continuously

"If we can gather enough Pegasus Knights and enough gold, I can train them into Silver Pegasus Knights. Then maybe—just maybe—we could try attacking the Unicorn Glade in Wishing Valley!"

Elynn's eyes sparkled with excitement. "If we succeed, every additional Tier 11 Unicorn we recruit will buy us more time! As long as we can hold out until Her Highness Seraphina comes of age, any crisis will be resolved instantly!"

But as she spoke, a wry smile crept onto her face. "That said, the gold needed to recruit Unicorns is a huge problem. I estimate we'd need at least 1.2 million gold just to recruit a single Tier 11 Royal Unit—let alone a Unicorn. And Wishing Valley only has two Enchanted Springs. Even if we capture both, we'd only be able to recruit Tier 7 Pegasus Knights at first. And the next recruitment cycle? We'd have to wait a full three months!"

In the world of Glory Lords X, the recruitment cooldowns for different unit tiers vary:

Basic Units (Tier 1-6) refresh every 7 days to a month.

Elite Units (Tier 7-8) and Champion Units (Tier 9-10) refresh every three months.

Royal Units (Tier 11-12) take at least six months.

Legendary and Mythic Units (Tier 13-14) have a minimum recruitment cooldown of a year!

In other words, within the next three months, Emerald Castle could only recruit ten Tier 7 Pegasus Knights. Each Enchanted Spring could only produce five every three months. Unless they discovered more Enchanted Springs, their recruitment capacity was already set in stone.

And whether they were recruiting Tier 7 Pegasus Knights from the Enchanted Springs or having Elynn train them into Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knights, it all cost money!

Recruiting a Tier 7 Pegasus Knight: 30,000 gold.

Training it into a Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knight: 50,000 gold.

Total cost for a single Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knight: 80,000 gold and 3 crystals.

Even if they pooled all of Emerald Castle's current resources, they could only afford three Silver Pegasus Knights!

With such a tiny force, even with Seraphina and Cicero—two Green Dragons—on their side, launching a frontal assault on the Unicorn Glade, which had over ten Tier 11 Unicorns defending it, was like sending a high school football team to take on the reigning Super Bowl champions.

They'd get crushed. No chance of victory.

But then—

Ethan's eyes suddenly lit up. He had an idea.

"I've got it!"

"Seraphina, how many Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knights do you have right now?" Ethan asked.

"Two," Seraphina replied.

"Can you train any more?"

"We can manage one more… but that's it. Emerald Castle is completely broke!" Elynn admitted bluntly.

"One is enough. How long will it take?" Ethan pressed.

"Half a day," Elynn answered without hesitation. At her speed, she could train two Tier 7 Pegasus Knights into Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knights in a single day.

"Then do it immediately! I'll come find you in half a day. I want all three Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knights ready for me!" Ethan ordered.

"Understood!"

She had no idea what Ethan was planning, but since her great master had already made his decision, all she needed to do was obey.

When it came to following orders, Elynn's sense of duty was exceptionally strong.

Ethan's plan was actually pretty simple—

Selling troops.

Back on his original Earth, the most valuable and in-demand commodities were gold and oil. But in this parallel world? The most valuable asset wasn't currency, wasn't resources—it was troops.

The entire economic system of this world revolved around the unit mechanics of Glory Lords X. While in-game resources and gold were also important trade commodities, nothing held more value than powerful units.

In the real world, a massive and well-developed industry had formed around trading in-game gold, resources, troops, and even quest completions. The market was enormous.

For example, the exchange rate for in-game gold to real-world currency was roughly 1 gold = 600 to 800 USD.

That meant a single Silver Pegasus Knight, which cost 80,000 gold to produce, was worth a staggering 48 to 64 million dollars in real-world money!

And that wasn't even factoring in the cost of high-tier resources like crystals needed for training.

The scale of this market was insane.

But Ethan wasn't just planning to sell Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knights for a quick profit. His plan was far more brilliant than that.

His real goal?

Sell gold. Buy Tier 7 Pegasus Knights.

Why?

Because he had Elynn—a hero with the unique talent "Silver Pegasus Knight Training Master."

This ability allowed him to infinitely train Tier 7 Pegasus Knights into Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knights.

As long as he had enough gold and a steady supply of Tier 7 Pegasus Knights, he could continuously produce Tier 8 troops, creating a self-sustaining military production cycle.

The key word here was "continuously."

—As long as his funding didn't run dry, he could use this strategic talent to build an endless army of Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knights!

That was the terrifying part of Ethan's plan.

If he moved fast enough, he could use this buy low, sell high strategy to rapidly amass a huge force of Silver Pegasus Knights.

Even if he didn't have the gold to recruit Tier 11 Unicorns from Unicorn Glade, this temporary army of Silver Pegasus Knights would be more than enough to hold the line.

All he had to do was hold out until Seraphina reached Level 15 and officially came of age.

Once that happened?

Everything would change.

With that thought in mind, Ethan immediately logged out and started gathering intel.

"Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knights are way too expensive for regular players, or even weaker guilds… I need a big, long-term buyer. That means I have to target the top ten guilds…" Ethan muttered as he scoured the internet for information.

In North America, most players were concentrated in three of the Eight Grand Duchies:

Unicorn Duchy

Eldoria Duchy

Ironhorn Duchy

The top ten guilds were also based in these regions.

Ethan immediately ignored any guilds operating in Eldoria Duchy and Ironhorn Duchy.

Before long, he had written down three names on the blank sheet of paper in front of him:

Legion of Shadows

Scarlet Legion

Holy Concord Guild

These were his targets.