Chapter 53: I, Duke, Make Money
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[Consuming 20 billion wealth points, congratulations to the Host for winning an S+ level prize: the hero, Future Guardian Jayce!
Future Guardian Jayce:
Level: 1
Strength: B+
Physique: B+
Agility: B
Spirit: B
Potential: S+
Equipment: None
Abilities: Hextech Capacitor, Sky Leap, Electric Shock, Mercury Cannon, Mercury Hammer, and more.
Overall Rating: B+
Jayce is a genius inventor from Piltover, known for his incredible wisdom and talent. He is the source and creator of all Hextech, leading the way to the future with his inventions!
"Future Guardian Jayce... and Hextech?"
Duke looked at Jayce, whom he had summoned, and his eyes sparkled. Winning an S+ prize in the SS-level lottery didn't disappoint him—in fact, it made him even more excited! In Duke's mind, Jayce was more valuable than a typical hero with SS-level potential.
The Noxian Empire had been successfully established. But Duke's real plan was to print and issue his own currency after founding the empire, then use it to recharge his system.
It worked... but also didn't.
After the Noxian Empire was founded, Duke ordered Swain and others to introduce Nodan Dollars in the empire, with the same value as Berries. They printed tens of billions, hundreds of billions, even trillions of Nodan Dollars, hoping to recharge the system with it.
Sure, printing banknotes with such huge denominations might seem a bit excessive. But hey, they were trying to game the system.
Why not dream big, right?
Tiandi Bank's denominations are often in the trillions anyway! So if he wanted to exploit the system, Duke didn't mind if the Imperial Bank of Noxus directly competed with the Bank of Heaven and Earth by printing trillion-dollar bills just for recharge!
Then, Duke woke up from his dream.
Small denominations were fine, officially backed by the Noxian Empire. They were accepted by the system, as they could buy the same daily necessities as Berries. But those trillion-dollar notes? The system wasn't that easy to fool.
Only items of real value—goods that could purchase sufficient production materials—counted as wealth in the system's eyes.
All money, even gold, is just a human-made agreement. Real wealth and real value don't come from paper money or gold, but from rare resources, productive means, and the real goods created through increased productivity.
This is true wealth.
It's also the kind of wealth recognized by the system.
So, how do you acquire huge wealth?
Technology is the key! Every advancement in technology means exponential growth in wealth.
Duke had made a small mistake before.
Building many water and electricity plants would definitely bring him a steady flow of wealth in the future. The money he spent every month on these investments was well worth it.
But he forgot one thing.
People in the pirate world are really, really poor! Even though Duke invested in water and electricity plants to bring convenient and efficient utilities to them, many poor civilians still saved every single Berry.
They would rather fetch water, chop firewood, and sleep early at night than spend extra on water and electricity. It was almost like life in Duke's previous world back in the 1970s or 1980s—maybe even worse.
They had electricity and gas, but just wouldn't use it!
This left Duke feeling frustrated. He built all these plants across West Blue to make money, not let them sit unused.
But ordinary people in West Blue were just too poor. It wasn't that they didn't want to use convenient utilities; they simply couldn't afford it. In some places, civilians were so desperate that they risked becoming pirates just to survive. Asking them to pay for water and electricity on top of that?
Duke's farming endeavors in West Blue were facing setbacks.
However, the Figarland Lottery and the wine based on Gragas's recipe were selling incredibly well.
But how does the money from selling liquor and lottery tickets compare to selling water, electricity, and other essential services?
While all money is the same in principle, Duke wasn't just after wealth. If he only wanted money, he could have sent all his heroes to pillage the world. His current wealth could easily be multiplied several times. But Duke wasn't one to take advantage without a good reason.
Life was already hard for the ordinary people in the pirate world, and that wasn't Duke's fault. Still, he didn't want to bring more misery to them. If possible, he wanted to be a good person.
The lottery and alcohol industries, in a sense, didn't contribute much to social wealth. They didn't create new wealth; they just moved it around. Duke wanted to earn money, yes, but not at the cost of his morals and beliefs—unless it was a matter of life or death.
"So, to find ways to make more money and gather more wealth, even if we build water and electricity plants all over, we still need to boost productivity.
We need to help the common folk in West Blue prosper, or at least let some people become wealthy first. Is there even such a generous capitalist in this world?"
Duke felt helpless. He knew that in order to generate more wealth, he'd have to improve productivity in this pirate world, even if it meant gradually transforming it. Only when industries became productive could they bring real wealth to the world.
If technology could change the world, then Duke was ready to take that step. Behind him, Jayce, the Future Guardian, lowered his head slightly and said in a deep voice, "For a better tomorrow!"
Tomorrow might be bright, but today, Duke was running low on money.
All the wealth he'd gathered from the Kingdom of Grendel had been turned into three pieces of equipment and Jayce. Duke equipped Nami with the Redemption equipment because support gear suited her role. As for the Thornmail, he gave it to Gangplank. With Gangplank already wearing armor, adding an anti-armor item seemed like a good choice—after all, surviving was more important than dishing out damage.
Duke didn't stop there. He equipped himself with the Banshee's Veil, an item designed to protect against sneak attacks. In a world full of Devil Fruit users with strange abilities, Duke didn't want to fall victim to a power like the Child like Fruit (Hobi Hobi no Mi), which was practically a cheat.
Creating water and electricity plants in West Blue, along with other businesses, required a huge investment. The profits from Figarland Lottery and Figarland Drinks, after covering expenses and supporting factory construction, left Duke with little wealth each month. If not for the occasional contributions from Planck, Z, and others, Duke felt like he'd be the poorest mastermind in the world.
"I, Duke—the High King of the Noxus Empire, mastermind behind the Gangplank Pirates, ruler of the Shadow Stream, chairman of sea Shipping, future protector of Fish-Man Island, and godfather of the Figarland Family—am looking for someone to pay..."
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Support me on Patreon.com and leave a comment on this chapter if you like it or not. It will be more motivation for me.
And let me know if there are errors or mistakes.
You can read the advance chapters here : patreon.com/Vigilante04