Chapter 1 A New Beginning

The current city center of Calore City is located near the Mercenary Guild in the south, where a large number of NPC stores are gathered, along with a large auction house, making it the most popular area. Since the goods sold by NPC stores only meet the needs of players at low levels, later, as the life skill levels of life-occupation players increase, they will gradually replace the NPCs. The high-level items they produce and sell will become the main consumer goods, which will inevitably lead to changes in the commercial landscape. In addition, the mainframe later placed the credit point exchange center in the east of the city, and the city center of Calore City gradually shifted to the east, while the south gradually became desolate, with only the Mercenary Guild able to retain some popularity.

Now, the shops in the southern part of Calore City are selling for more than ten gold coins, and some even cost thirty or forty gold coins. The shops in the eastern part of Calore City are worth one or two gold coins, and some are even worth less than one gold coin. In the next two months, the prices of these shops will skyrocket at least dozens of times, and the prices of some golden shops will skyrocket hundreds of times. The price increases in the next ten years will be even more terrifying.

But right now, these places are still slums that no one cares about, without even a single high-level building.

Nie Yan walked towards the administrative hall in the center of Calore City. After a while, a towering white building appeared in front of him, a typical Greenland-style building, covered with exquisite carvings. All the buildings were made of stone and blessed with magic, shimmering with a light blue light. Several hanging orchids hung from the top of the building, exuding a fragrant scent.

Nie Yan entered the administrative hall. The floor was so clean that it reflected people's shadows. The roof was more than ten yards high, giving people an incredibly open feeling. The roof was covered with colorful paintings.

An elderly man walked towards Nie Yan. He was wearing a dark black uniform with gold epaulettes, giving people a sense of dignified oppression. Because he was dressed so neatly, the old man looked very energetic.

"Respected Governor Trus, I am here to buy land."

"Welcome to settle in Calore City. Calore City welcomes every merchant to open a shop. We will give the greatest preferential treatment to merchants who abide by the law. Please come with me," Governor Trus said, leading Nie Yan inside.

Nie Yan had been here in his previous life, but it was too late when he came here. Even the most remote shop in Calore City cost thousands or even tens of thousands of gold coins. At that time, Calore City was known as the City of Gold, a place flowing with gold. An ordinary shop could earn a lot of money just by reselling things. In Faith, the wealth of merchants was no less than that of top players, and even surpassed them. At that time, Nie Yan could only sigh and leave the administrative hall with regret.

But now, Nie Yan can seize a large number of shops at extremely low prices before most players even start to pay attention to real estate.

"What location do you need?" Governor Trus asked, pointing to a city model. All the shops currently for sale were marked one by one, and even the prices were clearly written.

Nie Yan looked at the eastern area of the city model. Currently, there are more than twenty shops for sale here, with the most expensive priced at two gold coins and the cheapest at fifty silver coins.

There are a few golden shops that Nie Yan saw in his previous life. There is a shop near the credit point exchange center, which sold for tens of thousands of gold coins when it was resold in his previous life. In the real world, it is even priceless. However, now they are displayed in front of Nie Yan like this, priced at: two gold coins.

Nothing is more exciting and crazy than this.

"I want this shop," Nie Yan said, pointing to the location of the shop. When he said this, his heart skipped a beat, and an emotion that was so excited that he could hardly restrain himself made him almost want to shout.

These two gold coins will create infinite possibilities in the future!

Nie Yan traded the money to Governor Trus and successfully obtained the property certificate for that location.

This thin, somewhat ancient scroll is a legally binding document in the virtual world. All its clauses are the same as the contract clauses in the real world and are protected by law.

Nie Yan bought a total of twelve future golden shop plots. Two of the plots were extremely large and could even be used to upgrade the auction house. In the future, the most prosperous area in the east of the city will have its own auction house belonging to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan looked at his backpack. After buying so many plots, he only had two gold coins left in his backpack.

The most profitable thing in the world is not to engage in the real economy, but to invest with a forward-looking vision and use money to make money to achieve the purpose of capital expansion. Rebirth has given Nie Yan many opportunities that he missed in his previous life.

Calore City will be the most prosperous capital city of the Greenland Empire in the future. These twelve golden shops will become the most profitable shops in Calore City in the future. Even if they are just built to collect rent, it will be a huge income.

System: Because you have purchased more than five shops in Calore City, Calore City's respect value +5.

Increasing Calore City's respect value will help Nie Yan in various activities in Calore City. When Calore City's respect value reaches 30, you can even openly appear on the street with a red name and still enjoy the protection of the guards. When buying medicines and other things from NPCs, the NPCs will not arbitrarily increase the price. Because the residents' respect value represents your status in Calore City.

What a cool thing it is to swagger through the streets openly after becoming a red name! However, with Nie Yan's low-key personality, he would never be so ostentatious.

