Chapter 614

Chapter 439: Dark Gold Society

“The Dark Gold Society?”

In the room of the inn, Dorothy, sitting on the sofa, looked down at the “Navigation of the Literary Sea” on her lap, her expression turning serious as she read Beverly’s response.

‘So… Everything is the work of this Dark Gold Society? Judging by its name, this society should be one that worships the deity of the ‘Stone’ domain known as Dark Gold, mentioned by Beverly. It is said to be a purely commercial deity. I remember she said that the society that worships Dark Gold is a secret trading association. But how did it become the Dark Gold Society here? Is Dark Gold a deity worshipped by multiple societies?’

Dorothy pondered, then immediately picked up a pen and wrote down her questions in the “Navigation of the Literary Sea,” taking the opportunity to ask Beverly while she was still ‘online.’ Otherwise, she wouldn’t know when she would see a reply once Beverly logged off.

Soon, Dorothy finished writing her questions. She silently watched her words sink into the pages of the book, then waited quietly for a response. Before long, Beverly’s neat printed handwriting reappeared on the page.

“Hey, I didn’t expect you to still be up so late. I thought you’d be asleep by now after doing experiments until this hour. It’s rare to have such a chance to chat with you.

“The Dark Gold Society is different from the White Stone Craftsmen Guild, which worships Rank Structure Core, the god of craftsmanship. Dark Gold is known as the god of commerce and wealth. It is a very secretive deity, unknown to the general public, one of the many hidden gods outside the Three Saints. Since ancient times, societies that worship Dark Gold have been secret trading associations, and the Dark Gold Society is actually the result of the split and evolution of these secret trading associations. You can think of the Dark Gold Society as an evolved form of the secret trading association.”

“Evolved? So the Dark Gold Society and the secret trading association are in a line of succession?”

As she read Beverly’s response, Dorothy stroked her chin with interest and continued writing on the page. Soon after, Beverly’s words appeared again.

“In a sense, it’s similar, but if we say it’s a complete inheritance, it’s not entirely accurate. Not only the Dark Gold Society, but also our Craftsmen Guild, inherited from the secret trading association.”

“Craftsmen Guild? There’s a connection between the secret trading association and the Craftsmen Guild?” Dorothy wrote in surprise, and Beverly quickly responded.

“Of course there is. In fact, the commercial tradition of the White Stone Craftsmen Guild originated from the secret trading association.

“You might not know this, but the White Stone Craftsmen Guild was not always as commercially oriented as it is now. The essence of the Craftsmen Guild is a union of craftsmen, a platform for countless extraordinary craftsmen to connect, exchange, and pass on their skills. Its core is craftsmanship rather than trade. Although the Craftsmen Guild had various resource trading platforms internally, the scale was not large, merely enough to meet their own needs. It was far from the extent to which it now handles most of the secret transactions in the Secret World.

“During most of the Fourth Era, the secret trading association was the main platform for transactions in the Secret World. Compared to the Craftsmen Guild, they were a pure merchant organization, specialized in all kinds of secret transactions. They worshipped the deity of commerce, Dark Gold, rather than the deity of craftsmanship, Rank Structure Core.”

“So… the real trading society should be the secret trading association rather than the White Stone Craftsmen Guild, right?”

“Yes, at least in the past, the secret trading association was the largest neutral merchant organization in the Secret World. This situation ended due to the split of the secret trading association.

“The specific reasons for the split of the secret trading association are rarely clear to anyone. Many only know that it involved some secret related to Dark Gold. Anyway, on the day of the split, a tragic accident occurred among the upper echelons of the secret trading association. Two out of three Dark Gold nobles died, and the remaining Dark Coin noble claimed full control over the secret trading association under the guise of being the present manifestation of Dark Gold, issuing new regulations. Thus, the massive secret trading association began to split.

“Many members who did not comply with the Dark Coin noble left the secret trading association. The Dark Coin noble organized forces to retaliate, and just as he was executing many traitors, Rank Structure Core of the Craftsmen Guild issued a divine decree, requesting protection for all those who left the secret trading association. As a result, most of the members who left the secret trading association were absorbed by the Craftsmen Guild. While the Craftsmen Guild expanded, it also accumulated a lot of commercial talent.

“After the split, the secret trading association changed its name to the Dark Gold Society. Under the leadership of the Dark Coin noble, the Dark Gold Society abandoned almost all the rules set during the secret trading association era and engaged in all kinds of secret businesses by any means necessary, expanding markets never seen before and exploiting profits through every conceivable method.”

Neat letters appeared row by row on the blank page. Dorothy, with a serious expression, read Beverly’s reply. After finishing, she immediately picked up her pen and wrote:

“Abandoning rules? By any means necessary? What exactly does that mean?”

“In specific terms, it means they will stop at nothing for profit. The Dark Gold Society deals in areas that the Craftsmen Guild does not involve, the most notable example being human trafficking. You should know that many secret societies’ methods of accumulating spirituality require a large number of people as materials. Besides capturing and luring people themselves, these societies often directly purchase people from the Dark Gold Society.

“The Dark Gold Society operates extensively. They constantly capture ordinary people across the three continents and sell them to various secret societies, including extraordinary beings who fell into their hands for various reasons. These extraordinary beings are considered higher-grade materials.

“Besides human trafficking, the Dark Gold Society also acts as a trading platform for extraordinary beings like the Craftsmen Guild, providing services to other secret societies. However, their transactions are even more reckless compared to ours. Besides these transactions, they also offer usurious loans and hire assassins, among other services involving small-scale conspiracies and frauds. They represent one of the ugliest and cruelest layers in the Secret World.”

Beverly’s words continued to appear on the page. As Dorothy read her response and her description of the Dark Gold Society, her brows furrowed.

After long-term involvement in the Secret World, Dorothy was familiar with the spiritual accumulation methods of these cult societies. One common feature of their methods was directly exploiting humans to rapidly gain spirituality.

For example, the bl**d food method of the Amniotic Sac lineage requires human flesh and bl**d, the torture method of the Eight-pointed requires long-term torment, the Black Dream Hunter Group needs to consume dream cocoons, the Underworld Coffin Cult needs bones taken by bone craftsmen, and other ‘Silence’ extraordinary beings need human souls…

Looking at it all, there were surprisingly many societies that required human materials. With such a huge demand, the profit would naturally be enormous. Therefore, it was inevitable for organizations specializing in capturing human materials to sell to these societies to emerge, and the Dark Gold Society clearly took on this role.

‘I finally understand why those two wanted to take Brandon back. They probably wanted to sell him as a human material. According to Beverly, the value of an extraordinary being as a human material is much higher.

‘This looks like the Dark Gold Society is the black market of the Secret World.’

With this realization, Dorothy gained a general understanding of the Dark Gold Society. She then picked up her pen again and continued writing on the page.

“The Dark Gold Society is also a commercial society, which puts it in competition with your Craftsmen Guild. Is this why you two are enemies?”

“It could be said so. According to the divine decree of Rank Structure Core, after the White Stone Craftsmen Guild accepted a large number of members from the secret trading association, it began to vigorously develop and strengthen its commercial attributes, evolving from a pure craftsman association to what it is today. It replaced the secret trading association as the largest trading platform in the Secret World. Since the Craftsmen Guild chose to accept former members of the secret trading association, we have been in an adversarial relationship with the Dark Gold Society.”

Beverly’s response appeared again on the page. After reading it, Dorothy continued writing.

“At present, it seems that you are somewhat ahead of the Dark Gold Society. The Dark Gold Society, which worships the commercial deity Dark Gold, is actually weaker in the commercial field compared to your Craftsmen Guild. That’s quite interesting…”