Origin Seeker

Chapter 281: Business

Orin nodded at Dream.

"Very well. Your services are welcome. We fight a great many battles with Hell, and these disposable soldiers will help us mitigate losses. Of course, you will be properly compensated. What do you wish for?"

"Well, first and foremost, I have a sister who needs training. You see, she's an asura who happened to inherit the so called Blood Drop Stance. I'd like her to receive tutelage."

"I understand. How about I take her as a disciple?"

"I like that idea."

Dream readily agreed. Of course, Melody's life would be out of his hands if she were being taught by the sword god, but on the other hand, there was no better way for her power to explosively grow. Dream was sure she'd like this idea, and to some extent, he trusted this sword god. 

"Other than that, I need materials. These bots require great sources of power, and strong materials help greatly."

"Of course. You'll be paid for their use, and upon destruction, we'll give you the materials to create another. You'll come out with profits."

"Thank you. Finally, I have a personal want, another mode of payment if you will. I need souls, preferably class 6, and nothing weaker than class 4. They have to be preserved, though damaged ones still work."

"Souls?"

Orin was curious, but didn't think too much.

"That can be arranged."

"Mm. Now, what about that Soul's Harvest Clan? Do they have an abundance of souls?"

"They do. Do you intend to provide soldiers to every clan?"

"That was the plan. In fact, my services are open to everyone. Anybody with the money can buy bots, and they can be used for just about anything. Butlers, soldiers, guards, you name it. For bots at and below the class 4 level, I can output trillions. It would be no issue to sell to even the common people."

"...I see."

Orin was quite surprised. He didn't expect Dream to sell so openly, or be capable of doing so. In truth, Orin was shocked that he could create the army he was presenting right now. 

After thinking for a moment, Orin let out a shallow breath. 

"I will make your proposition known, then. You will be allowed to sell to anyone willing to buy under the Asura Faction. As for all business related matters, that will be yours to handle."

"Mm, thank you."

Dream smiled a bit, Orin not knowing of the ambitions cooking in Dream's mind. Perhaps it was good he didn't know, otherwise he might lay down a great many restrictions. 

With a nod, the sword god bid the three goodbye. Cavra and the woman were a bit dazed, wondering how Dream could so easily broker a deal with the highest power of the Asura Faction. He even got his sister an automatic position as the sword god's disciple! It had to be known that he only had 10 disciples in all the universe, and Melody was now the 11th. 

"Well Cavra, I thank you for taking me here. As for you, miss, my bots are open to being bought. Of course, there's a limited supply, so do act quickly. In the meantime, I'll be focusing on marketing and expansion. You can find me on my planet, Tersa Prime. I might just move it though, so keep an eye out for the portal I'll be placing down. Anyway, I bid you two goodbye."

With that, Dream directly tore open space, disappearing from the spire. Cavra and the woman glanced at each other, unsure of what to say.

..........

There were no immediate changes after Dream left. Not even the woman sought him to buy anything. 

The only thing that happened was Dream handing his sister off to the sword god. In fact, upon hearing the arrangement he made, Melody was so excited that she abandon him of her own accord, rushing straight into the primary world and finding the sword god for training. She almost got attacked with how disrespectful she was being, but of course, nobody could touch the personal student of that man. AFter a short interlude, she disappeared as well, off to who knows where. 

Dream didn't worry. There were too many reasons for people like the sword god to not touch Dream or his family. For one, his very existence would spark universal war, and if Vursoid was really sincere about protecting the Seeker, then the Asura Faction could very well find their ruin should they not play their cards right. 

Second, what was stopping Dream from obliterating the faction himself? He could manufacture trillions of soldiers at effectively zero cost, and he had received the locations of every secondary world from Orin. He was an incredibly dangerous man even if only a demigod. 

Plus, what reason did Orin have to threaten his sister? He wasn't a stupid man. For these reasons and more, Dream put everything else to the back of his mind, focusing solely on himself. 

Of course, he didn't totally disregard the outside world. Although it was unspoken, Dream now had a massive job to fulfill. 

If universal war was coming, then Dream had to make the Asura Faction powerful enough to face the entire universe. For this, they needed soldiers on an incomprehensible scale. There was nobody better than Dream for this job. 

He needed to arm every world, every clan floating among the stars. Even further, he would arm the common people. And there was no better way to do this than through marketing. 

It was a week after Dream disappeared that he reappeared. It wasn't personally, however. 

Out of nowhere, within the capital city of the Blood Drop Clan, a large building had suddenly appeared. The building was abnormally cubic, formed of segmented structures that glowed with flowing energy. There was a large sign across the building, capturing the attention of the hundreds of thousands that frequented the streets in front of it. 

