Chapter 7: Ranch expansions
The ranch was getting more and more crowded. The hunter slimes had been put into the same corral as the honey slimes in hope that they become largos after eating the honey plorts. Which they did and became feral at first but after feeding them they became quite tame like cats. But there was a large problem being that there was less space than he was comfortable with anymore.
There was one solution as you could tell, that solution being Ranch expansions. These expansions were very useful as they provided both space and a certain few even provided some special needs such as the lab unlocking the gadgets which he would need soon and the Docks which had a built-in pond that could house 4 puddle slimes.
Though there was one thing...
"Why are all of these so damn expensive?!"-Albert
His reasoning for the anger is? The first two expansions cost 1795 newbucks respectively but the docks cost 5000 newbucks alone. The lab? It cost a whopping 10000 newbucks. Not 1000 but 10000 newbucks. Which was a fair price considering all the things he could produce but even then, he only got nearly 7000 from selling 192 honey plorts.
The honey hunter largos produced quite the amount of plorts but the price of plorts dropped incredibly low, so low in fact that the price for honey plorts was 15 newbucks and for hunter plorts, it was 23! If you combined all the costs into one solid price you would get 18590 Newbucks he would have two spend.
The appetite of the largos was lower than that of the average slime. While the slime would get hungry about three times a day the largo would get hungry about only twice a day and with 15 honey hunter largos and favorite food, how many plorts would that make per day? 120 honey plorts and 120 hunter plorts.
Before when the prices were still high that would be a great amount but when the prices are this low? It was making him feel poorer by the minute. But since the price stayed fixed he knew he couldn't hoard the plorts until the prices rose again. Before such a situation arose he still had over 1000 newbucks but he spent it all on fully upgrading his Coop ( It was a good idea he could eat meat every day now) But alas it could still be salvaged. If he sold his plorts every day he would gain 4560 newbucks every day and he could buy both of the first 2 expansions from the profits and...
"Goddamnit, why am I so stupid! I don't need to buy them all at once. There is still hope for me!"-Albert
Selling his plorts he decided to stop his internal rant and decided to buy the first two expansions. One was a large cave known as the grotto, it provided natural protection for phosphor slimes but he had already spent money on buying the solar shield upgrade for one of his corrals at the start so it would be stupid to put phosphor slime in here now. The next expansion was the Overgrowth, this provided a distance away from each space he could place structures which meant that he could keep his dangerous slimes there. It also imitated the moss blanket and had natural growing pogofruits and carrot patches.
The one he wanted most was the overgrowth due to the fact he wouldn't have to go out and actively need to collect pogofruit anymore which was great. He entered the Overgrowth after he bought it and, to say the least, it looked stunning to him. It had a beautiful green shimmering color that permeated around but as he looked at the number of spaces It had half the amount of spaces as the main part of the ranch, but that was what he expected when he saw that the spaces were distanced from each other.
Heading back he realized he got a message from his starmail and it was the range exchange, a sort of trading between ranchers. He spoke to an elderly woman named Thora West, she showed him how to trade using the Range exchange and gave him an example, asking him for 5 pink plorts and 3 phosphor plorts in exchange for 150 newbucks and a hen. It was a bit unfair in her favor but she was a bit surprised when he asked her if she had made foods from the food at the Far, Far Range before she smiled sending him a recipe for Cuberry Jello and he replied by sending her the Recipe to his Mint Mango Honey Pie. She hadn't seen such a dish before, which shocked him.
" Hey, Thora are there any other Ranchers who might contact me through the Range Exchange?"-Albert
"Hm? Oh yes, there are quite a few, the one I speak to the most is Ogden Ortiz, though he always rambles about his delicious kookadobas"-Thora
"The purple thorny fruits right? Yeah those are quite nice with their slightly savory taste"-Albert
"You too? In my opinion, it just tastes like rotten cheese"-Thora
"Oh well, are there any others?"-Albert
"Yes, there is that spoiled brat Mochi Miles, always demanding I give her some exotic plorts. There is that nice boy named Viktor who requests slimes rather than plorts or veggies, he says he does research but he doesn't tell me what kind."-Thora
"I have another question Thora"-Albert
"Hm? What is it?"-Thora
"Could you send me a few new recipes now and then? I wanna try a few new things"-Albert
"Only if you send me some back, in fact, my husband, Hobson, made the mint mango honey pie a few minutes ago and is crying of joy this very moment"-Thora
Both of them laughed as the conversation had ended. Though both immediately went to their kitchens to try out recipes.
Albert, having entered the house was ecstatic at having discovered a new recipe and a cooking friend.
Now the recipe required him to juice the cuberries and start boiling the juice after adding a fair sized portion of gelatin made from the bits and pieces of collagen from some of the stony hens. So he waited, making such a dish was anticlimactic but rather simple and peaceful. Perfect for hot sunny day by the slime sea.
Grabbing a spoon he delved into its tastes after cooling it down in the fridge.
"Mmm, refreshing"-Albert
Like a strawberry but more sweet.
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Everybody this plot is taking a strange turn but its a nice turn of events I have planned for our MC.
Btw Here is his pic
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