3: Chapter 3: Profitable Deals and Building Fully Armed Swarms
Within the Divine Realm, the fanatical cries emanating from the depths of the soul slowly subsided like a receding tide.
On Su Chen's face, composed of divine fire, the arc of absolute confidence also faded, replaced by a more profound scrutiny.
His will descended, sweeping over the one hundred brand-new weapons of slaughter below.
Their bodies had expanded several times over, and every inch of their carapaces refracted a cold, metallic luster; they no longer possessed the texture of living creatures, appearing more like they had been cast from some unknown alloy.
As their massive mandibles opened and closed, they no longer emitted the hissing of insects, but rather the "clack" of metal components rubbing together, accompanied by teeth-grating vibrations.
These Devouring Steel-toothed Ants were the masterpiece he had created with his own hands.
However, after reviewing this elite squad, Su Chen's consciousness did not linger in satisfaction.
"Not enough."
His divine thoughts whispered in the void, cold and objective.
"This is far from enough."
The textbook content from the Academy of Deities automatically surfaced in his mind.
The Divine Realm assessment, a cruel screening that determined the future fate of fledgling deities, used evaluation criteria that went far beyond the quality of one's follower race.
Quantity.
And the deity's own strength.
One hundred Tier 2 elites were enough to crush any ordinary race of a fledgling deity.
But against those favored sons who came from prominent backgrounds and possessed powerful bloodline followers, this was merely the beginning.
His gaze pierced through the thin clouds of the Divine Realm and finally landed on the altar.
There, a massive carcass still lay silently—the Tier 1 Desert Worm that had nearly dragged him into a desperate situation.
Its genetic sequence had already been completely extracted by the system, but the massive, hill-like fleshly body itself was an untapped treasure trove of energy.
For Su Chen, struggling at the starting line, not a single bit of resource could be wasted.
"System."
Su Chen's consciousness communicated directly with the interface hidden deep within his soul.
"Analyze this corpse. Apart from serving as food, does it have any other value?"
A cold, mechanical voice rang out precisely in his consciousness.
"Ding! High concentrations of xenoprotein and bio-energy detected in the flesh tissue of the 'Tier 1 Desert Worm'."
"Can consume divine power to catalyze and purify, synthesizing 'Basic Zerg Evolution Fluid'."
A new stream of information unfolded before Su Chen's eyes.
[Basic Zerg Evolution Fluid]: Can significantly improve the physique and energy absorption efficiency of Tier 0 Zerg followers, notably shortening their growth time from the larval stage to adulthood.
Su Chen's divine fire jumped suddenly.
Shortening the larval stage!
He knew exactly what this meant.
The queen ant's egg-laying speed was astonishing, but ordinary worker ants required a complete growth cycle from egg to having basic labor capacity.
This cycle was the biggest bottleneck limiting the explosive growth of his follower population.
And this evolution fluid was the sharp blade capable of cutting through this bottleneck!
In the World of Gods, any alchemical potion that could directly act upon followers, increase their strength, or shorten their growth cycle was indisputably hard currency!
It was a strategic resource craved by all deities!
"Purify it all!"
Su Chen did not hesitate in the slightest; his divine power surged instantly.
As the prompt indicating -5 divine power points popped up on the interface, the massive worm corpse on the altar began to undergo drastic changes at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Its flesh seemed to be tightly gripped by an invisible giant hand, with massive amounts of moisture and life energy being frantically extracted and siphoned away.
The originally plump body rapidly shriveled and collapsed, and ultimately, under the catalysis of divine power, it completely weathered away, turning into a handful of fly ash with no residual energy, dissipating into the air.
In its original position, fifty drops of liquid floated out of thin air.
Each drop was only the size of a fingernail, yet they seemed to seal away an entire springtime.
They were emerald green throughout, with restrained brilliance, and a layer of faint fluorescence flowed across their surfaces.
A strange, fragrant scent mixed with grass and honey permeated the air; simply smelling it caused a slight stir among the ant swarm below.
With a thought from Su Chen, he carefully moved these fifty precious drops of liquid into his Divine Realm space for safekeeping.
Immediately afterward, his consciousness sank into a deeper, more vast dimension.
"Connect to the 'Myriad Worlds Trading House'."
Hum!
In an instant, Su Chen's "vision" was submerged by an endless torrent of information.
This was a virtual platform constructed by supreme divine power, connecting all deities across the myriad worlds who had obtained the qualifications.
Countless divine thoughts converged here, forming a ceaseless, waterfall-like flow of data.
