Li De glanced around at the smooth construction work and nodded slightly. Although the style of it all looked a bit strange, the results were excellent.
“How has the Construction Department arranged the water supply?”
Now that the pipes were buried, there still remained the matter of building water towers and selecting the proper water source, it seemed there hadn’t been a final decision on that yet.
Running water, without the water part, it would be a joke.
“Your Majesty, your idea to channel water down from the mountain peaks was excellent. But for the time being, the short-term supply will still come from a few springs on the surrounding mountains.
According to the Construction Department’s estimates, the current water sources will be enough to serve thirty to forty thousand people.
As for channeling water from the mountaintops, perhaps we can wait until the first phase of the project is complete, then expand later.”
Hearing such modern terminology, Li De found it a little funny. The concepts of ‘first phase project’ and ‘second phase project’ probably spread from him.
“Very good. Make sure the Construction Department reserves enough design space, so when the population grows, there will be room to expand.”
“Rest assured. The department’s design is based on a large city of three hundred thousand residents. For the next five years, we won’t be constrained.”
Hearing this, Li De smiled in satisfaction.
Three hundred thousand, even if Dawn City developed at an extraordinary pace, it would be years before it was full. That was more than sufficient.
“How is the Dawn Mage Tower doing now?”
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Li De shifted the topic, asking about the Dawn Mage Tower.
Since the completion of the Dawn Mage Tower in June, this facility that was so crucial to his plans, had begun operating in earnest.
Not only were the newly embraced bloodline descendants who joined during last year’s Hero Selection Tournament studying magic there, but the recruited human mage apprentices were also working hard to learn.
Li De had never been stingy with his own people. Whatever the Mage Tower needed, he provided it as a priority.
Emi’s gaze held a hint of gratitude. In his view, Li De’s support for the Dawn Mage Tower was immense.
Every month, he supplied over ten thousand Gold Pucks worth of magical materials for them to use and train with. Whatever they required was guaranteed to arrive immediately.
Such treatment, within all of Dawn City, only the Dawn Mage Tower enjoyed it.
This even caused some complaints in City Hall, as if the Dawn Mage Tower were Li De’s favored child.
“At present, we have ample resources to cultivate mages, and the Mage Tower’s development is extremely fast.
Right now, there are a total of 200 human mage apprentices, 35 of whom can be trained as combat spellcasters.
The rest are all being trained as production spellcasters. At the moment, the ones cooperating with the dwarves are these hundred-plus production mages.
Thanks to our extensive investment, each apprentice has received a portion of Mana-Infused Blood. Now, all two hundred apprentices have advanced to Level 2 formal mages.
Among them, the outstanding 35 have already reached Level 3, and the three most talented have reached Level 4. We estimate that after the Months of Deep Winter, we will see the first batch of Level 5 intermediate mages emerge.”
Hearing this, Li De was overjoyed.
Although the power the Mage Tower possessed now couldn’t even compare to his own high-end forces, it contained a critically important message, Dawn City now had the ability to cultivate its own mage system.
This was fundamentally different from simply going out to seize elite combatants. Dawn City couldn’t always rely on plunder to grow. Strengthening its own capacity to generate power was the right path.
And right now, Dawn City didn’t lack high-end combat strength, it lacked foundational personnel.
He needed a large number of auxiliary spellcasters who could be used in production and daily life. Judging by the way the human mage apprentices were working with the dwarves, this process was already well underway.
It was foreseeable that before long, mages would become an important productive force.
“How are the new bloodline descendants progressing?”
“At present, the fourth-generation blood descendants are generally 1 to 2 levels higher than the human mages. Several vampires have already reached Level 5, while most of the rest are between Levels 3 and 4.
It’s expected that by early next spring, we will have a group of Level 5 vampires.”
Li De nodded. Ever since he had broken the Bloodline Shackles, the vampires’ superior racial talents had been fully brought into play.
Coupled with the ongoing Blood Donation Program, every blood descendant could be supplied with nearly unlimited human blood. This steady energy replenishment allowed this new generation to grow at tremendous speed.
The survival and development of vampires depended on human blood. In the past, the Vampire Progenitor had been so intimidated by Green City that he always limited the vampires’ growth. Each month, they drank just enough blood to stay alive.
That decision had left vampire development completely stagnant for decades.
But after Li De broke the Bloodline Shackles, he also implemented a sustainable development strategy, completely loosening the chains around the vampires’ necks.
That was why the vampires now could finally be considered a true superior race.
Their powerful racial talents were being unleashed.
In just one year, they could cultivate mid-level spellcasters who had reached Level 5, and not just a handful, but entire batches of them.
This speed was enough to shock any outsider.
In contrast, while the human apprentices appeared to be leveling up quickly as well, aside from those three prodigies whose levels advanced rapidly, most of the apprentices actually had very low potential ceilings.
Don’t be fooled by how quickly they had reached Level 2 or 3, most of these mage apprentices would end up stuck at Level 4. The threshold to become an intermediate professional was a barrier that 90% of them would never cross in their lifetimes.
Because their soul strength was insufficient, or rather, their talent simply placed a hard limit on their development.
Even if they did cross that threshold, things wouldn’t be smooth sailing afterward. Of those remaining, 90% would plateau somewhere between Levels 6 and 8, and many would never touch the threshold of Level 9 in their entire lives.
Only that 1% of true geniuses might reach Level 9, and among that 1%, fewer than 30% of intermediate mages would ever become Level 10 advanced mages.
That was the innate limit for the vast majority of ordinary humans.