First Investment

"Here you are sir." The waiter said, slowly opening the door before gesturing for Minos to enter by himself.

Thanking the waiter with a couple Nux Stones, Minos finally entered the room, all eyes immediately gluing onto him as a slight pressure weighed down on him.

"Minos, you're finally here!" Gidon said happily, relieving some of the awkwardness.

"I hope I didn't make you all wait." Minos smiled, before taking a quick scan of the room, looking at the six figures, not including Gidon, who had gathered.

"No problem, we just finished ordering, so your timing is perfect." Gidon laughed, before showing Minos to his seat.

"So this is the Minos you've been bragging about, he's quite handsome." Shenda said with a slight smirk, sending a wink towards Minos.

"For a Talisman-Maker, he's got quite the body! Hey Gidon, why not let the boy come and work for me, it would be a waste of his amazing physique otherwise!" Teeton quickly added, his eyes shining as he looked at Minos's two-meter height.

Feeling slight chills down his spine, Minos just responded to Teeton's words with a smile, fortunately Gidon was here to save him.

"Enough with the nonsense Teeton, everyone is here to talk business, so let's not waste any time and get right into it." Gidon said, before nodding to Minos, signaling that it was his time to shine.

"Minos is it? We've all been waiting long for this meeting, so I hope you don't let us down." Reno, leader of the Alchemist Guild said.

"Don't worry about that, Minos is extremely meticulous, isn't that right?" Gidon said, lightly slapping him on the back.

"Naturally. Anyways, let's get right into it. I've already prepared some documents listing off everything you guys would need to know. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask." Minos smiled, before distributing the paperwork.

After handing everyone the thick book, Minos took a seat next to Gidon, watching patiently as everyone quickly read through the document.

For a normal mortal, a book of such size would likely take at least a day of nonstop reading to finish, but for cultivators at their realm, a couple minutes would suffice.

After only about fifteen minutes, the first person put the thick book down, waiting for the others to finish.

With another five minutes passing, everyone was done reading, though no one asked any questions yet, instead just whispering among themselves, discussing what they had just read.

Gidon also finished, a smile unconsciously forming on his face as he gave Minos another pat on the back.

"Well done. This document is incredibly thorough, I didn't know you had this kind of business talent." Gidon whispered.

"I've been around." Minos replied.

While he had never studied business directly, he had still obtained some knowledge offhandedly, which after nearly a decade of accumulation had already made him equivalent to an expert.

While the two continued chatting quietly, the others had seemed to come to a consensus, stopping their whispering before facing Minos.

"This document is incredibly illuminating, answering most of our questions, of course there are still a few we have." Shenda said, seemingly representing the others as well.

"Go ahead."

"First of all, you say here that the basic plan will cost 1 Nux Stone a month, but we don't agree with such an amount."

"The average salary of Aleph City is around 50 Nux Stone a month, 90% of that goes towards housing, whereas another two go towards food, leaving three as savings."

"We feel like charging 2 Nux Stones a month would be more appropriate, directly doubling potential profit." Shenda said.

"While I understand your idea, I want to make the Rovo's reach as vast as possible, hence the low initial cost."

"If you go to page 31, you'll notice that I've highlighted potential future avenues of revenue for the Rovo."

"By starting low and including these future upgrades, we can hit everyone exactly in the price bracket they can afford, making sure that everyone can get involved in the Rovo experience."

"Doubling the fee of the Basic Plan may sound nice in the short-term, but long-term, I'm afraid it would hurt our value rather than improve it."

"Fair, very fair." Shenda said, already finding herself agreeing with Minos's response.

The others also nodded, satisfied with the answer, but it was clear that they were far from done, so after another short chat, Shenda shot back with a new question.

"Speaking about page 31, you've talked here about the ability to send written messages, but I can't help but question why anyone would use such an option when video and sound is clearly superior and comes included in the Basic Plan?"