Buying, selling, showing off, fraud... the desires of billions of deities collided here in their rawest forms.
Su Chen blocked out those miscellaneous pieces of information; his goal was clear.
He did not hesitate in the slightest and directly listed the fifty portions of evolution fluid he had just obtained on the trading platform.
[Commodity: Basic Biological Evolution Fluid (High Purity)]
[Category: Zerg / Consumable / Growth Type]
[Effect: Increases the physique of Tier 0 followers without any side effects, with a certain probability of causing them to break through directly to Tier 1.]
[Inventory: 50]
[Price: 1,000 Faith Points / portion]
This price was a full twenty percent higher than similar potions on the market that lacked the "High Purity" label.
This was a malicious price, a price specifically designed to harvest those novice deities who were eager for quick success.
But Su Chen had absolute confidence in the quality of the system's products.
He could even imagine the expressions of pleasant surprise on the deities who purchased this batch of potions when they discovered that its effects far exceeded regular goods.
Commodity listed.
One second.
Two seconds.
The trading house's information stream continued to refresh frantically, and his commodity link was like a pebble thrown into the ocean, about to be submerged in an instant.
The third second.
"Ding!"
A crisp notification sound exploded in Su Chen's consciousness!
[Notification: Your commodity [Basic Biological Evolution Fluid (High Purity)] has been purchased by buyer 'Son of Flame' for 10 portions!]
Immediately afterward, the notification sounds linked together like an out-of-control alarm!
"Ding! Your commodity has been purchased by buyer 'Even Wants to Cultivate Immortality' for 20 portions!"
"Ding! Your commodity has been purchased by buyer 'Deep Sea Dominator' for 5 portions!"
"Ding! ..."
Less than a minute.
Even before Su Chen had fully reacted, the inventory quantity had plummeted from 50 to 0.
Sold out!
[Notification: Transaction complete. After deducting the platform's handling fee, you have obtained a total of 48,000 Faith Points this time!]
Su Chen's perception was locked tightly onto the account balance on the Divine Realm interface.
That shriveled number, which had originally only been in the double digits, was jumping and soaring frantically at this moment, finally stopping at a massive value that made even his soul tremble.
Five digits!
48,000!
Profiteering!
No, this was no longer profiteering; this was plunder at the deity level!
This was the terrifying leverage one could pry with after mastering exclusive technology and information asymmetry!
On Su Chen's face, composed of divine fire, there was no expression of wild joy, only a near-absolute calmness.
"Money is just a tool."
"In this world, only resources converted into strength are things that truly belong to oneself."
He had not the slightest thought of saving this huge sum of money.
The next moment, his consciousness switched instantly from the trading area to the dazzling array of the raw materials area, and a frantic shopping spree began.
"Black iron ore, fifty tons! Rations for the Steel-Fanged Ant's reinforced carapaces, buy!"
With a divine thought, Faith Points - 10,000.
"Life Greenhouse construction blueprints, can increase the egg-laying speed of creatures within the Divine Realm tenfold, buy!"
Faith Points - 15,000.
"Chitinous armor plates of the Tier 2 creature 'Explosive Beetle', one hundred sets! Add an extra layer of external armor for my soldier ants, buy!"
Faith Points - 15,000.
With a wave of his hand, the forty-plus thousand Faith Points he had just obtained, not yet even warmed up, evaporated completely within a mere ten seconds.
The next second.
Above Su Chen's Divine Realm, the firmament constructed by his will was suddenly torn open by a massive spatial rift.
Behind the rift was the profound void, and immediately following, an endless amount of pitch-black ore poured down like a meteor shower!
Rumble—!
Countless ores smashed down onto the desert, emitting a deafening roar, dust rose to the sky, and in the blink of an eye, it piled up into a small black hill exuding a thick metallic scent.
Below, those newly evolved Devouring Steel-toothed Ants, as well as the surrounding ordinary worker ants, had their biological instincts completely ignited by the scent emitted from that hill of ore after a brief stir.
That was food!
It was the source of evolution that would make them stronger and harder!
The ant swarm went crazy.
They were no longer uniform, but instead transformed into a black tide, frantically pouncing toward the hill of ore, greedily gnawing away with their massive mandibles capable of crushing steel.
"Clack... clack..."
The scalp-tingling sound of gnawing merged into a symphony of death.
Su Chen's will hovered high above in the sky, coldly watching all of this.
In his eyes, a cold, blade-like glint flickered.
"Eat."
"Eat to your heart's content."
"Within three days, I want you to become a... steel torrent capable of making all examinees tremble!"