Location: Lil. Red Storm, Seed World, Devil Merchant Code, Inter-Realm City, Sector WS9909
Noting the location of the Infinity Library, Wyatt briskly entered the automated lane heading toward his destination, adhering to the local rules. The lanes moved at a reasonable speed, but one had to switch lanes at their discretion, following simple and easy-to-understand regulations.
Standing on the automated lane, Wyatt looked around at the towering buildings, none with fewer than a hundred floors, each spanning several acres. These buildings catered to a single business-gym rentals. Each floor housed a personal gym equipped with advanced features such as space expansion, space isolation,
hyper-concentration, and other state-of-the-art array formations. These features made the gyms sturdy and resourceful enough to fulfill all the needs of their renters. Demons and devils practicing arts of any grade could train here without fear of disturbance or damage.
One might assume that these luxurious gyms would have prohibitively high rents. It was, the word predatory also fell short to sum the sector's unique but outrageous rental system. They all followed this system, their was no way around it unless one were capable of buying a land on this sector to open their own gym.
As per the sector's rental system, the gyms could only be rented on a monthly basis, with the rent starting at 1 low grade soul jade for the first month. Each subsequent month, the rent would double. For example:
1st Month: 1 low grade soul jade
2nd Month: 2 low grade soul jades
3rd Month: 4 low grade soul jades
4th Month: 8 low grade soul jades
If a demon or devil merchant wanted to spend an entire day according to their native time zone (equivalent to two years in Sector WS9909's time zone), they would end up paying a total of nearly 16.78 million low grade soul jades. The cost would only escalate further outrageously.
Mastering high-rank arts to any significant level of proficiency was neither quick nor easy; it often took decades or even centuries, depending on one's talent and requirements. Moreover, inspiration or enlightenment could strike at any moment, and any disruptions would cost them heavily. Hence, many demon and devil merchants opted to pay for decades or even centuries of uninterrupted access. After all, not everyone was like Corey, who could rely on her past-life memories to master a high-rank martial art to sage-level proficiency within weeks.
Wyatt was particularly curious about Corey's Armageddon Song and had researched it extensively. It was one of the few complete ancient techniques recovered from the myriad realms' ancient vestiges and was regarded as exceptionally powerful, with super-high requirements.
The Armageddon Song comprised five verses, and when used in repetition, it rendered the user unstoppable and invincible for three to fifteen minutes, depending on their proficiency. Three minutes might seem short, but for an expert, it was more than enough to eliminate their enemies and return home for a hearty feast.
In the records about the Armageddon Song marital arts, Wyatt found that Demon Emperor Corey Park was recorded as the only known individual to have mastered the Armageddon Song to sage-level proficiency. Even nearly a millennium after her death, no one else who studied the technique had achieved her level of mastery until Corey Bright, her reincarnation, who achieved the same within weeks.
The records also stated that many powerful forces had tried to recruit Park because of it, but she remained loyal to her master, resisting greed and the lust for power. This portrayal of Park as a heroic figure was likely influenced by her early death. If she were alive based on her affiliation the portrayal would be different for different affiliations.
Wyatt, however, knew the truth. The only reason Park hadn't accepted any of the enticing offers was that her master, Belphegor, had held her father's soul hostage. If not for that, her hatred for Belphegor would have driven her to accept the most attractive offer, grow stronger, and kill him with her own hands.
For Corey to have mastered such a powerful and coveted martial art in weeks was a testament to how broken her origin card truly was. Even Adrienne's Inner Goddess-a ruler-class entity close to transcendence-feared the Breath of Erosion and hide as a parasite to avoid the cycle of reincarnation, thus evading starting from scratch.
Be that as it may, the predatory rental system used by the native demon and devil merchants in Sector WS9909 was evident. To avoid paying astronomical rents, ruler-class forces and entities often purchased land in the sector despite the tremendous prices. Yet, these purchases accounted for only three percent of the sector's total land area.
It would be a mistake to think these prices were favorable for low-level demon merchants who only practised low rank arts with minimal requirements. Even for them, adding to the gym rent, the cost of staying in Sector WS9909 was exorbitant- almost fifty times higher than that of Sector DS0909.
Despite such predatory prices, finding an empty gym to rent was still a challenge in the sector. To address this issue, the natives had jointly created a gym search engine within the sector's network. Demon and devil merchants could inquire about available gyms for a fee-because, of course, nothing here was free. Compared to Sector DS0909, the greed of WS9909 was like a ravenous beast.
This sector functioned as the natives' money-milking industry. Wyatt couldn't help but wonder what the native demon and devil merchants did with so much wealth, especially since they didn't accept other forms of payment, such as liquid rule power or even devil-grade ingredients.
In his contemplation, switching lanes according to the rules, Wyatt finally arrived at the Infinity Library of the sector. It was the grandest and largest structure he had seen so far in the sector, occupying nearly one percent of the entire sector's land. Even here, the Librarian had left his indelible mark, solidifying his brand. Given that he had enslaved the entire pixie race, the demon and devil merchants of this sector seemed saintly in comparison. Even that out be underestimating the Librarian's terror.