I Regressed With a 10,000x God-Tier Multiplier-Chapter 24: A Successful Transaction

The road to Silver-Port was covered with crushed white marble.

Lucifer rode in front of a small, skilled group. He didn’t bring his whole army, just Elara and four Aether-Steel Dragoons. That was more than enough.

The large magitech centaurs floated slightly above the marble road. Their blue thrusters made a low, powerful hum.

Lucifer sat calmly on the lead Dragoon. Elara rode beside him on a summoned dark horse, her silver armor shining in the bright sun.

Silver-Port stood by the shining sea. It was the main center of the Gilded Trade Federation. Huge ships with enchanted sails filled the harbor.

Magic-powered cranes lifted crates of spices, weapons, and silk. Armed guards walked the streets. Riches could be seen everywhere.

It was a city built on gold and greed.

The merchants and sailors nearby froze as Lucifer neared the main gates. They stared in fear. They had never seen an Aether-Steel Dragoon before.

The tall, faceless machines looked like dark iron nightmares burning with blue fire.

The city guards at the gate crossed their halberds. Their hands shook.

"Halt!" the gate captain yelled. His voice cracked. He looked up at Lucifer’s towering Dragoon. "State your business in Silver-Port!"

Lucifer did not stop. He did not slow down.

He tapped his Warlord aura, projecting a fraction of his Sovereign’s Weight. The heavy physical gravity slammed into the gate guards.

Their knees buckled instantly. The halberds clattered to the marble floor. The guards collapsed, gasping for air as if a boulder rested on their chests.

The Dragoons glided right over the dropped weapons. They entered the city.

"Direct us to the Federation Headquarters," Lucifer said to Elara.

"The tallest building in the center," Elara replied, pointing her silver spear. "It reeks of hoarded mana."

They moved through the busy streets. People quickly pushed each other aside and into alleyways to avoid the blue lightning on the Dragoons’ lances. Lucifer paid them no attention.

He needed capital.

His Aether-Forge required constant fuel. His thousands of troops required high-grade magical upkeep.

Gold coins were useless for high-tier upgrades. He needed Refined Mana Crystals, the true currency of the world’s elite.

Lucifer halted his escort in front of the Federation Headquarters. It was a sprawling mansion of white marble and glass. Two dozen heavily armed elite mercenaries guarded the grand staircase.

"Wait here," Lucifer ordered the Dragoons.

The four machines slammed the butts of their lances against the street. The sound echoed like a cannon shot. They stood completely rigid, forming an impenetrable wall of black steel.

Lucifer got down from his mount. Elara stepped off her dark horse as it faded into mist. She walked right behind him.

They walked up the grand staircase. The elite mercenaries tightened their grips on their enchanted swords. They sensed the danger. They were Level 35 veterans. They knew killers when they saw them.

Lucifer flashed his gold Sunburst Sigil. The badge of the High Inquisitor gleamed in the sunlight.

"Church business," Lucifer stated coldly. "Stand aside."

The mercenaries recognized the badge. The Lumina Order held ultimate legal authority across the human kingdoms.

To block a High Inquisitor was an act of treason. The guards cursed under their breath, lowered their weapons, and stepped back.

Lucifer pushed open the massive glass doors.

He walked across the soft red carpets in the grand lobby. Scribes and small merchants hurried out of his way. He didn’t ask for directions.

He ignored the reception desks, went straight to the magical elevator at the back, and pressed the crystal button for the top floor.

The elevator shot upward. The doors pinged open.

Lucifer stepped into the penthouse suite.

The room was extremely luxurious. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Silk wall hangings covered the walls. Large windows showed a clear view of the ocean.

Behind a massive desk of solid, polished diamond sat Lady Aurelia. The Gilded Lily.

She was the wealthiest merchant in the kingdom. She wore a dress of spun gold thread. Diamonds glittered in her dark hair.

Her eyes were sharp, calculating, and utterly ruthless. Four massive, Level 40 bodyguards stood in the corners of the room, their hands resting on heavy battleaxes.

Aurelia did not look surprised. She slowly set down a crystal goblet of wine.

"You bypassed my guards, ignored my secretaries, and brought siege weapons into my city," Aurelia said.

Her voice was calm and soft, but had a sharp edge. "You must be the new High Inquisitor, Lord Lucifer of Obsidian."

"I am," Lucifer said. He walked across the room and stopped in front of her diamond desk.

"Your reputation precedes you," Aurelia smiled. It did not reach her eyes. "I heard you decimated the Whispering Weald.

And now you come to my office uninvited. To what do I owe the pleasure of a Warlord?"

"Trade," Lucifer said flatly.

He raised his right hand. He opened his Dimensional Vault.

A massive stack of heavy, glowing parchment materialized in the air. The stack dropped onto the diamond desk with a loud thud. The magical bindings on the parchment hummed with dark energy.

[System Item: Subjugation Contract (Deep Gnome)]

[Quantity: 5,000]

[Status: Bound to the Warlord of Obsidian.]

Aurelia raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. She picked up the top contract. Her sharp eyes scanned the runic text.

"Deep Gnomes," Aurelia noted. Her tone shifted from arrogant to genuinely interested. "Five thousand of them. Living, breathing, and magically bound to absolute servitude."

"They are the survivors of my recent underground purge," Lucifer explained. "They surrendered to my Warlord aura. The system bound them.

