Chapter 562 - 546: General Agent

Chapter 562: Chapter 546: General Agent

Allen dealt with his "existing assets" first.

He swiped his fingertip through the air, bringing up the Panorama Mall interface. Operating under his personal account, he created a new product listing.

[Product Name: Dawn Star Level - Demon Soul Gift Bundle]

[Product Details: Contains one complete Dawn Star Level soul of the 5th Floor Abyss Lord, ’Slaughterer’ Baal, plus thirty-six complimentary premium High-tier Demon souls. Quality guaranteed, freshly harvested.]

[Price: 2 Billion Low-Level Magic Stones.]

[Note: Serious inquiries only. No haggling.]

To Allen, these souls no longer held much value. His laboratory was already stuffed to the brim with various Demon Souls waiting to be studied.

The moment this luxury "gift bundle" hit the shelves, it caused a minor tremor across the anonymous channels within the Panorama Mall. A Dawn Star Level soul—especially that of a Demon Monarch—was a highly coveted, top-tier resource for Wizards specializing in souls, Curses, and the mind.

Less than an hour later, the product page updated.

[Sold.]

Allen watched the numbers jump in his personal account, his expression unchanging.

[Current Total Liquid Funds: 13.98 Billion Low-Level Magic Stones.]

Excellent. That was a little more leverage to play with.

He turned around and looked at the shivering Soul Flame in the corner.

"Sargeras, contact Mammon."

"M-Master," Sargeras’s Soul Flame fluctuated violently, "we... we just killed his ally and ruined his business..."

"Execute the order." Allen’s tone brooked no argument.

Not daring to say another word, Sargeras immediately began setting up the Sacrificial Array.

The moment the eerie green flames rose and established a connection with the coordinates of Purgatory’s 7th Floor, a frenzied will, thick with the scent of molten gold and sulfur, crashed down upon them!

"Allen Wesren—!!"

The rapid-fire roar of Demon Language materialized into a physical mental shockwave, setting the entire study buzzing.

"You despicable, shameless thief! You liar!" Mammon’s voice brimmed with unprecedented fury. "The six hundred and twenty-seven thousand warriors who died in battle under my command! Not a single one! Not one of them respawned in the Blood Pool! Their souls are completely gone!

"Not only are you a treacherous snake, but you also stole souls that belong to Purgatory! You broke the Law!"

Sargeras was so terrified by this wrath that he was nearly scared out of his wits. He looked at Allen in horror.

In Purgatory, death was nothing to fear. As long as the Blood Pool remained, the Demon Legion was eternal and indestructible.

However, souls failing to return to the Blood Pool meant permanent death—a genuine loss of military strength! This was absolutely unacceptable to any Demon Lord.

Allen remained perfectly calm.

He was the mastermind behind the scenes, the Netherworld Guide, Thanatos, who lurked in the Shadow Realm. He had ensured that before any of the Demon Souls could return to Purgatory, they were intercepted by icy chains and dragged straight into the Soul Furnace.

He let Mammon roar for a full five minutes.

Only when the bellowing began to weaken and the demon’s breathing grew heavy did Allen give Sargeras a slight nod.

Seizing the opportunity, Sargeras gathered all his strength and shouted at the Array, "Demon Monarch Mammon! My master wants to speak with you... to discuss the Soul Coins business!"

His words worked like a magic spell.

Mammon’s furious roaring came to an abrupt halt.

The inherent greed and the instinctual wrath within him waged a fierce tug-of-war in his mind.

After a solid ten-second silence, Mammon’s hoarse, suppressed voice finally echoed again.

"...Let him speak for himself!"

Allen walked slowly up to the Array, looking straight into the frenzied flame phantom.

"Demon Monarch Mammon, I deeply regret the losses your legion suffered," his voice was steady and clear. "But this was merely an accidental depletion during a business venture. It shouldn’t affect the grand scheme of our mutually beneficial partnership. Besides, you’ve already seen my credibility. I haven’t shortchanged you a single Soul Coin.

"The Phase Two expansion of Cybertron’s Soul Mine is complete. To tell you the truth, our monthly production of standard Soul Coins is now at one point five million. And this scale will only continue to expand in the future."

The sheer thought of one point five million—and the promise of continuous expansion—stunned Mammon. His phantom shook violently.

"I contacted you today to discuss an even bigger deal," Allen said, tossing out his true bargaining chip. "Purgatory needs a stable supplier of Soul Coins. Meanwhile, I need a reliable, capable partner to handle sales and mineral settlements across the entire Purgatory market.

"I’m prepared to offer you the exclusive master agency rights... for Cybertron Soul Coins across the entire Purgatory Plane cluster."

