Chapter 33: The First Taste of Profit
A day passed quickly. As the system had indicated, the mutated Sweetheart Fruits yielded an astonishing harvest. In just one day of growth, they harvested nearly a hundred fruits, enough to support large-scale brewing operations.
Lan Chi immediately gave the hut five hundred Phosphorus Crystals to generate three two-hundred-square-meter rooms, to be used as a brewing room, a temperature-controlled room, and a storage room.
Harvesting, mashing, sealing. After going through the entire process, fifty wine barrels were neatly arranged in the temperature-controlled room, leaving Lan Chi and Kaelen completely exhausted.
"I can't do this anymore. Once we make some money, I'm definitely getting some equipment. If I don't get fully automated equipment, this work will kill me." Lan Chi complained after placing the last sealed barrel into the temperature-controlled room.
"Isn't Master Nightshade out buying materials to upgrade Little Hut? It should be upgraded soon, right?" Kaelen asked hesitantly.
"Getting all the materials together won't be that fast. The Dwarves' ore mining speed isn't very quick. As soon as materials become available, they're snapped up by major factions. Nightshade has been staking out the mining points every day just to buy a portion. We're still missing a lot." Lan Chi lay back on the chair in the living room, mentally calculating his next plan. "I still need to figure out this brewing business on my own."
After resting for a while, Lan Chi stood up and pulled Kaelen out of the house. "Let's eat out tonight. No cooking."
"Shouldn't we wait for Master Nightshade?" Kaelen asked hesitantly.
"No need. I asked him earlier. He's been at the mines waiting for ore and might come back very late."
...
The Dwarven tavern was quite distinctive. Unlike the towering exterior of the buildings, the interior decor was very low and cramped. The ceiling was pressed extremely low; ordinary people had to bow their heads upon entering. The walls were blackened by smoke and fire. Pine resin torches crackled, casting a dim, flickering yellow light that dimmed the entire room. The air was thick with the strong aroma of liquor and the greasy smell of roasted meat.
The long tables and benches were all carved from whole pieces of rough wood, heavy yet sturdy. The tabletops were polished shiny by years of spilled liquor. Behind the bar stood a row of oak barrels, each over man-height.
Lan Chi and Kaelen lowered their heads as they entered. There were no waiters to guide them; they simply found seats for themselves and waited a while until a server came to take their order.
Lan Chi ordered roasted meat and a bowl of meat soup. Most of the food here was roasted, and eating too much of it felt very greasy.
The room was filled with stocky, sturdy figures. Their voices were coarse and loud like rolling thunder, their laughter and curses so loud they shook dust from the walls. Rough hands gripped enormous earthenware bowls, slamming them heavily onto the tabletops without caring about the splashing liquor. The entire tavern trembled slightly amidst the aroma of alcohol and the noise.
Halfway through the meal, Kaelen stopped her knife and fork, frowned, and began searching through the crowd with sharp eyes.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Lan Chi noticed something was wrong and stopped eating. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing. I just felt like someone was watching us." Kaelen replied softly. She was no longer in her original form; her sky-blue hair had been dyed black like Lan Chi's, and although her eyes were still blue, her face was made up.
Lan Chi scanned the tavern but didn't notice anything unusual. "Maybe someone thinks you're beautiful and can't help staring?"
"Master, you're teasing me." Kaelen blushed and lowered her head.
The two continued eating and chatting happily. In the shadows, a pair of eyes quietly watched from the darkness, their gaze heavy, fixed on them without blinking, carrying an indescribable coldness.
...
Two days passed quickly. When Lan Chi opened the door to the temperature-controlled room again, a rich aroma of liquor wafted out.
Lan Chi opened a barrel. The smell of alcohol immediately rushed into his nostrils, mixed with a rich fruity fragrance.
He ladled a spoonful into a bowl and took a sip. A clear, sweet fruity aroma wrapped around a light but not weak liquor scent. It went down smoothly without burning, the sweetness mellow but not cloying. The alcohol content was about twelve percent, similar to the concentration of wine, with more of a kick than ordinary fruit liquor. After a few sips, a warmth slowly spread through him, and his cheeks felt slightly warm.
"Not bad." Lan Chi nodded with satisfaction. Ten to twelve percent was the limit for brewing fruit liquor without yeast. Liquor at this level could definitely be distilled into spirits.
Lan Chi opened the long-unused system trading channel. The scrolling order requests on the interface had completely changed.
From the initial requests for basic supplies and food, they had gradually shifted to higher level items. There were more and more orders for magic potions, finished mechanical products, alchemical items, and so on. At the same time, basic materials like ore and energy crystals were still in short supply. Many sale orders were essentially just blank checks posted on the trading channel; sellers would only contact buyers privately when someone expressed interest, conducting real-world transactions rather than through the channel.
Lan Chi anonymously listed a barrel of liquor on the trading channel and waited for buyers to arrive.
[Strong Fruit Wine]: Sweet and clear, smooth without burning, mellow sweetness without being cloying. Similar concentration to Dwarven ale. Price negotiable.
Not long after the order was posted on the trading channel, his private messages started ringing immediately.
Grom Hammerfist (Dwarf): "How much liquor per barrel? How do I buy it?"
Lan Chi (Anonymous): "About ten liters per barrel, roughly fifty bowls. 300 Phosphorus Crystals."
Grom Hammerfist: "Damn, that's too expensive. Wholesale price here is only 180 Phosphorus Crystals per barrel. Lower it a bit—190 per barrel, and I'll buy in bulk."
Lan Chi (Anonymous): "This is good stuff. I've tasted the liquor sold in your Dwarf settlements—it's garbage. And this is fruit-brewed, a thousand times better than what you have there."
Grom Hammerfist: "Don't joke around. I've drunk fruit-brewed liquor before. It's not strong at all. Fine, my best offer is 200. Can't go higher."
Lan Chi (Anonymous): "Let me trade you a bowl for free to taste. Decide after you try it."
With that, Lan Chi opened the trade and directly sent over the bowl he had just ladled out.
Two minutes later, the Dwarf Grom Hammerfist directly messaged him: "300 Phosphorus Crystals, right? How many do you have? I'll take them all."
Lan Chi raised an eyebrow and replied: "Currently only 30 barrels for sale." He actually had 49 barrels available, but he didn't want to sell them all to one person. He planned to trade the remaining 19 with a few other capable buyers.
Grom Hammerfist: "Deal. I'll take them all. Will you have more in the future? Add me as a contact. I'll place long-term orders."
Lan Chi (Anonymous): "Production is limited right now, just these. I can contact you again when I have more."
The transaction was completed, and 9,000 Phosphorus Crystals arrived in his account. After finishing with the Dwarf, Lan Chi successively received several other trades. The 49 barrels sold quickly, and he also received several orders with offers to pay deposits in advance.
Looking at the orders, Lan Chi had to reluctantly refuse them. It wasn't that he didn't want to accept them, but his production capacity was insufficient. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow I definitely need to find new equipment."
He closed the system channel and looked at the again increased Phosphorus Crystals. For the moment, the worry of insufficient production capacity was pushed to the back of his mind.