"In the future, when you upgrade your shop, we will deduct 1% of the tax from your profit income. Every month, you must upgrade your shop within two months and pay 0.05% of the estimated value of the shop as the shop's holding tax. The maximum overdue period is three months. If you cannot pay the overdue taxes within three months, we will forcibly confiscate your shop in accordance with Greenland's laws. Do you have any questions?" Governor Trus asked.

"No questions," Nie Yan said. These taxes are completely negligible compared to the rich benefits the shop brings him.

After paying the money and receiving the property certificates for all the shops, Nie Yan seemed to see countless shops flowing with gold standing in the east of Calore City.

Because the prosperity there is predictable!

Nie Yan came out of the administrative hall. Even if he starts doing nothing now and slowly waits for the land to appreciate, the money earned from the appreciation of these shops in the future will be enough for his expenses. Of course, Nie Yan will never be satisfied with this. The sea is wide for fish to leap, and the sky is high for birds to fly. He has more things to do.

In addition to selling things like Black Phenol Potion, Nie Yan continued to sell some Spider Web Technique scrolls, Polymorph scrolls, and Flash Dust, but most of the money he earned was used to buy things that might appreciate in the future, such as Anti-Petrification Potions and Spirit-enhancing equipment that would be needed to enter the Medusa's Lair.

In addition, Nie Yan also bought a few lucky gems. He already had fifteen lucky gems in his hand. For Nie Yan, it is not cost-effective to sit and wait for these lucky gems to appreciate in value or sell them. It is best to use them to strengthen his own equipment so that they can reflect their greatest value.

Nie Yan thought of the Dark Gold Dagger Blood Contract Dagger in his hand. It seemed that the best equipment in his hand was this one. Although this piece of equipment is a level 0 equipment, it is after all a Dark Gold level. The attack is not bad. The most important thing is that it has a relatively rare attribute, 3% life steal. If the attack can be increased, it will be even more perfect.

Using lucky gems to upgrade level zero equipment is too wasteful. A lucky gem is worth 5 silver coins. Such an expensive thing should be used when leveling up is too slow at level dozens or more. However, Nie Yan has no concerns. There will be many opportunities to make money in the future. He can buy lucky gems again at that time. Elite-level and Lord-level creatures above level five have a certain probability of dropping lucky gems. Ordinary players who find lucky gems are generally reluctant to use them and throw them into the auction house to sell, so there will be no shortage of lucky gems on the market.

A lucky gem can add 10 points of attack to a weapon and 15 points of defense to a piece of equipment. At the same time, the equipment requirement level is +1. 10 points of attack and 15 points of defense are enough to make many players crazy. However, there is a success rate for smashing lucky gems. For equipment from Tier 1 to Tier 5, the success rate of using lucky gems is 60%. If successful, the equipment is promoted to the next tier. If it fails, it drops one tier. From Tier 6 to Tier 10, the success rate is 50%. If successful, it is promoted to the next tier. If it fails, it drops back to Tier 5. From Tier 11 to Tier 15, the success rate is still 50%. If the synthesis fails, the equipment will be completely destroyed. Equipment from Tier 16 to Tier 20 can be attached with powerful skill attributes for each tier increase. At Tier 20, it is almost equivalent to a Legendary equipment.

When synthesizing equipment, the more lucky gems placed, the higher the success rate of the synthesis.

Using lucky gems to synthesize equipment, the result is often very tragic. People with good luck use a few lucky gems to increase the tier of the equipment, creating priceless equipment. Some people regret it for life, destroying equipment above tier 10.

In any case, smashing lucky gems is a game that only the rich can afford to play. Ordinary players dare not play it at all. They simply cannot afford it.

With fifteen lucky gems, plus the Pandora's Box having a success rate bonus for synthesis in even rounds, Nie Yan felt that he could give it a try. After all, equipment of tier 10 and below will not be destroyed.

After making a decision, Nie Yan put the Blood Contract Dagger and a lucky gem into the Pandora's Box. A red halo flowed over the Blood Contract Dagger, next to the dazzling lucky gem.

System: Are you sure you want to advance this equipment?

Nie Yan stared at the time in Faith, calculating whether the time was in an even or odd round. Looking at the rapidly jumping second hand, his pupils reflected a series of numbers.

Yes!

Nie Yan clicked Synthesize.

System: Synthesis successful, equipment tier +1, current equipment tier is 1.

His luck seemed to be good. Nie Yan looked at the current attributes of the Blood Contract Dagger.

Blood Contract Dagger (+1 Dark Gold): Requirement level 1.

Attributes: Attack 33-36, Agility +11, Critical Strike +12, Life Steal 3%.

Attack Speed: 2.3

Weight: 3 lbs.

Restrictions: All factions can use it.

The synthesis was successful. The Blood Contract Dagger received an additional 10 points of attack, and the requirement level increased by 1 level. In this way, this Blood Contract Dagger already has a higher attack than some level 5 Gold weapons.