Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 276: Chapter 275 I Drew a Circle on the Sea

City of Korhal, city hall.

“I really didn’t expect to come here again.”

Looking at the familiar two-story building in front of him, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but express his sentiment. It was his second time entering the city hall after arriving in this world. Fang Zheng remembered clearly that his first visit to the city hall was for his new identity and Star Pattern. Moreover, he had met an unreliable Astrologer girl at that time. Come to think of it, he wondered how she was doing now… Speaking of which, what was the girl’s name?

Shaking his head, Fang Zheng walked into the city hall.

Unlike Star Moon City, the city hall in the City of Korhal was quite bustling. As soon as Fang Zheng walked in, he saw many people queuing and whispering in front of the counter, even some people holding various documents were bustling about. This was not surprising though, as Star Moon City was merely a small inland town, while the City of Korhal was a commercial hub on the border. The two simply were not on the same level, which naturally accounted for the difference.

“Hello, sir.”

As soon as Fang Zheng entered the city hall, an attendant promptly came up to greet him.

“May I ask what business you would like to conduct?”

“I’d like to purchase a few islands.”

Looking at the attendant in front of him, Fang Zheng quickly gave his answer. On hearing Fang Zheng’s reply, the attendant paused for a moment, then a formal smile appeared on his face.

“Of course, there is no problem, please follow me.”

While saying this, the attendant turned and led Fang Zheng deeper into the city hall.

In Fang Zheng’s view, in a place like the City of Korhal where space was so valuable, acquiring a piece of land must be quite difficult. Indeed, it was as he thought. When the attendant led Fang Zheng into a hall responsible for land transactions, Fang Zheng felt as if he had entered a real estate market from his previous life. Elegantly dressed individuals could be seen everywhere, shouting loudly at the city hall staff, with some even waving their money pouches around as they yelled. Naturally, there were also heated exchanges with people getting red in the face, banging on maps and cursing. There were even a few who, in their anger, were ready to come to blows, but fortunately were intercepted by the ready guards.

It seems in any world, real estate transactions are intense.

Looking at the scene before him, Fang Zheng nodded. Indeed, he came prepared. Clearly, real estate trading in the City of Korhal was even more heated than he had anticipated. This meant that obtaining the islands he wanted might not be so easy… right?

“Here?”

Looking at the counter in front of him, Fang Zheng scanned the attendant beside him with a surprised look. The place he was at was a counter in the furthest corner, and the dust piled on it suggested that it hadn’t been visited for a long time.

If it weren’t for the “Island Purchase Counter” sign hanging outside the counter, Fang Zheng might have thought the attendant was taking a dig at him for being handsome by giving him the run-around. Are you sure this isn’t a graveyard sales counter? The stuff here could be used as props in horror films.

“Yes, this is the place, sir.”

The attendant ignored Fang Zheng’s gaze, smiled, and bowed.

“I wish you all the best. I shall take my leave now.”

“……”

Are you kidding me?

Looking at the bustling transactions taking place not far away, then at his sparse counter with only the spiders spinning their webs, Fang Zheng was at a loss for words. If it hadn’t been for the old man in a uniform taking a nap behind the counter, Fang Zheng might truly have thought he was being pranked.

“Huha… Huha…”

The old man really didn’t seem to care, sleeping soundly with a hum despite the chaos around him. But Fang Zheng didn’t mind either; he stretched out his hand and rang the bell on the counter, but… well, it made no sound at all; it was clearly broken.

“Dong dong dong.”

With no other choice, Fang Zheng had to tap on the counter with his fingers. Strangely enough, although the sound was not loud, the napping old man suddenly twitched, wiped the drool from his mouth, and squinted sleepily to the side. When he saw Fang Zheng, he hurried to his feet.

“Hello, sir, how may I assist you?”

“Actually, I’m here to purchase islands from the Endless Sea…”

“As I thought…”

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s response, the old man sighed, hesitated for a moment, then bent down to retrieve a map from under the counter and spread it out.

“These are all I have, sir… I am very sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t help you much.”

“What do you mean?”

Hearing the old man’s question, Fang Zheng was taken aback for a moment, then he lowered his head to carefully inspect the map before him. After seeing the abundance of claimed markers on it, Fang Zheng finally understood why this area of the real estate trading center was the most deserted.

