I Became the Progenitor Vampire

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Small Actions with Profound Impact
 

Lide watched the changes in Dawn City with his eyes and felt joy in his heart.

Now, even a minor change signified progress under the circumstances of scarce resources.

He believed the day when Dawn City would flourish was not far away.

However, the current scarcity of materials was an unavoidable concern for him.

To solve this problem might only be possible until next year, when the land could be cultivated again.

“Clan Leader, Lord Emi requests an audience~”

Inside the City Hall office, Lide browsed through a book about the history of the Nolan Empire. He had grown fond of the office Harrison had prepared for him, so he had been working there lately.

“Let him come in.”

“Yes,” the Bloodline guard bowed his chest and left. Soon after, Emi’s tall figure entered the spacious office.

After becoming Bloodline, Emi, who was already handsome, became even more striking. The vicissitudes of time lent an extraordinary charm to his demeanor.

“Ancestor Crown, I’ve reconstructed the Mage Tower’s blueprint. The original owner of this blueprint was once an Extraordinary Mage.

I saw it once a long time ago in the Knight Temple, and for the future, I memorized the design structure in detail…”

Emi, now with a youthful face in his forties, wore a broad smile.

Since Lide had decided to entrust him with the construction of the Mage Tower, he had dived into the library managed by Harrison, starting to conceive the structure of the Mage Tower.

It must be said that this fellow, once a Priest of the Knight Temple, indeed had a rich foundation, as he took out a complete Mage Tower design in just over ten days.

Mage Tower blueprints have always been a closely guarded secret among Mages. The Mage Tower represents a Mage’s deepest secrets and is their stronghold. Most of the time, blueprints are destroyed after the Mage Tower is built.

Experiences like Emi’s, having seen the blueprints of an Extraordinary Mage Tower, were indeed rare.

Lide had originally planned to use the blueprints of the Crimson Mage Tower with some modifications, but hearing that Emi had something better, he left it to him.

“An Extraordinary Mage’s Mage Tower? Can we afford to build it now?”

Lide frowned, knowing that anything associated with the word “Extraordinary” would definitely not come cheap.

Building an ordinary Mage Tower required a terrifying amount of resources, and Dawn City did not yet have the capacity to support the construction of an Extraordinary Mage Tower.

The Bloodline’s two hundred years of foundation were not enough.

If not for Spark, the Great Mage, who had exerted a great effort during its construction, it wouldn’t have been easy for him to build the Crimson Mage Tower.

Building a Great Mage’s Mage Tower might barely be feasible with Bloodline’s foundation, but an Extraordinary one was far beyond reach.

Emi chuckled lightly.

“Ancestor Crown, there’s no need to build it all at once. This Mage Tower can be upgraded step by step from an ordinary Mage Tower to an Extraordinary Mage Tower.

We can start by building a twenty-blade high ordinary Mage Tower and expand later…”

Lide felt relieved, fearing that Emi’s mentality might have been unbalanced after becoming a level 15 Shadow High Priest—such a mindset was not permissible in the Bloodline’s current state.

“What support do you need from me?”

“I need construction materials, alchemy materials for the outer layer of the Mage Tower, Magic Crystal Stones…”

“Stop, first make a detailed list, and Dawn City’s stock will be prioritized for your selection.”

Lide felt somewhat overwhelmed as he interrupted Emi’s incessant chatter.

“Yes, Ancestor Crown.”

It must be said that Emi was very quick. In less than half a Sunshine Hour, he had organized a detailed list. However, he felt somewhat conflicted, as many of the materials had to be purchased from Green City.

“First organize a workforce to prepare the stones needed for the Mage Tower, and purchase the other materials from Green City.”

Fortunately, establishing a Mage Tower was destined to be a massive project, not something to be completed in a few days, giving him enough time to purchase the materials.

The Mage Tower was destined to occupy an important position in Dawn City. It was not being built simply for the sake of construction, nor solely for the promise he had made to humanity.

In Lide’s plan, this Mage Tower would be the main source of Mages for Dawn City in the future.

This is a world of magic, where magic holds the foremost priority among all powers.

Even the Bloodline, an Upper Race, needs time and space to grow, and the role of the Mage Tower in Dawn City is to shorten that growth period for the Bloodline.

Previously, members of the Bloodline were left to grow on their own, and the Blood Clan Ancestor rarely enforced strict management over them.

As a result, the Bloodline had to learn on their own initiative, squandering their long lifespans, which for humans, would have led to extinction long ago.

“Yes, Ancestor Crown, I look forward to your news.”

Watching Emi leave, Lide rubbed his forehead, managing a city was not as easy as it seemed.

The Mage Tower materials that Emi needed were one thing, but at the moment another issue was troubling him.

Free food.

Offering free food was very effective in stabilizing the populace in the beginning, but as land was distributed, the appeal of free food began to wane.

He was considering whether to abolish the free food policy, and Emi’s arrival provided him with fresh ideas, perhaps combining the two.

Half a day later, two notices were posted on the bulletin board in the square.

The information on the notices instantly sparked heated debate among the residents of Dawn City.

The first was the cancellation of the free food distribution.

From today, grain would be sold by City Hall; everyone could purchase food in the stores set up by City Hall, and no one else was allowed to operate a store dealing in grain except City Hall.

Wheat was priced at three copper pucks per jin.

Undoubtedly, free food was the guarantee for everyone to live in peace, but now that food distribution was being canceled, it was bound to spark public debate.

However, the announced grain price was relatively low, which offered some consolation, but the second notice truly captured their interest.

The Mage Tower of Dawn City was officially commissioned and construction began in earnest, with the Building Department seeking a large number of skilled builders, offering a daily salary of ten copper pucks.

A Mage Tower was actually being built! And there would be temporary work available for them.

So even after the cancellation of the free food distribution, there would be no risk of starving without income.

These two decisions were naturally made by Lide.

Free food was akin to a public pot, which indeed could stabilize the residents who had recently arrived from the chaotic world outside Dawn City and were in a state of panic.

But now that Dawn City was on the right track, the public pot naturally had to go.

Of course, his purpose wasn’t simply to abolish free food; the more important idea was to enhance the initiative of ordinary residents.

Free food, though good, inevitably made many people lazy.

Without free food, those who wished to slack off were forced to go out and work to earn money, and the construction of the Mage Tower provided such a job opportunity, immediately putting a large surplus of labor to use.

Moreover, this policy had another benefit—it promoted trade within Dawn City.

As time passed, residents might accumulate more savings, and with sufficient savings, they naturally sought to improve their quality of life.

Spending money.

At that time, as long as some clever individuals established a few stores to meet these demands, they would make a fortune, which, in turn, would prompt even more people to follow suit.

The most basic commercial activities would slowly take shape in Dawn City.

Commerce is one of the most direct activities to promote social development; everyone aspires for and pursues a higher quality of life, and demand will always give rise to corresponding industry chains.

However, for now, reaching his vision would take a long time, as the sheer lack of resources could cause his plans to fall through.

What he was doing now was more about planning for the future; the immediate impact was minuscule, but these seemingly insignificant actions would shape the future of Dawn City.

Of course, this was also because Dawn City’s foundations were so poor that anything sketched on a blank slate was glaringly obvious, unlike a paper already full of dye, which would require much effort to leave a mark.

Lide, holding the paintbrush, was undoubtedly the master of the city’s fate. What this city would become in the future was perhaps only known to him.

It seemed, the completion of this city was something to look forward to.