Chapter 87: Population Census and Ability Assessment

The checkpoint north of Stone City was removed after just over ten days due to pressure from various parties. Commercial pressures proved ineffective, so Viscount Macbeth took new actions—every day, many people began to head toward Dalaran from Stone City, claiming to be there for business, as apprentices, or to find work. In reality, this was Macbeth’s preparation to completely overthrow Dalaran’s territory.

Since these people did not cause any harm to the territory, Donald couldn’t simply expel them. He could only increase patrols and then spent some energy to obtain two magic artifacts in the form of stone tablets—sentinel talismans. Compared to temporary sentinel guards, these talismans could create an eternal sentinel guard at a fixed location, covering an area of ten kilometers, making it much easier for Donald to monitor the movements of those spies.

The two sentinel talismans were placed one in the south and one in the north, at each end of the territory, so that any activity in the forest could be detected immediately, ensuring the territory remained safe from magical threats.

Apart from these outsiders, the territory had now resumed normal development. As its lord, Donald officially issued his first decree: a population census and ability assessment across the entire territory. The former had been nearly completed by the time they arrived; now, it was merely a matter of registering the people by different categories. He also stipulated that all youths under twenty and children over ten must undergo ability assessments at specialized institutions in the territory to determine their future paths. Children who did not become professionals could, depending on their strengths, be sent to other parts of the territory to learn skills and pursue other careers.

Donald did not plan to establish schools or similar institutions for now—it was better to keep talent under his own control. Children shown to have talent for the warrior class could be funded by him to receive basic training in the territory. However, those who received funding had to sign a contract, promising to work for the territory for ten years after obtaining their professional status as repayment.

Those shown to have aptitude for magic would be assigned to the lord’s palace as mage apprentices, with Donald planning to teach them personally.

Ten years might not seem long, but it was enough for the next generation of capable children to grow up. By continuing this cycle indefinitely, his Dalaran territory would never face a shortage of usable talent!

Such a clever idea could only come from someone like Donald, who had lived in an era of information overload in his past life. In this world, the lives of beings are restricted by the gods, and their thoughts are relatively constrained and rigid; even if they occasionally have ingenious ideas, they are suppressed by the inherent patterns of thought.

As for those unbelievers and heretical rebels, their souls have long been nailed to the Wall of the Unbelievers in the underworld—either devoured by demons from the abyss or perishing from torment.

Such laws can be considered a blessing for the people of Dalaran. Which family wouldn’t want their children to become great professionals and secure a good future?

For a time, the lord’s glory ranked second only to the gods in their hearts, even surpassing that of the king they had never met!

Before long, at the end of summer and before spring ended, the grapes planted had ripened, and it was time for harvest to begin brewing wine.

Some techniques and recipes from his past life needed to be kept secret. Donald divided the steps into several parts for different workers to carry out, with himself handling the most critical parts, thus preventing the secrets from leaking.

However, while brewing wine, Donald had an idea: not only did he mix several barrels of purchased wine with Moon Essence, but he also added a portion of Moon Essence at each stage of the new wine’s production. He thought, “Since this substance can improve water quality and enhance wine, adding it to grape juice during fermentation might bring about other changes! Even if no new changes occur, the high-quality wine produced with Moon Essence will surely be much better than one made from ordinary wine!” But the results couldn’t be seen yet; at least two months until late autumn would be needed to find out.

After dealing with wine production, Donald left the rest of the work to the workers and went to the lord’s manor to meet William, the official in charge of the aptitude testing program, to inquire about progress.

Since this was the first time such a program was being carried out, there was a lack of experience and manpower. The testing of warriors went fairly smoothly, as both Sir Uther, the holy knight, and summoners like Clinton could easily identify talented warriors. But testing the aptitudes of spellcasters was more complicated.

There was only Donald, the mage, in the territory. If he had to test each child individually, he would be overwhelmed. Moreover, Donald had just reached the Bronze rank and needed to stabilize his level, plus he had other affairs to handle in the territory—these already filled up all his free time.

