Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 111 A Miraculous Project Attracting Thousands of Attention
On the morning after the arrival of the envoys from the Misty Moon Divine Court in the Vast Sea Territory, several human remains, already highly skeletalized and mixed among the remnants of bandits, were solemnly handed over to the silver-armored temple knights under High Priest Farrell.

Yes, it only has a body, no head.

The skull is being built inside the "Jingguan" (a type of ancient building)!
Having endured the baptism of wind and sand and the scorching sun, the parts that could rot had long since decayed. The guards who were responsible for arranging the heads didn't even put on any names or photos, making it quite difficult to reconnect the heads now.

Although if one were to carefully examine the skulls, it would certainly be possible to distinguish between the human and goblin heads, neither the Vast Ocean Territory nor the Mist Moon Divine Court felt that it was truly unnecessary.

This process is merely a tacit agreement between both parties, a way to give each other a way out.

We can't really go and investigate, what if we find something wrong?

The next question was whether to allow the high priest of the Misty Moon Divine Court to display a miracle, and how to display it.

Chen Mo was quite looking forward to this; if it were recorded, it would be fresh, firsthand information.

As for whether his people would become devotees of the Misty Moon Divine Court, Chen Mo wasn't worried at all.

Currently, the division of labor in Hanhailing is in a very abnormal state. To put it in more standard terms, there is a serious disconnect between productivity and production structure.

The core value of each stage of production is entirely in the hands of the lord, while the vast majority of the people create negligible production value.

Taking agriculture as an example, everything from laboratory-grade seawater rice seeds to nitrohumic acid compound fertilizer and microbial fertilizer, to lightweight film greenhouses and their supporting temperature and humidity control systems, is provided solely by the lord.

The total value of all the other supporting work done by the large number of local agricultural laborers was incomparable to that of the lord's contribution.

Extending this further, every area of ​​the Vast Ocean Territory fully embodies this characteristic: the lord alone handles the core aspects of production, while the value of thousands of laborers is less than a fraction of the lord's value.

Even more critically, the aforementioned production results are still insufficient to cover the consumption of the Vast Ocean Territory, and there are currently no products within the territory that can be exchanged. The lord still has to continuously invest large amounts of money into the territory.

It's a pure case of one person supporting an entire nation!
According to the calculations of the Eastern Xia Planning Division, the economy of the Han Hai Territory will not return to positive growth for at least the next year.

The lives and fortunes of the people are all tied to the lord. In addition, Dongxia has a propaganda system tailored for the Hanhai. Under such circumstances, if the Divine Court can affect the stability of the territory just by coming over, Chen Mo feels that it would be easier for him to just surrender and join the other side.

Bishop Farrell soon received the official approval from the Council of the Vast Sea Territory.

The demonstration is agreed upon, but the Divine Court must fully explain to the Vast Ocean Territory the specific details regarding how it plans to display the miracle, including the time, location, form, scale, and expected effects, in order to avoid causing unnecessary trouble for the Vast Ocean Territory's current construction work.

Priest Farrell had no objection to this.

After all, they're busy with construction, and if you suddenly cause an earthquake, a storm, or a tornado, that's definitely not allowed.

Next, the two teams engaged in discussions and close communication.

At first, High Priest Farrell only planned to perform the most basic miracle, which was "God said, 'Let there be light!'"

The council flatly rejected it.

We have plenty of light here; it can keep us lit all night long. Even if the light you provide covers a large area and is brighter, it's just a slightly stronger lighting spell than a high-level mage's spell—nothing new!

Of course, the council was responsible for taking the blame, but the real decision-makers were the young lord.

Lord Chen Mo's original words were: "What value does this have for the territory? If it has no value, why let him show off like this?"

And so it became—God said, “Let there be light,” but the lord said, “No!”

Even though the Seven-Eyed God was covered in eyes representing the past, future, heaven, and earth, he seemed to have no way to deal with this situation.

This is the true state of the Starry Continent. If the gods were truly so useful, the world would have been unified long ago, and there would be no need for other countries.

Helan, who was familiar with history, had specifically explained to the lord that no matter which god in the legends, whether they had performed miracles or not, they could not directly intervene in the conflicts of the Starry Continent. This world was still the world of nobles and professionals.

