Chapter 214 Enter
Although the Hartmann family accumulated millions of merits over the past three years, exchanging just these two items cost more than 600,000 merits.@@novelbin@@
This shows that the more precious the treasure, the more exorbitant its cost. However, for the Hartmann family, such an expense is nothing.
In the war between the East Defense Zone and the zombie horde on Lotus Island, the Hartmann family earned not only military merits but also a huge amount of spirit stones.
Their elixirs and magical instruments were settled partly in military merits and partly in spirit stones. In total, they earned over 100 million spirit stones from this military trade.
Most of the money came from elixirs. Based on the profit margin, the Hartmann family's net profit from elixirs was about 70 million spirit stones—and that was only from military trade.
In addition, there are the industrial profits from the Hartmann family's operations in Zhou Main City and Lingzhou Fairy City, as well as those from the increasingly prosperous Sea View Fairy City. Sea View Fairy City, in particular, benefits from low-tax support for merchants and individual cultivators.
The Central Bank there has even implemented loan support policies for various potential families and cultivators, which has led to increasingly active trade.
More and more families are coming to Sea View City to run their own businesses, and a large number of independent cultivators are also attracted by these opportunities.
According to rough statistics from the Western Defense Zone Coalition, there were about 300,000 monks in the entire Western Defense Zone, and now that figure has doubled to more than 600,000.
Although not all of these cultivators are based in Sea View Fairy City, the city's permanent population has exceeded 200,000—almost one-third of the total population of Guang'an Prefecture Fairy City.
The profits generated by Sea View Fairy City have become the Hartmann family's true treasure trove. Although they have made huge profits in the past three years, their expenses have also been high.
In recent weeks, the family has not spent all the spirit stones they earned; instead, they stored most of them in the bank as reserves and continued to print spirit stone coins, reinvesting them in the market of Sea View Fairy City.
For example, consider the construction of Sea View Fairy City. Due to a shortage of spirit stones, even after spending 50 million spirit stones, the completed area of the entire city accounted for only one-tenth of its planned total.
Now that there is a sufficient reserve of spirit stones, the Hartmann family will undoubtedly continue to invest in completing the city.
A strict rule is in place: for every spirit stone reserved, one spirit stone coin is printed. Absolutely no over-issuance of currency will be allowed.
While people in this world might not fully understand this lesson, Luis—familiar with the history of his previous life—knows it very well.
There were many reasons for the failure of currencies in ancient times, but the fundamental cause was the imperial power ideology.
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In simple terms, it was the mindset of "the world belongs to me, and I can do whatever I want." This led to disregarding market rules and issuing currency indiscriminately, causing wild depreciation until no one was willing to use it.
Money itself has no intrinsic value; its value comes from the commodities it can purchase. For instance, if you produce one kilogram of grain and print one coin, that coin can buy one kilogram of grain.
However, if you print five coins for the same kilogram, then five coins are needed to buy one kilogram of grain. Print 10,000 coins, and no matter how much money you have, you won't be able to buy food—because market panic will set in, and no one will dare to use your currency anymore.
In fact, with the productivity of Sea View City, it is already feasible to issue currency to a certain extent. With the continuous expansion of the Hartmann Island Industrial Zone, the Hartmann family is supplying more and more elixirs and magical instruments to Sea View Fairy City.
If there is a shortage of currency, deflation will also occur, which is equally detrimental to economic development.
However, Luis feared that the Hartmann family would not be able to maintain the proper balance, so he did not allow them to over-issue currency. Even a small-scale deflation is preferable to large-scale inflation that would render Spirit coins worthless paper.
Less than half a day later, Luis returned to Hartmann Island, descending on a beam of light. He found that his Uncle Oliver and a group of clan members were waiting for him.
"Did you buy it back?" Uncle Oliver asked excitedly.
Luis stretched out his palm, and a green pagoda, glowing with spiritual light, appeared in his hand.
