Chapter 71 Contract Land
More than a week had passed since Alistair took a loan from the bank.
At the dining table, Alistair's sister Amara sat across from him.
"How is your training, brother?" Amara asked while eating.
"It's going well. I just achieved the rank of an official knight," Alistair said excitedly.
His strength had already approached the level of an official knight, so with little training, he naturally advanced.
"That's great!" Amara nearly clapped her hands.
"Unfortunately, the follow-up exercises cost thousands of gold credits," Alistair sighed.
The cultivation manual for knights he purchased from Moonlight Library was specifically added by Maximus when he saw Alistair's rank 9 potential.
Normally, it would only cost 10 GP for the top tier 0 cultivation manual in the system mall.
However, Maximus didn't want it to be so cheap, so he raised the price to 300 gold credits.
For the low-grade Tier 0 manual, it cost less than 0.01 GP in the system and price around 50-100 Silver credits.
For the mid to high-grade tier 0 manual, it cost 0.1 - 1 GP in the system and is priced around 1 - 100 Gold Credits.
"I'm also close to becoming an official mage. After a month, I'm sure I'll advance," Amara sighed, reflecting on their lack of funds.
Minors aren't allowed to take a loan, so the 1000 gold credits that Alistair borrowed were used to buy cultivation manuals for both of them.
This is also what surprised Maximus.
Amara, Alistair's 5-year-old sister, also had a rank 9 primodial potential, the Eternal Druid Body (Sealed).
After discovering that Alistair possessed the protagonist template, Maximus personally tested her talents in secret, realizing that she shouldn't be ordinary.
He then added another cultivation manual in Moonlight library suitable for her, which they purchased as if a guide of faith for 300 gold credits.
Consequently, they only had 400 gold credits left.
"How about I try hunting in Willowdale Forest?" Alistair suggested.
Maximus's territory stretched over 10 million kilometers of land, so there were forests inhabited by magic beasts.
However, after the mana purification and the formation process, the beasts living there were no longer a threat and instead became a breeding ground for resources.
There were three types of forests: tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3.
This classification was based on the concentration of mana allocated to the formation array and the strength of the beasts.
For example, the tier 1 forest had a limited tier 1 mana density and was mainly inhabited by tier 1 magic beasts.
This forest also served as a training ground prepared for Maximus's people, as one couldn't be lazy or else people will breed demons.
"No! It's dangerous," Amara hurriedly stood up and disagreed.
Amara had heard that Willowdale Forest was mainly inhabited by tier 1 beasts.
Therefore, many wild tier 1 official knights also roamed there to train and earn money.
Previously they didn't have a channel to buy resources and knowledge for their training, so when the Moonlight Library came out.
They turned into diligent bees, desperately earning money.
While joining the army would provide these things quickly, they valued their freedom and didn't want to be restricted.
Otherwise, how could they not have the channel to buy resources, if they just obediently joined the army from their previous kingdom?
You know most of the rulers of the previous kingdom have backers from the cursed continent, so their armies have abundant resources and corresponding inheritance.
"Don't worry, even though I've recently advanced, you know my sword skills," Alistair held up his chest proudly.
"No! Why don't you just join the army? I heard the cultivation manual is free," Amara persuaded.
"Never. I promise to never rely on others again," Alistair stubbornly said.
Although it was somewhat hypocritical since he had borrowed money to purchase the cultivation manual, which was technically relying on others.
However, in his mind, it's different as he had to repay the debt sooner or later.
But being a servant or even a subordinate to others, just the thought of it drove him crazy.
Alistair didn't know why, but ever since he came here and absorbed the strange energy that strengthened him, which he now knows as mana, he felt like he had become more stubborn and thick-headed about things.
"Fine, but you must come back every day," Amara relented.
She knew her brother was very stubborn, and once he decided to do something, nothing could change his mind.
"However, we can try renting a spiritual land," Amara suggested.
"Is that possible? But won't it be a bit tiring?" Alistair said.
"How can that be? I'm about to become an official mage, and I've already learned plant-based spells. It seems pretty easy," Amara said cutely.
Don't let Amara's young age of only 5 fool you; she was very smart, even compared to adults.
From an early age, she could understand most things.
When Amara was only a few months old, she could already speak in full sentences, not just utter single words.
