Crafting a Bestseller

"The position of Rogue Trader? How dare they!" Veil snapped.

"Tantos, what else do you know?"

Gao Yi was equally curious; they couldn't possibly know about Ludwig's death.

"You may have just emerged from the Warp and not yet be aware, but you and your fleet are five years overdue from your expected return."

At Tantos's reply, everyone understood the situation.

Warp travel is fraught with uncertainty, and the flow of time between the Warp and the material universe varies greatly. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't happen on a relatively safe route, but once you hit a Warp storm, your return to realspace gets thrown off.

That's why, from time to time, warships believed lost or destroyed for centuries emerge from the Warp—for the crew aboard, it might have only been a few years or even months.

"Tantos, gather more intelligence for me, and you'll have your due reward."

"I'm already on it. It's an honor to serve you! I've arranged lodgings in the Court of the Monarch. Please follow my steward to rest for now—I imagine your journey wasn't pleasant!"

The news of the Mongert Family's Rogue Trader change and return spread quickly with Gao Yi's arrival.

Though the Mongert Dynasty wasn't the most powerful in the expanse, it was far beyond what minor dynasties could match.

Gao Yi's ascension and arrival at the Landing Port affected nearly everyone here.

Walking toward the Court of the Monarch with his soldiers in Combat Suits, he immediately caught the attention of observant onlookers.

Gazing at the bustling Landing Port, Gao Yi spotted some xenos—a rare sight within the Imperium's borders.

After a night's rest, Tantos sent over various reports via courier.

The situation on the Capital World made Veil eager to return; before Gao Yi was even fully awake, a servant had roused him.

Gao Yi reluctantly shifted the pale arm and leg draped over him, then dressed and headed to the meeting room.

"My lord, apologies for disturbing your rest, but I believe we should return to the Capital World as soon as possible."

"Did Tantos mention any intelligence?"

"Agathos has halted all external trade. Those shortsighted fools are cutting off the dynasty's lifeline. Fleets attempting to trade have even seen fires on the planet's surface, and Agathos refuses all ship landings."

"Civil war?"

"I hate to say it, but Agathos may indeed be in the midst of a civil war."

"How long until the Golden Ram is repaired?"

"That's the most serious issue. Relying on our ship's priests and tech-adepts to repair the entire vessel is impossible, so we invited the Landing Port's priests for a joint assessment. The result is at least four months before the ship is safe to sail.

I've asked if they can speed things up, but you know how those priests are—stubborn. Under normal repairs, they insist on appeasing every Machine Spirit, and the rituals take time, which is a major reason for the delay."

Gao Yi wasn't too worried about the ship; it was a problem money could solve—but not with Throne Cents or other currency circulating at the Landing Port. It would take the Psionic Crystals in his pocket.

With enough SCVs, he believed he could repair the ship without the Adeptus Mechanicus's help, given their incredible performance.

After all, even a damaged Warp engine could be fixed at lightning speed.

Gao Yi even considered using SCV repair capabilities to make money—fixing Knight Family Knights, Titan Legion Divine Machinery, or damaged Power Armour, Terminators, and Dreadnoughts from Space Marine Chapters. Not every Chapter was wealthy; plenty were so broke they had to cobble things together or rely on theft. I fix your gear, you owe me a favor—fair enough, right?

Of course, that all hinged on being strong enough himself.

Checking his Psionic Crystal balance, Gao Yi instantly warped in 100 SCVs, spending 5,000 Psionic Crystals.

"Tell Pavian to meet Damon and take delivery of 100 SCVs. We'll handle the ship repairs ourselves!"

"I'll notify Pavian immediately."

"Besides the ship repairs, there's another thorny issue."

"Thorny?"

"Almost all our trade goods from this voyage were lost—most destroyed in the riots, and the rest tainted by Warp energies, unsellable. Selling them on the black market would draw the Inquisition's attention, not worth the risk, so we had to jettison everything into the void.

The Capital's situation has also tanked trust in our dynasty.

Normally, these wouldn't be major problems—we've faced similar before. But when I contacted the Void Concordat, our dynasty's partner, they politely refused us!

Damn it, they dared to refuse the dynasty's request!

We... don't have enough funds to recruit sufficient manpower now! If the Capital World really is in civil war, our current forces aren't enough. There are plenty of Shipworkers willing to join for a meal, but what we lack most are technicians, soldiers, and—most critically—an Astropath!"

At Veil's words, Gao Yi realized many still lacked trust in him as Rogue Trader.

No... some likely questioned the legitimacy of his position, maybe even thought he killed Ludwig to take over.

Some might even believe the Mongert Dynasty would collapse in this civil strife?

Gao Yi had imagined many difficulties, but never that the problem would be a lack of money!

Currency in the Warhammer universe was also built on credit; each sector had its own money, worthless elsewhere.

Despite being in a spacefaring age, barter remained the most effective method.

Minerals, weapons, technology, and people were the true hard currency.

Gao Yi fell silent. Make money? How? Sell the art in his quarters or the fixed assets at the Landing Port? That would be too degrading!

Wouldn't other Rogue Traders laugh at him?

"Do we have any other trading partners at the Landing Port?"

"Almost every notable faction has worked with the dynasty at some point. If we can offer the right goods, no one will turn us down. It's just that past trades always favored fixed partners to maximize profits."

"What if we offer the CMC Combat Suit for trade?"

"Are you sure you want to sell such precious equipment?"

"No—precious to others, but not to us..."

The CMC Combat Suit provides a tremendous boost to any ordinary combatant. For any mortal, it's a force multiplier.

Gao Yi believed that if he put this up for sale, plenty of people would want to buy it—either to use it themselves or to reverse-engineer the technology.

But he wasn't worried.

He already had a plan in mind.

He intended to sell the combat suits, pricing them at a level that would tempt everyone.

Of course, the suits sold would be made from ordinary metal materials. The ones he'd produce later to arm his own soldiers would be built from far sturdier materials.

The Barracks produced combat suits whose armor strength scaled with the materials invested.

This would create a technological gap between the suits sold and those kept, ensuring that buyers couldn't turn around and suppress him with his own gear.

And even if someone did crack the suit's technology and tried to manufacture it themselves, they'd find that even producing at cost would be significantly more expensive than what Gao Yi sold—and that was ignoring the yield rate.

If that were the case, what point was there in making it themselves? They'd need to build production lines, train personnel, cover labor costs, time costs, and upfront investment. They might as well just buy from Gao Yi!

The Barracks only needed metal input to produce steadily with zero defects—a perfect yield rate of one hundred percent! That was something no one else could ever match.

Gao Yi planned to turn the combat suit into the flagship product of the Mongert Dynasty!