A few minutes ago, the giant Dark Lord was worried about food.
He resided on a mountain, with no farmland for growing crops.
Moreover, forests were scarce around him, though there was plenty of iron and gold ore.
Due to his race’s characteristics, his demand for food was enormous.
The mined gold was sold off as raw ore at low prices to barely meet the camp’s needs.
But now, things were looking up.
With the mysterious Dark Lord selling food, he could finally continue to grow his population!
In this world, while the strength of a Dark Lord was undoubtedly important, the number of subjects under their rule was crucial too!
Be it against Heroes or fellow Dark Lords, a large population could tip the scales in any battle!
Because of the importance of food, not many Dark Lords would sell it.
Those who did were often strapped for cash and would sell only a small amount, which was quickly bought up by others.
The giant Dark Lord’s food reserves were already meager, and the giant soldiers he produced had an extremely high demand for food.
This had prevented him from increasing his population, and he didn’t dare expand too much either.
His entire camp’s development had come to a standstill.
In this dog-eat-dog world, stagnant development was tantamount to death!
Now, the giant Dark Lord finally saw a glimmer of hope.
A mysterious Dark Lord who was not only abundant in food but also willing to sell had appeared.
He couldn’t believe his luck!
This was why he was willing to exchange his resources for food at such a high ratio.
On the other side, Ethan didn’t waste time with idle talk, immediately listing the food for sale.
The exchange rate was adjusted to 1:3.
With such a ratio, aside from Dark Lords who desperately needed food, hardly anyone would buy it. 𝑜𝗏𝓛xt.𝗰𝒐𝑚
The giant Dark Lord happily purchased the food he desired.
He hastily sent a message to Ethan.
[Giant Dark Lord: I’ve bought it. If you want to sell food in the future, let me know in advance. By the way, do you need any gold or iron ore? I have a lot.]
Ethan, hearing this, checked his iron storage.
He had a little over 500 units left and didn’t really need more at the moment.
Moreover, he had already sent a team to explore unknown areas, so discovering iron ore was just a matter of time.
As for gold ore, he was quite interested.
With his golden dragon treasure talent, it was only natural to make good use of it.
He had previously checked the price of gold ore.
It cost 0.75 gold coins per unit, and the price was very stable.
He didn’t see the need to exchange all his gold coins for gold ore.
If he needed some, he could buy it directly from the trading market using gold coins.
Selling gold ore, on the other hand, was a different story.
He would first have to list it on the trading market and wait for buyers.
By the time someone decided to buy, he could well be a day late and a dollar short.
Ethan continued messaging.
[Mysterious Dark Lord: I need a large amount of gold. At what ratio can you sell?]
The giant Dark Lord gritted his teeth before replying.
[Giant Dark Lord: Let’s consider ourselves friends. I’ll charge you 0.5 gold coins per unit of gold. What do you think?]
Ethan raised an eyebrow. A ratio of 0.5 gold coins was a pretty good deal.
[Mysterious Dark Lord: Fine, I need 3000 units of gold ore right now. Do you have that much?]
The giant Dark Lord was taken aback.
3000 units of gold?
How desperate could one be?
But recalling Ethan selling a whopping 1,700 units of food, he understood.
Ethan indeed had enough gold coins to make the purchase.
[Giant Dark Lord: Right now, I only have 2,130 units. Let’s make it 2100 units. Is that okay, or should we wait until tomorrow?]
Ethan pondered for a moment, then sent a message.
[Mysterious Dark Lord: No need to wait till tomorrow. 2,100 units of gold ore will suffice. Please list it at a 0.5:1 ratio.]
[Giant Dark Lord: Alright.]
The giant Dark Lord wasn’t worried about other buyers.
Not everyone could handle such a hefty amount of gold ore.
Ethan kept refreshing the merchant’s gold ore page and bought it the moment the giant Dark Lord listed it.
[Giant Dark Lord: I’ve listed it. You must’ve bought it by now, right?]
[Mysterious Dark Lord: Yes, I have. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you. I’ll take all your future gold ore. And I’ll give you a discount of 0.5 gold coins on the food exchange rate, making it 1:2.5.]
The giant Dark Lord’s face lit up with joy.
A discount of 0.5 gold coins was substantial!
For every 100 units of food, he would save 50 gold coins.
This was a significant gain for him.
He felt relieved that his previous overtures were paying off.
[Giant Dark Lord: Thank you very much.]
[Mysterious Dark Lord: No problem.]
Ethan, looking at the gold ore in his inventory, felt a rush of power, like he had ascended to a whole new level.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for reaching the B-rank strength! Personal panel unlocked. Advanced upgrade system unlocked. Skill panel unlocked. Magic academy unlocked. Training pool unlocked.]
