Chapter 455: Chapter 451: Gold-eating Black Hole Chapter 455: Chapter 451: Gold-eating Black Hole “Huh?” The Dragonkin girl was slightly confused. Mia had originally assumed that Muria’s “part” referred to the initial transformation of a small number of Cloud Islands, with the rest being set aside for later, “Master Muria, you mean?”

“Just as I said.” Muria raised his eyebrows slightly, “Since we can’t transform all the Cloud Islands at once, let’s just complete the iconic structure of the Floating City, enabling these Cloud Islands to move according to my will. Wouldn’t that be doable?”

The Floating City is a multifunctional complex structure, suspended in the sky. It can move around, which is just one of its signature features. It also has other functions like defense, attack, exploration, and living quarters, amongst many others.

Right now, Muria plans to temporarily abandon these functions and construct them in stages. At the moment, all he wants is to make the Cloud Islands mobile. Such a modest requirement will undoubtedly significantly reduce the cost of transforming the Floating City.

“That… should be doable, I think.” Mia hesitated briefly but was still unsure. She needed to calculate again, “Master Muria, I need to recalculate.”

“Alright.” Muria nodded. Regardless of the calculation results, he was prepared to start using the resources of the Lockman Kingdom to implement the Cloud Island transformation plan. If he missed this opportunity, there wouldn’t be another one.

He was determined to take all of the Cloud Islands with him, leaving none behind. This time, Muria planned to navigate the Cloud Islands, crossing the sea to the next subcontinent, without using a cross-continent teleportation array.

…Under the will of the Lockman Kingdom’s supreme ruler, the kingdom, just recovered from the Magic Disaster, went into a state of low efficiency operation to serve Muria’s Cloud Island transformation plan.

Yes, it was low efficiency. With the administrative system of the Lockman Kingdom, even if Muria’s authority far exceeded that of the kingdom’s past rulers, and could be compared to that of the founding king, it was useless.

Once his decrees reached the middle and lower layers of society, they essentially lost their potency. Relying on the administrative system of the Lockman Kingdom, Muria could only mobilize a very small part of the national resources. There were too many obstacles.

As for overthrowing the Lockman Kingdom’s system and rebuilding a new order, Muria had no interest in that. His only task as Regent was to ensure a smooth transition and hand over the kingdom to Remilia. He was not the heir to this Kingdom.

Moreover, in Muria’s view, initiating reforms and establishing a more advanced system was pointless because even the best system needed people to execute it.

For example, in his previous life, the Farming and War system of the Qin Dynasty, which allowed the Ancestral Dragon to sweep across the Six Nations and unify the empire, was undoubtedly an extremely advanced war system. Despite its drawbacks, considering the way it allocated resources was a miracle in the history of world war. The national strength was truly the national strength, without any false pretenses.

The population to army ratio of the Qin State during the Warring States period had reached 5:1, a ratio that people from later generations still found unbelievable. In the Erathia World, this was also an unthinkable feat.

Such a ratio of total population to army could fundamentally not occur in human kingdoms because the most basic condition to join the army was to master extraordinary power, cultivate Fighting Qi or Mental power. What the extraordinary ones consumed was not something a few ordinary farmers could afford. Therefore, the more powerful the state, the more pronounced is the disparity between the army and the total population.

Hence, the Farming and War system of the Qin Dynasty, and its resource allocation system in times of war, was a non-duplicable miracle, whether in his previous world or in the present.

However, this miracle of a unified empire crumbled in just a few decades. There were many reasons for its fall, but the main cause was that the successors of the Qin Dynasty were too incompetent.

If the ones in power were incompetent, it wouldn’t matter how advanced the system was, how perfect the laws were, or how powerful the army was – they couldn’t escape the fate of extinction.

Muria saw through this, which is why he didn’t bother pushing new policies in the Lockman Kingdom. No matter how perfect his new policies were, or how much they would increase national strength, everything would soon return to its original state once he left.

Only the seemingly backward feudal system of the Lockman Kingdom can meet the interests of all parties in the kingdom. And only interest can maintain everything.

So, Muria could only put up with the inefficiency brought about by this outdated system. Of course, this so-called “inefficiency” was only relative, as, at the very least, nobody dared to shirk Muria’s orders and they were executed dutifully.

One advantage of post-war reconstruction was that Muria could recruit an ample workforce, and this was certainly the case in the Lockman Kingdom.

The Magic Disaster had left tens of millions of Lockman Kingdom commoners homeless, dispersed and gathered in major cities. These landless, homeless, and penniless refugees were a major security concern for the Kingdom.

The Royal Capital Scarlett hosted the majority of these refugees, because in the heart of nearly everyone in the Lockman Kingdom, the Royal Capital was the safest place on the Nocchio Subcontinent, which was indeed the case. Therefore, after enduring the disaster of the demon invasion, everyone capable tried to flee to Scarlett.

Now that the disaster was over, Muria issued an order to repatriate the refugees, asking them to return to their original homes and rebuild their destroyed homelands. However, many of the refugees refused to return for various reasons.

For this kind of people, Muria directly conscripted them, taking them all to the Cloud Islands. They were provided with food and shelter in exchange for labor, eliminating a major unstable factor in the security of the Lockman Kingdom.

“A majestic spectacle formed through the natural evolution of the world and the perfect fusion of a Wisdom Civilization.” Standing on the highest Cloud Island, Muria overlooked the bustling scene below with a look of admiration and satisfaction on his face.

At this point, including the 132 Cloud Islands beneath him, all had become enormous construction sites. Busy figures of Giants, Zor Elves, Dwarves, Dragon People, and Humans could be seen everywhere.

The presence of the Dragon People and Dwarves was due to Dragon King Sesa and Dwarf Duke Magni Bronzebeard, who, upon hearing about Muria’s Cloud Island transformation project, volunteered to send teams to help. These two were quite understanding legends.

“Master Muria, it’s true that the Cloud Islands are naturally formed, but the majestic spectacle created by more than a hundred Cloud Islands coming together was caused by that giant beast below us.” Mia, standing by Muria’s side, calmly reminded him.

“I know.” Muria glanced at Mia. He knew that his Dragonborn maid had some qualms about his current actions because the Cloud Island transformation project was too grand and ambitious. It was like a gold-consuming beast, posing a heavy burden on the economy of the Lockman Kingdom.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read