Large Alloy Warehouse.
"The raw material cost is close to ten thousand Celestial Dao Coins. I plan to sell them for fifty thousand. That shouldn't be unreasonable, right!"
"Only a very small number of people have water purifiers. What I bring them is quality of life."
"What a shame! Raw materials are limiting my growth. Plastic is actually rarer than gold."
When Yi Tian bought plastic, it was always a few pieces at a time. Back then, a bunch of people all got plastic. Later, everyone realized tool stands required a lot of plastic, so they stopped selling.
"The auction house is actually selling water purifiers too! But seeing your prices, I feel great about my conscience!"
Medium water purifiers at the auction house go for fifty thousand, small ones for twenty thousand, and one large water purifier for a hundred thousand Celestial Dao Coins. The markup is outrageous. Anyone who sells at that price is just lucky.
There are plenty of fools in the universe. But people who can amass vast wealth in half a month, definitely aren't fools.
A mouthful of water doesn't turn you immortal. Boil the lake water and you still won't get sick.
Tens of millions of people on the auction house have played the price game too hard.
Their endings: some lose a little, some lose a lot.
"The tool stand is just too slow. If only I could make thousands in one scan."
When making things on the tool stand, you have to put the Large-scale Water Purifier Technology Crystal on it.
Yi Tian worked straight till ten o'clock at night, made just six hundred large water purifiers. The tool stand makes them one by one, bottlenecking Yi Tian's growth. If batch production existed, Yi Tian would enable it at any cost.
For all two thousand to be finished, it'll take at least two more days.
Starting in the afternoon, Yi Tian put a hundred large water purifiers on the shelf every two hours.
As a "well-known merchant" with colleagues to compare against, sales were excellent.
Trial Takers who could buy a water purifier had at least triple-figure stats. Those below a hundred scraped for every point.
By ten at night, Yi Tian had already sold five hundred water purifiers.
A hundred more were still up at the auction house—if nothing went wrong, he'd get paid in the morning.
"Lord, please be aware: Celestial Dao Misfortune is descending on Zone 10086. Prepare your defenses."
Most of Zone 10086 were already lying down, the rest were fast asleep.
This alert from the Celestial Dao Stone made people furious, but there was nothing they could do.
Weapons, hand crossbows, bows, no matter the strength—they were all sharpened and no one dared be careless.
"What a torture!"
Yi Tian really felt for the Trial Takers in 10086.
In the zone channel, many armed Trial Takers were cursing the Celestial Dao.
It was almost an act of catharsis—the pressure was so high, they'd lose it if they didn't vent.
"Second Child, there's an enemy coming to attack us. Sense which direction they're from so we can get ready."
If the enemy was numerous, Yi Tian would wake up the Brass Mechanized Guard. If not, they'd just rush out to handle it.
"Okay, Daddy. As long as they're not invisible monsters, I can sense them in advance."
By "invisible monsters," Second Child meant Rain Beasts. Their methods were too advanced—blending perfectly with the night rain. Even when Yi Tian killed one, he'd never seen its "true face."
"At night! Are they indigenous, beasts, or something else?"
Yi Tian looked outside the villa; the rain seemed even fiercer, like a last frenzy.
Yi Tian carried the Horn Bow, a quiver on his back with twenty iron arrows tipped with alloy arrowheads. On his belt, he wore the Mountain-Cracking Blade in its beast skin knife box.
"Yi Tian, I still don't have a strong crossbow. I want to buy another strong one."
Yi Tian watched developments in the zone channel. Just then, Qin Fanshuang messaged him.
Crossbow arrows reload slowly; if you buy a repeating crossbow, it's too weak. So Qin Fanshuang wanted a backup, just in case.
"I've got a more powerful Hundred Power Divine Crossbow that can kill someone with a hundred strength—though it's pricey. Do you want it?" Yi Tian asked Qin Fanshuang, trying to sound tactful.
"I've only got 200 units of gold right now, is that enough? If not, give me a few days. I've got a gold mine here—as long as I survive tonight, I can dig it up slowly." Qin Fanshuang replied.
Here, gold "200" isn't 200 grams, but a special unit for the Celestial Dao World. Wood, stone, plastic, metals—all have different sizes in these units. The Celestial Dao Stone is always the judge. Only necessary food is measured by kg in Celestial Dao World.
Gold is about the size of a mahjong tile per unit. Iron is about basketball size per unit. Stone is as big as a nightstand per unit—there's lots of variation.
"[Hundred Power Divine Crossbow*1] for [Gold*150]. We're from the same hometown, how could I charge you that much? 150 units of gold is plenty."
Yi Tian happened to have just made a Hundred Power Divine Crossbow and tested its power—not that good. Originally he meant it as a toy for the Calabash Sisters, but they stopped playing with it after just a couple tries.
The Hundred Power Divine Crossbow cost around five thousand Celestial Dao Coins, about gold*50. Yi Tian planned to sell it for twenty thousand later.
A gold mine—Luck Emperor Level luck! Yi Tian had wondered why Qin Fanshuang hadn't said anything for a couple days—turns out she was quietly making a fortune.
The Celestial Dao Stone contained a Level 1 Refining Platform; as soon as you put ore on it, you quickly get one unit of metal. To improve efficiency, you have to upgrade the platform.
