8: Strengthening Arena of Legends

“Master, don't trust them, they hid something from us. I felt that there was something suspicious about them inviting so many adventurers just for bandits, also someone was watching us from the shadows.”

“Based on the aura it exudes, it should be stronger than the two just now.” Ding Bang said after arriving in their carriage.

Feng Shaotian's expression froze hearing what Ding Bang just said. Even though he's half intelligent, there are still things that only powerhouses like Ding Bang can do.

‘I need to become stronger, money— I need money to become strong immediately.’ Feng Shaotian thought. He even considered robbing the empire's treasury just to become strong much faster.

Thinking about the legend of someone doing it in the past. The scroll mentioned the history of “Feng Duo”, a Legendary Figure from 15+ years ago.

Feng Shaotian couldn't help but think, ‘This name is quite familiar. It felt so close yet so far.’

Afterwards, Feng Shaotian harvested a total of 400 sacks of Golden rice. There are some that couldn't be harvested as he no longer has any sack left.

Contemplating for a moment, Feng Shaotian decided to visit someone.

***

Feng Shaotian and Shadow Killer happily shake hands after their business deal.

“I'll be taking my leave now.” Feng Shaotian then left with Ding Bang.

Shadow Killer also left and went inside a room. He bowed his head and called out.

“Master.”

“What is it?” A hoarse voice replied, in the center of the room was a person floating in mid air.

“Sorry for disturbing your meditation master, I just want to report that Feng Shaotian was here a few minutes ago…”

“Continue…” the man said.

“The purpose of his visit has nothing to do with the bandit. He proposed a business transaction with our Red Tulip Chamber of Commerce.”

“He said that he has 450 sacks of golden rice, 20 red bean sacks of high quality, and 30 sacks of other crops harvested from their land.” Shadow Killer narrated.

“If you are wondering where these goods are, he said that it was inside his spatial tool.” Shadow Killer added seeing his master staying silent.

“What is his asking price?” The man asked, surprised.

It is rare for someone to have such many good things in hand, this further makes him curious about Feng Shaotian's background.

“5% higher than the market price, he also wants to buy sacks from us.”

“Sacks? What do you think about this transaction?” The man asked.

“Although 5% higher than the market price was awful, we can still benefit from it. Golden Rice is scarce in the market so having a stock of it is crucial.”

“Also, about the sacks he…” Shadow Killer awkwardly paused and looked at his master.

“What is it?” The man asked, confused.

With a troubled expression, Shadow Killer continued.

“He asked for 10,000 of it.”

“It's just 10,000 empty sacks, why are you so troubled?”

Shadow Killer awkwardly laughed then stated, “We don't have that many empty sacks right now, so I only said that we can only give 7,000 at most.”

“Alright. You take care of it.”

“Yes, Master.” Shadow Killer respectfully acknowledged and left.

***

Shadow Killer and Feng Shaotian commenced with their deal. Selling his Golden Rice to Red Tulip Chamber of Commerce at a 5% higher market price was the right decision.

Golden Rice can be bought at the system store for 10 gold coins with a market price of 50 gold and 5% higher means it's 52 gold and 5 silver.

450 sacks times 52 gold and 5 silver is 23,625 gold coins profit. That's only for the golden rice, while the other products sell at 5,000 gold coins, added together it would be 28,625.

He then bought 7,000 empty sack bags with the price of 10 copper which is 70 gold coins in total.

After everything was done, Feng Shaotian then happily went back to the carriage.

A while later, he went inside the mini world and harvested the remaining Golden Rice on the field which occupied 1,500 sacks.

He also planted another 5,000 gold coins worth of crops in his mini world.

“Show Status.”

[Feng Shaotian]

Age: 19

Talent: F Rank Multi-talent

Title: Divine Farmer

Money: 23,555 gold coins

Skills: Appraisal (SSS)

« Shop » « Quest Log » « Infrastructure »

[ Quest ]

* Harvest a total of 50,000 sacks of Golden Rice and other crops within 10 days

Current Progress: 1,900/50,000

Failure Penalty: 1,000 gold deduction

Reward: D Rank Warrior Talent Fruit, 2,000 gold coins

“I'm almost there, I guess?” Feng Shaotian murmured with a brilliant smile, thinking about the reward he'd get from completing this mission.

