Developing the Fief's Profits

The qualifying rounds in the Jianghai Division are still ongoing, but the remaining three matches are not much of a challenge for the Jinghai University Team led by Bai Xiaowen.

Bai Xiaowen began to think about the profits from developing the territory.

As can be seen from the Lord Console, the number of psionic items produced by the territory each day is quite considerable.

For example, a level 1 Mill has a daily production capacity of 30 points. Each piece of Rye Bread consumes 1 point of production capacity, meaning that 30 pieces of Rye Bread can be produced per day.

The Rye Bread restores 15 Life Value points, just like the steamed buns in the Three Kingdoms Plane World. However, it restores 15 Life Value over 5 seconds after consumption, unlike the steamed buns which restore health instantly. Therefore, in terms of practicality, it is inferior to the steamed buns in the Three Kingdoms Plane World.

However, food supplies are still in short supply for Awakened Ones—note that this refers to food that replenishes Life Value, not just food to fill one's stomach.

This is the only commonly used method of restoring health besides combat potions.

In a battle, combat potions and food can each be used once. Carrying a piece of health-restoring food might just save your life in a critical moment.

Another important reason is that food sources are relatively scarce, while consumption is extremely high.

Food is generally only sold by quartermasters of certain factions in the Spirit Realm. Most Awakened Ones use their accumulated Merit Points to exchange for equipment and items, and rarely exchange them for food in large quantities.

Speaking of consumption... Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi, protected by numerous summoned creatures, don't need much food. However, most awakened beings have to rely on their own Life Value to withstand monsters, consuming a piece of food in almost every battle!

No one can predict how many battles will occur during a single expedition to the Spirit Realm. However, the more battles there are, the greater the benefits. Which awakened individual venturing into the Spirit Realm doesn't want to cause as much trouble as possible? Sufficient food supplies are essential.

There's also a blacksmith shop behind that produces standard psionic equipment. A level 2 blacksmith shop has a daily production capacity of 100 points, and currently it can produce hand crossbows, short swords, and leather armor.

A piece of gray, rough-quality equipment consumes 1 point of production capacity, while a piece of white, common-quality equipment consumes 5 points of production capacity. Bai Xiaowen can choose whether to add a "binding requirement" to gray, rough-quality equipment, but white-quality equipment does not have this option and is automatically "[Bind on Equip]".

When Bai Xiaowen saw the blacksmith's shop's products, he quickly realized that this was a golden road to success. He unscrupulously added the "Bind on Equip" requirement to all the rough gray equipment.

Currently, the blacksmith shop targets the low-end market. Those who have just reached 20 points in total attributes and are about to enter the Spirit Realm Quasi-Awakened... it is believed that they will pay a satisfactory price for a set of [Bind on Equip] equipment, as it is their first time undergoing the Awakening Quest.

Bai Xiaowen thought of himself. If he hadn't happened to kill an Elite Tier Zombie Rat and obtained two pieces of equipment before entering the Spirit Realm, he would have been empty-handed and ragged when he entered the Spirit Realm to carry out the Awakening Quest... This feeling was just like going to the battlefield without a gun and helmet, which was terrible!

If you get a basic crossbow, basic leather armor, and basic short sword when you first undertake the Awakening Quest, your survivability and chance of passing the Awakening Quest will definitely increase significantly. Even a basic set of equipment, let alone a basic set, can significantly improve your success rate.

"I'm doing this as a contribution to the evolution of humanity on Earth, and I'm just taking a small cut of the costs..."

Bai Xiaowen set the requirement that gray, rough equipment Bind on Equip precisely because of this cunning idea, to prevent secondary resale and thus avoid affecting his business... You see, gray, rough equipment, being of inferior quality, generally does not have a binding requirement.

Bai Xiaowen browsed through the buildings of White Stone City, and his eyes lit up as he discovered another profitable opportunity: gold and silver!

White Stone Fief several mines, including silver and Gold Mine, but most of them are currently shut down. Only a small silver mine near Redleaf City is still operating. This level 1 silver mine has a production capacity of 30 points and can smelt 10 "Impure Silver Nugget" from the silver ore it produces each day.

Although it doesn't look appealing, it's still considered gold and silver, and is a valuable commodity among humans (including subspecies) in most planes of existence. Since it originates from the Spirit Realm, it's also a psionic item, which allows Quasi-Awakened to bring it into the Spirit Realm.

This solved a major problem: start-up capital! Back when Bai Xiaowen entered the Aaron Plane World, he didn't have a single copper coin. He earned his first pot of gold through fighting...

