"The method for processing Aqualith is complex and tedious, but the byproduct is more than worth the stress, so you all will have to bring your best Magic Stone artisans to learn this process here in America. After I am certain you can actually process the stone, I will open trade routes with your countries and sell you the unprocessed Aqualith for a set price. You will process these stones yourself and go through my guild to sell them to otherworlders who come here for trade. Is that understood?"
"That is basically a monopoly! You will be making more money than all of us combined!"
The Supreme Leader of North Korea stood up angrily when he heard everything Jason had to say! The Supreme Leader understood exactly what Jason was trying to do, and the Supreme Leader refused to accept it! Jason’s idea was genius, and it would obviously work, but this idea would also give Jason such a major monopoly on the Aqualith market that there wouldn’t be any countries in the world that could stand up to him! Even though the Supreme Leader was also guilty of using the exact same strategy against others on many occasions, he did not like it when this strategy was used against him!
Jason turned to the leader and raised a brow before responding to the leader’s complaint with absolute indifference.
"And what of it?"
The Supreme Leader grit his teeth and squeezed his hands in anger! He wasn’t going to stand for this! He couldn’t accept it!
"Are you all just going to sit here and take this!? You, American President! This is your citizen! Can’t you convince him to give us a more favourable deal!?"
The Supreme Leader looked towards Ronald in anger, but Ronald didn’t even bother turning around to regard the Supreme Leader! In fact, no one in the room bothered to speak up in agreement, and the Supreme Leader realised that he was the only one against this idea! Unlike the other leaders in the room, the Supreme Leader was used to always having his way! In his country, his word was law, and there was no one who would dare to stand against him! The fact that he couldn’t have his way against Jason right now made his blood boil like never before!
Jason sighed calmly before he leaned forward and spoke to the Supreme Leader in an understanding voice.
"You know what, you’re right. I didn’t think this through. I mean, all I’m doing is giving you a chance to leech off my wealth and enrich your countries. It’s not fair to you, and I should’ve obviously done more. So perhaps you would prefer it if I simply withdrew my offer. I can take these stones and process them myself. I’ll sell them to these other worlds myself and pocket every dime that comes from it. That... should suit you better, shouldn’t it?"
"Grk!"
The Supreme Leader let out a sound as if he had just been stabbed, and he glared at Jason in anger. It was obvious that Jason was making fun of him, and the fact that no one else in the room was standing up for him was just making him look like a fool! The Supreme Leader was about to speak again, but a sword suddenly came to his throat!
Shink!
"!"
The Supreme Leader shivered from fear as he turned to see a female Radgan Soldier standing beside him! Jason’s eyes were no longer as calm as they once were, and now Jason was glaring at the Supreme Leader with complete emotionlessness. Jason spoke up:
"One more word from you, and I will end your reign this instant. I can assure you, you will not be missed."
The Supreme Leader swallowed in fear, and he looked around to see if anyone would speak up for him. No one even bothered to glance in his direction, and the Supreme Leader slowly went down to his seat and stayed silent for the rest of the meeting. Jason turned as Agnes, the president of Germany, spoke up again.
"I’d like to know why you’re doing this. It’s obvious that you are doing us a favour by allowing us to process these stones when you can do it yourself."
Jason hummed.
"It’s because you’re all poor."
Many of the presidents frowned when Jason said this, but Jason ignored them and continued.
"Earth might seem rich from the inside, but once you’ve seen the vast amount of wealth existing out there, you’ll realise that we’re nothing much. And on that note, I’d like to also add that I will be commissioning the Gold Coin as the official currency of the Monarch guild. You can continue to use your currencies in your countries, but when trading with me or anyone within my guild, you must use the Gold Coin."
"What? But won’t that make our currencies lose value?"
"Many currencies are backed by gold. If we give you the gold, what will we have?"
"Can’t we use something else?"
Many of the leaders had been irritated when Jason called them poor, but when Jason suddenly said that he was commissioning the Gold Coin as an official currency, they were obviously thrown off! The leaders knew that gold was the most precious material on Earth, and many of their financial and economic institutions ran on gold! If they started using gold as currency, then their actual currency would lose value quickly! But Jason didn’t care! Jason waved away all the complaints and spoke up.
"The gold coin is the official currency of the Primordial Expanse, so any otherworlder that comes here would expect to do trade in the gold coin. We cannot continue to be so backward. That paper money in your hand holds no significant value other than what you have given to it, and we cannot build a sustainable interworld relationship on something so volatile. The gold coin will be the standard for all Monarch Guild branches across the world. What you do in your countries is no concern of mine, but I suggest you begin to gather as much gold as possible before you fall behind."
The murmuring amongst the leaders grew even louder as many of them began to lament how this would affect the economies of their countries. Jason’s offer was obviously a sensible one, and it was stupid to think that they wouldn’t benefit from it, but making such a large change and using up the gold in their countries like this was something none had planned for!
But there were some countries, like America and Germany, that could feel a sense of superiority passing through their hearts at that moment! These countries held the largest gold reserves in the world, and it was obvious that they would have the potential to get ahead of other countries by buying larger Aqualith supplies from Jason! And the fact that Jason had already established a guild in America just assured the president that things would be even easier! The Americans were definitely going to be the first to benefit from all this!
"Earlier, you said that there were two phases to your plan. One was the economic phase, and the other was to raise the overall strength of our superhumans. How do you plan to do this?"
Jason looked over at the Japanese Prime Minister as she asked this. The Prime Minister had a small frown on her face as she waited for an answer, and Jason could tell that she was not happy that her country would be falling behind the other large countries in this new future. For an international superpower, Japan had one of the lowest reserves of gold in the world, so not only would they not be able to buy as much gold as America or Germany, but they would also suffer a much bigger blow to their economy if they used up large amounts of their gold! But since they couldn’t compete economically, it was obvious that the Prime Minister was looking for other ways to compete!