Chapter 246: Territory Construction
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
‘Ding! Congratulations on becoming the territory owner of Thunderstorm Castle, you can now select to rename the territory, proceed?’
No wonder he was unfamiliar with the name ‘Thunderstorm Castle’, having never encountered it in his previous life, it turns out that the name of territories could be changed!
Zhang Yang was lazy, so he said, "No change necessary!"
Unexpectedly, the system did not continue on with a tutorial on managing the territory, but instead, took him directly to the management interface.
In his previous life, as he had not managed to conquer a territory before, therefore, he was currently on uncharted waters, he would need to slowly feel his way around and learn more about it the old-fashioned way.
Of course, anyone would know at a glance that the firs thing to do was to set up the teleportation circle, it was one of the main appeals of owning a territory. It would provide convenience to the members of his own guild while acquiring a large income at the same time!
‘Ding! You have chosen to built a Teleportation Circle, each Teleportation Circle requires a sum of 1,000,000 gold pieces to build, and each Teleportation Circle can only be directed to one of the eight main cities in China region! After building the Teleportation Circle, you can set up the fare for using the Teleportation Circle!’
Zhang Yang immediately took out 1,000,000 gold pieces, passed it over to the system, and built a Teleportation Circle that channeled straight to the White Jade City.
He would hold off on building Teleportation Circles for the other main cities, as the benefits simply outweighed the costs! As the bank and auction houses of the cities had become interconnected, as were the system-run Teleportation Circles in the cities themselves which were free-of-charge. Getting to any one main city was as good as getting to any other main city!
Besides, Zhang Yang also had personal reasons for his own Teleportation Circle! By opening a Teleportation Circle that took players to White Jade City, players would emerge in the city at a location that was just opposite his Little Merchandize Shop. Even if 1% of the non-White Jade City players who went through the portal visited his shop out of convenience...
Hehe! Zhang Yang could not hold it anymore and started laughing, his glee unfiltered as he spoke on the guild channel, "Members who have achieved level 50 and above, come over to the Thunderstorm Castle and set your teleportation scrolls to the Teleportation Circle. You will not have to run back and forth anymore, reaching Thunderstorm Castle would be as good as reaching White Jade City!"
"Yeah! Hail to the guildmaster!"
"Guildmaster, I love you so much!"
"Let’s go, go, go! Quickly, onto the plane!"
The next instant, players above level 50 were rushing to the teleportation spot.
Zhang Yang also contacted Snow Seeker, Sky Shaman and Crimson Fire, informing them on the completion on the construction of the Teleportation Circle, inviting them to use it to their hearts’ content!
He had set the teleportation fare for the members of these four guilds to zero, while the fare for others was set at 1 gold piece. However when it came to the Dominators, Pride and Axe Gang, the fare was hiked up to 10 gold pieces! It would make no difference to Zhang Yang if they were to use it or not!
The Teleportation Circle was not an inexhaustible source of income, it required a large amount of magic crystals to be powered up on a daily basis, which meant that the owner was required to buy ‘energy’ from the system. Basically, the owner himself was being taxed by the system itself!
The magic crystal is extremely expensive, costing 10,000,000 gold pieces each, but fortunately, it could last for 10 days, still roping a surplus! Currently, there are more than 60,000,000 players in the China region, and approximately 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 players who were above level 50. Each of the players would just need to use the teleportation once per day, which would cover the expenses within two day or so!
As more players achieve level 50, his Teleportation portal would be accessed far more frequently! Of course, more territories will also appear in the game, he would not hold this monopoly for long!
After setting up the Teleportation Cirlcle, Zhang Yang turned his attention towards the defense line of the territory!
The subjugation of a territory did not solve all problems however! As long as any guilds comes in possession of a [Territory Subjugation Order], they could easily trigger a Territory Subjugation Battle. Although Lone Desert Smoke is a powerful force, attackers could gain access to siege engines and lay waste to players!
Therefore, it was necessary to set up defensive weapons of their own!
Firstly, the iconic Magic Cannons that had been previewed during the quest back then! That toy was a bundle of pure awesomeness, boasting a ranged attack that reached hundreds of meters, having its explosive attacks covering areas as wide as several tens of square meters. Capable of instantly killing players, it was a must-have!
Of course, such power would be met with an equivalent cost! Each Magic Cannon required 5,000,000 gold pieces, along with the [Power Source Crystals] needed to power it up for 1,000,000 gold pieces each. Each Crystal would provide enough power for the cannons to fire up to ten times.
This meant that one round would cost 100,000 gold pieces, not exactly something that anyone could afford!
For the greater good however, it was a necessary investment!
Zhang Yang purchased two Magic Cannons and two [Power Source Crystals], watching his money gush out. He could not help himself but thought that if it were up to Han Ying Xue and Wei Yan Er, they would be in a stressful dilemma as they tried to weigh the cost and benefits of the cannons!
Now that the main firepower had been set up, he had other defense to attend to. The game was simply merciless when it came to the retention of wealth! From time to time, monsters will be spawned to harass the otherwise peaceful castle. Their purpose was to serve as fodder for the insanely expensive cannons to waste their rounds on! To prevent that however…
Zhang Yang hired an army of NPCs --- 100 elite-grade knights, each of them requiring a monthly salary of 10,000 gold pieces. Of course, it wasn’t like they needed the money -- it was for the system once again.
These NPC were all level 65, but were upgradeable at additional cost. Their levels were limited by the level of the owner of the castle. For instance, the castle owner had to at least be level 70, in order to level these NPC up to level 75. Similarly, players had to attain level 80 before these NPC be leveled-up to level 85.
