System Marketplace Shopping Spree

After resting for two days and organizing his thoughts, that evening, Zhou Ming opened the Game Panel in his mind and entered the System Marketplace.

What could nearly a million Achievement Points buy?

Of the six major categories of goods in the System Marketplace, aside from Cultivation Methods and Opportunities, which had yet to be unlocked, Zhou Ming began browsing the remaining four categories from the Items section to see whether there was anything suitable worth purchasing.

Besides the Manifestation Treasure Chest that Zhou Ming had been eagerly anticipating but had not yet unlocked, the Items section contained a great many "book" and "map" resources.

The books included the Four Great Classical Novels, Twenty-Four Histories, Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Governance, Complete Collection of Tang Poetry and Song Lyrics, and various literary and philosophical works. After purchase and use, they could improve a game character's cultural refinement.

These books did not require much to redeem either. The Four Great Classical Novels, for example, cost only 1,000 Achievement Points, while the Complete Collection of Tang Poetry and Song Lyrics cost merely 1,500.

However, compared with cultural refinement, Zhou Ming felt it would be better to improve his military knowledge in the Lord's Dispute map. Thus, he spent 3,000 Achievement Points to redeem a complete collection of military theories from a hundred strategists. It was a little expensive, but its contents were comprehensive—five thousand years of warfare from ancient and modern times, both Chinese and foreign, along with the theoretical essence of more than a hundred outstanding military minds. Once the game character grasped it, winning with fewer troops against more and remaining undefeated through a hundred battles should be easy.

Apart from book-type goods, the most valuable items in the Items section were probably the various maps.

Among these maps were "regional maps," "national maps," and "world maps" for each game instance. They allowed players to conveniently understand their geographic location and came with navigation functions.

There were also maps with special marking functions, such as the Water Resources Distribution Map, Mineral Resources Distribution Map, and Oil Resources Distribution Map. These maps could clearly and accurately mark every type of resource buried above and below ground in the game world, greatly facilitating players' acquisition of all the resources they needed during the game.

Zhou Ming was practically drooling. "I have to buy the Mineral Resources Distribution Map! When developing the territory's economy, I'll know which resources are closest to the territory and can better plan its development route around them. And the World Map—I have to buy one of those too! What kind of land lies beyond Ural Snow Mountain? How big is the instance world of Lord's Dispute? Buy a world map, and I'll know."

However, the redemption prices for these two maps were not cheap. They were even somewhat pricey.

Mineral Resources Distribution Map, redemption requirement: 150,000 Achievement Points.

World Map, redemption requirement: 150,000 Achievement Points.

"Should I redeem them or not? These two maps alone will cost 300,000 of the Achievement Points I worked so hard to earn."

After agonizing over it for a while, Zhou Ming decided to add both maps to his shopping cart first. Once he had looked through the other products, he could come back and decide what to buy.

After finishing the Items section, Zhou Ming opened the long-awaited Character section.

Looking at the dazzling array of Character Cards in the Character section, Zhou Ming could not help sighing.

"There's a saying that's absolutely right: being born well beats being good-looking, capable, or marrying well. With a good background, no matter how ugly, useless, or pathetic someone is, their starting point is still higher than those with countless merits, and their chances of success are greater!"

Then he looked at the redemption prices:

King's Eldest Son, redemption requirement: 1,000,000 Achievement Points

Duke's Eldest Son, redemption requirement: 500,000 Achievement Points

Earl's Eldest Son, redemption requirement: 300,000 Achievement Points

Viscount's Eldest Son, redemption requirement: 150,000 Achievement Points

Baron's Eldest Son, redemption requirement: 100,000 Achievement Points

Knight's Son, redemption requirement: 10,000 Achievement Points

Lord Steward's Son, redemption requirement: 5,000 Achievement Points

Merchant's Son, redemption requirement: 5,000 Achievement Points

Aside from those above, there were also Character Cards such as King's Second Son, Duke's Second Son, Earl's Second Son, Viscount's Second Son, and Baron's Second Son. Though these identities were noble, they did not possess the first right of succession to the title or territory, so their redemption requirements were naturally far lower—sometimes reduced by five to ten times.

