Sensing the caution in Prince Ahmed's gaze,
Zhao Chen naturally knew what he was thinking.
He smiled faintly, spread his hands and said, "I have no other demands; I only want more mineral resources from the Stone Kingdom. But at the Stone Kingdom's present rate of mineral output, buying my T6-grade interstellar warships would be rather like a cup of water against a cartful of burning firewood. True, the Stone Kingdom's yearly trade earnings are no small sum now. But ask yourself honestly: a T6-grade interstellar warship with no conditions attached at all, how much should it be worth in Your Highness's heart? 1,000 trillion star coins? 5,000 trillion star coins? 9,000 trillion star coins? Or perhaps… 10,000 trillion star coins? 100,000 trillion star coins? 1,000,000 trillion star coins?"[1]
When Zhao Chen said 1,000,000 trillion star coins, neither Prince Ahmed nor Huaya Lanlan, there in the room, felt in the least that the Owl Dragon Emperor was opening his lion's mouth wide with that price.
For mind you, as far as they knew, the building cost alone of the few T6 interstellar warship classes in the known universe today was somewhere around several hundred trillion star coins.
And their sale was almost never a matter of price alone.
For up to now, no interstellar civilization's universe could bear the price of buying a T6 interstellar warship.
Usually certain demands were attached:
so many years' control of such-and-such a universe's territory, say, or the right to buy such-and-such a product for the next hundred years; demands of some degree were always attached.
So until now Prince Ahmed had thought this Owl Dragon Emperor would put forward demands of that sort.
Had the demands been anything like that, they would most likely not have agreed.
For tempting as T6-grade interstellar warships were, that did not mean they could sell out their own principles.
"I can ask for nothing but payment of equal value. But isn't the precondition that you can afford to pay? May I ask: what is the Stone Kingdom's yearly output value of minerals now?" Zhao Chen asked with a smile.
Prince Ahmed did not answer.
Huaya Lanlan, beside them, spoke up instead: "By our reckoning, over the past ten years the Stone Kingdom's average yearly output value has been around 10,000 trillion star coins."
An output value of 10,000 trillion star coins.
In other interstellar civilizations' universes, that would in fact not count as a very high figure.
But the point was that the Stone Kingdom's universe was far smaller than other interstellar civilizations' universes.
Reckoned as output value per unit of area, the Stone Kingdom could certainly be called the richest universe of all!
Without exception!
Prince Ahmed did not deny Huaya Lanlan's words; that amounted to admitting the figure indirectly.
"If it's only that figure, then even if you were willing to put up half your funds to buy our T6 interstellar warships, how many years would you have to save to buy just one? That being so, we might as well find a way to open up new sources! That's one part of what I want to work with you on. I need a great, great many mineral resources, and you have the means to produce the mineral resources I need. The only thing lacking is that the tools in your hands are too backward. As far as I know, you still use T5, T4 and even T3-grade interstellar mining ships to gather that ore now, and not many of them at that," Zhao Chen said slowly.
Zhao Chen paused, raised his hand and opened another document.
Once more, holograms of several starships appeared before Prince Ahmed.
Every one of them an interstellar mining ship!
From the lower-grade T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship, the T4 Tycoon-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship and the T5 Scavenger-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship
on to the T6 Mechanical Ant-King-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship.
Above all, when he saw that T6 Mechanical Ant-King-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship, Prince Ahmed's eyes went fixed once more.
Mind you, it was not that the civilizations of the known universe today had no T6-grade interstellar mining ships.
But those were core technologies in the hands of other interstellar civilizations' universes; usually they could barely spare them for their own use, let alone sell them outside.
Even had they wanted to buy, they might not have been able to.
Now the Owl Dragon Emperor was actually saying all these could be opened for sale to them.
"You truly have no conditions at all, and can sell us these interstellar mining ships?" Prince Ahmed could not help asking.
Zhao Chen said frankly, "To say there are no conditions would be impossible."
Prince Ahmed's heart sank; he had known it would come to this.
Zhao Chen went on, "For buying these interstellar mining ships, we on our side have the following demands. First: once we've reached a partnership, you must expand output tenfold or more in a short time, and for this we'll set up a valuation-adjustment agreement. Second: you can buy our interstellar mining ships at full price; apart from not being allowed to resell them, how you use them is not our concern. If funds are short, we'll accept a cooperative arrangement too. For instance, we can sell you a class of interstellar mining ship at a low price. Say a T5 Scavenger-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship has a public price of 2,000 trillion star coins; under this cooperative arrangement, we'd ask only 100 trillion star coins a ship. But for the next hundred years, we'd take half of the resources that T5 Scavenger-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship mines, as our share outright. Besides that, the mineral resources you mine must be supplied to us first; we can pay for them directly, or you can exchange the mineral resources you deliver for goods of equal value, whether supplies for daily life or starships. Those are our demands."
