This Lord Wants to Select Talents!

"Venina." Wang Yu sat high upon his throne and spoke calmly.

"This lord has only just acquired these territories and does not yet know the specifics. How are the fifty inhabited planets under my name currently being managed? Give me a brief overview."

"Reporting to my lord, the territories' overall operations are stable. The daily administrative management of all inhabited planets, tax collection, basic public security, resource extraction coordination, and other matters are handled by professional teams dispatched by the Blue Silver Empire Administrative Office," Venina replied respectfully.

"The Empire's framework in this regard is already highly mature and has operated for countless years. Everything is currently in good order. Taxes are submitted to the imperial treasury on schedule, and after administrative costs and necessary expenditures are deducted, the surplus is regularly transferred to your account, my lord."

"Current estimates indicate that the fifty planets can generate approximately 500 Universe Coins in annual income for you."

"If you have no special instructions, this system can continue operating smoothly."

"Of course, if you have unique ideas regarding the management of your territories, or wish to undertake bolder reforms and investments, you may also consider changing the management model."

"My lord, you possess complete autonomy over the territories. If you feel that the Imperial Administrative Office's personnel are too conservative in style, or that their efficiency does not meet your requirements, you may replace them all."

"There are generally two options. First, you may cooperate with professional planetary management companies in the universe. They provide comprehensive services and can handle everything from civilian affairs to military matters. Naturally, their fees are not low, and they will take a share of the profits."

"Second, you may establish your own management team and recruit or train professional administrative, economic, and military personnel. However, the initial investment and difficulty of doing so are both very high, and truly high-quality talent is not easy to obtain."

"Understood." Wang Yu nodded, looking thoughtful.

Five hundred Universe Coins in annual income?

Too pathetic!

Though that was normal. For a newly joined Universe-level lord, receiving dozens of inhabited planets right from the start naturally meant receiving the lowest-grade ones. Usually, only a few planets led by the main planet were slightly better.

Compared with the premium planets cultivated by major powers over countless years, however, there was obviously no comparison at all. Their extremely low profits were only to be expected.

In truth, it was not that low. A Universe-level being had a lifespan of one hundred thousand years. For someone like him, who had broken through in less than a thousand years, he could practically enjoy the full hundred-thousand-year lifespan.

Five hundred Universe Coins a year meant five million over ten thousand years, and fifty million over one hundred thousand years!

A First-Order Universe Level martial artist slave cost only ten million Universe Coins. That money could buy three of them, or one Third-Order Universe Level slave.

It was not actually a small amount.

It just seemed utterly insignificant compared to the system's starting one hundred billion.

Still, though he thought that, Wang Yu did not show it. A lord had to possess dignity; he could not let his emotions show.

"What about the population? Approximately how many people are there on all the planets under my name?" Wang Yu asked again.

"According to the latest data, the fifty inhabited planets under your name have a total registered population of approximately 162.7 billion, averaging around three billion per planet. The main planet, War God Star, and four important planets have somewhat larger populations, all exceeding five billion," Venina immediately answered.

"Apprentice Grade lifeforms account for nearly 99% of the population, while infants and children below Apprentice Grade account for approximately 1%. There are 3,516 Planetary-level citizens in total and no Star-level lifeforms. However, among the management teams dispatched by our Imperial Administrative Office, there are one hundred Star-level personnel."

"Mm." Wang Yu maintained the poker face of a dignified lord and nodded lightly.

Just like the income, this population could only be described as equally unimpressive. It was so poor that it left him speechless.

In a universe civilization country, the threshold for becoming a legal citizen was Planetary-level. Apprentice Grade beings were not even citizens and belonged to the lowest class of population.

With the current population ratio, they were practically all Apprentice Grade. Roughly every one hundred million people produced only two Planetary-level beings. Just over three thousand Planetary-level beings was barely any different from having none at all.

Still, this was normal. Each star system generally had hundreds of thousands of inhabited planets, and the Blue Silver Empire was considered relatively strong even among Elementary Universe Countries, possessing ten star systems.

With several million inhabited planets, it was clearly not something an Elementary Universe Country could afford to develop and manage all at once. Thus, more than ninety percent of them had received almost no development and remained at the level of indigenous planets.

When Lord Luo was just getting started in the original work, Blue Star had seven billion people but only a little over fifty Planetary-level beings. Around forty of them were first-order, more than ten were second-order, two were third-order, and then there were Hong and Thunder God, who stood far above the rest.

Although Blue Star had developed for only a few decades since the appearance of the RR Virus, Blue Star's people possessed exceptionally strong soul and willpower talent, resulting in a high proportion of powerful individuals.

The people in his territories had cultivated for far longer, yet their aptitude and talent were abysmal.

By comparison, Blue Star had nearly produced one Planetary-level being per hundred million people in just a few decades, while his territories produced roughly two per hundred million. They were only slightly better.

Not bad... Wang Yu thought.

"Not to mention anything else, simply training Apprentice Grade beings to break through to Planetary-level, or improving Force Amplitude and Mind Force Amplitude—such low-level training would not cost much. This is just right for testing the system."

He knew how the system's basic model worked, but he did not know the specifics. For example, would buying slaves to increase the population bring rewards?

How much would an Apprentice Grade breakthrough to Planetary-level be rewarded?

Would improving Force Amplitude bring rewards? How many times higher did it need to be? How much would the reward be?

He knew none of those specifics. They all needed to be verified.

These particularly simple matters were perfect for testing the system. If it gave a lot...

Then he would have some ideas!

At that thought, Wang Yu looked down at Venina, who was gazing up at him respectfully. A faint, lordly elegant smile appeared on his face as he spoke steadily. "Venina."

"Yes, my lord." Venina immediately responded, her large white tail swaying lightly.

"This lord regards these territories as the foundation of his future and intends to manage and develop them properly, so that the people may live and work in peace and talent may emerge in abundance," Wang Yu said calmly.

"Therefore, the first thing to do is cultivate the people properly. I order you to immediately begin preparing a selection open to all subjects. Find those young geniuses with potential for me as soon as possible!"

When Venina heard the words "selection" and "as soon as possible," her expression immediately changed slightly.

Many new lords, in order to rapidly screen out geniuses, often adopted extremely cruel and bloody selection methods, forcing large numbers of subjects to slaughter one another and eliminate each other within a very short period.

Only Planetary-level beings were legal citizens and could not be slaughtered at will. But Apprentice Grade beings were not even citizens and received no protection under imperial law. No one would care however many of them died.

She had seen many similar incidents before. They were simply disasters for the territories!