Chương 701: Mercantile Dominion.

Elowen, the leader of the <Verdant Pathfinder> explorer group, was walking down the familiar street when she noticed a small crowd gathered in one place. Her amber-colored eyes flashed with curiosity, and she decided to check what was going on. As she approached, her Level 140 aura was noticeable, and many people turned to look. Thanks to her dryad nature, the essence surrounding her was not aggressive, but like a calming ancient spring lake. Someone in the crowd recognized her.

"Lady Elowen, are you here to check the new power equipment sets as well?"

"Equipment sets?" Elowen tilted her head, her antler-like horns following her gesture. The man who recognized her, seeing the confusion in her eyes, smiled widely.

"Lady Elowen, you might've been a bit busy hunting lately, right? A few days ago, a large fleet of merchants arrived, and today, they finished registering and have opened their shops." Elowen approached, standing by the man's side as she looked at the entrance toward the Lignified House. The decorations at the front were quite peculiar, something she had never seen before.

"How special can an equipment set be? Compared to Leveling Equipment, they should be far behind, right?" In the Golden Sap Empire, equipment sets were not new knowledge. There were plenty of them. However, equipment sets that leveled together were a technology that Liu Shu had yet to develop. So, her leveling technology was good for individual pieces. However, at the same level, they were weaker than an equipment set with unique skills.

An equipment set, as the name implied, was a combination of different treasures that created a resonance, bringing out hidden skills or passives. The man shook his head.

"While I admit that the leveling equipment is quite economically sound, it is a few levels behind the new equipment sets. Moreover, these sets are quite cheap with powerful effects. Look at this one." He shared some information, reflecting on Elowen's <System Page>.

[Wind Field Knight Set] Set Skill 2 pieces: All Wind Aether Mana spells cost 20% less to cast. Set Skill 3 pieces: You can take flight for 5 minutes at a time. (1 Hour Cooldown) Set Skill 4 pieces: All Wind Aether mana spells and attacks have a chance to create a <Tornado> that damages enemies for 10% of your <Aether> stat per second for 5 seconds. (Cooldown 20 Seconds).

The set was made out of armor, underarmor, a weapon, and a necklace. Its stats were top-notch for the level, and it could be crafted with a fixed Level from Level 10 to Level 75. Elowen couldn't help but look surprised. Usually, a powerhouse could have equipped up to eight pieces of equipment. An armor, necklace, amulet, two bracers, one earring, and up to two weapons. The armor was not only metal armor, but also robes, leather sets, and similar. Of course, this was just a rule of thumb.

There was plenty of exceptional equipment that could overcome these limitations. Still, the equipment needed to be connected to the user. So, the more equipment, the greater the burden. Therefore, the optimal number of equipment before it started to cause a backlash was the aforementioned. Elowen rubbed her chin.

"I admit that the Set Equipment is strong. However, there are plenty of other pieces of equipment with equipment skills, right? I still don't understand why so many people are here." The man chuckled.

"I knew Lady Elowen would see through this. The main reason for the large number of customers is that they are extremely affordable. Moreover, each piece of equipment also comes with its own abilities. In this set, for example, the armor has a wind shield, the weapon can summon 2 small wind elementals, the necklace can cast a Wind Aether Healing spell, and the earring can give you a burst of attack speed."

"Attack speed?" Elowen was stunned.

"Raw, percentage attack speed?"

"Exactly." The man chuckled.

"Attributes that boost things like Damage, Attack Speed, Defense, and raw basic attributes are beyond rare. Yet, all these new sets have at least one of those attributes on them." This time, Elowen couldn't help but sigh.

"If what you said is the truth… Things are about to change." Then, she asked, curious.

"Are there Level 140 pieces of equipment for sale?"

"Plenty." The man smiled.

"They have up to Level 199 equipment for sale. Only those pieces are a bit expensive. Still, most things are Profound Grade with some World Grade sets."

"World Grade!" Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Elowen exclaimed again. Then, she thought to herself.

'If I change to a set of A+ Tier equipment, my strength will increase explosively. Once our group is fully equipped, we might be able to challenge the third trial in the <Eternal Trial Domain>.' So, without a hint of hesitation, Elowen walked inside to buy. For buyers, this situation was extremely good. However, for the locals who had developed steadily, this sudden outflow of customers crippled many of their operations. However, these crafters didn't react with envy or resentment like the merchants first believed.

Cassian glanced at the new shops he opened and nodded lightly at the profits reflected in his eyes. He was not surprised nor happy. It was a matter of course for such things to develop this way. He rubbed the tip of his curved ram horn and smiled coldly.

