Chapter 995: Twelve New Priests, Statistical Efficiency

Daxia Territory needed to conduct a census, and Savile Territory needed one as well. After Xia Duo and Niya exchanged a few words, he directly issued orders to both Laidun and Sain simultaneously.

At the same time, in Daxia Territory, Executive Laidun, having received the order, personally summoned the chief officials of the various departments to announce the latest emergency order from the Lord, and then reminded them:

"Her Highness the Princess has become the God of Exploration and Protection of Netheril. Regardless of their previous status, all new Priests are Priests now. Do not slight them. Each department must fully utilize the mobilization role of the working groups to compile the identity information of the new Priests as quickly as possible!"

"Yes!"

During the recent process of streamlining and rectifying territory administration and establishing the Territorial Administration Supervision Group, Laidun had already established considerable authority.

Of course, even without the previous administrative rectification, Laidun's status as a Priest would have brought him high prestige, even with one more new Priest among those present now.

……

After the order was announced, the Development Department, Logistics Department, Settlement Department, as well as the Territory Guard, Security Office, and Relic Exploration Team, quickly took action.

After the order was passed down layer by layer through the various working groups, the statistical results were also fed back layer by layer.

Almost less than an hour after Xia Duo issued the order, he received a notification from the Tower Spirit—

Laidun had already entered the Tower of Time and was requesting a meeting!

……

Inside the Reception Room on the Public Level, Xia Duo saw Laidun, who had barely changed at all from a dozen days ago; he was still as cautious in speech and action, and as respectful in his conduct.

After handing over a list, Laidun began to report: "According to the census, there are a total of twelve people in the territory who have perceived the brand-new Holy Power. I have verified each of them one by one and am certain of it. However, as the task is urgent, perhaps some have deliberately concealed it. If you agree, my Lord, I will conduct a more detailed investigation."

"No need!"

Xia Duo waved his hand. Actually, this was enough. If there were truly those hiding it and they were determined to conceal it, it would not be easy to find them out; forced inspections would only cause panic among the people.

The current public sentiment in Daxia Territory was quite good, and he did not want to delay the subsequent development efficiency because of such a small matter.

He had said at the previous territory meeting that they would be expanding northward to connect with Savile Territory; that was not just empty talk, he was truly prepared to do so.

His relationship with Niya was becoming increasingly close, and there was basically no question of who was taking advantage of whom, but the fact that the two territories were separated by a distance was genuinely increasing the cost of governance.

Furthermore, Xia Duo had already initiated reforms in the Tower of Time, and in the future, the territory would naturally need to undergo integrated supporting reforms.

"Huh—Kaide actually perceived the Holy Power too! Very good!"

Seeing a familiar name, Xia Duo could not help but feel a bit happy. Under normal circumstances, to perceive Holy Power, one must have a philosophy and pace consistent with the corresponding god.

But the current God of Exploration and Protection did not have any public doctrine or philosophy; it was purely the divine inspiration following the recent Ascension Ritual that caused a batch of new Priests to emerge.

If Xia Duo had been willing to accept the Holy Power at the time, he would also be a Priest of the Princess now.

However, he had his own pursuits and did not wish to become a Priest of another (god), but ordinary people did not need to be like that. Kaide was not young anymore, and he was destined not to achieve much in the field of Magic.

Now that he could become a Priest, it could be considered an extra path toward transcendence in the future. Although the hope was slim, Xia Duo was still happy for him.

As for the other eleven new Priests, six of them had experience as Slaves—either they were previously Slaves and had now been converted into official residents of Daxia Territory, or they were still Slaves now, but not far from being converted.

As Slaves, once they had the hope of shedding their slave status, they would naturally strive with everything they had to achieve it.

Working hard in Daxia Territory, which meant exploration, could lead to the removal of slave status. It was no wonder they could respond to the Princess's divine inspiration; if they did not approve of the relevant development policies, it would be basically impossible to respond and truly perceive the Holy Power.

In fact, during the Princess's previous Ascension Ritual, when the Order God's power was finally born, Xia Duo easily perceived the content belonging to the "Standard Development Manual of Daxia Territory" from the characteristics of the divine power.

In other words, part of the credit for the Princess's divine essence belonged to Xia Duo.

Otherwise, regarding external exploration alone, there were many means and many forms. Xia Duo approved of exploration, but he did not necessarily approve of the Princess's exploration.

And the fact that Daxia Territory could produce twelve new Priests at once was not unrelated to the "Standard Development Manual of Daxia Territory."

If all his residents had been at the Arcane Plaza at that time, perhaps more Priests would have appeared.

However, that might not necessarily be a good thing.

After reading through the identity information of all twelve new Priests, along with their relevant work experience and performance records, Xia Duo closed the small booklet in his hand and put it away.

"I understand. After you return, if you have any spare time, you can take the lead in guiding them in the simple application of Holy Power."

Having a Priest of one god guide the Priests of another god—this was something probably only Xia Duo could pull off.

However, this matter clearly did not violate the doctrine of the Lord of Radiance. Compared to a Death Priest living directly in the Temple of the Lord of Radiance, this could only be considered a drizzle!

As for Laidun, he did not show any rejection either, but instead agreed quite readily, "My Lord, I can also conduct basic perception training for them, but I am powerless regarding anything further."

"No problem, let's just leave it at that for now!"

Laidun acknowledged the order and then exited the Reception Room.

……

After Laidun left, Xia Duo did not linger and immediately rushed to the private Communication Room next to Niya's Study, where the most powerful Sending magic array of the Tower of Time was located.

Although it was just a conventional method of communication and not mediated by Magic Web Background Fluctuation, it was sufficient to reach as far as Seventon.

When Xia Duo arrived, Niya was also there, her mood seeming somewhat low, as she stared blankly at the Crystal Ball used for interacting with the Sending magic array, lost in thought.

Even when he walked up close, Niya had not noticed, and it was not until Xia Duo reached out and waved in front of her eyes that she woke up as if from a dream and let out a cry of surprise:

"Ah—why are you here?"

"You saw the Arcane Federation Monthly just now, too. I have already compiled the statistics for the new Priests in Daxia Territory and am preparing to contact the Arcane Union to inquire about the situation in Seventon."

"So fast?!"

Niya was very surprised because just a short while ago, Xia Duo had informed her that he was going to contact Saier Town Mayor to compile the statistics for the new Priests in Savile Territory.

How much time had passed, and Daxia Territory had already finished the census?

Niya knew that the current system of Daxia Territory was very special and the residents were relatively concentrated, but she really only felt that a moment had passed; even the sound of Xia Duo's voice during the previous Sending was still echoing in her mind, fresh in her memory.

"It's not that fast; it's just a simple census."

Xia Duo did not feel much about this; these were routine operations, just like counting the number of people with a certain blood type in a factory on Earth, where every worker had an organizational relationship between superiors and subordinates.

From top to bottom, and from bottom to top, it was very easy to compile the statistics clearly.

The current Daxia Territory was just such an exploration factory, while Savile Territory was different; its organization was loose, and it had not even established a complete household registration system.

Wanting to compile the statistics clearly was truly not an easy task.