Although William was rebuked, he wasn't upset. He had simply wanted to test things out, and he had nothing to lose. After all, what if the other party was a true wealthy individual who didn’t care about price?
His sudden price increase was unlikely to be well-received anywhere; he was clearly acting like a shrewd merchant.
As the light orbs around him saw the Chakwolf Follower card being sold, they prepared to leave. However, having gathered a crowd, William wasn’t about to let them go so easily. He took out another Chakwolf Follower card from the light orb.
"Chakwolf, Red-haired Chakwolf, an excellent Chakwolf follower. 150,000 in number, breeds once a year, with three pups per litter. They reach adulthood in 10 years and live for 60 years. They follow orders and have strong obedience. Don’t miss out! Come and have a look!" This time, William changed his advertisement, no longer mentioning the price directly.
"I need to leave some room for markup. Can’t lock the price in right away," he thought to himself as he patiently waited.
As for the light orbs that were about to leave but turned back, William casually chatted with them, aiming to keep the crowd around and make the place seem livelier.
“How much for these Chakwolves?” the new light orbs asked.
"600 points of divine power," William quickly stated. Upon hearing this price, some light orbs immediately turned to leave, while others stayed behind and began to negotiate.
As time passed, with William and the buyers haggling, the crowd around him gradually stabilized. A group of light orbs had gathered around, with some newcomers and some who were leaving.
"Boss, 600 points of divine power is really too high. 500 points is absolutely the highest I can offer for these Chakwolves. Please think it over," one light orb offered.
William hesitated. It had been half an hour, and this was the third buyer who offered 500 points. It was starting to feel like aiming for 600 points was a bit of a pipe dream.
"Boss, how much are these Chakwolves?" another new light orb asked after examining the Chakwolf Follower card.
"600 points of divine power," William instinctively answered.
"600 seems a bit expensive," the other party replied after some thought, signaling for a discount.
"There's hope!" William thought, hearing the words and realizing that this was likely a wealthy individual.
In this market, no one would call the price of 600 points for 150,000 Chakwolves “a little expensive” unless the buyer was a rich person—probably someone inexperienced with pricing.
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William immediately focused all his attention on this new light orb.
"This is really not an expensive deal, my friend. Just look at these Chakwolves, with their strong physiques and an average height of 1.7 meters. Their combat ability is guaranteed. Plus, their reproduction rate is incredible. 150,000 Chakwolves, breeding over 200,000 pups a year. In 10 years, that’s more than 2 million. Once they pass the 10-year mark, the growth rate will double. With a large enough divine domain, you can let them roam freely. There’s no need to worry about their survival. They are perfect cannon fodder!" William immediately began pushing his product, targeting what he assumed the semi-divine buyer cared most about—sizing up the customer’s needs with the finesse of a true shrewd merchant.
After gauging that this was a semi-divine being with familial support from higher powers, William knew that such buyers wouldn’t be lacking in divine power. Early development would be backed by their family, with plenty of resources like terrain cards at their disposal, meaning they probably had a vast and resource-rich divine domain.
"I’m not looking for cannon fodder. While you make some valid points, the price is still a bit high," the other party responded, revealing a slight hesitation in their tone. William quickly seized on this and noted an important clue.
"Not cannon fodder, then you must be looking to build a core follower breeding area, right? These Chakwolves are perfect for that, with their breeding ability. Once you have a large enough number, your core followers will multiply quickly!" William boldly speculated on the buyer’s real needs, using more respectful language while secretly praying that his guess was right.
Building a core follower breeding area was one of the fastest ways to grow one’s core followers. Take the elves, for example. As an excellent species that could easily surpass the extraordinary once they reached adulthood, they had a notoriously slow reproduction rate. Their reproductive cycle could take decades, and their growth period could last centuries. For semi-divines looking to expand their populations, this was a nightmare.
Thus, building a follower breeding area became a practical solution—buying large quantities of weaker elf followers and crossbreeding them with core followers. After all, elves of different tribes, like the sun elves, moon elves, forest elves, dark elves, blood elves, and prairie elves, were all the same species, but with varying strengths and weaknesses in their bloodlines. In the absence of reproductive isolation, the stronger bloodline in the parents would dominate, giving the offspring a higher chance of being born as core followers, thus accelerating the breeding process.
"Well... alright, I’ll take them," the light orb finally relented, having been swayed by William’s sales pitch.
With the transaction completed and 1,100 points of divine power added to his balance, William happily completed his task. He immediately teleported back to the marketplace, bought two divine domain concealment cards, several blank seal cards, and a barren terrain card, then quickly left the Divine Exchange Continental.
Back in his own divine domain, William returned to his work, focusing on the ongoing development of his domain.
A year passed in the blink of an eye, and during that time, his divine domain continued to evolve according to the original plan. The number of his insect swarm had increased to 8 million.
Over the past year, William hadn’t faced any battles. He had spent the time quietly developing. During this period, he noticed two other divine domains nearby, but he simply stayed alert and still, watching as they passed by without engaging.
His divine domain was progressing well, with huge potential for growth, and no bottlenecks in sight. As long as he kept developing and expanding, there was no need to risk an invasion.
Once school reopened and he confirmed that his divine domain hadn't been shattered, he would receive the civilization’s welfare resources, including a high-level directional teleportation card to travel to the human civilization territory.