Things will never be the same

"Kid, why did you sell those cultivation artifacts to the sects but not to our family?", Rui Xiansheng asked in an irritated tone.

"Senior Rui, it was the decision of my senior and not my own", Fang Shi replied in a polite manner, "That being said, we can work out a deal now but prices will be dependent on how much resources you can supply."

"Fine, give Zhong'er a list of what you need and we will start sending it to you", Rui Xiansheng grumbled.

"Certainly", Fang Shi replied as he took a sip from his teacup, "Has everyone enjoyed their day so far?"

Sect master Liang looked at Elder Jian before the later spoke up, "Owner Fang, we wish to purchase all the new additions to the cultivation artifact."

"We also wish to acquire these as well", Sect master Yun spoke directly without using her elders to speak for her.

"Of course", Fang Shi responded, "After we finish here, come with me and we will negotiate."

Not to be outdone, the three 3rd order sects of Blue Moon city also voiced their desire who the new programs added to the pod cafe, and Fang Shi replied positively.

"Now, let's speak about how we can add more of these artifacts to our cultivation rooms", Sect master Liang spoke up after hearing Yun Qian's provocation.

"I believe I already mentioned it before", Fang Shi was confused and counted on his fingers, "You need to do several things: First you need to prevent waste Qi from dispersing into the sky, second you need to optimize everything to reduce Qi usage, and third you have to grow your spiritual vein."

"Grow our vein?", Rui Xiansheng sputtered, "If it was that easy, we would be 1st class sects or organizations by now."

"It is easy though", Fang Shi gave everyone an innocent look, "You already have veins, you just need to take actions to promote their growth."

"Do you have any advice to accomplish this?", Yun Qian asked in a calm voice.

Fang Shi smiled, he appreciated this sect master's more mature demeanor, "I believe I already explained how veins are formed, so no need to go over it again. I'm sure everyone of you have a vault filled with valuable heavenly treasures, spiritual plants, rare ores, or even high quality spiritual stones."

Everyone nodded, it wasn't a big secret that every group would gather valuable items and store them in secure locations.

Fang Shi continued, "So create a vault next to the vein, and store your spirit stones and heavenly treasures to absorb Qi there. This will cause more Qi to flow towards your vein and quicken the growth of it."

"Won't that take a long time?", Feng Guo, sect master of the Dusty Peak sect asked.

"Depends on how much effort you put into it", Fang Shi answered, "I know the vein of Blue Moon city is 3rd class, but if done right you could see big gains."

"How would suggest we do this?", Mayor Chen inquired.

"If it were up to me, I would assign areas to each force", Fang Shi told them, "Keep the vaults separate obviously, but if everyone pitches in, your collective efforts will help greatly. You even have great resource that would assist your efforts."

"Really? I was unaware of such things", Tie Han of Ironclad Forge frowned.

"The cores of spiritual beasts", Fang Shi explained, "Spiritual beast cores will grow stronger over time as they automatically absorb Qi. Placing these cores near a vein will strengthen the flow around the area. Just remember not to lose your mind, and slaughter spiritual beasts greedily or you only cut off your supply."

Everyone was shocked because the cores of spiritual beasts were normal ignored or used to feed other spiritual beasts. The Qi inside was turbulent and chaotic, and cultivators couldn't use them to grow stronger, so they were often ignored. Mayor Chen himself would only use the cores to trade with spiritual beasts in the nearby forest for plants or other resources, but suddenly he felt he had lost something important.

The room stayed quiet for several minutes before Elder Shui of the Azure River sect tentatively spoke up, "Owner Fang, if we store our spirit stones near our veins, what do we use to make purchases?"

Her question cause everyone to snap out of their current contemplations, and they waited to hear the solution.

"This is very simple isn't it?", Fang Shi countered, "Not only do you all use something like this, but I do as well."

Fang Shi pulled out the card shaped jade slip that everyone else also had.

"Whether you imitate the merit system or use something like my card", Fang Shi revealed, "You have ways to do business without carrying stones on your person. Now before you ask, I will continue to run my store as normal. If all of you come together and design your own personal system, just let me know so I can make the necessary arrangements."

Everyone's eyes seem light up, and Fang Shi could see they would probably hold meetings soon to discuss this matter further. He was feeling full from the meal so he decided to end the conversation for today.

"I'm going now", Fang Shi said, "But before I do, I say two things. First, everyone here are the only ones who know about the usefulness of beast cores. You should not only discuss how to handle this information, but you all should probably start acquiring them now before the prices go up. The second thing is I've been told be the senior that he will soon hire 2nd class array formation masters. If you remember, our cultivation pods offer training sessions for different professions and it will be no different after the new masters arrive."

The room grew tense and quiet as Fang Shi said his farewells and left.

"I just remembered that I have some business to take care of back at the sect", Liang Tian spoke as he headed to the door.

"You shameless old man", Rui Xiansheng shouted.

That evening saw the store less crowded than normal, but Fang Shi didn't care as he stared at his system panel.

[Keep you eye on the prize (completed)]

"System, I accept the reward", Fang Shi announced, "I choose array formations as the 2nd class inheritance I wish to receive."

