Master Changsheng

Chapter 130, Section 128: You bastard! [Please subscribe and vote!]

When I went through customs yesterday, I encountered Hanks, and it wasn't like this before.

Upon seeing Hanks again today, Ankai sensed a sense of melancholy emanating from him…

An Kai was able to clearly sense this twilight because he had just felt it on 10 fifth-tier, tenth-level professionals.

It was the twilight of approaching the end of one's life, as if there was a smell of decaying trees emanating from Hanks.

Frowning, she looked at Hanks, intending to ask him something, but then she saw the widow's eyes pleading as she gently shook her head…

After a moment of silence, An Kai smiled gently.

He chose to respect Widow Wang's choice.

Sometimes, the countdown to death is more terrifying than the actual death itself.

Just like the people around An Kai in his previous life, they were seriously ill, given critical condition notices, and only had a few months left to live...

This feeling is more painful than death itself.

Many people cannot withstand this pressure and eventually die in despair.

Just then, Wayne, who had been analyzing the [Assassin] class change underground, also entered the room.

Since switching to the Scholar class, Wayne has exuded an even stronger scholarly air.

Like the Wanderer, the Scholar also cannot quickly improve his strength using ordinary cultivation methods.

He glanced at it; this was exactly what An Kai had expected.

These fifth-tier professionals were all extremely cautious, wishing they could carry all their resources with them.

"Wayne, those damn parasites, how much tax do they owe us?"

Wayne put away the booklet and took out a new booklet from his pocket.

The document clearly records the taxes owed by these fifth-tier forces each month.

Under Ankai's suggestion and with the collective wisdom of the people, the taxes collected by the Good Household were quite complex.

Of course, the taxes are mostly designed to cater to good families.

For example, there are several taxes that fit the desert background, such as robbery tax, "fishing" tax, accidental income tax, and murder-for-treasure tax.

Besides these practical taxes, the rest are just regular taxes on houses, shops, sales, etc.

Wayne had made calculations at Ankai's suggestion.

Although the taxes he collected made the city's residents feel the pinch, they were not enough to completely plunder them.

Equivalent to a 10% profit, Ankai takes 8% through taxes, leaving 2% profit. Although this will make these residents resentful, it will not make them despair.

After taking out the booklet, Wayne coughed lightly, cleared his throat, and began to introduce the 21 forces that possessed fifth-tier professionals and how much tax they owed.

After Wayne spoke, Hanks and Widow Wang also showed interest.

After all, they take a 10% cut of the tax revenue.

The fifth-tier Assassin, Malken, felt a sense of unfamiliarity upon seeing Wayne now…

At some point, this prince of the Kingdom of Shak had perfectly assumed the roles of "treasurer" and "steward" in the Good Household.

"In the Kingdom of Shak, Milton, a Tier 5 [Heavy Armor Warrior], owes a total of 13652 gold coins in taxes."

"..."

...

I didn't realize how much it was until I did the math, and I was really shocked.

A total of 21 fifth-tier professional factions.

The taxes owed alone amounted to 20 gold coins.

If it were replaced with a low-grade magic stone…

famous!

An Kai's eyes turned completely red!

He didn't really understand the concept of gold coins before; they were just numbers to him...

"Hanks, just tell me straight, can we still exchange for the low-grade magic stone?"

If he could exchange it for 20 low-grade magic stones, it's no exaggeration to say that Ankai would be completely overjoyed...

Having dealt with Ankai for so many years, how could Hanks not understand Ankai's thoughts?

But he also had his reasons.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Hanks slowly shook his head: "Gone, not a single piece left..."

"Only mid-grade magic stones left..."

Upon hearing this, An Kai snorted coldly and cursed, "Useless old man."

At the same time, he also cursed Donglin, that old geezer, in his mind.

If Donglin hadn't closed off the desert, even if Hanks stopped providing low-grade magic stones, Ankai could have found new ways to exchange for magic stones through the Seven Kingdoms caravan or the people of the other seven kingdoms.

Even if it costs more gold coins, he is not worried.

After all, Ankai lacks everything except gold coins.

Furthermore, if the desert had not been sealed off, foreign caravans could have maintained a continuous flow of trade with the Good Families.

For Ankai, this is boosting his tax revenue.

however…

Because the desert has been sealed off by Donglin, Ankai now has gold coins but is unable to exchange them for low-grade magic stones.

