Rise of the Darkness Tycoon

Chapter 24- The Kings of Old

Chapter 24- The Kings of Old

Calvin put his phone away as they exited the apartment building, where Ashley’s driver was waiting with the same sedan from two days ago.

The ride to the artifact market was quick, and soon they were back on familiar streets, people moving around busily, stall owners and hawkers calling out for people to buy their goods.

Calvin and Ashley headed straight for the area near the elemental stone gambling houses Calvin had visited on Thursday, arriving at a large building with heavy foot traffic, security at every corner, and dense elemental energy radiating from within.

It was the largest building in the artifact market, and also where some elementalist guilds submitted items recovered from rifts for public auction.

“I heard they’re bringing out some high-level elemental stones and cores today,” Ashley said, breaking the silence.

Calvin nodded. “That’s good. I’ll need more than that D-rank elemental core from Thursday if I want to reach D-rank myself.”

Ashley sighed at that and shook her head.

“Too bad life isn’t like a game where you just kill elemental beasts and level up. We have to go through the difficult process of absorbing elemental energy from the surroundings, stones, beast cores, and, just like every form of energy transfer, there’s a lot of loss.

Energy is lost when elemental beasts die, their cores degrade over time, and more is lost during absorption. It’s so frustrating to think I can’t just fully absorb a C-rank elemental beast core and, voila, I’m C-rank myself.”

“You’ve got a lot of complaints about how things work,” Calvin replied.

Ashley nodded immediately. “Of course I do. Don’t you have complaints as well?

I’m lucky enough to be born into a family that can easily afford elemental cores and stones, but what about people who aren’t? It’s expensive and stressful.

That’s why guilds can basically trap elementalists in glorified slave contracts. They’re spending a lot to provide the resources needed for the elementalists’ growth. It’s a messed-up system.”

“Messed up, it may be,” Calvin said. “It’s the unfortunate reality of the world we live in, and there’s not much we can do to change it.

Unless someone has the power to rewrite the rules of the world itself, the laws governing this planet, and change how elementalists increase their power, there’s nothing we can do.”

At the mention of rewriting laws, Ashley pursed her lips, looking conflicted as if considering whether to say something, before finally asking, “Hey Calvin, don’t you think the Elemental Kings of old could’ve done something like that?”

Calvin kept his expression from changing at the mention of the Elemental Kings, then turned to look at Ashley, who was looking back at him with a serious gaze, before deciding to answer her seriously.

“I don’t think they can. The Elemental Kings were powerful beings who could bend the laws of the world, but completely changing them? I doubt it.”

Calvin knew this more than most, since he possessed the Core of one such Elemental King and had used that Core’s ‘Authority’ over the laws of the world to save himself from permanent death.

“If they could completely rewrite the laws of the world as we know it, then we wouldn’t be calling them the Elemental Kings ‘of old’.”

His pace quickened slightly as he moved ahead of her. “They’re all dead, after all.”

Ashley narrowed her eyes for a moment, then returned her expression to normal and skipped slightly to catch up.

“Yes, they’re dead, but before they died, they were practically gods.”

Her description of the Elemental Kings as godlike brought Calvin back to stories he’d heard before, murals he had seen in the ruins where he found the Dark Elemental King’s Core, and the details he had gathered while searching for the Water Elemental King’s Core not long after.

On another continent, there was a massive desert stretching across nearly half of the 50 million km² landmass, said to have been created by the rage of the Water Elemental King, who drained all life from the land after an ancient empire ruling those lands provoked them.

The power to turn half a continent into a desert definitely sounded godlike, but to Calvin, it was still just that.

godlike, not godly.

After all, if those Elemental Kings were really gods, then how had they all met death?

Those kinds of questions were ones Calvin had pondered many times in his past life, but he had never found answers, even after searching across the world for temples that worshipped the Elemental Kings of old.

The thought of his search reminded him of his encounter with the person who held the Earth Elemental King’s Core, a masked woman whose identity was known to none but whose power was known by all.

Even Calvin in his prime had barely been able to match her in strength.

He had come across her while searching for a temple where the corpse of the Earth Elemental King was said to be preserved, and she had fought him off, stopping him from reaching the one temple that radiated the strongest earth elemental energy.

Thinking about that encounter, Calvin shook his head lightly.

‘That woman has likely grown even stronger, and here I am, starting from zero again.’

He clenched his fists lightly as he and Ashley walked into the building, then exhaled softly.

‘Don’t fret, Calvin. You’ll reach your previous peak again eventually. For now, just focus on getting a decent weapon to boost your attack power.’

With those thoughts in mind, he registered for the auction with Ashley and took seats around the middle rows of the hall.

When the auction began and the first dark elemental item was brought out, Calvin blinked in shock and turned toward Ashley beside him with a stunned expression.

Ashley, despite noticing his gaze, didn’t look at him, her eyes remaining on the stage as she said, “It’s just your imagination.”

However, the faint knowing smile on her face made it clear Calvin wasn’t imagining things.

Shaking his head lightly, he looked back at the items being auctioned, a pair of leather gloves that enhanced dark elemental attack power and physical strength, with the added ability to form metallic spikes on the knuckles and fingertips.

A pair of gloves that matched exactly what Ashley had described earlier in the day on their way here.

Calvin was certain Ashley had already known about this and had come to meet him precisely because of this.

Alas, it was perfect for him right now, so he could only raise his tag and bid for it, eventually acquiring the gloves for around 1.3 million.

After the auctioneer brought the gavel down and shouted “Sold!”, Calvin gestured for attendants to bring the item to him immediately.

He picked up his phone and scanned the QR code on the POS machine placed on the tray alongside the gloves. Once the payment was confirmed, he took the gloves and infused a small amount of elemental energy into the metal ring at the hem, turning them into a bracelet which he snapped onto both wrists.

With a light infusion of dark elemental energy, the leather gloves formed from the bracelets covering his fingers. He clenched his fist, and spikes formed on the knuckles, and when he opened his hand, spikes formed on the fingertips.

‘This will be very useful.’

He quietly withdrew his elemental energy, returning the gloves to their bracelet form, and just then, Ashley turned to him with a smile and asked, “Now then, do you regret coming out with me today?”

Calvin chose not to answer, which only made Ashley chuckle as she looked back and picked up her tag, just in time for the auctioneer to announce the arrival of an earth elemental catalyst, for which she immediately raised her tag to bid.