At the end of the meeting, Thogrim was one hell of a happy dwarf, having gained the knowledge to create a legendary material with a thousand different uses.
Thogrim thanked Alex, making a promise to help him if he ever needed his help, and that was precisely the reason why he even told him about the creation method of the Mystium Ore.
The promise made by Thogrim was only verbal, but with his pride as a Forg King, he would never deny a request unless it was either completely outlandish or couldn't be completed.
After Thogrim left, Alex checked on Ricin to see if there were any changes to his cocoon, but nothing changed besides it having a stronger aura and being covered in more pulsing veins.
Alex contacted Yanric to arrange a quick meeting with him as he planned to hand over the Gold merchant badge to him and check on his business progress, as it had been over two months since he started.
After paying for the damages caused by Thogrim, Alex left the hotel before teleporting to the capital city Siniawis of the Darkness kingdom.
The meeting with Yanric went well, and other than a few minor issues, the business was progressing well, and Yanric was thrilled after receiving the Gold merchant badge.
Alex was pleased to see Yanric's enthusiasm and dedication to the business as he eagerly shared his progress, telling him about the trade routes he had secured, the profitable deals with prominent families and other merchants he had established, and the overall network of contacts he had build in just two months.
Alex felt it was peculiarly strange hearing about Yanric's quick success without facing any trouble even though he was a Beastmen and a member of a Royal Beast clan which should make him a thorn in the sight of other merchants dealing in the Beast materials.
In just over two months, Yanric had made significant strides in the merchant world, and his profits were already numbering in the millions of gold coins daily, and his financial success was only poised to grow further with his new status as a Gold grade merchant.
After receiving his cut of the profits, which was over 37 Million Gold coins, Alex realized how much of a money-printing business Yanric was running, and it would only grow as time passed.
At the end of the meeting, Alex was a bit wealthier than before and had a great number of high-ranking beast meat and evolution ingredients.
Before leaving, Alex took a communication slip from Yanric to solve the issue plaguing him, informing him that a member of his organization would stay in contact with him to purchase the materials he wanted.
Yanric had tried to contact Alex several times in the last month every time he had a new batch of materials but never received any response from him.
Alex didn't answer Yanric because he never checked his communication slip which was collecting dust in his safe inventory that he rarely opened, only to place something valuable.
Now with the issue addressed, Alex left the grand shop created by Yanric and started wandering the city to restoke on his supplies of food and potions.
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'I need someone who can stay in contact with Yanric to buy any of the good stuff for the organization while also relaying any issues that could arise to me,'
'The only person up for the job and whom I can trust is Venedikt, and giving him this responsibility will make me easily communicate with him, which will help me rebuild my brotherhood back with him.' Alex thought as he wandered the streets of the capital city, Siniawis, while experiencing heavy rain, which was quite rare in this city.
Alex knew very well how brilliant Venedikt was, but his intelligence and real-life circumstances were the reason that made him a closed-up individual who rarely trusted anyone besides his blood brother.
This was the reason Alex was not offering his brother any great opportunities and building things slowly, knowing he couldn't use any made-up lies to get close to him, as it could mess up his image and will cause him problems.
Alex sent a message to Venedikt and continued restoking on the supplies he wanted before going to one of the hotels with a detailed map of the Dreadmire Desert.
Alex had dealt with most of the immediate things and preparations, and now the next thing left to do was to get the blueprints of the battle puppets and warships so Thogrim could start working on them and he could deliver them to the Frozen Flower guild, as promised on time.
Alex also wanted to level up and reach the limits of the third Rank as quickly as possible, and his next destination fulfilled both desires with plenty of monsters for him to hunt and the blueprints he wanted.
After an hour, Alex could be seen seated on a sofa, engrossed and looking at a transparent holographic map of a massive desert.
'The entrance to the hidden city should be some in this area of Eclipse Dunes,' Alex thought, marking a few selective locations of a section of the desert completely cloaked in pitch-dark clouds.
Alex was looking for the entrance to the city hidden deep under the desert, more precisely, he wanted to enter a small section of grand city ruins, and after some brainstorming and past life memories, he had narrowed down the area he needed to search.
Alex closed the map as he heard the door opening and saw a cloaked figure escorted by a hotel staff lady enter the room.
"Venedikt, it's good to see you," Alex greeted his brother with a warm smile.
"Sir, What can I do for You," Venedikt nodded in response, his stoic expression not changing even after seeing Alex without his mask.
"Take a seat. I have a proposition for you," Alex said as he poured tea for Venedikt and himself.
"I need someone I can trust to stay in contact with a Beastman Gold merchant who worked with our organization, and he deals in high-ranking beast meat, evolution ingredients, and other rare items,"
"I need someone to gather the monthly share of the profits the merchants owe us and, most importantly, purchase up to 10% of the best things he acquires from the Beast Continent that will benefit the organization."
"I want you to be the one to handle these transactions," Alex said, getting straight to the point.
"Sir, Thanks for the opportunity and for trusting me. I will happily take on the responsibility," Venedikt replied with a hint of gratitude in his voice.
"Your new pay will be 100K shadow points, and the five members managing the new player with you will receive 50K each," Alex said, mentioning the other pay increase not to freak him out.
Alex then gave Venedikt the communication slip to contact Yanric before adding him as his friend and briefing him about his new role before both of them left the hotel, going their separate way.
Alex went to the teleportation building, going straight to the nearest city to the Dreadmire Desert, and then made his way toward the Eclipse Dunes to locate the entrance to the hidden city ruins buried under the sand.