Consider it a friendship with a Big Shot like you

Although Alex verbally criticized [QuartzStriker] as a cunning merchant, she didn't just sit back and watch. 

Previously, she had listed three thousand portions of food, and still had six hundred in her warehouse. Alex decisively chose to trade food for iron ingots.

Food, after all, was something the undead Lord was never short of!

However, the iron ingots [QuartzStriker] listed were too few, only one hundred fifty portions. While other Lords were still discussing the uses of iron ingots in the World Chat, Alex quickly traded two hundred portions of food to secure the last remaining one hundred iron ingots.

Alex took out the recently traded iron ingots from the Warehouse, holding them in his hand. The iron ingots were shaped like bricks, each weighing about 20 pounds, but with Alex's strength attribute of 35 points, they felt almost weightless.

"So this is what iron ingots are, just unrefined chunks of iron..."

She had thought it was some high-end material, but it turned out to be just ordinary iron, as the name suggested.

To upgrade the castle to a town required ten thousand iron ingots, and obtaining them through food would need twenty thousand portions, assuming such quantities were available on the market. Moreover, the price of food was only going to decrease, and if no one had other means to obtain iron ingots, their price would only increase.

Looking at the ten thousand iron ingots needed to upgrade the town, then at the one hundred iron ingots in the Warehouse.

"When will I ever accumulate enough?"

Alex felt somewhat worried about the future.

She wondered if there were any miners among the undead race. No, mining was easy; the hard part was smelting.

Given the intelligence of the undead, it was doubtful they could handle such work.

"Hey, the gargoyle and a few unenhanced undead from yesterday are back! It seems I misjudged that silly bird; it actually understood what I said."

Alex sent the gargoyle and other undead into the Blackwater Altar for enhancement, and a minute later, the process was complete.

The gargoyle turned even darker. She checked the gargoyle's attributes.

[gargoyle]

[Race: undead race]

[Loyalty: 100% (Never Betray)]

[Life Tier: Standard]

[Level: lv5 (can be raised by killing enemies)]

[Health Points: Undead trait, immortal as long as the soul fire burns]

[Mana Points: 0]

[Strength: 28+5]

[Stamina: ∞]

[Agility: 23+5]

[Growth Limit: King level]

[Exclusive Passive: Magic Immunity (depends on the magic level and its own level)]

[Enhancement: Skin, increases own defense, can absorb some magic when transformed into a statue, enhances self (not exceeding own level). All attributes +5 points.]

In this world, gargoyles aren't like the legends where they fear sunlight and turn back into statues under its rays. 

Instead, after this enhancement, they can voluntarily transform into statues and even absorb magic to strengthen themselves. 

High-level troops really are different; the higher the enhancement, the better the effects.

After a night and a morning of upgrades, the gargoyle reached level 5. 

Now, Alex was starting to look down on the level 1 Skeleton Soldiers she had summoned initially, which couldn't be upgraded. 

Having the undead kill enemies within the castle's domain was more efficient because of the enhancement from the Bone Throne, which added +1 level. Even the non-upgradable level 1 Skeleton Soldiers could become level 2.

Unfortunately, there weren't many wild monsters around the castle anymore, and the number of undead was increasing. Alex could see several skeletons just by glancing outside the castle. To carry out Alex's orders, the skeletons had to venture further away from the castle.

At that moment, Alex suddenly received a notification.

[You have a new private message from a friend!]

She didn't need to guess who it was, as she only had one friend.

"I hope he's not telling me he's run out of food again. I'm starting to think you're a bottomless pit!" Alex muttered under her breath, already branding the annoying [QuartzStriker] as a cunning merchant and a glutton in her mind.

Alex opened the private chat.

[QuartzStriker]: "Big Shot, I'm out of food again, I need another 500 portions. This time I've got wood, I'll trade it with wood and stone!"

[Hamburger]: "I'm not short on food, but I have a question for you. Do you have iron ingots?"

[QuartzStriker]: "Yes, I have a mine nearby, and my troops can smelt the iron ore."

Haha, how foolish to reveal where the iron ingots come from.

Just as Alex had guessed, iron ingots were just plain chunks of iron, obviously mined and then smelted in a furnace.

Alex felt she had overestimated this world; some things are just as plain and simple as they are described.

Why would he tell me this?

Because even if he tells me, I don't have a mine, nor a furnace, and I don't know how to smelt ore.

With that realization, Alex understood.

Just as she was about to reply to [QuartzStriker] and agree to cooperate, Alex paused to think it over more carefully. 

If she traded food for his iron ingots, then his stockpile of stone would be freed up. This would allow [QuartzStriker] to trade stone for food with other Lords, reducing his need to frequently trade with Alex for iron ingots using food.

[QuartzStriker] surely understood the importance of iron ingots and wouldn't be as casual about trading them as Alex was with food. 

Damn, she needed to find a way to change this situation.

While Alex was brainstorming, [QuartzStriker] sent another message, growing impatient with her delayed response.

[QuartzStriker]: "Big Shot, do you want to trade for iron ingots?"

This also gave Sophie a piece of information—that Alex's castle was fully upgraded. Sophie, not being foolish, had only upgraded her castle to full capacity because she had such an advantage. Alex, on the other hand, must not have had conditions as favorable as Sophie's.

Sophie speculated that Alex's troops were likely powerful and probably consumed very little, or even no food at all—perhaps they were earth elementals or treants. Otherwise, it didn't make sense how Alex could so easily spare so much food.

Sophie believed Alex must be very strong, while her own troops were too weak. 

Although Sophie felt confident about surviving the upcoming beast tide, the All-Races Battle Royale that followed was a different story. Relying solely on her dwarf artisans, it would be difficult to gain an advantage in confrontations with other Lords.

Thus, forming an alliance with a powerful ally was crucial for Sophie.

[Hamburger]: "Yes, how much can you trade?"

[QuartzStriker]: "To show my sincerity, how about I trade 300 iron ingots for 500 portions of your food this time? And if you need, I can promise to trade 200 iron ingots every day for just 300 portions of food. Consider it a friendship with a Big Shot like you."

Alex: ?! This [QuartzStriker] really knows how to do business!

[Hamburger]: "Alright, my dear friend!"