Chapter 39
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It was an early morning for Ben once again, he left the store and walked over to his rented vendor stalls to neatly display his food and items. Cordelia showed up just as the other vendors began to arrive at their own stalls to also prepare for the day.
Cordelia seemed to be a natural saleswoman and she was quick to remember everything about the food and products that they had out for sale.
Just by watching Ben interact with the customers and listening to his descriptions, Cordelia could mimic his sales pitch.
The two of them made a great team and were able to serve the gathered customers without them having to wait long to be helped.
Goldcrest is a large city with a decent sized population so even if they could help everyone it would over time become a losing battle for them. As they sold so many things now this would only bring them more future customers.
These new customers would then tell their friends and family about everything they sold and this would serve to further increase the number of people who come to buy from them.
During the busy part of the day as Ben was totaling up a customer's sale, he counted the money handed to him and checked it with the price that he had figured with his virtual calculator.
It was just as he had thought the customers were giving him seven percent more than the actual total due to his Mercantile skill.
'Somehow I am getting seven percent more profits and my Mercantile skill is level 7 as of now. I wonder how much I will gain or save when it is up around level 20 then? Maybe it goes up 1% for each level?' Ben contemplated this as he moved onto the next waiting customer.
Even though, there were always customers in front of them to serve Ben decided he would close up his stalls early today. He wanted to follow up on his idea of purchasing more land and would need to visit the Aregard royal palace before the people working there went home for the day.
Cordelia had offered to stay and help the customers while, he was out, but Ben did not want to leave her to deal with so much when she was already supposed to be on a paid vacation. He was unsure about how safe this city was later in the day for women out alone and did not want her walking home with a bag of coins from the daily sales unescorted at night. There was also the products and merchandise which would then have to be left unattended until he came back later to place them in his inventory.
With so many people around still, he had no choice today but to use his gold rune engraved ring that provided +1 to health regeneration as his prop interspatial ring.
He apologized to the customers who were looking over his products and began to act like he was placing everything into his fake interspatial ring. The customers were all amazed as if they were watching a magic show. Everything around, Ben began to vanish until there were only three empty vendors stalls left.
Ben told everyone who was still gathered around to mention they could not be served today, because he had to leave and they would all receive a 40% discount on whatever they bought tomorrow.
Cordelia made her way home for the day and Ben went over to the land development offices once again. Now that he was a noble, Ben could show his ring at the palace gates and be let in so he wasn't worried about being turned away as he approached the palace guards.
What surprised him was that the palace guards on duty knew his name and what, he looked like. They had greeted him warmly by name while saluting off to the side as he approached the gate before Ben could even display his noble ring. When he curiously asked how they recognized him the palace guards brought out a small stack of parchments.
Each parchment had an artist rendered portrait and basic information on each known cultivator of the Aregard kingdom. The palace guard explained it was a part of their duties to memorize these cultivator records so that they could easily recognize them on sight. While Ben was in the throne room previously an artist must have sketched out his portrait and copies were made and distributed among the palace and city guards.
The palace guard explained they were all previously told if they were to offend one of these cultivators it might be the last thing they ever do alive. This motivated them all to earnestly study these profiles whenever they had free time.
Ben chuckled when he heard this while remembering his argument with the guard at the city gates. He left the palace guards to return to their duties and soon found himself inside the land development office.
When he asked the secretary he had worked with when the Chancery had brought him here about buying farmland outside the city, the secretary told him he would need to bring him to another office.
The land development secretary explained that the office he worked in only dealt with land and/or structures sold within the city walls. If he were looking to buy land to farm Ben would need to head over to the [Agriculture and Farmlands office].
The office they went to was only a few doors down from where they were and once inside the secretary left Ben to enter one of the interior offices.
While Ben waited to be helped, he noticed he was not the only one waiting for help. There was a well-dressed older gentleman who was discreetly examining Ben.
The well-dressed man was of average build and handsome for his age. It was possible that this man had a few female pursuers in his day. Even with some wrinkles around his eyes and his graying hair, Ben thought he would still turn the heads of the opposite gender.
Ben looked over at the well-dressed man sitting in a chair along the wall to give him a friendly nod and a smile. Ben had not paid much attention to him until now and as he gave him a nod, Ben noticed this man's rigid posture, knitted eyebrows, and clenched white knuckles.
He was quite openly wearing a look of displeasure which was unmistakably directed at Ben! After displaying his hostile gaze the older gentlemen looked away from Ben without returning his greeting as if he did not want anything to do with him.
Ben was wondering if the well-dressed man was upset about waiting for someone to help him, but his displeasure seemed to have been directed at Ben.
'What the hell is this guy's problem? I never met him before and he is acting like I just slapped his grandmother.'
As Ben thought about what problem this man could have with him, he remembered since he had entered the city, he had stopped wearing his armor and had on the clothes, he made when first arriving here!
His clothes were designed after the style of clothing worn by the kingdoms commoners except for the fact that they were made out of cotton and not the same rough burlap looking material.
'I can only think he is looking down on me due to the way I am dressed right now. This guy obviously has spent good money to buy those nice clothes he is wearing. Now that I think about it all the nobles who were in the king's throne room that day were wearing expensive outfits. I am a noble now, I should start playing the part of one when I am in the city. It might not look good to see a Marquess walking around in commoner's clothes.' Ben thought as he pondered as to why this man was upset with him.
The door to the office opened in which the secretary had entered a minute later. The land development secretary then escorted Ben into the office leaving the scowling noble to continue silently waiting in the main office lobby.
"Hello, Marquess King I am James Harbird. I am the Agriculture and Farmlands department supervisor. Charles here has just informed me that you have recently purchased a store in the city and are now looking for farmland. There is plenty of lands available in the kingdom that would be ideal for farmlands and I can help you find a place that suits your needs."
After James Harbird introduced himself Charles said, "Well, I better get back to my office, good luck with your land search Marquess King."
Ben nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to bring me here Charles."
Charles returned a smile at the acknowledgment and left the office after saluting Ben.
Ben turned back to James and spoke first, "Just as you were told I am looking for farmland, but I have an unusual request."
"Oh? Please feel free to speak I will help out in any way I can." James replied as he gestured to the chair in front of his desk.
The two of them sat down together and Ben began to explain his situation.
"Well for starters I do not need a large amount of land like most farms require. I will be specializing in a particular type of farming that will be more experimental than practical. What I need is about five acres of land that are close to the city and it does not need to be near a road or the city gates." Ben explained.
"This is a bit different from the way things are normally done. Most farmers want so much land the farms are generally located a distance away from the city." James stood up and took down a large parchment from a nearby shelf and walked over to stand beside Ben.
