A few seconds later.
The Empress gazed at the High-Grade Spirit Stone in Jiang Chen's hand, unable to conceal the longing in her eyes.
"In my original world, a Spirit Stone of such quality is a rarity seen once in a century, and its appearance always leads to bloody conflicts."
Jiang Chen casually tossed the Spirit Stone to the Empress.
"Go and cultivate. Restore your cultivation method to the Transcendent Realm as soon as possible."
The Empress took a deep breath, calming her excitement:
"Thank you, Lord. This humble consort will not disappoint you!"
[Notification: The Empress is shocked by your methods and grateful for your generosity. Favorability +2, current Favorability 90.]
[Notification: The Empress's Favorability has reached 'Intimate'. Perhaps your relationship can progress further.]
"'This humble consort'?"
Haha, after reaching intimacy, even the way the Empress refers to herself has changed.
...
A hundred kilometers away.
Ying Yinman was leading troops to clear out a large Goblin camp.
In front of Epic Units, the Goblins were no match.
Ying Yinman closed the Regional Channel, exclaiming:
"Sister Meng, who would have thought this Jiang Chen was hiding so much!"
"An Exceptional Unit! If it weren't for Li Muze using a Crusade Token against him, his trump card might have been saved for the Town Mayor Contest in a few days."
Meng Tiane also showed rare admiration.
"A mere commoner, yet with courage and luck, he managed to acquire an Exceptional Unit at the start. Jiang Chen is indeed impressive."
Ying Yinman eagerly suggested:
"Since Jiang Chen is so outstanding, can I make him my Vassal Lord?"
Meng Tiane, having been a Lord for thousands of years, saw through Ying Yinman's little scheme at a glance.
"Not to mention our Immortal Qin, the Li Family of Flourishing Tang in the Fifth Heaven, the Zhu Family of Great Ming in the Sixth Heaven, and even the declining Aisin Gioro Clan in the Seventh Heaven, countless princes and grandsons line up to become Your Highness's Vassal Lord. Which of them didn't start with an Epic Unit?"
"In comparison, Jiang Chen's acquisition of an Exceptional Unit through a stroke of luck is nothing."
"Your Highness wants to make him a Vassal Lord, probably not because of his strength, but because he's handsome!"
Ying Yinman stomped her foot, embarrassed:
"Am I such a shallow person?"
Meng Tiane spoke earnestly:
"His Majesty the First Emperor has high hopes for Your Highness. Your task is to complete four 'Wars Against Heaven' within a century, reach the Third Heaven, and return to Immortal Qin."
"No matter how excellent Jiang Chen is, becoming a regional power is already a blessing from his ancestors. He and Your Highness are destined to be from two different worlds."
Ying Yinman protested: "But the Lord of the Ming Domain, Zhu Yuanzhang, started with just a bowl, not even as good as Jiang Chen!"
"Zhu Yuanzhang?"
Meng Tiane replied with a hint of exasperation:
"How many tens of thousands of years has the Dragon Nation produced just one Zhu Yuanzhang?"
"Many City Lords like to use Zhu Yuanzhang to inspire newcomers, saying things like 'heroes don't ask about their origins'. I think that's just toxic encouragement."
Ying Yinman conceded: "Alright, alright!"
Meng Tiane stopped there and changed the subject:
"Congratulations, Your Highness. Once we annihilate this Goblin settlement, we can occupy the Refined Iron Mine. With our Epic Farmers, if we go all out, our speed in upgrading to Tier 2 won't necessarily lag behind Jiang Chen."
"Yes, yes!"
Ying Yinman's mood improved:
"Sister Meng is already the predetermined top of the Hero Combat Power Ranking, and with the first to upgrade to Tier 2, this time, I must make the name of Immortal Qin resound!" The source of this chapter is novelping . com.
...
"Upgrade to Tier 2!"
Jiang Chen commanded.
The Lord's Manor was once again shrouded in golden light.
Countdown: 01:59:59 - Complete Immediately (Consumes 1200 Spirit Stones).
Resources required for upgrading to Tier 2: Fine Wood *1000, Fine Stone *2000, Refined Iron *1000.
Having annihilated the Centaur Nest and extorted a hefty sum from Li Muze, Jiang Chen was now wealthy and carefree, riding high on success.
He decided to upgrade to Tier 2 first.
And after just enhancing resources, Jiang Chen also discovered a serious problem:
Enhancement also requires time consumption!
"Fortunately, a dozen resource points also produced some fine resources, otherwise, I'd be exhausted!"
"Even so, two thousand units of resources took me nearly an hour."
