Chapter 102: Chapter 100: The Stellar Expansion
The Universal Hub’s commercial sector was a maelstrom of activity, but inside Elias and Kaelen’s unassuming obsidian storefront, a new kind of chaos was brewing—the chaos of explosive growth. Their success had not gone unnoticed by themselves, and with a business model that was as flawless as their pills, they knew it was time to scale up.
"The data is irrefutable," Elias stated, looking at a holographic projection showing profit margins, market penetration, and competitor decline across various sectors. "Our current output is being constrained by our single manufacturing unit. To meet the burgeoning demand and establish a dominant market position, we must expand to at least a dozen other Universal Hubs."
Kaelen, however, wasn’t looking at the data. She was staring at a pile of applications from potential employees that was taller than Elias. "A dozen new branches means a dozen new teams, Elias. Sales managers, receptionists, bodyguards... people. Lots of people. And we have to trust them."
Trust was a variable Elias had yet to fully account for. "Logically, it presents a significant security risk. The knowledge of our manufacturing process, the location of the Nexus Spire, our true power level—this information is of extreme value. A simple non-disclosure agreement would be insufficient."
"Then we make a better one," Kaelen said with a determined glint in her eye. She had an idea, one that was part business savvy and part her mastery of the Laws. "I’ve been thinking about this. We won’t just hire them. We’ll bind them with a Chaos Oath. A promise sworn not to the law of a single universe, but to the unpredictable, self-destructive nature of Chaos itself. Betraying the company secrets would literally unravel their souls."
Elias paused, his mind processing the elegant solution. It was a perfect blend of a cultivation concept and a corporate legal agreement. "The logical efficiency of this approach is... impressive."
Their hiring process was a spectacle in itself. Kaelen and Elias set up a small interview space within their shop. Kaelen would handle the preliminary interviews, gauging personality and skill, while Elias would sit silently in a corner, his mind scanning each candidate’s cultivation base, their mental stability, and the integrity of their spiritual roots.
"So, tell me, why do you want to work for ’The Rock Shop’?"(Author here, I know its a bad name, but I couldn’t come up with anything) Kaelen asked a prospective sales manager, a charismatic being of pure plasma named Glaxxus.
Glaxxus puffed out his chest. "Your pills are a revolution! I’ve been a sales manager for ten thousand years, and I’ve never seen a product with this kind of pull. I could sell sand in a drought, but your pills... they sell themselves! I want to be a part of history."
Kaelen nodded, then introduced the final step. "We believe in trust, Glaxxus. As a core member of our team, you will be privy to certain... proprietary information. To protect it, we require every new hire to take a Chaos Oath."
Glaxxus’s plasma form flickered in shock. Chaos Oaths were the most terrifying and unbreakable vows in the multiverse. They were not for light-hearted promises. "A... a Chaos Oath?"
Kaelen’s smile remained serene. "Just a small insurance policy. It’s really quite simple. Repeat after me: ’I swear, upon the infinite entropy of Chaos, that I will not reveal the secrets of the Condensed Star Pill to any being, under any circumstances, and if I do, may my cultivation base become a chaotic, self-annihilating singularity and my soul be scattered to the un-realms.’"
Glaxxus hesitated, then with a deep breath, he recited the chilling oath. When he was done, a small, black sigil of chaotic energy appeared for a moment over his chest, then vanished. He had been bound. He was now a part of their secret.
While Kaelen was hiring, Elias was in the sub-level, a place of silent, furious creation. His task was to synthesize new Stellar Devourer Furnaces. These were not simple pill furnaces; they were monumental machines that consumed stars and even entire dimensions to create the raw essence for the pills. Using his mastery of the Laws and his scientific knowledge, he was breaking down the old original design and re-engineering it. Each new furnace was a marvel of elegant simplicity and terrifying power, smaller and more efficient than the last. He worked tirelessly, his mind calculating, synthesizing, and forging new laws into existence to accommodate the impossible engineering.
"Unit two, 34% more efficient in energy-to-mass conversion," he muttered to himself as a second, smaller furnace took shape in a brilliant flash of light. "Unit three will optimize for dimensional intake." He was in his element, a god of creation whose universe was defined by the elegance of his equations.
Kaelen was also busy acquiring assets. She purchased a fleet of high-end, inconspicuous transport ships, each fitted with powerful, customized teleportation and communication arrays. "In case of emergencies," she explained to a skeptical Elias. "If a branch is attacked, we’ll know instantly. We can send help, or if things get too hot, we can remotely extract the entire facility and its team."
She also hired elite bodyguards, Universe Realm cultivators who were bound by the same Chaos Oath. They were to be the first line of defense for the new branches.
One of them, a stern-faced warrior named Kael, looked at Kaelen with respect. "We’ve faced countless foes, Madam. But this is the first time we’ve had to protect... a pill."
"It’s a very important pill, Kael," she replied with a smile. "And a very valuable one."
Within weeks, a dozen new branches were established across the Universal Hub, each with a full staff of oath-bound employees and powerful bodyguards. The demand for the pills soared, and the Luminite flowed in like a river. They had successfully built a perfect, self-sustaining machine of commerce.
As Elias looked at the glowing bank account numbers, Kaelen’s laughter filled their apartment. "This is it, Elias! We’re not just getting rich; we’re building an empire. A logical, perfectly efficient, oath-bound empire!"
"The data confirms it," Elias said, a faint, almost imperceptible smile on his face. "The variables are now in a state of optimal operation. We are ready for the next phase."
His next phase, however, wasn’t about business. It was about something far more profound, something that would require every bit of the Luminite they had accumulated. It was time for a more personal, and far more dangerous, kind of expansion.