“No problem.”

Dragon Cypress checked each Lord-Level Origin Force Food in turn, confirming he recognized them all, could judge their value, and determine the price.

“No problem.”

Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple quickly finished counting the Source Stones.

White Ivy likewise completed the packaging of 35 cans of Scarletlight and Southern Sour Jujube Bee King Honey, manipulated the spider silk rope, and then took down six large spider silk bags in a row, saying:

“In here is Origin Force Food worth fifty thousand Source Stones, produced by Mountain Lord-Level Warrior Territories. You check it over as well.”

Then she took down eleven more large spider silk bags, “These are Origin Force Foods produced by High-Level Warrior Territories, total value seventy thousand Source Stones. Look through them all.”

The total value of Origin Force Food delivered by White Ivy this year was one hundred seventy thousand, with large quantity, high quality, and a wide variety of types.

Dragon Cypress led Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple to examine each item one by one and explained them.

It took half a day to sort everything out.

White Ivy then took down another spider silk bag, opened it, handed it to Dragon Cypress, and said:

“Dragon Cypress, these are the jars for the Origin Force Honey at one thousand Source Stones per can, and I’ve made some adjustments to their appearance. This kind of Origin Force Honey is meant for Primary and Intermediate Little Warriors, right? From my observation, since Little Warriors are so small, in the old jars, they had to climb on top and struggle hard just to eat—very inconvenient. So, I changed it to this ‘short and stout’ design, narrowed the jar opening a bit to reduce the use of Bee King Jelly and save on packaging costs.”

“Oh—”

“Pretty nice, a very reasonable optimization.” ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novelfire(.)net

Dragon Cypress picked one up, looked it over, confirming the new design matched normal insect aesthetics, and tapped his tentacle in approval.

White Ivy continued: “This year, I brought two hundred empty cans over. As always, I’ll take back a few extra on top of the order. For those marked at a thousand Source Stones per can, I’ll still take a hundred. For those at two thousand Source Stones per can, I plan to take forty. I brought more Fire System and Water System Elemental Origin Force Foods this year, so make a few more cans; they’ll sell for sure.”

Dragon Cypress: “Understood!”

After White Ivy finished speaking, she said nothing more.

Dragon Cypress had to take the initiative and asked: “What about that Ice-Fire Water-Making Pot I wanted?”

White Ivy: “…I don’t have one.”

White Ivy: “Those Outworld Civilization Artifacts always get bought up by the rich insects in the end—unless there’s some unexpected incident, they’re never put up for sale. I’ve asked several caravans to help me keep an eye out. If any insect puts one up for sale, I’ll get it for you right away.”

“Alright—”

Dragon Cypress had expected this and turned his head slightly toward Red Peach, asking, “What about transport? Come on, let me see the wisdom of the spiders.”

White Ivy pulled out two slender metal tubes from under the cargo and handed them to Red Peach, then manipulated the spider silk rope and quickly tidied up the goods on the ground.

Grass Dragon couldn’t help but ask, “Just two metal rods can solve the transport problem?”

White Ivy, in the tone of an elder, scolded, “Less nonsense, more watching, more learning, more thinking.”

Grass Dragon: “…”

Dragon Cypress, Blue Catalpa, and Snakebark Maple were just as puzzled and couldn’t understand at all.

White Ivy: “Come on, let’s go to the cave entrance on the hillside!”

White Ivy and Red Peach hopped and ran toward the hill.

Dragon Cypress and company hurried to catch up.

…

Red Peach carried the metal rods and entered the Starship interior.

White Ivy took out four thick pieces of spider silk woven into circles about a meter across.

Earth System Abilities activated—she controlled a lump of mud, rounded it into a sphere, flattened and stretched it into a hollow disk, then propped up a spider silk ring with it.

With four spider silk rings, and the help of Earth System Abilities, she made four hollow disks.

Finally, she took out a petite spider silk bag, opened it to reveal all kinds of metal components, took out four metal rings, and embedded them in the disks.

Obviously, they’d practiced this many times before.

Red Peach carried the disks one by one into the passage, took metal parts from the spider silk bag, and fixed the disks to both ends of the metal rods.

White Ivy continued using her Earth System Abilities to form a stone slab two meters long, over a meter wide, with supports.

The slab also had two holes, with spider silk ropes tied to them.

Red Peach grabbed the spider silk rope and dragged the slab into the passage, fixed it to the metal rods and disks, and finished assembling it.

“This is called a ‘Stone Slab Wheelcart’. It rolls forward easily on flat ground, almost effortlessly. It’s as wide as a Flame Spider’s carapace and can transport a huge load in one trip.”

As White Ivy spoke, she took off all ten bags of Source Stones from her carapace.

Red Peach carried them, one by one, and set them on the cart’s slab.

White Ivy remotely controlled the spider silk rope, securing the goods firmly.

Red Peach stood at the front of the cart, grasped the spider silk rope in her mandibles, and began dragging forward. With a low rumble, the wheels rolled and the cart loaded with ten thousand Source Stones was easily pulled along, even picking up speed and running ahead.

Red Peach alone could run down the passage dragging ten thousand Source Stones—it really did look effortless!

