Chapter 1586: Million-Capacity, New Population Law

Continuing further inward from the Research Zone, one arrives at the final major functional partition of the Floating City—the Central Control Zone.

The Central Control Zone, as the name implies, is prepared for the Floating City's control personnel. In such a complex city, even with the assistance of a Tower Spirit, it is unlikely that Xia Duo could control it alone; he must delegate secondary Permission Levels to the corresponding staff.

As a sphere, unless the floor height is deliberately increased, the space always becomes smaller the further inward one goes. This Central Control Zone is just like that; if viewed from a more distant perspective, it is like a "melon rind" merely attached to the Main Energy Center.

It appears insignificant within the entire Floating City, but in reality, this is the brain of the Floating City.

Of course, precisely because this place is connected to every system of the Floating City, Xia Duo did not actually create a rendering that matches the reality, but instead substituted it with a scene similar to a rocket launch command center.

But clearly, after arriving on-site in person, Niya easily discovered that the scene shown in the rendering did not match the reality; the proportion of the Central Control Zone in the rendering was significantly smaller.

The proportions of the previous few major partitions relative to the Floating City as a whole, however, did not differ much from the rendering.

"Xia Duo, isn't this the Central Control Zone? Why is it so different from the rendering?" Niya asked.

"I have only completed the design of the Flight Control System and the Repair and Maintenance System; the Central Control Zone might undergo major changes in the future, so that rendering is inaccurate."

"Then what about the renderings of the previous few partitions? Don't tell me those are inaccurate too!"

"That's not the case. The renderings of the previous few partitions are more or less what they will look like when finally completed; at most, there are some differences in details, but the basic functions will not change."

"That's good."

Niya stroked her chest as if relieved, then asked: "Then when can this place be completely built?"

"You don't need to worry too much about this; it can be completely built within two years at most. But that is not the key; the key is that we do not have enough population to fill this city."

Through the azure-colored walls inside the Control Layer, Xia Duo's gaze seemed to pierce through the walls, extending all the way to the edge of the Floating City. Even for such a small city—which could only be considered miniature on Earth—it still requires quite a large population!

"The maximum design capacity of this city is about 2 million, while the total population of our two territories combined is not even 100,000!" Xia Duo could not help but sigh.

If calculated according to a natural population growth rate of 2%, it would take him at least 150 years to fill this emerging city. Considering Magic-assisted Longevity and midwifery, the time might be shortened somewhat.

But it would likely still have to be measured in centuries.

Without a doubt, in this situation, introducing an external population is the main driving force for population growth. This is what Xia Duo thinks, and it is also what he is doing.

Just last year, he introduced the Grey Eagle Tribe of several tens of thousands of people from the Langas Plain, and the assimilation effect was good.

But considering the population ratio of different ethnic groups within the territory, Xia Duo cannot keep introducing Langasi; he still needs to use Netherese to harmonize and strengthen the assimilation effect.

However, while Langasi are easy to introduce, Netherese are not.

Even if a population surplus occasionally appears in various places, the local lords are unlikely to let him take people away time and time again, even though Netheril does not yet place much importance on the population issue.

But restricting population outflow remains an instinct embedded in the bloodline of Netheril Lords.

Whether they regard the commoners as their own wealth or as their subordinates under protection, having people in their own hands is always better than having them in someone else's.

Unless it is those territories that regard the population as a burden, even then, there is no reason for a free gift. Free citizens might be fine, as their numbers are not large, but for official subjects, they would at least scrape off a layer of skin.

Therefore, Xia Duo's current plan regarding the introduction of Netherese is still mainly based on purchasing Slaves, supplemented by coaxing free citizens. As for annexing territories, he has never even thought about it.

That is too unrealistic.

"Niya, do you have any way for us to rapidly increase the population of our territory?"

"Langasi?" Niya tentatively suggested a method.

But Xia Duo shook his head, "There are already enough Langasi in the Nan Jing. If I introduce more, I worry they won't be able to integrate. Is there a way for Netherese?"

"Let me think—"

Niya was truly considering it seriously. Seeing this, Xia Duo did not urge her, but instead propelled the water flow surrounding them to slowly move them toward other locations in the Floating City.

The previous tour was just a rough overview; there were still many places Xia Duo had not seen, not to mention that he still had to actually test the geological data of various important checkpoints.

Although the Floating City is currently in a state of weightlessness, it will have both weightlessness and gravity states coexisting after it is completely finished.

Specifically, the Floating City itself is suspended, but its body is shrouded in a gradient Gravity Field radiating from the center of the sphere, which can make the residents living in the Floating City feel as if they are living on the ground.

This requires the Floating City body to have a certain supporting capacity; if nothing else, at least it cannot be crushed by its own gravity.

The stone material Xia Duo chose for conversion took the material itself into account, but for the sake of that unique azure color, some sturdiness was sacrificed.

And he is currently going to check it thoroughly. If there is a problem, he might as well rebuild it, so as to avoid discovering problems after everything is completed; the cost of reconstruction then would not be just a little bit.

Just as they reached the vicinity of the core energy channel in the Research Zone, Niya was suddenly startled and excitedly told Xia Duo: "I thought of it!"

"Thought of what?" Xia Duo asked while testing.

"I thought of how to rapidly introduce population!"

"What is the way?"

"It's very simple: have Great-Grandfather go to the Seventon Council to apply for a Pioneer Order, and then recruit subjects. But he doesn't actually pioneer; instead, he sends the subjects to us. As long as the pioneering does not stop, our subjects can be endless."

Niya said excitedly, as if she had already seen the scene of countless people pouring into the Nan Jing and the Floating City.

Regarding this, Xia Duo felt quite speechless.

A Great Arcanist can indeed recruit new subjects through the Seventon Council to pioneer with him throughout Netheril. Most ordinary people are very willing to respond to the call of a Great Arcanist, and some local lords will even actively provide manpower to show favor.

But the problem is that Saville had already applied for a Pioneer Order decades ago, and he had long since completed the pioneering.

To re-apply, one would have to change their identity, but clearly, such small tricks are unlikely to deceive the Seven Towers. Thinking about it is fine, but actually carrying it out would cause quite a bit of trouble.

Most importantly, there is Saville's identity. As a student of Iolum, if he openly defrauded the Seventon Council of subsidies, Iolum would likely find it very difficult to handle.

As for Xia Duo himself, he is now considered to have completed his pioneering, but there are still some conditions that have not been met. He followed the special process from the Princess's era, and now he can no longer re-apply for a Pioneer Order as a Great Arcanist.

Of course, one could apply; after all, the Princess has become the God of Exploration and Protection, and pioneering is politically correct. But there are no subsidies, so applying has no great significance and would instead add a burden.

However, although Niya's idea cannot be implemented, it gave Xia Duo an inspiration, which is to discuss the introduction of population with Great Arcanists who have already applied for a Pioneer Order.

Buluode is a very good candidate!

He could even cultivate a Great Arcanist himself, and then use that person's name to apply for a Pioneer Territory; the subsidized population would then be directly incorporated into the Daxia system.