Anbaixiu had once received an invitation from the goddess Leira, who told him that in a dream, he could do whatever he wished.
At the time, he had still been a lich and possessed no interest in such things.
Now he realized Leira had been right: things could feel even better in a dream than in reality. At the very least, the experiences Anbaixiu had had back when he was alive could not compare to what he had now.
In short: any setting, any outfit, any prop, any position... all it took was a single thought to change it. It eliminated all the tedious time spent dressing and undressing, and guaranteed utter comfort without minor annoyances like ill-fitting garments, shoddy tailoring, an uncomfortable bed, or an imperfect room temperature.
The dream's simulation was flawless; unfortunately, his partner had not cooperated very well.
Anbaixiu never imagined that the Rose of Decay would have zero experience in this department. For all her talk about having read countless scandalous knight romances, when it actually came down to practice, she had merely covered her face and let Anbaixiu have his way with her.
Still, that bashful look of hers had its own charm.
Today’s allotment of dream time had thus passed in absurd indulgence—so much so that upon waking, the Rose of Decay felt limp all over, barely able to stand.
Anbaixiu estimated that a few more rounds of such stimulation would surely bring her even closer to being a living person.
Yet this was merely a pleasant diversion in his life; Anbaixiu always had an endless mountain of work awaiting him.
The Ryan Empire was on the brink of entering a new phase, and the global landscape would shift along with it. Even though Anbaixiu’s primary focus was currently on Hell, there were still far too many things in this mortal realm he could not simply cast aside.
Commerce was secondary; many old friends would have to weather this upheaval in the world order, and Anbaixiu needed to secure a proper future for his own people.
Harvey needed little managing. Leaving the kid secluded in the underground workshop to focus on his research suited him just fine; he relished the lifestyle of a shut-in technician anyway. Still, to ensure he didn't starve to death by forgetting to eat for days on end, Anbaixiu specifically hired several servants to attend to his daily needs, guaranteeing that Harvey lived a life where clothes were handed to him and food was spooned to his mouth.
Then there was Selwyn. This new apprentice was quite talented at business, though her aptitude for the School of Divination fell considerably short of Harvey's. Naturally, that school was already sparsely populated, so Anbaixiu devised a different training method for her: channeling the magic of divination directly into commerce.
"You can never imagine how much gold I've made using divination magic! Put what you learn into making money, and no matter how many times you stumble, you'll never truly go broke." That was Anbaixiu's advice to Selwyn, and she seemed to love this approach to learning, throwing herself into his alchemy business with boundless enthusiasm.
Speaking of business, Selwyn produced a magic mirror, bringing up a vast trove of data to present before Anbaixiu.
"Teacher, the Alchemy Association has been constantly pulling petty tricks. Lady Rose's threats have kept them from going too far, but they still refuse to give up. They've been aggressively carving into our market share, and their overseas dragon alchemy trade route is on the verge of opening up."
Anbaixiu stroked his chin. That old fellow Gustavo was truly growing stupider with age.
Wasn't cooperating to turn a profit more important than anything? Why did he have to be so greedy? The dragon alchemy business was Anbaixiu's trump card, the flagship product of his alchemy brand, and the absolute core of his operations.
For Gustavo to try and seize even this meant he was spoiling for a total fallout.
*Oh, right. In Gustavo's eyes, I'm already dead. No wonder.*
Putting himself in Gustavo's shoes: if a business partner had died and the successor seemed vastly inferior, Anbaixiu would also look to swallow his partner's share. There was no helping it—that was business. The nature of capitalism was never swayed by the nobility or baseness of human nature.
However, since he was still alive, Gustavo's actions amounted to an open betrayal.
Anbaixiu scrutinized the documents Selwyn provided. The old rogue was up to his usual routine of treating people like disposable tools.
Overseas routes were treacherous, and sending envoys resulted in heaps of casualties. But that didn't matter to him; slaves and mercenaries could easily be bought with gold.
After partnering with Anbaixiu, the Alchemy Association's business had boomed, reaping massive profits. Gustavo had therefore spared no expense, covertly sending envoys across the sea. Not only that, the old scoundrel had leaked the news far and wide, even selling navigational charts to the overseas Dragon Island.