This really works! Dragon Cypress, Grass Dragon, Blue Catalpa, and Snakebark Maple were all stunned.

The structure wasn’t complicated at all—easy to understand at a glance.

But before seeing it, none of them would ever have imagined such ingenious design, no matter how hard they thought.

—This cart works even better than a Dominating Throne!

—When I’m pioneering and breaking ground, should I use such a cart to haul earth and stone?

Countless ideas flashed through Dragon Cypress’s mind; he felt a door to a new world had just opened before him.

But on thinking about it a bit more, he realized the flaw at once.

This thing only works on solid, flat ground—can’t handle rugged mountains or soft earth. Going uphill or downhill is especially tough and easy to lose control.

Dragon Cypress lost interest in the ‘Stone Slab Wheelcart’.

White Ivy remained smug, patting Grass Dragon’s carapace and speaking earnestly, with warm encouragement:

“Young Grass Dragon! You’re still too young—if you want to quickly become a qualified Flame Spider Roving Merchant, being a smooth talker isn’t enough. You need to develop the good habits of observing, thinking, and reflecting more. Understand?”

Grass Dragon: “…I understand.”

Red Peach hauled the cart a good distance away, then pushed it back, saying, “White Ivy Mountain Lord, should I deliver the Source Stones first? That’s not the right sequence! We should deliver the Origin Force Food first. Dragon Cypress Ant King can stay there to process the Origin Force Honey. Then I’ll fetch the Source Stones, and finally bring back the finished honey. That’s a more logical arrangement.”

White Ivy: “Uh—”

White Ivy: “Yes, I know. I’m just testing with the Source Stones first. After testing, we’ll bring them out—let’s move the Origin Force Food first.”

…

In the wide, straight, flat main tunnel, Blue Catalpa and Snakebark Maple led the way running, with Red Peach pulling the cart close behind.

Dragon Cypress and Grass Dragon followed, chatting as they walked.

“Dragon Cypress, where did those two Divine-Given Fruits come from? White Ivy delivered them?”

“No way it could. I discovered two Wild God-Given Seeds on the Cloud Trace Continent. One is called ‘Scarletlight’, mutated from Golden Light Fruit Tree; the other is Southern Sour Jujube, with Enhanced Membrane Wing trait. White Ivy gave up on other trade, choosing to cooperate with me in the Origin Force Honey business and, as a condition, helps me transport ten thousand Source Stones cash every year—in exchange, she gets a share in both Divine-Given Seeds.”

“Oh! So that’s how it is.”

Grass Dragon sighed, “Lupine and I made a bet. I bet that within five years, White Ivy would lose all the hundred thousand Source Stones she borrowed from the Spider King Spurge. Sigh, looks like I’m doomed.”

Dragon Cypress: “…”

Grass Dragon: “Dragon Cypress, you’re really bold. White Ivy is so unreliable—if she lets slip the news about the Wild Divine-Given Seed on the Ten Thousand Nations Continent, you’re done for.”

Dragon Cypress: “That hasn’t happened, has it?”

Grass Dragon: “Best be cautious!”

The Xianglan Mountain Ant Kingdom was growing stronger by the day, and Dragon Cypress wasn’t as worried anymore. He changed the subject and asked, “Grass Dragon, do you have any plans?”

Grass Dragon: “Plans for what?”

Dragon Cypress: “Lupine has started trading on his own already.”

Grass Dragon: “I’m still small, still early—just muddling through for now. What’s the profit on ‘Origin Force Honey’? I really want to give it a try!”

Dragon Cypress: “I mix up a can using seven hundred Source Stones worth of cheap and affordable Origin Force Food, and sell it for eight hundred to White Ivy. White Ivy sells at a thousand Source Stones. The metal can cost should reasonably be about twenty Source Stones, Bee King Jelly about thirty. So, for honey marked at a thousand Source Stones per can, the profit per can is around one hundred and fifty.”

Dragon Cypress: “And for the ones for High-Level and Mountain Lord-Level Warriors, marked at two thousand Source Stones per can, the metal can and Bee King Jelly costs don’t rise, so profit per can is as high as three hundred and fifty. In the future I can make some marked at three thousand per can—for even more profit.”

Grass Dragon: “Sounds very… enticing… but selling even one can isn’t easy. Right now, Lupine and I have poor trade routes.”

Dragon Cypress: “I just got a new hybrid-mutant Divine-Given Cuihua Hanlan Seed, Wood System, currently cultivating. In a few years it’ll bear Orchid Seeds. Half goes to the Seven-Leaf Mountain Lord, the other half to you…”

Grass Dragon was shocked and jumped up, “Another Divine-Given Seed?”

Dragon Cypress calmly replied, “Yes—”

Grass Dragon quickly regained composure and laughed, “It’s great to have an Ant King friend favored by the Natural God.”

“Yes—” Dragon Cypress felt the same. It’s really great to have a Mantis friend favored by the Natural God.

Grass Dragon: “I’m going to ask Spider King Spurge, see if I can get some Bee King Jelly.”

Dragon Cypress hesitated for a moment, but still decided for now not to reveal the news about ‘Ant King Jelly’ to Grass Dragon, and changed the topic for some casual chat.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep