“Three thousand!”
Li Daqian’s eyes lit up as he extended three fingers.
“In that case, the gene lifeforms will be limited to a maximum of level five.”
Ye Zhongming shook his head. Three thousand was an unrealistic number. If Li Daqian wanted all level-six gene lifeforms, it would take Cloud Peak forever to fulfill the order.
The master of Thousand Beast Villa paced in place, clearly unable to remain calm in the face of what might be the largest battle beast trade in the villa’s history.
“Five hundred. I need at least five hundred level-six gene lifeforms. The rest can be lower-level.”
Ye Zhongming pondered for a moment. Although the production cycle for gene lifeforms at this level was long, the speed could be increased once sufficient experimental materials were available, and the technology matured.
However, five hundred was still too many.
“Three hundred. That’s the absolute limit we can supply, Master Li. The creation of gene lifeforms isn’t like an assembly line. Each one has to be cultivated individually. Even though we’ve mastered the technology, we can’t produce an unlimited supply.”
Li Daqian looked at Ye Zhongming seriously, sensing that Cloud Peak’s King wasn’t lying. After some thought, he agreed.
In truth, this was already beyond his expectations.
This meant he could exchange 2,700 level-four battle beasts for an equal number of level-five gene lifeforms and 300 level-five battle beasts for 300 level-six gene lifeforms. Within a year, the Beast Manor would gain 3,000 high-level combatants. This was a deal worth making!
As a result, Li Daqian was filled with anticipation for the remaining two-thirds of Ye Zhongming’s offer.
Ye Zhongming knew he had made a good start with the gene lifeforms and felt more confident.
“Five hundred. Five hundred rare and exotic battle beast cubs, eggs, or similar items, plus 500 green-grade equipment.”
Li Daqian frowned slightly, not understanding what Ye Zhongming meant.
What did he mean by “rare and exotic war beasts”?
Ye Zhongming thought for a moment and decided to be honest.
“Battle beasts that are different from Earth’s life forms, mostly of the physically robust type.”
Li Daqian was momentarily stunned, then immediately recalled the rumors about Cloud Peak’s connection to a secret realm.
“One thousand.”
Ye Zhongming rolled his eyes. It seemed that haggling was an instinct for everyone, no matter who they were.
“The equipment is non-negotiable. The failure rate for crafting green-grade equipment is extremely high for me. Five hundred pieces is already a huge investment.”
Currently, Cloudtop was amidst a large-scale development of the Blue Secret Realm. Although they were engaged in guerrilla warfare with the Nine-Winged Crow, which somewhat limited their gains, with the help of Saint Light Hall and the Posthumous People, they were still plundering the realm at an astonishing rate.
One of the most important harvests was the various demon cubs, demon eggs, and similar items.
Cloud Peak didn’t have large-scale Beast Pool equipment or an abundance of master-servant contract scrolls. Relying solely on warriors to gain the trust of demon monsters through emotional bonding had a low success rate. Many warriors were unwilling or unable to invest the time and effort into raising these young demon monsters, which had extremely long growth cycles.
This led to Cloudtop Manor “stockpiling” many demon monster cubs, eggs, and similar items. The Gene Laboratory had absorbed some, but a significant portion remained in storage, often used to feed the Iron Chain Prisoner bloodline that produced Ghost Metal, the Meditation Bone Demon Platform, or even Cannibal Flowers and other war beasts.
In other words, Ye Zhongming’s proposal, while framed as mutually beneficial, was essentially a clearance sale at a steep discount.
However, the offer of 500 green-grade equipment still demonstrated Ye Zhongming’s sincerity. Aside from the female guards, no other main combat team in Cloud Peak was fully equipped with green-grade gear.
Even with Ye Zhongming’s high success rate and the fact that these were non-recipe green grade equipment, producing 500 pieces would still require significant time and materials.
Li Daqian was already quite satisfied. With a single sentence, he secured an additional 500 cubs from a Secret Realm. This was an irresistible temptation for someone like him, who had made cultivating battle beasts his life’s work.
“Brother Ye, to be honest, I’m very satisfied with the first two offers. But if you want to take these six eggs, I’ll need to see the third offer.”
Ye Zhongming smiled but didn’t reveal his trump card immediately. Instead, he asked a question in return. “Can I ask a question about your two battle beasts first? It’s not about prying into secrets, but the final part of my offer is related to this question.”
“This…”
Even though Li Daqian had gained some understanding of Ye Zhongming’s character and integrity today, this question touched on core secrets, making him hesitate.
Seeing Ye Zhongming waiting patiently, Li Daqian realized that the previously agreed-upon deals might fall through if he didn’t answer.
After some internal struggle, he decided to answer.
“Just so you know, it’s best to tell the truth. Otherwise, I won’t be responsible for any consequences.”
This time, it was Li Daqian’s turn to roll his eyes. He had planned to lie.
“Go ahead and ask.”
With a somewhat annoyed tone, Li Daqian gestured for Ye Zhongming to proceed.
“How many innate abilities do Chisel Tooth and the Spotted Giant Bear have?”
Li Daqian suppressed the urge to curse.
This was as direct as it got. This was the core question.
“Tell the truth.”
“You!”
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Li Daqian thought momentarily and said, “I can tell you the number, but I won’t say what they are.”
“I didn’t plan to ask what they are.”
After another deep breath, Li Daqian said, “Chisel Tooth has seven, and the Spotted Giant Bear has six.”
“Only that many? Doesn’t seem very impressive.”
Li Daqian stared at Ye Zhongming, feeling indignant. Not impressive? What did he mean by not impressive? This was already quite impressive!
He couldn’t help but retort, “At their level, one is just one short of having full skills, and the other is two short. This is already extremely rare and exceptional! For ordinary mutated lifeforms, having half their level in talent abilities is considered excellent!”
“So Chisel Tooth is still level eight, huh?”
“You!”
Li Daqian had let slip Chisel Tooth’s level due to his deep affection for his two battle beasts, allowing Ye Zhongming to confirm it.
After the incident of killing the level-nine creature, there had been widespread speculation about whether Chisel Tooth had evolved to level-nine. No one was certain, and Thousand Beast Villa had been content to let everyone guess. Ye Zhongming was the first to confirm it.
“Don’t mind it. What I’m about to say is related to the number of skills.” Ye Zhongming smiled and extended a finger. “I can give one of these two war beasts an additional offensive talent ability!”