The sea routes established by Anbaixiu to Gold Coin Island and Silver Coin Island had long since matured; even without Drow Elf Airlines, one could reach them by maritime voyages. Wealth stirred the hearts of men, and even more so when it involved legendary dragons—creatures whose very droppings were worth a fortune.
Greed drove desperate cutthroats to head out to sea, something even the Rose of Decay could not entirely prevent.
Old Gustavo's plan was simple: break the monopoly to renegotiate prices. He didn't care how many rivals opened up the route, so long as Anbaixiu no longer held an exclusive grip.
It was an open scheme. Short of completely wiping out the Alchemy Association, there was no stopping it.
Originally, the Rose of Decay had taken an iron-fisted approach—killing any vessel that ventured out to sea, one after another, fleet after fleet. But Anbaixiu had revived so quickly that the Undead Queen had slipped into a state of lazy indolence. After all, now that Anbaixiu was back among the living, she had no need to bother herself with business affairs.
This laid-back attitude had drastically weakened the blockade. A fair number of major merchant guilds had already charted their own routes and were currently banding together to trade directly with the overseas dragons, bypassing the supply chain of Gold Coin Island and Silver Coin Island.
If not for Gareth and Canggu keeping the dragons in check, those beasts would never have resisted the sweet temptations.
After all, these humans offered much higher prices than Anbaixiu. Going to Gold Coin Island for a claw-trimming only earned them a meager serving of beef and mutton, whereas these humans delivered living herds of cattle and sheep right to their doorsteps, alongside shimmering gold coins.
The volume might be modest, but the unit price was high!
Dragons were hardly creatures burdened with gratitude. Decades of poverty and the stifling humiliation dating back to their ancestors had made the younger dragons eager for quick gains. Despite possessing immense power, they were forced to languish in squalor on overseas isles.
Faced with any temptation, they simply could not hold back.
Once private contacts began, the floodgates could not be closed.
Gareth had considered slaughtering a few young dragons to terrify the rest into submission, only for his father-in-law to desperately break through the seal and stop him.
"They are not your slaves, and they certainly are not livestock for you to harvest!"
Even if these dragons had committed betrayal in the past, the Master of the Dragon Tomb's obsession was to protect dragonkind, and there was no reasoning with him. Gareth couldn't very well murder his own father-in-law, so he had no choice but to turn a blind eye, merely insisting that the dragons prioritize fulfilling their quotas for Gold Coin Island.
Yet once the breach was opened, the outcome was inevitable.
Even humans would balk at such double-standard exploitation, let alone dragons. Discontent would fester and accumulate until it finally erupted.
Either dragonkind would be completely ruined, or Anbaixiu's monopoly would be shattered.
Selwyn gazed at her teacher in breathless anticipation. She had heard countless legends about him; the figure before her was a living legend who could package even gods and sell them off.
Faced with such commercial warfare, what would he do?
Anbaixiu did not answer her right away. Instead, he asked, "What do you think about the Alchemy Association trying to break our monopoly?"
Selwyn was taken aback for a moment, but quickly caught on that her teacher was testing her. She hurried to voice her thoughts.
"The advantage remains on our side. The Alchemy Association lacks the military might to back up such actions. The simplest and most direct method would naturally be to continue blockading the shipping lanes as before.
"Desperados may be numerous, but if the casualty rate climbs too high, they'll weigh the costs. Dragons aren't easy to deal with either; their greed will only swell until it crosses a threshold where the profits of voyaging no longer justify the risks. Once that happens, no one will go." Having spoken her piece, Selwyn looked nervously at Anbaixiu, hoping for his critique.
Anbaixiu offered no judgment, merely nodding to signal that she should continue.
Steeling her nerves, Selwyn went on: "We should press our advantage. Breaking our monopoly will take them a long time, and with the World Council about to convene, if Ryan can pacify its neighbors, there won't be any major wars in the short term. That will be our golden window for expansion.
"Ryan's market was previously difficult to penetrate due to fanatic religious fervor, seeing as our ties to the undead run deep. But this time, we can swallow the lion's share of it. That's a market of tens of millions! Compared to that, the Alchemy Association's petty tricks aren't even worth mentioning."