These NPC would be able to ward off monsters and maintain order and security within the territory. They were basically similar to the guards of the main cities, only being slightly inferior!
Thirdly, the city defenses itself!
The ramparts of the castle like the walls and main gate were actually be targetable and vulnerable to attacks. At level 1, the city gate would only have 1,000,000 health points, 1000 defense points, 1000 magic defense points, but when upgraded to level 2, it would have 10,000,000 health points, 2500 defense points and 2500 magic defense points!
The tougher the city defense got, even if under fire from some devastating siege engine, it would buy additional time for the defenders!
As Subjugation battles were limited by time, the defenders would only have to hold their ground rather than wipe out the attackers!
Unfortunately, upgrading the city defense would require all sorts of mineral ores, and the higher the level, the higher the quality and quantity of such required ores. They were far away from being able to upgrade their city defenses to level 2 at the moment!
NPCs such as the equipment repairing blacksmith, item sellers, were not immediately available, nor could they be simply bought -- players would be required to complete a series of specific quests to acquire these NPCs. Zhang Yang gave it some thought, realizing that they would only be detrimental to the profiteering of the Telephone Circle, as the NPCs would only remove the need to teleport back to the main cities for such services!
With everything almost settled, Zhang Yang linked his teleportation scroll to the Teleportation Circle of Thunderstorm Castle before heading back to the White Jade City through the Teleportation Circle and began shouting across the regional channels, "Fellow players, the Thunderstorm Castle within the Forest of Tanila is currently facilitated with a Teleportation Circle, as long as you link your teleportation scroll settings to the circle, you will suffer the long hard journeys no more! The teleportation fee is super cheap, only requiring one gold piece!"
After shouting at White Jade City, he then teleported to the other seven main cities to continue his promotion.
Only the foolish or the prideful would forego such a convenient means of transportation! Zhang Yang would not have to go out of his way promoting this service of his, he would only have to make it known once.
In terms of location, Thunderstorm Castle was based in the level 60 ranges of maps, located in between the level 50 and level 70 maps, while also having similar level 60 maps on both its left and right sides. Being in the middle of the maps that varied by 30 levels would keep most players within the region for 4 to 5 months!
How lucrative!
Before the second territory appears, this Teleportation service would stand to earn Zhang Yang lots of profits! Even with a second territory around, or even the third territory appearing, it would not deteriorate much!
Zhang Yang then rewarded his guild members for their efforts and contributions, spending a great deal of money. Wei Yan Er and Han Ying Xue gazed at him with glittering eyes as they watched him.
Such generosity only bolstered the morale and ensured the loyalty of his members! Zhang Yang’s reputation as a leader grew far and wide. Furthermore, by also being the long-standing number one guild when it came to the progress of dungeoneering, the members carried the name of the guild with pride and honor that went beyond the fair and warm treatment of the guild.
The moment he returned from his tour around the eight main cities, he saw many players rushing over to Thunderstorm Castle, linking their teleportation scrolls there as per recommended.
Beep beep beep, the voice communication device suddenly alerted him to a call from Humbly Gentleman.
"Zhan Yu, you god damn fascist!" Humbly Gentleman roared.
Zhang Yang laughed out oud and said, "How am I a fascist now?"
"Others are paying 1 gold piece for your teleportation circle, why are we paying it tenfold?" Humbly Gentleman demanded.
10 gold pieces was only 9 gold pieces more than 1, but it devastated the psyche of The Dominators, driving a massive wage between the two parites!
ZHang Yang grinned silently in his heart, this hypocrite really does not know any shame! He did not expect him to perform such a humiliating act before this, but the two sides were far from burying the hatchet. Having died once, Zhang Yang would never spare a single tiger cub or puppy and risk regretting it afterwards, he would be determined to see his opponents to their end!
He softly replied, "I see. So you have a voice louder than everyone else, and a fortune greater than everyone else. 10 gold pieces too little for you? How about 100 gold pieces then?"
"You---" Humbly Gentleman was speechless!
When there are competing companies, the consumers held the power of the Gods! However, when there’s monopoly in play, the consumers would be mere offerings!
Humbly Gentleman felt like slapping the man in the face. But the Teleportation circle would save them from a 3-hour journey, he could not afford to provoke Zhang Yang any further!
He had to endure it!
"Well done, you!" Humbly Gentleman viciously cut off the voice communication with Zhang Yang.
Either way, he could not allow his members to bear the burden of paying 9 extra gold pieces. Mutiny would be imminent if he kept this up! Arrogant and conceited as he was, he was still a guild leader with a functioning brain!
He would have to dig money from his own pocket to subsidize the additional payload!
Humbly Gentleman made up his mind determinedly, but when the number of 10,000+ members came across his mind, he quickly shivered! It would be impossible for him to pay for them all on a daily basis, so he could only lay out instructions to his members to limit their usage of the circle, while also offering a subsidy once every 10 days!
Even so, he would still have to pay about 300,000 gold pieces. Humbly Gentleman felt an excruciating pain in his heart, his face turning pale green!
Why would this Humbly Gentleman always offer himself as tribute for Zhang Yang to step on? Zhang Yang shook his head, tore a teleportation scroll and went back to the Thunderstorm Castle, deciding to get on with his grinding.
With the possession of this major-profit-earning territory, the profits from crafting potions and other items had became insignificant. Zhang Yang now had to maintain his lead in levels, for if and when a territory of a level 80 map appears, he would be the first to claim it!