In their village, Amara was thought to possess a demon, so she was cast aside.
Fortunately, her thick-headed brother, despite his scrawny body, could defeat the villagers with his wooden stick.
As for their parents, Amara didn't remember them. Maybe they died while giving birth to her.
She asked her brother about this, but he also didn't know, as they were not blood-related.
He had only rescued Amara that day because of some instinct, and as her brother said, she was very cute.
After they escaped that village, Amara later learned that she was very different, so she mostly remained silent, often just giving advice to her brother to live by.
Otherwise, how could they not starve to death with her thick-headed brother, who only knew how to swing his wooden stick?
"Then let's try it. After we finish eating, we can rent land," Alistair said.
...
After finishing their meal, Alistair and Amara arrived at an establishment that primarily handled the rental of spiritual land.
"Welcome, how may I help you?" the receptionist greeted.
"We're here to rent spiritual land. Could you please explain the process to us?" Alistair asked.
"Of course. After the activation of the array, the land becomes a spiritual land suitable for planting magic plants," the receptionist explained.
"As of now, it's only suitable for tier 1. If you want to rent it, you need to master several plant spells to be eligible," she continued.
After the density of mana increased, planting ordinary crops will be a waste of land resources.
Maximus had ceased regular farming a week ago with the arrival of the Moonlight Bank and Moonlight Library.
This prompted many people to take out loans to quickly acquire the esoteric knowledge of magical planting.
After all, without farming, how could most of them survive?
Moreover, magical plants were more valuable, allowing them to earn more.
Fortunately, one only needed a small amount of mana to get started; otherwise, the land would be useless.
In just a week, many talented farmers had already mastered the magic spells for farming and started renting land.
They just need to practice more, when they farm.
As for the seeds and resources needed for their mage or knight training, Maximus planned to invest over 20 billion GP, which should be sufficient for a year.
As for the following year, his territory should produce its own resources.
For now, he only bought magic seeds.
He plans to release the magic training resources after he inscribes the runic program for Moonlight Mall.
"How do you test our proficiency in spells?" Alistair asked.
"There is an examiner in the back—an official mage," the receptionist replied politely.
"Shall we test it now?" Alistair suggested.
"Alright, come with me."
As they made their way to the back of the establishment, an old man instructed them to cast a tier 0 spirit rain spell.
Amara stepped forward and effortlessly cast the spell.
This caused astonishment in the receptionist and the old man.
They had expected Alistair, the brother to perform the spell, but instead, the younger sister stepped up and did it.
The old man even estimated that the little girl was more proficient in the spell than he was.
After all, even though he was already an official mage, he wasn't specialized in farming spells.
The old man even contemplated accepting the little girl as his student.
Unfortunately, his majesty had already planned to establish an academy, and soliciting talent prematurely might incur his majesty's dissatisfaction.
The old man quickly came back to his senses and told the little girl to perform the other farming-type spells.
Amara still performed it effortlessly, like she was just eating, doing her daily routine.
"Qualified!"
Although the old man would have liked to talk more, there were still other people waiting to take the test and rent spiritual land.
The two siblings returned to the reception site after the test.
"How much land do you plan to rent?" the receptionist asked Amara.
Previously, the receptionist hadn't thought much of Amara, assuming that Alistair was simply bringing his sister along to broaden her horizons.
But now that it was Amara who had taken the test, the receptionist realized who was truly in charge of renting the spiritual land.
The receptionist then informed them that it would only cost 1 gold credit per acre a month, as long as they paid 70 percent of their produce.
However, if they wished, they could wholly rent the land for 100 gold credits per acre a month without having to hand in any produce.
Since they were short on money, they decided to only rent 3 acres.
With spiritual land, it would only take a month to harvest common tier 1 seeds.
Therefore, after a month of planting, they could expand the rented land once Amara became an official mage.
As for the seeds, they bought them from the establishment for 100 gold credits.
If they wanted, they could purchase them for a lower price, but they would have to give a portion of their produce in return.
Amara just wrinkled his brows at another price cut, and choose to buy the seed's original price.
Whoever set these prices had made so many cuts, greedy for their hard-earned money.
If they didn't have money, they could only earn 10 percent of their produce.
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