Chapter 14
Procurement Disturbance (2)
Xiye and his group toured the market for an entire day. The dazzling line-up of merchandise even caused Xiye to feel like buying them. But every time he saw the price, he would feel a sense of pragmatism reminding him he couldn’t afford them, leading to the fact that he didn’t immerse himself into shopping completely.
With heavy reluctance, Xiye ultimately brought everyone ahead and headed toward the market for private overlords.
As one of the three great markets of the Federation, other than high-grade goods, there were naturally also some good yet cheap goods coming from overlords from a variety of places.
Although these goods hadn’t been approved by the Federation officials, if your judgment is good enough, you could get excellent stuff at a bargain.
It was extremely costly to obtain government approval for products. In addition, for technological products that wished to be available in the Cosmos Federation’s market, the requirements were very high. Only those grand overlords had the ability to do so. Compared to them, because the goods of those minor overlords didn’t have trademarks, other than selling in their own star region, they could only sell it in the free markets. This was why the price was much cheaper.
However, because Prosina Planet was a limited grand market, the price to set up a store here was very expensive. This was also one of the important income origins of the planet. Those who could set up stores here were usually overlords with above-average strength. Comparatively, the prices were still more expensive compared to some second or third-grade free markets. But the probability of the products being rubbish was also much lesser in comparison.
Under the panda guide’s lead, Xiye and the others quickly came to a simple and unadorned shop.
The simple design of this place was completely different from the dazzling sight of the mecha market. However, the appearance of the staff caused Xiye to be astonished…
“Why is it you again?”
The players were startled because the staff that came out to welcome them was none other than that panda from the mecha shop earlier.
When he thought of Old Master Lu’s corpse that had yet to be cold, which was now in his pocket, Xiye’s expression sank.
“Oh, respectable sir Overlord, please don’t misunderstand!” The panda guide hurriedly explained. “Earlier, that person was big fatty. This is second fatty, they are not the same person! Look, he is only 372 jin in weight, 40 jin lighter compared to his elder brother. Also, his fur is better maintained in comparison.”
Xiye observed the pandarian carefully. “Is…is that so? When you say that, I really feel he is somewhat different…”
“Esteemed customer, what do you wish to purchase?” Second fatty smiled simply while chewing on bamboo. “Wa, oh…I smell the scent of dried elf. Are you here to buy some condiments, sir? We have excellent marinating condiments here. Sir, do you like garlic or deep-fried elf? All our condiments are excellent-grade of higher elves. There are no genetic grafts at all…!”
“I came here to do big business!” Xiye glared at the shop keeper as he interjected.
“Oh, is that so…” The panda shop keeper narrowed his eyes as his smile became even more honest. “The moment you came, I could already tell that you are a heavenly deity overlord with status. Do you want to purchase a large-scale interstellar weapon or a chain of interstellar transmission stations? If you want terrifying biological weapons, we are able to provide them as well. Our most expensive beast is a sixteenth-tier dragon-grade astral beast with a pure bloodline and tyrannical battle prowess. There’s a detailed data model here. If you want to look at it in person, we can go right ahead too. We even provide free transportation services…”
“Eh…not really that big of a business…” Xiye’s aura instantly weakened by a large amount.
“Oh…in that case…” The panda was as passionate as before. “Esteemed customer, what do you wish to purchase, please rest at ease and tell me. The boss of the store is the Wine Immortal Overlord. He has opened over ten similar stores already. Our reputation is very good. As long as what you want to buy isn’t some extremely unique items, we would usually be able to provide them.
“The Wine Immortal Overlord?” Xiye was somewhat astonished. “Is it the Senior Wine Immortal, the only pandarian that became a heavenly deity overlord?”
“Seems like you have heard of the respectable senior!” The shopkeeper and guide revealed expressions of pride.
Let alone hearing his name before, Wine Immortal Overlord was simply a grand legend. In Deity University, the school would often advertise using his name. “Look, our exorbitant school fees are worth it! Even a lazy pandarian can be nurtured into an elite. Is there anything else we cannot accomplish?”
However, wasn’t the development of this senior a little too fast? Xiye remembered that this senior had only been an overlord for 90,000 years. However, he actually reached the level where he could have a store in a first-grade free market. What a fine example!
“Valuable customer, please take a look.” Second fatty waved his hands and smiled.
“Do you have a mold lathe here?” Xiye asked with anticipation.
