This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 514 - 471: Whoever I Help Will Win

Chapter 514: Chapter 471: Whoever I Help Will Win

Above the starry sky, a small spaceship slowly glided through the void.

Amberser lay comfortably in the cabin, humming a tune no one else had ever heard.

Hake Stone was busy revising the manuscripts from the past few days, making corrections and then copying them all over again. But the more he wrote, the more irritated he became, and he couldn’t help asking, "What are you even humming? It’s completely devoid of any aesthetic sense."

Amberser retorted with sarcasm, "Is it any less pleasant than the sound of you mining back in the day?"

Having known him for quite some time, Amberser had gathered quite a bit of intelligence about Hake Stone. Before becoming a Vampire, Hake Stone had been a Dwarven miner.

Hake Stone replied disdainfully, "People need to grow. I might have mined once, but that doesn’t mean I’ll always be a miner."

"Oh, growing into someone who writes unofficial histories is something to be proud of, huh? Being the best-selling supplement to ’Legendary Spells’ is a title worth boasting about?"

"You only see the ’unofficial’ in ’unofficial history,’ completely blind to its literary artistry. I can’t understand, for the life of me, why someone like you, with no aesthetic sense and only love for money, gets so much good fortune. I’ve been a member of the Elegy Poetry Society longer than you have."

This was something that really baffled Hake Stone.

He had been part of the Elegy Poetry Society for longer and knew Gareth earlier, and their relationship was a bit stronger. But now even the Headless Knight Gareth had become one of this Lich’s best friends, not to mention the fact that this Lich was also able to assemble the bigwigs of the Elegy Poetry Society from all over several times.

Everyone knew about his greed for money, and his reputation for swindling people and gods was also widespread. So why did people keep bringing him benefits?

He couldn’t understand it, really couldn’t.

Unable to hold back any longer, Hake Stone said to Amberser, "Brother, give me some pointers, please. I too want to be showered with half the divine power and other benefits."

Amberser turned to look at the Dwarf Vampire and said curiously, "You’re not short on money."

At that, Hake Stone responded with excitement, "I’m poorer than you!"

True, Hake Stone had only the gold from an Underground City, but the Lich’s wealth was no longer measurable in gold.

Amberser, however, laughed and said, "Poverty is relative. For a Lich like me without any artistic talent, wealth is the only asset. You’re different; you’re a great artist. Having art is enough for you. Being spiritually rich is far more noble than a money-grubbing Lich like me."

Hake Stone was so infuriated that he gritted his teeth, but he still humbly said to Amberser, "The richer you are, the less affected you are by external factors, and you can write absolutely neutral and objective history. That’s why historians must be wealthy! Master, teach me, please. I want princesses, queens, and goddesses to spoil me too."

"Spoil you? What nonsense are you talking about?" Amberser replied in confusion. "Who have you seen spoiling me?"

Hake Stone responded eagerly, "Still denying it? Just now, Aige gave you her Silent Night Pirate Group! Not to mention her promise to share divine power with you once she becomes a deity."

Amberser countered, "To help Aige achieve deification, I had the Mermaid Goddess Yizhuoluo come down for a face-to-face talk with her, securing an opportunity for deification. Then I conquered the entire Volcanic Ocean Region for her, finding tens of thousands of mermaids to be her followers. Do you really think all I have to do is open my mouth and everything comes to me?"

After thinking for a moment, Hake Stone felt there might be some truth to that and asked, "What about Withered Rose, then? The Gloomyland is almost your turf by now, right? What have you done for her?"

"Did the people of Laine hang themselves because they were tired of living? Who summoned the Githyanki? Me! Who supported Allen Watson in the Laine’s internal strife and helped him raise the banner of rebellion? Me! Now that the Orcs are beating the Laine People to a pulp, who’s supplying them with a vast amount of war weapons? Still me!"

Unable to help himself, Amberser said to Hake Stone, "As a historian, you don’t analyze any of this closely. What exactly have you been writing lately? Let me take a look."

But Hake Stone replied, "No, that can’t be done. My work can only be published after I die, or after you die, which is the principle of a historian—to finalize judgments after death."

After I die, or after you die, before publishing..." Amberser paused, then said, "Have you forgotten that you’re a Vampire and I’m a Lich?"

Hake Stone also paused.

Wait, something did seem off.

This rule couldn’t apply to the Undead. They were immortal.

However, Hake Stone soon came to terms with it. With the way this Lich played his cards, he would either ascend to godhood or play himself to death eventually, so there was no rush to publish.

"Don’t change the subject. Are you going to teach me or not?"

Hake Stone still wanted to know if Amberser had a secret technique that inspired others to give him money willingly.

Amberser said helplessly, "What can I teach you? I’ve always followed one principle—that is, I don’t engage in loss-making deals. Before investing, I calculate my costs and predict the potential returns. I accept deals that are profitable and decline those without profit, striving for a win-win to maintain sound partnerships. It’s that simple."

"Win-win means you win twice, right? Your notoriety for swindling people and gods is well-known!"

Hake Stone had heard that the Gods knew this Lich specialized in deceiving deities, and more than one Goddess had suffered major losses at his hands.

Amberser, however, shook his head and said, "That’s not business, that’s war. I show no mercy to enemies, but I always ensure the interests of those who sincerely cooperate with me."

