The sky darkened, and the crowds at the Trading Market gradually dispersed.
In exchange for 100 catties of rice, Taylor and Ophelia had acquired 3 orange crystals (worth 30 catties), 20 Red Crystals (worth 20 catties), 300 carcasses of prey (worth 30 catties), and 300 animal hides (worth 20 catties).
Ophelia took out a handkerchief made of animal hide to wipe the sweat from Taylor’s brow. This intimate gesture caused the six-foot-plus-tall male to flush crimson.
"Princess, I can do it myself."
As his calloused fingertips accidentally brushed against the Little Female’s delicate, jade-like fingers, he was so startled that he quickly pulled his hand away and hid it behind his back, stealing sidelong glances at the Little Female he had "offended."
Ophelia’s eyes curved into crescent moons. She hadn't expected such a prestigious Dragon Beast to be so innocent, appearing much like a clear-eyed university student from the modern world.
"Ahem." Two figures approached them slowly.
"Ophelia, we were wondering if it might be possible to pre-order some rice," Sair said, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed expression.
Afraid she might misunderstand, Ram quickly added, "Don't worry, we won't trade at this market. We’ll go to a more distant one, and we'll increase the payment as well, so we guarantee it won’t affect you."
Ophelia had originally intended to slowly build a rapport with them to steer them toward becoming wholesalers, but their proactive suggestion saved her a great deal of effort.
"Sure, how much do you want?"
Sair, being quite honest, said, "Twenty bags."
Ram, on the other hand, asked for fifty bags in one go; this was the maximum amount he had estimated Ophelia could accommodate based on his two previous observations. That made seventy bags in total, or seventy catties.
"That works. How do you plan to pay?"
Seventy catties translated into a massive amount of game and hides. Moreover, the three of them couldn't possibly carry that back to their tribe, and returning with so much bounty would likely attract the attention of Solo and Loki, leading to endless trouble.
"We will trade using crystals."
Ram took out five orange crystals—his entire life savings accumulated from years of traveling far and wide. Crystals were recognized as currency throughout the entire Xingluo Continent. Sair bashfully produced one orange crystal and ten Red Crystals.
"Alright, wait for me at the entrance of the Snow Wolf Tribe in three days."
After collecting one orange crystal from each of the two males as a deposit, Ophelia asked them to help transport the goods to the Snow Wolf Tribe. By now, the sky had turned completely dark. Taylor fashioned a torch out of branches and weeds, and the two walked along, holding hands. The male, initially shy, gradually grew accustomed to the contact, and eventually even took the initiative to clasp that soft, small hand tightly.
"Taylor, accompany me back to the Golden Dragon Clan tomorrow, will you? Help me deliver the prey."
"Yes, of course."
"Princess, you must be hungry. I’m going to go make you some roasted meat now." With that, Taylor ran out of the stone house, his ears glowing bright red.
Ophelia turned her head, smelling the faint scent of blood in the air and looking at the prey and hides piled up in the room, feeling a sense of distress. It seemed she would need to find a dedicated place to store them, or the stone house would soon become unlivable.
Having made up her mind, Ophelia tucked the 300 animal hides into her Farm Space. The 50 carcasses of prey remaining from the first batch of rice had dwindled to 45 after a few days of eating; combined with the new 300, she had a total of 345. Since whole carcasses combined with hides didn't fetch many points, she decided to peel the hides manually and trade only the hides for points.
It was a bit troublesome—peeling and then tanning the hides would take a lot of time. She certainly couldn't finish 300 carcasses of meat on her own. Keeping with the philosophy of keeping resources within her own reach, she decided to take the prey back to the Golden Dragon Clan and have the tribespeople peel them, with the meat serving as their labor fee.
With a plan in place, she began the exciting process of exchanging for points. The 300 animal hides netted her 30,000 points, enough to upgrade her Farm Space to Level 4. Upon reaching Level 4, the area would expand to 250 square meters; thereafter, Levels 5 and 6 would only add 50 square meters each—in other words, the "newbie protection period" was over.
Between buying seeds and upgrading, she chose to upgrade. The Level 4 Farm Space reward was: [Automatic Forge].
(Automatic Forge): Capable of purifying or processing crystals. Successfully forged crystals can be embedded into the land to increase yield or reduce maturation time.
Ophelia opened the forge to check and found that, of her current orange crystals, only one was perfect; the other two contained impurities. As for the thirty Red Crystals, not a single one was perfect, making them unsuitable for embedding.
(Perfect Red Crystal: Land yield increases by 10)
(Perfect Orange Crystal: Reduces maturation time by 5 hours)
Five fragmented crystals could be forged into one perfect crystal. To be honest, it was a bit expensive. She didn't plan on forcing out too much grain for now, so it didn't matter if she didn't embed any gems.
After upgrading the Farm Space, she checked the maturation time for her crops. The third batch, wheat and rice, still required 12 hours.
Meanwhile, Amy had waited until she was nearly withered before finally seeing the weary figure of her father, Loki.
"Father, Father! Did you bring me any red fruit?"
Amy looked expectantly at her father’s hands, only to find them empty. Faced with his daughter’s disappointed gaze, Loki blushed with shame.
Michelle squatted down and stroked Amy’s soft, golden hair. "We arrived too late today, and there was no fresh fruit left."
"Ah, but I haven't eaten any fruit for ten days," Amy muttered under her breath. "Mother used to prepare some for me every ten days."
"Father, why don't you go coax Mother? I really, really want to eat fruit." Children have poor memories, and for the sake of a bite to eat, they can cast everything else to the back of their minds.
Hearing this, Michelle gritted her teeth in hatred. She had spent so much effort getting Amy to accept her and favor her. Now, just for a few pieces of fruit, she was expected to bow to Ophelia? Such an ungrateful brat! A flash of malice crossed her eyes, but she forced her voice to sound even gentler.
"Ophelia traded rice for quite a lot of prey and crystals at the market today. You could go ask her for an orange crystal; that way, you could trade for as much fruit as you want."
An orange crystal was precious indeed; it could buy ten bags of rice, or even purchase the opportunity to form a partnership with a Little Female. If she had an orange crystal, more males would pursue her, giving her more options and potentially making her stand out even more among the other females.
Amy tapped her fingers together and lowered her head shyly. "But I said those things before... Mother must be angry with me. She won't give me any crystals."
"She wouldn't. No matter what you said, she is still your mother. A mother’s love for her child is selfless. She won't hold onto such trivial matters. As long as you speak up, she will forgive you."
"Think about it, hasn't it always been like that before?"
Listening to Michelle’s "persuasive" words, Loki couldn't help but frown slightly. He vaguely felt that what Michelle was saying wasn't right, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly why.