Investing in the Future
I glanced at the dungeon; in the crystal mine that had recently merged into the underground, the kobolds who had just joined the territory were diligently mining for ore.
From a lowly cannon fodder whose livelihood hung by a thread to a protected resident who joined a territory, it might not matter much to an ordinary NPC, but for the Dragon Vein sorcerer Andrew Bynum, it was a life-changing event.
After activating his dragon blood and gaining access to his divine Divine Aperture and a portion of the dragon's legacy, this lucky individual became even more convinced of the existence of the "great demon god."
On the data panel, the faith level quietly increased to over 20, and the person actively led their people to work overtime, contributing more ore to the great lord.
"Hardworking little guy~" Lin Xu looked at the hardworking miner and nodded with satisfaction.
Kobolds are not very useful on the battlefield, but they are excellent at mining.
Once they are fully equipped with enchanted miner gear, their talents will be maximized.
"My lord," Wang Xu stepped forward and bowed, his expression excited, "My lord, great news! We've discovered a siege weapon workshop near our territory."
Lin Xu's eyes lit up. "Oh? Very good. I will send a team of Dao soldiers to accompany you. You are responsible for taking over the workshop. I will reward you with a hundred taels of Spirit Gold!"
The territory is about to face war, and this large-scale weapon of war has arrived just in time!
"Yes, Lord!" Wang Xu bowed happily. A hundred taels of Spirit Gold was already a generous reward; if it were all exchanged for local specialties, its value would increase several times over!
Watching him leave happily with a group of Daoist soldiers, Lin Xu's expression turned indifferent.
"Lineage influence is indeed unreliable—" He shook his head.
The Wang Lineage has been in the territory for two or three days now, and they've even found a building in the wilderness, but they haven't been able to bring back a new vassal Lineage. When they rescued the Wang Lineage family before, he had already hinted that the territory needed more vassal Lineage, but Wang Xu obviously didn't listen.
He might have had a ulterior motive of temporarily monopolizing intelligence and allowing his Lineage to grow stronger first, but Lin Xu didn't have that much time to wait for the Wang Lineage to slowly bleed him dry and grow stronger.
His time was precious; the threat from Lei City Jiang Shiyan was imminent, and not a single minute could be wasted.
"We must cultivate our own foundation as soon as possible, and not allow these vassal forces to turn around and control our territory—" Lin Xu frowned as he pondered.
When the affairs of the nation are entrusted to a family or clan, the nation becomes a family-state.
A lord has absolute power and can overthrow a regime at any time, but what is the price he pays for it?
"A century after the Spirit Realm's invasion, various groups and factions, large and small, have begun to take shape across the land. Those who want a cleaner background should start with the Night Watchers, adventurers, and students at the grassroots level."
He paced back and forth. "Winning over the Night Watchers is easy; all it takes is increasing their welfare and giving them some rice produced in the Spirit Realm every month."
The Night Watchers in a dominion is the lord's tentacles for controlling the real territory; in a sense, it can be seen as the lord's private army.
With the deployment of spirit-patterned agricultural machinery for land reclamation, the arable land area of the territory will rapidly expand, and grain production will increase significantly in a short time.
For the territory, the most abundant ungraded grains have little value, and the market consumption is not high— Qimeng City is a small place with only so many middle-class and wealthy people.
Instead of letting them rot in the territory, it's better to use them to win people's hearts—increasing influence can not only speed up the process of anchoring to Qimeng City, but also increase Source Fire income.
"Winning over adventurers is simple; just invest more weapons, elixirs, talismans, and so on in the Spirit Realm market!"
These are all free Rogue Person; as long as they are willing to do business with this lord, they are considered successful.
"As for the students—" Lin Xu stopped in his tracks, thinking of himself.
Born into an ordinary family, they were already behind from birth.
The children of the wealthy and powerful have professional tutors for their studies and receive constant guidance from their parents on how to conduct themselves in society, giving them a significant advantage from the start.
A person's lifelong efforts may lead to a smooth and successful life, eventually making them a person of high status.
Children from ordinary families have to compete. They outcompete their peers in school, fight their way through the fierce competition of the college entrance examination, and getting into a good university is just the beginning. Next, they will have to compete with even more peers in their work.
It's like raising a venomous insect; perhaps only one out of thousands of ordinary children will succeed.
"Giving a chance to children from ordinary families is better than raising a bunch of rich kids." After a moment's thought, Lin Xu made up his mind. "I must take control of the schools. Those ambitious, grateful, and talented students from underprivileged backgrounds are my true foundation!"
Only then did he realize that he had no one available to handle the affairs of Qimeng City.
"I can't handle everything myself." Lin Xu rubbed his temples, thought for a moment, and then walked away.
A ripple spread across the space in front of him, like waves on water.
Lin Xu's figure passed through, and when he reappeared, he was already at the Jiang Clan's apartment.
"Mom, Grandpa, you're both here." He smiled and glanced around the room—the messy tea table, the still-warm tea, and the gift box next to the sofa. "Were there some people visiting recently?"
"Hmm~ Uncle Shang just came by----" Mother Lin sighed, "He said his son A Cheng, isn't doing well in his career and he wanted you to help him find a job. I said I couldn't make that decision, so he asked me to talk to you about it----sigh~we're neighbors, we don't usually interact much, but he just came because he sensed something was wrong~"
"I heard that Brother Cheng has been doing quite well these past few years, even becoming a general manager or something?" Lin Xu said thoughtfully. "How about this, I'm short-staffed here, why don't you have him come over?"
As he spoke, he had already examined the young man who had just come downstairs and was certain that the man was just an ordinary person with no extraordinary signs on him.
"Huh? You agreed?" Mother Lin was taken aback. "When it comes to hiring, don't be swayed by personal connections—"
"Use it if you can, leave if you can't, what's the big deal?" Lin Xu smiled, then turned to Elder Jiang, "Grandpa, I'd like to sponsor the students in our Qimeng City, do you have any suggestions?"
"Oh? You want to start your own team?" Elder Jiang's eyes lit up, and he immediately smiled. "Good! You're just starting out, your foundation is weak, using some random people is not as good as training them yourself."
He paused, then asked, "How do you want to provide the financial assistance?"
"The main focus will be on food. Spirit rice, spirit chicken, spirit eggs, spirit milk, and Emerald Immortal Mushroom —all local specialties," Lin Xu said without hesitation. "The initial plan is to sponsor one thousand students. There are only five high schools in the entire Meng City, with 200 students from each school. To receive my sponsorship, they must first demonstrate the corresponding qualifications."
Qimeng City has approximately 60,000 students, nearly 10,000 of whom are high school students, and he plans to start with this group.
One thousand people, that's like choosing one out of ten. There were no pre-selections, no behind-the-scenes manipulations; it all came down to individual merit.
Based on the average food intake of high school students, each person needs to consume about 10 points of Spiritual Qi resources per day to produce food, which is roughly equivalent to the output of one spirit-patterned floor tile.
A thousand people are like a thousand floor tiles, but compared to spirit-patterned floor tiles that can only produce fixed income, these thousand people represent infinite possibilities for the future!
"I'm investing in the future, but it's not even really an investment because the cost is so low while the returns are so high."