Ding!

« System alert »

[ You have received a New Quest ]

* Upgrade the Barn for more inventory spaces or the items outside will rot without its protection!

Time limit: 3 days

Failure Penalty: Loss of Crops from rotting.

Reward: Mystery Box

‘Sighs.’

Feng Shaotian sighed, he just earned this money through too much hard work and now it would be gone in a matter of seconds.

‘Nevermind, maybe I could get something good from the reward’ he thought.

Feng Shaotian walked closer to the « Dilapidated Barn » while extending his hand and pressed the upgrade button.

Swoosh!

His wealth went down from 23,555 to 3,555 gold coins. He became a poor bastard again.

« Upgrade in progress »

10 minutes

7 minutes

.

.

.

2 seconds

Ding!

[Congratulations to host Feng Shaotian for successfully upgrading the Dilapidated Barn into a Newly Constructed Barn!]

[You have received a Mystery Box!]

Appraising the new barn, Feng Shaotian found out that its unit has grown up from 1,000 to 10,000.

Thinking about the loss of 20,000 gold coins just for this newly added unit, he felt as though his heart was being pierced by thousands of needles.

However, the system just announced that he received the reward already.

“Open Mystery Box!” he exclaimed without a second thought.

Ding!

[Congratulations to host Feng Shaotian for acquiring the Strengthening Arena of Legends!]

« Strengthening Arena of Legends »

* A fighting arena where magical beasts could be sent to fight their holographic self, honing their battle senses and acquiring new combat skills.

Note: Humans can also be sent

‘This... it's truly worth it!’ Feng Shaotian danced wild in joy, fully forgetting the loss of 20,000 gold coins. Anyone who sees him dancing would surely die from laughter.

‘With this I can start having an army of loyal people growing stronger inside my mini world. And also, they should be in a contract.’

Suddenly, a bright idea popped up in his mind. ‘If I bring slaves here tightly bound with a master slave contract, then I can surely produce an army of strong loyal guards.’

‘With the help of my magical talent seeds, having a high rank of loyal subordinates is not out of reach. I'll make an army of them!’

His figure vanished and appeared in the South Region of his Mini World. With a wave of his hand, a gigantic building being constructed showed up.

“Is it still not cooked?” Feng Shaotian asked impatiently.

“Just a little more time, Master.” Fatty Ma replied immediately.

He was currently cooking the snake's meat from the other day. Although Fatty Ma isn't a good cook, the food still tastes good as it was made from good quality meat.

Groooowwwlllll!!!!

A loud creepy growling sound was heard, making Fatty Ma froze. The hand he used while cooking was shaking uncontrollably.

“Sorry, I think the worms inside my body are asking for delicious food.” Ding Bang said smiling sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

***

“Boss, let's attack now.” a person wearing a black robe with an A rank marking on it suggested.

“Wait for a bit, Brother Zhao still hasn't shown up.” An old man spoke calmly while scanning his surroundings.

From the moment they appeared, he felt as though someone was watching them. He tried to extend his senses to search for the source but wasn't able to track it.

He was Ling Bing, one of the S rank powerhouse from the bandit group. In the past, he was a legend in some cities for his glorious feat of fending off the beast tide that threatened the inhabitants life.

A bright halo was shining brightly on his image. When his name was mentioned, discussion about his contribution would follow.

Because of his great talent and reputation, lot's of big sects tried to recruit him, but he declined all of it saying that he only wants to live happily with his family and away from trouble.

One day, he went to a Forbidden Zone in the Magical Beast Forest to find a rare herb for his son. Having not been around with his family, some of the sects that were angry at him declining their offer began targeting his family.

Pressuring them so much that even buying food in the market was not an easy job. Some of his loyal brothers tried helping his family to overcome their predicament over and over again.