Chapter 378

The 50 Ice Jade Wutong leaves brought from the Northern Realm exchanged for 17,000 Jin Quehua coins for Gao De.

At first glance, it's an astronomical figure, but it's actually spent very quickly.

First, the acquisition of Harland Shipyard took up more than half, and after the acquisition, Gao De invested another 2,000 gold as the initial operating capital of the shipyard.

Immediately after, recruiting crew members, craftsmen, purchasing materials, and preparing to go to sea took almost another 2,000 gold.

Plus the manual fees and material fees for manufacturing 【Winter's Arrival】, the expenditure on spell magic potion materials for purchasing 【Healing Spell】, etc., Gao De's hands were left with only 4,733 Jin Quehua coins.

Looking at it, it's still a lot.

But he has more places to spend money next.

Purchasing a shop is one; after the shop is bought, it also requires a large amount of capital investment to operate it.

Another is that he also wants to buy at least twenty copies of 【Rapid Excavation】 spell magic potions to take back to the Northern Realm to improve Phoenix's construction efficiency, which is another expenditure of about one thousand gold.

Money is never enough to spend... This is indeed a truth.

Gao De sighed in his heart.

Once this mission is completed, it is basically enough for him to eat for a year.

Next, even if Gao De starts to lie flat and rot, when the year-end evaluation comes, with three second-class merits, the ranking will definitely be in the top 10%.

Once the "KPI" pressure disappears, Gao De suddenly feels a lot more relaxed, although he didn't have much pressure in the first place.

But at least for the next half a year, he can safely do his own things without worrying about the Sea Sentinels.

Military merit evaluation still needs a few days, and Gao De didn't wait idly, continuing his established plan.

The first is to purchase a shop.

After preliminary screening, he finally liked three shops.

The ones he was more tempted by were a herbal medicine shop in the North District and a grocery store near Troll Skull Alley in the East District.

Both had their own advantages and disadvantages, and Gao De was also a bit tangled.

But now there is no need to tangle.

—Because he discovered that in the twenty-odd days he went out to perform the mission, the herbal medicine shop in the North District had already been taken by others and included in their pockets.

Now the grocery store became the only choice.

To avoid repeating the same mistakes, Gao De didn't dare to delay any longer and visited the door the next day.

This grocery store is located on Dezhen Linjie in the East District, a typical two-story storefront along the street, with the first floor being a shop and the second floor being a living area.

Dezhen Linjie is an old street, so the buildings on both sides of the street are mostly very old-fashioned. Today's weather is average, there is no sun, and these buildings look even darker in the haze.

"Old Harin Grocery Store."

The handwriting on the shop sign has faded a bit.

Harin is the name of the store, and it is also the surname of the shopkeeper.

This is a traditional family retail store with a history of decades, but it's a pity that Old Harin's only son, Little Harin, doesn't want to inherit the family business.

Plus the competition is getting fiercer, Old Harin is old, his energy is limited, and the business is not very good, so he finally had to choose to transfer the shop.

It can be seen that the goods on the shop's display shelves are sparse, which is a manifestation of the poor business and the result of the shopkeeper having no intention to operate and not choosing to replenish goods.

Gao De entered the grocery store, first observed a circle in the store, and after the only customer in the store besides himself left, he stepped forward to politely state his intention.

"Boss, I saw your transfer message in the internal quotation list of the Dorn Grocery Merchants Association. Your shop location is just right. Let's talk?" Gao De went straight to the point, stated his intention directly, and didn't go around in circles unnecessarily.

One is that the preliminary screening work has already been done, and the other is that he is wearing a Sea Hai Shao Bing mage uniform now.

Old Harin looked up, his slightly turbid eyes swept over Gao De's face and the crisp uniform on his body, pursed his lips, and then said: "Officer, let's say the ugly words first, this shop is not very easy to operate now."

"Rest assured, I have naturally understood this." Gao De said.

"That's fine, let's sit down and talk." Old Harin pursed his lips, sighed, and said.

To be honest, he actually didn't want to do business with "officials" in his heart.

How can the people fight with officials?

The innate weakness will lead to being at a disadvantage in the process of bargaining.

Another is that if you do business with "officials," if the operation is not good later, he is a bit worried that the other party will vent their anger on him.

But to let him refuse, that is absolutely not dare.

So Old Harin could only bite the bullet and hang a suspension sign at the door, and then welcomed Gao De to the second-floor living area.

The scale of this kind of private grocery store will not be too large, and the single-layer area is about 50 square meters.

