Lilith smiled to herself while reading the message from Serena. That woman had a talent for the dramatic, but her goods were always of the highest quality.
Lilith: "Selling blueprints again? The drop rate where you are seems absurdly high. Do you have a scroll factory over there?"
Succubus Queen Serena: "Ech, don't remind me... The place where I'm stuck is a complete wasteland. Bare rock and dust. There isn't even a patch of land suitable for cultivation. It's hard to get enough food to keep my subordinates from looking at each other with hungry eyes. The only thing I can do is trade blueprints to maintain any kind of living standards."
Succubus Queen Serena: "But you're right, the gods of fate must like me in one regard - I find rare treasure chests very often. Every now and then, some truly interesting trinkets drop from them."
Lilith: "So show me what you've pulled from a chest this time."
After a moment, a thumbnail of the blueprint appeared in the message panel. Lilith clicked on it, and her eyes immediately flashed with violet light.
[Blueprint: Laboratory of Clay Guardians]
Type: Production Building (Units)
Description: Allows for the construction of Earth Golems.
Unit Limit: 100
Characteristics: Units with gargantuan durability and strength, but very low mobility.
Construction Cost: Earth Gem x1, Wood x100, Stone x150, Gold x1000.
Lilith felt a shiver of excitement. Another hundred units, and once again ones that needed neither sleep nor food! It was the perfect addition to her skeleton army. These golems could even help the werewolves in the mines.
Lilith: "They aren't bad. Name your price!"
Succubus Queen Serena: "200,000 kilograms of potatoes. Not a gram less, Sweetie."
Lilith felt her eye twitch violently. 200 tons?! Converting that to gold at current market prices, that was a solid 20,000 coins. The price was prohibitive. She was already composing a sharp retort in her head to drive the amount down, but Serena seemed to read her mind.
Succubus Queen Serena: "And I'll clarify right now: I have a stock of rations for now, so I'm not starving. Don't try to bargain with me, Potato!"
Lilith, however, was not someone who gave up easily. In trade, she had a skin thicker than her future golems.
Lilith: "Don't say such things, Serena. You're a regular client, we're building a relationship based on trust, aren't we? Let's be honest. 160,000 kilograms is a fair amount for these slow piles of mud."
Succubus Queen Serena: "Hmph! We're 'colleagues' after all, why must you be so stingy toward a poor, beautiful girl in need? Your heart is made of stone!"
Lilith: "How can you even use the word 'stingy' in this kind of business? We're trading in tons, Serena! This is pure mathematics and profit optimization."
A moment of silence followed. Lilith saw the "typing..." status, which disappeared every few seconds. Finally, the reply came:
Succubus Queen Serena: "Fine, you heartless merchant! 180,000. That is my final offer, Sweetie. You won't buy my blueprints anywhere else, and if I wait a week, the market price will probably rise even more!"
Lilith: "Deal. 180,000. Sending the goods now. And remember - if you find something again that doesn't suit your desert, show it to me first!"
For Lilith, this exchange was still incredibly profitable. Potatoes, though valuable, grew on her fields almost by themselves, fueled by the spirit fields and the work of fanatical goblins. The chance to exchange vegetables for unique military technology was an opportunity she couldn't pass up.
***
Lilith stood in the field, watching with fascination as the system processed her transaction. A gigantic golden pipe materialized over the mountain of potatoes, and with powerful suction, it began to pull in the crop. Shortly after, a second and then a third pipe appeared beside it, working at staggering speed to handle Serena's massive order as well as the smaller batches listed on the market.
In just ten minutes, a notification flashed before Lilith's eyes:
[ALL YOUR ITEMS HAVE BEEN SOLD!]
"Wooo, so fast?" Lilith raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Last time, the fifteen-minute limit on the offer meant I had to list the goods a second time. It seems the market demand is even greater than I assumed. Hunger is indeed the best motivator for shopping."
She looked at her account balance. The gold coin counter ticked up quickly, stopping at a value of just over 26,000.
It was a sight that instantly improved her mood after the expenses of rebuilding the army. Not wasting any time, Lilith made a few quick moves in the trade panel, listing another massive batch of potatoes.
The trade chat, which had barely had time to cool down from the previous wave, flared up again with comments, and Lilith only smiled predatorily.
"Once I finish selling this installment, my balance will be back above fifty thousand," she muttered with satisfaction. "Money is power, but it's time to turn it into hard defense."
With that thought, she spread her powerful, demonic wings. She pushed off the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and leaves, and set a course for the Canyon. In her inventory lay the precious scroll of the [Obelisk of Hidden Mist], and she couldn't wait to see her valley drown in impenetrable vapors that would be a death sentence for enemies.
Flying over her domains, she felt every cell of her body vibrate with newly acquired strength and financial stability.
Despite her growing account, Lilith winced as the wind whipped her hair during the flight. In her head, instead of pure euphoria, a cold business analysis appeared.
"Financial stability?" she muttered to herself doubtfully. "My profits aren't diversified at all. My entire empire stands on one big tuber. If the market suddenly becomes saturated, a powerful competitor appears, or worse, some plague hits my fields, I'll end up on the street as the most beautiful beggar in the entire Forest of Chaos."
She plotted intensely, trying to come up with another way to generate income, but after a moment, she sighed heavily. At this stage, she didn't have much room for maneuver.
"I have to count on that mine where I sent Varg and his mutts. I hope they dig up some rare ores or gems that I can earn something other than 'potato gold' on."
With that thought, she folded her wings and dove straight into the depths of the Canyon. She landed gracefully right next to the [Obelisk of Cursed Spirits]. The skeletal mages and commanders holding watch there immediately straightened their bony silhouettes in a silent salute.
Lilith looked at the bottom of the ravine - not even a trace remained of the battlefield and the werewolves' bodies. The skeletons had cleaned everything perfectly. She pulled the [Blueprint: Obelisk of Hidden Mist] from her inventory, and the technical requirements displayed before her eyes:
[Construction: Obelisk of Hidden Mist]
Water Gem: x1
Stone: x550
Gold: x3000
Lilith's eye flickered slightly when she saw the price in gold. Three thousand was still a significant sum, even for the "Potato King." However, after a moment, she breathed a sigh of relief, remembering her loot from her first days in this world when she beat the [RUINS OF FALLEN DARKNESS].
She still had water and earth gems in reserve, meaning she didn't have to buy them by spending thousands more coins on the market.
"Well, security requires investment," she said, smiling predatorily.
Seeing that all conditions were met and the materials were ready for use, Lilith firmly clicked the system build button, indicating a point right next to the existing curse obelisks.
"Build!"
In the same second, the earth shook, and the blue energy of the Water Gem began to swirl in the air at the spot Lilith had marked, attracting hundreds of tons of stone. In the very heart of the Canyon, a new, slender tower began to rise, destined to become a nightmare for anyone who dared to set foot on the Monarch's territory.