Unfortunately, the horses bred in the stables and the soldiers trained in the barracks cannot be "transferred" to Bai Xiaowen's private Storage Space through the lord function. The plain jewelry produced by the jewelry store has no added attributes and is basically useless, and will not bring any benefits. It will only be useful when it is upgraded to a higher level and can produce blue rings and accessories.

The institute's pharmaceuticals overlap with those of pharmacies on Earth, so Bai Xiaowen doesn't plan to get into the pharmaceutical business for the time being. He'll wait until Zombie Doctor can independently produce high-end products like gene- Enhancement Potion before entering the industry.

"It seems there are three main businesses we can do: supplies and food, low-level standard equipment, and psionic gold and silver. The cost of transporting them out is only 10% to 30% of the estimated value in the Spirit Realm, which is quite profitable."

After hearing Bai Xiaowen's description, Li Shuyi's eyes lit up, as if she could see an ocean of Psionic Points: "Yes, let's open a shop!"

"I wonder what the prices are for these three items on Earth World?" Bai Xiaowen's mind worked quickly. She answered herself, "Hmm, let's log into the Virtual Battle Platform and check out the Virtual Hall."

In the past, when the two logged into the Virtual Battle Platform, they mostly stayed in their private Virtual Space and played ranked matches directly. They had never really explored the Virtual Hall properly.

The two put on virtual reality headsets.

After logging in, Bai Xiaowen sent an invitation to Li Shuyi in his friend list. Li Shuyi then appeared in Bai Xiaowen's private Virtual Space and entered team mode. Bai Xiaowen then chose to go to the Virtual Hall.

Ding-ling. "Respected Big Knife, Many Kills. You are choosing to enter the Virtual Hall. You can choose to enter the Beginner Awakened Virtual Hall or the Intermediate Awakened Virtual Hall."

Since the goal was to investigate prices in lower-level markets, Bai Xiaowen naturally chose the Beginner Awakened Virtual Hall.

A faint light flashed, and when the scene settled, Bai Xiaowen discovered that the two of them were in a much larger universe, in front of a shop with a sign that read "My I Cry, You Smile".

Each star in this virtual "starry sky" is a shop...

Ding-ling. "You have arrived at the beginner Virtual Hall. The system has automatically assigned you to beginner shop page number 1507. You can also call other shop numbers, and you will be automatically redirected to the target shop page."

"Let's take a look at this one first."

Bai Xiaowen entered the world of "My I Cry, You Smile".

Ding-ling. "Welcome to Shop No. 1507. This shop has a credit rating of C1."

Bai Xiaowen consulted the system: "Please tell me about the credit rating."

The responses from the virtual platform system were much more detailed and human-like than those from the Spirit Realm Rules.

"Hello, respected Big Knife, Many Kills. Credit rating is the evaluation level of both buyers and sellers on this platform, serving as a reference for assessing transaction risks."

"Every Awakened One will receive an initial C5 credit rating after registering on the Virtual Battle Platform. Every newly opened shop will also receive an initial C5 credit rating. The two are independent and do not interfere with each other."

"A shop's credit rating can be accumulated through transaction volume. The more valuable the items traded and the higher the sales volume, the faster the points will increase."

"Points below 250 are C-Tier, 251 to 10,000 are B-Tier, 10,001 to 500,000 are A-Tier, and above 500,000 are S-Tier. Each major grade is further divided into five sub-grades, with grade 5 being the lowest and grade 1 the highest."

For example: B1 > B5 > C1.

"We recommend purchasing items from stores with high credit ratings for greater security."

"The Virtual Battle Platform notarizes every transaction and is responsible for confirming the shipping and delivery process. If a seller refuses to ship after accepting an order, or even engages in fraudulent activities, points will be deducted. We recommend that you be more cautious when purchasing items from shops with D-Tier and E-Tier credit ratings."

"In addition, if a buyer frequently places orders but cancels them without reason, or leaves malicious negative reviews, their credit rating will be lowered accordingly. Please be aware of this."

Bai Xiaowen listened carefully and said, "This shop has been upgraded to C1... which is quite good for the beginner area. Let's go in and take a look."

Inside the shop, there was a row of display cases, and behind the cases sat a blank-faced "person" holding a sign:

"The shop owner is unavailable. All items are clearly priced, excluding platform notarization fees! If you see something you like, just place your order. We'll ship within three days. Leave a message if you need anything; I'll reply as soon as I see it. I won't reply to those with low credit ratings!"

The person holding the sign is a virtual shop owner, an image left behind after the shop owner logs off and leaves the virtual platform. You can think of it as a robot that can only fill out orders. Trying to bargain with the other party is impossible.

