Ethan looked at the dozens of items that appeared right after those first two, automatically filtering out everything below Rank B.

[Congratulations! you have received 1x Butcher’s Armor (Rank A)]

[Congratulations! you have received 1x Ancestral Fortress Blueprint (Rank B)]

[Congratulations! you have received: 1x Professional Pop Selection Card (Rank B)]

[Congratulations! you have received: 1x 1,500 Pop Card (Rank B)]

[Congratulations! you have received: 10,000 kg of Refined Mithril Ore (Rank S)]

[Congratulations! you have received: 1x Monster-Slaying Heavy Sword (Rank B)]

[Congratulations! you have received: 500 kg of High-Level Magic Herb Seeds (Rank A)]

[Congratulations! you have received: 1x Epic City Creation Core (Rank S)]

[Congratulations! you have received: 1x Book of the Basics of Eternal White Concrete Production (Rank B)]

[Congratulations! you have received: 1x Work Efficiency Boost Card (Rank SS)]

Ten items above Rank B in fifty-eight pulls. Honestly, the result left Ethan quite satisfied.

A seventeen percent rate for Rank B or higher items was excellent, especially given the prices items of that tier usually fetched at auction.

As for the Rank C or lower drops, he barely spared them a glance.

They weren’t bad—far from it—most came in large quantities, mainly weapons, tools, and armor. But they were nowhere near the value of a single Rank B or higher item.

In the end, he simply stored them in his system inventory, letting his gaze settle on the Rank SS item.

A faint disappointment tugged at him when he realized it was merely a work speed bonus card, not some legendary artifact capable of accompanying him for at least a few millennia.

Still, knowing how item rating worked, this card would undoubtedly prove well worth it.

[Name: Work Efficiency Boost Card

Description: A high-grade efficiency boost card. Capable of increasing the quality of produced items, boosting work speed, reducing workers’ fatigue rate, and multiplying the number of crafted items by ten. Applies to both crafting and construction, though with certain limitations.

Effect: +200% work speed, -75% worker fatigue rate, +25% quality of produced items, +50% chance for a produced item to increase by 1 quality rank.

Duration: 1 month.]

It only lasted a month, yes, but that was more than enough to have Ethan bubbling with excitement.

It wasn’t even close to a true SS-Rank artifact, of course, but it was still wonderful.

With that bonus and his entire current stock of steel, he’d have more than enough to equip his entire army before next month’s expansion campaigns.

His face beaming, Ethan scanned the rest of the items.

The tons of mithril and the epic city-creation core—one tier above a supreme city—certainly had him thrilled.

As for the remaining items, they were all good, and would soon prove useful to Goldenveil.

He tore the pop card between his fingers, feeling the material dissolve into a luminous powder.

With that simple act, the number of new citizens arriving in Goldenveil next week climbed to four thousand five hundred.

In just one week, the city’s population would nearly double. Beyond these civilians, a thousand soldiers and another two hundred fifty artisans would also arrive.

Managing such explosive population growth would be complicated, of course, but the Goldenveil guard had already grown accustomed to this kind of chaos.

Now that they could build houses much more easily, the new wave of residents wouldn’t cause even half the problems of the previous surge.

Satisfied, he rose to his feet and used the professional pop selection card as well, which worked similarly to the standard pop cards.

He tore it without hesitation, and a selection screen shimmered into being before him.

He could choose up to one hundred professionals from a wide variety of fields.

Without a second thought, Ethan left the palace and crossed the streets until he reached the port of Goldenveil.

There, he chose shipbuilders.

The new port already had a shipyard ready for use, yet the workbenches remained empty, even with piles of wood and practically everything else needed already in place.

Obviously, at first the workers would only be building simple fishing boats, but Ethan already had big plans for the future.

He took a step back, his lips curving in satisfaction as a hundred men and women, ranging in age from twenty to forty, materialized before him in a brief flash of light.

In essence, they were beings generated by the system itself, not souls snatched from the clutches of death.

Because of this, integrating them into Goldenveil and putting them to work was far simpler.

Ethan chose the oldest member of the group—a man on the verge of the third stage—to take on the role of shipyard manager.

With that part finished, Ethan made his way through the many empty lots within the inner walls, where he activated the house-building kit.

He selected several middle-class residences that matched Goldenveil’s architecture and, with a simple gesture, began construction.

Once everything was done, he headed to a new business that had just opened in Goldenveil—a company dedicated to concrete production, founded by one of the few formally educated engineers in the city.

He handed them the Book of the Basics of Eternal White Concrete Production and then made his way to the barracks.

By the time he had finished everything, the sun already hung low on the horizon, indicating it was near five in the afternoon.

The guards patrolling outside the walls in squads were beginning to return, and, little by little, the time approached for the workers to rest.

At the Goldenveil barracks, however, Doran’s powerful voice still cut through the air, echoing off the stone walls.

Ethan walked through the barracks gates and made his way toward a large training yard, where five hundred recruits stood in rigid formation under the afternoon sun, sweat glistening on their brows as they held their stances without flinching.

He immediately heard Doran.

"Stay focused! This is the most important part of mastering the Golden Dragon Emperor’s fencing style. If you can’t even replicate the first move, how will you fight for our lord on the front lines?

Close your eyes, calm your mind, and concentrate on the flow of your own aura."