At the top of Rodok Castle next to Deherim Town, Shen Mu stood on the wooden frame of the main building at the highest point, looking down at the bustling crowd.
Now Deherim was truly different from before.
In the distance, white data streams flickered, and new townhouses were being constructed one after another.
Within just two or three days.
The previously open area to the south of Deherim was now filled with more houses.
This was the town housing that Manid, as the temporary governor of the town, had built according to the plan during these two or three days.
Moreover, according to the design plan, if all the empty areas in Deherim were built into houses, it could accommodate 10,000 people.
Therefore, it would definitely be very crowded, and various sanitation issues would frequently arise.
But it didn't matter.
For Shen Mu, the Town Area itself was an experimental ground he had given to these Blue Star Humans to manage themselves.
As long as the safety of the Castle District was ensured, he would remain firmly in control.
Nothing would go wrong.
“Respected Lord Shen Mu.” Just as Shen Mu was deep in thought, Manid also climbed up the nearby staircase.
“Hmm.” Shen Mu nodded in response.
After Manid climbed onto the wooden frame beside him, he slowly began to speak: “You’ve done well; these newly planned town buildings indeed make the south side appear more orderly.”
Previously, the south side had been a chaotic mix of warehouses and empty lots, but after being designated as new residential land, Manid had meticulously planned and organized it again.
Although it had only been two or three days, Shen Mu had already seen the change.
After all, the reason those residential houses were built so quickly was partly because he used Faith Power to accelerate the construction workers, allowing them to build structures rapidly in an extremely fast time flow.
Otherwise, relying solely on the normal wooden houses that took more than half a month to build, it would truly take forever to complete.
After all, there were currently thirty to forty houses being constructed simultaneously throughout Deherim.
“You flatter me; these are all things I should do.” Manid humbly bowed again, respectfully saluting Shen Mu with a hand over his chest, and in his opinion, it truly was what he should do.
“Our Deherim is already too crowded; to accommodate the remaining 20,000-plus Blue Star Humans outside, we need to expand.” Shen Mu still voiced his concerns: “So, where do you think it would be best to develop if we were to rebuild a new urban area?”
“Any direction would be fine, Respected Lord Shen Mu, but in my opinion, it would be best to add urban areas on both the east and west sides.”
Manid immediately replied: “Both the east and west sides have reserve areas and light industry areas. If we add new urban areas outside the east and west city gates, we can divert these humans out, which will also ensure the safety of the Castle District and the Town Area. If anything happens, we can simply close the city gates to completely isolate the new urban areas on the east and west sides from the old urban area and the Castle District.”
“Adding new urban areas on the east and west sides, that’s not a bad idea.” Shen Mu also looked towards the east and west city gates that Manid mentioned.
He seemed thoughtful.
What Manid said made a lot of sense.
As long as new urban areas were added outside the east and west city gates, new connecting areas could quickly form. Of course, by simply adding new city gates outside the new urban areas, the traffic problem would also be solved, along with the issue of more accommodation for the Blue Star Humans.
“Let’s wait for now. Deherim’s funds are currently short, and Faith Power is also insufficient. It will take a long time to build new urban areas.” Shen Mu’s face showed some regret at this point, as his dinar currently relied entirely on those two caravans, and Faith Power was also mainly spent on those two caravans. Construction of the town truly had to wait.
Manid understood this point, and it also fell within the scope of grand strategy, which he was completely unable to interfere with.
“Alright, I’ve seen enough. That’s all for now. Manid, continue to focus on town construction.” Shen Mu looked at Deherim, which was starting to build new structures again, and nodded with satisfaction. After giving Manid a few more instructions, he turned and left.
And on the 1st floor of the Castle Hall, four generals were already waiting there.
They were Fatis and James.
And Lezalit and Bestour.
“Respected Lord Shen Mu.” They stood up and bowed in greeting when they saw Shen Mu approaching.
“Hmm, greetings to you all.” Shen Mu nodded and motioned for the four generals to sit down.
Then, watching them all settle into their chairs, he directly stated the reason for summoning the four of them: “Lezalit and Fatis, both of you hail from the Swadia Kingdom. You two must ensure the town’s defense and patrol duties in Deherim are carried out properly.”
“Understood.” “Understood.”
Lezalit and Fatis stood up again, thumped their chests, bowed, and then sat back down.
This demonstrated their serious attitude.
Although Lezalit and Fatis indeed both hailed from the Swadia Kingdom, due to their differing personalities, they actually had little interaction, and even during their travels across the continent, they had many conflicts. After all, they were both from the Swadia Kingdom faction, but due to their different ideologies, conflicts easily arose.
Now, within Shen Mu’s faction, they understood that they should put aside their past conflicting remarks and ideologies and now serve Shen Mu wholeheartedly, which was the most important thing.
After all, Shen Mu was a savior-level existence crucial to the safety of the entire world and their own future.
Shen Mu, at this moment, paid no attention to their psychological fluctuations. He merely watched them sit down solemnly, completely obedient to orders, and nodded in approval.
Then he looked at Bestour, the nomad from the Kujit Khanate, or rather, the Steppe Bandit leader.
“My Lord, please give your orders.” Bestour did not hesitate. Seeing Shen Mu’s gaze fall upon him, he immediately stood up from his chair with a clatter, respectfully placed a hand over his chest, and bowed to Shen Mu.
“Hmm, very good, Bestour. I need you to lead your Steppe Bandit troops to patrol directly in Deherim and the newly established Uzhhorod. Furthermore, when concealed, you will also need to patrol New Rivadin to ensure the roads are clear and that these two newly established castles maintain contact with us.”
