[CEO's Cheat Sheet]
Emergency Capital Injection: A sudden, large dump of fresh money to save a key asset from total collapse.
Liquidity Crisis: When a company has valuable things but not enough cash on hand to cover what it owes right now.
Futures Contract: An agreement to sell something in the future at a price decided today—used to pull in fast cash.
Pitch-black fire raged in the middle of the Winterhaven factory. Its heat didn't warm anything—it ate the air and melted the stone pillars around it.
"FALL BACK! EVERYONE OUT OF THE FACTORY!"
Stephanie's voice cut through the panic like a blade. She stood only a few meters from the center of the black inferno. Her face was lit by the deadly glow pouring off Revista's body.
Ornn and Titus rushed to drag the refugees out. Sylas immediately threw up a high-tier protective ward to seal off the reactor area, keeping the black fire from reaching the paper and glass storage.
In the middle of that ring of fire, Revista writhed in agony. The giant man gripped his own head, his blackened nails clawing at the skin of his face and neck until blood ran. The Abyssal Curse had swallowed the corrupt magic from the Church's weapon and was turning him into a living bomb.
"Run..." Revista's voice came out like a growl from deep underground. He forced the eye that hadn't yet been consumed by black veins to find Stephanie. "I... will kill you. Run, Stephanie!"
Stephanie completely ignored the warning.
She stepped forward through the scorching heat. She knelt right in front of Revista. Without a single moment of hesitation, Stephanie reached out and cupped the burning man's face in her hands.
ZRAAASH!
Stephanie's palms blistered red instantly from the heat of Revista's skin. But her Capitalist's Soothing Touch skill kicked in right away, pushing back a thin sliver of the black fire creeping across Revista's face.
Revista gasped. The cool of Stephanie's touch gave him a tiny thread of reason in the sea of burning pain. The man pressed his forehead against her chest, breathing hard.
"You're a fool..." Revista whispered. Tears of blood dripped from the corner of his eye, staining Stephanie's dress. "Your hands... are on fire. Leave me."
"Shut up," Stephanie hissed. Her voice trembled—a rare crack in her armor. "You are the most expensive asset I own. You do not have permission to die before you've paid back every coin I've put into you. Do you hear me?!"
Revista could only let out a soft, broken sound, his giant body going weak in her arms.
Stephanie stared at the red System screen floating in the air.
[Time remaining: 11 Hours 45 Minutes.]
[Recovery Requirement: 100,000 WP.]
[Current Balance: 38,500 WP.]
The worst cash crisis of her entire career. She needed 61,500 WP. Right now.
Stephanie looked back. Sylas Thorne stood outside the protective fire wall, his face tight with worry.
"Sylas!" Stephanie called sharply. "We have a mountain of raw Mana Stones under the castle. Sell all of them to the System right now!"
"The System won't take them, Madam Director!" Sylas shouted back, flipping frantically through his ledger. "Selling hundreds of SSS-Grade Mana Stones all at once will crash the market. The System calculated that the volume is too high, so our Mana Stone value was slashed to 10 WP per chunk! We'd need to sell six thousand chunks to hit the target, and mining that takes a month!"
Stephanie cursed in her head. This System's rules were designed to be just as brutal as the real world.
"We can't use the System for this," Stephanie decided fast. Her CEO brain spun at full speed, ripping through every option. Waiting for soap and paper sales would take weeks.
There was only one way to get that much cash in a matter of hours.
Borrow it.
"Sylas, contact Ignatius Vex—the top Guildmaster of the Black Gold Guild at the Eastern Port," Stephanie ordered with full authority. "Use your fastest magic carrier pigeon. I need to talk to him directly, right now."
Sylas's eyes went wide. "The Black Gold Guild?! They're the greediest loan sharks on the continent! What are you going to offer them?!"
"The future," Stephanie said simply.
Twenty minutes later, Sylas had set up a silver magic projector in the castle office. Stephanie sat in her chair, while Revista lay on the floor nearby, with Ornn watching him to make sure he didn't bring the room down.
From the projector came a glowing image of a fat man in a golden silk robe, puffing on an expensive cigar. Ignatius Vex.
"Oh, Princess Stephanie," Ignatius chuckled hoarsely, taking a slow drag. "I heard you wrecked my little branch office up north and helped yourself to everything in Tarkus's safe. Bold move against the Black Gold Guild."
