Chapter 33: CH 33

More than a hundred voices came together and shook the empty auditorium.

Along with the echoes, the light screen floating in front of Xu Sili was filled with message alerts.

[Ding~ Nasha’s favorability rating has increased to ‘Sworn to Follow You to Death’. The Roland Empire’s faction’s die-hard fan +1]

[Ding~ Reid’s favorability rating has increased to ‘Sworn to Follow You to Death’. The Roland Empire’s faction’s die-hard fan +1]

[Ding~ Li Yu’s favorability rating has increased to ‘Sworn to Follow You to Death’. The Roland Empire’s faction’s die-hard fan +1]

[……]

It wasn’t much—just 157.

Xu Sili looked at this scene in an unexpected manner and he couldn’t help giving birth to some emotions in his heart. Sure enough, the children who hadn’t been beaten by society were easy to fool!

This was also good. The die-hard fans were his people. The key was that it made it easy for him to check their attributes and he no longer had to waste magic using Insight.

“Very good!” Xu Sili nodded. “In that case, I will give the first order. Who is the strongest among you?”

The moment he spoke, two teenagers raised their hands. One had black hair and the other red hair. They were both little handsome guys.

Seeing the other person raise his head, the two people looked at each other as if they could see invisible sparks clashing in the air. There was the smell of gunfire.

The tit-for-tat look made Xu Sili feel very satisfied. This was interesting and it was better than their depressed expression just now.

He glanced over. He slightly moved his mind and the attributes panel of the two people popped up.

[Gu Lie]

[Identity: Elementalist Apprentice

Faction: Roland Empire

Age: 15 years old

Level: Lv 5

Health: 10000/10000

Magic: 550/550

Attributes: Physique (10), Intelligence (11), Strength (8), Spirit (10), Agility (5), Defense (6)

Elemental Affinity: Fire

Occupation: Spiritualist]

[Su Ye]

[Identity: Elementalist Apprentice

Faction: Roland Empire

Age: 18 years old

Level: Lv 5

Health: 10000/10000

Magic: 550/550

Attributes: Physique (10), Intelligence (13), Strength (8), Spirit (12), Agility (5), Defense (6)

Elemental Affinity: Wood

Occupation: Spiritualist]

Gu Lie was the one with red hair and he was the younger one. Regardless of his name or physical features, he was a good match with the fire affinity. (Lie= ardent/intense)

As for Su Ye…

Xu Sili couldn’t help being stunned for a moment when seeing his name and attributes. Did this kid have a relationship with Su Lin?

Xu Sili was thoughtful as he looked at the two young men who raised their hands. Then he said, “Introduce yourselves.”

The red-haired teenager opened his mouth first. “I am Su Lie… ah, I am Gu Lie!”

He was presumably too concerned about his opponent that he stumbled over his words a bit, causing a burst of laughter.

The teenager blushed and continued, “I am 15 years old and my strength has reached half a star. Your Majesty, I have more potential than Su Ye and even Su Lin!”

Xu Sili nodded and looked at the black-haired teenager. He was tall, thin and his facial features were more handsome than Su Lin’s. He looked gentle and had a warm temperament.

He asked, “What about you?”

“Your Majesty, my name is Su Ye. I am 18 years old and I am also half a star.”

Su Ye’s voice wasn’t in a hurry and it made people very comfortable listening to it. After a pause, he added, “My potential… really isn’t as good as senior Gu Lie.”

Gu Lie pursed his lips after hearing the words and smiled while a few students standing beside Su Ye revealed some indignation. It was obvious Su Ye was more popular than Gu Lie.

Xu Sili once again scanned their attributes. Gu Lie might be younger and had more potential but he knew that in the spiritual department, Su Ye was a bit stronger.

He nodded. “Okay. This emperor will announce that from today on, Su Ye will be your captain and Gu Lie will be your vice-captain.”

The red-haired teenager was visibly stunned while the other students took it well.

Su Ye was an old student and he was strong. He usually took care of the younger students quite well. Everyone would obey him if he was the captain.

Xu Sili had thought that Gu Lie would protest it. As a result, the teenager just opened his mouth before finally bowing his head and falling silent.