The parchment was an aerial map of Goldcrest City and the surrounding lands. It showed the walls, city streets, buildings, and land topography outside the walls.
James displayed the map in front of Ben and said, "The west side of the city is where the gate is located. To the east, there are steep foothills and deep valleys. Then to the north and south of the city, there is open flat land. I have been informed once that if the city were to ever expand it would be toward the west. The Sandy River is often used to transport goods out to the ocean coastline to trade with the western kingdoms. The king had always wanted to build a small harbor on the river with warehouses, stores, docks, and housing for those working in the river area. Due to this anything between the city gates and the Sandy River would be considered reserved land for future expansions. The east side of the city is rugged hills and deep valleys that would not be suited for farming. That leaves the north and south areas open to you, so what do you think?" Supervisor James Harbird explained the options of each location to Ben then waited for him to respond.
Ben examined the map and he could see that his store was located in the center of the city on the southern part of the city's central square. There wasn't much of a difference in distance from the north wall to the south wall, but the south wall was still the closer choice.
Ben pointed to the south-east corner just outside the city walls and said, "This area here would make a decent location, I think. All I need as I said is five acres of land so a little plot just outside the walls in this general area would be ideal for me."
After a short pause James said, "I do not see any problem with that area it is all unused wilderness and the city has no plans to expand in that direction. Normally I would wait to run something special like this past the king before giving an official response, but since you are a cultivator I am positive that, he would approve this."
James picked up the city map and placed it back on the shelf and went over to another shelf and grabbed a couple more parchments and brought them over to his desk.
Before he filled out any records, James told Ben how much the property would cost him. Ben agreed to the cost and a few minutes later he had a new deed that gave him permission to claim five acres of land outside the southern city walls.
The only stipulation was that the land he claimed was to be at least two hundred yards away from the city walls. This way it would allow the city room to repair or upgrade the walls in the future.
Ben placed the deed in his inventory and said, "I would like to ask one more thing before I go. As I said before this land will be experimental land to test new crops on and I am sure you have heard of my spirit food. I would like this to remain a secret to the nobles and the public that I have purchased this land. Any officials that have the seniority to inquire about it I do not mind. I just do not want people out there tearing apart the farmland at all hours of the night looking for spirit food."
Supervisor Harbird assured him that the only ones that would learn of his farm location would be the king and his closest aides who presented him the information. All property sales would remain confidential.
Ben thanked James and left him a few gold coins for fast-tracking his deed for him and agreeing to his requests. If it had gone through the king it may have been a week or two before he was given an answer.
Out in the lobby area, the well dressed noble was quietly talking with the secretary and Ben was thoroughly ignored by the noble as he walked out of the office into the hallway.
With a sigh, Ben opened his interface and began to look through the noble and royal fashions of this continent. He stopped outside the royal palace and sat on a stone bench next to a small fish pond on the palace grounds.
When he had familiarized himself with the current fashions, Ben was amazed at how similar they could be to certain eras in Earth's history.
Ben began by designing a black silk tunic with red silk sleeves. Around the tunic collar and the cuffs, he added a gold thread embroidered patterns that seemed to be popular and it helped make the tunic that much more formal looking.
On the chest area of the tunic, Ben chose to add his nobility crest. The dragon was embroidered with red thread. The dragon's teeth and talons were done with white thread.
The sharp white talons were gripping a shield done in a gray thread and had a red thread border that went around the outer perimeter of the shield.
To break up the solid black of the tunic, Ben decided to add thin vertical red embroidered pinstripes.
On each of the tunic's shoulders, as a final thought, he had a small gold ring securely sewn into the material so that he could clip his Hemic fur cape to the tunic.
Next, he made a pair of loose-fitting black satin pants. Down the outer leg of the pants, he used the same gold thread embroidered pattern as he had on the tunic.
As was the fashion, the tunic he designed hung down to just below the crotch area and would be worn with a belt around the waist of the tunic.
This was the next piece that Ben designed for the new outfit. He designed a red and black checkered leather belt with a gold buckle and tongue to cinch the tunic to his waist.
The last part was to design a pair of black leather laced boots that came up to just below the knee. The boots were made with red rubber hiking boot treads and had steel toes.
Ben had also added gel insoles to the boots to provide comfort when standing for long periods of time. Even though it would cost his a fair amount of gold coins to buy and make everything through the System Store, he didn't mind. It was convenient to use the System Store and have it made right here and now.
When he was done with the outfit, Ben walked off into the palace garden where he could not be seen and unequipped his commoner clothes and put on the new nobility outfit.
Being able to unequip and equip his clothes, it only took him a few seconds to change into his new noble clothes. He had to make an alteration to his cape by adding to gold clips so it could snap onto the gold rings on his tunic and then his outfit was complete.
While he was at it Ben opened his Warehouse and removed a couple jeweled men's gold rings with black diamonds and rubies that matched his outfit.
The gold noble badge which was on his cape could now be moved to a visible place. The badge was now pinned on the left chest area of his tunic in the same manner as a law enforcement badge.
As Ben approached the palace guards they did a double take without asking any questions. Ben chuckled to himself knowing that they realized, he was wearing a completely different outfit, but they chose not to question him about it.
Once he was out on the city streets there was a sudden change. He no longer blended with the crowd and looked like a wealthy nobleman. All the passing commoners would give him a salute as they passed by. Some young women would go as far as to stop and give him a full curtsy by slightly raising their dress as they bowed and nodded toward him.
Ben would look on with an admiring glance while wondering what the rules of this feudal society were like when it came to noblemen and commoner women. He knew that some of these women were trying to draw his attention and he would not mind spending some time with them, but he did not want to get ensnared in some clause that made him officially betrothed to a girl for sleeping with her.
Ben had no objections to getting married, but there was still plenty of time for that. He still had so much to do and would be constantly traveling around. If he were to find a girlfriend or marry now they would be stuck alone at the fortress until he could return for a short period.
With the setting sun turning the sky orange the people of the city began to make their way home and Ben walked toward the city's south wall. When he was alongside the wall Ben followed it until he came across a secluded area.
Since he had been cultivating and training he had now improved his strength and agility to be beyond normal human levels and had not completely tested his limits yet. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby and then squatted down and jumped straight up into the air to test his strength.
Instead of walking all the way around the outside of the city walls, Ben figured he might jump high enough to grab the lip of the wall and pull himself over it.
When he jumped with all his might he was surprised to see he could reach a height even higher than the wall. After jumping over twenty feet into the air and once being a normal human, Ben couldn't help but cringe when he saw the ground now rapidly approaching him.
