Chapter 90: Settling Down

In the game "Empire's Rise," the price fluctuations Lee Zhan mentioned were the same as those in the official market, so the players were not surprised and nodded in understanding. Lee Zhan then had the players line up while he stood in front of the market entrance, opening the mayor’s options to register them all (the deputy mayor had the same function).

By dinner time, the registration was finally complete with a total of 103 players signed up. Among them, ninety-four players rented stalls mostly for two or three months—two months costing one gold, three months one gold and fifty copper coins. The remaining nine players rented shops for six months, each paying Lee Zhan thirty gold. Including the gold earned from stall rentals, the total income amounted to three hundred eighty gold.

After paying, the players immediately led their villagers to their assigned stalls, having them memorize their locations for easier solo operations in the future. Those renting shops hurriedly took their villagers and left Yanhuang Village to head to Danyang overnight for purchasing goods. The daily fee of fifty copper coins left no room for delay among these merchants.

Regarding transaction taxes, the official market in "Empire" generally kept them low—mostly between 5% and 7%, except for special or luxury items, which ranged from 20% to 30%. Since Yanhuang Village’s economy was still in its infancy, it was crucial not to set taxes too high, lest it scare off players and ultimately cause losses to the village. Lee Zhan set the tax rates at 5% for regular goods and 20% for special or luxury items.

While the villagers were having dinner, fishermen from the Lingyun Tribe (Wu Fan’s tribe) arrived at Yanhuang Village by boat. The newly built civilian shipyard was complete, and their fishing boat was docked there. Zheng Jun, along with several male villagers, unloaded dyes from the boat and moved them to the large dye shed in the village center. The stone wall Zheng Jun had been constructing during the day was already one-third finished and was expected to be completed by tomorrow.

Lee Zhan invited the fishermen and villagers to dine together, including the twenty villagers temporarily hired during the day—the dinner was extended to them as well.

Beforehand, nomadic players were most concerned about the market and the inn. At this point, the inn was finished, with lodging priced at twenty copper coins per person for a full day (twenty-four hours). Players who sustained heavier injuries while leveling during the day often chose to rest there. As for the food and drink offered by the inn, players had no real practical use for these items beyond taste, so there was little demand. Lee Zhan therefore assigned two clever female villagers to handle the inn’s accounting and sanitation, leaving the ground floor dining area temporarily unused.

Each nomadic player had two tents—one for themselves and one for two villagers to rest in, allowing for slow recovery of strength. At night, players who chose to sleep in the game would crawl into their tent, and the villagers would pitch another tent beside it to sleep as well. However, if players logged off to rest, the villagers’ safety became a concern. There had been numerous incidents of villagers camping outdoors at night being attacked by wild beasts, and since villagers had very low offense and defense, survival was unlikely once attacked.

By nightfall, six players wishing to log off approached Lee Zhan, hoping he would allow their villagers to pitch tents within Yanhuang Village for safety. After some thought, Lee Zhan agreed but also emphasized that having villagers live in defenseless tents was not a long-term solution and that they needed to find a better arrangement soon.

His words struck a chord with the players, who eagerly asked for solutions. Lee Zhan responded:

“Tomorrow, I will designate several areas outside the East, South, and West stone gates. You and your villagers can build wooden houses there and settle down. If you find the wooden houses your villagers build unsatisfactory—since nomadic players’ villagers can only construct simple Dark Age wooden houses by default—we can build them for you, but there will be a fee.”

Frankly, Lee Zhan’s idea to have players and their villagers settle outside the village was motivated not only by concern for their safety but also by self-interest. Once these players and villagers settled outside and grew in number, they would actively promote Yanhuang Village’s prosperity. The more interaction between them and the village, the stronger their dependence would be, and eventually, when the village faced crises or difficulties, these players and villagers would stand firmly by its side to fend off external threats.

The nomadic players wholeheartedly approved Lee Zhan’s proposal. However, most were dissatisfied with the rudimentary wooden houses their villagers could build. Many had their eyes on the fifteen newly constructed small courtyard wooden houses in Yanhuang Village and expressed a desire to have the village villagers build similar ones for them. A few players with closer ties planned to pool funds to build quadrangle courtyards, so their villagers could live and eat together for mutual care.

Each courtyard-style wooden house required 85 units of wood and 5 units of stone, plus labor costs, totaling 8 gold per house. The quadrangle courtyards required 175 units of wood and 25 units of stone, plus labor, amounting to 35 gold each (stone was especially expensive, since one gold could not even buy one unit of stone).

Though the building costs were high, these nomadic players were willing to pay for their villagers. After all, each player only had two villagers; losing one was a loss, losing two was permanent. Watching others run around with their villagers while being alone was a bleak atmosphere even without experiencing it firsthand.

Before logging off, Lee Zhan made a small profit from the players—fifty-eight small courtyard wooden houses and six quadrangle courtyards, amounting to 674 gold. Added to the earlier market stall and shop rentals, the village treasury reached 1,054 gold, bringing Yanhuang Village’s total savings to over 3,000 gold—a sum many clan leaders could only dream of.

Yet, with Lee Zhan’s "extreme" personality, it was likely that he would soon squander all these gold coins in the next moment.

Making money fast and spending it faster—that was Lee Zhan’s hallmark.