However, because it is in an old street and was built relatively early, the land price was much cheaper at that time, so the layer area of Old Harin Grocery Store is slightly larger, about seventy square meters.

The second floor is used as a living area, and the area is similar to the first-floor shop, with three rooms separated, a master bedroom, a second bedroom, and a living room and simple kitchen and bathroom.

Sitting in the living room, Old Harin took out his best tea leaves to make tea for Gao De, and then slowly told Gao De the detailed situation of the shop.

Including the radiation range of the shop, existing customers, past monthly profit situation, passenger flow, and the competition faced.

Old Harin basically told the truth without any beautification, because if he could persuade Gao De to quit, he would also be happy in his heart.

It was just different from what Old Harin thought; after listening to the specific situation of Old Harin's grocery store, Gao De was not only not persuaded to quit but even more satisfied.

Because the problems raised by Old Harin were not problems in his eyes.

For example, the most severe problem Old Harin is facing now is that just one street away, the large grocery store of the Black Chamber of Commerce opened last year.

Relying on the advantage of lower costs and better product quality, it instantly ate away most of the customers of Old Harin's grocery store.

But the customers Gao De envisioned were the batch of people who came out of Troll Skull Alley.

The industries done are different, so naturally many disadvantages disappear accordingly.

"I see your quotation in the internal list of the guild is 650 Jin Quehua coins?" Gao De took a sip of tea and asked slowly.

This price is actually very well stuck.

Say it's expensive, but the shop area is indeed larger than ordinary grocery stores.

Say it's cost-effective, that can't be called, after all, the location of the shop is not good, in the old street area, and close to the black market, there are some safety hazards in it.

"If you want it, I can give you a discount." Old Harin glanced at the Sea Hai Shao Bing uniform on Gao De and gritted his teeth.

"That's not needed. Since it's already an internal price, then follow this." Gao De waved his hand.

When reimbursing, even a mosquito leg is meat, don't take it for nothing.

But when doing business, Gao De will not take this advantage by relying on the identity of the Sea Hai Shao Bing.

He draws a clear line between the two.

For a grassroots mage like him, reputation is very important, and this kind of behavior that is easy to leave stains is absolutely not to be done.

Gao De was very straightforward, so Old Harin naturally wouldn't insist.

After the two hit it off on the price, they flew into the next stage, which was the determination of the transaction method and handover time.

Of course, this is just talking.

In the Jin Quehua Dynasty, transactions involving real estate and land like shops must go through official procedures, not like buying vegetables, where the price is negotiated, money is handed over, and goods are handed over.

However, as long as the buyer and seller negotiate in advance, the so-called official procedures are just going through the motions.

"According to general rules, the land tax for shop transfer is paid by the seller, and then the stamp duty is jointly borne by both of us... but it's just a small amount of money, and it's troublesome to calculate, so I think it should all be paid by me. Officer, what do you mean?"

Official procedures are not for nothing; the most important significance of its existence is to collect taxes.

This is also one of the important sources of official financial funds.

Land tax is to estimate the value of the land based on the area and location of the land occupied by the shop, and then collect tax fees according to the proportion; the tax rate is generally around 2%.

As for stamp duty, it is a tax levied on the transaction contract amount.

The stamp duty rate in Dorn City is 0.5%, that is, the tax is collected at 0.5% of the contract amount, and the split is 0.25%.

The transaction amount is 650 gold, so the stamp duty Gao De has to pay in the end is less than 2 gold.

When acquiring Harland Shipyard, the stamp duty paid was more.

Even if the tax rate in Lagos City is lower than in Dorn City, only 0.4%, the stamp duty paid in the end is close to 20 gold.

"Okay." Gao De nodded.

Such a small amount of tax does not belong to the category of bullying, it is a normal transaction activity, no need to avoid it specially.

"Then see you tomorrow." Everything was negotiated, and Gao De got up and left.

In the meditation room.

Gao De calmed his mind, closed his eyes, and beside him, three or four medicine bottles of Kai Mai Ding were scattered.

The transparent glass flickered slightly, the medicine liquid in the bottle had long been exhausted, and only the strong and stimulating medicine smell permeated this small space.

His body was constantly vibrating slightly, and his breathing rose and fell with the vibration of his body, like a breeze blowing over a calm lake, rippling, with a unique charm and rhythm.

The Boundless Breathing Method is one of the oldest breathing methods and also one of the most orthodox breathing methods.

It belongs to the true law.

