Ronaldo was the leader of the White Ape Clan. Unlike Annabelle, with her flighty and nasty personality, he was a remarkably steady middle-aged man.
He had a square face, stood nearly two meters tall, and wore a metal combat vest. His exposed arms were corded with sharply defined muscles, and he wore two spiked bracelets on his wrists.
His skin was bronze, and the pupil of the Eye of Gendaya on his forehead was earthy yellow, indicating that Ronaldo had an affinity for the earth element.
After meeting Ronaldo, Logo seriously suspected that Annabelle had lied.
Ronaldo owed her a hundred thousand Ta Pounds, my foot.
The other way around was more like it!
Otherwise, why hadn't Annabelle said a word about the debt after meeting Ronaldo?
In fact, whenever Ronaldo glanced her way, Annabelle's eyes began to dart about. Her guilty conscience was practically written on her face.
After a discussion among the leaders of the three clans, they settled on a joint operation.
The plan divided the profits from future weapons sales into two main portions.
One portion would be divided among the three clans at a ratio of 4:3:3, with the Red Maple Clan receiving 40 percent.
The other portion would be used to cultivate connections on all sides, primarily with the Inferno Minotaurs.
The Sunset Lord was indeed the ruler of the Sunset Jungle, but this powerful Demigod magical beast fully embodied feline laziness and hardly ever involved himself in affairs.
As a result, the major affairs of the Sunset Territory were decided by four chief stewards.
The four chief stewards were Earth Bear Pulatake, who held the highest position and was the strongest, but was even lazier. He was either sleeping or on his way to sleep.
Frost Serpent Nicole, leader of the Demon Serpent Tribe, was cunning and vicious, keenly interested in power, and actively involved in the Sunset Territory's various decisions.
Balielunduo, leader of the Gale Demon Wolf Tribe, was vicious but placed great importance on promises and kindnesses. He was utterly loyal to the Sunset Lord and was the lord's most trusted subordinate. He also wielded the most power among the four chief stewards.
Luomu Yigeng, leader of the Inferno Minotaurs, was a smith who specialized in forging transcendent equipment and could forge Legendary equipment.
Of the four chief stewards, Luomu Yigeng had the best relationship with the three clans.
Minotaurs were a humanoid race with many branches.
The minotaurs of the Sunset Jungle belonged to the Yigeng Tribe of the "Inferno" lineage. They possessed a Mid-Rank Transcendent bloodline and could wield the power of fire from birth.
Inferno Minotaurs had explosive tempers, were formidable fighters, and were exceptionally skilled at smelting metal.
But they were poor farmers, so they worked closely with the three clans on food supplies.
The Gendaya People's agricultural technology was highly developed, ranking among the best on Planet Oklo and surpassed only by that of the Elf Race of the Korte Empire. Agricultural products had always been one of the Royal Court's pillar industries.
In an age of highly developed productivity, ordinary agricultural products from the Elven Plane were extraordinarily cheap.
But grain and meat produced on high-magic planets were naturally rich in natural elements and highly beneficial to the growth of transcendent life. On the Elven Plane, they were luxury goods in short supply, available only to high society, and not cheap in the slightest!
Aside from what the three clans produced to feed their own people, most of their grain was sold to the Inferno Minotaurs.
Their shared interests, along with the fact that both races were formidable fighters with forthright natures and compatible temperaments, meant they got along well and were naturally quite close.
The arms trade on Planet Oklo had always been enormously profitable.
That was especially true of Angedora Bay. Along with the "myriad nations" of the Light-Bathed Sea, it was among the most chaotic regions, a paradise for thugs and criminals, and a place where black-market trading ran most rampant.
Transcendent organ exchanges, illegal biochemical laboratories, virus research institutes, centers of terrorist activity...
Nearly every kind of organization expressly forbidden in other countries could be found all over Angedora Bay.
This was especially true of the arms trade, where market competition was fierce and major players abounded. Anyone who rashly intervened would certainly face a frenzied assault from entrenched interest groups.
Without a powerful backer, anyone charging in recklessly would be finished sooner or later.
The Inferno Minotaurs were the backers the three clans had found.
Chief Luomu was an Epic life-form, and the Yigeng Tribe had several Legendary figures. Its vassal armies were numerous, well-equipped, and powerful. It ranked among the strongest forces in the Sunset Jungle, and together with the three clans, it was strong enough to withstand whatever storms came at them within the Sunset Jungle.
If their business grew and expanded into other regions, they would continue to share the profits, bring in partners, strengthen their forces, and expand their operations...
It was much the same as growing a business on Blue Star.
Once they reached a certain scale, they could also put on a different identity and go public in the Crimson Alliance or on Planet Guta.
Of course, that was all for later.
The immediate priority was to deal with the matters at hand.
The three counts were responsible for forming an alliance with the Yigeng Tribe of the Inferno Minotaurs.
As for Logo, he only had to sit back and wait for the money.
When he returned home, Crassus, who had just finished bathing, was lying lazily on the sofa while the head maid carefully combed his fur.
At the sight of Logo, the fat cat merely lifted an eyelid slightly, too lazy to move an inch.
Logo ignored him as well. He took out the encrypted communicator the Royal Court issued specifically to counts and entered a string of codes, unlocking a new interface.
A long list of transcendent resources appeared before his eyes, with redemption prices and access requirements beside the pictures.
He swiped his finger, and the page stopped scrolling.
An earthy-yellow heart the size of a human head appeared on the screen. Earth-element light flowed within it, giving it a peculiar appearance.
Heart of the Mountain Giant.
It was an extremely rare earth-element transcendent resource that came into being naturally over long years after a Mountain Giant fell, and it had a wide range of uses.
It could be used to forge transcendent equipment or concoct potions, or it could be consumed directly to extract and absorb its essence factors. With luck, one could even inherit part of the giant's bloodline. It was extremely valuable.
If the Royal Court and the giants had not been allies, such a scarce resource would have been difficult to obtain.
The Heart of the Mountain Giant cost 1.7 million Ta Pounds and 2,000 racial contribution points to redeem, and required count-level access.
Logo checked his contribution point balance: 11,000 points.
As for money, the direct-line account still held around one million Ta Pounds.
As for the family account, Logo had not yet formally become the family head or taken full control of the family, so he could not use the Campbell Family's liquid funds.
But a shortage of Ta Pounds was only a minor problem.
Logo owned the patent royalties for strong vibration steel and Red Crystal Gunpowder. Using them as collateral, he easily obtained a large interest-free loan of five million Ta Pounds from the Royal Court Central Bank.
The funds arrived quickly.
Logo promptly redeemed the Heart of the Mountain Giant, and the Ta Pounds and contribution points in his account flowed away like water.
His expression unchanged, Logo continued scrolling up the page.
Another resource came into view.
Gendaya Blood Essence was a treasure extracted from the corpses of pure-blooded Gendaya People by the Eye of Source Blood, a treasure that safeguarded their people. It was mainly used to cultivate lesser Blood Descendants.
It could be used to set up the Bloodline Resonance Spell Formula or serve as a medium for the True Blood Erosion Method.
The redemption price was 100,000 Ta Pounds and 150 racial contribution points per piece, and viscount-level access was required.
The Heart of the Mountain Giant was for cultivating high-end combat power, while Gendaya Blood Essence was for cultivating middle- and low-end combat power.
Logo spent 6,000 racial contribution points and four million Ta Pounds to buy 40 pieces of Gendaya Blood Essence.
He had spent money like water. After that buying spree, only 3,000 racial contribution points and 300,000 Ta Pounds remained in his account.
Logo spent no more, keeping the money for the time being in case he needed it.