The Industrialist

Lance knew about the type of rock compositions that filled the Mountain Broadridge. It was 20 miles further from Axiom Trench but it was an adjacent mountain of a previously surviving city, Bay City. From the boundaries of Broadridge, sprang the second most progressive surviving city of Oroz Continent.

It was Lance and his family’s ancestral city.

Farming mountain rock salts as raw material for salt filtration was beyond the grasp of possibility for now. Knowing about Axiom Trench, Broadridge Mountain could habituate an Abominant hive.

But because of its altitude beyond the mid-range lands, daylight was more discernable even though it’s more arid. Therefore, Abominants might cower below the mountain peaks of Broadridge and habituate themselves to the nearest desirable nesting ground – Bay City.

Based on instincts, Abominants wanted to scour behind the shadows of tall structures, wide establishments, and building-filled places as they provided better shade from daylight.

Bay City was a perfect place to nestle a hive.

Unfortunately, reviving Bay City was way beyond easy.

Hence, his conquest for Salt supply would be halted for now.

’I will need more firepower to mine salts, therefore, more currency,’ Lance thought.

Lance met with the usual crew for their preparation to acquire Tylls. The truck was readily available and the Rebel caretaker was more than happy to oblige to lease out his truck for 50 units. That’s 50 units, a quarter of groceries for one person, and he could earn in one day was probably the best moment of his life.

Such currency surmounted a factory worker’s salary for a week.

An apparent smile creased on old Nestor’s face, the caretaker, who also maintained all Rebel vehicles. He maintained them not because he was the best mechanic, he was just worst at everything, and being a grease monkey suited him.

The group settled on the far side where the guffaws of the rebel groups failed to reach them. Nestor waved at him from the far side corner with currency plastered on his expression.

Joe’s exhilaration apparently brightened up the mood. A couple of fist bumps were exchanged as they settled for a huddle.

Lance, among the youngest of a foolishly formed crew, had no experience handling groups. Therefore, silence overcame him. He stared at Joe, who was not also a crowd organizer and then shifted his gaze upon Damian.

Damian stared back at him, seemingly expecting Lance to lead the conversation. Then he veered his stare at his side, to George, who had seriousness plastered on his expression.

"Hmm," George started to collect his thoughts, as it seemed. The crowd waited for him to speak, almost awkwardly that ice formations started to build up in front of them.

"What about the currency to buy the Tylls?" George asked, finally breaking the ice. His way of inquisition improved as he embraced fully the function of a trader. "We will need 1600 units for 40 pieces of Tylls."

"Give me 1 to 2 weeks and I’ll have the money." Lance had the money, 1730 units to be exact. Spending 1600 units would scream for utter stupidity with only 130 units left in his account. Not good for business and the risk of failing the Tyllrium trading was high.

Hence, acquiring more currency was sound. Timing was everything with the funds he had. For a regular commoner, amassing over 1000 units was like providing a family of 4 for a month’s grocery.

But for an individual was a hardly-ever happenstance for commoners. Mid-classers had an average of 3000 units above each individual, providing more than enough to feed themselves for a year. Excess of it was spent on luxuries, like the Unitech Shades.

"What is your plan, kid?" Damian asked.

"Joe, do the honors," Lance pointed at his farmer.

"Yes, boss! We can have the money in 1 week." Joe announced to the group. "The Zelkian will bear children a few days from now and its Zelklings will grow to a small ball size after a week. They will be marketable by then."

"Zelklings?" Damian asked.

"The baby Zelkians," Joe retorted. "What else would you call them?"

Damian was dumbfounded by the question, with his jaw half closed.

"Ok. Ok. Whatever," Damian laughed. "Zelklings." He uttered again for him to remember.

"How much are we talking here?" George once again asked important business questions.

"Joe?" Lance asked his mentee.

"6 Zelklings. If the boss said that we can sell them at 120 each then we will have 720 units for next week." Joe snappily answered.

"Is it enough?" George asked.

"Yes, George," Lance answered. "Grebert had given a 30% DP for us to proceed with the order. That’s more than 800 units. I can add a couple of 100 units to suffice the needed 1600 units."

"Where did you get the money, kid?" Damian asked.

"I sold off the Tyll samples and gained 300 plus units," Lance replied.

