Things moved relatively quickly once the business plan was agreed on. We all invested one thousand points in the business but obtained an unequal number of shares. Since I was just a passive investor who only contributed with my points and a few pieces of advices, I obtained 10% of the shares like Choumka and Tesha. Joey and Robb obtained 15% of the shares since they were more involved; the latter gathered information while the former would be responsible for the operations. Lastly, Richard obtained 40% of the shares since he came up with the idea and would also take care of the processes and recruitment.

I was happy with the arrangement since I shouldered minimal risks; even with just 10% of the profits, I was guaranteed to earn a significant amount of points as long as I pulled out before it all crashed. Everything was written on a contract and the first human company of the tower was established.

It took less than a day for Joey to find people willing to work for us. People found the experience of hunting in the tower to be refreshing at first but after two whole months have passed, its novelty was long gone. Many people wanted to return to their original life and live in the city; they wanted the monotony and stability of a nine-to-five job. However, it was not possible at the moment. The Union allowed the humans to safely travel through the first floor if they paid the tax, but it did not allow entry inside the cities or villages. A careful wording was used that emphasised “Travel through” and “First Floor”.

When paying that particular tax, the humans were given a white token in exchange that could be shown to the patrolling guards. Humans without tokens were asked to pay the tax or simply killed on the spot. Quite a few suffered this tragic fate since they did not believe the words of the guards and many more tried to sneakily make their way to the teleportation portals but ended up paying the price.

Finding employees was an easy task; it was finding customers that was the real challenge. The company was newly set up and had yet to earn the trust of the hunters. Furthermore, the hunters who were climbing up were quite confident in their own skills and believed that they could assault the upper floor with their current equipment. What they did not take into consideration, was the steep increase in power of the monsters they would face. The next hunting ground they would come across was not the second floor but the eleventh floor. Monsters progressively became more powerful and the difference between ten floors was not small.

However, after a day or two, the hunters quickly realised that the warnings given by the employees were quite useful. They noticed that the hunters going to the second floor would all end up never coming back. And when they went to the eleventh floor, unless a group of twenty hunters worked together, they could not even leave a scratch on the weakest creature there.

The eleventh floor was known as the Crystal Maze. It was a giant underground network of caves and tunnels, sculpted in a hard crystal-like material. The monsters on that floor matched their environment, having hard bodies made of rare ores and minerals. These monsters were classified as Crystal Beasts. They had powerful bodies that could not be harmed by unenchanted weapons or single-enchanted weapons. Spells were effective but very few humans had reached the first circle; anyone below that level did not represent a threat to the crystal beasts.

While the crystal beasts had a high defence, their attack power was left to be desired; they moved relatively slowly because of their heavy body, making it easy to escape from them in the Crystal Maze. It was why I felt quite safe sending my cousin to the eleventh floor. As long as he did not stupidly fight with a crystal beast, he should be able to survive by hiding in a corner. The only challenge he would face would be to find a source of food. Crystal Beasts survived on the ores lining the walls, but the ores were not suitable for human consumption. The only edible food available on the eleventh floor was the mushrooms that grew next to certain ores.

As the hunters climbed up to the eleventh floor, they were forced to face the harsh reality. The Crystal Maze was a cold and desolate place. Without proper equipment, they were not going to last for very long there. And if they were unable to earn points, they would not survive for long on the first floor either.

As a result, many hunters came back and agreed to take the loans despite the high interest rate. In less than three days, they would need to refund twice the amount they borrowed. It was an absurd amount of points but at the same time, the hunters who agreed to take the loans would be the only ones able to hunt the crystal beasts with ease. If they acted wisely, it would not be hard to earn a fortune and monopolise an entire area of the Crystal Maze.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Only a few tried their luck but soon, the success of the few early birds attracted the attention of the other hunters and the demand for loans skyrocketed, so much that the company ran out of funds. The loanees were very carefully selected to minimise the risks. Since there was such a high chance of wasting huge amounts of points, the employees needed to choose the right people. The hunters were asked to reveal personal information such as their elements and affinity. If they refused to speak the truth, the loan was simply denied; the company did not need these hunters, it was them who needed the loans.