It was simply because there was almost nothing left for sale.

The map did show numerous islands within the maritime territory of the Kingdom of the Holy Church, but most of them had already been occupied by the nobility and various organizational forces. Clearly, the desire to find a place where one could face the sea and bloom with the warmth of spring was not just Nanali’s dream. Or rather, there were no shortage of people with the same dream as hers.

Moreover, Fang Zheng even saw the symbol of the Tower of Heaven on the map—uh-huh, finding an isolated island to build a Mage Tower was obviously a favorite endeavor for many mages.

Even in a Magic World, not just anyone could find an island to build a house on. First and foremost, the island needed to have fresh water; secondly, its geographical location had to be good enough, and the island itself should not have any major issues. Otherwise, one storm or tsunami could come along and not only disrupt your springtime bloom but, if lucky, not leave you in a deep freeze.

And then there were the pirates that lurked everywhere… In short, wanting to find a Peach Blossom Island to spend your days was clearly not an easy task. So, dreams are beautiful, but reality is skeletal.

And the islands that met the criteria had pretty much all been taken. Importantly, the sea is not like land; you can lead your men to expand territory on land, but what domains are there to carve out at sea? It’s all water, with no place suitable for habitation. Chance alone determines if you stumble upon an island; it’s very much like top-up treasure box openings. Sometimes, even if you discover a new island, it might just be an uninhabitable wasteland… To most people, such islands are meaningless purchases and a waste of money.

However, for Fang Zheng, none of this mattered.

“I’d like to ask, if I purchase an island, how large an exclusive area would I own?”

That’s right, this was Fang Zheng’s real goal. After inquiring with Kuliya, Fang Zheng learned that this world also had something akin to an “exclusive economic zone” concept. Only here, the Main World was somewhat more straightforward—if Fang Zheng bought an island, the maritime area within several kilometers around it would become his private territory.

“This…”

In the face of Fang Zheng’s question, the old man was visibly surprised, but he hurriedly adjusted his glasses and picked up a ruler to measure something on the map.

“Centered on the island, approximately this big…”

“Hmm……”

Looking at the area the old man had indicated, Fang Zheng furrowed his brow. Judging by the old man’s sizing, if he bought an island, the exclusive area would be about one-third the size of Star Moon City. It wasn’t particularly large nor small—if it was on land, it was equivalent to an area covering a small mountain.

With that thought, Fang Zheng stretched out his hand to draw a circle on the northern sea area of the map.

“Then, how much would it cost to purchase these islands?”

“This…?”

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s question, the old man was taken aback. He then looked at the islands that Fang Zheng had circled on the map and his face showed a look of astonishment.

“Are you sure, sir? These are all dead islands; normally nobody would buy them. And it’s close to pirate routes; there are also rumors of sea monsters around there, ordinary ships don’t dare to approach!”

The “dead islands” that the old man referred to were some of the small volcanic and coral islands at sea. Some of these were so small that they could barely fit a villa, and in essence, were just large rocks protruding from the water. With no water, no food, and not even shelter to hide from storms when they hit, few people would buy such islands. The five islands that Fang Zheng had circled were of this kind. The smallest could only accommodate a lighthouse, and the largest had just enough space to build a small house—which might turn to ruins with a single gust of wind.

And obviously, no one wanted to purchase such islands.

But Fang Zheng did not care. He had the Heavenly Dao Palace; he did not need to build anything on these tiny islands. Right now, Fang Zheng needed a region where he could reasonably deploy the Heavenly Dao Palace. The shape of these five small islands happened to form a pentagon, and the distance between each other was sufficiently large. If Fang Zheng could buy these five islands, then he could deploy the Heavenly Dao Palace in the center of these islands and then live leisurely.

As for pirates and rumored sea monsters… weren’t they perfect for Fang Zheng? They could help him fend off boring interlopers’ prying eyes—simply great!

No matter how ferocious the sea monsters were, they couldn’t affect the Heavenly Dao Palace suspended in the air, right?

“This… You really want to buy these islands?”

“Of course.”

Facing the old man’s questioning, Fang Zheng waved his hand grandly.

“I’ll take them all!”

Having money is just that capricious!