Chapter 497: 485: Your Empire is Thriving
Chapter 497: Chapter 485: Your Empire is Thriving
The communication cut off, and Allen sat in silence on his meditation chair for a long moment.
He marveled at the prospect of a 1.2 billion annual revenue. When he had first roped in two classmates to start a tutoring class—barely able to scrape together a thousand Magic Stones—he never imagined a day like this would come.
Allen stood up and spoke to the figure behind him. “No. 18, get ready to head out.
“Our destination is Hub City.”
A flash of light illuminated the area as Allen stepped out of the Teleportation Star Gate. Half a step behind him followed a tall, stunningly cold woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.
She wore a sleek black inner armor beneath a light blue coat. Her calm gaze swept over the bustling crowd, her powerful sensory systems instantly flagging every threatening energy fluctuation within a five-hundred-meter radius.
He looked up into the distance, searching for the direction of their new headquarters based on the coordinates Colin had provided.
“It is thirty-seven kilometers to the southeast, in District D-13,” No. 18’s voice rang out in Allen’s mind, devoid of any emotion. “This area belongs to the undeveloped zone on the outer ring of Hub City. Land prices are relatively cheap.”
“Looks like they know how to live frugally,” Allen remarked casually.
He stepped forward, leading No. 18 into the sea of pedestrians like ordinary tourists. However, when he followed the directions to District D-13, his steps came to an involuntary halt.
The sight before him was completely devoid of the remote and desolate scenery he had imagined. A sizable complex of buildings rose proudly from the ground. The pure white, seven-story main building boasted a highly aesthetic design, its surface covered in Rune Arrays that pulsed with a faint, flowing light.
Behind the main building stood five massive, industrial-style workshops churning out goods. Between them, various Alchemy Puppets efficiently transported all sorts of materials.
Further away, the employee living quarters and an independent R&D center were neatly laid out, forming a fully functional, independent kingdom. But what made Allen’s eyelids twitch was the private transit Star Gate in the center of the complex, slowly rotating and emitting spatial fluctuations.
In a place like Hub City, where land was worth its weight in gold, the cost of constructing a private Star Gate was no less than establishing a new dynasty in a Mortal Kingdom.
“I’ve only been gone for five years, not five hundred.” Allen stared at the sprawling architecture, feeling completely caught off guard.
The moment he and No. 18 approached the headquarters’ main gate, two guard-type Golems immediately stepped forward and locked onto them. But in the next second, the Golems’ scanning systems recognized Allen’s supreme authority. They took a synchronized step back and bowed respectfully.
Walking into the first-floor lobby, he found it as spacious and brightly lit as a palace. The bustling employees hurried back and forth, but upon seeing Allen, they all paused in surprise. They immediately stopped in their tracks, placed their right hands over their chests, and bowed in greeting.
Their eyes were filled with a mix of reverence and a perfectly measured sense of distance. Clearly, the company had conducted specific internal training regarding their elusive founder; everyone recognized him.
“Boss!” Vera hurried down from the second floor. She wore a sharply tailored professional Magic Robe, her face shining with unconcealed excitement and pride. “Welcome home.”
Without any unnecessary pleasantries, she stepped aside and made an inviting gesture. “Let me give you a tour of our… Phase One project.”
“Phase One?” Allen caught the keyword.
“Yes, Phase One,” Vera said, a confident smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “We’ll soon acquire the land for the independent Golem testing grounds planned for Phase Two.”
Allen remained silent, following closely behind her.
They walked past the holographic projection sandbox in the product showroom, the Rune Engineers engaged in heated debates within the R&D center, and the bright, pristine employee workspaces equipped with the latest “Best Helper” workstations.
Allen noticed that the vast majority of these employees were new faces. Many looked remarkably young, their expressions brimming with the excitement and drive of newcomers entering the workforce. Every single one of them wore a different model of the Cyber Secretary terminal.
He witnessed a highly efficient, precise, and vibrantly lively commercial empire. And every corner of this empire bore the mark of the Wesren emblem.
The door to the top-floor office slid open automatically. Colin and Lina were already waiting inside. In stark contrast to the exhaustion they had shown in the holographic communication, seeing Allen in person had elevated their spirits to a fever pitch.
“Boss, you’re finally back!” Colin stepped forward excitedly, wanting to give Allen a hug. But upon noticing the blonde woman behind him—whose indifferent eyes radiated a dangerous aura—he awkwardly pulled his hands back.
“You’ve all worked hard,” Allen said, his gaze sweeping over the three of them.
After five years apart, Vera had become much more polished, faintly exuding the commanding presence of an overlord. Colin had lost some weight, while Lina had completely shed her former naivety; every smile and movement of hers now radiated a mature charm and the confidence of someone in total control.