“Lathe?” Second fatty was startled. After that, he revealed an awkward position. “Sir, you should know that for this thing…it’s very rare for people to sell it to outsiders…”
“I know, I know!” Xiye nodded. “But Senior Wine Immortal’s development speed is truly fast. There should be many lathes that were phased out, right? In any case, since you guys are not using them, why don’t you sell them to me? In return, I can provide a finished product, D-grade energy ores to Senior Wine Immortal.”
“Energy mine? Does your planet have an energy mine? What are the reserves like?” Second fatty asked with bright eyes.
“The reserves are more than sufficient, I anticipated that there should be no problems mining it for four hundred years. After the scale of the operation is established, there shouldn’t be any problems providing millions of tonnes of refined ores!”
“In that case…” Second fatty hesitated. After that, he inclined his head and smiled. “This matter is too major, I cannot make the decision and have to report to my boss. Please take a seat first…” After that, he turned to the guide. “Chenpi, can I trouble you to take care of the customers first? Please pour tea for them!” After speaking, he turned and rushed into the shop as his buttocks jolted.
Xiye’s father calmly found a place and sat down. The players and Nicole excitedly surveyed the displayed goods in the shop.
The guide hurriedly brewed cups of green tea for the people here. The tea leaves were top-grade snowypeak. Its quality was assured as it originated from snow elves. For 50 grams of tea leaves, the cost was over thousands of deity dollars. Even when Xiye’s father was the clan leader, he could only drink this rarely.
Xiye’s father slowly enjoyed the tea with satisfaction, but Xiye was somewhat distracted. He was worried whether this business proposition would succeed or not.
This procurement trip was mainly to settle the four pressing problems in his base. They were respectively power source, lodging, the expansion of their agriculture, and the base’s material exhaustion.
With the Fire Ant Mine, it could be said that Xiye needed not to worry too much about the problem regarding the power source. D-grade energy ores in addition to refinement techniques could generate large amounts of power. At the very least, it was more than sufficient for a newly-developing eighth-grade planet!
For this part, he only needed to buy sufficient refinement apparatuses and compression factories, and he would be able to swiftly gather a great amount of energy.
In truth, the problem with lodging wasn’t too great as well. D-Planet’s people had a good intrinsic quality of being able to bear with suffering. There was no need for him to purchase a high-end lodging, just compression condominiums made by blacksmith dwarves should be enough for them to get by.
It was the same for farming as well. Since the crops he planted were highly adaptable to the environments and could produce a great yield in addition to being cheap, he only needed to purchase the seeds in large quantities. He believed that not long later, he no longer needed to eat canned food and depend on liquid nutrients any longer.
Only the problem with basic supplies was relatively the most troublesome!
Right now, the development speed of the base was very quick. According to the A.I.’s estimates, the base would soon be expanded to a size of 100,000 feet. They had to use higher-grade picks for mining, while the mining cart and some basic tools would become extremely scarce.
If he purchased finished products, the expenditure would be too big, and if he chose to import them over the long-term, the position of his planet would be exposed. It was impossible for him to use the free teleportation provided by the school every time, right? He would surely lose all face like that.
Xiye’s best plan was to employ a few experienced blacksmiths and mechanics, and buy a batch of mold lathes back. The outstanding blacksmiths and mechanics weren’t tough to employ. On the contrary, it was much harder to procure something like the lathes. The majority of private overlords all loved to buy finished products, and it was very rare for them to buy lathes. Even if they bought them, they would buy some of the earlier phased-out ones. If the overlord wanted to purchase a lathe that was of not too bad quality, they had to expend some effort. Even if they managed to purchase it, the after-sale problems, in terms of the number of lathes needed in the future, would be very tough to solve as well!
The best solution was to cooperate with a high-grade overlord and obtain his phased-out technology. This could save costs and improve the efficiency of his base’s development, allowing them to take lesser detours.
Actually, this logic was understood by everyone, but it was very rare for new overlords to be able to obtain such conditions. As the saying goes, ‘those in the same line are foes, it is already considered giving face if they don’t intentionally beat you down.’ Everyone was a competitor. No matter how vast the Cosmos was, no one was willing to see their portion of food becoming lesser and lesser due to the increase in ‘food-snatchers’. Even the simple and honest pandarians would feel this way.
However, he still hoped that his D-grade energy mine could move the other party.
Xiye felt trepidation in his heart.
After a long time, the second fatty ran out with sweat dripping down his face. He panted, “Respectable customer, my overlord wishes to meet with you!”
Xiye’s eyes brightened after hearing that. It seemed like things were likely to turn out well!!