Quadruple split.

Chapter 2929 Dominic
Dominic Potts was a man of relatively limited talent and mediocre ability.

The reason it is described as 'relative' is mainly because his 'colleagues', who held equal authority, were all exceptionally talented and gifted individuals.

This is an objective fact known to everyone, whether it is Dominic himself or his colleagues.

However, he was ranked fourth among the twenty 'special specialists' in the core business department of the [Steam Consortium].

Others were equally convinced of this ranking. In fact, if Dominic hadn't spent most of those years slacking off and hardly starting any new businesses, he would have been ranked at least two places higher.

So the question is, given that his talent and aptitude are quite limited, why was he able to achieve such a high position in the Steam Consortium?

It's important to understand that although Dominic and the other twenty people are called 'Special Commissioners,' this seemingly ordinary title actually means that they have the terrifying authority to bypass the application, approval, and implementation processes, to conduct business without limits, and not to be accountable to the council members. It's no exaggeration to say that any 'Special Commissioner' in the consortium, as long as they don't go beyond a certain extremely broad and vague evaluation system, can basically represent the will of the consortium on their own.

Of course, these people will also be subject to checks and balances in the 'year-end settlement' process, but the benchmark of 'the annual net loss must not be less than 3000% of the total profit of the past three years' is practically no benchmark at all.

Dominic was born into a wealthy family, a typical rich kid born with a silver spoon in his mouth. It's worth mentioning that the wealth of his family was exceptionally high. In short, the Potts Merchant Guild, whose chairman was his father, successfully entered the top 20 in the annual financial assessment of the Jacob Financial Academy in Academy City twenty years ago. At first glance, it seemed that they were at the level to be able to dine at the same table as behemoths like the Gold Coin Merchant Guild and the Steam Consortium.

In fact, Old Potts himself thought so too. As a super-large merchant guild that originated in the Principality of Skalan and naturally had the advantage of waterways, the Potts Merchant Guild's tentacles had already spread throughout the entire continent. In addition to normal business, it had also dabbled in many gray areas. For a time, it was unparalleled in its prominence and was even regarded as the third continent-wide super-giant merchant guild after Gold Coin and Steam.

Therefore, during his childhood, infancy, and adolescence, Dominic Potts almost never had a concept of money. After all, gold coins were just a numb number to him. Even if he wanted to have afternoon tea with a famous legendary figure or have a famous singer from the continent dance for him, it was just a matter of saying a word.

Admittedly, legendary strongmen naturally have their own pride and dignity, but if one could obtain a huge fortune simply by having a cup of tea and chatting with a young man, very few people would actually be able to refuse. As for those famous singers or artists, as long as their principle of selling their art but not their bodies is respected, who wouldn't want to be friends with the Potts Chamber of Commerce?

In short, like countless children born with a silver spoon in their mouths, Dominic's talent is almost entirely tied to his birth. From a young age, he has everything that others can only dream of. If he weren't a freak like Jadeka Diesel, he should be incredibly content with his life, even if that contentment comes at the cost of a tiny, insignificant emptiness.

As the saying goes, freaks are rare, and Jadeka Diesel is even rarer. Dominic, being a completely normal person, naturally has no dissatisfaction with the status quo. In fact, when he realized the gap between himself and his peers, the teenage Dominic felt more awe and gratitude for fate than just a sense of entitlement.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. Perhaps it was a necessary trial, perhaps it was a deliberate conspiracy, or perhaps it was a cruel joke of fate. When Dominic was twelve years old, the Potts Chamber of Commerce had some conflicts with a peer who had never been on the comprehensive financial assessment list of the Jacobs Financial Institute, which was regarded as a religion by the old Potts, but who possessed a kind of terrifying influence.

The competitor is a group called the "Viper Merchant Guild".

The contradiction was one that old Potts considered insignificant.

What followed was a nightmare for Dominic.

Old Potts died in a bizarre accident, and his two heirs, Dominic's uncle and second uncle, disappeared and committed suicide respectively within six months. Meanwhile, the Potts Company's business was hit by a variety of inexplicable, bizarre, and unpredictable challenges, plunging it into unprecedented chaos.

The once loyal old captain suddenly publicly accused the Potts Chamber of Commerce of exploiting its lower-level members, and angrily demanded that the Chamber of Commerce give him the justice he had never lost; all the strategic partners except for Emperor William of the Chauvin Empire urgently terminated their cooperation with the Potts Chamber of Commerce and demanded huge sums of compensation that appeared out of nowhere; the diligent directors suddenly found themselves in trouble and overnight became dirty businessmen that everyone hated; the partners in the gray area all disappeared within a few months, taking a large amount of the Chamber of Commerce's assets with them and vanishing without a trace.

Countless storms that could normally be easily dealt with or suppressed crashed down on the leaderless Potts Chamber of Commerce, causing its total assets to shrink by nearly 80% within a year. At the same time, the Chamber of Commerce's cash flow was cut off, causing its debts to pile up like a snowball.

It was at this point in time that the 'hand' that was carefully manipulating everything in the dark suddenly disappeared. The reason was simple: with the trend already established, even if the entity that initially instigated everything did nothing, the Potts Chamber of Commerce would be crushed by this 'trend' and eventually decline.

However, it was at this very moment that the person Dominic had once regarded as his savior appeared. It was his uncle, who had disappeared half a year earlier. He also had the surname Potts and was far superior to Dominic in terms of ability, experience, connections, and social skills. He was the stabilizing force capable of steering the ship through this huge storm.

And the uncle did not disappoint Dominic. He took over as president in a time of crisis, activated an emergency fund of unknown origin, saved the chamber of commerce's cash flow, and began to lobby frequently around the continent to get those still wavering partners to restart cooperation. He continuously patched up this giant ship, which was slowly sinking but had a solid foundation and a large scale, and finally successfully pulled the chamber of commerce back from the brink of death.

