Troop Refresh Recruitment Card!

Time slipped by.

Night fell before Su Ye woke up and looked at the burning campfire.

Su Ye stretched. "Thanks for your hard work, Thalys."

"Your Majesty, it is my duty," Thalys said without the slightest change in her expression, her face as blank as ever.

Su Ye said nothing more. That was simply how Thalys was. He opened the Chat Channel and checked his private messages.

Most were messages from people hawking porn. Damn it, those made up the vast majority. He blocked and deleted them in one go, then opened his friends chat panel after finding nothing worthwhile in his private messages.

Su Ye currently had only one friend: Little Merchant.

"She sent another message? What is it? Has she found a Technology Seed?" Su Ye checked with some curiosity.

"Hm?" A trace of surprise and shock appeared in Su Ye's eyes.

[Little Merchant: Boss, are you interested in Troop Refresh Recruitment Cards?]

[Little Merchant: Not around? Send me a private message if you're interested.]

"Troop Refresh Recruitment Cards?" Su Ye took a deep breath. Had someone already gotten those?

Still, there were billions of Novice Lords in this year's cohort. With such a huge number, it was hardly strange that someone had obtained something like this.

How should he put it? For some lords, a Troop Refresh Recruitment Card was less useful than a Resource Card. For Su Ye, however, it was a godsend.

It was easy to assume nobody would sell these, but people did. For ordinary lords, their daily recruitment quota was enough. They might not even use all of it.

After all, troops needed food too. An ordinary lord who could cover the cost of recruiting troops every day was already doing well.

In fact, most lords could not even cover their troops' daily expenses. That was the norm.

So for ordinary lords, this card was less practical than an Advanced Food Resource Card. They did not lack troops. They lacked supplies—actual, tangible supplies.

[Otherworld Traveler: Are you there? How much do these cost? How many do you have?]

Su Ye sent the message straight away.

When Little Merchant saw Su Ye's message, she immediately abandoned her private chat with another lord.

[Little Merchant: Yes, yes, I'm here, boss! I have five Troop Refresh Recruitment Cards. The price is 1,000 Gold Coins each. How does that sound?]

Su Ye looked at Little Merchant's message, a gleam flashing in his eyes. Five Troop Refresh Recruitment Cards. If he used all five to refresh the Fallen Heaven Sanctuary...

He could gain another hundred and fifty fallen heaven troops.

[Otherworld Traveler: That works. I'll take every Troop Refresh Recruitment Card you have. Sorry for the trouble, but please save them for me and buy up some more.]

As Lin Xiaoxiao read Su Ye's message, her eyes practically turned into Gold Coin symbols.

[Little Merchant: Of course, no problem, boss. I'm looking for the Technology Seed you wanted. It shouldn't take much longer to find one. I've sent a trade request. Please accept it, boss.]

[Otherworld Traveler: All right.]

Su Ye accepted the trade request as soon as it popped up.

The five Troop Refresh Recruitment Cards were his.

Just as Su Ye was about to close the chat panel, he suddenly remembered that he also needed Dark Seeds.

[Otherworld Traveler: Oh, and sorry for the trouble, but please buy up Dark Seeds for me too. Price isn't an issue.]

[Little Merchant: Got it!!]

In her territory, Lin Xiaoxiao looked at the five thousand Gold Coins that had arrived in her account. She had spent five hundred Gold Coins buying those Troop Refresh Recruitment Cards, then resold them for ten times that amount.

Her ability to make that money was a skill in itself. Su Ye did not have such an extensive network of contacts. Even if he knew about her markup, it would not change anything. Without her, he would not have gotten those Troop Refresh Recruitment Cards.

This guy's troops must be something special. Saint Realm? Legendary? Or Epic, even Mythical? Lin Xiaoxiao wondered curiously. Only troops starting at those ranks made Troop Refresh Recruitment Cards truly worthwhile.

They could be used for troops below Saint Realm too, of course, but only if the lord had enough resources to feed them all.

Considering the Gold Coins Su Ye possessed as well, Lin Xiaoxiao was no fool. She naturally knew his troops were not low-ranking. But so what?

A few prodigy lords emerged among the Novice Lords every year. It was nothing unusual.

"By comparison, this guy called Yi Ye Zhi Qiu is a complete moron. I'm a merchant. Does he even know what a merchant is? Asking for fucking credit and proposing a performance wager? Has this idiot read too many novels?" Lin Xiaoxiao looked speechlessly at another friend's chat window.

Messages kept flashing in it. If you want a free handout, just say so. A fucking performance wager? Who's making a wager with you? Do you think I'm out of my mind? You've got nothing, and you just open your mouth and ask for a wager?

What a lunatic.

After a moment's hesitation, Lin Xiaoxiao deleted and blocked Yi Ye Zhi Qiu. That lunatic could get as far away from her as possible.

In Ye Xiu's territory.

Ye Xiu looked at the messages he had sent Lin Xiaoxiao, a hint of confusion on his face. She had suddenly stopped replying. Why?

"This woman was a famous merchant in my previous life. Her close partnership with Otherworld Traveler was what kept him supplied with enough resources to stay ahead of the other Novice Lords. There's no reason I can't replicate that in this life." Ambition shone in Ye Xiu's eyes as he looked at the chat interface.

According to what he knew from his previous life, Little Merchant and Otherworld Traveler had formed an alliance during the Novice Period. Their alliance had lasted all the way to the end, only growing bigger and bigger.

Ye Xiu's plan was to win over Little Merchant first, then deal with Otherworld Traveler, turning both of these lords with their vast resources into his subordinate lords.

That would provide him with an endless stream of resources to fuel his growth.

After a long while, Ye Xiu stared at his chat interface. Did she fall asleep?

With that thought, Ye Xiu tried sending another message, only to receive a system notification.

[Ding: You have been blocked by Little Merchant. You cannot trade with her or send her private messages!]

Ye Xiu's expression froze. What happened? Why did she block me?

"Didn't Otherworld Traveler say he first got to know Little Merchant through this kind of performance wager, getting something for nothing? Was that guy just talking shit?" At the thought, Ye Xiu's face darkened.

"That guy..." Ye Xiu rubbed his brow and carefully recalled Otherworld Traveler's antics. Claims like, "I don't love money," "I'm not interested in money," "I'm face-blind, so I can't tell who's pretty," and "What I miss most is my carefree school days." He was always spouting nonsense. This really might have been more of his bullshit.

"Hah?" At that realization, Ye Xiu laughed in sheer anger.

Little Merchant had deleted and blocked him, leaving him unable to message her privately. That meant he would be unable to make a single trade with the biggest Merchant Lord of the Novice Period while he was a Novice Lord.

That was hardly good news for him. The good news was that she was not the only Merchant Lord. The bad news was that she was the biggest one in this year's cohort.