"Relying on enhancement to obtain high-level resources is ultimately not a long-term solution!"
After a moment's hesitation, Jiang Chen continued to command:
"Use 1200 Spirit Stones, complete immediately!"
There were too many strong contenders among the current Lords, especially that Ying Yinman, who was particularly tricky.
To ensure being the first to upgrade to Tier 2, Jiang Chen decided to splurge and instantly complete the Lord's Manor.
[Notification: You have upgraded to a Level 2 Lord's Manor, unlocking buildings Archery Range, Crystal Quarry. Territory area increased to 10,000 square meters.]
Rumble—
The Fog of War receded once more.
The territory area expanded to a hundred meters in radius.
It was already larger than a football field.
Of course.
Jiang Chen's speed in upgrading to Tier 2 was so fast that the Heavenly Dao hadn't even announced the reward system for Tier 2.
So there were no regional announcements or rewards yet.
He opened the interface of the upgraded Lord's Manor.
[Lord's Manor] (Level 2)
Lord: Jiang Chen
Area: 10,000 square meters.
Territory Residents: 330/350
Buildings: Exchange (0) *1, Warehouse (1) *15, Residence (1) *20, Fence (0) *128, Quarry (1) *5, Lumber Mill (1) *6, Smelter (1) *3, Blacksmith (1) *1, Mysterious Hut (1) *1, Volley Arrow Tower (1) *1
Available Buildings: Archery Range, Crystal Quarry
Food: 1520
Resources: Common Wood *3300, Common Stone *3800, Common Iron Ore *882, Fine Wood *12, Fine Stone *18, Refined Iron *1 (bound)
Energy: 15832 (bound)
Spirit Stones: 372100...
"The territory upgraded too quickly, resources are scarce, causing basic buildings to lag behind."
"Even food is running a bit low."
Jiang Chen sighed, then opened the Exchange, filtering for "food" and sorting by price from low to high.
[Food]: Selling price 2 units for 1 Spirit Stone. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Now that Jiang Chen was flush with cash, spending some Spirit Stones to buy food meant he didn't need to have the dragon deliberately hunt, which was very cost-effective.
[Notification: You purchased 10,000 units of food, spending 5000 Spirit Stones.]
Immediately, Jiang Chen quickly calculated the remaining construction resources and commanded:
"Upgrade all Residences to Level 2!"
Resources were tight, so he first increased the population limit to have more farmers gathering resources.
As for the fence, it was still the initial 128 meters.
Jiang Chen planned to build city walls directly after upgrading to Tier 3.
At this moment.
The sun had already set.
Jiang Chen instructed the territory residents to cook their own meals.
Then he took out the final spoils from clearing the giant Centaur Nest: Treasure Chests.
A total of 58 Fine Treasure Chests and 208 Common Treasure Chests.
Jiang Chen took out a plain Common Treasure Chest.
"Consume 100 Spirit Stones, choose enhancement direction ①, Fine Treasure Chest!"
Enhancing treasure chests wasn't cost-effective.
But Common Treasure Chests could only yield resources and plain equipment.
Only Fine or higher Treasure Chests had a chance to yield an important type of item: blueprints.
Although the chance was small.
Soon.
Consuming 20800 Spirit Stones, all 208 Common Treasure Chests were enhanced to Fine quality.
Looking at the ground full of Fine Treasure Chests, Jiang Chen rubbed his hands in excitement.
"Come on, blueprints!"
[You opened a Fine Treasure Chest and received Fine Wood *50.]
[Bad luck! You opened a Fine Treasure Chest, and a miasma emerged from the chest, but fortunately, you dodged quickly.]
[You opened a Fine Treasure Chest and received Spirit Stones *30.]
[You opened...]
In one go, he opened 30 treasure chests, and the best he got was resources.
Jiang Chen thought for a moment, then called out loudly:
"Empress, come here!"
In a flash, the Empress appeared beside Jiang Chen.
"Lord, what are your orders?"
He pointed to the treasure chests scattered on the ground:
"Try opening a few!"
[Your hero, the Empress, opened a Fine Treasure Chest and obtained the blueprint 'Arrow Tower'.]
[Good fortune! Your hero, the Empress, opened a Fine Treasure Chest and obtained the rare equipment 'Steel Armor'.]
[Your hero, the Empress, opened a Fine Treasure Chest and obtained the 'Farmland' blueprint.]
After casually opening three treasure chests, the Empress asked with some doubt:
"Is that enough, Lord?"
Jiang Chen suppressed the imbalance in his heart and said calmly:
"This Lord is busy with many affairs; from now on, opening treasure chests is a small task for you!"