Mist Lord

Yunyang Restaurant.

After dissecting the corpse of the mist monster and giving Satir a few instructions, Xia Yuan changed into Shang Ze's vest and went to Yunyang City, but he was not in a hurry to go to Yunwu Pavilion to buy and sell supplies.

After the trials are over, most of the new lords will head to Yunyang City.

Selling spoils of war, urgently purchasing bandages and wound medicine, buying slaves to replenish the population, and trying their luck at opening treasure chests and blind boxes—the Cloud Mist Pavilion was bustling like a vegetable market.

Yunyang Restaurant was equally bustling, packed to capacity. Among the lords were newly minted, fresh-faced survivors of a life-or-death ordeal, and veteran lords preparing to choose their vassal territories. They gathered in small groups, exchanging information and discussing their needs, hoping to find suitable matches.

A large-scale matchmaking event, reminiscent of a lord's version.

But clearly, this matchmaking process was not easy. From the perspective of a new lord, the better, the stronger the lord they wanted to attach themselves to, with level 3 as a minimum, level 4 being good, and ideally level 5.

I'm not even hoping for Level 6.

In reality, most of those who came to Yunyang Restaurant to recruit subordinate territories were level 3 lords, with very few level 4. Although they were called veteran lords, they were actually newcomers who had only arrived last year, and most of them were choosing subordinate territories for the first time.

From the perspective of these "old lords," they naturally hope that the recruited vassal territories have the greatest potential. Their wealth is already meager, making them even less able to withstand setbacks. A failed investment would be a devastating blow.

Unfortunately, the best talents had already been selected, so we could only choose the best of the worst and make do.

No one should look down on anyone else.

Xia Yuan, sitting in the corner, listened for a while but never saw Xiao Xiong or any of the other familiar figures. He figured that even if they had come, they had probably gone to more private places like the Lieyang Tower.

It seems we're destined not to get any useful information today.

.........

After leaving Yunyang Restaurant, Xia Yuan arrived at Yunwu Pavilion.

The place remains bustling with activity.

Especially in the treasure chest blind box area, after a trial, more than 400 new lords killed an average of three boss-level mist monsters, which is more than 1,000 wooden treasure chests.

Some wanted to sell it for money, while others wanted to take a gamble.

Although they've only been here a few days, the surviving newcomers have already come to terms with reality. The so-called league is never a childcare facility; to survive, they ultimately have to rely on themselves. Rather than being strangled by the established order, they'd rather take a gamble and turn their luck around.

Of course, the result was basically that they lost even their underwear.

Yunwu Pavilion, however, buys at low prices and resells at high prices, making a fortune.

Xia Yuan also sold three wooden treasure chests.

While cleaning up the battlefield, a total of four wooden treasure chests and one bronze treasure chest were found.

The wooden treasure chests contained nothing of value except for a simple arrow tower blueprint in one of them, so I didn't open them and sold them all to Cloud Mist Pavilion.

The bronze treasure chest also yielded a blueprint.

[Leatherworking Workshop Building Blueprint]: This blueprint allows you to build a leatherworking workshop. Construction requirements: 150 units of wood, 50 units of stone. Construction time: Half a day.

"Sir, would you like to try your luck?"

The unusually busy female shop assistant recognized Xia Yuan, an old acquaintance, at a glance, and was exceptionally enthusiastic, saying, "We've acquired a large number of treasure chests today, so you're sure to get good stuff!"

"Okay, let's give it a try."

Xia Yuan didn't stand on ceremony and scanned them one by one.

What might be a gamble for others was purely a matter of luck, but for him, it was simply a matter of buying goods.

They quickly selected three wooden treasure chests.

This whole process, from start to finish, means I have to give Yunwu Pavilion 21 silver coins in return. What a rip-off!

After paying, Xia Yuan went to the materials sales area. Also due to the novice trial, the purchase prices of common materials such as gray mist rat skin, scorpion tail poison needles, and mantis knives all saw a drop.

But we still have to sell it.

With the tanning workshop, rat and wolf skins could be tanned at home. Scorpion stingers and spider venom sacs were also left for Satir to make poison arrows, and the mantis knives were of little use, so they were all sold for money.

It's not that I don't want to keep the money at home, but I'm short on funds.

