"Okay, these are all the things that can be done. But, the hiring process will take time." Zhu Jianhong readily agreed with the terms as he was ordered by the King to complete all the demands of the savior no matter how difficult they turned out to be.
While Zhu Jianhong was grateful to Mark for bringing back the King, he was also the Prime Minister of the kingdom. Every decision he makes will bring a change to the citizens. That is why he must also think about the consequences before agreeing to something.
Once he confirmed that Mark's demands were not only easy but they also bring benefits to the kingdom, he didn't negotiate and just escorted him to the two locations, which were once the properties of the former Supreme General Xuan Yi.
After the rebellion was crushed, he was given a death sentence, and all of his personal properties were snatched by the royal palace while his family was exiled.
Some of the properties were auctioned off to wealthy individuals while the others were used by the kingdom for other purposes like one was used as a rental house, one for a storage center, detention facility, etc…
The Tower of Xuan Yi used to be a hospital run by the Health ministry. The treatment was given free for the soldiers, elderly, and kids, but as time passed, the cost of employing the healers became a burden.
To save money, Shen Qiu shut it down about three years ago. Since then, it is an abandoned building.
As for Xuan Yi Mansion, it was currently used as a guest house for important guests from foreign lands like the envoys, ministers, or Generals who come with several people.
Individuals can be accommodated at the royal palace but some people would want their servants and guards to stay with them. For guests like them, this mansion is perfect, well, atleast until now.
After taking a visit to the mansion, Mark visited the Tower, which was located in the inner sector of Lunaris City.
It was about 30-35 meters in height and has nothing but a huge door on the ground floor and windows until the top. There are no corridors or stairs visible from the outside.
Looking at the vertical gap between the windows, Mark thought, "6 floors, huh. That's not bad. I can use the system followed by the Everlasting weapon store I visited back then. Each level can represent a specific type of power of a weapon."
They entered the tower and just like an abandoned building, the dust and webs could be seen everywhere. As for the interior of the tower, there are no separate rooms. Every floor is a large room of about 150 sq. m (1600 sq. ft) in area.
It wasn't as big as it appeared from the outside but the size is enough to display his weapons. Since he basically got it for free, he was satisfied with the arrangement.
Zhu Jianhong then handed him two contracts with royal seals on them. Mark put the thumbprint on both of them. One was kept with Mark and the other was taken by the Prime Minister.
According to the contract, for the next 10 years, he holds the ownership rights to the Tower of Xuan Yi and Mansion of Xuan Yi but he can only run the weapon store at the tower and will not earn money through the mansion by giving it for rent.
Once 10 years are fulfilled, both of the properties will be his for permanent.
Mark usually doesn't care for small things like those and he wasn't in a situation to care either.
After the contract signing is finished, Mark asked the system about the procedures to open the branch.
The reply came very quickly.
*Ding! Just say it to the system and let it confirm your ownership.
"Okay, I choose this place to expand the store and open a second branch."
*Ding! Ownership was confirmed. Please appoint a manager.
"Allen Spencer."
*Ding! You appointed Allen as the manager of the Genesis store's Lunaris city branch.
*Ding! You completed the quest successfully. Go to the quest to receive the reward.
Mark opened the quest panel and clicked on Side Quest II.
*Ding! You unlocked Store guardian.
*Ding! From now onwards, every time the host opened a branch, a Store guardian will be appointed. Its rank will depend on the host's strength at the time of opening.
*Ding! You received a Signboard and a mysterious package in the inventory.
*Ding! The host is confirmed to be at Rank-5.
*Ding! A Rank-8 Robot is appointed as the Store guardian of the Lunaris City branch. Please open the mysterious package in your inventory to receive the store guardian.
*Ding! You received a new side quest
Side Quest II: Expand the store to 10 different cities and sell atleast 1000 weapons through each branch (excluding ammunition)
Reward: Upgrade Crystal (Superior)
"Superior? System, how is this different?"
*Ding! Superior grade Upgrade crystal is made from the central part of the core of the Void Dragon King. Using it will yield three times the effect of the Normal Upgrade crystal.
"Three times, eh?" Mark immediately thought of Allen. At the moment, he needed two upgrade crystals to get an upgrade to the next rank. If this is used on the male android, his base stats will be at the same level or even higher than Alina. And once he uses another upgrade crystal, Allen could reach rank-7.
As for why he wanted to upgrade Allen and not Alina, it's because of the divine sword. When equipped, he was already stronger than her.
And once Allen gets to upgrade, he will not only be strong enough to take care of legendary realm experts but could also slay a Supreme realm expert or beast.
Maybe, he should do that before taming his grandfather's pet?
Anyway, he can think about that later. First, he will have to return quickly.
Leaving the responsibility of cleaning the tower and hiring the staff to the Prime Minister, Mark summoned the attack helicopter right away and left for the Imperial city without bothering to personally inform the King or the Princess. Later, Zhu Jianhong reported to the King about his departure due to an urgent situation back at home.
Genesis Store, Imperial City, Phoenix Empire;
On the first floor residence, the two ladies were busy chatting for the past few hours while Alina went to the kitchen to prepare for lunch while giving them privacy as Lin Xue wanted.
At first, the topic of their conversation was about Song Tai but when Song Yue realized that everything will go back to normal, she relaxed a lot and continued to talk about others.
Perhaps, the only worry in her heart is that Mark hasn't returned yet. He was supposed to come on the same day by midnight but it was the 3rd day and he was still in the Western Moon kingdom. Of course, it is not that she was worried about her fate in his absence or he will be ambushed by one of his enemies. It is something else but she just doesn't know what it is.
At around 12:40 in the afternoon, Alina finally exited the kitchen with the dishes and arranged the table. She served lunch to them while rejecting their request to join. After all, it is no use. If her master asks her, she might eat lunch to accompany but Song Yue isn't her master. She wasn't obliged to entertain her. Her job is only to protect her until Mark returns.
And for some reason, Song Yue's presence also irked Alina a little bit. She was still unable to comprehend the reason why she doesn't like their beauty to enquire about her master's whereabouts every once in a while.
