Chapter 025: Real Estate

After they entered the forested area, the number of passersby visibly increased. Yun Xi even spotted a few familiar figures in “coarse linen clothing”—fellow players from Blue Star.

However, now that Yun Xi was dressed in a spellcaster’s robe, no one recognized her.

In her previous life, the area where Yun Xi had first descended was completely wild and primitive. Buildings in the city were rough, a chaotic mix of stone and wooden structures with only a faint semblance of order.

But the faction that Qinglan Town belonged to clearly possessed deep cultural heritage and true civilization.

The town walls were made of black bricks, about ten meters high. Upon closer inspection, one could even see a faint luster on the surface.

The gates were metal, engraved with intricate patterns—clearly a product of alchemy.

So luxurious.

Through the metal grilles of the gate, Yun Xi could see the town’s interior, and it was just as distinctive.

Beyond the gate was a large plaza with a magnificent white statue of a goddess standing tall in the center, clean and pristine.

The surrounding buildings were also constructed from black brick and stone, styled similarly to Western European architecture on Blue Star, adorned with black shimmering accents—very beautiful.

From this, it was clear that Qinglan Town’s financial situation was quite strong.

As they queued to enter the town, Yun Xi could clearly sense that when her identity badge was taken by the staff, a detection spell was also cast on her.

This was a necessary measure to prevent infiltration by abnormals.

Normally, spellcasters stationed at the gates of towns only used Basic Appraisal—no one would waste high-level appraisers on such a post.

Although Basic Appraisal could only reveal basic info like level and race, Yun Xi immediately realized the danger.

Today it was only Basic Appraisal—but what if a high-level appraiser checked her someday?

Her abnormally high stats were clearly unreasonable. Unless she were from a major clan and had been raised on legendary potions from a young age, it would be impossible to possess such terrifying attributes.

But her identity was obvious: an adventurer with no backing.

She didn’t even want to imagine what might happen if her secrets were passively exposed.

Yun Xi began reconsidering her spell training plans—she had to learn a protective spell related to anti-appraisal.

But that wasn’t enough. Even if she learned a low-level anti-appraisal spell, it wouldn’t be enough to counter high-level appraisal skills.

So, in addition to studying spells, she’d also need to acquire a high-level anti-appraisal item or alchemical artifact for dual protection.

Her mind was spinning with ideas as she looked up and saw the village chief and Hada waiting ahead.

“Yun Xi, this is where we leave you,” the village chief said.

“I haven’t been to Qinglan Town many times, but I know there are some places a young lady shouldn’t go. Don’t rent any overly cheap housing—it’s not safe.”

“There are patrol squads in the town, but there are always areas they can’t cover.”

“Got it. Thank you, Village Chief,” Yun Xi replied politely.

After bidding farewell to Yun Xi, the village chief and Hada turned and left. They were here to trade goods, and it was best to finish quickly and return home—as every extra day spent in Qinglan Town cost a hefty accommodation fee.

As she watched them disappear into the distance, a system notification rang in Yun Xi’s ears:

[Ding—Main Quest 3 Activated:
Advance to Intermediate Spellcaster.
Quest Reward: 1 White Crystal, 1 Intermediate Resurrection Charm.
Quest Penalty: None.]

Main Quest 3 had activated upon arriving in town.

To complete it, she needed to reach Level 11, which was the threshold for becoming an intermediate spellcaster.

Surprisingly, the system was quite generous this time—not only awarding a white crystal but also an intermediate resurrection charm.

[Intermediate Resurrection Charm:
Can revive players below Lv20.
Each player may only use it once in their lifetime.
Side Effect: Slight reduction in Spirit stat.]

Even better, there was no time limit—as long as she steadily progressed and became an intermediate spellcaster, she would earn this rare second chance at life for free.

The system’s investment in players was truly enormous.

However, Yun Xi was currently only Level 5, so reaching Level 11 would still take some time.

She didn’t plan on going out for now. After settling in Qinglan Town, she intended to focus on studying spells behind closed doors, ideally mastering all the spells she had planned.

She also needed to frequent the local marketplace to look for any high-level anti-appraisal items.

With that in mind, Yun Xi didn’t rush off randomly. Instead, she walked to the roadside and opened the system’s local listings.

• [Local Marketplace]
• [First-Rate Tailor Shop]
• [Xiao Er’s Gourmet Diner]
• [Three-Six-Nine General Store]
• [Protect-You Gear House]
• [Qinglan Town Official Real Estate Center]
• [Qinglan Town Official Rare Materials Store]
• [Useful Bookstore]
• …

On the Fallen Gods Continent, any merchant wanting to conduct legal bulk trade had to register with the system, and every transaction was taxed.

Whether you were a street vendor or a full-on store owner, this rule was mandatory.

Trying to skirt the rules was risky—if reported, the system would automatically detect your activity.

If the system determined that you engaged in untaxed bulk transactions, it would deduct 100 times the original tax as a penalty and may impose additional fines depending on severity. It was simply not worth the risk.

No doubt about it—the system was a complete money-grubber.

Fortunately, one-time personal trades weren’t tracked—otherwise, chaos would erupt.

Right now, Blue Star hadn’t been integrated yet because the system hadn’t fully invaded it. In the future, even internal trade events held offline by Huaguo’s (China’s) government would require merchant registration and be taxed by the system.

…

To understand a town quickly, the best way was to browse its registered marketplace in the system.

Each shop listed its address, main product types, and even the store owner’s ID, allowing you to add them as friends and ask about products.

There were over a hundred different shops registered in Qinglan Town—clear evidence of a thriving local economy.

Right now, Yun Xi’s top priority was finding a safe place to stay. She directly clicked on the Qinglan Town Official Real Estate Center.

[Qinglan Town Official Real Estate Center:
Responsible for managing property sales and rentals in Qinglan Town.
Address: No. 45 Central Street, Qinglan Town.
Contact ID: ******752464]

Yun Xi looked up at the street sign. Central Street was the very road connected to the Goddess Statue Plaza.

She quickly found No. 45.

It was a refined three-story building, adorned with expensive alchemical glass. Rare, uncontaminated flowers were planted on both sides of the entrance—a sharp contrast to the surrounding shops.