The items in the shop are projected images generated after being scanned by Psionic Camera, with basic descriptions of their attributes and effects. The actual items are definitely with the shop owner and are not displayed in this Virtual Space.

Bai Xiaowen had originally hoped to use his Insight to see if he could find any bargains... but it turned out to be impossible; these were all projected items.

"Never mind, let's look for those three items I mentioned first, and see what their prices are," Bai Xiaowen said to Li Shuyi.

Li Shuyi nodded. "I saw a low-level, unrefined item that doesn't require any equipment, and it's selling for 1000 Psionic Points. My goodness, that's high... How many unrefined items does your blacksmith shop produce in a day? I feel like I'm going to strike it rich."

Bai Xiaowen glanced at it and shook his head. "The basic equipment in my territory is all [Bind on Equip], meaning it can't be resold once worn. But this piece of equipment has no binding restrictions; the buyer can resell it after using it. If we set the price higher, someone will buy it. Let's look around again to see if we have any rough or basic equipment that's bound to equip."

After searching for a long time, the shop was nowhere to be found. However, Bai Xiaowen did find a stack of silver coins in a corner, with brief information on them.

[10 Silver Coins: Valuable item, can be taken out of the Spirit Realm and used as a specific currency in other dimensions. It can be used to increase the Affection Level of the Spirit Realm characters, or exchanged for Psionic Points at the level completion screen.]

The price for these 10 silver coins is 1000 Psionic Points, which is equivalent to 100 points per silver coin.

"Gold and silver currency in the Spirit Realm are so valuable?" After a moment of surprise, Li Shuyi took out her phone to write down the price.

"I've got it. Let's check out the other shops." Bai Xiaowen took Li Shuyi's hand and casually mentioned shop number 1003. Instantly, the scene before their eyes changed.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi visited dozens of shops. Most of the shop owners, who were also Awakened, were not in the shops, leaving only a robot holding a message board. Most shops were not doing much business, and they could only occasionally encounter two or three Awakened customers.

In the Virtual Hall, everyone's image is disguised. Everyone's time is precious, and customers have no intention of chatting with each other. They silently browse the goods, and if they see something they like, they place an order or leave a message directly.

That makes sense. Awakened individuals have very precious time and can't afford to spend too much time "strolling" around. Shop owners also can't afford to waste time here tending to their shops.

After visiting each shop, Bai Xiaowen had gained a relatively clear understanding of the prices of the three types of psionic items produced in his territory.

Food supplies were in short supply. Even the cheapest Rye Bread, which slowly restored 15 Life Value points, could sell for over 150 Psionic Points. Those who could hold out a bit were asking for 170 or 180 points, or even 200 Psionic Points, since food was so scarce.

The Rye Bread that Bai Xiaowen transported from the territory's warehouse cost 10 Psionic Points for each piece.

Unbound, basic equipment is priced between 300 and Psionic Points, with weapons and clothing fetching the highest prices.

Gray, rough equipment typically costs 100 Psionic Points per piece, while weapons can sell for 150 Psionic Points.

In this regard, Bai Xiaowen's "shipping" costs are: 30 points/piece for white-board equipment and 3 points/piece for Gray Equipment.

As for the "Impure Silver Nugget," Bai Xiaowen couldn't find an exact match. Considering the price of 500 Psionic Points per Psionic Silver Ingot, a "Impure Silver Nugget" should easily sell for two or three hundred points. Compared to the shipping cost of 20 points per ingot, it was still incredibly cheap.

The reason for this difference is twofold. Firstly, the Spirit Realm Rules tend to be conservative in valuing psionic items, so when Awakened individuals trade, the price of psionic items is generally higher than the Spirit Realm Rules's valuation. Secondly, Bai Xiaowen's luck-changing ability only requires 10% to 30% of the estimated value, making exorbitant profits inevitable.

"Hey... you guys have been looking here for a while, haven't you? Are you going to buy it or not?"

Suddenly, the "robot" holding up the sign behind the counter spoke.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi were startled. This was the last shop they visited, and they actually ran into the shop owner.

"You've been here all along?"

"No, I just arrived a little while ago," the previously motionless virtual image, which was actually the shop owner, moved its limbs and put down the sign. "What would you like to buy? This is a B2-Tier shop, the top one in the beginner zone."

"Excuse me." Bai Xiaowen took Li Shuyi's hand and led her outside.

The shopkeeper behind them scoffed, "Two more people who just look but don't buy... There are so many poor guys in the beginner section."