Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 18: Partnership

[World Channel 9527 (10,000 users)]

"Guys, I found a dead Eldoria native soldier in my territory, and guess what? Two pieces of flint on him!"

"Newbie question: What's flint?"

"Flint, aka fire starter. You can use it to make fire!"

"Make fire? Fire? Holy crap! Dude, you've hit the jackpot!"

"Hey, are you selling? I'll give you 1000 units of wood!"

"Something about that offer feels...cheap. Is it just me?"

"You might be pure of heart, but that offer is pure garbage. 1000 units of wood? Don't sell to him! I'll give you 1200!"

"...You're a real comedian, aren't you?"

"Sell to me! 1500!"

"2000!"

"3000!"

"I'll give you my aunt! She's thirty, only been married two years..."

"Erm, thanks for the offer, but I'll pass on the aunt. I need wood and stone to upgrade my castle. Anyone else wanna bid?"

"Whoa, hold up! Flint? Fire? You're actually selling?"

"Yeah, why not? Can't eat the stuff. Might as well trade it for resources to upgrade my castle, right?"

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"Wait, what's going on? Is flint some kind of super rare treasure? I've been busy trying to find the market near my castle, haven't been paying attention to the world channel. Someone fill me in!"

"Long story short, fire is a big deal. Now, about that flint... I'll offer 10,000! 5000 wood and 5000 stone!"

"Whoa, price gouging much?"

"I'll give... darn it, I'm broke! Poverty makes me so envious it's physically painful!"

"Don't sell! You'll regret it!"

"Yeah, you'll lose a billion!"

"A billion?! Seriously? Two pieces of flint are worth that much?"

"Clearly, you haven't heard of Alex."

"...Nope."

"...Right. So, Alex is the first lord, out of billions, to get fire. Yesterday, day one, she somehow managed to get a fire source. She ate cooked meat on the first day! The first out of billions! And she sold thousands of units of cooked meat at the Free Market. 20 units of wood per unit of cooked meat."

"Whoa! 20 units of wood?! That's highway robbery!"

"Yep. Pure profit. And people were fighting over it. But it gets crazier. Today, day two, before you showed up, Alex was *still* the only one with fire. So, she switched tactics and started a cooked meat processing business. 10 units of wood to process 1 unit of raw meat."

"10 units is still a lot!"

"The kicker? She's processed an estimated 200,000 units of raw meat! That's two million units of wood in processing fees! Two. Million."

"Two million... imagine how many castle upgrades that is!"

"Two million is just the beginning! Cooked meat is in high demand. The market is huge! Twenty million? Two hundred million? The sky's the limit!"

"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! That's all I can say. Holy crap!"

"So, as the second lord with fire, you gotta seize this opportunity! Alex made a killing because she had fire first. Now, you have the same chance. You could make two million too. Or four, six, eight... who knows!"

"Man, you're making me rethink my life choices..."

"Don't just think, act! You have the flint, you cook the meat. I have the resources and the connections, I'll buy the raw meat and sell the cooked meat. We split the profits 50/50! Together, we're unstoppable!"

"Alright, brother, let's do this! We'll make four million! Two million each!"

"My man!"

"My brother!"

"Hold on! Don't get scammed! Sophie is Alex's exclusive agent, and she only takes a 2-unit cut. Why split the profits with this guy? You have the flint! You're the key ingredient! Without you, there's no business! You should take the lion's share! Partner with me! 80/20 split, in your favor!"

"Now *you're* talking! My true brother!"

"Haha, my man!"

"Haha, my brother!"

"...."

And just like that, a partnership was born. Cain, the lucky finder of flint, and Mike, the smooth-talking negotiator with a keen eye for profit, joined forces. Their first order of business? Pricing.

[Cain]: "Brother, let's undercut Alex. 9 units of wood or stone per unit of meat. Grab that market share!"

[Mike]: "Nah, man, no need! The market is huge! Alex can't handle it all. We don't need to compete with her."

[Cain]: "Okay, I trust you."

"So, what's the plan?"

[Mike]: "You just focus on cooking. I'll handle everything else. I'll take care of you."

[Cain]: "Alright, brother, I believe in you!"

After their chat, Mike, channeling his inner Alex, posted an ad on the world channel.

[World Channel 69699 (10,000 users)]

Mike: "Mike and Cain here. We have a controllable fire source and are now offering raw meat processing services. 10 units of wood or stone per unit of meat! Large orders only! Serious inquiries only! DM me!"

He sounded like a true tycoon, reveling in his newfound power.

"Hee hee hee," Mike giggled, hiding in his castle like a kid in a candy store.

[Ding!]

[Friend Request!]

[39,870,000 requests!]

Nearly forty million friend requests flooded in.

"Holy moly!" Mike had never seen anything like it. He felt like he was about to be crowned king.

[Hey boss, placing an order, 100,000 units!] Mike opened the first request. A meat processing order. 100,000 units! A whale!

[100,000 units, not bad. I'll take it.] Mike typed, trying to sound nonchalant despite the ecstatic cartwheels his heart was doing. Being Cain's partner had definitely gone to his head.

[Boss, I have 50,000 units.]

[...70,000 units.]

[...100,000 units.]

Mike cherry-picked the orders, ignoring anything below 50,000 units. Soon, he had booked 1,500,000 units worth of orders.

"1,500,000 units!" he thought, barely able to breathe. "That's 15 million in processing fees!" The cooked meat business was ridiculously easy!

After calming down, he forwarded the 1,500,000 units of raw meat to Cain. Running off with the goods? Not possible. Eldoria had safeguards against that.

Cain was equally stunned.

[Cain]: "1,500,000 units! Brother, we're rich!"

[Mike]: "We sure are! Get cooking! I'm going back to the world channel to drum up more business while the competition is still weak."

[Cain]: "You're the best, brother!"

[Mike]: "You too, boss!"

*Hahaha!*