...
Nameless Mountain bustled with activity once again.
Crippled Monkey and the others set about moving items from the Imperial Dragon-horse Carriage into the warehouse.
"Take a break."
Panting for air, Crippled Monkey walked up to the hardworking Wang Patriarch. "The Realm Lord wants to see you."
"Understood, Brother Crippled Monkey."
The Wang Patriarch was stunned, then rushed to the reception area outside the cave. Pushing the door open, he saw Chen Fan sitting cross-legged at the table, drinking tea. Nervously wiping his hands on his clothes, he asked anxiously, "Realm Lord, did you ask for me?"
This was his first formal conversation with Chen Fan since joining the Fan Realm.
"Mm."
"..."
After a pause, Chen Fan spoke, "Wang Kui is now a core member, in charge of all the Fan Realm's supplies. You had him work as a station master for thirteen years—naturally, he holds some resentment toward you."
"I have promised him that you'd serve as a station master in the Fan Realm for thirteen years."
"Any complaints?"
"No." The Wang Patriarch immediately shook his head, his wrinkled face etched with seriousness. "I'm honored to be a Fan Realm station master!"
"..."
Finding it difficult to fault the old fox, Chen Fan came right out and said, "Let me be frank. After you disbanded the Wang Clan, how are your wife, children, and clansmen doing now?"
"Worse off than before, certainly, but they're all still alive. That's the best outcome."
"I can improve their situation."
"Tomorrow, I'll take you to Rivernorth City to bring your wife, children, and clansmen to the Fan Realm. We are short-handed now; I will assign each of them a suitable position."
"I can't give you a promotion."
"I have to consider Wang Kui's feelings, after all."
"But—"
"Your relatives can be promoted if they perform well. Yesterday, you stepped forward to block the Alchemy Sect Young Master—that counts as a merit. I'll credit that to your son."
"What do you think?"
The Wang Patriarch was stunned for a moment. Then, setting down his teacup, his eyes reddened, tears streaming down his face. Kneeling on the ground, he said in a trembling voice, "My gratitude, Realm Lord."
...
Not long after,
All the gains from this trip had been stored and tallied. Everyone else had gone to sleep, while Chen Fan was still on the battlements refining his plan.
Over the next month, the Fan Realm would embrace a period of rapid development.
The adjacent regions—Rivereast, Riversouth, and Riverwest—were all entering the rainy season.
Trade was impossible at this time.
He would develop for another month, then, after the rainy season ended, score a hit.
Before that,
He needed to put a proper structure in place.
At the very least, he couldn't keep calling Wang Kui "warehouse manager"; it made the Fan Realm sound like a street gang.
He kept reviewing the Alchemy Sect records, which contained details about the Sect, including its Halls and the positions within them.
There were—
"Alchemy Hall," "Shadow Hall," "Publicity Hall," and the like.
He thought this was fine.
It only required a few tweaks before he could put it into practice.
He would also have uniforms made for Fan Realm members, like the "King of Medicine Valley"-----neat and impressive. Also, a set of rules had to be put together, with rewards and punishments.
Once the rainy season ended,
The Fan Realm would be expanding.
In the future, it would grow with each passing day, so it must become formalized.
This time, they had brought home many herbs.
The cave was certainly not roomy enough for them; they had to build a city near Nameless Mountain for large-scale cultivation.
"..."
Chen Fan sat alone high there, pondering the future. There was still much to do; he was going to recruit people from Rivernorth City.
"Realm Lord."
Just then—
Wang Kui approached with a bamboo scroll and reported, "Everything has been stored and tallied. This time, we brought in 172,500 Eerie Stones, various herbs, 2,039 bottles of pills—most of them Cultivation Pills. Among them, there are pills more precious—"
"Life-Returning Pills: 12."
"Great Tonic Pills: 7."
"Unopened White-grade Extraordinary Treasures: 37."
"Opened White-grade Extraordinary Treasures: 47."
"Unopened Green-grade Extraordinary Treasures: 6."
"Opened Green-grade Extraordinary Treasures: 19."
"Opened Yellow-grade Extraordinary Treasure: 1."
"Building Blueprints: 6."
"Jade lions, herbal mud, unknown wood....., various amounts."
"White-grade cultivation methods: 5."
"Green-grade cultivation methods: 2."
"White-grade martial skills: 29."
"Green-grade martial skills: 6."
"White-grade Alchemy Furnaces: 78."
"Green-grade Alchemy Furnaces: 12."
"Yellow-grade Alchemy Furnace: 1."
"That's all."
"Good."
Chen Fan put down the jade slip in his hand. After listening to Wang Kui's report, he smiled. The gains would suffice to cover the upcoming construction of infrastructure.
"Go rest."
"Tomorrow, take everyone to Rivernorth City."
"Too boring to stay at Nameless Mountain through the rainy season. Let's go and hang out for fun."
...
In the warehouse, Chen Fan was checking the panels of the Extraordinary Treasures one by one.
These would remain unopened Extraordinary Treasures even after his inspection, with no signs of being appraised.
Most of the opened Extraordinary Treasures were alchemy-related.
For example, improving the quality and quantity of pills refined and reducing failure rates, etc.
There were also many defensive Extraordinary Treasures. His gaze paused on one that was already opened—it looked to be a bolt of cloth.
Extraordinary Treasure Name: Cloud Cloth Bolt
Extraordinary Treasure Grade: Green
Extraordinary Treasure Effect: Can be used in a Level 7 Life Workshop to make robes. The robes produced have a defense matching a Level 1 city wall's. Can produce 6–10 pieces with it.
Good item.
The Life Workshop in the camp was still Level 5. He would be upgrading it tomorrow.
There were also many material-type Extraordinary Treasures.
For example:
Extraordinary Treasure Name: Blaze Stone
Extraordinary Treasure Grade: Green
Extraordinary Treasure Effect: Can be used in a Level 6 Artifact Workshop to forge weapons, armor, etc. The weapons produced will be Green-grade Spirit Treasures. Can forge 1–10 weapons with it.
The camp didn't have an Artifact Workshop; it required an Artificer to operate, but the camp had none.
Their size determined how many weapons could be forged.
In the case of throwing darts, many could be made, but if it were broadswords, the products would be fewer, and armor would consume even more of the material.
Using different materials at once would give the forged Spirit Treasures different effects.
Green-grade Extraordinary Treasures and Green-grade Spirit Treasures hardly differed in power.
Just the latter were artificially made.
There were quite a few such forging materials.
And at last, his gaze settled upon the opened Yellow-grade Extraordinary Treasure.
Extraordinary Treasure Name: Dragon Head Staff
Extraordinary Treasure Grade: Yellow
Extraordinary Treasure Effect: When held, it provides a defensive effect equivalent to a Level 3 city wall. When the damage cap is exceeded, the staff shatters and cannot be repaired.