Zhao Chen's words came to an end.
Across from him, Prince Ahmed was stunned; he looked at Zhao Chen in some surprise. "Your Majesty, what you want… is only this?"
Zhao Chen shrugged and said, "Yes. You needn't worry that we'll interfere with you or control you. All we want is more mineral resources; that's our only aim. Besides, you and I both know the environment of the Stone Kingdom's universe. My people can't work and produce inside the Stone Kingdom's universe for long at all; rather than that, better to keep things as they are. We work together: once you have my tools, you can produce far more efficiently, and I can get more mineral resources. It's a win for both sides."
Hearing the Owl Dragon Emperor's explanation, it had to be said that Prince Ahmed was truly tempted.
At this point Zhao Chen brought out his trump card besides; he pointed at the starships in these holograms and said, "I know Your Highness can't decide a matter this weighty yourself. If you can take me to see the King of the Stone Kingdom, I can at once bring out interstellar warships of these classes for you to look over on the spot, and even give them a trial run. Let you truly feel the virtues of these starships for yourselves!"
Huaya Lanlan's earlier advice had truly been good.
On hearing that Zhao Chen could bring out real ships of these classes then and there,
Prince Ahmed was truly won over.
He looked at the Owl Dragon Emperor with a smile. "I feel Your Majesty's sincerity. If you truly can let our king see real starships of these classes, I can contact His Majesty our king on my side and arrange your meeting."
Zhao Chen nodded.
Then the two of them rose, and shook hands as well, to show their goodwill.
Zhao Chen suddenly leaned forward a little, and said in a low voice with a smile, "The T5 Holy-Redeemer-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Heavy-Artillery Battleship I promised Your Highness earlier will be presented as well. Please name a place, or arrange people to take delivery."
The smile on Prince Ahmed's face grew broader, and he said, beaming, "Your Majesty is too kind. I'll be sure to find a way to get this matter done. I think Your Majesty the Owl Dragon Emperor is a partner very much worth trusting. If you have time afterward, you must come and be a guest in my domain; I'll treat Your Majesty very well!"
Beside them, Huaya Lanlan watched the two talking like brothers.
She knew very well this was a kind of "transfer of benefits."
This meeting gift was not merely a brick for knocking at the door.
Laid before Prince Ahmed now, when it came later to meeting and dealing with the King of the Stone Kingdom, this Prince Ahmed would naturally put in a few more words.
This Prince Ahmed was, after all, the elder cousin of the present Stone King of the Stone Kingdom.
A word from a prince who was the king's elder cousin still counted for a good deal.
So it was here that a T5 Holy-Redeemer-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Heavy-Artillery Battleship worth "800 trillion star coins" would show where its worth lay.
With such an "800 trillion star coin" brick knocking at the door first,
everything was very soon settled.
Word came from Prince Ahmed: the Stone King was willing to meet the Owl Dragon Emperor.
The place was set in the Stone Kingdom's royal capital star system.
The dealings before had in fact not taken place inside the Stone Kingdom's universe, but in a very, very small little universe.
It lay outside the Stone Kingdom's universe, but very near the Stone Kingdom, so the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes used it as a transfer station for trade.
Meetings and negotiations between the two sides were all set there too.
It was plain the Stone Kingdom truly did keep outsiders away.
That the Owl Dragon Emperor could now be let into the Stone Kingdom at all already counted as a thing not easily come by.
But under Zhao Chen's sugar-coated shells, Zhao Chen still got smoothly inside the Stone Kingdom's universe.
And around Zhao Chen's Emperor's Guard Fleet and the other interstellar warships with him, a layer of pale gray shielding light appeared.
"This is a technology we've developed that protects outside races entering the Stone Kingdom's universe, and slows the effect of the magnetic field here. But it can only lengthen the time you can stay a little; it can't let you live here long. As for the petrifying effects it causes in Your Majesty's body, you need only leave the Stone Kingdom's universe for a while and they'll recover on their own," Prince Ahmed explained for Zhao Chen from the other side of the video window.