They are highly resistant to toxic gas, completely comfortable in the dark, and possess massive physical endurance. They are the perfect deep-vein miners."

Aurelia tapped her gold-painted nails against the diamond desk.

She ran a vast network of illegal, underground aether-mines. Human miners died by the hundreds from toxic gas exposure. Deep Gnomes were practically immune. These contracts were incredibly valuable to her operation.

But she was a merchant. She never paid full price.

"They are monsters, Lord Lucifer," Aurelia said smoothly. She tossed the contract back onto the stack.

"They are violent. They eat human flesh. Maintaining a workforce of subterranean cannibals requires heavy security. The overhead costs will be astronomical."

"The magical contracts force absolute obedience," Lucifer countered. "They cannot rebel."

"Even so," Aurelia sighed dramatically. "The market for monstrous labor is niche. I am taking a massive risk just bringing them into human territory. I will take them off your hands as a favor to the Church. Ten Refined Mana Crystals per head."

Elara stepped forward, her hand dropping to the hilt of her sword.

Lucifer raised a finger, stopping her. He looked down at Aurelia.

"Fifty thousand crystals for an army of perfect, tireless miners," Lucifer said. His voice dropped to a low, dangerous rumble. "You insult me, Lady Aurelia."

"It is business, Lord Lucifer," Aurelia smiled thinly. "Take it, or walk away. You will not find another buyer in this kingdom with the capital to purchase five thousand contracts at once."

She thought she had the upper hand. She thought he was a desperate noble looking for quick cash.

Lucifer leaned forward. He placed both hands flat on her diamond desk.

He stopped suppressing his magic.

The Warlord’s Sovereign’s Weight exploded into the room.

The crystal chandeliers violently shattered, raining glass onto the floor.

The four Level 40 bodyguards didn’t even have time to draw their weapons. The physical gravity slammed them to the floor.

Their heavy armor bent and cracked under the pressure. They gasped, completely paralyzed, pinned to the carpet like crushed insects.

The crystal goblet on Aurelia’s desk exploded, splashing red wine across the gold silk of her dress.

Aurelia froze. The breath was forced from her lungs. She looked up into Lucifer’s eyes.

She didn’t just see brown eyes. She saw a dark, endless swirl inside them. She felt the huge power coming from him. The air around him seemed to bend. He felt like a monster hiding in a human body.

Lucifer did not yell. He spoke in a whisper that echoed perfectly in the silent, suffocating room.

"I am not a merchant, Aurelia," Lucifer said. "I am a warlord. I did not come here to negotiate. I came here to dictate terms."

He leaned closer. The voids in his eyes spun.

"You will pay me one hundred Refined Mana Crystals per head. Half a million crystals in total. You will transfer them to my vault right now.

If you refuse, I will burn Silver-Port to the ground, slaughter your mercenaries, and take the crystals from your vault myself. Do we have a deal?"

Aurelia trembled.

She was looking at death. She was looking at a force of nature that could erase her entire empire in a single afternoon.

Aurelia swallowed hard. A genuine, breathless smile broke across her face.

"You drive a hard bargain, Lord Lucifer," Aurelia whispered. She ignored the wine staining her dress. She ignored her bodyguards suffocating on the floor. She locked her sharp eyes onto his. "One hundred crystals per head. Half a million total. We have a deal." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Lucifer stood up.

He instantly pulled his Warlord aura back.

The crushing gravity vanished. The four bodyguards gasped loudly, dragging themselves up onto their hands and knees, coughing.

They did not reach for their axes. They scrambled away from Lucifer, terrified.

Aurelia let out a long breath. She composed herself perfectly. She opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a heavy, glowing platinum lockbox. She placed her hand on the runic lock.

"Transfer," Aurelia commanded.

Lucifer opened his Dimensional Vault. The dark spatial rift appeared in the air between them.

A blinding stream of blue light shot from the lockbox directly into Lucifer’s vault. The sound of thousands of heavy, refined crystals clattering against each other echoed in the room.

A blue system interface flashed across Lucifer’s vision.

[Transaction Complete.]

[Item Sold: 5,000 Subjugation Contracts (Deep Gnome)]

[Currency Received: 500,000 Refined Mana Crystals]

Lucifer closed his vault. The rift vanished.

"A pleasure doing business with you, Lady Aurelia," Lucifer said smoothly. His voice returned to a polite, neutral tone.

He turned his back on her and walked toward the elevator. Elara followed closely, her golden eyes daring the bodyguards to make a move. They did not.

"Lord Lucifer," Aurelia called out before the elevator doors closed.

Lucifer paused. He looked back over his shoulder.

Aurelia stood up behind her ruined desk. She smoothed her stained gold dress. She looked at him with intense, burning interest.

"When you need weapons, or ships, or information," Aurelia said, a dangerous smirk on her lips. "Come back to the Gilded Lily. I like a man who knows exactly what he wants."

Lucifer did not reply. He stepped into the elevator.

The runic doors slid shut.

Lucifer stood in the descending elevator box. He pulled up his system interface. He looked at the half a million Refined Mana Crystals sitting safely in his soul storage.

"She is a viper," Elara noted quietly. "She will try to use you."

"Let her try," Lucifer said. He closed the interface. His eyes returned to their normal, dark brown color, hiding the void within. "We have the capital. Now, we buy the Church."