In general, hunters in groups were preferred since it increased the chances of being paid back. Those who managed to reach the first circle were favoured, just like those who successfully tamed more than one element.

Business was booming. While a few groups perished in the Crystal Maze, the majority made it back and repaid their loans. Sadly, the points never returned into our pockets; they were instead loaned again to other groups. The company became well known among the humans and before long, a meeting was arranged to discuss the branding and expansion of the company.

The company was named P2P, in reference to Peer-to-Peer Lending. Richard wanted to give a friendly name to the company for marketing purposes. In less than a week, branches of the company appeared in the other cities near the teleportation portals. I suspected that Richard was the one behind the expansion; he did a lot of work to grow the company and deserved the shares he held.

Now, it was quite common to see P2P employees managing a small stall near the teleportation portals amongst the other peddlers. The peddlers were the few opportunistic individuals who came to sell consumables, equipment, food and miscellaneous items. Since the humans were not allowed inside the cities or villages, they could only purchase what they needed from the peddlers at a high price. Similarly, they needed to sell their loot there below the market value.

Robb brought up the idea of selling items to the humans, but it was quickly dismissed by Richard. The reason P2P was allowed to be established was because no one wanted to enter such a risky market and therefore, there were no conflicts of interest. However, if P2P started selling equipment, the different merchant groups and stores would not remain silent.

Nevertheless, P2P was still raking in a ton of points, so much that it attracted the attention of the Spatial Bank who considered loaning to humans. Similarly, the other humans who were living in the cities became jealous of P2P’s success and started eyeing it. Some came with their points and asked to purchase some shares while others held secret meetings to discuss the possibility of founding their own competing company.

This led to the next topic brought up during the meeting. The appearance of a competitor spelled bad news for us, but the investors were welcomed. However, we were not willing to part with our shares and during the discussion, I smoothly suggested the business model I remembered from my past life. It was the idea of selling stocks disguised as a package. It was the perfect solution to the problems we were facing.

P2P needed more funds to give to the hunters. At the same time, some humans wanted to invest in a successful company and giving them this opportunity would reduce the chances of a competitor rising up. Without any surprise, my suggestion was approved by the group and on the very next day, P2P now offered these packages, promising a return of up to 10% of the package’s value every week.

According to the numbers presented by Richard, P2P managed to transform the 6000 points originally invested into 14000 points after just one week of operation. After deducting the employees’ salaries, the various administrative fees, taxes and tributes to the Union, and other miscellaneous expenses, P2P was left with 10000 points to loan to the hunters. P2P could afford to give back 10% of the value of the packages to the investors since it was making a lot more profits.

P2P was developing just like I imagined it would. Although many were jealous of P2P’s success, it was left alone for the most part thanks to the tributes paid to the Spatial Bank. The Union also did not look for trouble since it was thanks to P2P that so many hunters could bring back the loot available on the eleventh floor.

Joining this group has been the right decision. The only negative point was that I needed to attend regular meetings with the group to receive updates about the progress of P2P. I found these meetings to be quite boring, but the others were very interested in them.

At the end of a particular meeting, I was stopped by one of the employees. “Excuse, Sir. One of the people you requested we look out for stopped by one of our stalls.”

“Oh?” I stopped in my tracks and nodded at the employee. I remained calm and did not get too excited. Over the past few weeks, I have already been called several times for this matter, only to be disappointed. I realised just how common some names were, making it extremely hard to match people.

P2P had many customers who registered their names, hoping to find their loved ones but more often than not, they were matched with the wrong people.

“Another one for you?” Tesha teased as she overheard the employee. “Since we are going in the same direction, let’s go together.”

“Sure.” I replied before turning my attention back to the employee. “We’ll come with you to the camp. Who is it this time?”

“A person named Sarah. Sarah Barnwell.”

“Did you ask her if she knows me?”

“Yes. And her response was quite emotional.”