Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton
Chapter 1476 - 1037: Let’s See What You Will Use to Burn

Chapter 1476: Chapter 1037: Let’s See What You Will Use to Burn

After organizing all the grain, it was discovered that at least over a hundred million tons were lost. Among them, forty thousand tons had sprouted, thirty thousand tons were scorched, and another forty thousand tons were cooked...

"The Divine Fire is really something. It managed to cook so much in such a short time. If we lit a fire across the city, it could cook meals for millions of people," Negris quipped, taking a bite of the rice as he spoke. His eyes suddenly lit up, "It’s actually pretty delicious!"

Upon hearing this, Anthony grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his mouth. Chewing as he spoke, he said, "Lord Nage, that’s an interesting idea, though not very realistic, since the Divine Fire inevitably consumes Divine Power. I don’t know how much food this so-called Undying Divine Fire can actually cook... Oh, it’s really good! The grains are distinct, fragrant, moist just right—like the perfect wood-fired rice from a massive stove."

Silver Coin Durkon also came over out of curiosity, took a handful, and stuffed it into his mouth. His eyes lit up immediately, and Silver Coin remarked, "It’s quite filling."

"Coasney, distribute the cooked food immediately. What’s the damage? How are the Defensive Arrays? Is the management system intact?" Anthony asked Coasney, who had just returned from inspecting the situation.

Under the shock of the extraordinary thunderbolt, almost all the upper ranks of the Church of Omniscience were utterly annihilated. The survivors huddled near the edge were mostly minor flunkies—assistants, priests, bishops’ guards—and didn’t belong to the actual management.

In other words, virtually the entire leadership of the Church of Omniscience was wiped out. Unless there’s a second backup system, they might not even be able to distribute the grain.

Coasney reported, "Dozens of Sacred Land Protectors betrayed us. They occupied the control room and activated the Defensive Array, but the rest of the Sacred Land Protectors managed to reclaim it. The traitors were killed, and I brought their bodies back."

Eight or nine Sacred Land Protectors arrived, each lugging two corpses. They set them down, saluted respectfully, and departed with utmost deference.

Durken took the corpses away to perform a Soul Search.

Coasney continued his report, "The Church’s system has completely collapsed. Of the two High Priests, only I remain. Out of twenty Bishops and Priests, and more than two hundred Clergy members, fewer than ten survive. With this few people, there’s no way to sustain the system."

"I have already issued orders for their deputies to be teleported here, but distributing tens of millions of tons of grain to millions of people is a colossal operation. I don’t know if they have the experience to handle it."

Resource distribution has never been an easy task. Anything involving large populations is complex, requiring experienced managers to coordinate.

How do you transport tens of millions of tons of grain? What vehicles do you use? How do you schedule the transfer? If poorly arranged, the roads will be gridlocked, and with insufficient vehicles, the grain may pile up and block traffic.

Once transported, how will it be distributed? How do you calculate transport losses? Where do transport staff eat, sleep, and relieve themselves? How is inventory recorded? How are distributions logged? Who has received it and who has not? What happens if someone claims a double portion?

The most pragmatic issue: can they even read? Can they do math?

In a world with a literacy rate of less than five percent, finding people who can both read and calculate is exceedingly difficult. Without literacy, how do you log records? Without basic math skills, how can you compute quantities?

Just thinking about this gave Coasney a headache. Certainly, such individuals exist in the Sea of Omniscience, but with the top-tier leadership nearly extinct, he had no idea where to start.

However, what left Coasney at a loss was something Anthony tackled with ease. He immediately instructed, "Do you have a Magic Academy around here? Conscript the teachers and students!"

Mages are guaranteed to be literate and numerate, including even apprentice Wizards.

"Also, gather cloth of different colors, cut them into strips, and tie them around people’s heads. Red for leaders—all communication goes through the Red Heads. Green for transporters—give these to the coachmen and semi-submersible operators. Yellow for movers... Everyone has their specific duties."

"Have the teachers of the Magic Academy act as managers, their students handle statistics, and the principal maintain order. Let each city’s leaders come in person to claim their grain. Do you have population registers for the cities?"

"Distribute grain at 120% of the population count. Loss rates under 20% won’t be questioned. Loss rates exceeding 20% without valid justification? Execute."

"Silver Coin, can you call in some accountants? Have them act as supervisors."

Silver Coin responded, "No problem," and immediately left to gather people.

Silver Coin emphasized team-building and personnel training because he knew that making money required a capable team.

With Anthony issuing orders for each task, the Church of Omniscience, nearly gutted of its leadership, began functioning once again. Massive quantities of grain were transported via wagons to the docks, then transferred onto semi-submersible ships headed for the cities across the Plane.

Transporting grain to the bubbles was relatively straightforward since everything was surrounded by water. City transportation amounted to using ships, which kept transport losses under 20%. If they relied on overland transport, delivering even two pounds out of ten was considered lucky.

After arranging grain distribution, Durken finished his Soul Search and came to report:

"There’s no memory in their souls of activating the Defensive Array. Their memories stop at the thunderbolt and you holding it off, my Lord. Additionally, their souls appear damaged. I suspect mental control."

"Mental control?" Negris exclaimed. "What kind of mental control?"

Mental control could take many forms—contracts, hypnosis, enchantment, prohibitions, or manipulation akin to PUA. For instance, Adams’ Repressing Ring is a type of prohibition-based mental control.

Durken explained, "No memories remained. If they weren’t erased later, it must be hypnotic."

Failing to retrieve memories from their souls, this lead with the Sacred Land Protectors was a dead end. Negris glanced at Anthony, about to speak, when the earth suddenly began to rumble loudly.

Turning around, he saw Ange raising both hands high, surrounded by Earth Elements surging from the ground. In front of him, mud was slowly rising.

As the earth rose, the Little Sapling began waving its True Leaf. Tiny vines grew immediately, entwining themselves around the emerging earthen wall.

The wall was still soft, but the vines pressed directly into the soil, embedding themselves inside. It rose continuously, with vines repeatedly twining, forming a lattice-like skeleton within the earthen structure.

Negris asked in amazement, "What are you doing? Adding reinforcement to mud—you’re building a rammed earth wall for a house?"

Ange didn’t respond, but Durken flew up and announced, "Round, with a small neck, broad shoulders, and a rounded belly—it looks like a bottle."

"A fifty-meter-diameter bottle? You’re making pottery?" Negris glanced at Ange but, as though struck by an idea, turned sharply to gaze at the tens of thousands of tons of malt in the Divine Realm. "You’re making a bottle to brew liquor?"

Ange nodded.

What a move—bad malt would just go to brewing. No container? Build one on the spot. Negris grumbled, "A fifty-meter-wide piece of pottery—a bottle? That’s not a bottle; it’s a liquor lake! I’d like to see how you intend to fire it."