Next, after careful consideration, the Divine Court's attendants proposed a second plan.

"Hasn't the city of Hanhai planned to have a city wall but hasn't built it yet? High Priest Farrell is proposing to ask for divine grace to erect a section of the city wall for Hanhai. I wonder what the council will think?"

This point was quite appealing to the council members.

More importantly, this demonstrates true "void creation," something that magicians cannot do.

The essence of magic is the guidance of psychic energy, and no matter how strong the psychic tide is, it still needs to draw elements from the existing environment.

There are seven elemental pools: fire, earth, wind, water, light, darkness, and time and space. When you try to activate them, the pool must contain the element that supports you.

The vast majority of physical objects cannot be created out of thin air from the element pool.

Returning to the matter of building the city wall, if Master Downs were to do it, at most he would cause a certain layer of soil to bulge or a certain area of ​​ground to collapse. However, from the perspective of elemental transformation, the bulging soil layer would inevitably draw soil from the side, and the collapsed ground would certainly scatter excess sand and gravel around.

They cannot make matter appear out of thin air, nor can they make resources disappear out of thin air. In this respect, magicians are actually quite scientific.

However, the great power of the gods lies in their ability to create things from nothing!

In Farrell's view, the fact that a section of city wall could be built for you without any bricks or stones on site was enough to prove the supreme power of the gods.

Just as the communication teams from both sides were discussing the height, thickness, and length of the city wall, the city lord sent another message.

No city walls.

"The city lord said that the city wall obstructs the view and affects his mood, which is why it has been left unbuilt. Besides, you can only build a section, not the whole thing. The city lord thinks that if people see it, they will think we can't afford to build it, which is not good!"

Farrell was a little depressed.

"This won't work, that won't work either, so what exactly do you want to do?"

Chen Mo was just waiting to hear those words.

That afternoon, an engineering team from the Torch Youth Corps, accompanied by Herran, arrived at Farrell's residence carrying a thick stack of blueprints.

"My lord means that since High Priest Farrell wants to demonstrate a miracle, he should do so in a more comprehensive way. We have a small project here, which is to dig some ditches in the ground. It is certainly simpler than building a city wall, but it happens to include more content!"

Farrell couldn't understand the blueprints, but that didn't matter; the other party had also brought a sand table.

This project is exactly what the Han Hai Territory needs most right now, because it relates to the core element for the territory's development: food production.

Film greenhouses can only solve part of the food problem, and external procurement is also highly susceptible to fluctuations in the external environment. In case of war or famine, it is unacceptable to say that the food consumed by the people of the territory is also transported from Dongxia.

That would be a huge waste of the bloodline altar's resources.

Ultimately, it still requires large-scale reclamation of farmland.

Seawater rice grown in open-air, non-greenhouse environments can only be harvested twice a year, with a yield of around 600 kilograms per mu.

Even with the most rudimentary calculation, considering the consumption of food, feed, and seed saving, one acre of land can only support six adults per year. If one engages in heavy physical labor for a long period, this number will further decrease to only 4.8 people.

The Hanhai Territory currently has more than 3,000 laborers and their families, including adults and children. Assuming an average of six people per mu (unit of land area), at least 500 mu of land needs to be cultivated.

Taking into account factors such as the continued purchase of slaves, long-term development plans, and the need to appropriately reserve grain to meet the needs of special circumstances, the first phase of the Hanhai Agricultural Zone has planned more than 2,000 mu of seawater rice fields.

However, since seawater rice is rice, it has a high demand for water. If it relies entirely on manpower to carry water, then it will be impossible to do anything else.

The best solution is to build canals to directly irrigate the fields with lake water.

However, so far, the maps combined with the terrain survey have been sitting there gathering dust for a long time, and the project hasn't been touched at all. It's too much trouble!

Leaving aside the sheer scale of the entire survey and excavation project, just the sheer scale of how to prevent water from seeping into the sand layer and being lost in large quantities during its flow in a desert environment is enough to give the engineering team a real headache.

After all, the conditions for tiling the riverbed are not suitable here.

And so it dragged on and on.

Now, this project has been placed before Farrell.