Selwyn had clearly prepared extensively for this plan. She reeled off figures and analyses with fluid confidence; she had undoubtedly poured serious effort into her homework.
Anbaixiu waited quietly until she finished before offering a single assessment: "Too low."
"Teacher, what is too low?" Selwyn asked, perplexed.
Anbaixiu shook his head. "Your aggressiveness is far too low."
"Aggressiveness?"
Selwyn looked thoroughly confused. What did conducting business have to do with aggressiveness? Was her teacher planning to deploy brute force and wipe out the Alchemy Association? That didn't match the grand figure in her mind at all. In her imagination, Anbaixiu should be a supreme mastermind who sipped red wine and swayed the world with a few casual words, not some brute who butchered entire households at the drop of a hat.
Anbaixiu could guess what she was thinking. Smiling, he said, "My student, if we were budding entrepreneurs just starting out, focusing on market expansion would be the right direction. A larger market lets you leave your rivals in the dust and grow your own strength. Resources, technology—these core assets are always more important than destroying your competitors.
"However, that only applies to early-stage ventures when a business is small. Back then, we were far too weak, and everywhere we looked was crawling with competitors. When you cannot destroy all your rivals, you must focus on empowering yourself.
"Now, however, we are the world's foremost monopoly—dominating raw materials, technology, logistics... The Alchemy Association's only edge lies in end-market retail, and they are our sole true rival. Understand where we stand: we are number one in the world, facing a challenge from number two.
"If we shy away from the fight and simply focus on expanding into new markets, number three will think he can have a shot at us as well. Underhanded tactics will crop up non-stop, and we'll find ourselves besieged on all sides. Because we are the strongest, we have no peers—only a pack of hyenas waiting for us to die so they can feast on our carcass.
"Once we crush number two—the Alchemy Association—number three and number four will be too busy devouring its corpse, while the Ryan market will still be ours. At our stage, business is no longer about chasing incremental market growth; it is about seizing existing market share."
Selwyn felt that Anbaixiu's words made absolute sense, and a veil seemed to lift from her eyes. Had she truly stepped right onto the pinnacle of the world the moment she took over the business? Her vision had simply been too narrow to keep up with her teacher's stride.
"But Teacher, if you resort to violent methods, wouldn't that..."
Selwyn leaned toward orderliness after all. Although Anbaixiu wielded power far superior to the Alchemy Association, business was business. How was directly resorting to violence any different from outright robbery?
Anbaixiu's enterprise was massive. If others discarded all pretense and turned to plunder as well, how could commerce survive? It would devolve into lawless warfare, and in such a world, Selwyn would lose any purpose.
Anbaixiu roared with laughter. "What are you imagining? I'm a businessman too. Even the most venomous rumors only slander me as insatiably greedy. Have you ever heard anyone claim I abandoned trade to murder and pillage?"
Selwyn offered an awkward smile. What Anbaixiu said seemed entirely true. The world knew her teacher was covetous to the bone—capable of plucking a feather from every bird that flew past—yet everyone also knew that partnering with him yielded profit. No one had ever heard of him tearing up an agreement to plunder through brute force.
"Then, Teacher, why did you say my aggressiveness was low...?"
"I was talking about commercial aggressiveness! What on earth were you thinking?" Anbaixiu shook his head. "If I had handled it from the start, I wouldn't have slaughtered those small merchant caravans heading out to sea. In fact, I would have made a massive spectacle of pointing out to the ocean and proclaiming: *I have placed the world's greatest treasures out there!*—ushering the entire world into a Great Age of Navigation.
"Do you honestly think the aquatic races are easy to deal with? Sahuagin, kuo-toa, ixitxachitl, and even the merfolk despise outsiders sailing over their heads. Only I possess the ability to travel unimpeded across the ocean. If those merchants want to make gold, their only choice is to keep giving me money—buying ships, buying navigational charts, and even purchasing safe transit windows!
"Just as you said, drive up the cost of their voyages, and they naturally won't pose a threat to us. But your choice was blockade and intimidation, whereas my choice is taxation. Your understanding of aggressiveness is still stuck on brute force. What I am teaching you today is commercial aggressiveness—striking their coin purses until they are bled dry!
