Chapter 3011: Computing Power Pool Officially Operational, Total Number of Northland Mages

What truly gives Xia Duo a headache is actually the profit-sharing with various countries; although the Public Computing Power Pool was established by the Alliance, the Alliance relies on the support of these countries, not to mention that the Computing Power Pool project itself could not have happened without their help.

If he were unwilling to share profits, not to mention what might happen at the Alliance level, the countries themselves could directly impose a Forbidden Restriction on the operation of the Computing Power Pool, or establish their own computing power pools to compete.

Of course, the reality is that the Alliance is composed of these countries and is run by them; whether to share profits or not is not really a choice at all.

All Xia Duo can do is try his best to lower the profit-sharing ratio, leaving enough research funds for the Psionic Network Research Center, not only to take care of the present but also to look after the future.

However, he is not entirely passive; he still has a great deal of say in the operation of the Computing Power Pool and the research of the Spirit Thought Network, so at the operational level, he only needs to persuade the permanent Alliance representatives of each country.

He does not need to run to each country one by one and persuade them individually; at the same time, he and the Alliance representatives are, to a certain extent, in the same camp—although they have their respective national identities, they are also all Alliance staff members.

Since they have come to the Alliance and become the actual high-level officials of the Alliance, they certainly hope that the Alliance can develop well, so keeping the Computing Power Pool's revenue at the Alliance level is very important.

There is a saying in Xia Duo's hometown: "The economic base determines the superstructure." If the Alliance relied entirely on appropriations from various countries, it would inevitably become a puppet manipulated by them, but if the Alliance has its own source of income, it can, to a certain extent, shake off the control of these countries.

Of course, it is only shaking off control to a certain extent; the Alliance is essentially still controlled by various countries. If it were to completely break free from control, Xia Duo's intentions would be unlikely to be realized.

After all, no country would tolerate the emergence of a so-called Alliance in the Northland that is not under their control.

In fact, without the support of various countries, the Alliance would lose its greatest legitimacy; even if the Alliance itself were wealthy, it would be meaningless, being nothing more than a slightly larger chamber of commerce.

……

In dealing with the profit-sharing of the Computing Power Pool with various countries, Xia Duo is not in a hurry. On one hand, this matter cannot be rushed, and on the other, he is prepared to wait until the Computing Power Pool has been in actual operation for a period of time.

If the previous forecast for expected revenue had a large deviation and the actual revenue was far less than predicted, and if a profit-sharing agreement had been signed in advance, would he, Xia Duo, have to cover the shortfall if the profit after sharing was insufficient to cover the future expenses of the Research Center?

That is certainly impossible.

Therefore, Xia Duo has only sent his assistant Charles to sound out the representatives of various countries, which can be considered laying the groundwork in advance. At the same time, he also used the existence of the Diya Merchant Group to pressure other suppliers, successfully signing formal cooperation agreements.

……

Netheril Calendar year 840, May 25th.

This is a day worth remembering in history; the Northland Alliance Public Computing Power Pool project, led by Xia Duo, has finally reached a critical node—

It is officially in operation!

Xia Duo announced this news to the outside world through various means, such as the Alliance Mishuo and the Evereska announcement.

At the same time, after nearly ten days of working overtime, the cooperative suppliers of the Psionic Network Research Center have also produced a batch of brand-new Computing Pool Connectors.

Especially the Diya Merchant Group; following Xia Duo's mass production design plan, although the modification of workshops and trial production took some time, making the actual production time less than other merchant associations, the actual production efficiency was far higher than the others.

It reached almost four times as much, and this is not even the limit; theoretically, it could be ten times the original efficiency!

Of course, under Xia Duo's strong demand, the wages the Diya Merchant Group paid to the Magic Technicians in the workshops were also at least twice as high as before.

Although even if Xia Duo had not mentioned it, the Diya Merchant Group would have absorbed mature technicians from other workshops by increasing wages in order to expand production, setting a minimum wage was indeed a gesture of Xia Duo's good intentions.

For the workers, not the Diya Merchant Group.

As of the time Xia Duo publicly announced that the Public Computing Power Pool was officially put into operation, the number of produced connectors had reached as high as 120,000, and this number is still continuing to rise at a relatively slow speed.

The reason it is 120,000 is mainly considering the number of Official Mages in the various Northland countries; the total should be around 500,000. The proportion in Elf countries is higher, and their total is the largest, followed by other countries. (True Mages, not those who sporadically master partial spell power.)

Even among the Apprentice level below Official Mage, the Elves have the most.

But—

Compared to the total population of over 100 million in the Northland Alliance countries, 500,000 Official Mages only account for a 0.5% proportion. This proportion can be said to be quite low; calling it a drop in the bucket would not be an exaggeration.

This may be the limit of the classical era!

From this, one can also see the huge potential of the Northland, not just the potential for Magic development, but also the huge potential of the Magic Artifact sales market.

But to fully realize this potential, the prerequisite is to Popularize Magic and develop industrialization; the Northland has actually reached a critical node of development.

Especially the establishment of the Northland Alliance has increased the possibility of change.

It can be said that in the current Northland, whichever country can complete the Popularization of Magic first will be able to quickly overwhelm the other countries with the strength of one nation.

But the reality is that the Popularization of Magic cannot be carried out in secret; other countries, even if slightly slower, will quickly follow up. It can even be said that from the moment the concept of the Popularization of Magic appeared, the future of the Northland was already determined.

There will always be lords and countries that want to try it; after all, this is indeed a good way to quickly increase comprehensive national strength.

The only exception would be if all those in power reached a consensus to jointly suppress the arrival of this progressive future, but the problem is that Xia Duo has arrived, and it has already developed to a point where it is not easy to suppress at will.

In fact, even without the existence of Xia Duo, as for the so-called those in power, as long as one of them has a little ambition and sees the benefits of the Popularization of Magic, wanting to use it to achieve certain grand goals, the Popularization of Magic will definitely spread.

But how long it will take is hard to say; in any case, it will definitely be popularized.

……

From now on, Xia Duo will continuously order connectors from various suppliers. Expanding the Computing Power Pool is only one aspect; more importantly, it is to stimulate various large merchant associations to find ways to increase the number of Mages through this method.

Currently, there are only about 500,000 Official Mages in the Northland countries, so the foreseeable market for connectors is only this large; even adding the wear and tear of Magic Artifacts later, the number needed to be replenished will not be too many.

While a Computing Pool Connector cannot be passed down for three generations, it does not need maintenance every few days either; in fact, the service life is at least one month or more, and that is under continuous use.

If not used continuously, using it for a year or two is not a problem at all.