"Okay, okay, okay!" Oliver exclaimed. Overwhelmed, he wanted to touch the pagoda but hesitated, fearing it might be damaged.
Noticing this, Luis handed the blue pagoda to him with a playful smile. "Uncle, go ahead and touch it. Otherwise, once I finish placing it, you won't be able to play with it."
At once, Oliver took it in his hands and began to examine it. "I've long heard that the Zhou family has a Taixu Illusionary Place for training elite disciples. I never expected that today, our family would have the chance to obtain such a treasure."
Oliver was so excited he was almost at a loss for words. In just a few years, the Hartmann family had undergone earth-shaking changes, and everyone was buzzing with excitement.
Following Luis, the group gathered to watch him install the Jiuxu Linglong Tower. In the cleared space before them, Luis ascended into the sky. With the green pagoda in his left hand and mysterious control techniques swirling in his right, he appeared to be working to remove a restriction on the pagoda.
In the next moment, the blue pagoda activated under his command. Luis tossed it onto the flat, empty ground, and the green pagoda began to swell rapidly in the wind. What had started as a mini tower less than six inches tall soared—growing a hundredfold, then a thousandfold.
"BOOM!!!"
Under Luis's control, the Jiuxu Linglong Tower slowly descended onto the open ground with an earth-shaking roar. The family members standing below were left speechless when they saw the giant pagoda, now over a hundred feet tall, before them. Even in ancient times, a building of such height would have been an iconic landmark.
Moreover, this was not even the highest form of the Jiuxu Linglong Tower. According to the jade slip exchanged with the Qianyuan Sword Sect, the tower is capable of reaching a height of nine hundred feet.
Of course, for the family, there is no need for the tower to be that tall—it can be adjusted arbitrarily.
After installing the Jiuxu Linglong Tower, Luis lowered his beam of light and looked at the tower before him, smiling as he said, "Let's go in."
"Good!" "Oh!" The people cheered, knowing that, strictly speaking, this Jiuxu Linglong Tower had been acquired for them.
If you count carefully, there are a total of fifty-four clan members in this group—each one carefully selected by Luis from among the family's knights in recent years. The oldest is Fusheng, only nine years old, and the youngest is Harry, who is just five this year.
Without exception, they are all promising students with good character from the Hartmann School.
Currently, the school offers only three courses: weapon refining, alchemy, and knight training. These fifty-four disciples were chosen from among thousands of family members to join the knight class, and they have all been trained as core disciples.
The requirements for entering the mission hall are extremely strict.
They then walked to the gate of the Jiuxu Linglong Tower.
As if sensing the arrival of its owner, the tower's door opened automatically with a rumbling sound.
"It is said that magical instruments above the fourth level possess far greater intelligence than those at the third level. This must be the spirit of the Tower," someone remarked.
Luis strode toward the green pagoda with his head held high, followed by the elite descendants of the family who entered one after another.
Moments later, everyone gathered in an extremely spacious chamber inside the tower.
The Jiuxu Linglong Tower comprises nine floors in total, each capable of hosting nine tiers of Taixu illusions. These illusions can be configured according to the user's needs.
In general, large families and sects choose several types of illusions to hone their skills—for example, illusions that sharpen the disciples' minds, enhance their combat experience, and improve both small-scale coordination and large-scale collective combat.
"Owner."
As soon as he stepped onto the first floor of the pagoda, a voice, as clear and innocent as a child's, echoed through the empty space.
"Are you the tower spirit of the Jiuxu Linglong Tower?"
"Yes, Master," the childlike voice replied.
After a brief pause, Chen Daoxuan communicated with the spirit and said, "As far as I know, you have the ability to configure illusions. How do you set them up?"
"The Jiuxu Linglong Tower supports nine distinct types of illusions, each corresponding to a different level. If the master wishes to add or remove elements from the environment, you can communicate your desires directly to me. However, when setting up an illusion, authenticity is key. If the modifications differ too much from the illusion's original design, it will lose its realism."
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