[Ding! The system detects that the host is the first Dark Lord to reach B-rank strength. Reward: Silver treasure chest X1, various resources X100, new resources unlocked: Crystal (can be used as an energy source), Energy powder (obtained through mining Crystals).]
The system’s voice echoed in Ethan’s mind.
He immediately brought up his personal panel.
[Name: Ethan]
[Strength: B-Rank (Can evolve)]
[Bloodline: Golden Divine Dragon]
[Skills: Golden Divine Scale (Beginner), Magic Immunity (Beginner), Lightning Magic (Yet to learn), Fire Magic (Yet to learn), Light Magic (Yet to learn)]
[Attributes: HP 2100, Mental Strength 200, Power 32, Constitution 50, Agility 21]
Ethan examined his panel and nodded approvingly.
With this, he could gauge his capabilities more accurately.
Being a Golden Divine Dragon, his stats were quite balanced, and he was quite satisfied with the figures.
Upon opening the skill panel, an array of elemental abilities appeared, leaving him slightly dazzled.
They were divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.
Beginner skills were generally straightforward, such as Fireball, Waterball, Illumination.
These were skills you could perform with a mere wave of your hand, and unlocking them was relatively cheap, costing only 50 gold coins.
Intermediate level offered more diversity, for instance, fire skills like Wildfire Inferno that caused continuous damage, explosive Fireball, and Flaming Body Wrap that amplified one’s attributes.
The cost to unlock these intermediate skills jumped tenfold to 500 gold coins.
As for the advanced skills, Ethan didn’t even bother looking at them.
If intermediate skills demanded a whole 500 gold coins, the advanced ones would cost at least 1000 gold coins.
This price was still too steep for Ethan.
Moreover, spending gold coins would affect his Golden Dragon Treasure, making it more of a loss than a gain.
After unlocking the Fireball skill, Ethan casually picked up a few initial skills, then started exploring other newly unlocked features.
He opened the upgrade panel, and several new advanced upgrades popped up at the top.
[Advanced Divine Dragon Warrior], a D+ rank monster. Compared to the average Divine Dragon Warrior, they were larger in size, stronger, and had significantly improved defense and recovery capabilities.
[Advanced Earth Dragon Laborer], a D rank monster. Compared to the average Earth Dragon Laborer, they were sturdier and capable of performing dangerous tasks and carrying more items.
[Advanced Divine Dragon Craftsman], a D rank monster. Compared to the average Divine Dragon Craftsman, their work efficiency was greatly improved.
Ethan’s eyes lit up, but upon learning the cost of these upgrades, he felt as if he’d been doused with a bucket of cold water.
Even the cheapest upgrade, the Advanced Divine Dragon Warrior, required a hefty 1000 units of food, 500 units of wood, 1500 units of iron, 200 units of crystals, and 500 units of energy powder.
Even for Ethan, who had ransacked two entire Dark Lord camps, these requirements were a bit of a stretch.
He thus shelved the idea of upgrading for the moment.
He opened the construction menu and looked at the descriptions of the Magic Academy and the Training Pool.
As the name suggests, the Magic Academy is a building for studying magic.
In the game, magic acts as various buffs, both positive and negative.
The Minotaur Dark Lord’s priest was a shining example in the field of magic, as was the Orc Dark Lord’s high priest, who unfortunately died before he could make an impact.
The existence of the Magic Academy is to supplement the Divine Dragon clan’s need for magic.
With the academy, Ethan could send warriors to study, enabling them to transform into mages without expending extra resources, making it especially suitable for Divine Dragon Warriors.
The Training Pool was even more interesting, as it came with its own breeding shop. Ethan checked the shop, where various types of eggs could be purchased directly for hatching and cultivation in the training pool.
During cultivation, Ethan could add supplements like Ancient Dragon Blood or his own essence.
Different supplements had different effects, both good and bad, and it was up to Ethan to explore.
Among the eggs in the shop, he found the egg of the Divine Wing Dragon, which he had been desperately searching for.
The price was a real tearjerker – only 200 gold coins for one.
Ethan gave a wry smile.
The training pool charged extra gold coins for cleaning and replacing the fluid each time an egg was hatched, not to mention the cost of buying the egg itself.
It felt like a bit of a rip-off!
But Ethan had to accept the conditions.
For the sake of his Divine Dragon Knights, he’d go for it!
He bit the bullet and bought a Divine Wing Dragon egg, then instructed his Earth Dragon Laborers to start construction.