This made him feel a bit better toward this child. Gu Lie wasn’t just a rash person who would act on impulse.

Xu Sili didn’t continue this topic and said, “Next, your task is to organize all of the first batch of students who have tested in the spiritual department. Pack up your luggage. This emperor wants to see you in Mercenary Town before sunset this evening. From this moment on, you are a team, a whole. I won’t care about those who are still being tested but all of you have agreed to go. Since you promised, you have to do it! If any one of you is late or quits, everyone else will be gone as well. Now that both captains have assumed their posts, they should shoulder the responsibilities. How to arrange nearly 200 trainees so that they all arrive at Mercenary Town on time and safely will be a test for all of you.”

Mercenary Town was in the outer city and wasn’t close to the gates of the inner city. It took two days and nights for ordinary people to walk on foot alone.

It was likely that many of the students here hadn’t been outside the city and didn’t know how hard the environment was.

After all, in the Elementalist Academy,  all food and housing was included and there was a monthly allowance. All they needed to do was train. Xu Sili could imagine how delicate they would be.

However, these students still had advantages. They had trained for so many years in the warrior department. They must have the basic physical training and there was no need to worry about physical fitness.

This task was to give them an initial show of strength and let them know that going to Mercenary Town wasn’t a blessing.

Besides, those who got things easily didn’t know how to cherish it. Setting up small difficulties would make the children concentrate on the task and work hard for him later!

“That’s it. You arrange the rest yourself.”

Once Xu Sili finished, he finally curved his lips and gave them a smile. “This emperor is waiting for you in Mercenary Town. Don’t let me down.”

The students saw his smile and one or two of them had wide eyes. Even the steady Su Ye felt excited.

His Majesty had been cold-faced since entering the auditorium and his words in the middle weren’t pleasant, making everyone a bit scared. Now he smiled and his tone of speaking had become gentle, making them feel friendlier and even more motivated.

The same thought appeared in everyone’s hearts: We must not let down His Majesty’s expectations!

Under the students’ hot gazes, Xu Sili calmly stepped down from the podium. The moment he raised his eyes, he was met by Si Sheng’s glowing gray-blue eyes.

He stepped forward and looked away like nothing had happened.

What was there to see? Haven’t you ever seen anyone fool around?

Xu Sili explained something to Deputy Dean Chris before leaving the auditorium. Rather than going to the academy’s square, he headed to the top floor and Si Sheng summoned the shadow leopard.

The two of them bid farewell to Deputy Dean Chris and the group of teachers, once again riding the shadow leopard away in the direction of Mercenary Town.

During the flight, Xu Sili used a communication device to send a message to Li Zhecheng, letting him send someone to secretly observe the students.

They shouldn’t help unless there was real life-threatening danger. In any case, if anyone got hurt, there was a water healer in Mercenary Town who could heal them. Speaking of water healers…

Xu Sili glanced at the panel of Mercenary Town.

[Mercenary Town Lv 1]

[Status: Under construction and upgrade.

People in charge: Justin, Wen Jishan (100% increase in revenue)

Completed: Wooden house x3, two-story wooden house x1, brick house x1.

Under Construction: Two-story wooden house (40%), two-story brick house (20%), two-story wooden house (11%), two-story wooden house (1%).

Financial expenditure: 125,796 Escher coins.

New population: None.

Special status bonus: Residents’ injury rate 2% (construction speed -10%), residents’ hunger and cold rate 30% (construction speed -28%)]

Xu Sili blinked. There was no change in the residents’ injury rate so Niya probably hadn’t arrived yet. However, the hunger and cold rate…

It was estimated that Wen Jishan had started to move. This was why there was also financial expenditure.

2% was around 1,000 people which averaged out to just over 100 coins per person. This wasn’t expensive but relying on relief wasn’t a long-term solution. It was necessary to create more jobs.

Xu Sili frowned and thought about it. The elementalists might’ve improved the efficiency but it also stole work from people.

If he brought over the more than 100 elementalist apprentices, there might be more ordinary people out of work as a result.

Therefore, the reform of the local elementalist system should be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

It was only when these people came that they could create more demand and consumption as well as service jobs. At present, the economic vitality of Mercenary Town wasn’t enough.