"Now… resentment will overflow. From locals, right? Once they begin harassing us, we can use the legal system in place to push them even further. Soon, some of them will file for bankruptcy, and that's when I open my banking system. At first, it will be easy to get loans and pay them back. But, as time passes, some people will helplessly fall further and further into their red numbers…" With that in mind, Cassian called for one of his secretaries and gave him a few pre-prepared documents.

"The second someone causes trouble, remember to use these rules. I've read the local law book, and it's quite easy to take advantage of." He was actually somewhat confused at this.

"Do they not see the loopholes in some of the laws? Or…" His intelligent eyes flashed.

"They don't dare challenge the bottom line of whoever set these laws." While he said that there were loopholes, it was not entirely true. The set of laws was honest, easy to digest, and easy to apply. Bureaucracy had very little hand in the market, and where it touched, it was because those markets could cause instability in the empire. Moreover, the places where the government poked around were never suppressed, only controlled so that they didn't devolve into monopolies and similar dead ends.

What Cassian meant by loopholes was that these rules could be changed very easily if taken "up to interpretation." Just with a few wordplays, Cassian was quite sure that he could exploit the legal system, and no one would be able to say anything. He was not the only one; the other 27 merchant chains were also quite confused at this set of laws. Of course, when they read the one that basically said.

"Please, be honest and do not twist laws up to interpretation." Every single one of them ignored it, as such a "law" could be easily taken advantage of. It existing or not changed nothing during legal battles. After all, both sides could claim that their own interpretation was the original intent of the law. Of course, fully exploiting these laws since the very beginning was nothing but a rookie mistake. First, adapt and make sure not to create a precedent that could later be used against them.

Later, when their influence reached a certain power, they began twisting and bending some of the laws very subtly to make sure their progress didn't stall. Finally, once you earned a practical monopoly, laws were nothing but a set of words that, ultimately, meant, "rules for thee but not for me." Liu Shu, while developing her own things, also kept an eye on Ceperet, the Moon, and Nualis.

Vorathen was still too new for these large merchants to care, so besides a few superficial links for future expansions, they put in no effort there. Among the three, surprisingly, the Moon was the hardest market to pierce for the aliens. The reason was that the insectoids living there were not unaware of their methods. So, they could counterattack in many fields. Out of respect for Liu Shu, they had naturally never dared to use the tricks the merchants currently used.

Of course, tricks could never allow for such rapid expansion. The true detail that made them so prominent so quickly was the quality, methods, and services that far surpassed the current Golden Sap Empire standard. So, just around half a year after their arrival, the market shifted completely, with many famous brands and businesses being quietly swallowed and changed by the new arrivals. Liu Shu observed everything silently, never stepping up.

After all, during these six months, the merchants adhered to her rules and principles, leaving locals unable to complain about anything. They were crushed, honestly, and in a direct confrontation. Even if someone wanted to drag them in front of the law, the result, even if Liu Shu herself presided over the court, would be a big and fat "not guilty." The population, accustomed to the Golden Empire's shifting nature, didn't care about the old businesses.

If they fell, some would sigh in reluctance for a few moments and then move on to find something better. The ability to adapt of locals, for the first time, hurt local businesses the most. But… this was not a faulty design on Liu Shu's part. To put it simply, if someone asked, Liu Shu would answer with, 'It's not a bug; it's a feature." Why? Liu Shu looked at the "failed" locals and didn't see resentment in their eyes.

Accustomed to the Golden Sap Empire's fierce competitiveness, their eyes were blazing like hunters who had seen worthy prey. When Liu Shu saw their expressions, her lips couldn't help but arch. During this half a year, Liu Shu never gave her blessing to the aliens, not even once. Some of them even converted to her church with honest hearts after seeing the grand World Tree's figure, yet not even those people received her blessings.

Liu Shu acted as if these new people didn't even exist, and naturally, the <Temples> also ignored all of them, even when there were quite a few who could receive their blessings.

'If Mommy says that they are not good, then they are not good!' Aionthra, sitting on her throne, peacefully caressed the roots that surrounded her. Her eyes were languid, and a faint smile arched her beautiful lips.

"Things are going exactly as you predicted, Mother." Liu Shu gently caressed her daughter's face.

"Isn't this what you also predicted? You are so clever, baby~." Aionthra squinted in delight. Being praised by Liu Shu had become one of her most cherished moments. Because, she knew, Liu Shu would not praise her just because… unless she asked for it, of course. Aionthra was quite sure that if she asked Liu Shu to pat her head while praising her, Liu Shu would never refuse and instead pamper her to the heavens.

However, without a prompt from her, Liu Shu always praised her children when they did something worth praising. She didn't overshoot their achievements; she steadily pushed them forward along the path they chose. This attitude is what made Aionthra completely and utterly in love with her Mother. Of course, love on a familiar level. Aionthra admired her mother as nothing more than a mother, yet nothing less than that!