Even more amazing than his jump, he could absorb the fall and easily land as if he had just jumped off of a dining room table to the ground.
When Ben felt he was comfortable with how high he could jump he took a few steps back and leaped up onto the narrow wall. He placed his palms on the outer lip of the wall and dropped down to the ground and smoothly rolled to his feet all in one motion.
As he brushed the grass off his new outfit he saw that the notification icon was blinking. He opened it up as he began to walk toward the location he was granted to claim land.
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Acrobatics Level 1!]
[Acrobatics]: This a passive skill that allows you to stay on your feet in precarious situations. You can sprint across uneven terrain or land safely from long falls. As the skill level increases you can even perform dives, rolls, and flips with greater dexterity. This skill can be used in or out of combat.
'Sweet, another awesome skill this could be useful when I'm fighting. If I could use flips and rolls while in combat I could dance around an opponent's attacks easier.'
After reading through his new skills description Ben activated his Whirlwind Technique and quickly reached the southeastern side of the outer city wall. Ben had the system mark a line on the map two hundred and fifty yards from the wall for him and he walked out to the minimap marked line.
When he opened his system interface he could see that the area he chose was well within the store's Warehouse radius still. Each Warehouse has a five-mile radius without any upgrades and he was currently one mile away from his store so his new farmland property fell within the Warehouse radius with four miles to spare even.
Now that he was in the correct location and within the Warehouse radius, Ben had the system mark out a five-acre area for him. With the wood wall tool, he drew out a 20ft high x 3ft wide wooden wall that went around the perimeter of his marked property line.
On the north section of his wall that faced toward the city, he built a wooden gatehouse. He removed the wooden gates and had an iron portcullis on a lever winch installed to prevent thieves or bandits from battering down the gate. As a final step he used the moat tool to create a narrow moat around the walls to prevent them from placing ladders against the walls.
Ben opened the portcullis with his interface and entered his enclosed land. When the portcullis closed behind him he received a new notice.
[Notice] [You have created a build zone outpost! The king of Aregard has recognized your ownership of a section of land within his borders! You are now able to build as high or as low as you wish within the borders of this outpost!]
[Would you like to name this outpost?] [YES] [NO]
Ben selected Yes then named the property "Spirit King Farms" and then closed the notice.
It was beginning to get dark out so Ben activated his Night Sight and opened his build menu.
Starting in the far back corner from the Gatehouse, Ben built a Mulberry Plantation to raise silkworms. A Cotton Plantation, Sugar Cane Plantation, and a Hemp Plantation.
[Plantation]: Can grow coffee, tobacco, cotton, hemp, mulberry/silkworm, and sugar cane. [Locked until: two built farms] [requires: stone, wood] [cost: 200g]
Next to these Plantations, Ben built a Tree Plantation that could grow rubber trees. The sap from the rubber trees it would grow could be used by a [Rubber Factory] to produce rubber.
[Tree Plantation]: Can grow: rubber tree, mahogany, oak, birch, rosewood, elm, cherry, bamboo, pecan, ash, pine, fir, beech, redwood, and walnut.
[requires: stone, wood] [cost: 200g]
[Auto_Notice] [The system has advanced a level! System Level 13!]
Next on his list was to build an Apple Orchard, Olive Tree Orchard and a Coconut Tree Tropical Orchard. What he mainly needed was olive oil, juice from the apples and coconut oil these orchards would produce, but the olives, coconuts, apples, and olive oil could also be used to help produce other recipes.
[Orchard]: Can grow: apple, pear, cherry, peach, orange, olive, plum, almond, chestnut, pecan, cashew, fig, cocoa, maple syrup, and native Victus fruits and nuts.
[Tropical Orchard]: Can grow: banana, golden apple, honeydew, lemon, papaya, kiwis, pineapple, coconut, mango, mangosteen, star fruit, guava, and dragon fruit.
Ben had been thinking about producing books to sell in his new store. Even though the nobility and royal family were mainly the only people that could read. He had an idea to also make children's books that could teach people letters and how to read.
He could remember growing up reading those simple kids books that started with "A is for apple" "B is for Ball" or books that had a simple picture with the name under it. If he copied a few of those kids books from the System Store, he could make good money from selling them to people who wanted to learn how to read.
To produce books he would need ink and one of the ingredients needed to make it was blackberries. So, this is what he built next on the farmland.
[Berry Farm]: Can grow: blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, boysenberry, cranberry, elderberry, loganberry, and native Victus berries.
After he had placed the berry farm, Ben left the walled in farmland. He jumped over the city wall and walked across the city toward his store.
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It was an early morning for Ben once again, he left the store and walked over to his rented vendor stalls to neatly display his food and items. Cordelia showed up just as the other vendors began to arrive at their own stalls to also prepare for the day.
Cordelia seemed to be a natural saleswoman and she was quick to remember everything about the food and products that they had out for sale.
Just by watching Ben interact with the customers and listening to his descriptions, Cordelia could mimic his sales pitch.
The two of them made a great team and were able to serve the gathered customers without them having to wait long to be helped.
Goldcrest is a large city with a decent sized population so even if they could help everyone it would over time become a losing battle for them. As they sold so many things now this would only bring them more future customers.
These new customers would then tell their friends and family about everything they sold and this would serve to further increase the number of people who come to buy from them.
During the busy part of the day as Ben was totaling up a customer's sale, he counted the money handed to him and checked it with the price that he had figured with his virtual calculator.
It was just as he had thought the customers were giving him seven percent more than the actual total due to his Mercantile skill.
'Somehow I am getting seven percent more profits and my Mercantile skill is level 7 as of now. I wonder how much I will gain or save when it is up around level 20 then? Maybe it goes up 1% for each level?' Ben contemplated this as he moved onto the next waiting customer.
Even though, there were always customers in front of them to serve Ben decided he would close up his stalls early today. He wanted to follow up on his idea of purchasing more land and would need to visit the Aregard royal palace before the people working there went home for the day.
Cordelia had offered to stay and help the customers while, he was out, but Ben did not want to leave her to deal with so much when she was already supposed to be on a paid vacation. He was unsure about how safe this city was later in the day for women out alone and did not want her walking home with a bag of coins from the daily sales unescorted at night. There was also the products and merchandise which would then have to be left unattended until he came back later to place them in his inventory.
With so many people around still, he had no choice today but to use his gold rune engraved ring that provided +1 to health regeneration as his prop interspatial ring.
He apologized to the customers who were looking over his products and began to act like he was placing everything into his fake interspatial ring. The customers were all amazed as if they were watching a magic show. Everything around, Ben began to vanish until there were only three empty vendors stalls left.
