I Killed the Hero and Took His Achievements-Chapter 46: The Stock Market Crash of the Century

[Location: High Altitude - The Floating City of Atlantis]

[Status: Hovering over the Capital of Oaklan.]

The sun at the Capital of Oaklan was blocked out completely. It was not by a cloud, but by a floating metropolis.

Millions of tons of coral, gold, and ancient architecture were hovered 10,000 feet in the air. Waterfalls cascaded from the city’s edge while turning into mist before they hit the ground below.

I sat on the edge of the central plaza while dangling my legs. "What a nice view," I noted. Below me, the Kingdom of Oaklan that looked like a beaten city.

"Boss," Gallywix walked up behind me. "The world is panicking. The Church is calling it the ’New Babylon’. The Merchant Republic is threatening sanctions."

"Sanctions?" I laughed like a villain. "That’s adorable." I stood up. "Gallywix. What is the current exchange rate of Gold to Mana Crystals?"

"1 Gold equals to10 Mana Crystals, Boss. It’s been stable for centuries."

"Stable," I spat the word out. "Stability is boring. Stability doesn’t create a desperation." I opened System Interface, then I checked my wallet.

[Current Funds: 65,000,000,000 Gold.] I had more money than the GDP of the entire planet combined. "I’m going to crash the market."

Gallywix’s eyes bulged. "Crash it? Boss, if you dump that much gold, the value will plummet! The Gold value will be worthless!"

"Exactly, that’s what I intended to do." I walked to the [Global Trading Post]. It was a system terminal that was connected to every Guild Bank and Auction House in the planet. "Authorized User: Cain Cross. Action: Buy Order."

"Buy what?" Gallywix sweated.

"Everything." I started tapping.

[Buy: Wheat (All).]

[Buy: Iron (All).]

[Buy: Potions (All).]

[Buy: Land Deeds (All).]

The system pinged furiously. DING. DING. DING. DING. In just seconds, I emptied the warehouses of the Merchant Republic. I bought the grain reserves of the Southern Empire, the weapon stocks of the Eastern Kingdom, and more.

I spent 50 Billion Gold in just ten minutes. "Transaction is completed," I grinned wickedly. I turned to Gallywix. "Now, watch the horror."

[Location: The Merchant Republic of Zimara - The Grand Exchange]

Chaos ensued all over the place. "Where is the grain?!" A merchant yelled. "I need to feed my city!"

"Sold out!" The clerk yelled back.

"Someone bought it all! Who?!"

"By an anonymous buyer! They paid 200% above market price! Look at the Gold value! It’s plummeting down!" another merchant shrieked while pointing at the finance board.

Because there was suddenly 50 billion new gold coins circulating in the economy, the value of gold tanked horribly. It was as if gold coin is everywhere and common.

[Gold Value: -500%.]

A loaf of bread that cost 1 Copper yesterday now cost 100 Gold. A sword that cost 10 Gold now cost 10,000 Gold. People were running in the streets with wheelbarrows full of gold coins couldn’t even buy a single apple.

It’s called hyperinflation. The economy didn’t just plummet exponentially, it just had a massive heart attack, then died.

[Location: The Floating City - Throne Room]

I watched the chaos I caused on the holographic monitors. "Beautiful," I whispered. "It’s the sweet smell of socioeconomic collapse."

Sylvia walked in. She looked concerned. "Master, the people are rioting. They are starving, and you bought all the food."

"I didn’t steal it," I corrected her. "I purchased it legally."

"But they can’t eat gold!"

"No. They can’t." I stood up. "Now, we introduce a solution."

I activated the [Amplify Voice] spell. My voice was blasted deafeningly across the entire continent. "CITIZENS OF THE PLANET." Every head looked up. "YOUR KINGS HAVE FAILED YOU, YOUR GOLD IS WORTHLESS, AND YOUR BANKS ARE EMPTY." I paused for a dramatic effect. "BUT I AM VERY GENEROUS." I snapped my fingers.

The bay doors of the Atlantis Fortress opened. A drove of delivery drones flew out. They carried boxes of bread, potions, and meat. "I AM INTRODUCING A NEW CURRENCY." A black coin appeared in the sky. It had my face on it.

[Item: The Cain Credit.]

"1 CAIN CREDIT BUYS 1 LOAF OF BREAD. HOW DO YOU GET CREDITS? YOU WORK FOR ME. JOIN THE GUILD OF AVARICE, PLEDGE YOUR LOYALTY, AND SURRENDER YOUR LAND DEEDS. ONLY THEN, YOU SHALL EAT."

Below on the ground, a starving peasant looked at the wheelbarrow of the worthless gold. He then looked at the drone that was offering a loaf of warm bread.

He threw the gold into the mud. "Hail Cain!" the peasant shouted. "Hail Cain!" the crowd echoed. It proliferated rapidly. Why serve a King who pays in worthless metal? Why pray to a God who demands a rate? Worship the Emperor of Satan, he has wealth.

