Finally looking at what he deemed the main event, he took it out of his spatial ring and into his palm.
[Item Name: Aurora crystal]
[Item Quality: Green bronze-tier]
[Description: The remnant life essence of a descendant of Aurora. Can only be formed in life forms above the Black iron-tier.]
'I still have to head to fish spring town to acquire higher tier aurora crystals.'
'Green bronze-tier won't be of much help against enemies stronger than my soldiers.'
He mused before sending the gem back into his storage.
"We're heading to Fish spring town now."
He said.
"Yes, my lord."
Bai Yung and the archers answered before getting on their mechanostriders.
Covering the remaining distance in 20 minutes, Zhou Zhou used his strength and those of his soldiers to get an audience with the mayor of fish spring town.
Head Office, Administrative Hall.
"You wish to see me?"
Sitting directly opposite to his guest, Zhang Boen, a well-dressed middle-aged man, asked him.
"How would you like to have the entire Fish spring regional territory to yourself?"
Neither humble nor arrogant, Zhou Zhou asked the mayor a question rather than answering his.
"I don't get your question."
Zhang Boen wasn't irked by Zhou Zhou's carefree attitude.
"I want to propose a deal to you."
Zhou Zhou looked at Zhang Boen.
"You have my ears."
Zhang Boen sat up after making sense of Zhou Zhou's initial question.
"The deal is simple."
"I will take care of the fog monsters around your town if you can provide a payment juicy enough to move me."
Zhou Zhou said with his gaze trained on the mayor of fish spring town.
"Not even 4 White silver-tier soldiers can deal with the five scarlet lords in my territory."
"I'm confident of that."
Zhang Boen said as he returned Zhou Zhou's stare.
"You only have to name a worthy price, and the safety of your borders would no longer be at risk."
Zhou Zhou brought the map at the edge of Zhang Boen's table in front of him before crossing off the location of the scarlet lords.
"This could be your reality from tomorrow, your choice."
Rising to his feet, he began walking towards the door.
"300 Yellow gold-tier mist cores, 10 Yellow gold-tier aurora crystals, 200 of my subjects, and I will make sure your reputation in the Aurora kingdom improves by speaking to my king about your abilities. You might gain the authority to trade aurora crystals anywhere in the kingdom."
Speaking after five seconds, Zhang Boen looked at Zhou Zhou's back.
With his hand on the door's handle, Zhou Zhou glanced back with a smile on his face.
"Deal!"
Returning his neck to its rightful position, he opened the door before leaving the office.
…
Coming to the lord's market, Zhou Zhou stared at the scene in front of him.
There were all kinds of stalls on both sides of the street here.
The stall owners were mainly humans, and there were also various life forms of other races.
"According to what I've heard, most of the goods sold here are what lords need."
"Most of the merchants here are either lords themselves or envoys sent by the lords to sell their territory's goods."
"Also, the members of the various factions are selling goods here while befriending the lords who trade here."
Walking behind his lord, Bai Yung said to him.
In a bid to feed his curiosity, Zhou Zhou asked.
"How do the locals become lords?"
Quickly responding, Huang Sai explained.
"If a native life form defeats a scarlet lord and obtained their lord token, they would be bestowed lordship by the Supreme Will."
"Not only would they become lords, but they also have a chance to awaken their lord talents."
"Countless lords were born this way!"
Seeing that Huang Sai had nothing else to say, Sun Can explained further.
"For forces at the kingdom tier and above, they would specially hunt scarlet lords and obtain their lord tokens."
"Then, when they conferred titles on officials, they would give them lord tokens so that they could awaken their lord status and soar to the sky in a single step!"
[A/N: Lord tokens can only be acquired by the local forces. To competing lords, the lord sphere is their lord token.]
"That must be difficult."
Aware of the drop rate needed to acquire a lord talent, Zhou Zhou sighed.
"It usually take decades for a kingdom-tier force to acquire a single lord token."
Bai Yung said after hearing his lord's sigh.
"Let's hope they're enough lords in the market that have the building blueprints to speed up the growth of the city."
Keeping his eyes open for the stalls around, Zhou Zhou muttered.
After asking 5 lords, the citizens of blazing sun city found their targets.
"The hightest blueprint tier is a Legendary-tier medical hall."
Standing 1.7m from the ground, a white haired man on a grey attire said to the four young men in front of his stall.
"How much would that cost?"
Interested in the price of such a high tier building, Zhou Zhou asked the stall owner.
"40 Legendary-tier mist cores or 500 Epic-tier mist cores."
