(Floating Cloud City: Xia Clan Manor)
(3rd Person Pov)
Acnologia sat on one of the tables in the Xia Manor's library. Across from him sat an ordinary young lady named Jue Lie she was a scholar who studies business, accounting, finance management and marketing.
Being from the Black Moon Merchant Guild, widely considered as the main source of distribution for profound coins to ensure their value doesn't destabilise teaching a student the basic economics of the world she was hired for is child's play. But what she wants to know most about this young man before her is what made him so special that a sect as influential and powerful as the Frozen Cloud Asgard, famously known for their refusal of all men would actually hire her?
'I wonder. Maybe someone in this city is going to be a future disciple, and one of the conditions they might have put is for them to hire someone to teach this young man how currency works? But that wouldn't explain why they wouldn't just have someone from the city teach them.'
Jue Lie shook her head clearing her thoughts. While no doubt curious, the Frozen Cloud Asgard are still an influential organisation whom they treat with great respect. They were asked to keep silent and keep silent they will.
'Still. Just what kind of monster is he? I myself am a half step nascent realm cultivator, yet every instinct is warning me that this man could kill me faster than I could comprehend him move.'
Acnologia seeing this woman look at him with such intensity and seriousness caused him to raise an eyebrow.
"I'm flattered you seem so enamoured by my looks, but if you stare any harder I'm afraid you might burn a hole through me with such an intense gaze."
Acnologia spoke dryly. Jue Lie rolled her eyes as she coughed and spoke.
"Eyes up, student. You might be here to learn how to swing a sword, but if you cannot count your coins, you will be a beggar before you reach the Earth Profound Realm. Let us discuss the lifeblood of the planet we live on, The Profound Coin."
Acnologia nodded his head as Jue Lie draw three circles and wrote several different names beneath them as she continued.
"Now, look at the board. Our economy is built on the profound coins. It is simple math for simple minds.
The Yellow Profound Coin: This is your copper. To a peasant in the fields, this is everything. A single Yellow Coin can buy two loaves of coarse bread."
She pointed to the first circle labeled Yellow.
"The Cyan Profound Coin: This is your silver. It takes one hundred Yellow Coins to equal one Cyan. A commoner might earn ten of these in a good month."
She pointed to the second circle labeled Cyan.
"And lastly. The Purple Profound Coin: This is our gold—the 'Noble Coin.' It takes one hundred Cyan Coins to make one Purple. This coin is crafted with a trace of profound energy to prevent forgery. One Purple Coin is worth ten thousand Yellow Coins."
Acnologia frowned but didn't say anything Jue Lie continued.
"Think of it this way. 30,000 Yellow Coins is exactly three Purple Coins. If you have three Purple Coins in your pocket, a commoner family could live for a year, but they would never wear silk. To you, a single Purple Coin is akin to a week's training; to them, it is four months of life.
Now, understand the divide. There are two economies on this planet:
The Mortal Economy: This is based on labor and grain. They trade in Yellow and Cyan. They rarely see a Purple Coin in their entire lives. And next we have The Cultivator Economy: Based on greed and power.
They trade in Purple Coins and Profound Currency Cards. Why? Because a high-level Profound Beast Core might cost fifty thousand Purple Coins. Can you imagine carrying half a million Cyan coins to a shop? Your horse would collapse before you reached the gate!"
Acnologia raised an eyebrow as he questioned.
"What is this profound currency card? And who is the one that is minting these coins? Because surely to have trade value, these "profound coins" must have something of value to them to make them tradable?"
Jue Lie seemed slightly surprised by Acnologia's question thinking to herself.
'He doesn't know what a profound currency card is? That's truly odd, even most commoners know about it's existence, and he even already has a basic grasp of monetary value. Could it be it's not so much that he lacks any financial understanding, and more that he doesn't understand how the currency works?'
Jue Lie coughed as she pulled out a shiny card and explained.
"This here my friend is a profound currency card. It's purpose is to safely store and transfer large quantities of profound coins. Since it's fairly obvious, but carrying millions of Purple Profound Coins is physically impossible for a single person. One card can hold an almost unlimited balance, replacing bulky chests of metal.
It is used for high-level trade at the Black Moon Merchant Guild and other major institutions. Large-scale purchases—such as high-rank Profound Cores or expensive medicines—are handled by transferring "digital" balances between cards rather than exchanging physical coins. And because it is issued and backed by the Black Moon Merchant Guild the biggest merchant chain on the continent it is accepted across all seven nations and even in the Divine Phoenix Empire."
Acnologia hummed in interest.
"So does this mean you yourself are fairly wealthy to own such a card?"
Jue Lie nodded her head calmly.
"Of course. I am one of the more experienced employees of the Black Moon Merchant Guild, being given the responsibility of managing the marketing, finance management and accounting, it's natural my salary is higher than the newer and less experienced employees. So, do you have any other questions you'd like to ask?"
Acnologia nodded his head as he questioned.
"How do you prevent forgery of this card? And you also never answered my question about who mints these coins?"