Ben told everyone who was still gathered around to mention they could not be served today, because he had to leave and they would all receive a 40% discount on whatever they bought tomorrow.
Cordelia made her way home for the day and Ben went over to the land development offices once again. Now that he was a noble, Ben could show his ring at the palace gates and be let in so he wasn't worried about being turned away as he approached the palace guards.
What surprised him was that the palace guards on duty knew his name and what, he looked like. They had greeted him warmly by name while saluting off to the side as he approached the gate before Ben could even display his noble ring. When he curiously asked how they recognized him the palace guards brought out a small stack of parchments.
Each parchment had an artist rendered portrait and basic information on each known cultivator of the Aregard kingdom. The palace guard explained it was a part of their duties to memorize these cultivator records so that they could easily recognize them on sight. While Ben was in the throne room previously an artist must have sketched out his portrait and copies were made and distributed among the palace and city guards.
The palace guard explained they were all previously told if they were to offend one of these cultivators it might be the last thing they ever do alive. This motivated them all to earnestly study these profiles whenever they had free time.
Ben chuckled when he heard this while remembering his argument with the guard at the city gates. He left the palace guards to return to their duties and soon found himself inside the land development office.
When he asked the secretary he had worked with when the Chancery had brought him here about buying farmland outside the city, the secretary told him he would need to bring him to another office.
The land development secretary explained that the office he worked in only dealt with land and/or structures sold within the city walls. If he were looking to buy land to farm Ben would need to head over to the [Agriculture and Farmlands office].
The office they went to was only a few doors down from where they were and once inside the secretary left Ben to enter one of the interior offices.
While Ben waited to be helped, he noticed he was not the only one waiting for help. There was a well-dressed older gentleman who was discreetly examining Ben.
The well-dressed man was of average build and handsome for his age. It was possible that this man had a few female pursuers in his day. Even with some wrinkles around his eyes and his graying hair, Ben thought he would still turn the heads of the opposite gender.
Ben looked over at the well-dressed man sitting in a chair along the wall to give him a friendly nod and a smile. Ben had not paid much attention to him until now and as he gave him a nod, Ben noticed this man's rigid posture, knitted eyebrows, and clenched white knuckles.
He was quite openly wearing a look of displeasure which was unmistakably directed at Ben! After displaying his hostile gaze the older gentlemen looked away from Ben without returning his greeting as if he did not want anything to do with him.
Ben was wondering if the well-dressed man was upset about waiting for someone to help him, but his displeasure seemed to have been directed at Ben.
'What the hell is this guy's problem? I never met him before and he is acting like I just slapped his grandmother.'
As Ben thought about what problem this man could have with him, he remembered since he had entered the city, he had stopped wearing his armor and had on the clothes, he made when first arriving here!
His clothes were designed after the style of clothing worn by the kingdoms commoners except for the fact that they were made out of cotton and not the same rough burlap looking material.
'I can only think he is looking down on me due to the way I am dressed right now. This guy obviously has spent good money to buy those nice clothes he is wearing. Now that I think about it all the nobles who were in the king's throne room that day were wearing expensive outfits. I am a noble now, I should start playing the part of one when I am in the city. It might not look good to see a Marquess walking around in commoner's clothes.' Ben thought as he pondered as to why this man was upset with him.
The door to the office opened in which the secretary had entered a minute later. The land development secretary then escorted Ben into the office leaving the scowling noble to continue silently waiting in the main office lobby.
"Hello, Marquess King I am James Harbird. I am the Agriculture and Farmlands department supervisor. Charles here has just informed me that you have recently purchased a store in the city and are now looking for farmland. There is plenty of lands available in the kingdom that would be ideal for farmlands and I can help you find a place that suits your needs."
After James Harbird introduced himself Charles said, "Well, I better get back to my office, good luck with your land search Marquess King."
Ben nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to bring me here Charles."
Charles returned a smile at the acknowledgment and left the office after saluting Ben.
Ben turned back to James and spoke first, "Just as you were told I am looking for farmland, but I have an unusual request."
"Oh? Please feel free to speak I will help out in any way I can." James replied as he gestured to the chair in front of his desk.
The two of them sat down together and Ben began to explain his situation.
"Well for starters I do not need a large amount of land like most farms require. I will be specializing in a particular type of farming that will be more experimental than practical. What I need is about five acres of land that are close to the city and it does not need to be near a road or the city gates." Ben explained.
"This is a bit different from the way things are normally done. Most farmers want so much land the farms are generally located a distance away from the city." James stood up and took down a large parchment from a nearby shelf and walked over to stand beside Ben.
The parchment was an aerial map of Goldcrest City and the surrounding lands. It showed the walls, city streets, buildings, and land topography outside the walls.
James displayed the map in front of Ben and said, "The west side of the city is where the gate is located. To the east, there are steep foothills and deep valleys. Then to the north and south of the city, there is open flat land. I have been informed once that if the city were to ever expand it would be toward the west. The Sandy River is often used to transport goods out to the ocean coastline to trade with the western kingdoms. The king had always wanted to build a small harbor on the river with warehouses, stores, docks, and housing for those working in the river area. Due to this anything between the city gates and the Sandy River would be considered reserved land for future expansions. The east side of the city is rugged hills and deep valleys that would not be suited for farming. That leaves the north and south areas open to you, so what do you think?" Supervisor James Harbird explained the options of each location to Ben then waited for him to respond.
Ben examined the map and he could see that his store was located in the center of the city on the southern part of the city's central square. There wasn't much of a difference in distance from the north wall to the south wall, but the south wall was still the closer choice.
Ben pointed to the south-east corner just outside the city walls and said, "This area here would make a decent location, I think. All I need as I said is five acres of land so a little plot just outside the walls in this general area would be ideal for me."
After a short pause James said, "I do not see any problem with that area it is all unused wilderness and the city has no plans to expand in that direction. Normally I would wait to run something special like this past the king before giving an official response, but since you are a cultivator I am positive that, he would approve this."
James picked up the city map and placed it back on the shelf and went over to another shelf and grabbed a couple more parchments and brought them over to his desk.
Before he filled out any records, James told Ben how much the property would cost him. Ben agreed to the cost and a few minutes later he had a new deed that gave him permission to claim five acres of land outside the southern city walls.
The only stipulation was that the land he claimed was to be at least two hundred yards away from the city walls. This way it would allow the city room to repair or upgrade the walls in the future.
Ben placed the deed in his inventory and said, "I would like to ask one more thing before I go. As I said before this land will be experimental land to test new crops on and I am sure you have heard of my spirit food. I would like this to remain a secret to the nobles and the public that I have purchased this land. Any officials that have the seniority to inquire about it I do not mind. I just do not want people out there tearing apart the farmland at all hours of the night looking for spirit food."