After raiding the homes of 21 factions with fifth-tier professionals and secretly trading magic stones with these factions over the past year, Ankai understood one thing.

Low-grade magic stones are really precious; there are very few people like Hanks who can spend four figures at once.

At the very least, these 21 fifth-tier professional factions are unwilling to do so.

An Kai estimated that with over 20 gold coins in tax revenue, getting 2 low-grade magic stones would be considered a stroke of good luck.

He now needs 5400 skill points to fully upgrade a spell!

That's 5400 low-grade magic stones!

After all, Ankai now possesses eight spells and one forging skill.

Even if he truly possessed 20,000 low-grade magic stones, converting them all into skill points wouldn't be enough to support Ankai in raising all his spells from [Lv26] to [Lv30]...

At that point, even if he was unwilling, Ankai would have no choice but to give up improving some spells in order to improve the more important ones.

For example, improving skills like Meditation and Fireball...

Ankai's resources were completely depleted during his year-long seclusion.

Fortunately, he has the [Summon] ability, which allows him to summon once a day.

A Tier 3 magic core can also be exchanged for 3 skill points.

Although it wasn't much, it still filled some of the skill point gaps.

Inside the room, sitting on the ice bed, An Kai glanced at his remaining resources…

Skill points: 21

Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 Magic Cores: 0

He obtained 1013 low-grade magic stones from raiding someone's home; before the raid, he didn't have a single low-grade magic stone.

Even the low-grade magic stones needed for the [Beast Meat Refining Platform] were missing. If it weren't for the raid, Ankai would have had to wait for the [Summoning] to refresh and use a third-tier magic core to activate the [Beast Meat Refining Platform]...

Therefore, Ankai currently faces several pressing issues that need to be addressed.

If this problem can't be resolved, hoping to surprise Donglin when he emerges from seclusion ten years later might lead to some unexpected issues...

1: Solve the problem of obtaining low-grade magic stones.

2: Solve the problem of obtaining low-grade magic stones!

3: We still need to solve the problem of obtaining low-grade magic stones!

Ankai now possesses the strength.

His own strength is already enough to easily suppress the fifth-tier [Assassin] Malken, and given time, his strength can continue to steadily improve.

Bottlenecks and the like don't exist for him.

As for his subordinates, Ankai also has them.

Among them, 43 of the fourth-tier henchmen were drugged and controlled by Malken.

They were also the main force that Ankai used to collect taxes in the city.

As for the fifth rank, Ankai currently has two fifth-rank henchmen: one is Malken, and the other is the fifth-rank, fourth-level mage from last night, with whom he just signed a contract.

There's also Widow Wang, a fifth-tier powerhouse who can fight Chris to a standstill, and she's his partner.

In addition to the Good House city that Ankai currently controls, it is no exaggeration to say that Ankai has become a powerful force in the desert.

Just like the description of the bounty post in the former Chaos City, Ankai now possesses enough power to overthrow the regime of a duchy.

The premise is that the desert has not been sealed off.

Ankai has all the advantages: favorable timing, advantageous location, and harmonious relationships.

The only missing element is resources, namely, "Dongfeng" (East Wind)...

After much thought, An Kai still couldn't find a good solution.

After a few seconds of contemplation, he decided to go and collect the tax revenue he could get his hands on first.

It's a pity that 10 fifth-tier, tenth-level professionals entered the [Spirit Empowerment Realm]...

An Kai stood up, about to call out and head out to the outer city to find the fifth-tier professionals one by one, when he paused.

Just now.

The spell [Contract] sent a message: one of the [Contracts] he had signed with the fifth-tier, tenth-level professional had expired.

It wasn't that the other party breached the contract; rather, they died in the [Spirit Empowerment Realm]...

"What a pity, dying in there, I wonder if I'll ever have a chance to get the storage ring."

With a muttered word, Ankai led Mairken out the door.

After giving Hanks some instructions, Widow Wang reluctantly followed Ankai.

The next day.

late at night.

It is located in a secret room beneath the castle of the House of Goodness.

Ankai wielded the [Staff of Brute Force], behind him stood the fifth-tier [Assassin] Malken, the fifth-tier professional Widow Wang, and a fifth-tier, fourth-level [Elemental Mage]...

Opposite Ankai, there were eight fifth-tier professionals whose hands were bound and who were hanging in mid-air, groaning in pain.

"You bastard, you dare to evade my taxes?!"

(End of this chapter)