DKIE CH18.2: Myriad Dynasties Assembly

…

While Alec was staying up late planning the future, Luka was sleeping soundly.

A small wind blew outside. The window wasn’t closed. Half-asleep, he was too lazy to look for the blanket he had kicked aside. He just tilted his head and buried his face in the pillow to avoid the wind.

Not far away, the “three-nos product,” which currently lacked energy, wisdom, and strength, had its blood vessels suddenly twitch.

The Quill Pen turned half a circle in the direction of the wind, aiming at the window.

Just now… something seemed to have come in.

A dreamless night.

The next day, a faint light shone through the window. It wasn’t until the light fully hit his face that Luka reluctantly moved.

As he lay on the bedding like a wooden sculpture, the Quill Pen’s cold voice came: “There are minute magical fluctuations in the room.”

Luka was jolted awake on the spot.

He feigned nonchalance, got dressed, and slowly walked outside to do his broadcast exercises. After a few stretching movements, he finally transmitted his voice quietly: “Is there someone hiding in the room?”

Why does this tone sound a bit excited?

The Quill Pen sneered, “No one.”

If there was anything with a life aura, it would have located it long ago.

Hearing this, Luka began to ponder. So, something had been placed in the room. The minute magical fluctuations meant it wasn’t some hugely destructive weapon.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, the Quill Pen added another sentence: “The energy composition is somewhat similar to a Memory Stone.”

Luka was surprised. It could even sense that?

The Quill Pen habitually snarked, “You think I’m as useless as you?”

“In any case, thank you.” At least you’re willing to warn me of danger.

Memory Stone.

Luka immediately thought of that Eldest Prince of the Demon Clan. A demon servant had been watching him back in Boulder City. The thing in the room was probably serving the same purpose.

As he was thinking, footsteps came from ahead. Cullen, still with his aristocratic air, walked over, bathed in the morning light.

The early bird gets the worm. Cullen was up even earlier than him.

Seeing Luka doing his fledgling eagle take-off exercise, Cullen had a strange expression. “Is this the forbidden magic you’ve been practicing recently?”

Luka was noncommittal.

It wasn’t suitable to talk outside. He took the initiative to invite the other into his room.

The Quill Pen knew that someone was about to eagerly start acting for the Memory Stone in the room.

The reality was unexpected. Luka was actually talking business normally. “I’m planning to release merchandise.”

He often came up with some novel vocabulary. Cullen didn’t ask, just listened quietly.

Sure enough, Luka quickly began to explain, “It can be understood as derivative products related to the novel.”

How shrewd Cullen was. He instantly thought of the promotional standee the dragon had carried away from the bookstore.

“A standee?”

Luka nodded. “Something like that, but it has to be palm-sized.”

Cullen agreed. “That’s right, that would make it look cute.”

“No, that would save on raw materials.”

One large standee could indeed make dozens of small ones.

“…”

Luka: “We also need to make pendants, something that can be worn at all times.”

He roughly sketched the style.

Cullen approved. “This also saves a lot of raw materials.”

Luka corrected, “No, it’s for carrying it with you, to make the love last longer. Otherwise, what if the golden-thighed dragon’s feelings for the cub weaken?”

Cullen was completely silent.

Luka continued, “While the hype is still there, it’s best to produce a batch of samples before the Myriad Dynasties Assembly begins. If conditions allow, make different designs for each pendant, at least seven to start with.”

Cullen did not offer an opinion this time.

Sure enough, he was right. Luka’s next words overturned his established understanding:

“The key is to stimulate the dragons’ collecting habit and maximize profit. Because the audience itself is small, we need to do some external promotion, such as having the same pendant as the dragons, etc. The noble ladies of the Holy City are also an audience. It would be best to pair it with some promotional pictures of them buying it.”

“The most, most important point is that the selling price must be far higher than the cost price. The cutest design must be a limited supply. Later, we can also make some different fluffy little toys, all packed in boxes, called ‘opening a blind box.’ The blind boxes are not limited, but only the first hundred or fifty will have a number. Anyway, just make it special.”

“Our motto is: exorbitant profit.”

A brief silence fell in the room.