Supervisor Harbird assured him that the only ones that would learn of his farm location would be the king and his closest aides who presented him the information. All property sales would remain confidential.
Ben thanked James and left him a few gold coins for fast-tracking his deed for him and agreeing to his requests. If it had gone through the king it may have been a week or two before he was given an answer.
Out in the lobby area, the well dressed noble was quietly talking with the secretary and Ben was thoroughly ignored by the noble as he walked out of the office into the hallway.
With a sigh, Ben opened his interface and began to look through the noble and royal fashions of this continent. He stopped outside the royal palace and sat on a stone bench next to a small fish pond on the palace grounds.
When he had familiarized himself with the current fashions, Ben was amazed at how similar they could be to certain eras in Earth's history.
Ben began by designing a black silk tunic with red silk sleeves. Around the tunic collar and the cuffs, he added a gold thread embroidered patterns that seemed to be popular and it helped make the tunic that much more formal looking.
On the chest area of the tunic, Ben chose to add his nobility crest. The dragon was embroidered with red thread. The dragon's teeth and talons were done with white thread.
The sharp white talons were gripping a shield done in a gray thread and had a red thread border that went around the outer perimeter of the shield.
To break up the solid black of the tunic, Ben decided to add thin vertical red embroidered pinstripes.
On each of the tunic's shoulders, as a final thought, he had a small gold ring securely sewn into the material so that he could clip his Hemic fur cape to the tunic.
Next, he made a pair of loose-fitting black satin pants. Down the outer leg of the pants, he used the same gold thread embroidered pattern as he had on the tunic.
As was the fashion, the tunic he designed hung down to just below the crotch area and would be worn with a belt around the waist of the tunic.
This was the next piece that Ben designed for the new outfit. He designed a red and black checkered leather belt with a gold buckle and tongue to cinch the tunic to his waist.
The last part was to design a pair of black leather laced boots that came up to just below the knee. The boots were made with red rubber hiking boot treads and had steel toes.
Ben had also added gel insoles to the boots to provide comfort when standing for long periods of time. Even though it would cost his a fair amount of gold coins to buy and make everything through the System Store, he didn't mind. It was convenient to use the System Store and have it made right here and now.
When he was done with the outfit, Ben walked off into the palace garden where he could not be seen and unequipped his commoner clothes and put on the new nobility outfit.
Being able to unequip and equip his clothes, it only took him a few seconds to change into his new noble clothes. He had to make an alteration to his cape by adding to gold clips so it could snap onto the gold rings on his tunic and then his outfit was complete.
While he was at it Ben opened his Warehouse and removed a couple jeweled men's gold rings with black diamonds and rubies that matched his outfit.
The gold noble badge which was on his cape could now be moved to a visible place. The badge was now pinned on the left chest area of his tunic in the same manner as a law enforcement badge.
As Ben approached the palace guards they did a double take without asking any questions. Ben chuckled to himself knowing that they realized, he was wearing a completely different outfit, but they chose not to question him about it.
Once he was out on the city streets there was a sudden change. He no longer blended with the crowd and looked like a wealthy nobleman. All the passing commoners would give him a salute as they passed by. Some young women would go as far as to stop and give him a full curtsy by slightly raising their dress as they bowed and nodded toward him.
Ben would look on with an admiring glance while wondering what the rules of this feudal society were like when it came to noblemen and commoner women. He knew that some of these women were trying to draw his attention and he would not mind spending some time with them, but he did not want to get ensnared in some clause that made him officially betrothed to a girl for sleeping with her.
Ben had no objections to getting married, but there was still plenty of time for that. He still had so much to do and would be constantly traveling around. If he were to find a girlfriend or marry now they would be stuck alone at the fortress until he could return for a short period.
With the setting sun turning the sky orange the people of the city began to make their way home and Ben walked toward the city's south wall. When he was alongside the wall Ben followed it until he came across a secluded area.
Since he had been cultivating and training he had now improved his strength and agility to be beyond normal human levels and had not completely tested his limits yet. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby and then squatted down and jumped straight up into the air to test his strength.
Instead of walking all the way around the outside of the city walls, Ben figured he might jump high enough to grab the lip of the wall and pull himself over it.
When he jumped with all his might he was surprised to see he could reach a height even higher than the wall. After jumping over twenty feet into the air and once being a normal human, Ben couldn't help but cringe when he saw the ground now rapidly approaching him.
Even more amazing than his jump, he could absorb the fall and easily land as if he had just jumped off of a dining room table to the ground.
When Ben felt he was comfortable with how high he could jump he took a few steps back and leaped up onto the narrow wall. He placed his palms on the outer lip of the wall and dropped down to the ground and smoothly rolled to his feet all in one motion.
As he brushed the grass off his new outfit he saw that the notification icon was blinking. He opened it up as he began to walk toward the location he was granted to claim land.
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Acrobatics Level 1!]
[Acrobatics]: This a passive skill that allows you to stay on your feet in precarious situations. You can sprint across uneven terrain or land safely from long falls. As the skill level increases you can even perform dives, rolls, and flips with greater dexterity. This skill can be used in or out of combat.
'Sweet, another awesome skill this could be useful when I'm fighting. If I could use flips and rolls while in combat I could dance around an opponent's attacks easier.'
After reading through his new skills description Ben activated his Whirlwind Technique and quickly reached the southeastern side of the outer city wall. Ben had the system mark a line on the map two hundred and fifty yards from the wall for him and he walked out to the minimap marked line.
When he opened his system interface he could see that the area he chose was well within the store's Warehouse radius still. Each Warehouse has a five-mile radius without any upgrades and he was currently one mile away from his store so his new farmland property fell within the Warehouse radius with four miles to spare even.
Now that he was in the correct location and within the Warehouse radius, Ben had the system mark out a five-acre area for him. With the wood wall tool, he drew out a 20ft high x 3ft wide wooden wall that went around the perimeter of his marked property line.
On the north section of his wall that faced toward the city, he built a wooden gatehouse. He removed the wooden gates and had an iron portcullis on a lever winch installed to prevent thieves or bandits from battering down the gate. As a final step he used the moat tool to create a narrow moat around the walls to prevent them from placing ladders against the walls.
Ben opened the portcullis with his interface and entered his enclosed land. When the portcullis closed behind him he received a new notice.
[Notice] [You have created a build zone outpost! The king of Aregard has recognized your ownership of a section of land within his borders! You are now able to build as high or as low as you wish within the borders of this outpost!]