Xu Sili was thinking about these things when the communicator vibrated and he looked at his wrist. He nodded with satisfaction when he saw it was a message from Deputy Dean Chris. Yes, the deputy dean was quite efficient.

Xu Sili slightly curved his lips as he thought about what to do next, a bit eager to try.

“Si Sheng, let September fly faster!” He suddenly urged.

Si Sheng, sitting behind him and holding him, couldn’t help pausing. Then he followed the instructions and let the shadow leopard speed up.

The shadow leopard suddenly turned into black lightning, speeding through the air.

It was just strange that even at such a fast speed, Xu Sili didn’t feel the powerful wind. It was as if there was an invisible barrier in front of him that blocked all of the wind pressure. He knew it was Si Sheng taking care of him…

Xu Sili was feeling a bit strange when he felt the man’s chin against his shoulder and the deep voice entered his ears.

“Your Majesty… are you going to see Su Lin?”

Xu Sili blinked and nodded. “Yes. Wen Jishan as well. I will go see Wen Jishan first and then Su Lin.”

Si Sheng pursed his lips and his eyes flashed with gloom. He continued in a low voice, “Do you care about him very much?”

“Eh? Care about who?”

“Su Lin.”

Xu Sili touched his chin and thoughtfully nodded, “Yes, I’m very concerned about him.”

“Why?” Si Sheng’s voice was low and gloomy, like it was seeping out of his teeth.

The boy had black hair and black eyes and his level had improved so fast. He must have talent and be good at farming!

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Xu Sili answered, “His talent is good. I need him to help me grow a type of grain.”

Si Sheng’s lips slightly pursed and the darkness in his eyes dissipated.

“Is that all?” He asked.

“What else?”

Xu Sili found it strange. What else could it be beside this?

Si Sheng didn’t answer this question and instead thought for a moment. “Do you fancy his wood talent?”

“Almost.” Xu Sili nodded.

“The wood talent… this servant also has the ability to manipulate plant growth.” He slowly whispered in the young man’s ears.

What? Xu Sili choked up. This person meant…

“Are you going to help me farm?”

Si Sheng solemnly said, “If Your Majesty needs it, I can do so.”

Xu Sili imagined the scene of Si Sheng farming… Ah, don’t make trouble! You can but I can’t allow it!

As for the reason why, he couldn’t say it. There was no way he would let Si Sheng go farming.

Absolutely not!

At the same time, he felt that Si Sheng was too hard-working.

For the sake of freedom, he not only served Xu Sili with all his heart but also wanted to farm!

Ah, no, this image was too terrible.

“No!” Xu Sili declared firmly.

“Why?” Si Sheng didn’t understand. “I am quite experienced when it comes to the manipulation of elements.”

He had dabbled in all ten elements such as metal, wood, water, fire, earth, light, dark, wind, thunder and sound. He was probably the only full elementalist on Escher Star.

“In any case, you can’t do it.” Xu Sili didn’t give him any room for negotiation. “You still have to protect me. How can you go farming?”

The young man blurted out and Si Sheng couldn’t help being stunned.

Then his lips curved in a slight smile and the haze in his eyes disappeared.

He closed his eyes, deeply sniffed the scent of the young man and said in a hoarse voice, “This servant will definitely protect Your Majesty.”

“Yes.”

Xu Sili was relieved when seeing that he didn’t insist any longer.

Yes, this guy had to protect his safety. It was too outrageous to go farming.

There was nothing else along the way. Xu Sili and Si Sheng soon arrived at Mercenary Town.

Xu Sili suddenly thought of something. “Use the passerby aura later. In addition, tell me before you jump down, okay?”

He was so scared by the incident at the Elementalist Academy that he had to be told in advance.

“This servant knows, Your Majesty.” Si Sheng spoke respectfully but his tone seemed to carry some regret.

Xu Sili couldn’t help snorting. He knew this guy wanted to make trouble!

Finally, the shadow leopard hovered over Mercenary Town and he spotted Wen Jishan at a construction site in the middle of the town.

The shadow leopard slowly lowered his height.  This time, there was the passerby aura and almost no one noticed them.

Xu Sili looked down below him.

