Chapter 49

PS: First, I need to urgently mention that friends using the mobile app to read the book might have noticed the misalignment of chapters, which doesn't occur on the web version. This seems to be a bug with the Qidian app. The server of the Half-Core Tyrant, which is unmatched in the world, is really... cough, I've already asked the editor to adjust it, but I don't know if it will work. If it's still the same, please try deleting the book and downloading it again. I apologize for the inconvenience (bow).

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Atlas is sparsely populated, even as the capital of the Death Nation. Housing prices are extremely low, and the presence of real estate projects is almost non-existent. If a necromancer fancies a piece of land, as long as it is unclaimed, a simple application will secure it. The same goes for outsiders who have obtained residency permits. As long as the necromancer in charge of auditing finds their reason for purchasing property reasonable, legal, and necessary, they can acquire a deed for a nominal fee in the necromancer capital.

It sounds tempting, but it's not that simple. First, Atlas is the largest gathering place for necromancers, the political, cultural, and scientific center of the Death Nation. According to the theory of elemental tendencies, the constant mental waves and magical vibrations emitted by thousands of necromancers envelop the city in negative energy. Ordinary people without any protection will quickly be corroded by the pervasive negative energy and fall ill. Even without this reason, I doubt any being with a normal sense of values would want to settle in the necromancer stronghold where undead creatures roam the streets. After all, taking a walk after dinner and encountering a few ghouls with their intestines dragging and mouths twisted, lying on the roadside benches to bask in the sunset, is not a pleasant experience.

In fact, the residents of Atlas are mainly of a few types. First, highly skilled professionals hired by necromancers with high salaries, such as master blacksmiths, skilled tailors, experienced extractors, and so on. They come from various races, most of them powerful, and they come to Atlas for reasons such as money, materials, or to avoid trouble, providing services to necromancers.

Second are the dark creatures, who mostly come to avoid trouble. The dense negative energy in Atlas is terrible for living beings but is excellent nourishment for them. These residents of the dark world are fierce and bloodthirsty, enjoying brawls and retaining their savage nature from the dark world. However, after a newly arrived werewolf, who didn't know any better, stopped Sigma during his evening walk and asked where to find human flesh in the city, Sigma had a group of ghouls tear him apart and eat him. Since then, they have been much more subdued.

The last type of permanent residents are merchants.

The commercial system of the Death Nation is vast but extremely distorted. Rich and abundant natural resources, an extremely large and cheap labor force, an exceptionally developed transportation network, an incredibly efficient management system, and a huge supply and demand gap abroad form a complete industrial chain from raw material extraction to initial processing, advanced processing, manufacturing, and export sales, continuously generating foreign exchange for the Death Nation. Whether it's grain, wood, stone, or high-demand products like wooden and iron goods produced by the manufacturing industry, they are all popular abroad. Any merchant guild that connects with the Necromancer Academy is guaranteed a steady stream of gold.

However, the import demand of the Death Nation is shockingly low. They mainly import corpses, orc corpses, and a large number of orc corpses. Apart from that, there's nothing else. It's ridiculous. They have achieved complete self-sufficiency in food, clothing, housing, and transportation. The consumption ability of these necromancers is extremely low, and their daily lives are almost devoid of desires. The luxury goods trade, which is popular and welcomed in other countries, constantly hits a wall here because they think spending hundreds or thousands of gold coins on clothes, perfumes, and daily necessities is foolish.

Thanks to their ascetic lifestyle, which rivals that of ascetics, commercial activities in Atlas are almost moribund. The only relatively popular items are bone carvings and specimen art related to corpses and skeletons. A bat-creature—I mean, a vampire—operates a bone carving shop in Atlas, specializing in knee bone carvings, and the business seems to be doing well.

However, human merchant guilds do not deal in such heavy-taste art.

They have tried for a long time to uncover potential business opportunities in the necromancer capital, but almost all attempts have failed. They can obtain large transactions of grain and iron from the Death Nation but cannot earn gold from the necromancers, which is very frustrating. Look at Florence, where druids enjoy a natural life, and handmade luxury furniture and crafts are very popular. Look at the mages of the Western Mage Federation, who are all dressed in fine wine and elegant attire, casting spells and living gracefully. Look at the Holy City of the Church, which earns a fortune just from hosting tourists and pilgrims, and selling souvenirs. A little bit of that would make us rich. Look at you! You!

"So, business has always been bad," Sigma raised a cup larger than his head and gulped down beer. A large, fragrant roasted lamb chop was on the table in front of him, making people's mouths water.

Alice sat across from him, sitting upright like a lady, elegantly holding a cup of black tea. Two stacks of exquisite and delicious pastries were placed beside her, forming a stark contrast to Sigma. After hearing Sigma's words, she also looked worriedly at the owner standing beside them: "Mr. Lester, this place won't close down due to severe losses, will it..."

"No, no," the plump, round, and seemingly amiable owner smiled warmly, "This place was originally set up by the young lady for the prince alone, with no profit in mind. Thanks to the prince's patronage, I was allowed to open a small shop to earn some pocket money, so it can't be called a loss."

Sigma glanced at Alice and smiled, "Although most necromancers in Atlas are boring, there are still a few scoundrels like us who can't stand this lifeless existence. Where there is demand, there is business. I don't expect to make money, but it's good to build connections and good karma..."

"You're the scoundrel," Alice glared at Sigma, her face slightly red.

She became friends with Sigma for two reasons. First, people tend to group together, and both of them were anomalies among necromancers, so they naturally had common language. Second, Alice had something to ask of Sigma.

The gender ratio among necromancers is almost terrifying. Even if there are female necromancers, most of them are dark, have a dark past, or even psychological issues, making them old hags. A young, beautiful, and lively girl like Alice is a rare and precious creature. Although she studies at the Necromancer Academy, her love for beauty and her lively nature cannot be changed. She wants her wardrobe filled with beautiful clothes, and she wants to use expensive cosmetics and perfumes. She wants to know the fashion trends of the upper class in Dragon Spear Province and read the sappy romance novels written by shameless bards. Although she appears cold and indifferent to others, focusing only on magical cultivation, deep down, she still has a typical girlish heart.

But Alice couldn't buy those things in Atlas because necromancers have almost zero demand for luxury goods, and no merchant is willing to do business here at a loss.

Until Alice, who appeared calm on the surface but was anxious inside, could no longer tolerate her gradual transformation into a village girl, she discovered that the pampered dog tycoon, Sigma, was continuously bringing in delicious food, comfortable clothes, luxurious furniture, and blush-inducing yellow books through his fiancée's merchant guild. The girl then forcibly suppressed her shyness and reserve and took the initiative to be friends with Sigma.

Then they gradually became closer and slowly realized the true nature beneath each other's exteriors...

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PS: Thank you to "sytmidsky" for your generous support. The third patron of this book has been born, and I am really, really grateful for your support. To be honest, since coming to the main site, I have been very cautious, as I have no experience, fear of failure, fluctuating performance, and my own mistakes. I don't know how the final results will be... But seeing such enthusiastic readers has made me feel much more at ease. Thank you, thank you to all my supporters.