"The same applies to the Alchemy Association. They are second only to us in wealth, and their coffers run far deeper than those of petty merchants. Poke a hole in their purse, and gold will pour out like water, leaving them writhing in agony. They want dragon alchemy materials? Let them scheme all they want. We're going to strike at their very roots."
"Strike at their roots?"
"Teacher, I don't understand," Selwyn confessed.
Anbaixiu sighed inwardly. Selwyn had great natural talent in commerce, far outstripping that boy Harvey. Her only shortcoming was a lack of experience and perspective; expecting her to shoulder his entire enterprise all at once was indeed asking too much. Still, she was his apprentice, so he had to guide her with patience.
"Let me ask you: what is the Alchemy Association's most vital asset?"
"Alchemy techniques?" Selwyn ventured, uncertain.
"Close."
Selwyn pondered again, her eyes soon lighting up. "Alchemists!"
Anbaixiu nodded approvingly. "Clever girl. Miles ahead of that Harvey rascal. Exactly. The Alchemy Association's greatest asset is its alchemists. Setting aside the legendary-tier geniuses, their sheer volume of junior alchemists and apprentices ranks first in the world. Even after suffering a catastrophic blow, the foundation amassed by the City of Alchemy remains immense; no one can rival them in that regard.
"That old dog Gustavo Fring relies precisely on this pool of low- and mid-tier alchemists to sustain the association's operations and uphold his colossal alchemy manufacturing industry. If we strip away these alchemists, the Alchemy Association will come crashing down with a resounding collapse. No matter how formidable Gustavo Fring may be on his own, he cannot do the work of a thousand alchemists.
"When that happens, they won't even think about seizing raw materials. Without manpower, what good are raw materials?"
Selwyn felt as though a great light had dawned upon her. To think such an angle even existed! He truly lived up to his reputation as her teacher—a legendary tycoon capable of bundling up gods and selling them off!
Selwyn asked eagerly, "Teacher, how do we poach these alchemists? If we simply hire them with gold, the cost will be staggering. Besides, we don't have enough mature alchemy workshops; bringing them over just to keep them on payroll would be a waste of overhead."
"Then how do you think the Alchemy Association keeps them around?"
"Profit and knowledge."
The words rolled off Selwyn's tongue without hesitation. She had studied the Alchemy Association meticulously, and after Anbaixiu's promptings, the reams of data she had memorized suddenly clicked into place.
"Correct—profit and knowledge, with the latter being far more crucial. The Alchemy Association possesses a complete training regimen. Joining the association gives one access to a clear progression path, an irresistible temptation to most alchemists. But if you examine it closely, you'll discover this ladder is thoroughly rigged.
"The Alchemy Association has only so many high-level seats, and their pie is only so big, so this progression path constantly throttles advancement to the upper tiers. They monopolize knowledge, then resort to every trick imaginable to choke off upward mobility for younger talents. Every now and then they dangle a scrap—like dangling a carrot before a donkey turning a millstone to lure them into working on."
Anbaixiu couldn't help but think of Isabel. That alchemy apprentice had studied for so many years and learned nothing of substance. It was because all the apparatuses were custom-built to be 'anti-self-study' and 'anti-reverse-engineering.' Without a master explaining the underlying principles, Isabel hadn't even known that a flame had different inner and outer temperatures.
"But Teacher, when it comes to alchemical knowledge, how can we possibly compete with the Alchemy Association?"
In Selwyn's view, the Alchemy Association had a long heritage and boasted numerous legendary alchemists. In terms of sheer knowledge, they held no advantage whatsoever.
Anbaixiu gave her a puzzled look. "Didn't you know? When the City of Alchemy was destroyed, they bundled up the bulk of their archives and handed them to me. And my teacher is the God of Alchemy himself. What technical advantage could Gustavo Fring possibly have over me?"
Selwyn's eyes went wide, looking as though they might pop right out of her skull.
*The God of Alchemy is my teacher's teacher?!*
*Are you kidding me? Nobody ever told her that!*
*Had the people in the Alchemy Association lost their minds, picking a fight with an apprentice of the God of Alchemy?!*
Chapter 573