“Let’s start with the work report,” Allen said, walking over to the massive floor-to-ceiling window to look down at the burgeoning industrial empire below.
“I’ll go first!” Colin waved eagerly, and a gigantic holographic screen unfolded in the center of the office. “As of yesterday, the company has a total of 874 official employees! This includes 56 First-level Wizards and 282 Advanced Apprentices. We even managed to poach a veteran Alchemy Master, who is now the chief supervisor of Workshop No. 5!”
Colin’s voice trembled with excitement. “To digest the explosive surge in orders from last year, the three large-scale Alchemy Factories in the industrial zone—No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6—commenced operations simultaneously two weeks ago! Right now, our total production capacity is fifteen times what it was five years ago!”
The holographic screen shifted, and Lina stepped forward, three distinctly colored financial reports materializing behind her.
“The Educational Materials Division has completely monopolized the academy market across twenty-three planes surrounding Hub City. We are the premier choice for all Wizard Academies when purchasing teaching tools, and the business is thriving. We hit an annual revenue of 320 million Low-Level Magic Stones, with a net profit of 80 million.
“For the Environmental Protection Division, our material recycling furnaces are running nonstop, twenty-four hours a day. Aside from satisfying the raw material needs of all our own factories, the high-purity metal ingots we sell externally generate over 100 million in pure profit every month. The annual revenue stands at 410 million, with a net profit of 230 million!”
The atmosphere in the room began to heat up.
Lina took a deep breath and pointed to the final red report—the one featuring the most outrageous growth curve. “The Golem Division. Ever since you launched the ’Ultimate After-Sales’ initiative and defeated Mechanical Gears, we’ve captured thirty percent of the market share for low-to-mid-tier Golems.
“The bottleneck restricting our production capacity has just been shattered. Right now, the total annual revenue is 1.2 billion, with a net profit of 460 million, and there is still immense room for future growth.”
It was almost unimaginable that over the past five years, this snowball had rolled into such a terrifying behemoth.
“Very good,” Allen said slowly, delivering his assessment.
Receiving their boss’s approval, Vera and Colin exchanged a glance and broke into genuine, heartfelt smiles.
“However…” Lina spoke up suddenly, bringing up a new screen that displayed sales data from the Panorama Mall. “Aside from these three traditional pillars, this quarter has produced an… unexpected growth point.”
On the screen, an independent product category was magnified.
[Mortal Military Equipment – Heavy Weapons of War]
Listed below were five Mechas, each featuring a distinct design: Zaku, Unicorn, Gale Red, Eureka Striker, and Danger Wanderer.
“The Steel Knight series?” Allen raised an eyebrow.
These were the very Mechas he had designed for mortals to pilot, simply to fulfill a promise to the Aiselan Kingdom. Since he hadn’t wanted to waste any more thought on them, he had casually told Colin to list them on the Panorama Mall.
“We didn’t do a single bit of advertising for them. Even the product detail pages were auto-generated by Jarvis,” Lina said, her pace quickening. “But the sales figures are unexpectedly excellent.”
Colin took over, pulling up the backend data of the Panorama Mall. Rows upon rows of dizzying sales records cascaded down the screen like a waterfall. “The Zaku, which you priced at two million, sold three units in its first week on the market without any promotion whatsoever. At the time, we thought some poor fool had clicked the wrong button.
“But starting from the second week, orders began to surge exponentially. Ten units, fifty units, three hundred units…
“The buyers are spread across the myriad planes. There are low-level Wizard Mercenary Corps buying them for missions, and mining companies acquiring them for excavations, but the vast majority…” Colin pointed to a customer demographic highlighted in red. “…are the Mortal Kingdoms that possess no Extraordinary Power but have amassed a certain amount of wealth!
“To them, the fact that a common soldier with only three months of training can pilot a Steel Giant boasting Quasi-First Level combat power is nothing short of a miracle! They have been frantically buying out our stock at any cost through various proxy purchasing channels!
“Just last month alone, the shipping volume for the Zaku Mecha exceeded one thousand units! Even many low-level Wizards and plane merchants have sniffed out the business opportunity; they’ve started buying them in bulk to resell to Mortal Kingdoms in remote planes.
“Although the single-unit profit margin of the Zaku is very low—less than fifteen percent,” Colin added, “its sales volume is absolutely terrifying. Last quarter, the Steel Knight series alone generated nearly 30 million Low-Level Magic Stones in additional revenue for us. Moreover, this market… seems completely bottomless.”
Allen stared quietly at the report, his gaze profound.
Exploiting the downstream market… This path seemed much, much wider than he had ever imagined.