"The question remains, kid," George said, "how can you convert the Zelklings to currency?"

"Let me do the marketing, George," Lance answered. "You do the supply and I will dispose them, and turn them into currency. Eventually, filling our pockets to a level of currency that we have not attained ever before."

Everyone was excited, especially George. George knew that in one transaction would earn him 450 units net. But if negotiation with the merchants in Axiom Trench, bulk buying could avail discounts. A 40-unit Tyllrium piece would maybe priced down to 35 units, driving to an additional earnings of 200 units.

It appeared that everything was in order and the group only waited for the additional currency to commence purchase of Tyllrium.

He went back to his cabin and surrendered himself to his massage chair. But this time, he did not activate the machine to proceed with the program.

He just sat and enjoyed the chair’s curvature perfectly embracing his back and torsos, down to his calves and soles.

’Marketing. Marketing. Marketing.’ Lance thought.

"Jasper," Lance spoke towards the empty ceiling.

"Master," Jasper responded.

"Can you sweep an entry in the Meta world of Unitech shades?" Lance tested. "Please commence sweep." He took out the Unitech shades from its box. The Unitech ad music startled him again as the box opened.

Jasper scanned the Shades as the user held it in his right hand. A perceptible holographic laser line emerged, sprouting from the installed AI metallic box on his ceiling, and onto the shade’s frame.

"Hmm. Interesting. This operating system is dangerous, Master." Jasper said after a few streams of scans.

"Elaborate," Lance commanded.

"The Unitech Shades is connected to a cloud with hackable firewalls. There were fail-safes but only to an amateur level."

"What do you know about hacking?"

"Well, you installed a hacking capability chip, Master," Jasper responded.

"Hmm. Yeah, I remember." Lance snorted. "Tell me more,"

"I am in. Activating operating system phase levels."

"What do you see?"

"I see a lot of advertising agencies who availed slots registered only to the coverage of Unitech Shades Operating system. Somehow these agencies paid Unitech to air their holographic advertisements if the user would activate the Shades."

"Can you scan through the black market category?" Lance asked.

"Of course, master. This is where the users frequently looked for bootleg products. Mid-classers these days wanted to look good but compromising product quality."

"True, Jasper. Scan through Abominant categories," Lance said.

"Abominants in the black market? Surprisingly saleable, Master," Jasper continued his scan.

"Blow up a hologram, Jasper," Lance said. A holographic representation appeared before him showing a series of images of all the merchandise sold in the black market category.

There were three Abominants in the black market. The cheapest amongst them was Rattus for only 10 units.

’Must be the Academy students for their anatomy splicing,’ Lance thought.

Secondly, an Abominated dog for 1000 units. It was called Skorgarz. He was not sure how they named the Abominant, Skorgarz. It looked familiar, though at first glance.

Then he remembered, with a jolt of surprise, that he had seen three of them inside the Seer’s tent.

"Show profile," Lance commanded.

All categories, use, form, breed, and even purchase history of its profile were depicted as ’unknown’. It only showed a picture and its price.

’Interesting,’ Lance thought.

"Jasper, remind me about Skorgarz. I will ask about it. I think Axiom can supply me with these dogs."

Then thirdly, the Zelkian for 120 units.

"Open item specs and data," A series of specifications, use, dimensions, and other minute details were shown in a tabular form. It showed that there were a lot of citizens who sought Zelkians.

Purchase history told him that there were over 500 heads of Zelkians sold to the Citizens. And at that moment, the advertiser was out of stock.

"Trace advertiser, Jasper," Lance commanded.

"Jonaz Enterprises," Jasper responded.

Lance did not here about Jonaz Enterprises ever in his two-year trade scrapping career. His blood experienced a cold chill upon the thought of it. Such enterprise and the business he dealt with, partnering its organization with Unitech, probably a mob in disguise.

Moreover, locating Jonaz Enterprises should be challenging.

"Can you locate the office?"

"Office location only indicates Bloomforge, Master," Jasper said.

Bloomforge Enclave was the capital sector of Axe Capital. It was where the high-echelon citizens were located and held the offices of high-ranking politicians and the Industrialist, Menks.

"I know a man that can locate a Black marketer," Lance said.