That question wasn't answered imdiately.
"Follow . We can talk in a bit."
Scarlet Fox had a veil covering the lower half of her face, but as it was partially translucent, it didn't quite hide her features. She glanced at the surroundings, telling him with her expression alone that there were too many ears in the building.
Atlas shut his mouth and followed her. They went up the stairs to the second floor where he got a glimpse of the higher tier market before they moved into another staircase leading to the third floor.
The floors up to the fifth were all part of the market. The lowest level was the most accessible, while the highest level was ant for only the most premium custors. The goods sold there were worth upwards of several billion gold and could only be purchased through exchange. Neither money nor status could guarantee entry to the fifth floor.
However, there were no doors left locked in front of Atlas. Scarlet Fox took him up the first five floors, and when they arrived at the fifth, they entered one of the many private showrooms ant for acquisitions and the most private sales.
Well, that was the purpose of the other showrooms. This one was a bit special.
When Scarlet Fox placed her hand on the wall, the building itself reacted to her qi. Atlas' eyes widened as the floor changed beneath him. The clean white marble turned black yet maintained its smoothness. The walls faded away, revealing a completely different interior design than the market's aesthetic.
"The Starfire rchant Guild, huh?"
The change of scenery was more than enough indication that they'd entered the true face of the rchant guild. Here, the only ears were those owned by Scarlet Fox.
"I know it wasn't the original plan, but it happened like that. I'll explain it on the way."
Scarlet Fox maintained her lead. Clearly, she was giving him a minor tour while also leading him to her main office so they could converse freely.
"When you left, we had only been operating for a few months, so I thought following Heaven's Eye's strategy was the best thod for gaining attention."
Scarlet Fox glanced over, removing the veil covering her face. It was a much more beautiful gesture than she realized.
"After a year passed, I realized I was wrong."
Atlas' eyes narrowed.
'A year?'
The way she said it made it seem like a single year was short compared to the overall ti fra of her story.
'It couldn't have been so long, could it?'
He couldn't sense ti in Purgatory, but the ti he spent in the Underworld itself couldn't have been more than half a year. In his perception, it had to be around two months at the very most, but he knew that his perception wasn't entirely trustworthy.
If the ti he spent in Purgatory was even sowhat proportional…
"Heaven's Eye's influence is too great. When people discovered us and then learned that we were not from Heaven's Eye, they turned away without considering us."
Atlas' thoughts were cut off by Scarlet Fox's words. He decided to save the question and hope the answer was present in her story. Your next chapter awaits on My Virtual Library Empire
They walked through the dimly lit halls of the new building they'd entered.
Well, it was still the sa building, but it was different enough to call new. It wasn't so expansive, as it didn't need to be large in size. There was a corridor wide enough for five people to walk comfortably that was bordered on both sides by walls lined with doors. The ceiling was relatively low as well, giving off the impression that this was a much smaller building.
This was a building made for the exchange of information alone. Ornate decorations had no place here.
"Following Heaven's Eye and using the sa thods that they employ sounds like a good strategy on paper, but it's too common. Only after trying it myself did I realize why I'd never heard of anyone else trying it."
Everyone who tried to mimic Heaven's Eye faded into oblivion. In the first place, Heaven's Eye was only able to operate with such an air of mystery because of its high status. There wasn't information readily available about how Heaven's Eye was started, but Scarlet Fox doubted they used such thods.
On one hand, a small information guild didn't have the reputation to sustain such a business model, and on the other hand, when cultivators saw others trying to copy Heaven's Eye, they imdiately ford negative opinions of those people.
If one wanted to compete in this Tower, one had to find a unique lane to occupy.
"Business wasn't the original goal, but in the process, I sohow learned that I have a little talent in this aspect."
Atlas nodded. Scarlet Fox had the aura of soone who could do well in the financial domain.
Even cultivation clans needed advisors who could work with numbers and money. Even cultivators needed trading companies and rchant guilds that sold the goods they sought.
Otherwise, wouldn't everyone be forced to adventure and explore for every little thing? It was far too inconvenient.
Scarlet Fox was one of those people who could fill the gap. She had the technical knowledge, she was sly like a fox, she was charismatic, and she was authoritative. Really, it was a miracle that she never got into business beforehand.
The two of them walked through a long corridor and up five separate staircases. The first five floors were as uniform as could be, creating quite an interesting atmosphere. Those were all ant for custors, while the final floor was ant for administrative work.
It was also the location of Scarlet Fox's office.
"The Starfire rchant Guild was actually sothing I purchased. The na was already decided by the previous owners, and I decided to keep it so the locals didn't feel like it was unfamiliar. I had the original building demolished and rebuilt into a more pristine-looking establishnt, and we started taking our first steps as rchants."
Reaching this point, Scarlet Fox stopped at the door at the end of the hall and turned the knob.
She entered the room and held the door open for Atlas to follow her in. Without focusing too much on the space around them, they both approached the desk near the back wall and took their seats.
"I spent a year building the business. Within a year, we were already renowned within the Market District, and in the years after that, our renown spread to the entirety of the lower floors. The connections I ford at Heaven's Eye helped a lot."
The rest of the story flowed easily. For years, Scarlet Fox worked as hard as she could and built the Starfire rchant Guild into a strong influence. At the sa ti, she built the information guild that was her main goal.
"The organization existed from so ti ago, of course, but I regard the mont I realized the Starfire rchant Guild's success as the true founding mont. At that point, two years or so after our last eting, Gaia's Compass was established."
Gaia's Compass.
'The only thing that can compete with the eye of the Heavens is a compass controlled by the world itself, is it?'
There wasn't much Atlas had to say after hearing this much of the story, but there was a comnt he had no choice but to make.
"It's a good na."
It was the na of an influence he could see at the top of the world.
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