Chapter 451 - The Change Gaven Brought to Darama

It had not been ten days since his last visit.Yet Darama had undergone a tremendous change.

This transformation wasn’t about how much had changed in itself, but rather in spirit and vitality.

The former Darama somewhat gave people the feeling of an old dragon, unable to bear the burden and on the verge of collapse.

Now, however, a fresh vitality had been injected, and countless people were mobilized, busily bustling about.

People are not afraid of being busy; what they fear is having nothing to do, for a city with a large population is no different from a dead city if idle.

This vigor was, of course, instilled by Mr. Gaven during his repeated visits last time.

Due to the rush of time, Gaven had only stayed in this place for a few days last time and had enlightened a total of six Enlightened Trees.

However, from the scenes witnessed along the Is River, their effect was far from as simple as six trees, because Darama had the advantage of a population that the valley lacked.

And it was Zalanda who was best at stirring up people’s enthusiasm.

Around each Enlightened Tree, almost a hundred young and strong Tesser People gathered.

With the Enlightened Trees at their core, they formed six ship salvage teams whose concerted efforts dragged one sunken ship after another from the bottom of the Is River to the shore.

The Is River, as the mother river of the Tesser People’s origin, had always been their main gathering place along its banks.

For thousands of years, countless new ships had been built and sailed upon it, just as countless sank and found their grave within its waters.

They had only salvaged and cleared a small section of about ten kilometers near Darama, but the rewards were abundant.

Eight large longships had been completely repaired and, having recruited the corresponding sailors, began their labor on the Is River.

Nearly twenty more lay piled up on the shore, awaiting the priests to prepare their spell slots before going to repair them—only the large sunken ships were being considered, while small fishing boats and the like were temporarily out of the question.

Under the situation where Zalanda spared no expense and went all out,

The energy that burst forth was something Gaven could not match.

The priests she could hire to perform the Complete Repair Technique numbered in the hundreds. Unlike the gnolls, whose Complete Repair Technique was akin to a spell that they could often cast only once a day,

These priests could cast it at least three to five times a day, with some even managing ten or eight. High-level priests could even perform a special Complete Repair Technique with additional magical expertise, significantly enhancing its effectiveness.

Such was the case with the ship salvage operation.

And so was the situation with the large textile factory.

Countless carpenters were busily crafting the large Nicole Water-Powered Spinning Machines.

Numerous sturdy laborers dug channels by the river, constructing hydraulic facilities.

Countless masons were at selected locations, constructing large factory buildings.

"Big Sister Zalanda, you’ve truly grasped the miracle of manpower on this front. I can’t imagine that in less than twenty days, this spinning factory will be up and running," Gaven couldn’t help but sincerely praise her upon meeting—such a scene was common on Earth, especially in the Planting Family, but it was quite rare in Felen.

"You sure pick the right moments for compliments. I can only surpass you on this one point, and not for much longer. Your weak spots will soon be shored up," Zalanda spoke thus, but her expression still couldn’t hide her delight, as she had already seen the hope of breaking free from their predicament.

"We’ll talk about my shortcomings later. I’ll help you shore up the last weakness of this large spinning factory first. This is Nicole, the main designer of the Nicole Spinning Machine and our territory’s top designer; she’s most familiar with the spinning machines. For some time to come, she will stay here to provide technical support for this large spinning factory. Should any difficulties arise, she will assist you in solving them," Gaven introduced his accompanying personnel to Zalanda.

Nicole, the Pikespirit maiden, was naturally shy, and Gaven’s introduction made her even more embarrassed. She said repeatedly, "It wasn’t only my effort. I’m just the executor; many ideas were provided by Mr. Gaven. Without his help, I could at best make minor improvements based on the original, and I wouldn’t be able to innovate..."

Zalanda smiled and said, "Miss Nicole, there’s no need for false modesty. Your Pikespirits’ relentless pursuit of excellence in clothing, those advanced design concepts, are also highly renowned among humans. Often, the styles popular with us this year are those most trendy among your Pikespirits in past years, then plagiarized by human designers as their own. With your help, I believe that the start-up of this spinning factory will be that much simpler."

"This is Miss Anna, a Priestess of Ilmater. Due to special reasons, she has issues with her Healing Divine Art, but she is skilled in preparing Healing Potions and adept at ordinary medical procedures. She will be providing these services here. As for the matter of their rapid Professional Level advancement, I entrust that to you, Big Sister," Gaven brought them here not only to support Zalanda’s construction efforts but also with the Path of War in mind.

Both of their abilities leaned towards the supportive, the kind that was uniquely practical. Especially as resources from Gaven’s hands were disproportionately allocated to them, it was only a matter of time before their awakening of unique Special Abilities, particularly Nicole’s.

The series of spinning and textile machines designed by Gaven with her help could directly influence the course of the textile industry’s progress in Felen, a cross-epochal breakthrough.

It was unreasonable to think that, while Regina managed to scare out a Special Ability, Nicole, as a Guide in this industrial field, would not react. Now it was likely just a matter of waiting for large-scale operations to affect more people.

Compared to common folk, their speed of Professional Level advancement was already frighteningly fast.

Nicole had only obtained her occupational template a mere month and a half ago and had already reached Level Two—her last level increase coincided with the design of the Ghost Textile Machine.