"Good question, as for the answer, I believe that this feature will be for those who don't have the time to answer a video-call, allowing them a more quick and efficient mode of communication." Minos replied succinctly.

"I can see that, but among the upgrades, you've included a whole bunch of things that seem unnecessary. For example, customized rings, different colored backgrounds, custom numbers, etc. What's the purpose of these?" Shenda continued asking.

"Vanity. Never underestimate man's desire to be unique. While these features may sound a bit superfluous on the surface, they're all ways to separate oneself from other users of the Rovo, which I personally believe is more than enough of an incentive."

"You seem to have a good understanding of human psychology." Shenda said with a smirk.

"Well that is the core of a business-man, don't you agree?" Minos smiled, causing Shenda to laugh.

"You're right, you're clearly very suited for such a position, but before me and my compatriots agree completely, we have one more question."

"I'm more than happy to answer." Minos smiled.

"Good, then turning to page 183, you say here you've set aside 10% of company shares as 'Development Shares.' What exactly does that mean?"

"To put it in simple terms, 'Development Shares' are what I would call floating shares, meaning that one's control over them isn't permanent like regular shares, rather it's dependent on how much one has invested into the development of the company."

"For example, if total company investment has reached 10,000 Nux Stones, and you Shenda have accounted for 5,000 of those, you'd temporarily be in control of 5% of 'Development Shares.'"

"These numbers will be updated every three-months, in which time one will also be paid their dividends. They will also be cleared every five years to give new shareholders a chance to invest and keep others from fully monopolizing the shares."

"I understand, so this is essentially an incentive for us to invest into the company? Quite brilliant I must say." Shenda replied, admiring Minos's business savvy.

"You could see it as such." Minos answered, still smiling.

"Well since we understand now, we naturally want to invest."

"That's good to hear, but I hope you are all aware that the company likely won't make profit for at least a year or so. We still have to build the infrastructure, begin mass-producing the Rovo, and also start advertising." Minos explained.

"That's fine, you did say everything will be wiped on a five-year basis, right? We should still make plenty of profit in the time we have left."

"Well then, I'll congratulate you in advance for your good choice. As for the investment, how much are you all thinking?" Minos replied, naturally happy to get funding as soon as possible.

"How about 50,000 from each of us, just to test the waters." Shenda suggested as she looked around at her peers.

After a bit of whispering, everyone finally reached an agreement, deciding that they'd each chip in 50,000 Nux Stones.

Gidon also joined in on this agreement, meaning a full seven people had given Minos 50,000 each, amounting to a whopping 350,000 Nux Stones!

This was an amount of money the vast majority of people would never see in their lives, and yet for these Guild Masters, it was just to 'test the waters.'

Of course now wasn't a time to be thinking of the massive disparity between the rich and the poor, rather Minos was more focused on signing all the documents and finalizing their future partnership.

After getting everyones signature and making sure the forms were all in order, Minos shook everyone's hand, the room in the mood going from stern to joyous.

With business out of the way, everyone focused on enjoying the extravagant meal that had been readied for them, Minos using his adventure-filled life to tell stories, instantly catching everyone's attention.

With stories, jokes, and myths, Minos became the center of the room, not just wanting to be partners with these Guild Masters, but friends as well.

The closer the relationship he built with them, the easier future business would be, so Minos didn't hold back at all, using his Heart Path and Omniscient Eyes to get a feel for everyone, which was reflected in the stories/jokes he chose to tell.

With such a set of abilities, it truly was a waste Minos wasn't an actual business-man, but with cultivation as a calling, it was more than worth the sacrifice.

"Well it's getting late. It was truly a pleasure meeting you all, here's one more cheer to the future longevity of our business, partnerships, and friendships."

"Cheers!" Everyone shouted, clinking glasses with Minos.

After chugging the glass, Minos went around the room giving everyone one more handshake and a personal thanks, but just as he got to Shenda, he suddenly felt a tug on his collar.