'Response: This unit understands', the system replied, 'Deploying team to recover the reward now.'

A week went by, and big changes were happening in Blue Moon city. The mayor had made an announcement that they were designing a new economic plan with the assistance of the eight families and three sects. To garner support, he even announced that they had the backing of the Profound Sword and Azure River sects while negotiating with the Rui family.

This caused huge stir among the community, but when they heard what would replace the current system, they quieted down. Behind the scenes, all the top forces were buying up all the beast cores they could for very cheap. This escaped most people's attention, but not the Wandering Dawn's notice. The Wandering Dawn was the guild that had built it's headquarters across the path from the Heaven & Earth pavilion. Overall, the mass purchase of beast cores was well received by the guild since it was normally difficult to sell them.

Many different forces also tried to buy cores from Fang Shi, but didn't sell them. The system had been storing them near the secret vein since the store first opened.

Today, Fang Shi was doing his normal routine of walking through the different shops, and speaking with customers when the system informed him that the team had returned from recovering the inheritance.

'Notice: with the acquisition of the inheritance, this unit will systematically start updating and upgrading the store', the system announced before going silent.

Fang Shi finished his shift that day, and went straight to his private cultivation pod. He had two things to do: the first was to announce a 1 day closure for the New Years, and the other was to design a new product. With the addition of new arrays and formations, he was going to create and sell the first generation communication jades. It had been over 14 years since he transmigrated to this world, and he was excited to finally have something like a smartphone in his hand again. He quickly published the closure announcement that quickly showed up around the property. Most people didn't mind, the first day of the new year was normally for families to spend time together and it wasn't strange for businesses to shut down that day. That being said, there was a very people that grumbled because they had planned on coming that day anyways. But when they read the notice next to it, they forgot about their irritation.

Fang Shi had posted that the next day after the closure, a new product would be released that would change the residents of Blue Moon city's life. Fang Shi design of the communication jade was simple. It could make calls, send messages, take pictures, and play music. He could have added more, but he thought it would overwhelm guests if he put too much on the artifact in the beginning. One thing he did different than the smart phone he had in his previous life was the addition of a slot for jade slips. Now guests could use the same jade slip they used to log into cultivation pod in the communication jade as well.

Fang Shi wasn't done though, he pulled up an old design he had been wanting to build, but couldn't. As he looked at it, he saw what he made before, it looked like a cultivation pod but was bigger and more upright.

"System, I want to add a floor in the cultivation hall in between the pod cafe and the cultivation rooms", Fang Shi ordered, "I want to build these new pods and put them there."

'Response: request acknowledged', the system replied, 'Error, the host has reached the maximum number of cultivation pod artifacts. If the host wishes to proceed, he must reduce the number of normal pods or risk burdening the spiritual vein.'

"Fine, remove pods until we fill one floor with the new pods", Fang Shi didn't want to threaten the vein, "But don't perform this until the store closes for the day."

'Response: Acknowledged', the system said.

The next day saw an uptick in customers as everyone was shopping at the last minute for the new year before the shop closed the next day. That evening, he gathered all the employees together to make some announcements.

"First things first, everyone has done well and this is my appreciation for your hard work", Fang Shi said as he handed out small red packets to everyone, "With that out of the way, my first announcement has to do with tomorrow. The senior is going to go over all the arrays and formations of the store, so tomorrow morning you will have the day off and you can't comes back until the evening. Visit your families, or explore the city, as long as you have your employee token, you're safe. The day after will be busy with sales and performances for the new year so get your rest tomorrow. The other big news is that the senior is sending my off to open a new store somewhere else. The senior will still be here to watch this store, so don't think that you can try something while I'm away. I will be leaving after my birthday, but I haven't been told where I'm going yet. If there's trouble, the senior will take care of it."

Fang Shi left the dormitory soon after and returned to his own place. The next morning after everyone went out to spend their day off however they wished, Fang Shi closed the front gate doors and the gate leading to the farms. From there an interesting sight could been seen, but only by him, as buildings would be deconstructed. Unfortunately for everyone else, the mist illusion array was activated so they only saw fog. After many hours, new buildings could be seen that greatly resembled the old halls but Fang Shi could tell the materials used were much better. The main hall was taller than before as several floors had added. This was something Fang Shi had decided at the last minute. Ever since he stepped up to the manager role and started walking around, he had noticed that restaurant wasn't as efficient as it could have been. He spilt the restaurant up into several rooms with the second floor being a normal dining room, the third was now more like a ramen restaurant, the fourth was a pub, and the fifth was a fancy restaurant. The tea house was next and the bar was on top. Several more artifacts to transport guests up and down were added as well.

In contrast, the production hall didn't have any changes other than an update to the building materials. The newest hall, responsible for selling the lifestyle artifacts, sported a new floor where the newest product made its debut. Fang Shi had originally planned to name it something similar to what he remembered in his past life, but eventually decided against it. The name it had now was 'Tianmu', which translates to 'Heaven's eye' and felt closer to his Heaven & Earth brand.