After a long moment, Cullen looked at him and said slowly, “There aren’t many good people in your family, are there?”

Luka felt as if he had met a kindred spirit. “You’re a good judge of character.”

It wasn’t long until the Myriad Dynasties Assembly. Cullen, after a long silence, left to make arrangements. Putting aside whether this so-called merchandise could make money, the greater value was the business philosophy Luka had brought him.

Now was the best opportunity to put it into practice.

After seeing Cullen off, Luka didn’t stay in his room for long. He tidied up and went out.

The birds were chirping, the clouds were drifting. The sky of the Holy City seemed a little bluer than outside.

The Quill Pen finally couldn’t hold it in and asked faintly, “What bad idea are you brewing?”

He knew he might be being monitored, yet he still dropped so much valuable information in the room.

Luka didn’t keep him in suspense. “These things sound easy, but they’re hard to put into practice.”

For merchandise to sell well, it first needs a big IP to support it.

The Quill Pen sneered, “None of the things you said earlier sounded good. Aren’t you afraid the other party will make a fuss?”

Luka shrugged. “I’m afraid he won’t make a fuss. But… if it really is Alec pulling the strings behind the scenes, he should be stunned for a moment, and then his pupils will dilate.”

“…” What kind of description is that?!

Luka took out his mask and slowly put it on:

“I wonder how many times the pupils of this Crown Prince will move when he sees my true face from the Memory Stone.” He clapped his hands and even twisted his narrow waist twice. “Like this, boom-ch-boom-chick, boom-ch-boom-chick~”

The Quill Pen hanging at his waist was forced to sway along. It closed its eyes and chose to tolerate the other’s occasional indulgence.

Not caring about his identity being exposed, it seems he’s prepared to meet the Demon King at the Myriad Dynasties Assembly.

After twisting enough, Luka was full of spirit again. “Let’s go, time to gather material.”

The Boulder City Lord’s residence was not far from their room.

Although Boulder City was located on the border, the City Lord’s status was very high. He was one of the few guests this time to be received by the Saint.

Luka was lucky. The Boulder City Lord was currently in his own room and had agreed to see him.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw the Boulder City Lord playing chess by himself for entertainment.

Luka stood at the door with a small notebook, first greeting him politely, then stating his purpose: “I’d like to ask you about… my parents’ love story.”

The hand of the Boulder City Lord, holding a chess piece, froze.

With the Boulder City Lord’s tacit permission, Luka sat cross-legged opposite him. “I grew up in a more or less isolated state. I’ve always been curious about their angsty romance.”

The City Lord put down the chess piece. “Curious enough to write it down in a notebook?”

Luka just smiled without answering.

“If possible, I’d also like to know about my half-brothers.”

The love between the Demon King and the Saintess had collapsed not long after. There was clearly no time to have a second child.

The current Crown Prince must be the Demon King’s child with another demon.

“Half-brothers?” The City Lord’s always gentle gaze suddenly became sharp. He looked at Luka and slowly revealed a shocking fact: “In order to select the most outstanding crown prince, the current princes of the Demon Realm were all adopted by the Demon King from several other princes.”

Luka’s heart skipped a beat.

If he had grown up in the Demon Realm, it would be impossible not to know this.

But he quickly calmed down. Anyway, he had already said before that he had lived a very isolated life.

“So my family has this kind of ethical relationship.”

He grasped the key point. “Heh, men. They really do like raising other people’s children.”

What nonsense is he talking about?

The Boulder City Lord leaned back slightly, his gaze seeming a little unfocused in the sunlight, as if he were reminiscing about the past.

“About your parents, we have to start from the truce more than twenty years ago…”

Luka listened attentively to those past events that were gradually being forgotten, as if he were listening to a public lecture, even raising his hand to ask questions from time to time.

Seeing him so active, the City Lord, halfway through his story, became a little suspicious. “I have a feeling you’re up to something, kid.”

Luka just smiled.

Anyway, his pen was aimed at the Demon Clan. The Boulder City Lord continued, “I see you’re not afraid of anything. If you ever get into real trouble, you can try running to Dragon Island for refuge.”