Dream's Armory.

In front of this armory in place of the doors was a large black void stretching across the length of the building. It was a portal leading to the inside, guarded by several bots radiating class 5 power. In front of them were a few slimmer bots, dancing around the streets with signs and pamphlets that advertised the services of the armory. 

"Personal bots here! Come get your very own bot capable of cleaning your house or fighting your foes!"

"These state of the art bots come in all strengths, up to class 6!"

"The convenience of power couldn't be more affordable! Hurry before supplies run out!"

These feminine bots captured the eyes of thousands. To this, many had some odd thoughts. 

The appearance of this building was so sudden, and it was so out of this world. Compared to the rest of the asura aesthetic, it was almost alien. Many didn't know how to feel about it. As for the boasts of the female bots pouncing around like kittens, some felt like the owner of the armory was being a bit dramatic. 

But it only took a few, and sure enough, there were a few hundred that decided to satisfy their curiosity. Some people with nothing better to do slipped into the building, shuttling through the portal. 

And when they reappeared, they were stunned. They appeared in what seemed like a behemoth of a facility. The ceiling rose miles tall, and along the walls were rows upon rows of bots, sitting still and showing off their strengths. 

Shield bots, assault bots, stealth bots, gorilla bots, bomber bots, flying bots, transport bots, butler bots, worker bots. 

There were so many variations that it was almost overwhelming. The few hundred people were quickly greeted by hosts though, snapping them out of their stupor and taking the lead in advertising the services available. 

And they were stunned by the options available to them. 

They learned all about the bots and what they could do. They were intelligently programmed, capable of learning from their owners and carrying out dynamic tasks, adapting to their unique environments. Of course, they also had limits. For instance, bomber bots couldn't suddenly become construction workers. Their programming fell gave them certain abilities. 

Only, this was a total lie that Dream fed. Call it corporate greed, but he intended to sell bots of all different kinds. There were only a few one-fits-all bots, and they were more expensive. 

Still, the soon to be customers were shocked by what was offered. Though, they were a bit more surprised when they learned about the payment methods. 

In the Asura Faction, along with most of the universe, the main currency was Mana Crystals. These crystals were mined from planets and were like mana batteries. They were very basic and could be used for all kinds of things. If Dream collected them on a large scale, they could allow him to scale his industry, taking some of the load of Tersa. 

But the second payment shocked many. They could pay with preserved souls. 

It seemed almost evil, paying for a product with the soul of another person. But Dream thought of it in a rather simple way.

The person had died already. Most souls below the class 5 level dissipated upon death. So wouldn't it be nice to get even more out of the person you were killing? Not only could you get the experience, but you could use their soul to buy a bot! It was a win-win. After all, why waste perfectly good material?

Now, for many, this wouldn't make them feel any less horrified by such emotionless logic, but Dream could see through such facades. He knew that the money would speak for itself. Besides, the universe was already built upon countless bodies. What great person didn't build their power upon mountains of death? Dream was only taking advantage of an already established system. 

But it wouldn't be immediate. Not many went out of their way to preserve souls since they had little use. But there was still the option to pay with mana crystals. 

And many did. Whether it was because they believed in what they saw or were just curious, a few dozen immediately bot a bot or two of their liking. They simply had to operate a magical terminal that appeared before them and drop their mana crystals into a nice bot that rolled up and opened itself like a garbage can. After the garbage bot rolled away with a cute pixel smile, the bots flew toward their new masters, awaiting orders. 

And so, the customers left. After they left, more and more came in to scratch their itch of curiosity. More spent money to buy one of the cheap bots around the class 2 or 3 level. Soon enough, Dream had sold several thousand bots out of this one store. 

And nothing immediately happened. There was no overnight sensation, and not many rumors floated around. Gradually, the stream of people into the armory became steady. But it wasn't an impressive sight. 

Dream didn't mind though. While this happened, he was constructing other armories and building a new city on Tersa Prime. This city was a mechanical metropolis with so many megastructures that they seemed like any other building. Floating islands, spires piercing into space, space habitats, underground paradises. There were even mechanical giants that towered 100 miles tall, their bodies a city unto itself and walking around like metal gods. 

And in the center of all this, there was the Portal Hub. This place has thousands of portals and covered an area of several hundred square miles. This place seemed to be the heart of the entire city, with veins branching out to the other megastructures. 

And naturally, these portals all led somewhere. Dream looked at the map he was given, seeing the markings that gave the coordinates of every secondary world in Asura territory. There were about 6000 secondary worlds in total. These secondary worlds spanned an area larger than galaxies. But with the power of magic, Dream could easily form portals to every single one of these worlds. 

