Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2291 Bad News? Good New?

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Lil Red Storm Realm, Realmʼs Womb, Seed World

”I have bad news for the three of you,” Wyatt announced, then added, ”I know youʼve all been working day and night to carry out this project, especially you two, Susan and Park. I truly appreciate your hard work. But Iʼm deeply sorry to say that I have to

pause your project for the foreseeable future.”

Unlike the Field Marshal, who had only recently joined the project, Susan and Park had been involved from the very beginning. Thus, Wyatt felt particularly guilty about having to pause it just a few days before its official launch, especially considering all the hard work and sleepless nights Susan and Park had put into it. Now, having to tell them that all their work up to this point was essentially for nothing, Wyatt couldnʼt help but feel remorseful.

”Thatʼs unfortunate, but alright,” Susan responded with minimal reaction to what should have been shocking news, while Park simply nodded dismissively. Wyatt was left speechless by their bland reactions; he had expected a much stronger response and had even braced himself for some harsh words. However, it seemed he had been overthinking it.

Noticing Wyattʼs confusion, Susan explained, ”Wyatt, during our preparations, we discovered that the import/export business is very difficult without any initial connections. Thanks to the Field Marshal, we managed to secure trustworthy suppliers and buyers in the Card World. But in the inter-realm network, we couldnʼt find a single reliable supplier or buyer, even after leveraging Parkʼs old contacts. ”The demon and devil merchants turned out to be trickier than we initially assumed. So, we planned to use a small batch of goods to conduct trial-and-error trades tests to identify trustworthy partners in the inter-realm network. However, even that approach came with significant risks. Honestly, weʼre at a loss. The waters of the inter-realm network are too deep.”

Park nodded her fiery head like a bobblehead figurine on the dashboard pf a car with no suspension. In her past life, Park had been a successful local leader in what could be considered an urban area of the Dark Realm. By Earthʼs standards, she was just a gang leader in her neighborhood. However, she ultimately failed, dying at the hands of Belphegor and losing her territory to him.

The inter-realm network was far more complex, with even a lone demon merchant wielded more influence than her past self. These merchants either led forces stronger than she had commanded or belonged to much larger organizations. All in all, her past experience offered no advantage in the Devil Merchant Code.

Moreover, Park was never a merchant but a warrior. Her involvement in finances had been limited to overseeing them, relying on trustworthy subordinates to handle her forceʼs businesses and budget. But now, that those people were either dead or had joined new forces, she was just as clueless as Susan.

After all, capable people had little trouble restarting their life. Some of her old allies might come running if she called them, but she didnʼt want to do that without something substantial to offer. Besides, if she managed to re-establish herself in the Dark Realm, the truly loyal ones would find their way back to her on their own. ”So, you pausing the project is actually a big relief to us,” Susan admitted, her tone genuinely relieved. She felt like a huge weight was left of her shoulder.

”Thatʼs good to know, but now youʼve put me in a bit of a dilemma,” Wyatt said, teleporting the group to the warehouse section of the Seed World. ”I was planning to have you guys unload these resources at a reasonable rate.”

Looking at the seemingly endless rows of stone shelves filled with precious resources, Susan and Park, who had been celebrating their reprieve, nearly fainted upon realizing they had to find buyers and sell these resources at good prices. Seeing that more work lined up for them, tears welled up in Susanʼs eyes, while Park would have cried as well if it were physically possible for her. They werenʼt afraid of hard work, but they were afraid of failure. As newcomers to this business, losses were inevitable until they got the hang of it.

”Canʼt we just exchange these resources using the Devil Merchant Code for what we need?” the Field Marshal proposed.

However, Dredre pointed out the flaw in that plan: ”The value of your resources will be based purely on the amount of energy the devil merchant code can harvest from it, ignoring factors like rarity and market price unless the items are devil ingredients. On the other hand, the resources you want in exchange will be valued with energy content, rarity, and market price in mind.

”You can also exchange your resources for soul jades, but youʼll receive far less than the actual market value. Unless you urgently need rare resources or soul jades, it would be unwise to conduct such a large-scale exchange through the Devil Merchant Code. The demon and devil merchants have tried every trick to exploit the system, but none have ever succeeded. After all, it was designed to be superior to them.”

”Then itʼs going to be very challenging for us to sell these resources at a reasonable, let alone fair, price,” Susan remarked. She felt a throbbing headache just thinking of finding a buyer for each of these resources.

”Thatʼs true,” Park agreed, ”unless we manage to find a trustworthy semi-ruler class or above client. Considering the needs of their enormous forces, we could easily empty our stock within no time. If theyʼre involved in crafting, like the Chaos Dwarfs, that would be even better.”

”Do you have someone in mind?” the Field Marshal asked, assuming that Park wouldnʼt have made such a suggestion without a lead.

”In fact, I do,” Park admitted, ”but Iʼm not sure if heʼll be willing to help us, given my complicated past with him.”

”So why bring it up? And arenʼt you just some ego flame spirit? It seems Corey wasnʼt entirely truthful with me.”