Some foreign merchants, after discovering that dragons were particularly fond of Three-and-a-half, thought that this book might have a market in the entire Dragon Clan. They bought a batch of Beloevd Three-and-a-half-year-old in the Holy City and tried to sell them at a high price near Dragon Island.

Luka knew that the value of his book was still rising. Since this morning, the golden light attached to the magical framework in his body had become stronger and stronger, piling up like a big durian, enough to support him in completing the next stage of his cultivation.

It was just that because there was still something ‘watching’ in the room, he hadn’t started cultivating immediately.

“I won’t get into trouble,” he said softly.

Time flew by when he was busy.

On Luka’s third day in the Holy City, popular competitions such as alchemy and weapon forging began one after another, attracting countless people from the inner city to watch.

The selection for the most popular character and author was also one of the many competitions. Due to the popularity of the character list, Luka’s votes were currently in a landslide lead.

He himself didn’t have much energy to pay attention to the voting.

Whenever he had a little free time, Luka would run off to communicate with the manager of the Rhine Merchant Guild.

The manager looked at Cullen uncertainly, meaning, are we really going to do this?

Not long ago, Luka had suddenly proposed to have people carve magic inscriptions in fixed positions in all the merchant guilds and exhibition stalls in the Holy City, and then place Memory Stones to form a projection screen, to live-stream the sales situation on the day of the Myriad Dynasties Assembly.

Wasn’t this just fooling around?

Who sells something and has to tell the whole world that I sold it?

Cullen narrowed his eyes, but after just a little thought, he said, “Go and hire the magicians.”

The manager was stunned. “Are we really hiring them?”

“Do as he says.”

Cullen saw things very clearly. Luka had many new ideas. Whether they would be effective or not couldn’t be judged solely by experience; it could only be tested by practice.

At least so far, Luka hadn’t disappointed him.

Luka suddenly asked, “How is the production of the merchandise going?”

Cullen: “We have about three thousand standees so far. The plan for the dolls has been postponed. We’re now working on the blind boxes you mentioned.”

Luka smiled after hearing this. “Then let’s focus on the blind boxes. When the time comes, we’ll focus on live-streaming the unboxing and selling of the blind boxes. Remember to limit the purchase. A single customer is limited to ten boxes per day.”

“Are you sure?”

According to normal predictions, with a high price and a niche product, it was likely that not many would be sold.

The main customer base was probably the Dragon Clan. A purchase limit would cut off that path.

Luka nodded. “A purchase limit can raise its invisible value. And…”

He stared at the wall where the inscription was about to be carved. “The book is niche, but that doesn’t mean the product is niche. Many people may have never heard of or read this book, but that doesn’t affect whether they will like this character, or rather, like this image, and be willing to pay for it.”

“…” Does such a wide variety of customer sources really exist in the world?

Anyway, they had finalized many collaborations. This one wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Cullen nodded in agreement.

Everything was ready. Luka stayed in his room, writing his manuscript in seclusion, whiling away the last moments.

In an order where prosperity and crisis coexisted, on this day, the Myriad Dynasties Assembly was finally about to begin.

Early in the morning, Luka specially changed into a custom-made outfit.

The white special fabric had a very good texture. The color transitioned to a sheer transparency at the sleeves, faintly revealing the curve of his forearm. The naturally fair skin of the inner layer was faintly visible, and under the sunlight, it had a slight mica-pink sheen.

When he was buttoning it up, he noticed the collar. “Help me get the matching gemstone.”

The Quill Pen floated over like a ghost and warned coldly, “Don’t speak to me in a commanding tone.”

The clamor outside was heard from several streets away. Luka didn’t hear clearly and turned to the side. “What did you say?”

There were still two buttons at the top that weren’t fastened, leaving his collarbone half-exposed.

Life in the guesthouse was very nourishing. Luka had finally put on some weight, adding a touch of nourished beauty.

The Quill Pen directly dropped the gemstone, suddenly fell silent, and floated outside.

Luka shook his head. So strange every day.

He walked to the mirror to complete the final step of getting dressed, preparing himself to welcome the Myriad Dynasties Assembly.