[Would you like to name this outpost?] [YES] [NO]
Ben selected Yes then named the property "Spirit King Farms" and then closed the notice.
It was beginning to get dark out so Ben activated his Night Sight and opened his build menu.
Starting in the far back corner from the Gatehouse, Ben built a Mulberry Plantation to raise silkworms. A Cotton Plantation, Sugar Cane Plantation, and a Hemp Plantation.
[Plantation]: Can grow coffee, tobacco, cotton, hemp, mulberry/silkworm, and sugar cane. [Locked until: two built farms] [requires: stone, wood] [cost: 200g]
Next to these Plantations, Ben built a Tree Plantation that could grow rubber trees. The sap from the rubber trees it would grow could be used by a [Rubber Factory] to produce rubber.
[Tree Plantation]: Can grow: rubber tree, mahogany, oak, birch, rosewood, elm, cherry, bamboo, pecan, ash, pine, fir, beech, redwood, and walnut.
[requires: stone, wood] [cost: 200g]
[Auto_Notice] [The system has advanced a level! System Level 13!]
Next on his list was to build an Apple Orchard, Olive Tree Orchard and a Coconut Tree Tropical Orchard. What he mainly needed was olive oil, juice from the apples and coconut oil these orchards would produce, but the olives, coconuts, apples, and olive oil could also be used to help produce other recipes.
[Orchard]: Can grow: apple, pear, cherry, peach, orange, olive, plum, almond, chestnut, pecan, cashew, fig, cocoa, maple syrup, and native Victus fruits and nuts.
[Tropical Orchard]: Can grow: banana, golden apple, honeydew, lemon, papaya, kiwis, pineapple, coconut, mango, mangosteen, star fruit, guava, and dragon fruit.
Ben had been thinking about producing books to sell in his new store. Even though the nobility and royal family were mainly the only people that could read. He had an idea to also make children's books that could teach people letters and how to read.
He could remember growing up reading those simple kids books that started with "A is for apple" "B is for Ball" or books that had a simple picture with the name under it. If he copied a few of those kids books from the System Store, he could make good money from selling them to people who wanted to learn how to read.
To produce books he would need ink and one of the ingredients needed to make it was blackberries. So, this is what he built next on the farmland.
[Berry Farm]: Can grow: blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, boysenberry, cranberry, elderberry, loganberry, and native Victus berries.
After he had placed the berry farm, Ben left the walled in farmland. He jumped over the city wall and walked across the city toward his store.
It was an early morning for Ben once again, he left the store and walked over to his rented vendor stalls to neatly display his food and items. Cordelia showed up just as the other vendors began to arrive at their own stalls to also prepare for the day.Cordelia seemed to be a natural saleswoman and she was quick to remember everything about the food and products that they had out for sale.Just by watching Ben interact with the customers and listening to his descriptions, Cordelia could mimic his sales pitch.The two of them made a great team and were able to serve the gathered customers without them having to wait long to be helped.Goldcrest is a large city with a decent sized population so even if they could help everyone it would over time become a losing battle for them. As they sold so many things now this would only bring them more future customers.These new customers would then tell their friends and family about everything they sold and this would serve to further increase the number of people who come to buy from them.During the busy part of the day as Ben was totaling up a customer's sale, he counted the money handed to him and checked it with the price that he had figured with his virtual calculator.It was just as he had thought the customers were giving him seven percent more than the actual total due to his Mercantile skill.'Somehow I am getting seven percent more profits and my Mercantile skill is level 7 as of now. I wonder how much I will gain or save when it is up around level 20 then? Maybe it goes up 1% for each level?' Ben contemplated this as he moved onto the next waiting customer.Even though, there were always customers in front of them to serve Ben decided he would close up his stalls early today. He wanted to follow up on his idea of purchasing more land and would need to visit the Aregard royal palace before the people working there went home for the day.Cordelia had offered to stay and help the customers while, he was out, but Ben did not want to leave her to deal with so much when she was already supposed to be on a paid vacation. He was unsure about how safe this city was later in the day for women out alone and did not want her walking home with a bag of coins from the daily sales unescorted at night. There was also the products and merchandise which would then have to be left unattended until he came back later to place them in his inventory.With so many people around still, he had no choice today but to use his gold rune engraved ring that provided +1 to health regeneration as his prop interspatial ring.He apologized to the customers who were looking over his products and began to act like he was placing everything into his fake interspatial ring. The customers were all amazed as if they were watching a magic show. Everything around, Ben began to vanish until there were only three empty vendors stalls left.Ben told everyone who was still gathered around to mention they could not be served today, because he had to leave and they would all receive a 40% discount on whatever they bought tomorrow.Cordelia made her way home for the day and Ben went over to the land development offices once again. Now that he was a noble, Ben could show his ring at the palace gates and be let in so he wasn't worried about being turned away as he approached the palace guards.What surprised him was that the palace guards on duty knew his name and what, he looked like. They had greeted him warmly by name while saluting off to the side as he approached the gate before Ben could even display his noble ring. When he curiously asked how they recognized him the palace guards brought out a small stack of parchments.Each parchment had an artist rendered portrait and basic information on each known cultivator of the Aregard kingdom. The palace guard explained it was a part of their duties to memorize these cultivator records so that they could easily recognize them on sight. While Ben was in the throne room previously an artist must have sketched out his portrait and copies were made and distributed among the palace and city guards.The palace guard explained they were all previously told if they were to offend one of these cultivators it might be the last thing they ever do alive. This motivated them all to earnestly study these profiles whenever they had free time.Ben chuckled when he heard this while remembering his argument with the guard at the city gates. He left the palace guards to return to their duties and soon found himself inside the land development office.When he asked the secretary he had worked with when the Chancery had brought him here about buying farmland outside the city, the secretary told him he would need to bring him to another office.The land development secretary explained that the office he worked in only dealt with land and/or structures sold within the city walls. If he were looking to buy land to farm Ben would need to head over to the Agriculture and Farmlands office.The office they went to was only a few doors down from where they were and once inside the secretary left Ben to enter one of the interior offices.While Ben waited to be helped, he noticed he was not the only one waiting for help. There was a well-dressed older gentleman who was discreetly examining Ben.The well-dressed man was of average build and handsome for his age. It was possible that this man had a few female pursuers in his day. Even with some wrinkles around his eyes and his graying hair, Ben thought he would still turn the heads of the opposite gender.Ben looked over at the well-dressed man sitting in a chair along the wall to give him a friendly nod and a smile. Ben had not paid much attention to him until now and as he gave him a nod, Ben noticed this man's rigid posture, knitted eyebrows, and clenched white knuckles.He was quite openly wearing a look of displeasure which was unmistakably directed at Ben! After displaying his hostile