The site was heavily populated.

He saw Dean Justin and another earth elementalist synthesizing a block of brick that was built as high as a small mountain. Some ordinary workers used these bricks to build houses on the already laid foundation.

This was the area for the brick housing. The wooden housing area on the other side was much simpler. He saw a large tree without any leaves rising from the ground before quickly falling down with a bang. There was the cooperation of a metal elementalist and the tree was cut down into the required wooden planks. There were workers on the other side who used these raw materials to build houses quickly.

Xu Sili was surprised by this scene. He originally thought that elementalists could build the houses directly. He didn’t expect them to just quickly produce the raw materials?

In that case, he didn’t have to worry about the workers running out of work in a short period of time.

“Your Majesty, this servant is going to jump.” Just then, Si Sheng opened his mouth. His voice was serious and low, yet had a bit of gentleness. “Please hold me tightly.”

Xu Sili blinked and looked at Wen Jishan and the others below. Fine, just hug. No one would pay attention to them anyway.

He held Si Sheng’s arm tightly and moved his body to the back of the shadow leopard. Then he switched to sitting sideways and placed his arms around the man’s waist.

Thump thump.

Perhaps it was because he was going to jump but Xu Sili felt his heart beating a bit fast.

Si Sheng felt the young man take the initiative to embrace him and he couldn’t help taking a deep breath to restrain the emotions in his heart.

“Your Majesty, are you ready?”

Just then, Xu Sili leaned sideways in his arms. As Si Sheng lowered his head, his lips met the young man’s forehead.

The soft touch made Si Sheng’s heart skip a beat. His body stiffened slightly and he backed away like it was an unintentional accident. He was so natural that Xu Sili didn’t pay attention despite noticing it.

“Yes, I am ready!” He tightly hugged Si Sheng’s arms, his eyes widened. He wanted to challenge himself not to close them this time.

Si Sheng hugged him and jumped off the shadow leopard’s back toward the ground. The wind was whistling in his ears. The ground quickly zoomed in before his eyes.

Finally, Xu Sili still couldn’t bear it and buried his head in Si Sheng’s chest. He didn’t want to see this terrible scene again or he might scream loudly.

This would expose them!

Si Sheng observed the reaction. In fact, he was a bit surprised that Lord God was afraid of heights but he felt that… it was cute. It was really cute that his Lord God relied on him and clung to him so tightly.

Si Sheng smiled gently as wind rose below his feet and lifted them so they fell slowly to the ground. Once they stood still, the wind scattered around.

The workers suddenly felt that a strong wind was blowing and closed their eyes slightly. Once the wind stopped, they went on working again.

No one found that there were two more figures on the site.

Xu Sili secretly opened his eyes. The moment he saw Wen Jishan just two steps away, his heart tightened. He hurriedly let go of Si Sheng and took two steps back.

He patted his clothes and tidied them. He was just about to go talk to Wen Jishan when he listened to Si Sheng’s words. “Your Majesty, wait.”

What was going on?

Xu Sili looked over and saw this man take off his right glove and extend a hand to him. He was slightly startled as he watched the long, slender fingers reach up, gently ruffling his bangs and hooking his slightly disheveled hair behind his ears.

Xu Sili wanted to avoid it. Then he inadvertently caught a glimpse of the scar on the man’s palm. It was a deep scar covered by thick sword calluses. It was much more hideous than those on the back of his hand. He was drawn to it for a while and forgot to back away.

“It’s fine, Your Majesty.” The man took back his hand and stared down at him, gray-blue eyes holding a pale shimmer. There was no more indifference or fierceness. There was only a pious tenderness.

Xu Sili pursed his lips and lowered his eyes slightly to the palm of the hand.

“This scar… can’t you get rid of it?” He asked suddenly.

Si Sheng blinked, raising his palm and looking at it. He hadn’t expected the young man to pay attention to this. “Don’t you like it?”

He watched Xu Sili with some tension in his eyes.

Xu Sili frowned. Was it a question of whether he liked it or not? He did feel it was an eyesore but…

“It’s nothing.” He shook his head. “It’s fine to keep it.”

Si Sheng looked at this person. He just wanted to say something when Wen Jishan’s voice rang out. “Your Majesty? Si Sheng?”