Mammon couldn’t immediately grasp the concept of an exclusive master agency. This kid always had some convoluted terminology up his sleeve when doing business.

"In other words," Allen explained in the most straightforward manner possible, "from now on, all the Soul Coins I produce will be sold solely to you. It will be up to you to distribute and trade them with all the Demon Monarchs across the other ninety-plus floors—including your mortal enemies.

"It’s entirely possible that my monthly production of Soul Coins will reach one hundred million in the future, and this is a hard currency that Purgatory can never get enough of.

"If they want Soul Coins, they will have to beg you. You can set your own prices and pocket the difference. In return, all you need to pay me is Purgatory mineral resources equivalent to the factory price."

A dead silence fell over the study.

Mammon’s breathing grew incredibly heavy. The furious flames in his molten-gold eyes had completely extinguished, replaced by a greed that bordered on insanity.

Mammon realized that if he became the sole soul supplier in all of Purgatory, the implications would be staggering.

It meant that Beelzebub, Asmodeus... all the Demon Monarchs of his caliber, and even those stronger than him, would be entirely at his mercy! He would control the lifeblood of every demon’s advancement and development!

With that kind of status, that level of power, and the astronomical hidden profits behind it all...

Compared to that, what did a few hundred thousand dead, useless grunts matter?

"...Why should I believe you?" Mammon’s voice was utterly parched.

"Because I was able to kill two Lords of Purgatory, and I could just as easily kill you once," Allen said calmly. "And because of this."

He flicked his finger, sending a Soul Coin flying into the Array. It was instantly devoured by Mammon across the Plane.

The absolute purity of the coin served as another stark reminder of this deal’s true value.

"Deal!"

Mammon squeezed the word through his teeth, terrified that Allen might change his mind.

One week later.

A projection unfolded in front of Allen, its screen playing a video transmitted by Sargeras.

The background of the footage was still the vast, blood-red plains of Purgatory’s 7th Floor, but this place was no longer a gladiatorial arena where demons slaughtered one another.

Crude mine shaft supports, constructed from massive beast bones and black iron, stood crookedly across the landscape.

Tens of thousands of demons, from Timid Demons to Frenzied Demons, had been forced to lay down their butcher knives and retract their claws, taking up shoddily made pickaxes and shovels instead.

Under the roaring commands and lashings of whip-wielding Demon Military Governors, these monsters—whose very genetics were hardwired only for slaughter from birth—were awkwardly and frantically hacking away at the rock walls of the Despair Mountain Range.

The entire 7th Floor of Purgatory had undergone a drastic transformation.

It had shifted from a chaotic, bloody battlefield into a bustling... yet exceptionally terrifying, colossal mine.

"To fulfill the first month’s mineral delivery quota of 1,500,000 Soul Coins, Mammon has forcibly conscripted eighty percent of his territory’s combat units and thrown them into the mining operations," Jarvis reported.

Watching the screen as a Frenzied Demon was whipped so hard by a Military Governor that half its body was torn off simply for digging too slowly, the corners of Allen’s lips curled up slightly.

"It’s about time these demons tasted the power of capital."

He turned off the projection and looked at another report.

"Jarvis, calculate the expected revenue for the first month."

[Expected Monthly Trade Accounting as follows:]

[Expenditure: Delivery of 1,500,000 Soul Coins to Mammon. Production Cost: 37,500,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]

[Revenue (Converted to Market Price): 7,000,000 tons of Refined Purgatory Demon Iron, 8 tons of Blood Mercury, 8,000 tons of Glowing Stone Ore, 60 tons of Purgatory Sulfur Essence.]

[After deducting sales and transportation costs, the estimated monthly net profit is approximately: 300,000,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]

This monthly profit was truly astronomical. After all, Wesren Heavy Industry only brought him a little over 400 million Magic Stones in a whole year.

When the Minister conference convened three months from now, this single trade alone would yield him 900 million Magic Stones. Unfortunately, it was still a drop in the bucket.

Allen leaned back in his Commander chair, his fingers tapping lightly against the armrest.

"Assuming the maximum target bidding fund of thirty billion, this is nowhere near enough."

He was off by exactly half from the safe threshold of thirty billion, and it was highly unlikely he could scrounge up that much before the Minister conference.

In an auction, the worst thing that could happen was falling short at the critical moment. Every extra Magic Stone counted.

Allen’s gaze swept slowly across the Star Map.

It seemed that aside from this steady cash flow from Purgatory, he still needed a sudden windfall.

His eyes couldn’t help but fall on a certain familiar set of coordinates.

Resource Realm Z-019, the "Crystal Crown."

Well, with the exception of that one. That place had already been bled completely dry.