So Donald had to hire three Black Iron Mages from the Mage Guild to carry out the tests. Thanks to Messel’s influence in the Mage Guild and Donald’s good relations with the mages—most importantly, his own promotion to Bronze Mage, a rank that these Black Iron Mages now looked up to—the hiring process went smoothly. Donald approached these three stern but conscientious mages and, by offering them three bottles of Minor Purification Potion, successfully recruited them. With these testers in place, he began examining nearly a hundred children of appropriate age and over two hundred young adults in his territory one by one. However, the process of assessing magical talent was slow; it took almost half a month to finish testing all these people. Those who failed the magical talent test had to undergo warrior aptitude tests again, so the overall progress was rather slow. William, who was handling this matter, heard Donald’s question and quickly replied, “My lord, all the magical talent tests have been completed so far. Four candidates with potential to become mage apprentices have been identified—three are children in their early teens, and one is an eighteen-year-old adult.” “Four apprentices?” This result was within Donald’s expectations. Among ordinary people, the chance of having magical talent is less than one in a hundred, and even among thousands, only one might truly become a mage. Finding four mage apprentices among these over three hundred people in his territory was already considered quite successful. “Go and inquire about the families of these four. If they agree to my terms, bring them to the lord’s manor and proceed according to the plan!” “Yes, my lord.” At that moment, someone reported that the warrior aptitude tests had also been completed. Donald immediately ordered Uther, who had been in charge of those tests, to be brought in. After entering, Uther reported to Donald, “Master, there are thirty-seven people with outstanding warrior talent. Thirty-one of them are suitable for the roles of swordsmen or knights, and six are suitable for assassins. Additionally, I found that many of these young people are skilled in archery. We can select a hundred of them to form an archery unit to strengthen the territory’s military strength!” Hearing this, Donald said with delight, “Well done! Leave those thirty-seven to you. Have them train alongside the guard troops!” “As for the archery unit…”

Donald pondered for a moment before continuing, “This number exceeds the kingdom’s regulations, so we can’t recruit them openly. William, you’ll handle this—have them form hunting teams in the name of two villages and practice archery training regularly. The costs will be covered by the territory, and I’ll find a way to provide them with bows and equipment.” William and Uther immediately set off to carry out the task. Donald ordered that high-quality timber and iron ore be brought from the territory’s warehouse to equip these new soldiers.

The warriors generally used standard infantry longswords. As leather armor was relatively easy to make, Donald didn’t exchange it through the Book of Truth but ordered some from outside instead. In addition to regular weapons like elven longbows and dagger shields, Donald also provided the archers with crossbows used by monsters such as werewolf assassins and centaur hunters. Since crossbows were smaller, easier to operate, highly effective, and didn’t require the precision of elven longbows, Donald planned to equip all soldiers in the territory with them in the future, significantly boosting the army’s combat power.

The next half month saw a major mobilization in the domain of Dalaran. The commoners returned to their work, and most children found their paths in life. Forty-one of them became future warriors and mages, while another hundred were selected to form hunting teams. The remaining nearly two hundred joined various industries in the territory as apprentices or laborers, thus gaining a means to support their families.

This situation left all the children’s parents very satisfied, especially the four families with magical talent, who instantly became the elite of the territory. Not only were their children sent to study at the lord’s residence, but two families from those villages were also granted houses in the town by the lord—a true leap to success.

Regarding the education of these four mage apprentices, Donald simply gathered the three blacksmith mages to discuss the matter. “Mages, you can probably guess why Donald has called us here. That’s right—I want to invite you to become the private mages of our Merlin family.”

Private mages may sound nice, but in reality, they are the attached mages of nobles, similar to retainer knights. They hold a higher status than other servants and enjoy more freedom, but they belong to that noble. Compared to independent mages, they receive certain financial and political support.

Donald had consulted the teachers in advance and learned that these three were stubborn by nature and had firm tempers; otherwise, they wouldn’t still be diligently studying at the academy at such an advanced age. Like most mages whose progress has stalled, they would have long since sold themselves to those noble forces. It was such people who deserved Donald’s attention, as once they made up their minds, they could be more loyal than ordinary people.