Xu Sili looked over and saw Wen Jishan staring at them with wide eyes. There was an incredulous expression on his face.

Wen Jishan was really surprised. He had just finished talking to the old man Justin and was about to go to other places when he inadvertently glanced over and saw two more figures on the construction site. The weird thing was that no one else seemed to notice them.

Then he quickly regained his composure as he remembered that this type of thing seemed to have happened before. Yes, Si Sheng used to be very ghostly. At the time, he hadn’t thought about it but now he finally realized the problem. Was it possible that this was a special ability of an elementalist?

Xu Sili gave a light greeting. “Chief Wen.”

Wen Jishan was going to salute but he stopped. He didn’t want to attract the attention of others.

The moment they left the construction site and headed to the farmland planted by Su Lin, Xu Sili couldn’t help expressing his doubts.

Logically speaking, a wood elementalist might not be able to directly synthesize the wood but shouldn’t an earth elementalist be able to generate stone walls? Why did they need to make bricks piece by piece?

Wen Jishan nodded. “This was indeed the line of thinking at the beginning but the houses built weren’t stable. They were seriously skewed and couldn’t be lived in. The foundation can be built but the structure still depends on ordinary workers. Even so, the speed is much faster.”

All the raw materials were produced onsite and used onsite. It saved a lot on production and transportation time.

There were many idle residents in the small town and most of them were willing to work as long as there was enough food and money. This saved a lot.

Xu Sili listened and understood the problem. It seemed he had taken it for granted before. True knowledge came from practice and these things needed to be improved through exploration.

To the side, Si Sheng opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but he held back. In fact, these elementalists couldn’t do it because… they were too weak. If it was him doing it, he could build the house directly in place according to the design drawings. However, Lord God had said that his duty was to protect ‘him.’

Si Sheng’s lips slightly curved and he continued to follow Xu Sili silently, staring from an angle that Xu Sili didn’t notice. Si Sheng felt that no matter what, he couldn’t look enough.

Soon under the guidance of Wen Jishan, they came to the farmland outside the town.

“Su Lin’s two acres of land is at the end of the road. This servant is going to work on poverty alleviation and relief so I will leave first.”

Xu Sili nodded. Before Wen Jishan, he passed something over through the communicator.

Wen Jishan opened the video and watched it. It was a video of the young man giving a speech to students in the auditorium. Wen Jishan was a bit at a loss at first but he soon understood. His eyes lit up. “Your Majesty means… the local army?”

Xu Sili smiled tacitly at him and Wen Jishan smiled back.

“Do you know what to do?” Xu Sili wondered.

“Your Majesty, rest assured!” Wen Jishan pushed up his glasses. “This servant knows what to do!”

Xu Sili was satisfied and waved his hand to let this person leave.

Putting aside everything else, this Wen Jishan was quite reliable. Just look at the residents’ food and clothing rate. It had increased by 2% in just one day. He was a competent official.

Xu Sili walked forward in a good mood. Suddenly, he thought of something and wondered, “How did Wen Jishan become the chief administrator? Wasn’t he the owner of a dessert store before?”

Si Sheng was silent for a moment before answering, “This servant introduced him to the emperor.”

Moreover, Wen Jishan in this world… wasn’t a dessert store owner.

“Oh.”

Xu Sili walked slowly while thinking about Si Sheng’s words. He couldn’t help feeling it was a bit weird. Just as he was about to think of something, a lively song filled with gentle joy suddenly floated over from the distance.

Xu Sili was attracted by the song and looked over. He saw a figure jumping around the lush green field, shaking the straw pole in their hand while singing a song as if no one was watching.

Listening to the cheerful song and feeling the wind blowing the smell of grass, Xu Sili couldn’t help humming along.

Unlike the good night song that was warm and stable like a mother, this song had an energetic vigor to it. It made people feel cheerful listening to it and gave birth to infinite vitality.

The moment the young man hummed the song to the end, a blue light screen slowly appeared in front of him.

[Ding~ Congratulations on understanding Escher Star’s folk song and acquiring the new skill ‘Sprouting’, intelligence +2, experience +1,000.]

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