With the expansion of Mingguang Village and the emergence of several excellent architectural blueprints, it is inevitable that another batch of serfs will be purchased to maintain the basic operation of the territory. Previously, due to the small number of people, they were too busy even to cut down trees and collect stones.

That won't do.

To upgrade your territory to level 3, you must first overcome the population hurdle.

After purchasing another batch of grain, gauze, armor-piercing arrows, and a mule, the remaining money was used to buy serfs, totaling three households and 15 people.

This included a leather craftsman and a seasoned old farmer.

On the way back, I ran into an acquaintance, the same fat guy who had been so foul-mouthed back then. I was surprised to find he was still alive.

They were lucky to survive.

I heard that in order to get the "Lord's Manual" that should have been his, the fat man later knelt down and begged Zhao Wu to acknowledge him as his father, thus avoiding a disaster.

From then on, the fat man became completely obedient.

However, he looked quite disheveled, with his leather armor torn and his arms wounded. It was clear that in order to eliminate the beast tide, he ultimately had no choice but to personally engage in combat.

This is also the norm for many new lords.

.........

Upon returning to his territory, Xia Yuan summoned Wang Er.

"master!"

"Settle the newcomers in; they'll stay in the goblin tents we captured earlier. These next few days will be tough; keep gathering wood and stone, the more the better."

Aside from the newly acquired building blueprints, the lord's cabin has not yet been upgraded, and the slave camp has not yet been built.

Things are going to be busy from now on.

"Rest assured, sir, I will arrange everything properly!"

Wang Er bent down even lower, never expecting that he, a carpenter, would one day be in charge.

Although it's temporary.

Back at the lord's cabin, the simpleton was nowhere to be seen, while Satir was busy leveling up in the inner room. Xia Yuan didn't disturb her, took out the three wooden treasure chests he had purchased, and opened them to find three building blueprints.

[Mushroom House Building Blueprint]: After use, a large mushroom house for cultivating and growing mushrooms can be built. Construction requirements: 150 units of wood, 100 units of stone. Construction time: half a day.

[Mill Building Blueprint]: After use, a watermill can be built by the stream. Construction requirements: 150 units of wood, 50 units of stone. Construction time: half a day.

[Grain Storage Building Blueprint]: After use, a small grain storage facility capable of storing 100,000 jin (50,000 kg) of grain can be built. Construction requirements: 200 units of wood, 150 units of stone. Construction time: half a day.

The Mushroom House was the biggest gain from this trip to Yunyang City.

The climate of the Misty Continent is naturally suitable for growing mushrooms, and mushrooms have a protein content close to that of meat, with no cholesterol, making them a very high-quality source of plant protein.

Once it reaches a certain scale, it can not only be consumed by ourselves, but also sold as a local specialty in Yunyang City, which is quite profitable.

Relying solely on clearing out monster lairs is ultimately too unpredictable and cannot last.

The remaining mills and granaries are also essential buildings for the territory.

As the population of the territory continued to increase, meat was mainly supplied to the soldiers. The serfs were already grateful to be able to drink a bowl of thin porridge twice a day, let alone dare to hope for anything else.

This is because the Great Territory has just finished its summer harvest, and food prices are relatively cheap; otherwise, life would be even more difficult.

After completing a new round of territory development, Mingguang Village should shift its development focus to cultivating land outside the wooden city walls, striving to achieve food self-sufficiency as soon as possible.

Relying solely on purchasing grain is simply not enough to sustain the economy.

Of course, for those newcomers who have joined the major territories, there's not much to worry about regarding food. If the territory experiences food shortages in the early stages, the major lord will provide support.

But where is Xia Yuan's Great Lord? Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

My investigation in Yunyang City wasn't entirely fruitless. Rumors were already circulating that Li Mingyu had declared that anyone who took Xia Yuan under their wing would be his enemy.

This essentially eliminates the possibility of contacting ordinary lords, and they may continue to exert pressure in the future.

Just as I was having a headache, the gray fog text reappeared.

[Xiao Xiong, Wu Qianqian, Liu Qingyan, and four others have confirmed the use of the sweep scroll. With more than half the participants, the activation conditions are met. The sweep operation will begin promptly at 9:00 AM tomorrow. Please prepare for battle in advance…]

"So it really was this move?"

Xia Yuan's gaze darkened; this was clearly an attempt to drive him to his death.