Yi Tian had no metal mines, so hadn't upgraded his platform.
He couldn't help but sigh, thinking of a woman mining in a cave with rain pouring outside.
In the Celestial Dao World, there are no delicate flowers—only wild grass!
Only by being as tough as prairie grass can you survive.
Yi Tian really admired Qin Fanshuang's potential. Gold shouldn't be this cheap. Right now it's cheap only because people haven't caught on like Yi Tian's started to—they haven't realized gold isn't a mascot, but a must-have for high-end buildings, items, and weapons. Gold's value would jump tenfold once they realized.
That's why now is the best time to invest in gold.
"There's only the two of us Huaxia people in this zone. We've got to look out for each other! If you ever need anything, just come to me. I'll give you a twenty percent discount every time."
Yi Tian saw Qin Fanshuang as a potential big client. Of course, he wasn't a heartless profiteer—he still had feeling for those of his own race.
"Thanks so much." Over there, Qin Fanshuang was deeply moved, thinking Yi Tian was selling her the Hundred Power Divine Crossbow at cost price.
After all, stats over 100 are way out of reach for her. There's only so much manpower. Qin Fanshuang wanted to turn the gold mine into wealth and power—it would take time.
"Daddy, there's a bunch riding monsters from the east."
Second Child, having activated Thousand-Mile Eye, warned Yi Tian.
"I've got enemies here already. Be careful on your end too!" Yi Tian messaged Qin Fanshuang, then closed the chat.
War Manor, in front of the East City Gate tower.
"One, two, three, four... eight, ten, eight, three..."
Second Child kept counting people coming. But counting on her fingers, she only had ten. After ten, the count always got mixed up.
Yi Tian sighed—looks like he should teach the Kiddos some basic math.
Still, Yi Tian could guess there were a lot coming.
"Second Child, no need to keep counting. Just let me know if they split up later."
Even though Yi Tian's physique was over 170, with eyesight ten times sharper than normal, the rainy night affected him greatly.
The eastern mist was the closest to War Manor. Once in the mist, with 100 agility sprinting, it'd only take a minute to reach the East City Gate.
"Celestial Dao Stone, activate fifty Brass Mechanized Guards on the first floor of the East City Gate."
Yi Tian had plenty of resources, so he deployed fifty combat power right off the bat just in case.
After leaving the gate tower, the fifty Brass Mechanized Guards didn't show themselves—they crouched behind the Female Wall, ready to throw short spears at any moment.
Yi Tian also crouched behind the Female Wall. The Kiddos didn't need to hide—they weren't tall enough to be seen anyway.
"They've entered the mist now." Second Child watched through a gap in the Female Wall.
"Roar roar…"
"Awooo…"
"Snort snort snort…"
Beast cries echoed. Yi Tian thought these people would attack stealthily, but instead, they charged at the wall in the open.
Beast roars and human shouts, blatantly disregarding Yi Tian's presence.
Yi Tian would never naïvely assume these indigenous riders couldn't get onto the wall.
The gap closed quickly—some beasts even barged into the normal forest zone, breaking the saplings Yi Tian had painstakingly planted.
"If I catch you, planting a few trees won't cut it as compensation." Unlike other forest zones, this one was planted by Yi Tian himself. He was hoping they'd grow up strong soon!
High-grade trees needed eight months to mature—way too long. That's why Yi Tian mapped out this normal forest zone.
Once close, Yi Tian finally saw the indigenous attackers clearly.
There were at least two hundred enemies, with two hundred beasts.
Some were riding lions, some tigers, some wild boars, cattle, or leopards.
Every person was wrapped in beast hides, emanating raw, aggressive energy.
"Fierce Beast Gang, two hundred Bronze Robbers, stats around 110 each."
"Four Silver Robbers."
"Bandit leader Bada: strength 220, physique 200, agility 180."
"Bandit captain Fire Dragon: strength 210, physique 220, agility 195."
"Bandit vice-leader Tian En: strength 170, physique 180, agility 205."
"Bandit captain Blue Bull: strength 201, physique 190, agility 180."
Yi Tian saw the numbers and breathed a little easier. If that was all, he figured it wouldn't be that hard to deal with.
The D-level bandits weren't a concern—the toughest of them only had triple stats of 150. Yi Tian's fifty Brass Guards would give them hell.
The four C-level bandits were just a bit more troublesome.
Yi Tian also noticed that this bandit gang was a total mishmash—every race imaginable.
Kobolds, Minotaurs, Werewolves, Three-Eyed One-Horned Race, three-meter-tall Little Giants, a blue-skinned type—maybe Sam's race. Even some Indigenous Race mixed in.
This bandit gang was a complete hodgepodge.
Yi Tian took a steady breath, drew his bow, and got ready to start shooting within fifty meters.
If not for the night rain, he'd have started at two hundred meters out.
Yi Tian had to hit a Silver Bandit first. That would make things easier.
After that first arrow, the Silver Bandits would be on guard—nearly two hundred agility—so they'd be hard to hit if they were alerted.
"You'll do, Blue Skin."
Yi Tian crouched, eyeing the blue-skinned rider in the lead. The Celestial Dao had marked this one: Blue Bull.