Alex was pissed but, he still replied
"Who are you and what do you even mean?"
"Idiot, you could have bought several of that shitty manual with the box you sent him! Do you regret it now? do you? do you? Idiot now you will be controlled by this idiot thanks to it"
The messages were always taunting and always playful this annoyed Alex. The situation still sounded urgent, not for him but for Amelia he decided to quickly finish up to avoid complications.
"What do you want?"
"I want to help an idiot, Aren't I merciful? Even angels would worship me dont you think? So I can send you the true version of the manual, the 'tiger eating dragon manual'. This manual lets you control anyone practicing the 'dragon eating tiger manual' seriously these unorthodox pricks make me mad, this manual only popped up 2 years ago and its already causing damage to other worlds too, luckily we caught the main cause so come on thank me, you could have been a puppet to an idiot. A idiot idiot puppet! Such a poet aren't I? Well I dont care about other worlds so want it?"
This guy was seriously annoying and thought too highly of himself, Seriously Alex wished he could punch the dude but he knew he had to think of Amelia, he and Laura grew pretty close to her even though he didnt care about her before this and the manual sounded useful.
"Its not for free right? What do you want?"
"Smart child! Not as much as me but smart none the less, So ill send you the manual you can practice it without worrying about ruining your cultivation with 2 different manuals! It can be considered a priceless manual if paired with the controlling one, so what I want in return is simple, 100 of those devices."
Alex figured that if he didnt agree this guy would most likely control Amelia so for now he had to agree and just buy the manual from the market if its available. This seemed like a good time to get some phones for the market as well.
A normal phone cost upwards of 100$s uptil 1200$s. A hundred would cost between 10,000-120,000$s considering the million dollars Alex got earlier it wouldnt upset him too much, the problem is where would be buy so many phones? The brand isnt important but the quantity would only be available to wholesale stores or if he had connections to manufacturers, He didnt know how to contact any manufacturers but perhaps there might be a way.
He could use the guy who kidnapped him, although dead Alex had already memorized the important contacts on his phone this is also how he confirmed Ray's involvement but there was also a number related to his company. He would prefer not to associate with them too much but there was little choice in this case.
Alex phoned the company of the executive he killed and happily ordered 400 phones with regular 300$ worth specs. The deal wasnt too large but 400 phones was still a larger than average quantity, along with the fact he actually called another executive of the company for the deal he was asked for a meeting. Alex agreed to meet and didnt wish to delay it too long so he scheduled it later today.
The meeting was in a cafe, A regular looking cafe with a black rose themed display. Alex didnt know what the other guy looked like and most likely the other side didnt either, luckily the only customer in the cafe was a middle aged man. He had his sidehair turned to the top to hide the bald patch. This made him look like an insecure old man who likely has a lot of family and sexual issues. Alex didnt care about his personality he just went up and asked
"Mr Richard?"
"Mr Alex? I didnt think you would be so... young. Tell me is this a prank or are you running an errand for your dad?"
Looking at Alex suspiciously Richard felt annoyed, he thought he was tricked into wasting valuable time but he remembered that the call was to his direct number which only people of importance should get. Perhaps he was a second generation rich guy looking to start his own business.
"No Mr Richard, this is completely legitimate I would like to proceed with the deal we talked about. The item brand doesnt matter what I wish for is the best specs I can get with 300$s per phone."
"No problem but I hope I can get the payment in advance, you wouldnt blame me for being so suspicious of a teenager such as yourself would you?"
"I'll pay 20% in advance, the rest when the phones are delivered if thats alright"
Richard thought about it for a while. 20% of 120,000$s is still 24,000$s, It was not an amount any normal child would use for a prank but 400 phones werent that easy to produce either or that hard, if it was an attempt to bankrupt them from a different company then they wouldnt settle with such a small ammount.
They could probably be finished in a week considering all the other orders and everything else and even if the rest of the payment isnt made they just need to sell the phones elsewhere while gaining 24,000$s for nothing but Richard was a business man he pretended to be upset and said
"This isnt a small amount of phones you are asking for if the payment isnt made we might have to survive on rice and water for a while. Mr. Alex atleast pay up half upfront so we know you are sincere about it"
It was Alex's turn to be troubled, considering the standard of Howard he knew not to trust these guys.
