Volume 20: Diving into the Abyss
Chapter 353: Dragon Horn Town
Originally, the sky in this world had always been dim, with only two small towns where fires illuminated an area of about a kilometer around them, preventing the native humans from falling into despair or madness due to the lack of light.
Now, a sun had appeared in this world, and one can imagine the excitement and shock among these native humans.
At that moment, they all knelt before the altar of the god Donald, thanking the great deity for bestowing sunlight upon them.
On the balcony of the Dark Night Manor, Donald observed the situation after the fusion of the two half-realms through the power of Truth.
The two half-realms resembled two spherical auras floating on the surface of the Land of Truth. Compared to this massive aura, the two smaller auras were as unnoticeable as lice on a whale’s body.
“This situation is almost exactly as described in the records regarding the relationship between the main world and half-realms. It seems the Land of Truth is akin to the main world upon which these two half-realms depend.”
Driven by the divine power derived from Truth, the two half-realms gradually moved closer to each other and merged. Eventually, only one larger aura with brighter light remained on the surface of the Land of Truth.
Without the divinity of the Lord of Dawn, the process of the Fusion of Radiant Purgatory with its half-realm proceeded smoothly. The half-realm, which was originally the size of a countship, had now grown three times larger, large enough to accommodate a small kingdom!
Although most of the area was still grayish-white and nutrient-free, it could gradually transform into normal land over time.
With the sun now present, the land could be cultivated, and self-sufficiency for the half-realm was not far off.
As for this sun, it was actually a secondary artifact created by Donald. After absorbing some of the light energy remaining in Radiant Purgatory, Donald placed this artifact in the half-realm, causing it to emit light every twelve hours, thus creating day and night in the half-realm.
Light is inherently a condition that promotes natural development by providing energy for growth. If adjusted improperly—such as if the sun were too close to the ground—it could even kill plants that rely on sunlight.
The half-realm had long lacked a stable source of light. Previously, the small fire element pools created by Donald were insufficient to meet the needs of plant growth, which led him to devise this solution.
Of course, this was also related to his comprehension of that divinity containing the laws of light and fire; otherwise, he wouldn’t have had the ability to endow the sub-divine artifact with radiant divinity to such an extent. He didn’t expect this to cause those believers to declare it a miracle, with their devotion soaring sharply. Although they hadn’t yet reached the level of devout believers, there were already quite a number of true believers! This was an unexpected bonus!
This sub-divine artifact, named Radiant Projection, served as the “sunlight” in the demi-plane. It used the power of faith as energy to convert free energy in the demi-plane into light and heat, which were then dispersed throughout the demi-plane, creating a stable energy cycle. Since the energy in the demi-plane mainly came from several elemental pools drawing energy from the elemental planes, the consumption of this sub-divine artifact wasn’t as high as expected. Just a drop of faith energy could sustain it for half a month—a mere fraction of what Donald could afford now!
If he became a true god, he could even project his power into a sun, which could be sustained with a small amount of faith energy. After stabilizing the integration of the demi-planes and handling some matters in his territories that required his decision-making, Donald returned to the Swordhorn Bay Peninsula.
Leaving most of the affairs in his territories to his subordinates, Donald felt much more relaxed. A leader who tries to control everything personally is the most incompetent, as such a leader would be at a loss once they were absent or encountered problems, resulting in nothing being accomplished.
After returning to his new territory, Donald greeted Malf and his siblings, as well as Jack, the leader of the knight order, before heading alone to the flat area he had prepared earlier. With a wave of his hand, a burst of light flashed, and a spacious and orderly small town appeared on the plain.
He then created a military camp outside the town, identical to one outside Dusk Town. Donald planned to develop this place into a small town like Dusk Town, initially serving as a residence for members of the Night Knights and those traveling to Dalarn. Eventually, he would expand it further. After all, once fully built, this town could accommodate at least five thousand people.
Currently, aside from the empty space behind the walls, the existing houses in the town could already house around two thousand people, making it no problem to accommodate three hundred Night Knights.
Besides, most of the time they would stay at the military camp for training, where there were also barracks for them to live in. Still, Donald arranged housing for these knights in the town as a benefit for them. The initial supplies for these three hundred people were sent from Dalaran, and in the future, supplies would be procured through trade with Dragonfang Fortress and Theron. On the second day, when Jesse, the finance officer in charge of building what Donald called Horntown, arrived here via portal, Donald stood at the foot of the mage tower built into the solid rock behind the cliff, pointing to the town that had been built overnight behind him and said, “I plan to focus on tourism in this town and don’t intend to develop other economic industries for now. After all, aside from fishing and seafood, the surrounding area is rather barren.” “My lord, relying solely on tourism income might be insufficient to sustain the town. This place is too remote; it’s unclear how many people will come here! How about developing fishing? The territories near Theron, including Gardrel, likely have scarce seafood. If we use our alchemical airships for transportation, the seafood can remain fresh, allowing us to make huge profits!” Donald shook his head, knowing that although Jesse came from a noble family in the capital, his experience was far less than that of ordinary people in his past life—how could he understand the potential profits in tourism? He then explained, “If we develop fishing, we still need to transport the seafood back and forth. It takes a long time to travel from here to Dragonfang Fortress over mountains, with no roads suitable for carriages. While using alchemical airships for seafood transportation could be a significant economic industry, it’s better to use them along with fresh seafood as a lure to attract wealthy and noble people who enjoy novelty to come here for beach vacations. This way, we can avoid losses from transporting seafood!” “The Swordhorn Bay Peninsula is land west of Dragonfang Fortress. It’s nominally part of Theron, but the principality has never set foot on the land west of Dragonfang Mountain. So, this coastal area on the west coast of the continent is practically non-existent. For the people of Theron, who are a purely inland nation without any coastline, the sea is also a rare sight. Therefore, they will surely be curious about this place, and many wealthy people will want to come and see it, especially with novel means of transportation like alchemical airships.” “Moreover, the seafood caught in Horntown can be directly supplied to the tourists who come for vacations. Following the popular practices of Dalaran, it will surely be fresh and delicious, leaving a lasting impression and even making them want to stay longer.”