Putting the architectural comparisons aside, I kept walking straight and soon reached the Gringotts building.
It stood out drastically from the surrounding skyline, primarily because it looked exactly like the one in Diagon Alley.
There wasn't a single difference in the crooked, leaning architecture, which felt incredibly bizarre if you had actually been to both locations.
It was like they had just copy-pasted the building across the Atlantic.
I walked in like any regular customer. Although the physical flow of wizards in the lobby was quite low since the launch of Arcane Credit System, the goblins were still incredibly busy managing the digital banking framework.
"They really are hardworking," I mused, glancing around the massive marble hall. "That one over there looks like he's doing some serious administrative work on the forums."
While waiting for an available teller, I noticed one particular goblin staring intensely at the empty air in front of him.
His face was locked in an expression of absolute, solemn focus, and he looked like the busiest employee in the entire branch.
"Let's see what kind of high-level financial analysis he's working on."
Using my authority as creator, I temporarily bypassed the network's privacy wards and made all active Arcane Network interfaces visible to my eyes.
Instantly, dozens of holographic, custom-colored screens popped into my vision, floating softly in the air in front of the witches, wizards, and goblins using them.
I focused on the hyper-intense goblin's screen.
'Hmm, so he's reading a premium, paid article. Let's see... what does it say? How to Tame... a... Female... Goblin?'
I stared at the holographic text, completely deadpan.
'Hey, System,' I mentally sighed. 'Why is there absolute crap like this on the network? Is this really what you are spending your massive processing power to host?'
[I do not a dictator, Host. They have the right to use and share their knowledge.]
'Are you actually filtering the content at all? What's next? Am I going to log onto the forum and find a definitive guide on how to seduce Dumbledore?'
[Actually, Host... that specific guide already exists.]
[Furthermore, it is currently ranking among the top ten best-selling premium articles in the European sector.]
"What the FUCK!"
The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them, echoing like a gunshot across the suddenly dead-silent marble hall.
Every single goblin behind the massive, sprawling counter stopped exactly what they were doing and glared down at me.
"Right. Sorry," I muttered, raising a hand defensively. "My mistake. No swearing in the bank."
'System. I do not care what kind of free-speech rights you have to violate. I am ordering you to aggressively update your filtering algorithm immediately.'
[Host...]
I forcefully muted the overly righteous System before it could start lecturing me, and walked straight over to the 'busiest' goblin in the branch.
I tapped my knuckles on the tall mahogany counter. "Hey. I need to make an exchange."
The goblin didn't even blink. He remained entirely captivated by the read.
"I'm talking to you."
Slowly, the goblin blinked, dragging himself back to reality from the profound, life-altering truths of his premium article.
He looked down his long, hooked nose at me, his expression so violently annoyed, one might think I had just slaughtered his firstborn child.
Or maybe I did do it, considering the guide he had just been reading.
"What do you want, wizard?" he snarled, his voice a gravelly rasp. "This had better be worth my time."
"I want US dollars in exchange for Arcane Credits," I stated plainly.
The goblin froze and his beady eyes narrowed.
"What? Do not joke with me. I am incredibly busy."
"Right, you're really busy." I agreed dryly, glancing at the article that's been hovering in air. "And I'm not joking."
The goblin sneered, leaning forward over the high desk like I had just insulted his eighteen generations.
"Are you honestly telling me that you want to exchange precious, magically-backed Arcane Credits... for useless Muggle paper?"
"Are you really a goblin?" I challenged, leaning comfortably against the counter. "You are seriously hesitating to take such a highly profitable exchange rate? I thought your kind liked money."
The goblin's eye twitched. "Whatever. Just tell me how much you want to exchange."
I simply raised a single finger.
The goblin sneered. "...One hundred? Fuck off and stop wasting my time."
"Not one hundred," I corrected smoothly. "One hundred million."
"WHAT?!"
This time, it was the goblin's high-pitched scream that echoed through the silent bank, instantly attracting the stares of every other teller and customer in the lobby.
Feeling the intense weight of everyone's gaze, the goblin in front of me quickly looked around.
He stared intently at me for a long moment before abruptly stepping out from behind his tall desk and gesturing toward the back corridors.
"Follow me."
I followed him without a word, already knowing that an exchange of this magnitude required a manager with much higher clearance.
He led me to a heavily warded, secluded office. After a sharp knock, we stepped inside to find an older, heavily scarred goblin sitting behind a massive desk, carefully reviewing a stack of enchanted parchment.
The teller quickly hurried over, whispered urgently into the older goblin's ear, and then practically sprinted out of the room, closing the door behind him.
The older goblin steepled his long fingers.
"I am Rook Barrow. You may call me Barrow. I hear you wish to make an extraordinarily large currency exchange."
"That's right."
"Very well. Since you are requesting one hundred million US dollars, banking regulations dictate that you need to..."
"Wait," I interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. "I don't have time for bureaucratic red tape. Just process the transaction."
With a thought, I opened the transaction interface. A glowing blue holographic screen materialized in the air, clearly visible to both of us.
Barrow stayed silent for a moment, his dark eyes studying me before he snapped his fingers, opening a banking interface of his own.
"Okay. Before I authorize this, I need you to drop your Network camouflage and stop hiding your identity credentials on the transaction ledger. Standard protocol for sums this large."
Although all data on the network is inherently visible to me as its Creator, standard users are allowed to hide their personal information during transactions if they choose.
"No, you really don't need that," I replied calmly.
Before Barrow could open his mouth to aggressively retort, I simply reached out to the holographic screen and tapped the interface, casually adding another zero to my transfer amount.
Barrow's jaw snapped shut with an audible click. His eyes bulged as he stared at the updated digit on his screen.
Without another word, he violently yanked open his desk drawer and pulled out a sleek, matte-black card.
"Here. It is a premium Muggle black card. The PIN is ******," Barrow said, his voice actually trembling slightly as he handed it over. "One billion dollars will be wired into it through our offshore shell accounts within the next five minutes."
"Thank you. Pleasure doing business," I said smoothly.
I snatched the card from his hand and strode right out of the bank. With the capital now secured, real work could finally begin.
As I stepped back out into the bustling magical street, the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly prickled. I didn't need to look over my shoulder to know I was being shadowed.
'Are they finally here?'
...
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Special thanks to Coven Elite: Joshua rooney