Free Web NovelChapter 59: Chapter 55: Powerful Desire Engine
The news of Tumo’s success was a spark cast into a dry pond.
Overnight, every corner of Newly Town was ignited.
At first, it was hushed whispers.
Then, the suppressed, heavy breaths from behind doors and windows.
Finally, when the next day’s morning light pierced the horizon, the entirety of Newly Town exploded.
The sun had not yet fully risen, but a villager who usually slept in was the first to charge out of his house.
Shouldering a rusty hoe, he ran toward the wasteland, his eyes bloodshot.
One, two, ten, a hundred.
People poured out from the residential area, converging into a fanatical torrent.
Reclamation teams, hunting parties, gathering squads.
People spontaneously formed teams of all sizes, racing against time for merit points.
"John, you dig! I’m strong, so I’ll move the stones!"
"Lina, you and the other women go gather fruit in the woods. The rest of us men will set traps. We’ll split the merit points evenly when we’re back!"
The sounds of shouting, clanging tools, and pounding footsteps blended into a symphony of sweat and labor.
The invisible wall that once stood between the pioneers and the villagers of Gray Mist Village vanished.
The pioneers, who were skilled laborers, took the initiative to find the hunters from Gray Mist Village.
"Let’s work together! You protect us and hunt for merit points on the side, and we’ll reclaim the land. We split the merit points fifty-fifty."
"No, forty-sixty! Reclaiming land is harder work. You take sixty!"
For the first time, a sincere expression appeared on the old hunter’s swarthy face.
They began to cooperate.
They began to argue over their shared interests, and then reach agreements.
The subject of their arguments was no longer the ownership of water sources, but the distribution of merit points.
On the walls of Newly Town, Barrett looked down at the bustling scene of labor below. His hand gripped the vines on the parapet tightly, his one remaining eye reflecting the seething crowd.
These people, who he thought would only move if whipped, were now working more desperately than his most elite soldiers.
He looked at Velin beside him. The young lord just stood there quietly, his expression calm.
Without deploying a single soldier or speaking a single harsh word, he had made everyone work themselves to death for him.
This power to control the hearts of men was more terrifying than the sharpest sword.
Barrett swallowed hard, his throat dry.
"My Lord, I’ve fought for half my life. I’ve seen more battle-enforcement squads than there are people in this town. But I’ve never seen... anyone made to work this desperately without the threat of a blade! This is more... more chilling than any Magic."
Velin withdrew his gaze from below, his eyes landing lightly on Barrett’s face.
"Once people become slaves to their desires, they can never be free." A faint smile touched the corner of his lips. "Desire is a double-edged sword. Whether it cuts the wielder depends on their skill. And these merit points... they are an exquisite sword technique."
Meanwhile, Velin was reviewing the situation in his mind.
’The merit point system has been successfully launched, and the first phase’s objective is complete. This workforce, suppressed for so long, has naturally erupted with astonishing energy.’
’But this primitive, brutish mode of production is unsustainable.’
’The next step is to guide them toward more complex production activities by adjusting the available rewards and the difficulty of obtaining merit points.’
A line longer than any before formed at the merit point exchange counter.
The clerk in charge of registration was sweating bullets. He never imagined that this once-leisurely job would become so hectic.
As for whether anyone would falsify records to cheat the Lord’s Mansion? No one had the guts. Velin’s unfathomable, god-like abilities were still fresh in everyone’s minds.
The first batch of high-value goods was completely redeemed within just three days.
The shelves emptied at a speed visible to the naked eye.
A man who had only managed to exchange for a few pounds of refined salt pounded his chest and stamped his feet in frustration, his eyes turning red as he watched others carry away brand-new iron plows.
"Dammit! I shouldn’t have hesitated for a second!"
He roared in regret, then turned and charged back toward the wasteland, his motivation even greater than before.
Those who hadn’t gotten what they wanted were filled with regret.
Meanwhile, those who had, enjoyed the envious gazes of others and stood a little straighter. freēwebnovel.com
Everyone came to understand one truth.
In Newly Town, to hesitate was to lose.
On the morning of the fourth day, Velin once again stood on the high platform in the square.
All eyes were focused on him, no longer filled with numbness and wariness, but with anticipation and fanaticism.
Velin signaled for Barrett to set up a new wooden board. On the board was a list of the next batch of supplies available for exchange.
The breathing of the crowd grew heavy.
The new list not only contained more daily necessities, but also two lines of text written in red ink.
[Right to Operate the Blacksmith Shop]: 50,000 merit points required.
[Right to Operate the Tavern]: 30,000 merit points required.
Below the two lines of text was a note in smaller print.
Priority will be given to teams. The Lord’s Mansion will provide technical support and initial equipment to successful teams.
The crowd fell silent for a moment.
Then, a commotion even more intense than any before erupted.
"Fifty thousand! My god, how long would we have to reclaim land for that?"
"Idiot! Look at the note! Team redemptions! He wants us to team up!"
"A blacksmith shop! That’s a blacksmith shop! With that, we could forge our own iron tools to sell!"
"A tavern! Everyone in town will come to my place to drink!"
If the small rewards from before ignited the desire for individual gain...
...then the operating rights offered now gave birth to true ambition and the dream of upward mobility.
In the crowd, the eyes of several small team leaders, who had previously been working for themselves, began to gleam as their gazes drifted toward one another.
They saw a greater possibility, a future that transcended individual brute force.
The prototypes for large-scale teams were born in that moment.
Within the territory, a more specialized division of labor emerged spontaneously.
Velin’s prestige in Newly Town reached an unprecedented peak.
When his subjects discussed him in private, their tone was no longer just one of awe and fear.
"The Lord... he’s not just making us work."
A mud-caked old farmer mumbled to his companion as he stuffed a piece of black bread into his mouth.
"He’s teaching us how to live a good life."
"Yeah. If we follow the Lord, our kids won’t have to scrabble in the dirt for food anymore."
They began to believe that Velin was the one who could bring them happiness and a future.
「Lord’s Mansion, Office.」
Velin took it all in.
He turned and his gaze fell upon Barrett, who stood beside him, shocked beyond words.
"Come, I’ll show you something," Velin said calmly. "The engine of the economy has started. Now, it’s time to forge a sufficiently hard ’sword and armor’ for it."
A chill ran through Barrett’s heart. He had no time to ponder the deeper meaning of the metaphor and could only hurry to keep up.
Passing through multiple layers of guards, the two entered the Origin Association’s research institute located inside Nameless Mountain.
Inside the brand-new laboratory, the light from the Magic Lamps illuminated everything as if it were broad daylight.
Velin said nothing more, instead laying out several rare materials he had prepared in advance.
A jar of extracted Underground Worm mucus.
A bottle of troll regeneration blood, as thick as molten Ruby.
A pigeon-egg-sized Demon Core from an adult Petrifying Lizard, its surface covered in rock-like patterns, with a faint Magic glow swirling within.
He raised his head to look at his most reliable subordinate, his eyes solemn.
"Do you remember the bloodline experiment I told you about?"
"Let’s begin."
