evaluate their System and find the best job they could perform. They guaranteed food and shelter and even provided free combat training and classes on various subjects.

There was only one small detail.

Once someone joined the guild, they could only leave by paying a fee of 100,000 System Points, ten times more than the amount required just to get in.

And because most newcomers who joined the guild didn't even have the 10,000 System Points required for the entrance fee, they were already in debt from the moment they joined. They would have to pay it back or face death.

The shelter they offered wasn't free, either. There were small apartments available for everyone, but they came with exorbitant rents that only made their debts worse.

Still, everyone had a way of earning money, because Matra did indeed guarantee work for everyone who joined its clan. For the lucky ones with useful Systems, the job could actually be decent. Everyone else was sent to the mines or assigned to similar labor.

Still, all Matra really cared about was money. As long as someone proved they could generate a profit, the clan would allow them to do whatever work they wanted.

Marsal had been the one to come up with the idea of creating a fake history of success through hard work in the mines, using it to deceive and motivate the miners.

But even that was simply the System working well.

Matra didn't use its guild authority to force people to work. Instead, they used the promise of a luxurious and better life.

The idea was simple.

They gave their members a certain degree of freedom to seek out ways of earning money, either to buy their freedom or to afford a better life.

That was the carrot, motivating all of them to work as hard as possible.

At the same time, giving up on work and deciding to stop paying the debt most of them had accumulated was punishable by death. That was the stick.

Together, the two formed a system that had been working perfectly for years.

However, recently, something had begun to change in the mines. Everywhere one looked, it was possible to find people whispering among themselves.

But Joshua had no idea what any of it was about. He had no friends, after all.

Still, that was to be expected. He had always been a lonely man who preferred observing and collecting insects rather than interacting with other people.

Looking down, he watched his steps as he made his way to Matra's official store and sold everything he had mined that day.

He earned 94 System Points after a full day of work.

His rent alone cost 70 System Points per day, meaning almost all of his earnings would disappear in the blink of an eye.

Still, as expected, buying the ring had increased how much he could carry, allowing him to earn more money.

The problem was that the debt he had taken on to purchase it came with an interest rate larger than the extra income the ring allowed him to earn.

But Joshua wasn't particularly good with numbers, and he simply headed home, happy that he had made more money that day.

Just as he was reaching his apartment, however, someone suddenly pulled him into an empty alley.

Joshua looked up.

Standing before him was an absolutely gorgeous woman with platinum-blonde hair and tanned skin. Her face was so strikingly beautiful that Joshua felt the strength drain from his body just from looking at her.

"Would you give me a minute of your time?" Eva asked with a confident smile. "I would like to talk with you."