Ant Lord in the Star Realm-Chapter 640 - 570 The First Step of Transformation_2

White Ivy: "More than ten types. But through various channels and exchanges, I can get over thirty kinds of divine-grade fruits."

The spiders were secretly shocked.

Even the Revolve Spider King was taken aback. He had always known that White Ivy Melde made a fortune trading Origin Force Honey, opened many channels, and gained quite a few trading rights for divine-grade fruits. But he hadn't expected that, without realizing it, she had already surpassed those top caravans of the five great tribes.

White Ivy took the initiative and said: "Revolve Spider King, if you have especially important clients who are in urgent need of a certain divine-grade fruit, you can try asking me. All sorts of types, I can basically find a way to get them."

White Ivy: "Mainly it's divine-grade for divine-grade; if you want to swap with me, you'll have to use a divine-grade to trade for another, and we'll adjust the difference. The divine-grade fruits on my end are always sold at a fixed 20% profit over the procurement price. The compensation for the price difference has to be paid using a fixed trading quota of Divine-Given Seed. The reason is simple: in our leader election, only this is counted."

Revolve Spider King: "How exactly do you use that fixed Divine-Given Seed quota to compensate for the difference? You don't mean, if the difference is one million Source Stones, you need stable trading rights for one million Source Stones of Divine-Given Origin Force Food, right?"

White Ivy: "Of course not. If the difference is one million, calculated over a hundred years, just sell me ten thousand Source Stones of Divine-Given Origin Force Food each year. But within those hundred years, the trading rights can't be transferred; after one hundred years, continue if you're willing, if not, that's fine."

"..."

The Revolve Spider King was a little confused, focusing hard in thought.

Jerusalem cross Lord asked: "Lord White Ivy, if you spread it over a hundred years, isn't the quota too small? Ten or twenty years might be more appropriate. I believe most Insect Kings would be happy to accept that."

White Ivy: "That touches on another consideration. Many great tribes possess Divine God-Given Seeds but keep them hidden for their own use, unwilling to trade outside. At the root, first, they're stubborn and conservative, fearing word gets out about their treasures and causes trouble; second, the yield of divine fruits is scarce, and their tribe can consume it all internally. They see no need to let Flame Spider Roving Merchants profit off the difference and are unwilling to take a loss."

White Ivy: "There's a third unignorable reason—some tribes bypass us Flame Spider Roving Merchants and secretly trade on their own. At its core, it's still about not wanting us to profit off the difference."

The spiders deeply understood this and voiced their agreement.

Divine God-Given Seeds are rare, but not that rare. The main thing is that many great tribes refuse to sell them, even hiding them for fear that the Flame Spider Caravan would find out.

It can be estimated that, on the Ten-thousand Tribes Continent, there should be about sixty to eighty Divine God-Given Seeds.

But those actually circulating in the market are only about thirty to forty kinds—not even half.

White Ivy: "Actually, putting yourself in their shoes and thinking from the perspective of the Insect Clan Warriors who produce Origin Force Food, it's understandable—or rather, it's inevitable."

"Ordinary Origin Force Food: low price, high volume, big demand. Flame Spider Roving Merchants scale mountains and rivers, hauling with hardship, so earning over 20% profit is seen as deserved wages for labor."

"But moving up to Divine-Given Origin Force Food—the price soars. A big Spider Silk Bag can hold 100,000 Source Stones' worth of Divine-Given Origin Force Food, and transporting it isn't hard at all. But the Flame Spider Roving Merchants can turn it right around and sell it for 120,000, 130,000, even 140,000 Source Stones. The Insect Clan Warriors who produced it are not pleased in the least."

"And when you step up to divine-grade Origin Force Food, the warriors sell it for a million Source Stones, but the Flame Spider Roving Merchants turn around and resell at 1.2 million, 1.3 million, 1.4 million, even two million—sky-high prices. Just a single fruit, with no carrying burden at all, nets a massive profit margin. How do those producers feel? They're a million times unwilling; most insects will refuse to trade with our caravan."

White Ivy: "On the other hand, precisely because divine-grade fruits are so rare and valuable, whenever a caravan gets one, they want to seize the opportunity and rake in a huge profit—jacking up margins to the extreme. This creates an almost unsolvable vicious cycle."

White Ivy: "But for me, if I want to focus on the divine-grade fruit trade and grow big and strong, the first step is to get all the existing divine-grade fruits on the continent circulating as much as possible. To make that happen, I have to consider secrecy, but more important is to drive the profit margin down as much as possible, so those Insect Clan Warriors don't feel so clearly that they're being profited off of, to break the vicious cycle that has lasted who knows how many years."

White Ivy: "I have to build credibility, create a momentum, a reputation that I have stable trading rights for twenty or thirty kinds of divine-grade fruits, can get my hands on over a hundred kinds, can supply all insects with any type of divine-grade fruit they need."

White Ivy: "Once the plan starts and divine-grade trading gets going, with a large trading volume the total profit naturally increases. Break the ossified logic of trade, and make divine-grade fruit a business of small profits and quick turnover."

"!!!"

The spiders grew solemn.

Revolve Spider King: "White Ivy, you've told us your plan in detail—aren't you afraid we'll copy it and surpass you?"

White Ivy replied with full confidence, "If success could be learned or copied, then there shouldn't be any poor spiders in this world."

Revolve Spider King: "You started preparing for this a hundred years ago?"

White Ivy: "Yes. A hundred years ago I secured rights for the Divine-Grade Night Fragrance Fruit, went to Purple Back Mountain full of hope. It was a divine-grade fruit that perfectly matched the Banded Assassin Bug's talent ability—I sold it at a rock-bottom price, and all I got was an order for Origin Force Honey worth 500,000 Source Stones, not a single grain of quota for Divine-Given Origin Force Food. At that time I wondered—why is it like this? When I thought through the reasons, it all came down to them looking down on me. From that moment I made up my mind—I had to become the richest spider in the whole world, never letting any insect look down on me again."