gaze the older gentlemen looked away from Ben without returning his greeting as if he did not want anything to do with him.Ben was wondering if the well-dressed man was upset about waiting for someone to help him, but his displeasure seemed to have been directed at Ben.'What the hell is this guy's problem? I never met him before and he is acting like I just slapped his grandmother.'As Ben thought about what problem this man could have with him, he remembered since he had entered the city, he had stopped wearing his armor and had on the clothes, he made when first arriving here!His clothes were designed after the style of clothing worn by the kingdoms commoners except for the fact that they were made out of cotton and not the same rough burlap looking material.'I can only think he is looking down on me due to the way I am dressed right now. This guy obviously has spent good money to buy those nice clothes he is wearing. Now that I think about it all the nobles who were in the king's throne room that day were wearing expensive outfits. I am a noble now, I should start playing the part of one when I am in the city. It might not look good to see a Marquess walking around in commoner's clothes.' Ben thought as he pondered as to why this man was upset with him.The door to the office opened in which the secretary had entered a minute later. The land development secretary then escorted Ben into the office leaving the scowling noble to continue silently waiting in the main office lobby."Hello, Marquess King I am James Harbird. I am the Agriculture and Farmlands department supervisor. Charles here has just informed me that you have recently purchased a store in the city and are now looking for farmland. There is plenty of lands available in the kingdom that would be ideal for farmlands and I can help you find a place that suits your needs."After James Harbird introduced himself Charles said, "Well, I better get back to my office, good luck with your land search Marquess King."Ben nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to bring me here Charles."Charles returned a smile at the acknowledgment and left the office after saluting Ben.Ben turned back to James and spoke first, "Just as you were told I am looking for farmland, but I have an unusual request.""Oh? Please feel free to speak I will help out in any way I can." James replied as he gestured to the chair in front of his desk.The two of them sat down together and Ben began to explain his situation."Well for starters I do not need a large amount of land like most farms require. I will be specializing in a particular type of farming that will be more experimental than practical. What I need is about five acres of land that are close to the city and it does not need to be near a road or the city gates." Ben explained."This is a bit different from the way things are normally done. Most farmers want so much land the farms are generally located a distance away from the city." James stood up and took down a large parchment from a nearby shelf and walked over to stand beside Ben.The parchment was an aerial map of Goldcrest City and the surrounding lands. It showed the walls, city streets, buildings, and land topography outside the walls.James displayed the map in front of Ben and said, "The west side of the city is where the gate is located. To the east, there are steep foothills and deep valleys. Then to the north and south of the city, there is open flat land. I have been informed once that if the city were to ever expand it would be toward the west. The Sandy River is often used to transport goods out to the ocean coastline to trade with the western kingdoms. The king had always wanted to build a small harbor on the river with warehouses, stores, docks, and housing for those working in the river area. Due to this anything between the city gates and the Sandy River would be considered reserved land for future expansions. The east side of the city is rugged hills and deep valleys that would not be suited for farming. That leaves the north and south areas open to you, so what do you think?" Supervisor James Harbird explained the options of each location to Ben then waited for him to respond.Ben examined the map and he could see that his store was located in the center of the city on the southern part of the city's central square. There wasn't much of a difference in distance from the north wall to the south wall, but the south wall was still the closer choice.Ben pointed to the south-east corner just outside the city walls and said, "This area here would make a decent location, I think. All I need as I said is five acres of land so a little plot just outside the walls in this general area would be ideal for me."After a short pause James said, "I do not see any problem with that area it is all unused wilderness and the city has no plans to expand in that direction. Normally I would wait to run something special like this past the king before giving an official response, but since you are a cultivator I am positive that, he would approve this."James picked up the city map and placed it back on the shelf and went over to another shelf and grabbed a couple more parchments and brought them over to his desk.Before he filled out any records, James told Ben how much the property would cost him. Ben agreed to the cost and a few minutes later he had a new deed that gave him permission to claim five acres of land outside the southern city walls.The only stipulation was that the land he claimed was to be at least two hundred yards away from the city walls. This way it would allow the city room to repair or upgrade the walls in the future.Ben placed the deed in his inventory and said, "I would like to ask one more thing before I go. As I said before this land will be experimental land to test new crops on and I am sure you have heard of my spirit food. I would like this to remain a secret to the nobles and the public that I have purchased this land. Any officials that have the seniority to inquire about it I do not mind. I just do not want people out there tearing apart the farmland at all hours of the night looking for spirit food."Supervisor Harbird assured him that the only ones that would learn of his farm location would be the king and his closest aides who presented him the information. All property sales would remain confidential.Ben thanked James and left him a few gold coins for fast-tracking his deed for him and agreeing to his requests. If it had gone through the king it may have been a week or two before he was given an answer.Out in the lobby area, the well dressed noble was quietly talking with the secretary and Ben was thoroughly ignored by the noble as he walked out of the office into the hallway.With a sigh, Ben opened his interface and began to look through the noble and royal fashions of this continent. He stopped outside the royal palace and sat on a stone bench next to a small fish pond on the palace grounds.When he had familiarized himself with the current fashions, Ben was amazed at how similar they could be to certain eras in Earth's history.Ben began by designing a black silk tunic with red silk sleeves. Around the tunic collar and the cuffs, he added a gold thread embroidered patterns that seemed to be popular and it helped make the tunic that much more formal looking.On the chest area of the tunic, Ben chose to add his nobility crest. The dragon was embroidered with red thread. The dragon's teeth and talons were done with white thread.The sharp white talons were gripping a shield done in a gray thread and had a red thread border that went around the outer perimeter of the shield.To break up the solid black of the tunic, Ben decided to add thin vertical red embroidered pinstripes.On each of the tunic's shoulders, as a final thought, he had a small gold ring securely sewn into the material so that he could clip his Hemic fur cape to the tunic.Next, he made a pair of loose-fitting black satin pants. Down the outer leg of the pants, he used the same gold thread embroidered pattern as he had on the tunic.As was the fashion, the tunic he designed hung down to just below the crotch area and would be worn with a belt around the waist of the tunic.This was the next piece that Ben designed for the new outfit. He designed a red and black checkered leather belt with a gold buckle and tongue to cinch the tunic to his waist.The last part was to design a pair of black leather laced boots that came up to just below the knee. The boots were made with red rubber hiking boot treads