But for Gaven, that simply wasn’t enough.

It would be better if they could raise their professional level to Transcendent as quickly as possible, as that would be an even greater help to him.

With no available strategies before, he had to proceed step by step.

Now, with the Path of War and the Elite Grace, there was a shortcut.

"The premise is that we need to wait for an opportunity. I won’t initiate a war in the short term." Zalanda wore a helpless expression, as most of the powers of the Path of War were built upon the existence of war, without which she had the Divine Artifact but was powerless.

"The catalyst for war, I have already arranged it, and it’s on its way," said Gaven with a chuckling smile.

Zalanda knew he was talking about Blood Claw. Nola had reported this matter to her already. She was surprised, "You’re so sure they will accept the summons?"

"They carry the True God Blood Oath on their shoulders, they have no choice but to come. You just need to be ready for war, sister. Once they enter the Marching Mountains, they will definitely disrupt the situation there, driving out many Monster Tribes. It’s conceivable that we might need your help to chew on some tough bones," Gaven explained.

Although Gaven had lost direct control over the Hobgoblin forces after Blood Claw left the Three Rivers Region, he still firmly believed that they would keep to their appointment—because he trusted that Blood Claw was smart enough to have seen his potential for growth, and that following in his footsteps would lead to much faster growth than going it alone.

"True God Blood Oath? No wonder you’re so confident. If that’s the case, then what you did with betting against Nola was not very kind," Zalanda said with an unavoidable smile. "That naive girl, from childhood to now, has always been played by you and yet remains so oblivious. Throwing a strong catfish into the Marching Mountains could not only stir the waters there but might even bring a new wave of impact to the situation in the two southern river regions, giving us the chance to reposition our pieces."

The core territory of Tesser, sometimes called the Three Rivers Region, was historically known as the Three Rivers Civilization.

It was different from the Three Rivers Land, where Gaven now resided, where the convergence of three rivers took place.

In Tesser’s Three Rivers Region, the three rivers run parallel to each other without intersecting, with the Suldaskan River to the north, the Is River in the middle, and the Agis River to the south.

The Is River, located in the center, was the longest and ran through the entire territory of Tesser. It was as long as the other two combined. Darama City backed onto the middle and lower reaches of the river, which was divided into the southern and northern river basins according to the Is River, a terminology Tesser People or those who had lived there for a long time would understand.

Nort Castle was situated in the heartland of the southern river basins, its situation most easily influenced by the Monster Tribes of the Marching Mountains and the Nomadic Tribes of the Karin Desert.

"How strong that catfish ends up being isn’t something we get to decide," Gaven’s smile grew more cunning.

What catfish?

What stirring the water?

What situation in the two river basins?

The Pikespirit girl Nicole and the Maiden Priestess Anna didn’t understand a single word.

But they understood the expression on Gaven’s face—it meant that someone, or some people, were going to be in for a rough time, wiped out without even knowing how they died. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by ɴovel(ꜰ)ɪre.nᴇt

"Then I shall wait and see," Zalanda was clearly not one to simply trust promises. "As long as I can open up a new situation on my end, I’ll be able to ensure a steady stream of new immigrants for you."

A person’s mindset changes with the environment they’re in, and Zalanda was no exception.

Initially in Nort Castle, her desire was simple: to lead the people of Nort Castle to find a way to survive, without much thought for anything else.

Even during the uprising underneath the walls of Darama City, her intention had not changed much, except it wasn’t just for the people of Nort Castle anymore, but also for those huddled outside the city walls, treated not like humans, but like lambs awaiting slaughter.

Before Gaven returned, her only concern was how to lead Darama out of its current predicament and get through the impending food crisis.

Now, she was looking to the future, the future of Darama and even the whole of Tesser.

How much of this was due to Gaven’s subtle influence was unclear to her, and even Gaven himself might not be aware—since a lot of what he had instilled in her was part of her destiny.

Concerned, Gaven asked, "Does that mean you’ve already started the immigration propaganda?"

Zalanda nodded and replied, "Not only have we started, but it’s also working well. With some effort, reaching the number I promised you shouldn’t be difficult. The promotional memory crystal I brought back last time had quite an effect."

"Good, because this time, I brought an even better propaganda film." Gaven took out the memory Spirit Crystal Stone of the pioneer and waved it in front of Zalanda.

"This big? How much memory footage does it hold?" Zalanda was now knowledgeable about memory footage. The thumbnail-sized Spirit Crystal from before had contained a five-minute long footage, so wouldn’t this one amount to hours? What exactly had Gaven included in it?

"This isn’t just a propaganda film; it’s a story-driven film called Pioneer, documenting the Red Dragon’s assault on the Three Rivers Region..." Gaven briefly introduced the story captured in the memory footage.

Hearing about it made Zalanda gasp. As a participant in the event, she was well aware of most of the details. She hadn’t expected Gaven to have the capacity to merge it all into a memory film.

This even made Zalanda itch with curiosity, eager to see what this narrative-driven memory footage looked like.

But learning it lasted an hour and a half, she had to suppress her curiosity, knowing there were many things they needed to do, especially if they wanted to maximize the benefits of this memory footage.