When Gao De was at the Seris Academy, the instructor also talked about the so-called breathing method.

But the two just had the same name, and in fact, they were not the same thing at all.

However, it was not a coincidence that they had the same name, but because the breathing method is a top-secret inheritance; small principalities have some understanding of this, but they haven't been able to obtain the true law, so they had to create a low-profile version of the breathing method based on some understanding.

This low-profile version of the breathing method is not completely useless, but compared with the orthodox breathing method, it cannot be said that the gap is huge, only that it is a world of difference.

Relying on the Boundless Breathing Method and the medicinal power of Kai Mai Ding, Gao De drummed open the tiny magic veins in his body, and then reshaped and expanded them.

After a while, Gao De opened his eyes, took out another bottle of Kai Mai Ding from the box beside him, opened the bottle cap, drank it "heroically" in one gulp, and then threw the bottle body on the ground.

If someone else saw this scene, they would probably suspect whether Gao De is a human or a beast?

The medicinal property of Kai Mai Ding is fierce, and the accumulation of medicine poison is also quite serious; others drink it very carefully.

And the dosage Gao De drinks at one time is already more than that of ordinary mages in a week.

Under normal circumstances, only wild beasts can withstand this dosage of Kai Mai Ding.

Another half hour passed.

Gao De opened his eyes again; this time he didn't continue, but got up slowly.

The Li Oumeng magic vein network needs to build a total of 365 magic veins.

From the beginning of learning the Boundless Breathing Method to now, it has been two and a half months.

The number of magic veins Gao De has built now has reached 108, and the construction speed of each main magic vein is getting faster and faster.

This is thanks to 【Adaptation】 constantly evolving his body's metabolic ability and toxin immunity through the stimulation of Kai Mai Ding, making the dosage of Kai Mai Ding he can drink at one time larger and larger:

【Your immunity to toxins is increased by 50.1%, and your body organs' ability to digest, metabolize, and excrete various toxins is increased by 51.4%】.

According to Mage Naxi's original statement, he chose the Li Oumeng magic vein network, so he should be prepared to waste several years on this.

But according to this progress, Gao De can completely build the Li Oumeng magic vein network in less than half a year.

This is the importance of specialties, Gao De exhaled a turbid breath and thought in his heart.

【Adaptation】 is not a combat specialty, it cannot directly improve his combat power, but the growth and comprehensiveness it brings to him are far more powerful than combat specialties, and it also indirectly helps him improve combat power.

Because he fully felt the power of 【Adaptation】, Gao De attached more importance to second-circle specialties.

His mage level has now reached the middle stage of the first circle.

According to the current cultivation progress, it is actually only two or three years away from being promoted to the second circle.

Before being promoted to the second circle, he must stack up the number of spells he has mastered.

For Gao De, learning spells is not a difficult task.

Second-circle mental power building first-circle spell models is like a middle school student doing elementary school math problems.

The difficulty is only in obtaining spell formulas.

And judging from the current situation, the most stable channel for him to obtain spell formulas and even rare spell formulas is the military merit exchange of the Sea Sentinels.

As an official mage organization of the Jin Quehua Dynasty, in terms of spell inheritance and foundation, how many can compare with it?

This is also the reason why Gao De attaches so much importance to his development in the Sea Sentinels.

"It was said that it would take a day or two to settle, how come five days have passed and there is still no news? Did something change?" Gao De frowned, and a trace of doubt flashed in his heart.

Five days have passed since he returned, and the purchase process of his "Old Harin Grocery Store" has been completed smoothly, but the Sea Sentinels have been slow to settle his military merit evaluation, which inevitably makes Gao De think more.

"A few second-class merits, for me, it is a great contribution, but for the Sea Sentinels, it doesn't count for anything, it shouldn't be enough to block me." Gao De shook his head by himself, no longer thinking about those groundless guesses, and turned to prepare to go out to "Old Harin Grocery Store."

The shop transfer process is over, but it takes time for the other party to clear goods or move, it is impossible to leave immediately, considering that the other party is old, so Gao De gave Old Harin five days.

Today is the last day of the appointment, the other party should have moved away.

As a result, as soon as he went out, he bumped into the Sea Hai Shao Bing's delivery staff.

"Mage Gao De." The other party was looking for him.

"What's the matter?" Gao De actually already had the answer in his heart.

"Your military merit evaluation has come down, I am ordered to send you the notification letter and the military merit exchange list." The staff member lowered his head slightly and handed a roll of parchment and a thick sealed book to Gao De.

(End of chapter)