As the saying goes, even a starved dragon is bigger than a Mudkip. Although the Potts Chamber of Commerce suffered a huge blow and lost a lot of assets in this turmoil, thanks to its past foundation, it may not be unable to return to its peak in time.

With this mindset, Dominic reluctantly accepted his uncle's proposal and, after everything settled down, took over the position of president of the Potts Chamber of Commerce as the direct heir.

In the first month, the Chamber of Commerce developed normally under Dominica's governance.

In the second month, the Chamber of Commerce suffered losses due to Dominica's negligence.

In the third month, the Chamber of Commerce saw its profits increase thanks to Dominica's efforts.

In the fourth month, a man claiming to be a creditor came to the door. Dominic realized through the contract in the man's possession that the Potts Chamber of Commerce seemed to have accumulated an astronomical debt from the very first day his uncle took over, and the number of its creditors was as high as five figures.

Upon realizing that the debt was real and almost due, Dominic, though young, had experienced many ups and downs and immediately understood that his uncle, who had suddenly disappeared and then reappeared, was probably not a savior.

So that very night, he went to his uncle's mansion alone, without any guards or attendants, simply wanting to get to the bottom of things and find an answer that was no longer important.

After that, he saw his uncle's body and the gifts he had left for him.

The gift is easy to describe; simply put, it's the body of someone lying quietly next to my uncle, who, no matter how you look at it, looks like Dominic Potts's body after he's been poisoned to death.

Dominic didn't know who the "self" who had died was, but he knew very well that from today onward, if he wanted to live, he had to "die".

And so, Dominic left that very night, taking with him his remaining three million gold coins.

Okay... in most contexts, "only" and "three million gold coins" might seem slightly contradictory, but for Dominic, having only three million gold coin merchant certificates left that he couldn't deposit in his account was practically the same as being so poor he was about to starve. After that, Dominic went into hiding and worked as a traveling merchant for about two years, losing some money and making some, eventually managing to turn his fortune from three million gold coins to three hundred thousand gold coins by the time he turned eighteen.

To be fair, it's not really his fault. Although Dominic wasn't a monster businessman like Fialy Graham, he didn't actually lose much money; in fact, he even made a small profit. However, the problem was that Dominic was used to a very high quality of life.

In this situation, while some people with great perseverance and enlightenment can indeed transform their roles in a short period of time, turning from a life of luxury to simple meals and exchanging their penthouse suite in the Liuli Garden for a hotel that may only meet basic requirements such as not letting in drafts or leaks, Dominic, a teenager who simultaneously meets the three conditions of never being poor, not being an adult, and having savings, obviously does not have such great enlightenment.

So when he realized that if he continued his previous lifestyle, he would probably be homeless in two months at most... he only had 300,000 gold coins left.

Dominic simply didn't have the ability to do business with such a small amount of capital, after all, he was completely uncompetitive in the low-end market compared to his colleagues who had been poor all along.

Left with no other choice, Dominic had to find a job, and the first place he applied to was the Steam Corporation.

Because of his limited perspective and understanding, he managed to secure a job despite the fierce competition.

A monthly salary of 3,000 gold coins plus performance bonuses and project dividends—a good job that others would consider a lifetime's work—is, for Dominic, no different from begging.

Fortunately, he did not reject begging.

Unfortunately, he was not very experienced in begging.

However, thanks to his decent comprehension and the team leader's serious and responsible attitude, Dominic's growth rate was not slow, and he soon realized the problem that he could hardly produce any results.

In short, he was too sincere.

This wasn't his fault. After all, from childhood, Old Potts had always taught Dominic that "doing business requires sincerity, and sincerity is the capital that makes the Potts Chamber of Commerce so successful."

Of course, old Potts originally planned to share some extra 'business acumen' with Dominic after he came of age, but unfortunately he died a little too young.

In short, after nearly a year of struggling, Dominic finally succeeded in letting go of the burden called 'sincerity' and became a theoretically competent businessman.

His performance wasn't high, but it certainly wasn't bad either.

He doesn't have a huge network of connections, but it's definitely not small either.

His reputation isn't great, but it's definitely not bad either.

In short, he became a good businessman, and eventually even took over the position of team leader at the age of twenty-two, with a monthly salary of five thousand gold coins.

By then, Dominic had already accepted reality and even felt that it wasn't so bad to just drift through life like this.

Until he was rejected for a big order.

He was a somewhat naive client, whom Dominic considered a high-quality customer. However, after their initial contact, the client unexpectedly rejected Dominic outright.

Completely bewildered, after a week of sleepless nights, he decided to go to the other party's house to get to the bottom of things.

The young man who had treated Dominic with great respect gave him a somewhat amusing answer—

"You said your bottom line is 300,000 gold coins, but I can only offer a maximum of 250,000, so... I'm sorry to trouble you and take up your time."

That's what the young man said.

Dominic, who had originally set his bottom line at 200,000 and was prepared to try to negotiate down to 300,000, suddenly found himself speechless after completely analyzing the young man's psychological bottom line.

The reason for the failure was that the other party was worried that it would be difficult for them and that they would cause them trouble.

Having long been accustomed to the cutthroat competition in the business world, Dominic never dreamed that he would lose a deal because of something like this, and he burst out laughing on the spot.

He didn't manage to win back the order, but he became more sincere in his work afterward.

Thus, the 'sincerity' that nearly starved Dominic when he first entered the industry was reinterpreted by the now more mature Dominic—

This is how he was gradually pushed to the fourth position in the core business department of the [Steam Consortium] as a 'Special Specialist'.

Nick is known as "Nick who can't be refused".

Chapter 2920: The End