[System Notification]

[International Impact: 60%.]

[Culture Victory Imminent.]

"You’re a tyrant," Seraphina whispered while standing in the shadow of the throne. "You literally starved them to force them to affectionate you."

"I’m a visionary," I corrected her. "I unified the currency. Do you know how much efficiency we gained by removing exchange rates?" Suddenly, the hologram map flashed Red.

[Alert: Hostile Action Detected.]

[Location: The Southwestern Kingdom.]

[Enemy: King Alaric.]

"There’s always one," I sighed.

King Alaric of the Southwestern, who is a stubborn traditionalist. He was refusing the Credits burning my credit pamphlets.

"He’s declared martial law," Sylvia reported. "He’s confiscating all food drops and executing anyone who found with a Cain Credit."

I stood up. "He thinks he owns his kingdom?" I checked my inventory. During my shopping spree, I didn’t just buy grain.

I bought Debt Bonds. [Item: Sovereign Debt of the West (90%).] "Sylvia. Prepare the teleport."

"Are we bringing an army?"

"No," I adjusted my tie. "I’m going to bring a Lawyer." I pointed at Sol who was currently inhabiting a robotic body. "Sol. Can you process the legal documents?"

"I HAVE PROCESSED THE ENTIRETY OF GALACTIC LAW IN 0.0001 SECONDS. I AM READY TO SUE."

"Good. We’re going to foreclose on a continent."

————————————————————

[Location: The Southwestern Kingdom - Capital Castle]

King Alaric stood at his balcony. He was a fat man in golden armor. "Burn the heretic money!" he shouted at his guards. Below, soldiers were throwing black coins into a bonfire.

WOOSH. I appeared on the balcony railing.

"Guards!" Alaric screamed piercingly. "Kill him!" The guards rushed forward to me.

Sol stepped out of a portal, he then raised a hand. [Skill: Cease and Desist.] A barrier of hard-light slammed the guards against the wall.

I walked up menacingly to the King. "Alaric. You missed your mortgage payment."

"Mortgage? I own this land! My ancestors conquered it!"

"They mortgaged it to the Merchant Republic to pay for their wars," I explained. "I bought the agreement." I held up the contract. It glowed with the binding magic of the System. "Clause 4, Section B: Failure to pay results in immediate asset forfeiture."

"You can’t take my kingdom!"

"Watch me do it." I placed my hand on the castle wall.

[Skill: Hostile Takeover (Chaos Broker).]

[Target: Castle Stone.]

[Action: Repo.]

RUMBLE. The stone didn’t break, it digitized. The bricks turned into pixels of blue light and flowed into my inventory. "My wall!" Alaric shrieked.

I touched the floor, the floor vanished. We fell down to the throne room. I touched the throne, the throne vanished. I touched the King’s armor.

"Hey! That’s Mithril!"

POOF. It vanished too. In thirty seconds, the entire castle was entirely gone, it was replaced with an open field.

King Alaric stood there in absolute disgrace and naked while shivering in the cold wind and surrounded by his perplexed army. The civilians watching from the town square went absolute silent.

I floated in the air while looking down at him. "You are fired," I announced. I turned to the crowd. "Who wants to be the new Manager?"

A random peasant raised his hand. "Does it pay in bread?"

"It pays in steak," I said menacingly.

The peasant walked up confidently, then kicked the naked King on his shin. "I accept!"

[System Notification]

[Territory Acquired: The Southwestern Kingdom.]

[Global Influence: 80%.]

I looked at the map. Only one faction remained hostile. Within the Church of Light, there was a sect of extremists, it’s called "The Pure Ones." They were hiding something. It was something I left unattended, but now it was something that caught my attention.

"Boss," Ahri radioed in. "We found something in the Southwestern Vaults. Before you... dissolved them."

"What is it?"

"It’s a prisoner. They were keeping him in a coffin."

"Who?"

"It’s... Kenji."

I paused. "I threw him off the ship. He survived?"

"He didn’t just survive. He looks... weird."

I teleported to the location.

Ahri was standing over a crystal coffin. Inside was Kenji. But he wasn’t like a human anymore. His skin was grey stone, his eyes were burning green fire, and fused to his chest was a mechanical engine.

[Target: Mecha-Kenji (Mk. I)]

[Race: Undead Cyborg Hero.]

[Level: 1 -> 50 (Artificial Boost).]

[Owner: The Church of Light (The Pure Ones).]

"They recycled him," I whispered in disgust and admiration. "They turned him into a Frankenstein."

The coffin hissed open. Mecha-Kenji sat up. "MUST... KILL... CAIN..." his voice was a grinding of gears.

"He seems motivated," Sylvia noted.

"He seems recyclable," I added.

I raised the Soul-Eater’s Fang. "Let’s see if a robot has a soul."