and had steel toes.Ben had also added gel insoles to the boots to provide comfort when standing for long periods of time. Even though it would cost his a fair amount of gold coins to buy and make everything through the System Store, he didn't mind. It was convenient to use the System Store and have it made right here and now.When he was done with the outfit, Ben walked off into the palace garden where he could not be seen and unequipped his commoner clothes and put on the new nobility outfit.Being able to unequip and equip his clothes, it only took him a few seconds to change into his new noble clothes. He had to make an alteration to his cape by adding to gold clips so it could snap onto the gold rings on his tunic and then his outfit was complete.While he was at it Ben opened his Warehouse and removed a couple jeweled men's gold rings with black diamonds and rubies that matched his outfit.The gold noble badge which was on his cape could now be moved to a visible place. The badge was now pinned on the left chest area of his tunic in the same manner as a law enforcement badge.As Ben approached the palace guards they did a double take without asking any questions. Ben chuckled to himself knowing that they realized, he was wearing a completely different outfit, but they chose not to question him about it.Once he was out on the city streets there was a sudden change. He no longer blended with the crowd and looked like a wealthy nobleman. All the passing commoners would give him a salute as they passed by. Some young women would go as far as to stop and give him a full curtsy by slightly raising their dress as they bowed and nodded toward him.Ben would look on with an admiring glance while wondering what the rules of this feudal society were like when it came to noblemen and commoner women. He knew that some of these women were trying to draw his attention and he would not mind spending some time with them, but he did not want to get ensnared in some clause that made him officially betrothed to a girl for sleeping with her.Ben had no objections to getting married, but there was still plenty of time for that. He still had so much to do and would be constantly traveling around. If he were to find a girlfriend or marry now they would be stuck alone at the fortress until he could return for a short period.With the setting sun turning the sky orange the people of the city began to make their way home and Ben walked toward the city's south wall. When he was alongside the wall Ben followed it until he came across a secluded area.Since he had been cultivating and training he had now improved his strength and agility to be beyond normal human levels and had not completely tested his limits yet. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby and then squatted down and jumped straight up into the air to test his strength.Instead of walking all the way around the outside of the city walls, Ben figured he might jump high enough to grab the lip of the wall and pull himself over it.When he jumped with all his might he was surprised to see he could reach a height even higher than the wall. After jumping over twenty feet into the air and once being a normal human, Ben couldn't help but cringe when he saw the ground now rapidly approaching him.Even more amazing than his jump, he could absorb the fall and easily land as if he had just jumped off of a dining room table to the ground.When Ben felt he was comfortable with how high he could jump he took a few steps back and leaped up onto the narrow wall. He placed his palms on the outer lip of the wall and dropped down to the ground and smoothly rolled to his feet all in one motion.As he brushed the grass off his new outfit he saw that the notification icon was blinking. He opened it up as he began to walk toward the location he was granted to claim land.Notice You have learned a new skill! Acrobatics Level 1!Acrobatics: This a passive skill that allows you to stay on your feet in precarious situations. You can sprint across uneven terrain or land safely from long falls. As the skill level increases you can even perform dives, rolls, and flips with greater dexterity. This skill can be used in or out of combat.'Sweet, another awesome skill this could be useful when I'm fighting. If I could use flips and rolls while in combat I could dance around an opponent's attacks easier.'After reading through his new skills description Ben activated his Whirlwind Technique and quickly reached the southeastern side of the outer city wall. Ben had the system mark a line on the map two hundred and fifty yards from the wall for him and he walked out to the minimap marked line.When he opened his system interface he could see that the area he chose was well within the store's Warehouse radius still. Each Warehouse has a five-mile radius without any upgrades and he was currently one mile away from his store so his new farmland property fell within the Warehouse radius with four miles to spare even.Now that he was in the correct location and within the Warehouse radius, Ben had the system mark out a five-acre area for him. With the wood wall tool, he drew out a 20ft high x 3ft wide wooden wall that went around the perimeter of his marked property line.On the north section of his wall that faced toward the city, he built a wooden gatehouse. He removed the wooden gates and had an iron portcullis on a lever winch installed to prevent thieves or bandits from battering down the gate. As a final step he used the moat tool to create a narrow moat around the walls to prevent them from placing ladders against the walls.Ben opened the portcullis with his interface and entered his enclosed land. When the portcullis closed behind him he received a new notice.Notice You have created a build zone outpost! The king of Aregard has recognized your ownership of a section of land within his borders! You are now able to build as high or as low as you wish within the borders of this outpost!Would you like to name this outpost? YES NOBen selected Yes then named the property "Spirit King Farms" and then closed the notice.It was beginning to get dark out so Ben activated his Night Sight and opened his build menu.Starting in the far back corner from the Gatehouse, Ben built a Mulberry Plantation to raise silkworms. A Cotton Plantation, Sugar Cane Plantation, and a Hemp Plantation.Plantation: Can grow coffee, tobacco, cotton, hemp, mulberry/silkworm, and sugar cane. Locked until: two built farms requires: stone, wood cost: 200gNext to these Plantations, Ben built a Tree Plantation that could grow rubber trees. The sap from the rubber trees it would grow could be used by a Rubber Factory to produce rubber.Tree Plantation: Can grow: rubber tree, mahogany, oak, birch, rosewood, elm, cherry, bamboo, pecan, ash, pine, fir, beech, redwood, and walnut.requires: stone, wood cost: 200gAuto_Notice The system has advanced a level! System Level 13!Next on his list was to build an Apple Orchard, Olive Tree Orchard and a Coconut Tree Tropical Orchard. What he mainly needed was olive oil, juice from the apples and coconut oil these orchards would produce, but the olives, coconuts, apples, and olive oil could also be used to help produce other recipes.Orchard: Can grow: apple, pear, cherry, peach, orange, olive, plum, almond, chestnut, pecan, cashew, fig, cocoa, maple syrup, and native Victus fruits and nuts.Tropical Orchard: Can grow: banana, golden apple, honeydew, lemon, papaya, kiwis, pineapple, coconut, mango, mangosteen, star fruit, guava, and dragon fruit.Ben had been thinking about producing books to sell in his new store. Even though the nobility and royal family were mainly the only people that could read. He had an idea to also make children's books that could teach people letters and how to read.He could remember growing up reading those simple kids books that started with "A is for apple" "B is for Ball" or books that had a simple picture with the name under it. If he copied a few of those kids books from the System Store, he could make good money from selling them to people who wanted to learn how to read.To produce books he would need ink and one of the ingredients needed to make it was blackberries. So, this is what he built next on the farmland.Berry Farm: Can grow: blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, boysenberry, cranberry, elderberry, loganberry, and native Victus berries.After he had placed the berry farm, Ben left the walled in farmland. He jumped over the city wall and walked across the city toward his store.