"Think of that as a standard fee for trespassing on my property," Stephanie replied without missing a beat. "But I didn't call you with high-level magic to talk about pocket change. I have a deal to offer."
Ignatius raised an eyebrow. "Your white paper and lavender soap have already shaken up the market. You have my attention. What do you need?"
"One thousand gold coins. Transferred to Winterhaven within the hour," Stephanie said, blunt and direct.
Ignatius choked on his own cigar smoke. "One thousand gold?! Hahaha! Little Lady, the Black Gold Guild is rich, but we're not a charity. What's the deal?"
"Exclusive rights to sell Clear Glass and White Paper across the entire continent for three full years," Stephanie replied. Her eyes never blinked. "You get the factory price, and I won't sell to any other dealers. Your profit margin will be in the thousands of percent."
Ignatius narrowed his eyes. That offer was a gold mine that never ran dry. The clear glass and white paper had already ripped apart the noble and Church markets in days.
"Very tempting," Ignatius said, rubbing his double chin. "But investing in Winterhaven is risky. You're at war with your own father and the Church of Light. What if you die tomorrow? My thousand gold goes up in smoke."
The clock was ticking. The System screen blinked red: [Time remaining: 10 Hours 12 Minutes.]
Stephanie leaned forward. The full force of her presence hit like a wall, cutting straight through the magic projector.
"I just put down five hundred of the Duke's cavalry and fifty Holy Paladins, took their magic cannons, and turned them into my factory workers. The Church of Light is already broke," Stephanie said, tossing out those terrifying facts like they were nothing.
Ignatius went pale. That news hadn't reached the Eastern Port yet.
"You're not betting on a territory at war, Ignatius. You're buying into the future ruler of this continent's economy," Stephanie pressed. "Transfer the funds now and lock in this deal—or I take it to the Imperial Chamber of Commerce across the sea. Your call."
Ignatius swallowed hard. His greed finally won over his fear. He saw the kind of profit that could make his guild rule the world.
"Deal," Ignatius said, his hands shaking slightly. "The gold will come through our guild's Spatial Teleportation Array in three hours. Make sure you have a clear room ready to receive it."
The magic projector cut out. Stephanie slumped back in her chair with a long exhale. The deal was done. She'd sold her future distribution rights, but massive physical cash was on its way. Revista would be saved.
Three hours of slow, grinding mental torture passed. Revista's body temperature kept rising, melting the stone floor around him.
Then, a massive golden magic circle appeared on the open side of the office floor. From the glowing portal, a heavy iron-bound chest materialized and burst open, sending a blinding flood of a thousand physical gold coins crashing onto the stone.
Stephanie didn't waste a single second. She rushed to the pile and slammed her blistered hands onto the gold.
"System, absorb and convert everything!" she commanded.
[Ding! 1,000 Physical Gold Coins Detected.]
[Converting to WP... Successful! Current Balance: 1,038,500 WP!]
"System! Buy the Phase 3 Abyssal Suppressant and the Magic Extraction package right now!" Stephanie shouted in her head.
But just as her finger was about to hit the purchase button on the blue screen—
SCREEECH—!
An ear-splitting shriek tore through the air over Winterhaven. The sound didn't come from the factory or Revista's curse. It came from above.
Sylas burst through the office door, his glasses cracked on one side, his usually calm face now pure terror.
"Madam Director!" Sylas shouted. "My full aerial barrier was just ripped open by force! Whatever is up there has dozens of times the destructive power of any artillery we've seen!"
Stephanie ran to the window. Her eyes went wide.
In the dark night sky, the moon was blotted out by the beating of massive wings. Dozens of iron-armored Griffin monsters were circling Winterhaven. On their backs, Royal Skyrider Knights aimed glowing magic spears directly at the heart of her territory.
The Royal Griffin Vanguard had arrived. The fifteen-meter-high Obsidian Wall was completely useless against an attack from the air.
At the exact same moment, Revista roared savagely behind her. The Prince's eyes had gone entirely black. He had lost control. Phase 3 had hit.
[Extreme Warning! Aerial Attack Approaching! SSS-Class Asset is out of control!]
[Choose your option, Host: Save the Territory by purchasing the Aerial Shield (1,000,000 WP), OR save the SSS-Class Asset (100,000 WP)?]
[You do not have enough funds to do both!]
Time froze for Stephanie. Her heart hammered in her chest, facing the hardest choice of her life.