Chương 338: Golden Sap City Progress. Conflict Colosseum and Library.

Conflict Colosseum and Library.

Golden Sap City has grown tremendously over the last few years. The number of Tree Houses in the living area was as high as 640. Moreover, the common Tree Houses only occupied 60% of the city's external area. Golden Sap City was divided into inner and outer circles. The inner circle had a megafarm, nourished by the World Tree and giving out enough food to even sell to the outside.

There were also five farms and stables, one of each under the names of different top-ranking people: Cinderielle, Verdantia, Tempestria, Harmonixia, and Flor. The animal by-products and meat products were also enough to satisfy the demand of the city and export outside. The number of mounts being reared at the same time neared 1, 300. There were many more farm animals, reaching over 5, 000.

Taking into account that each of the unique farm animals could feed around 100 people without problems with how many products they produced, food was far from being a problem. Golden Sap City was completely independent in terms of the production of essential products. Moreover, thanks to Liu Shu's direct influence, the quality was terrifyingly high compared with others. This made restaurants and other similar businesses flourish, helping Golden Sap City's touristic sector as much as it helped local trading.

Golden Sap City, being an Arborarchy, was slightly different in many ways. First of all, Liu Shu was the only builder allowed to construct anything in Golden Sap City, striking down an entire sector that would usually generate a lot of income. Similarly, the farmlands and everything else above those working there was Liu Shu. Hence, private property was only possible with personal items, but nothing else. This kind of unrealizable utopia would usually fail due to a simple reason: corruption.

Those owning the most significant stretch of power would ultimately become greedy and make others suffer. It was a basically inevitable outcome. However, Arborachy left those powers to a being who was extremely indifferent to worldly affairs—a World Tree. With the World Tree as the "deity" of the land, many things that would instantly lead to a corrupt system and the eventual collapse of a city or empire suddenly became nearly impossible.

In short, the people living in Golden Sap City focused entirely on personal property and skill, leaving the bigger matters to the government that the World Tree supervised. This allowed crafting professions, Explorers, art-focused professions, and other innovative sectors to flourish and be the focus. The amount of equipment, materials, runic items, and more was as abundant as the people.

With 640 Tree Houses, 8 Town Halls, and 20 inn-level structures, the potential for people was staggering, reaching around 6 million. While the influx of people was fast, filling all these spots was clearly impossible in such a short time. Still, numbers were only going up, and thanks to the extremely comfortable living conditions, couples were quite susceptible to having children, feeling that the kids would be safe in this environment. As the number of people increased, groups naturally started forming.

There were new powers that "dominated" certain areas of the city. These groups could become influential due to their numbers or their services and strength. Flor's group opened one eye and closed the other to these groups. As long as they weren't damaging the peace of the city much, a bit of conflict was not a big problem. Only idealistic leaders would believe in having a completely crime-free city.

Of course, the second any of the powers stretched their paws slightly further than what was considered as "competitiveness," those groups would sometimes disappear overnight without a single sound. Flor sat in her spacious office room and tilted her head while hearing the reports.

"Hm… This will sound terrible, but these arrogant groups that come here and try to throw their weight around are quite a nice source of Experience Points for our city soldiers, no?" Mariane, the mothkin, looked at Flor and laughed.

"You are getting accustomed to being the City Lord quite quickly, eh? Well, this is a good matter." Flor coughed and looked slightly embarrassed. Mariane chuckled.

"Don't show me that face. At first, you would fly into a rage whenever someone committed a crime and send people to bash them to the ground. However, you've become slightly more lenient now in these aspects." Flor was surprised when she heard that.

"Have I?" Mariane shook her head.

"Don't feel too bad. The things that you are closing one eye to are not that important. Conflicts between different families, petty theft, etc. Leaving these kinds of matters to the city guards is good, or else you might die of overwork." Flor couldn't deny it, but she felt slightly uncomfortable about it.

"Petty theft and those conflicts are indeed not hurting us much as a whole, but if they escalate and they are not bashed down, people will gain courage and start doing more and more mischief." Mariane looked at Flor and chuckled.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I can tell you that you are doing great. Crime is basically non-existent. Moreover, Liu Shu was planning on building a massive arena to settle down conflicts, right?" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Flor nodded.

"Yeah. Ignatia gave us that idea. Liu Shu is thinking about what materials to use to create four arenas, one in each cardinal direction." The Flower Fairy looked at Mariane and asked.

"So, what are you here for? It is rare to see you outside of the Library… Also, what Level are you? I can feel a terrifying pressure coming from you." Mariane smiled faintly.

"Me? I recently reached Level 50." Flor almost choked and blurted with disbelief written all over her face.

"H-HOW!? You've been cooped up inside of the Library for years. Where are the Experience Points coming from!?" Mariane giggled.

"I've gained a few interesting titles that help me in that regard~. It seems that I am tied down to Liu Shu, but the benefits certainly outweigh the problems."