"You really think I’d believe that?"

"Believe it or not, that’s up to you, but you wouldn’t treat others as fools, would you? So many people in Elegy Poetry Society have partnered with me. Do you see any of them at a loss?"

Hake Stone opened his mouth to retort, but then realized that what Amberser was saying was true; everyone who had partnered with him had received satisfactory returns. Hake Stone seemed to remember something and asked excitedly, "Wait, the last time you mentioned a business with a high rate of return and asked for my investment, was that not a scam?"

Amberser said matter-of-factly, "Of course not. The Drow Elf airship transportation business is now up and running. It started making a profit in its first month and should recoup all the invested costs in no more than half a year."

It is very difficult for a monopoly not to make money, especially since the Elf Tribe has switched much of their magical materials transportation from Magic Array transmission to airship. It is somewhat slower, but the cost is much lower.

Because most magical materials have lively magical properties and contain vast amounts of Magic Power, space transmission inevitably affects these materials. At best, their quality declines, and at worst, the transportation fails, and no one knows where they end up. In such cases, the Elf Tribe needs to package these materials specially to prevent the interference of magical energies, which is very costly.

There is no such hassle with airships. The specially designed cargo hold is impervious even to the airship’s inherent Dark Magic Power; it’s a purely mechanical, manually operated cargo hold. Transporting magical materials doesn’t require additional packaging and saves a significant portion of the cost.

Although it’s slower than spatial transmission, the price is much cheaper.

Many merchants don’t mind waiting a few extra days in exchange for a more favorable price.

With such advantages, as well as the strong promotion by the Elf Tribe, Drow Elf air routes have become the choice of many merchants. As long as those Drow Elves don’t mess around at the control panel causing a crash, even a half-full cargo hold can turn a tidy profit.

This is the advantage of technology. Others are envious but can only watch.

After listening to Amberser’s brief introduction, Hake Stone quickly said, "I’m in, I’ll invest right now!"

"Invest in what? At the beginning, I could have used my connections to give you a share, but now the routes are established, and everyone is already counting their money. Do you actually think it’s your turn to add investments now? Do you really think the Elf Tribe is running a charity? They would love to open up more investment opportunities and devour my share entirely!"

Amberser currently held sixty percent of the air route revenues, which the Elf Tribe was very unhappy about, but they couldn’t do anything about it because Amberser had a technical monopoly.

Once Amberser opened up this permission to add investments, the Elf Tribe would dare to use a large sum of money to dilute Amberser’s proportion.

You can’t let others increase their investment and still keep forty percent, can you?

The Elf Tribe would take this opportunity to change the shares of the air route to seventy-thirty or even ninety-ten, forcing Amberser to become a minor shareholder. So this opportunity couldn’t be given, at least not until Amberser had earned enough and, for whatever reason, needed to liquidate a large amount of his shares.

Hake Stone felt uncomfortable with regret; everything the Lich had said was true. There was a gold mine right before his eyes, and he had missed it just like that.

After thinking it over, Hake Stone said to Amberser, "Master Ultraman, do you have any other profitable businesses recently? You must include me. I won’t doubt you again!"

"Recently?"

Amberser thought for a moment, then said, "Actually, there is. I’ve just taken on a group of mercenaries and plan to sell them to the Orcs as cannon fodder. But I’ve been too busy to deal with such trifles lately. If you’re interested, you could be the intermediary..."

Amberser explained the situation with the Githyanki to Hake Stone. The Dwarf Vampire crunched the numbers and realized it was indeed a surefire profitable business; if the Githyanki died, there was no need to pay compensation, and all the money was paid by the Orcs. One would just collect the money without having to go to the battlefield.

Hake Stone remarked, "You really are impressive, to play underwater with that princess from Fury Tide Kingdom and then turn the Githyanki into mercenaries—it’s the Goddess of Wealth’s favor upon you. Don’t worry, I’ll do it. We’ll split the profits fifty-fifty."

"What are you thinking? I found the Githyanki, I made the connections with the Orcs, and I’ll probably have to deal with the transmission too. A fifty-fifty split? You’ll get a maximum of twenty-eight percent, I’ll take seventy-two."

"Only twenty-eight percent?!"

"If you don’t agree, forget it. Do you think being a liaison requires any special skills?"

"But it’s war, which is very dangerous. I could get killed."

"What danger is there in chatting through a Magic Mirror? Can the Lord of the Dawn actually reach through it and hit you?"

...

The two haggled back and forth for a while, and eventually settled on a seventy-thirty split of the profits, with Amberser taking seventy percent and Hake Stone reluctantly accepting thirty percent.

Amberser patted his head and said, "Don’t complain about it being too little; others would want to get thirty percent but don’t have the connections. Besides, this war won’t end so soon. The mercenaries will soon be put to good use, and you’ll be able to quote a high price then. The Orcs won’t dare to refuse."

Hake Stone sensed that there was more to Amberser’s words and asked, "What’s going on? Aren’t the Orcs currently in a favorable position?"

Amberser chuckled and said, "Laine will soon counterattack, and even if the Orcs can hold them off, it will be a tough fight."

"How do you know that?"

Amberser confidently said, "Because the Laine People have already come to me seeking cooperation. In this war, I help whoever wins!"