For instance, King's Second Son could be redeemed for just 200,000 Achievement Points, less than Earl's Eldest Son.

"Which Character Card should I choose?"

Of course, Zhou Ming wanted to settle it in one go. Ideally, he would redeem a King's Eldest Son card and directly inherit a kingdom, saving himself at least twenty years of struggle.

But...

First, he did not have that many Achievement Points. Second, even becoming the King's Eldest Son would not mean he could rest easy without any risks. Before supreme royal power, even a wise, capable, healthy eldest son had to beware of arrows shot from every direction. Zhou Ming had heard countless stories of unnatural deaths among royal family members in the many kingdoms of Lord's Dispute.

"I should go with Baron's Eldest Son. In this instance, the directly controlled territories of earls, viscounts, and barons actually don't differ by much. Other than the hierarchical noble relationship, even the largest earls can fully control only thirty to fifty knight fiefs—barely more than a baron."

After spending 100,000 Achievement Points to buy a Baron's Eldest Son Character Card, Zhou Ming opened the Skills section and purchased several Skill Cards that could raise this baron's eldest son's combat strength.

The combat skills knights relied on were nothing more than horsemanship, swordsmanship, archery, spearmanship, and hand-to-hand combat. Zhou Ming quickly found five corresponding Skill Cards in the Skills section—

"Advanced Horsemanship. After use, grants mastery over riding all mountable creatures, including warhorses, camels, and war elephants. Redemption requirement: 50,000 Achievement Points."

"Advanced Swordsmanship. After use, grants mastery of combat techniques for all sword-type weapons, including longswords, shortswords, and greatswords. Redemption requirement: 50,000 Achievement Points."

"Advanced Archery. After use, grants mastery of shooting techniques for all bow and crossbow weapons, including bows, light crossbows, and heavy crossbows. Redemption requirement: 50,000 Achievement Points."

"Advanced Spearsmanship. After use, grants mastery of thrusting techniques for all spear-type weapons, including long spears, lances, and javelins. Redemption requirement: 50,000 Achievement Points."

"Advanced Combat Skill. After use, grants all combat skills possessed by a grandmaster of boxing. Redemption requirement: 50,000 Achievement Points."

After buying these five Skill Cards, Zhou Ming thought, Once these five Skill Cards are used on the game character, his Battle Power probably won't be much different from a Saiyan's, right?

Having finished buying Skill Cards, he opened the final Technology section.

Within the Technology section, Zhou Ming found several sets of "engineering blueprints" that interested him greatly.

For example, the Basic Industrial Machine Tool. After use, it could manufacture various machine tools capable of processing hard materials through planing, boring, stamping, and other techniques. Its redemption requirement was not high either—only 20,000 Achievement Points.

For example, the Basic Steel Mill. After use, it could construct the most efficient blast furnaces for steelmaking even under relatively crude conditions and with rudimentary facilities. It could be redeemed for just 30,000 Achievement Points.

There was also the Steam Engine, which required 30,000 Achievement Points; the Matchlock Gun, worth 10,000 Achievement Points; the more powerful Rifled Minié Rifle, which required 30,000 Achievement Points; and so on. All of them were essential treasures that had to be developed for the transition from the age of cold weapons to the age of firearms. As long as they could be mass-produced, crushing every kingdom and ruling the entire planet would not be a problem.

"Other than the Rifled Minié Rifle, which is a little difficult to implement technically, I should buy all the rest. It'd be best if I could bring that world into the age of firearms. That alone would be enough to crush every powerful force."

Zhou Ming repeatedly clicked the purchase button, buying the four sets of blueprints: the Basic Industrial Machine Tool, basic steelworks, Steam Engine, and Matchlock Gun.

That was it.

Other than the two maps still sitting in the cart, he had spent a total of 443,000 Achievement Points on the rest of the system's products.

His account balance had 555,201 Achievement Points remaining.

"Still this many Achievement Points left? Since I'm not short on money, I might as well buy the mineral resource distribution map and the World Map too. It's only 300,000. I'm rich, so I can do whatever I want!"

And so, gazing at the dozen or so different items now appearing in what had once been an empty system warehouse, Zhou Ming felt delighted and could hardly wait to begin a new round of the game.