"Mr. Richard sorry but 30% is the best I can do, I also need to arrange the money so its not possible to pay half upfront. I cant do anything about this"
He had a million in his bank but he decided to use the lack of funds as an excuse, Richard might get cautious but 'big' deals are made without some form of loan and Richard knew that best, considering the age of his client he judged it to be a 'big deal' for him. He thought about it for a moment then agreed.
"In that case, this is the hardware of the device we can bring you. The brand is pretty expensive so its slightly low spec"
Alex knew he was attempting to save production costs but to him brand was never important. He might as well drive up the specs as hard as he could while compromising on the brand.
"Its fine without expensive brands but in exchange I want these specs, I agreed to your demand for advanced payment so surely you wouldnt mind giving me something too right?"
Indeed without brand named products he could buy some lesser quality ones with similar specs and save production cost while they are at it. As a somewhat established company he knew the quality shouldnt be compromised but there are plenty of good quality items which arent famous or costly. He accepted the demand and called his lawyer.
He had his lawyer draw up a contract which stated that 30% of the total amount be paid upfront while the rest be paid upon delivery of 400 phones.
The specs of the phones were also included in the agreement as well as the deadline for delivery of phones. There would also be a quality inspection performed before the payment but all in all the contract had little room for loopholes, especially when any breach would cost 2,000,000$s.
They quickly drove to an administration building and performed all the procedures afterwards. Alex did not have a dedicated lawyer on his side so to him letting the administration handle things seemed more viable than doing it himself.
Alex sent 36,000$s directly to the specified account and upon confirmation of payment by the administration the deal was signed. This took 2 hours and when Alex returned home he saw Laura and Amelia chatting about something, he didnt really want to know so he didnt ask and went to his room. Maybe if it was a few weeks ago he wouldnt care about Amelia too much but the 3 of them grew pretty close
He then searched the martial store for anything that could help bestow abilities. There was a skill named 'Emperor's Subjection' that got his interest.
[Emperor's Subjection 20,000 Mpts This skill bestows a selected ability on a target. The target must be willing to receive the ability. To bestow an ability a connection must be made whether through perception or through an object. The ability will be removed once the Emperor decides to remove it. When combined with a controlling technique this skill can bestow abilities through the method of control]
Although he didnt know if digital connections were considered connections by this ability he knew how to use the dragon eating tiger manual now. He was glad he didnt use it or throw it away, Amelia was safe for now and in the future when he gets the tiger eating dragon technique she would be able to help him control others. He decided to check up the cost of the manual to set a goal for himself.
[Tiger eating dragon technique 13,000 Mpts Contols any user practicing its sister technique, The dragon eating tiger technique. It has a high level efficiency when practiced with its sister.]
He really wished to know how good or bad that would be, but if it has 'high' in its description it shouldn't be bad. He decided to trust the profiteering app instead of the 'goodwilled' trueimmortal. He had around 11 thousand points but in a week he should be able to afford tons of things. He then looked up the apocalypse market and searched for a aiming aid. A list popped up
[Practice aiming aids 20Apts Useful for beginners. Adds a estimated hit marker directly to your iris
Autobot Malwin 50Apts Provides user with steadier hands and aiming correction, corrects your position based on where You wish to shoot, Careful as device cant tell whether the user truly wishes to shoot or not.
Practice chamber 3000Apts Provides the user with a virtual reality chamber with 99.9% likeness to reality, the background and items are fully customizable, Also has an option for fantasy settings. Popular for games and training. Time ratio is 1:100 Real to virtual.]
These three were the most helpful in his opinion but the second item sounded ominous. He decided to buy 2 aiming aids and a chamber. He personally had 10,000Apts half of the total 20,000 the siblings had in total. It was finally time to bring out the guns which were mostly gathering dust now. He went back to Laura and explained the items to her then took her back to his room, by now Amelia had already left apparently the two were good friends so she just came to chat.
The aiming aids were in the form of transparent contact lenses which Laura and Alex each put on one of. The chamber looked like a bulky coffin. It had enough room to fit the two so they decided to get in together. It was slightly cramped and the two looked like they were cuddling but the device door closed normally and they had no problems getting in the virtual space.
A customization option popped up infront of them. Their purpose was to train but the both of them as if possessed by the same demon said
""Fantasy world""