The next ten-odd days saw Ye Yun staying on Mi Li Island. During this time, all Dragon Palace members relocated there and began adapting to their new lives.
Meanwhile, the top ten tiers of the reserve forces also started gradually moving onto Mi Li Island. As for living arrangements, Ye Yun planned to progressively open up the communities surrounding the Dragon Palace Tower for the families of official members.
Of course, this would not be free but rather a phased, paid service, albeit at a relatively low cost. Ye Yun believed that as the population grew, all supporting amenities would naturally follow.
Within the Heavenly Dao, Ye Yun also spent over ten days on the New Mortal Continent. He successfully secured his third double-first place title and, in doing so, garnered over twenty-six million spirit stones once more.
Speaking of which, Ye Yun felt a surge of excitement. Due to his consecutive first-place finishes in the past, Cloud Sky City had seen over four hundred more players pledge their allegiance this time. This translated into an additional gain of over 1.7 million spirit stones per round for Ye Yun. Eighty percent of all earnings by these newcomers on the New Mortal Continent had to be submitted to Ye Yun! The draconian terms almost made everyone turn away, but Ye Yun promised them at least ten consecutive first-place finishes, only then did they excitedly join.
"Master, Liu Sao has already established a branch city of our Cloud Sky City fifty thousand kilometers to our east. We now require your authorization to construct the teleportation arrays between the two locations," Yue Di exclaimed excitedly to Ye Yun.
With the first branch city completed, the team for the second branch city also set off for its destination. It could be said that if this continued, Cloud Sky City would undoubtedly grow into a formidable metropolis.
What was a branch city? In the game world, a branch city was a subordinate entity, an extension of the main city. Citizens of a branch city enjoyed the same glory as those of the main city. The only difference was that branch cities exploited their citizens even more severely. According to Ye Yun's principle, ninety percent of each citizen's earnings had to be submitted.
It could be said that Ye Yun's collection model shattered the unspoken agreement among all players on the New Mortal Continent. Originally, players submitted one to two spirit stones daily, and eighty percent of ranking rewards. However, Yue Di was confident that those players would flock to them even under such harsh conditions. While it was slightly better for group players, solo players rarely earned more than two or three spirit stones a day, and a significant portion couldn't even afford the daily protection fee of one spirit stone.
Simultaneously, Yue Di painted an even grander picture for these branch city players. All branch city citizens would accumulate unique contribution points based on their submitted wealth. The top contributor in each branch city each round could directly enter the main city, becoming a citizen there and enjoying the privilege of submitting only eighty percent.
Ye Yun looked at the obsequious Yue Di before him and could only utter, "What a talent!"
Thus, the distribution system between the main city and branch cities was finalized. All that remained was to await the growth of these individuals. Ye Yun was confident that after a few more rounds, even if he were to leave the New Mortal Continent, Cloud Sky City's status and ranking there would remain unshakeable thanks to these people.
Ye Yun had initially considered entering a higher-level map sooner, but that old fellow Yue Xia sent a message through Yue Di. The New Mortal Continent was, among all the maps he had visited, the easiest and fastest for accumulating wealth. Therefore, Ye Yun had to abandon the idea of venturing into the Endless Mountains.
The construction of teleportation arrays was simple, requiring only spirit stones. A teleportation array spanning fifty thousand kilometers like this cost Ye Yun a hefty sum of over five million spirit stones, which pained him for quite some time.
At present, Cloud Sky City had been upgraded to a level nine territory, capable of accommodating over three thousand players. The situation was incredibly promising.
*Swish...*
Ye Yun and Yue Di vanished from Cloud Sky City.
What was going on? Ye Yun was teleported to this small stronghold called Cloud One City and was stunned by the scene before him. Thousands of players, fully armed and ready, were gathered outside the simple palisades of Cloud One City.
"What's happening?" Ye Yun asked, looking completely bewildered.
"Master, this is a common situation on the New Mortal Continent. Every newly established territory is susceptible to suppression, or even direct attacks and destruction, by established territories nearby." Yue Di explained, observing the surrounding players, "This situation likely means there is a medium-sized territory nearby that is outside your attack range."
Every newly established territory had a twenty-four-hour protection period. During this time, other players could attack the inhabitants of the territory from outside but could not directly attack or destroy the territory itself.
Outside my attack range? Ye Yun paused, then quickly recalled the characteristics of his 'Blazing Inferno Across the World' skill. It was nearly ineffective against aerial and subterranean units. Therefore, even though his skill range covered a million miles, it couldn't achieve true scorched-earth devastation.
At this moment, Liu Sao, leading fifty men, stood ready, a bloodthirsty smile on his lips as he looked at the thousands of players surrounding his territory. As a parasite of Ye Yun, they were adept at leveraging favorable conditions. For instance, they would never venture out to actively kill beasts that would yield experience points. Each of them was deliberately staying at a certain level, waiting to accumulate enough resources to improve their talents or directly purchase more attribute points.
Behind Liu Sao, Ye Yun surprisingly saw several familiar faces – Mu Tuo, the former City Lord of Barren Wood City, who Ye Yun first encountered upon arriving on the New Mortal Continent; Le Mi Deng, the Titan Giant; Lu Jie, the Lord of the Demon Race...
"Heh heh, so many fish that slipped through the net. By the way, what's Liu Sao's combat strength like?" Ye Yun didn't know much about Liu Sao's combat capabilities.
"Master, please sit. Just relax and watch their performance." Yue Di, from who knows where, produced two stools and placed them in front of Ye Yun and Hei Yi. He then glanced at Yue Hou, who was mingling with Mu Tuo, before standing behind Ye Yun, awaiting the spectacle of Liu Sao and his crew departing.
"Master, the citizens of Cloud One City request to engage in battle!" Liu Sao, as the City Lord of Cloud One City, was the first to learn of Ye Yun's arrival.
Master? The dozen or so players newly added to Cloud One City were instantly startled by Liu Sao's words. Mu Tuo's group of six, however, shuddered, seemingly recalling painful memories. Yet, each of them felt a sense of relief. They had been killed by Ye Yun three times, sinking into the Sea of Suffering for over forty days! On their fourth attempt to pledge allegiance, they encountered Liu Sao and were nearly killed by him again due to Mu Tuo's racial identity. Fortunately, Yue Hou and Lu Jie had timely announced their identities, otherwise, this miserable group of six would have had to drink the seawater of the Sea of Suffering for another ten-plus days.
"Approved!" Ye Yun nodded and said.
"Open the city gates! Charge!" Liu Sao, wielding a curved saber, unleashed a massive sword energy the moment he rushed out of the simple palisade, instantly depleting the HP of over a dozen players.