"One main canal, two horizontal canals, and three main channels. Note that the bottom of the canals should gradually decrease to allow the water to flow smoothly into the downstream area." "Following the main canals, there are twelve branch canals, forming a complete water pipeline, ultimately achieving the effect of water reaching every canal in the entire irrigation area."

"That's roughly the situation. We also brought the blueprints for the second and third phases of the agricultural zone plan..."

Farrell was both annoyed and amused, and of course, curious.

With his limited perspective, he couldn't discern the true value of the project's planning; however, the rigorous and orderly style certainly gave the high priest a unique feeling.

After studying it carefully for a while, the high priest said: I can only complete the work of the main canal. As for the branch canals, I'm sorry, I can't do anything about them!

Lord Chen Mo was overjoyed.

As long as there's a main canal, that's enough; people shouldn't be too greedy!

Next came a series of intensive preliminary preparations.

Farrell can't read blueprints, and neither can the Seven-Eyed God, since they haven't studied engineering drawing and can't understand three-view drawings.

Even if you can understand it, you may not be able to carry out the construction according to the drawings. Therefore, Chen Mo arranged for preliminary positioning work.

The Centaur Engineering team excavated a trapezoidal cross-section of a standard water channel at regular intervals to determine the length, depth, and slope angle of the channel at that location.

In the future, the esteemed high priest will only need to follow the guide lines to connect every two sections in a straight line to create a water channel that meets the standard dimensions.

Furthermore, at corner locations, the Centaur team pre-determines the precise excavation dimensions for each L-shaped corner and T-shaped joint, striving for a one-time molding process without rework.

The day to witness the miracle has finally arrived.

To give High Priest Farrell face and to maximize the "educational" effect, Chen Mo waved his hand and gave all the citizens a day off.

Thousands of workers and their families from the Han Hai region were organized and gathered in dense, dark masses on the sand dunes flanking the planned canal area. Complaints rose and fell in waves.

"Tsk, this damn Divine Court really knows how to pick its time! If I take a day off, I'll lose twenty work points!" A burly man with bronze skin squatted on the ground, rubbing sand between his rough fingers, and muttered with heartache.

"Exactly! My son has calculated everything perfectly for me in the youth group. If we work for another two months, my family can become 'quasi-citizens'! Isn't this just delaying things?"

"And the food!" another lean man counted on his fingers. "If you work, you get a full meal, but if you take a break, you have to pay for your own food with a deduction of work points! It's a huge loss no matter what!"

"Stop yelling!"

The patrolling foreman came over: "The lord said that as long as this 'god' does a good job today, he'll give everyone dozens of work points just by holding up a few fingers! Everyone's hoping for a good outcome!"

Of course, High Priest Todd Farrell couldn't hear any of this at the moment. The lord's cooperation, calling almost everyone in the territory to enjoy his performance, made him extremely excited.

Although the price paid for this divine favor was high, as long as this lord and his territory become the land of believers under the divine court, the reward I can receive will be incredibly generous.

Taking a deep breath of the dusty air, and gently straightening his spotless robes, Priest Farrell gripped the oak scepter inlaid with a large moonstone, slightly squeezed his legs together, and the unicorn beneath him began to move slowly forward.

The centaur engineering team led the way, and Farrell raised his scepter. A pure and dazzling light, as if it were a living thing, suddenly burst forth from the moonstone at the top of the scepter!

The light danced and leaped nimbly in the air, tracing winding paths, and finally, like birds returning to their nests, plunged into the vast saltwater lake in the distance!

Seconds later, under the watchful eyes of thousands of people, a sluice gate that Han Hailing had prepared in advance on the lake shore near the starting point of the canal silently rose!

The clear, slightly salty lake water gurgled down the sluice gate.

At the same time, the light twisted and swayed on the ground, like an invisible giant brush, and began to write miracles on the sand!
The centaur squad's close-up recording devices, the mid-air drones, and the lord's remote camera system all captured this amazing scene from various angles and perspectives.

The light flowed across the ground, and the soil began to churn.

A standard trapezoidal cross-section, as if growing out of the earth itself, starts from the initial cross-sectional pit and extends rapidly forward inch by inch, meter by meter, section by section!
The churning sand did not pile up on either side, but under the influence of some incredible force, it disappeared directly into the void, as if swallowed by an invisible giant mouth!
The most amazing miracles are yet to come.

