The definition of mining salt is very broad. Salt mines can be extracted from underground, resulting from historical changes, crustal movements, and other factors. People can collect these salt mines and, after processing, consume them. It appears that the villagers in Qingfeng Village are indeed users of salt mines.
In the vast ocean, salt mines can also appear on the rocks of certain islands. The reasons for their formation are countless: the crashing and impact of waves, and the seawater being exposed to intense sunlight. Over time, these form salt mines, which are edible but require certain technical processing.
Salt mines are also a very important fundamental resource.
Qingfeng Village possesses a medium-sized salt mine with a daily output of 2,500 units. For a population of 150,000, the daily requirement is approximately 1,800 units of salt. Over time, they have actually accumulated a stockpile of 2 million units of salt. Although it is coarse salt, its value is immense!
Lin Mu had previously purchased some coarse salt in Qingfeng Village, which cost 100 copper coins per unit. For 2 million units, the normal price would be 200 million copper coins. Indeed, a salt mine is like a mountain of gold!
During the migration, these salt supplies had already been moved back, so the territory would no longer need to buy salt from the market! Even if there were a shortage, there was still a salt mine here to mine. Once the migration work was organized and completed, he could arrange for miners to come here to extract it!
Lin Mu carefully examined the territory attribute information of Qingfeng Village and found that aside from the salt mine and the Expert-grade Inscription Workshop, which were refreshing, everything else was mediocre.
Lin Mu began the operation to annex the village.
"Ding!"
"—System Prompt: Lord Lin Mu, do you wish to take the large village of Qingfeng Village as an annexed territory?"
"Yes!" Lin Mu confirmed.
"—System Prompt: Congratulations, Lord Lin Mu, on successfully acquiring Qingfeng Village as an annexed territory. Qingfeng Village has become an annexed territory of True Dragon Village, and you have obtained ownership of Qingfeng Village!"
"—System Prompt: Lord Lin Mu, since your territory is a God-tier territory, the hidden attributes of the Yellow Dragon Divine Command allow for 'Mirror Attribute Territory' operations. Do you wish to proceed?"
As expected, just as expected! Lin Mu was ecstatic!
A few days ago, while chatting idly with Chang Yin, Lin Mu had discussed some of the hidden settings of God-tier territories. Among them, Chang Yin was particularly interested in the setting where God-tier territories have no fixed territory area, believing it wasn't just a matter of size but must involve some hidden mysteries. The three of them had proposed many possibilities regarding this issue, and the one they felt was most likely was this "Mirror Attribute."
Lin Mu began his first attempt at the setting!
"Perform Mirror Attribute setting operation!" An excited Lin Mu pressed his hand firmly against the stone tablet.
"Ding!"
"—Since this is not the Dragon Vein site of the Yinglong Valley, True Dragon Village's special attribute 1: [Auspiciousness of Earth Virtue] cannot take effect. Therefore, you may choose one attribute from the original territory to retain!"
Huh, so this special attribute 1: [Auspiciousness of Earth Virtue] has no effect outside of the Yinglong Valley? That was unexpected.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Mu chose to retain: "Increase resource collection yield within the territory by 20%."
In truth, both of Qingfeng Village's attributes were quite poor; 20% could not compare to the 100% of his own territory. Lin Mu had nothing to agonize over. If other players knew, they might spit on him in jealousy—many players currently didn't even have a territory, and most who did had established villages using Yellow-tier Village Building Orders, possessing only one pitiful attribute with a bonus of around 10%!
A Yellow-tier bonus is around 10%, Mysterious-tier around 20%, Earth-tier around 40%, and Heaven-tier around 50%. This was information explored by players in his previous life. Now that Lin Mu knew the bonus for a God-tier territory, it was 100%! It was more than double that of a Heaven-tier territory—extremely domineering!
"Ding!"
"—System Prompt: Qingfeng Village territory attributes have been successfully regenerated! Please check!"
"Ding!"
"—System Prompt: Congratulations, Lord Lin Mu, on subjugating the large Qingfeng Village as your annexed territory. You are the first player in the world to subjugate a medium-sized township and have obtained the title 'Junior Pioneer'! System rewards: +500 Reputation, one Yellow-tier [Territory Building Upgrade Scroll], and one Yellow-tier [Nuwa Treasure Chest]!"
After Lin Mu finished setting the mirror attributes, the pleasant system notification rang again. Hearing it, the corners of Lin Mu's mouth curled up. It had appeared—the item he wanted most in the early game: the [Territory Building Upgrade Scroll].
This was one of the most sought-after upgrade scrolls for Lord-class players! It was always in high demand and short supply on the market; as soon as one appeared, it triggered a frenzy of pursuit and attention, and its price was extremely high. In his previous life, a player who sold one of these scrolls became incredibly wealthy. Lin Mu remembered a player who sold a Mysterious-tier Territory Building Upgrade Scroll for 100 gold coins. After the system update and the direct conversion to real-world currency, it was worth 1 million RMB. Since the Chinese Yuan was on par with the US Dollar, that meant 1 million USD!
With the strong purchasing power of the RMB, 1 million could do many things in the new era! For example, one could buy a gaming pod to play for long periods without needing to stop for nutrition.
It was a divine tool for playing for a month straight! The dream of sudden wealth could be realized overnight!
...
The [Territory Building Upgrade Scroll], [Skill Upgrade Scroll], [Specialty Upgrade Scroll], and [Level Upgrade Scroll] were known as the Four Great Scrolls! They were the most popular among players!
As the names suggested, the [Skill Upgrade Scroll] and [Specialty Upgrade Scroll] were for improving skills and specialties. Their attributes were similar to the [Territory Building Upgrade Scroll], just with different targets. However, the [Level Upgrade Scroll] was not as simple as just increasing a level; it had a hidden attribute: breaking through the shackles of aptitude-limited levels to break the level cap!
Take Lin Mu, for example. Like other players, his explicit aptitude was Tier 4, meaning he could only level up to 49. He could not reach level 50 through conventional means. To reach level 50, he would need to go to the Nuwa Temple for the [Shackle Trial]; passing the trial would allow him to continue leveling. Upon reaching level 59, he would need to undergo the [Shackle Trial] again, and so on in a cycle! This applied to natives as well!
Now, if he had a [Level Upgrade Scroll], when Lin Mu reached level 49, using it to increase his level by one would make him level 50. This would count as breaking through the shackles of aptitude-limited levels without having to undergo the difficult [Shackle Trial]. Thus, the [Level Upgrade Scroll] became the simplest shortcut for players to break through, even though they were difficult to obtain.
As for the [Territory Building Upgrade Scroll], it could upgrade territory buildings. Unless it was a very special building, using this scroll would increase its tier by one.
Lin Mu remembered that Yellow-tier scrolls could upgrade buildings below Advanced by one tier; Mysterious-tier could upgrade buildings below Expert by one tier; Earth-tier could upgrade buildings below Master by one tier; and Heaven-tier could upgrade buildings below Grandmaster by one tier. God-tier had never appeared!
As soon as this reward appeared, Lin Mu immediately had a target in mind: the Medium-grade Refugee Camp! Using a Yellow-tier Building Upgrade Scroll could upgrade that Medium-grade Refugee Camp to Advanced. In the future, the population and quality of people spawning in his territory should see a massive improvement!
For a territory's refugee camp, conventional expansion methods were ineffective; even if you expanded the building several times over, the population that spawned would remain the same and would not increase.
Regardless, the achievement of being the first to complete the subjugation of a township was now in his pocket!