And he did. He formed portals and sent huge groups of bots to them, planting on every one a huge cubic armory. These armories appeared out of the blue, and many of the dominant forces of the worlds were stunned by their appearance. But naturally, Dream made sure to wave around the identity that was supposedly endorsed by each of the 7 asura god clans. 

This process took no more than a week to complete. Dream ensured every secondary world had sufficient supplies. Of course, he needed to hurriedly build several trillion bots with low level power, but this was easily done in a day. 

And with a little bit of advertising, Dream was able to capture the eyes of everyone on each planet. Every planet could hold anywhere between 10 billion and 10 trillion. Many worlds were incredibly developed, only lower than the primary worlds, and others weren't so much. Still, Dream was able to get an estimate of the population of the Asura Faction. 

14 quadrillion. 

That was how many people lived under the faction across all the secondary worlds, and now, Dream was advertising to them all. While only a tiny fraction of that population would actually be able to purchase one of his bots, how crazy would it be if a mere trillion bought a single one of his bots? Just that was enough to garner an astronomical sum. 

But the word needed time to spread. In the meantime, after getting things set and automated, he sat back and focused on experiments, giving his new business time to explode. 

..........

"Your Majesty!"

"Hm?"

On one of the primary worlds, a man came running over to another. These two were standing within a large garden filled with sentient plants. 

The man who came running looked like nothing more than a secretary. But the other who stood amongst the garden looked like death itself. He was shrouded in a cloak, a deathly fog surrounding his person. He couldn't contrast more against the lively garden that radiated vitality. 

The secretary corrected himself before standing straight. 

"You Majesty, there's been a significant development. A building recently appeared in the city. At first nobody paid it any mind, but in recent weeks, it's garnered the attention of billions."

"And?"

The reaper drifting through the garden turned with a soft word. He didn't seem to care about this gibberish, but he knew his trusted subordinate wouldn't come here spouting nonsense. 

The secretary frowned. 

"It's a business that sells bots. Most of the bots can be thought of as soldiers, and they have medium intelligence. In battle, they're exceptionally skilled, keeping true to their advertised power. Anyway, the main issue isn't the bots. In truth, these bots have caused a massive decline in deaths among battlefield worlds. The issue is the method of payment. These bots... you can use souls to purchase them."

"Souls?"

Now, the reaper perked up with an interested gaze. 

"Yes. While this didn't seem bad at first, there's been a spike in 'mysterious disappearances' among our asuras. These disappearances are almost all murders, and they're all for the goal of getting souls to pay for these bots. In that business, souls are worth far more than the mana crystals. Not only that, everyone who had purchased a bot also received a complementary technique that allows you to preserve souls."

"That's... genius..."

The reaper quickly understood the situation. If souls could be used to purchase valuable items at a higher rate than mana crystals, then it was only natural that people would want to gather souls. And if the seller made the method to preserve souls public, then that would tempt them all the more. The result was an increase in killings in order to gather souls that were now nothing more than currency. 

The reaper couldn't help but praise this businessman. He turned to this secretary. 

"How serious is this issue?"

"...Not that serious. While murders have spiked, there are simply too many worlds and too many clans that fight each other all the time. You could say its nothing more than a small blip that I traced back to this business."

"That's natural. Don't forget the way of the universe. People will die anyway, because death allows others to grow. Growth and ruin. Its a natural course for the denizens of this universe."

"I understand. But... I feel this will become a bigger problem. This business, it's becoming a bit too popular."

"...What's the name of this business?"

The reaper asked with curiosity. He suddenly had a small feeling, though he didn't want to believe it.

"It's called Dream's Armory."

"Dream's Armory..."

The reaper pondered for a second. The secretary stood by silently. He had said everything that needed to be said. He would just wait for orders now. 

"...This Dream, make contact and tell him that Kaldius, the scythe god, wishes to speak with him."

The reaper spoke, a smile forming under his cloak. The secretary ran off, eagerly carrying out these orders.

...........

"Dream, is it? Tell him that the bow goddess, Aspharite, wants a word."

..........

"I guess his name is Dream then? Scurry along. The axe god, Fasphar, has business with him."

..........

"Tell this Dream that the dagger god, Laskov, is interested in this business."

..........

"The mace goddess, Tritalyte, wishes to exchange pleasantries with Dream."

..........

"...Tell this Dream that Vursoid wants a word. But don't pressure him. I have a feeling he won't immediately accept my offer."

A tall man upon a throne had a small smile. He was the spear god, and he chuckled as a faint feeling rose within his chest.

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