“Understood, Respected Lord Shen Mu, please rest assured, this is something my Khergit people and I are very good at.” Bestour smiled confidently. For him, this was an incredibly easy patrol mission.
Perhaps for others, it would require enduring the elements and constantly staying on horseback, but for a Kujit, especially a general from the Kujit Steppe Bandit, this was simply daily life.
“Hmm, very good, that’s all.” Shen Mu was quite satisfied with Bestour’s confident reply. He nodded at him and motioned for him to sit back down, finally turning his gaze to James.
“Respected Lord Shen Mu.” James stood up at this moment, bowing respectfully to Shen Mu again.
“Hmm.” Shen Mu nodded.
Regarding James, Shen Mu had not originally intended to call him to the meeting, as his arrangement for James was to diligently study the power of magic in the library with the Eden Guard Believers.
How to use magic, how to learn to wield the power of magic to harm enemies, or to provide beneficial effects to his soldiers—this was his arrangement for James.
However, this morning, James had proactively sent someone to notify him, hoping to attend the meeting together, and he also had something to report. This piqued Shen Mu’s curiosity, so he had James called to the meeting.
“You said you have something to report?” Shen Mu asked James.
James immediately said solemnly: “That’s right, Respected Lord Shen Mu, it’s because I’ve had new insights recently while studying magic structures and how to cast spells with the Eden Guard Believers, and we’ve also discovered that it seems this world is becoming increasingly accommodating to the casting of spells.”
Shen Mu frowned slightly at James’s words: “What do you mean this world is becoming increasingly accommodating to the casting of spells?”
This book was recently updated in ##!! Update!
This sounded a bit strange.
James didn’t beat around the bush and immediately answered Shen Mu’s question: “It means that this world seems capable of using more powerful offensive spells.” He then added in detail: “You’ve seen before that the Yang Flame Ray could only shoot 20 meters before losing its power, but according to our previous tests, the Yang Flame Ray, the offensive spell we are currently using, has already reached a range of 30 meters.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Mu’s eyes widened slightly: “The Yang Flame Ray has already reached an effective range of 30 meters.”
Previously, he had also tested the Yang Flame Ray, which could basically only harm unarmored targets at around 20 meters, causing a considerably hot burning effect, as if someone had taken a burning coal and pressed it hard against their skin.
Quite painful.
But the lethality was average.
Only at around 10 meters could it truly act like a red-hot iron rod, striking the enemy with immense impact and terrifying burning effects.
At around 3 to 5 meters, if it hit an enemy’s head, it could be instantly fatal.
It could be said that the reason Shen Mu had not allowed these Eden Guard Believers to directly enter the battlefield before was because their Yang Flame Ray was somewhat useless.
After all, within a 20-meter range, a Crossbowman could accurately hit and kill a target.
And for an archer, they could already shoot two or three arrows.
Even javelins or throwing knives could be thrown one after another.
However, the Yang Flame Ray required waiting for a period of time to re-form the magic structure in the mind and then re-exert effort to cast it. It could be said to be a quite awkward, ineffective, and rather useless long-range offensive method.
For Shen Mu, both Rodok Kingdom crossbowmen and Vigia Kingdom archers were very useful ranged shooters, and they wouldn't cause any trouble, with commendable lethality.
Even the burly Lake Rat Gang thugs’ thrown javelins could provide close-range ranged damage at around 10 to 20 meters.
So, at present, these Eden Guard Believers were simply useless.
A 20-meter shooting distance with insufficient damage—wasn’t that utterly useless?
Now, this news told him that the shooting distance had surprisingly reached 30 meters, an increase that truly surprised Shen Mu, as developing these spellcaster-type mages would be an absolute help to him.
Furthermore, this also indicated that although these Eden Guard Believers had not absorbed enough combat experience to level up, their strength was quietly increasing with some kind of change occurring.
“Could it be due to the change in world rules?” Shen Mu thought of something at this moment, deep in thought.
He also recalled the black lines he had seen in the sky at that time, gradually appearing to surge towards them, and when he had entered construction mode before, he had also seen that the black line on the horizon seemed to have undergone some changes.
Moreover, during this period, the land in the Spirit Realm scene also began to fall onto the Blue Star World at a faster frequency, transforming all the buildings and terrain in the Blue Star World into Spirit Realm terrain.
“Could this be the reason?” Thinking of this, Shen Mu seemed thoughtful.
“And Respected Lord Shen Mu, according to the Eden Guard Believers, if this continues, the magical fluctuations in this world will bring them better and stronger spellcasting abilities.” James said again at this moment.
“Indeed, it is because of the Spirit Realm’s arrival that this world has experienced a resurgence of extraordinary power.” Shen Mu mused.
At the same time, he nodded to James and said, “Very good, your report is very important. Then let those Eden Guard Believers continue to perceive the magical fluctuations of this world. If they reach a certain intensity, or rather, if they can advance again after reaching a certain intensity, then tell me.”
“Understood.” James nodded and sat back down.
Because Shen Mu had also discovered that these Eden Guard Believers were true mages who used magic among the magical races.
Leveling up was now very difficult.
Previously, he had also led these mages to participate in many battles, including the battle to annihilate the Diesel Company, and he had them on the front lines to gain combat experience.
However, these Eden Guard Believers were only first-tier spellcasters, yet they had no option to level up.
This truly puzzled Shen Mu.
If they were ordinary first-tier soldiers, they could quickly reach the second tier after a few battles, as these cannon-fodder-level conscripts who had just been sent to the battlefield had nothing to boast about, so the demand for combat experience was very low.
It was simply impossible for something like this to happen, where these Eden Guard Believers had gone through several major battles without leveling up.
There must be another undetected problem here. (End of Chapter)