Standing on the platform, Lorne announced, “Now, I, the City Lord of the Cold Desolate Dragon City, will grant you the status of a citizen. I hope that you can firmly protect our common home and resist any intruders!”
From this moment on, all the gnomes in front of him became citizens of the Cold Desolate Dragon City. This was a great honor.
The gnomes were also abnormally excited. They knelt and thanked Lorne with the greatest respect.
Then, Lorne found Tully again and said, “The Cold Desolate Dragon City has been desolate for too long. After the ancient era, the quality of the land changed drastically. The entire Cold Desolate Dragon City has also fused with the mountain range. If we want to repair it, we will have to work extremely hard.”
“Don’t worry, City Lord. I will lead them to repair the city.”
Tully was confident.
Such confidence was what Lorne needed.
The current Cold Desolate Dragon City lacked nothing, so it needed to be filled with passion.
Then, Lorne opened the territory map and began distributing the living and work areas to the gnomes.
The total area of the Cold Desolate Dragon City was 40,000 hectares, and the area of the workshop was 2,000 hectares. Now that the basic cleaning had been completed, they could move in early.
Considering that the gnomes were good at building and mechanical construction, Lorne planned to first arrange for them to stay and work in the Construction Guild. In addition, he would give them a large research base beside it.
As for what they needed to do the most?
What he needed the most now was naturally to repair the collapsed parts of the city.
Because the building materials used in the Cold Desolate Dragon City were very hard and the rocks were very huge, there was not much damage again. The damaged areas could be repaired, but the completely collapsed buildings were harder to deal with.
This matter could be postponed for a while. The priority now was to repair it, and most importantly, to restore the working ability of the workshop area.
Alchemy, forging, building, carving, and other workshops were the most important sources of development for a city.
“My lord, do you want to use the Purification Crystal now?” Tully asked.
“There’s no hurry. Don’t purify it first.”
Now that the City Creation Token had purified the Cold Desolate Dragon City, everyone in the city would not be affected by the undead power, so Lorne was naturally not in a hurry to cleanse the external environment.
“Tully, assign the designers a mission. Design a building that can satisfy the needs of the various races as soon as possible. We want to add more lively elements to the original foundation of the Cold Desolate Dragon City.”
“You want to build a free city?”
Tully immediately understood Lorne’s intention. In this Dragon City, he would build additional buildings that were suitable for the various races. It was obvious that he wanted to build a free city without racial restrictions.
This was definitely a bold idea.
A free city could do business with all races, but it would also face a huge institutional challenge. After all, all races more or less had animosity. When they were close enough to each other, it was easy to cause friction and conflict.
However, Tully thought that was a wise decision.
This was because the Cold Desolate Dragon City itself had the title of ‘Legend’. In the future, it would attract the attention of all races. Such a dazzling identity would naturally bring huge benefits, and the free city was the best way to draw in benefits.
“Yes, I’ll give you a portion of the area first. Design this area as the main body. After you’re done, let me check.”
Lorne looked at the map. Other than the workshop area, the dragon nest, and the underground tomb, there were no other areas on it. This did not suit his thoughts.
Since he wanted to build a free city, he had to hide the core building in the city and not let anyone enter casually.
Therefore, Lorne first differentiated the City Lord’s Zone from the Commoner’s Zone.
His initial plan was to plan for the 5,000 hectares to be the City Lord’s Zone, which included the location of the dragon nest and the dragon tomb. Coupled with the fact that this was the highest castle in the entire city, it could be a symbol of the City Lord’s supremacy.
After distinguishing this, the commoner area was easier to distribute.
The design area that Lorne had marked out for Tully was 2,000 hectares. He would start with a corner of the city and decide whether to expand it after checking their design.
“In addition, inform the mining team to rest today and set off tomorrow to mine the high-level mineral veins in the nearby area.”
Lorne took out the coordinates of a few high-level mines and handed them to Tully.
These high-grade mineral veins were near the Cold Desolate Dragon City, because this was the core of the geological activity. The mineral veins in the ground were very rich, and a large number of high-grade minerals poured out of the ground as the land changed.
Moreover, these spots were very close to Cold Desolate Dragon City. They would not encounter too much danger.
“Heavens, there are actually so many rare minerals nearby…”
Tully felt numb already.
Ever since he came to the Cold Desolate Dragon City, his shock had not stopped.
To be honest, he had always thought that building a city would be limited by resources and slow down, but now, it seemed that everything was not a problem.
As long as he relied on the output of these high-grade mineral veins and the project he worked with the Gnome Mineral Company, the final benefits could definitely resolve the initial need to repair the Cold Desolate Dragon City.
…
“Tully, can I retrieve my share of the profits in advance?”
Now that the Dragon City was about to be repaired, it would require a large amount of resources. It was impossible to repair the entire city with enough resources, not to mention building buildings in the city. It would cost a lot of money, and Lorne could only rely on the ore veins that were being mined to provide funds.
“No. The ores mined in the early stages have to first offset the equipment consumption and labor costs during the mining. Only after doing so can we obtain the profits. Otherwise, without being able to truly see the mine, the Gnome Mineral Company will not be able to determine how much they can earn, so naturally, they will not be able to divide the profits in advance.”
“However, you don’t have to worry, my lord. With the complete exploration of the mineral vein, you can use the mineral vein as a guarantee to purchase the resources needed in advance by the Gnome Mineral Company. Of course, the guarantee will be lower than the final dividend by half. This is to share the risk of cooperation.” Tully explained.
“In that case, I want to advance another portion of the mining equipment first.”
Lorne touched his chin, then said to Tully, “The restoration work in the Cold Desolate Dragon City will be managed by you for the time being. If there are any major problems, report it to me with the communication crystal. By the way, remember to first consolidate the gnome robots and assign them another mission. In addition, check the situation of the teleportation circle. I’ll apply for the right to connect now.”
After instructing Tully, Lorne took out the return scroll and crushed it.