Satisfied so far, Fang Shi made his way to the cultivation hall. Even though he was excited to see the new cultivation pods, he checked the cafe first. After walking through, he was impressed with the result. The cultivation pods were not pods any more, they were a combination of a comfortable chair with a helmet. This reduction in size had allowed for more units to be place per floor without causing problems.

Fang Shi went to the new premium pod cafe, and it amazed him. In his past life, he remembered giant tubes with fans where people could somewhat experience skydiving. What was in front of him was a smaller version of that, except it wasn't as tall and lacked a fan. This new cultivation pod was designed so that user would move around as they played. After a user entered, the glass would become opaque so others couldn't see inside. Everything that guest did in game would happen to the person, and even if they used their qi to attack or physically attack, the pod was strong enough to block it.

Pleased, Fang Shi slowly inspected everything until the evening when he allowed the employees back in. He personally gave them a tour, and explained all the new changes and products. They were very impressed with the Tianmu and premium pods when Fang Shi gave them good news, they would each receive a communication jade and the new pods were installed in their dormitory.

"I have reserved a banquet", Fang Shi informed them, "Please look through the dormitory as you wish, and if you want to attend the meal, arrive two marks past sunset."

Since the Minecraft clock didn't have numbers, he would normally just refer to the number of ticks past sunrise or sunset. But he was starting to realize this was silly, and was considering coming up with a better way. Later that evening, Fang Shi ate heartily with all the employees before returning home for a good night's sleep.

The next morning as Fang Shi opened the gates, a surge of people rushed in. Mayor Chen had arrived early, so he was one of the first ones in when the gate opened. The mayor was interested to see what changed, so he didn't immediately head the cafe to check out the pods. Mayor Chen explored each floor of the main hall, and was surprised and delighted with the changes to the restaurant. As moved from the main hall to the artifact halls, the mayor could tell the materials used to build everything was much better than what his own home was made of. Mayor Chen made a mental note to start purchasing materials from the pavilion to rebuild his own house in the future.

Seeing no changes to the first artifact hall, Mayor Chen was disappointed until he explored the second artifact hall. Not only were there several new artifacts for the home, but a communication jade called the 'Tianmu' was displayed.

Mayor Chen walked up to the closest puppets, "Can you tell me more about this Tianmu?"

"Of course, Mayor", the puppet replied, "This new communication jade does exactly as advertised, you can talk or send messages to others that also have this artifact. Also, it houses an image record array that allows one to save images to your artifact. What's more, you can transfer music from a cultivator to this device, allowing you to listen to your favorite music in your own home."

Mayor Chen was shocked, "This is amazing, how does it work?"

"I'm sorry mayor", the puppet responded, "I can't tell you that, but I can teach you how to use it. Here is the slot where you place a spirit stone to power the artifact. A single stone should power the artifact for up to five years even with regular use. Just be warned if you heavily use the artifact, you might have to place a new spirit stone after 3 or 4 years of use instead of 5. This slot here is for your jade card you use to here in the store. Once you use our new cultivation pods, you will see a new space for the Tianmu to rest in. The two artifacts are capable of communicating with the other so you will not have to switch the jade card between the two. One thing I have to bring to your attention is that this communication jade will only work within city limits, if you see this mark on the front display then you can call or message. If you don't, you are outside city limits and any calls or messages will not go through."

"Well, it's disappointing that the range is short, but this is still amazing", the mayor declared, "I'll take one."

"Certainly", the puppet guided Mayor Chen to the counter. After receiving payment it spoke, "One last thing we must do before you go is assign you a number. Please pick six numbers you wish to have as yours."

"What does that mean?", the mayor asked in confusion.

"As the mayor can see, we are selling many Tianmus", the clerk replied, "So, for instance, if you wish to call the head of the Wei family, you have to put his number in like this."

The puppet demonstrated how to make a call on the artifact by calling another employee in the store. After a quick conversation, they both ended the call, but the mayor was smiling.

"I see, I will pick these numbers", Mayor Chen said as he relayed his wishes to the clerk, "But I saw you push nine numbers, why did you only ask me for six?"

"Owner Fang said that this artifact will be very popular one day", the puppet explained, "So to prevent two cultivators from getting the same number, the first three digits will be different based on the area. For example, if enough members of the Profound Sword sect get Tianmus, their first three numbers will be 002 while Blue Moon city will be 001."

After having a few more things explained to him, Mayor Chen finally made his way to pod cafe.

Upon entering, Mayor Chen headed to counter like usually to be assigned a pod. As he waited in line, he noticed a new addition to the sign: (Premium Cultivation Pods-10 spirits stones an hour).

'How expensive', the mayor thought to himself, 'I want see if it's worth it.'

When the mayor reached the counter, he requested the premium pod and made his way up. When he entered the floor he saw all the new pods with a handful he was unable to into. He remembered that meant those pods were in use, so he continued on until he found the one assigned to him.

Mayor Chen walked into the pod as the opening closed, and he could no longer see outside. Instead of a mask, a pair of googles was hanging from to top. The familiar scene of his personal lobby appeared again, but as he walked around the room, he could tell his body was actually walking as well.

With a smile on his face, he entered the solo battle arena, "Let's have a warm up before we get serious."