"An excellent question. Each card contains a unique profound seal or array that records the balance. This seal is linked to the Guild's global ledger, allowing it to be updated at any branch. As for who mints the profound coins? Simply put, each individual empire like the Blue Wind Empire and the Divine Phoenix Empire as well as the other five empires mine and mint their own individual profound coins. They label these profound coins with an insignia of their empire, and we at the Black Moon Merchant Guild handle the role of stabilisers, distributors, and arbiters of value. The reason the currency works is because the raw materials (the specific metal ores) have inteinsic value to cultivators as resources. You could technically use the Purple metal to forge a basic low-level sword if you wanted to."
Acnologia nodded along. He was starting to have a basic grasp of how this worlds economy functioned. So he questioned.
And how does the Black Moon Merchant Guild handle the distributing of these resources?"
Jue Lie nodded her head as she one hand on her hips as she answered.
"To put it simply, we have a massive network of caravans and branches. We buy bulk coins from the nations at a set rate and distribute them across the continent, ensuring a steady supply.
And let's say for example, if a major discovery is made such as a new Purple Ore mine opens up, the Guild would be the first to know and would adjust trade values across their network.
Our most important role is the Profound Currency Card System. This "digital" money supply is managed entirely by the Guild and is how the high-volume, high-value economy functions."
Acnologia whistled.
"Damn. So the Black Moon Merchant Guild Holds a lot of power over the global economy and everyone is just alright with that? If something happened to the Black Moon Merchant Guild and the market crashed the entire world gets screwed over since almost all the other empires resources and assets should be in your possessions to manage no?"
Jue Lie gave Acnologia a bright smile.
"That would never happen. We've been operating for millenniums without failing even once. Were trusted not by just small nations you know? Even the Divine Phoenix empire can't threaten us all willy nilly as there are real consequences that would arise."
Acnologia looked genuinely shocked. He was no economist, but surely there would be some empires that would find a single central bank too powerful and influential?
They'd open up their own banks, and start making their people use their banks to prevent the consolidation of so much power in a single centralised bank where if anything happens, the whole world is fucked.
Jue Lie seemed to understand what Acnologia was thinking about as she chuckled softly.
"I have a pretty good idea what you might be thinking about. But you must understand that most empires and sects don't care about who holds their money because all they focus on is th ability to cultivate and grow stronger. So long as we don't interfere with their ability to purchase pills, herbs, and other things they may need, they really don't mind trusting us with their wealth. After all, in this world, if someone is strong, money loses much of it's power against such a person. Just because you have a million purple profound coins, doesn't guarantee you will survive against an expert much stronger than yourself you know? Though I must admit, you are surprisingly well literate financially. When I took this job and when I first met you, I thought I might have been dealing with someone with zero knowledge of economics, but your actually fairly well educated."
Acnologia raised an eyebrow.
"Should I take it as a compliment or an insult?"
Jue Lie shrugged.
"That's your decision at the end of the day. I'm just stating what I've witnessed, how you interpret it is not something I have much control over."
Acnologia mulled it over and nodded his head. No point getting riled up over something so pointless. Still….
"And what would happen if someone brought in the corpse of a Sovereign Profound realm monster?"
Jue Lie shrugged.
"We don't know because as of right now no profound beast exists that is even close to being a (Monarch). Even the strongest profound beast ever recorded is only an Emperor Profound Realm beast. There are more than a few dozen experts who could easily slay such a beast. But if somehow a Sovereign Profound realm beast is brought to the Black Merchant Guild, we'd be both mesmerised and terrified."
Acnologia snorted.
"Oh? And why is that?"
Chu Yueli sighed wistfully.
"Could you imagine living long enough to see the profound core of a "monarch"? The highest realm a mortal could ever hope to achieve? It'd be like a dream come true.
Yet it would also be terrifying because what sort of monster is the person who slayed the beast? Are they friend? Foe?
A con artist stealing another persons prize after mutual death from a fight of two "monarchs"? There's so many things that needs to be accounted for it's just insane how many of us would fight tooth and nail to become this individual's personal assistance.
However, if such a thing does happen, I guarantee the person who could slay such a beast likely is an expert who came from one of the four sacred grounds not any one of the Seven Empires"
—(Break)—
Soon night fell, Jue Lie had finished her 12 hours and had headed back to wherever she came from, and Acnologia was headed to his room after a nice dinner. On his way to his room, he saw Xia Qing Yue meditating in the gardens, as profound energy circulated through her body.
Acnologia said nothing as he left her alone and went to his room. He had already warned her that her technique was something that would kill her much faster due to the accumulation of "frost" in her body that would slowly freeze her profound veins making it difficult to cultivate and grow stronger.
But it seems whatever her ultimate goal was, she was desperate enough to destroy herself to achieve the strength necessary for what she wished to accomplish. And with that, Acnologia laid on his bed and went to sleep, since the next day, he had language classes.
—(Break)—
Xia Qing Yue sat in the garden under the moonlight. She had felt Acnologia's gaze upon her, and she understood that despite his warning he wasn't planning on interfering with her decision. Accumulated frost or not, she has to grow stronger.
"There are unknown experts that exist across the world. Even if my cultivation stalls due to this "frost", Acnologia's existence proves just how vast this world is, and if someone like him could exist, I have no doubt I could one day find someone to remove all this "frost" I have accumulated."
And with that, Xia Qing Yue returned back to cultivating.
—(End)—
(An: Great News! Just one more chapter before we get into the time skip and the action fight scenes!)