Chapter 374 - 363: The Chief Marketing Officer Is in Position
Chapter 374: Chapter 363: The Chief Marketing Officer Is in Position
「An hour later.」
Plane of Clamor, Central Business District.
Lina stopped and looked up at the impressive building before her.
The streams of people coming and going all wore a bright emotional halo of busyness and fulfillment.
She glanced down at her plain clothes and outdated gear, took a deep breath, and walked up the steps.
"Apologies, madam."
The Golem guarding the entrance extended a metallic arm, its eyes flashing with a cautionary red light as its cold, mechanical voice rang out, "Please present your identification or appointment information."
"My name is Lina," she said softly, her voice a little hoarse.
The red light in the Golem’s eyes flickered. A few seconds later, it shifted to a soft green, signifying passage, and the mechanical arm retracted.
"Identity confirmed, Madam Lina. A gentleman is waiting for you in Meditation Room 407 on the top floor."
’He already registered me...’
Lina’s heart fluttered. She walked into the lobby and, guided by an attendant, stepped onto an ascension platform headed for the top floor.
At the end of the hallway, the door to a high-end Meditation Room was ajar.
She pushed the door open and walked in.
Behind a large obsidian desk, a man in jet-black, High-tier robes was looking over a document.
His face was still young, but his features were sharper, his aura deeper and more reserved than she remembered—like a bottomless abyss.
Pinned to his chest was a badge forged from Mithril and stardust, signifying his status as a Level 2 investigator for the Plane Exploration and Development Association.
He looked up at the sound of her footsteps.
"It’s been twenty-seven years."
Allen’s voice was devoid of any inflection. "You’re doing even worse than I imagined."
That single sentence, like an ice-cold needle, precisely punctured every fantasy Lina had about their reunion.
She froze.
This was the face she had preserved in her notebook.
He was far more mature now than the calm, efficient boy who had taken her to hunt Crystal Shell Burrowing Insects twenty-seven years ago.
"Allen..." Lina subconsciously straightened her posture, suddenly unsure of where to put her hands. "You... you’re already a Second-level Wizard?"
Her Emotion Spectrum Vision had already activated on its own.
Astounding.
In her sight, the "sense of order" emanating from Allen was so powerful it distorted the ambient Magic Power around him.
"Were you the one looking for me?" she asked, steadying her nerves.
Allen dispensed with pleasantries and nostalgia, getting straight to the point. He pushed a file across the desk.
"That’s right. I want to hire you."
"Hire me?"
A bitter smile touched Lina’s lips. "To do what? My ability... is of limited use in a fight."
Allen leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers, his gaze as sharp as a blade.
"In academia and combat, your ability is indeed of little use."
The merciless remark made the color drain from Lina’s face.
"But at the negotiating table," Allen’s tone shifted, his voice taking on a piercing quality that permitted no argument, "in high-stakes games worth millions or even tens of millions of Magic Stones, knowing your opponent’s bottom line just one second sooner can squeeze out an extra ten percent in profit."
He looked at Lina’s eyes, now kaleidoscopic from her emotional fluctuations, as if he were appraising a priceless treasure.
"You can see the color of people’s emotions. That means you can see right through a negotiating opponent’s true intentions and psychological defenses in an instant!"
"You can see the discordant colors of a lie. That means no supplier or employee will ever be able to pull a fast one on me."
"You can see emotions made manifest. That means you can perceive a customer’s deepest needs and precisely trigger their desire to buy. And most importantly..."
Allen leaned forward slightly, and an intangible pressure filled the room.
"Your ability isn’t about forceful distortion or manipulation; it’s about perception and guidance. It’s subtle and gentle enough that it won’t trigger any Wizard’s mental alarms, nor will it arouse the animosity and suspicion of any major power. That is what makes it so valuable."
"The world of commerce—that is your stage."
Lina was dumbstruck.
’Me... a stage...’
The words collided in her mind. The vision Allen painted for her made her heart pound uncontrollably, and an unprecedented thrill surged up from the depths of her soul.
"I... Can I really do that?"
Her voice trembled, and she stammered, "I’ve never done business before..."
"I don’t need you to understand business. Colin will teach you all the rules and procedures."
Allen’s reply was decisive. "I only need you to do one thing: read people."
He retrieved a shimmering silver contract Scroll from his Storage Ring and pushed it in front of Lina.
The Scroll was made from the hide of a Moonlight Dragon, inscribed with ancient Runes written in soul-gold ink.
"Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Personnel Officer of Weisren Heavy Industry."
Allen calmly stated the terms. "An annual salary of twenty thousand Mid-Level Magic Stones, plus a permanent one-percent share of the company’s net profits. Upon joining, you will be provided with a full set of top-tier cultivation resources for a First-level Mind School Wizard."
The air in the room seemed to solidify.
Twenty thousand Mid-Level Magic Stones!
A one-percent share of the net profits!
Top-of-the-line cultivation resources!
Every term was like a heavy-duty Magic Crystal bomb, detonating inside the head of this impoverished First-level Wizard.
She couldn’t earn that much in ten years of providing psychological counseling.
"Why... me?" Lina took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
She stared intently at Allen, pushing her Emotion Spectrum Vision to its absolute limit.
She wanted to see through him.
She wanted to find some trace of pity, charity, or anything of the sort within that deep blue ocean of his aura.
But she failed.
There was no sympathy, no pity. There was only the purest logical glow of "value exchange" and "optimal solution."
"Because your talent is underestimated by everyone. That means I can buy out your entire future potential at an extremely low cost."
Allen gave the most honest answer. "And because we’ve fought side-by-side before. I know what you’re about, so I can trust you."
Such brutal honesty was more devastating than the most elaborate lie.
Lina’s body began to tremble.
She had struggled for so long in this cold Wizarding World, suffering endless setbacks because her talent was considered "abnormal."
She had thought her life would be spent in the small shop she had worked so hard to open, slowly rotting away amidst the endless, filthy refuse of others’ emotions.
And now, the man before her had taken the talent she considered trash, placed it ceremoniously on the other side of a scale, and added a weight to it called "value"—a weight heavy enough to crush all opposition.
He was investing in her. He was an Angel investor!
Lina looked at the silver contract, which shimmered under the light of the Magic Lamp, and her eyes began to well up.
She didn’t hesitate any longer.
She reached out and placed her spiritual imprint upon the Scroll.
HUMMM!
A stream of light flashed as the contract was sealed. A golden ray shot into the space between each of their brows.
"Welcome to Weisren Heavy Industry."
Allen stood up. His face remained expressionless, but deep within his ocean-blue aura, Lina perceived a steady ripple of "satisfaction."
"You have half a day to get your personal affairs in order. Then you’ll come with me to the headquarters in Hub City and meet my team."
But Lina shook her head. With a decisiveness completely unlike her former self, she tossed her only storage pouch directly into a nearby waste reclamation chute.
It contained all of her meager possessions, and with them, all of her past misery.
"I have no personal affairs," she said, lifting her head. Her once-dull eyes now shone like rekindled stars, sparkling with eager anticipation.
"What’s the first step, Boss?"
She had already adapted to her new identity with remarkable speed.
The corner of Allen’s mouth curled into a nearly imperceptible smile as he turned and walked to the door.
"Excellent."
He pushed the door open without looking back, his voice drifting in from the hallway.
"Colin and Vera have an appointment with several merchant association representatives who are trying to fudge their raw material quotes. They’re in the conference room, probably on their tenth cup of tea by now."
"You go. Let them learn what it means to be utterly exposed."