"May I ask which titles you gained?" Mariane nodded and commented.

"I gained two of them. <World Rune Master> and <World Tree Endless Library Master>." Flor was speechless.

"They sound ridiculous, what do they do?" Mariane was not adverse to sharing her own accomplishments and sent Flor their descriptions through the System. <World Rune Master>: Your close work with the runes from a World Tree has transformed the way you work and perceive arrays. Your soul is now attuned to Runes. Moreover, your Rune-related works will gain an ethereal property that increases their effects by 10%. Additionally, you can earn Experience Points by creating arrays.

Experience Points will be given depending on the complexity of the array relative to your personal skill. <World Tree Endless Library Master>: The World Tree has given you free reign over the Library, appointing you as the official master of the World Tree Endless Library. Inside and around the Library, your stats are increased by 50%. Your ability to read and comprehend all types of books in the library increases by 500%. Flor was looking at the titles with a pale face.

"F-Fifty percent? PERCENT?" Flor almost fainted.

'Doesn't this mean that Mariane is nearly invincible near the Library? Can Liu Shu even win against Mariane!?' Mariane chuckled and commented.

"I know what you are thinking, but if I ever dare to turn my fangs toward Liu Shu, these two titles will become cursed titles. Of course, I can always ask Liu Shu to strip them off of me before I make a move, but let's be honest. Who would? These two titles are chains that anyone would rush to place around their necks!" Flor didn't have anything to say. After all, Mariane was right. Speaking of the Library, Flor was curious and asked.

Mariane would naturally not hide anything from the World Tree's selected Mother figure.

"The Library is now full of books. There are several different pavilions, with the middle one being closed to the public. Only I can grant the right to enter. This middle pavilion is where Liu Shu's reformed books are placed. Currently, there are a few hundred books." Flor was surprised and asked, her face gaining a touch of seriousness.

"Has Liu Shu continued to absorb books all this time?" Mariane smiled.

"Yes. She can now do it without needing all of her attention. Hence, each time I get an interesting book, I tell her to absorb it." Seeing Flor's eyebrows tangle, Mariane clarified, her tone serious.

"I have not given her a single book about romance or sexual matters. I know that you and the Sylvans want to teach her yourself, so I have refrained from it. The Sylvans should be able to tell you how innocent Liu Shu is in related matters. The books she is absorbing are all philosophical, political, strategic, economic, combat-related, crafting-related, and similar. According to Liu Shu, the amount of actual information is not that much, since many things are just blatantly wrong."

Flor raised her eyebrow at this and asked.

"So, some books are very thin?" Mariane shook her head and spoke, her tone full of awe and admiration.

"No! Liu Shu has mixed books many times, creating new volumes about those matters that complement each other perfectly. The few hundreds of books that are in the main pavillon are treasures that Empires would fight for…" Mariane paused and looked at Flor.

"Speaking of which, you people should come and spend a few months reading there." Flor thought of this offer seriously and commented.

"I can't really go since I am very busy with the growing city. However, if you can carry me a few of them, I would appreciate it."

"Sure, that's no problem at all!" Mariane agreed easily.

"Why don't you set up a small book room next to your office? You could have two book stands—one for the books you've read and another for me to fill and organize." Flor nodded.

"I will do so." As she finished speaking, a sudden spike in ternary essences created a massive shockwave. Flor and Mariane exchanged glances and then flew out of the window, looking toward the place it came from. Flor squinted as she flew above the tree-line of the golden Sap City.

"That location…" Mariane nodded with a smile full of anticipation.

"It seems that Liu Shu has started the construction of the temple! Hahaha. I can't wait to read the effects of the buff!" Flor didn't blame Mariane for showing excessive eagerness. Inside her heart, she was also full of anticipation. Many people were curious about what was happening and tried moving toward that location. However, the second they did so, several thousand ants crawled out from several holes around the city and surrounded the area.

The message was clear, but just in case, they heard Harmonixia's voice spreading around the entire city.

"Those who try to go over the encirclement of ants will be mercilessly killed! Back off! If anyone lives in that zone, worry not, you can go to the nearest Town Hall and ask for a temporary residence arrangement. The Golden Sap City will compensate any losses that you might incur due to this setback. Thank you for your understanding." Flor blinked and looked around with a surprised expression.

"How did she manage to spread her voice all around the city?" Mariane smirked somewhat proudly.

"That's thanks to my Runic Tool <Ethereal Voice Amplification>. It allows a person's voice to reach far without sounding loud to those nearby. Very gentle to everyone's ears, including children!" Flor's eyebrow twitched.

"That way of speaking… are you trying to sell it to me?" The Mothkin grinned.

"Isn't it quite useful for the City Lord?" Flor rubbed her forehead.

"... Sigh, I'll buy one."

"Thank you for your patronage~."