On the bottom and slopes of each newly formed, smooth, mirror-like section of the canal, a thin, warm, golden-yellow fluorite instantly appears!
The solid paving of the canal bed reflects the sunlight, shimmering like scattered gold, making the entire canal look like a golden vein flowing across the earth!

Just two or three meters behind this rapidly advancing "golden channel," the water drawn from the lake, as if precisely guided by an invisible conduit, closely followed the pace of the canal's development and quickly filled the newly formed trench!

The water rushes and surges at the bottom of the golden canal, stirring up tiny white waves and making a pleasant gurgling sound.

The whole process looks slow, but it is actually quite fast. The unicorn went from pacing to walking to trotting, and the canal also started running, pushing faster and faster, like a golden dragon awakening and galloping in the sea of ​​sand!
Chen Mo stood up, looking at everything with a dazed expression.

The beauty of this construction was more captivating than destruction and slaughter. For a moment, he really wanted to have a good talk with Farrell. Why don't you come to my territory and be the chief engineer of the construction bureau?

Of course, the thought only flashed through my mind.

In a very likely scenario, this is a one-off deal.

Why am I so certain? Because all the gods on the Starry Continent, regardless of level, type, race, or affiliation, share a common characteristic: they never make a losing deal.

According to Helan, this was no secret among the nobility, because from ancient times to the present, all the gods who liked to make unprofitable deals have died out. Only the gods who could continuously acquire and grow stronger had the right to survive.

The think tank of Dongxia highly recognized this and provided a theoretical analysis for Chen Mo.

According to experts from Dongxia, if there really are gods in this world, then communication with gods is essentially a transaction.

Gods don't actually need any faith or incense offerings. The value of a believer lies only in the fact that after you wholeheartedly believe in a god, you can transfer all your benefits to Him.

That's it.

Once you have no more benefits to offer, your faith becomes worthless.

On a grander scale, it's like how the presiding person in a temple has the protection of a "god" when they can transfer benefits, so even if they commit heinous crimes, they can get away with it.

However, if the mistake committed outweighs the benefits that can be transferred, the "gods" will deem it unprofitable, and the offender will be instantly brought to ruin.

On a smaller scale, the idea that ordinary people pray to gods and Buddhas, throwing a few coins into a donation box and hoping for a million-dollar lottery win, is a flawed "transaction."

If gods truly possessed such power, they would go and buy lottery tickets themselves.

Moreover, even if a god himself bought a lottery ticket, he might not win...

However, if you spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to obtain a piece of jewelry "blessed" by the gods, the gods will most likely grant your request, because the gods will profit from the process.

Based on the essence of "transaction," the magical power that Chen Mo was amazed by at this moment was simply the result of High Priest Farrell exchanging the benefits he had given to the gods over countless years for this reward from the gods.

In any case, as the water surged through the golden canal, shimmering with dazzling scales, High Priest Farrell finished with a crisp gesture, took a few deep breaths, and raised his slightly trembling arm again to cast a Radiant Cleansing spell on himself and the unicorn beneath him.

It's roughly equivalent to cleaning and waxing.

The two, one human and one beast, looked radiant.

Then, Farrell turned around expectantly.

　Yesterday, during the use of slaves, there was a small plot point where killing 10% of them would increase efficiency. Originally, it was written that this would happen every year.

　　Then I suddenly remembered that we have something called the bottom-ranking elimination system in reality, so I wanted to be a little cheeky and changed it to monthly.

　　I know it's absurd to change the staff every ten months, but it was just a joke, and then I got lectured for it...

　　I know some people will say that if a worker is fired, he doesn't have to be paid wages, but slaves are his property, so it's different.

　　It's actually the same thing, just a matter of speed. The rate of elimination might be 10% or more each year.

　　The average lifespan of workers in the former British Empire was 17 years, and the average working life of enslaved people on plantations in the 18th and 19th centuries was seven years. These are verifiable statistics.

　　If they could really kill 10% of the people and make up for the loss of these cheap slaves by increasing the work efficiency of the others, let's see if they would fight back.

　　Okay, I've changed it, sigh... how boring.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)