Having the habit of not looking down on anyone in the lord's market, the white haired man replied.
"Interesting."
Zhou Zhou's kept a straight face as he nodded at the stall owner's response.
Remembering the blueprints missing in Zhao Changshou's skill list, he began bidding for them.
After a period of seventeen minutes, he acquired a Green bronze-tier restaurant blueprint, bathhouse blueprint, potter house blueprint, steel mill blueprint, stable blueprint and butcher shop blueprint, all amounting to 260 Green bronze-tier mist cores.
"Thanks for your patronage."
The white haired owner said as he watched Zhou Zhou and his subjects leave.
..
Branching into Kunt's shop, Zhou Zhou got Bai Yung to control the 3 soldiers placed in charge of the shop using the mental manipulation skill.
Reducing the prices of each slave for sale, Kunt's shop was quickly emptied out while the goods in his spatial rings increased.
"Let's leave."
Killing the black iron-tier soldiers, he showed Kunt's tag to the market's enforcers as he and his subordinates left the lord's market.
..
Returning to his city, Zhou Zhou had Hui Teng, Lu Chong, Aegon and the others welcoming him back.
Nodding to acknowledge their greetings, he invited Hui Teng and Aegon into his courtyard surrounded by a 12ft wall.
"Have a seat."
Pointing at the couch, he said to his two subjects.
Obliging to their lord, Hui Teng and Aegon both sat down.
"How was your conquest?"
Seating on an armchair, Zhou Zhou inquired from Hui Teng.
"We took down the entire city without leaving anyone alive. No one among us was hurt."
Hui Teng reported.
"How was Lu Chong's performance?"
Zhou Zhou asked the team leader of the assigned squad of his teammate.
"Horrifying."
Hui Teng answered after taking a few seconds to reminisce.
"Every strike he made took the lives of at least 20 opponents. I haven't seen anyone as terrifying as he is."
A hint of fear dwelled behind his eyes.
"That's good."
Zhou Zhou nodded, withholding his smile.
"Hand over the corpses and the other resources you all got."
Facing Aegon, he said to the dragon knight.
Doing as his lord commands, the Targaryen handed over the spoils gotten after the demolition of kunt city.
To avoid staining his tiles with blood, Zhou Zhou pulled in the spoils into his spatial ring as soon as they were ejected from Aegon's.
Attending to the stored resources of Kunt city, he counted the following:
740,000 units of basic materials (stone, wood, metal, fine sand)!
84,654 black iron-tier mist cores!
1,521 Green bronze-tier mist cores!
101 White silver-tier mist cores!
5 Yellow gold-tier mist cores!
22,121 pieces of black iron-tier equipment!
6,942 pieces of Green bronze-tier equipment!
12 pieces of White silver-tier equipment!
Green bronze-tier advance grade (dojo blueprint, kitchen blueprint)!
Green bronze-tier intermediate grade woodworking room blueprint!
Green bronze-tier elementary grade blacksmith shop blueprint!
"Incredible!"
Zhou Zhou was really amazed by the amount of goods gotten from the reserve of kunt city.
'I couldn't find a combat profession building blueprint despite searching for long in the lord's market, yet here it is; in the hands of a Green bronze-tier lord.'
Thinking to himself, he brought his attention the corpses.
Accepting the request to loot them, a golden glow shrouded his consciousness for an entire 3 seconds before receding.
"Sacking a local lord is freaking awesome!"
Zhou Zhou screamed in excitement as he saw the loots retrieved from over 3 thousand corpses:
112 lifestyle professional class change certificate (Black iron-tier potential)!
33 lifestyle professional class change certificate (Green bronze-tier potential)!
6 lifestyle professional class change certificate (White silver-tier potential)!
1,837 martial artist class change certificates - basic tier (Black iron-tier potential)!
1,486 martial artist class change certificates - basic tier (Green bronze-tier potential)!
3 martial artist class change certificates - basic tier (White silver-tier potential)!
1,752 martial art manual - Gust blade - beginner grade (Black iron-tier, Green bronze-tier)!
15,618 Black iron-tier mist cores!
4,074 Green bronze-tier mist cores!
4,123 Pieces of Black iron-tier equipment!
2,370 Pieces of Green bronze-tier equipment!
1,091 Green bronze-tier aurora crystals!
"The Aurora Kingdom's King would be dumbfounded if he sees the drop rate of my aurora crystals."
He grinned from ear to ear while ignoring his subjects sitting opposite him.
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