"Really boss? I thought artificers were extremely rare?" Takuya sat down and begin to eat food, to the dismay of Lively and all the other servants.
Takuya ate enough to feed twenty miners and ten cultivators. Although Cultivators typically needed more nutrition then miners, he seemed to possess a bottomless pit.
Cultivators burned more calories than miners because their spiritual roots increased their metabolisms. Low class cultivators required two times as much nutrition, and Middle grade cultivators required four times the miner's amount!
Brave, testing himself a few minutes ago, found out he had high grade spiritual roots. Normally, following the same ratio he should easily eat more than Takuya. However, he barely had an appetite as he contemplated about the future.
Takuya could tell Brave had lost himself in his thoughts, and finally poked him to ensure he was still breathing. Brave finally regained his composure and answered Takuya's question.
"They are usually raised from birth Takuya and taken from their families to the capital. In order to get one, I had to send 3000 gems to the capital just to rent him for a few weeks…"
"3000 gems! You could build a city for 3000 gems!" Takuya only cost Brave roughly 20 gems a week, and that was just to pay for his large stomach.
As for the artificer, he didn't understand why the expense would be so ludicrous. Most of the richest people in his village merely had at most 10,000 gems, and that was after he found an extremely lucky treasure!
As for this capital artificer candidate, he was simply a apprentice most likely! What did they even need the money for?
"I don't mean to doubt you emperor… However, aren't you overpaying them a tiny bit?"
Brave shook his head, and tried his best to simplify his reasoning for getting an artificer.
"No, we have no choice but to invest in an artificer. If we don't get one, once the other teams reach the 9th rank of foundational level we will be crushed."
"As for artificers, they are the only way to give body cultivators true long range capabilities. I had no choice but to bite the bullet and spend the money we got from the West Inferno Sect…"
Takuya nodded his head and looked deep in contemplation. The food arrived in front of him and he began thinking about what his master had said. Considering that he might die if he didn't get the proper tools, perhaps the expense was worth it.
After finishing his meal, Brave patted him on the back before sending him upstairs. Seeing Lively desperately rushing to clean up the plates with the servants, he smiled at her before pulling her over towards him.
"Relax, I know you think the heaven's might smite you at any moment, but like I said, even the heaven's have to respect me!" Brave patted Lively on the shoulders, causing her to snap out of her daze.
"You… you don't understand, Brave. I almost died yesterday when the Maple Green Sect invaded. An arrow came into the sect, and nearly pierced through my head."
"If I don't work my hardest every moment for you emperor, perhaps when I die I will be cursed for all eternity…"
Brave felt a little bit bad about the code he put into the game for the servants to follow. Anything that the emperor wanted was pivotal to their existence. For instance, he put in the lore section that if servants didn't try their hardest, they would be cursed for all of their afterlives.
He made sure to tell her "I promise you will live for all eternity" before he walked up to his room and went to sleep. The next morning, going outside, a small cart arrived with three small dragons pulling it.
Noticing his level had just barely reached 10, he quickly started building a demon beast stable as he waited for those three dragons to approach. Spending 1000 gems, he also purchased a stall for wandering merchants, hoping to earn some revenue from the visiting capital caravan.
There was roughly three hundred extremely beautiful carriages being pulled by powerful dragon beasts. If he guessed right, this was the first capital venture since the game began.
According to the code he had designed, the capital would send out merchants, supplies, and even beautiful women from its capital in order to acquire allies of sects. Brave opened up the gates to let them into the sect, sending his servants to bow to them and escort them to the stall.
At this point, he already had acquired the near maximum number of miners for his first base. After reaching one hundred miners, the added workers would merely slow down the gathering chain and cause his to lose out on gems. As for the additional miners he acquired, he already had plans for a few buildings for his outer sect.
There were many different type of buildings that did nothing to increase his strengths or resources, but were extremely important. For instance, there was a library that cost nearly 10,000 gems that only had books for members of the outer sect!
However, sometimes, reading those books, a miner could get an insight allowing them to understand the nature of Qi. Once they understood how to circulate Qi through their meridians, and into their dantians, they would then become a powerful resource!
Stopping himself at the gate, Brave looked at the merchants and their powerful beasts. Ordering his servants to bow, he merely remained standing as a man with a crown exited a carriage.
Seeing Brave, the man rushed over with a small boy behind him. Carrying a few large bags, he pushed him onto the floor in front of Brave before laughing and walking over towards the stall.
"Ah, I see you are interested in purchasing some weapons… We have middle grade spears at 1000 gems each…"
"As for these wild lily tigers, if you keep looking at them so hard, they might bite you!" The man giggled causing Brave to stop staring so hard at the tigers.
He indeed needed to buy three of those tigers for his demon beast stable. He quickly offered him 2000 gems for each tiger, causing the man to nearly vomit out of his mouth.
Luckily, this was another instance where Brave's knowledge of the code would prevail. Knowing exactly how the man would respond, he easily haggled him to giving him the tigers for one third the amount.
After purchasing the tigers, he also quickly bought a few materials for his dust covered artificer. Sending the merchant off, he even thought of purchasing a few more items before thanking the merchant for his business.
Even though the merchant had an extremely odd temperament, he told Brave that he thought his sect wasn't too bad compared to the other sects he had seen. Wishing to ask him for more information, the man laughed and didn't dare budge.
Without a second left to waste, he guided the man out of the base before finally turning to talk to the apprentice candidate. As someone who had spent his entire life in the capital, he looked at the sect like he would like at a bug.
However, after walking into the artificer workshop, his eyes lit up seeing all the supplies Brave had bought him.
Brave patted him on the back, not even asking his name. Unfortunately, his other sect's defensive array had just been hit with its first attack. Luckily, he had also purchased a basic illusory array to slow down the Maple Green Sect's advance.
"Alright, since you decided to leave your Maple Green Sect unprotected, don't mind me being merciless and killing you where you sleep!"