The Glorious Evolution

Back in the Studio Apartment...

”What a waste of time and money.”

Levi grunted under his breath while browsing through the store’s design dimensional screen, focusing on completely redesigning the store to fit his business.

”I already told you not to put your faith in him,” Ash’Kral said lazily. ”Getting rid of a Bishop is no easy task.”

”I knew that risks would be involved, but I expected at least something viable to consider.” Levi sneered. ”Being an Alchemist, I thought highly of his intelligence for nothing.”

Levi spent five million credits on a soul that he was bound to sacrifice after he voided any of the contracts signed with him... but if he had known this was everything he had in mind, he would have spent the money on better things.

”Whatever...”

Levi took some deep breaths and put the matter behind him... If the situation wasn’t related to Bishop Na’thir, he wouldn’t have gotten this emotionally invested.

For now, he would carry on as always... If Bishop Va’ren came up with something better, he might entertain another discussion since he had already invested heavily in the cloned soul.

”What have you decided on Mr. Problem’s identity?” The Titan checked. ”The bounty does complicate things even in the Boundless Expanse.”

Levi remained silent, still thinking of a better solution than Bishop Va’ren’s suggestion... he knew that killing the identity was the easiest and fastest option, but deep down he understood that it wasn’t going to change much.

For example... he was redesigning the store in his condo instead of being at the location. He understood that the Zen Relic Store was one of the shortlisted marked areas where he had shown himself.

Whether it was Rain, Fang, the Hound, or other bounty hunters... there were bound to be eyes positioned around the store in case someone who matched the description went inside.

Levi had no plans to test the Duskbound Order members’ craziness... despite the store being situated on one of the busiest streets in the Main Hub and secured from all angles, it might not be enough of a deterrent.

”I am no longer a shadow in the realm... but this might not be a bad thing.” Levi murmured. ”Mr. Problem’s identity has become a magnet to the Order’s members, and it might serve some use in the future.”

Levi would never throw away a useful tool out of fear... an easy decision didn’t always imply a smart decision.

Of course, he wasn’t going to take on any new commissions, but at the same time, he wasn’t getting rid of it.

Soon, Levi returned to the main task at hand... the Leviathan business. After the Zen Relic Store’s deed was transferred to his name, he received the blueprint as well.

The store was split into two rooms... the product display area in the front and a small storage room in the back.

The structure was more or less like most ’small’ stores in the Main Hub... they were under contract to have a storage room that was equal in size to the front. Whether they stored the actual products inside it or not, the Administration didn’t care.

At least, as long as the illusion of professionalism was maintained... before this rule was applied, most shops used every square meter for the front, leaving nothing as a storage room. When customers wanted to buy something, the seller brought the item out of his own Dimensional Wallet in front of them.

Such a transaction left most customers with a bad taste in their mouths, making them feel like they were buying ’used goods’.

To protect customer satisfaction and the realm’s economy, the Administration added the storage rule... now, even if the seller had his products in his wallet, he had to put on the act of retrieving them from the storage room in mint condition.

Whether the customer knew or not, at least they didn’t see the seller pulling the item from a wallet.

Levi and many others knew that it was quite a stupid and showy rule... but the customer was always right.

”The store is in a prime location, but... it’s still too small for what I had in mind.”

Levi expanded the store’s blueprint, envisioning what it would look like with the Leviathan materials on display... since each organ and piece of material was as big as the store’s front, he never had a chance to display them fully in their glory.

This left him with the sole option of using dimensional screens and small replicas... as for viewing, touching, and feeling the materials, the shoppers had no way of doing so.

It might not seem like much, but Levi knew that it made a lot of difference when someone was going to be putting down a minimum of one hundred thousand credits for a small piece of flesh.

If he couldn’t give them this, then... the already established competitors in the industry would crush his business even if he promised a lower price.

When it came to selling to rich people... an experience had to be included.

”An experience...”

Now that Levi had the foundation to begin his business, he realized that it might not be as easy as he had assumed to launch it successfully... even with a prime-location store.

After all, he was competing with conglomerates in the industry that had been here for thousands of years and thousands more.

It wasn’t going to be easy to eat into a percentage of the Leviathan market share even with the Title’s privileges at hand.

The title granted him the right to claim a commercial plot in the heart of all Nine Capital Cities, premium districts where the title’s ceremonial weight pulled crowds on its own. Unfortunately, he still lacked the money to afford a large store.

The second cut his rent in half for five centuries, with Nocturn’s Administration covering the difference across every commercial and residential property in their zones... he was already using this privilege on his studio’s rent.

The third permanently stripped ten to fifteen percent off his tariffs on Boundless Expanse goods... On desert-unique goods, thirty.

But the two best privileges for his business were the bestowal of a merchant Nocturnal Prestige License without application or review, which enabled him to turn whatever territory he owned into a business, as well as access to a high-value marketplace tied to the Expanse, where every Leviathan relic or material that surfaced would reach his ears before it touched a closed or open market.

The last privilege placed him at the front of the queue for desert exploration contracts, supply chain routes, and beast-harvest rights.

Those privileges were absolutely to die for, as any merchant or businessman would sell his soul to obtain them.

Still... the potential for utilization depended on the owner.

”If I treat this business like a normal buy-and-sell transaction, I will be bleeding money... I have no network, no business partners, no massive capital, and no large store.” Levi frowned. ”I didn’t go through so much trouble to earn scraps... I need a business plan that will fund my Evolution for the upcoming decades or even centuries.”

With his future resting on the success of the business, Levi didn’t plan on throwing money at a bunch of Leviathan materials and expecting to roll in dough.

Commerce was never that easy, especially not in this realm, where Ancient Noble Houses controlled massive shares of the market.

He had to squeeze in around the table, and the only way to do this was to sell something beyond Leviathan relics and materials.

”An experience...”

Levi returned to the same term... only this time, he manifested a plan board and noted down everything in his possession.

The Leviathan privileges, Targon’s previous assets, his current capital, the territories, Zen Relic Store, his Omnipotence Level (3), and even the scorched Leviathan Phoenix corpse and harvested organs.

Then, he took a step back and stared at the board, deep in thought... he spent the next hour staring silently at the board, his mind a battlefield of clashing ideas and business plans.

When he felt stuck, he decided to get some inspiration from books... books from the modern Earth era before the collapse of civilization.

He knew that when it came to sucking money dry from people’s pockets, the old-generation businessmen were on a different plane of intelligence and greed.

He spent the next two hours going through many business plans, but in the end... his library was lacking quite a bit in the business department.

As he was going through the last book, not expecting much inspiration, he suddenly froze after seeing a small picture with a title underneath it.

—Jurassic Amusement Park.—