NEC Chapter 107: Manifest Destiny, Brilliant Youth

To help Chen Mo understand more clearly, Master Downs performed a live demonstration.

The old man stood up, took some magic powder from the cabinet in the room, shook it gently a few times, and scattered it in front of himself. Then with a light circular motion of both hands, a three-layered spell model with inner and outer nested layers quickly manifested within just a few seconds.

While demonstrating, the old man provided explanations.

"Mage Hand is an entry-level spell. Once you learn the model, you can cast it. The differences are nothing more than power magnitude and distance range."

"The higher your level, the better precision you can control."

"But this requirement you've proposed, this constraint direction is too winding, and the distance is too long. Professional elemental mages need at least fourth-tier Weaver level or above. Mages of other disciplines would require even higher levels!"

Downs controlled the spell model with his left hand while quickly gesturing with his right. A wild date from the table flew toward him and slid into the entrance of the spell model.

Then the wild date began spinning rapidly in circles within the invisible "tube" in the air, until finally shooting out from some exit point and falling into the distance.

"See that? The spell isn't difficult, the difficulty is in the control. Without a three-layer or higher spell model combination, it can't be done."

"As for solidifying it into a magic array or scroll effect that can operate independently without a caster, that requires professional runesmiths or spirit construct masters!"

"This old man doesn't have that capability!"

Chen Mo immediately asked, "Then where should I go to find runesmiths or spirit construct masters?"

"Enchantment masters who can solidify high-tier magic models exist to varying degrees in all countries, but they either serve nations or depend on wealthy families. They're treasures of their respective houses. Without solid connections, you can't move them."

"However, the Silver Alliance over there has never placed much emphasis on military force and manages things rather loosely. Some accomplished enchantment masters have settled there and occasionally take on outside jobs."

Coming out from Downs' place, Chen Mo immediately called for Herlan, explained the situation concisely, and posed his two questions, "First, does Earl Liuyun of Cloudmist Domain have fourth-tier or higher enchantment masters? Second, if we go to the Silver Alliance to hire someone, who could go?"

Herlan replied, "Cloudmist Domain definitely has enchantment masters, but I don't know what tier."

"Didn't you claim to know everything about noble affairs?"

"You're right, but enchantment masters aren't nobles..."

"As for going to the Silver Alliance, there are three conventional routes in total." Herlan spread out the map, his finger first tracing from the south, "Travel through the desert southward, follow the Crescent Moon Federation to the end, then exit through Rowan Pass south of Crescent Moon, and follow the mountain range all the way west. This is the closer route."

"This road passes through several uninhabited areas, requiring us to fight our way through, which is somewhat dangerous!"

"The second route goes through the Emerald Duchy, enters Resting Moon Dynasty territory, then follows the border between Resting Moon and Sky Empire all the way south, bypassing the Forgotten Swamp to reach the Silver Alliance."

"Although this road is farther, it passes entirely through human faction territories, making it safer and more predictable in terms of timing. As long as paperwork is completed on schedule, entry into the Silver Alliance is guaranteed."

"The last one is the sea route."

"Every year, ships from the north follow the trade winds southward to reach the southernmost seaports, then wait for the wind currents to reverse before returning with the flow."

"This route takes the longest time and inevitably involves some small risks at sea, but the advantage is not having to cross national borders, leaving no traces or clues."

After detailing the advantages and disadvantages of all three routes, Herlan helplessly cupped his hands.

"But if you ask who to send to handle this matter, I've thought through the entire territory, and it seems no one can do it!"

"From what you've relayed of Master Downs' meaning, this matter is very difficult, so the cost certainly can't be small!"

"May I ask, Lord, is there any human warrior whom you trust to handle dozens or hundreds of gold coins at their discretion?"

Chen Mo was stumped by the question.

That's right. Up to now, in terms of trustworthiness, Simple Bull Liu Zaiyue and Little Ma's guard unit were all reliable, but this involved conducting business in human nations. If leading with beastmen and half-beastmen so brazenly, it would be too conspicuous.

As for the humans at home, the core still consisted of Captain Lynn's human guard unit members, but to speak of entrusting them with important tasks with complete confidence, that truly couldn't be said.

Using the evaluation from back home, this group of people was too heavily influenced by feudal thinking, had a strong old military atmosphere, and the ideological transformation process would be lengthy. Having them carry large sums of money to conduct business made Chen Mo somewhat uneasy.

That wasn't all. Herlan pointed out another key factor.

"The type of magic array you want isn't a standard product. It requires commissioning a master to customize it."

"Never mind how many people need to be contacted, what if the other party proposes excessive conditions? Who dares make the decision whether to agree or refuse?"

"Unless you personally appear, no one else can make this decision."

"But given the territory's current state, you can't leave, so this magic array matter should be postponed!"

This enthusiastic exchange ultimately ended with the lord looking regretful.

It wasn't that nothing would be done. Chen Mo arranged for people to travel west to Cloudmist Domain, ostensibly to pay respects to the Earl, but actually to explore whether there were any useful enchantment masters.

On the other side, following Herlan's suggestion, he selected several relatively clever young men from the territory, led by Wood who was originally from the south, to travel to the Silver Alliance, establish a small outpost there in advance, gather relevant information about the Alliance, and prepare for subsequent further contact.

Finally, he arranged for people to go to nearby mercenary guilds to try posting tasks for solidifying spell models, to see if there were any hidden talents in the countryside.

This was about as meaningful as posting advertisements at the community gate asking for help solving aerospace engine design blueprints, a blind gamble.

After arranging these miscellaneous matters, student Chen Mo began seriously studying the series of political system documents sent from home.

It was clear that the leaders back home highly approved of his attempts to gradually liberate slaves and advocate for equality among all people.

However, as Leader Tanshu had said, trying to accomplish everything in one step, taking too big a stride, could easily exhaust oneself. There needed to be some transitions.

The materials from home were already quite comprehensive. Rather than calling them suggested proposals, they were more like an operation manual.

Chen Mo directly opened that thick folder.

The first heading read: Shape Vast Sea Territory's Absolute Authority Leader!

Although technical personnel had tried to be as tactful as possible in their wording, Chen Mo, with his higher education background, immediately saw that interspersed throughout the lines was the concept of [Mandate of Heaven]!

"Person of Mandate of Heaven" was indeed a good way to put it!

In any feudal territory, the lord was the centralized leader, but “leader” and leader were different.

Some relied on charisma, some on brainwashing, some on high pressure, some on bribery. This material combined all approaches organically, with the final effect being to establish personal cult worship around the leader.

The entire approach was to shape the lord as the sole embodiment of collective will on this land of Vast Sea Territory.

Leader Tanshu, perhaps fearing the young fellow might feel awkward, or truly worried about taking the wrong path, left a special red-pen annotation here.

"In chaotic situations, the leader's personal charisma and authority are often the core driving force enabling the team to advance steadfastly!"

So how to do it?

First, establish an efficient unified bureaucratic system, meaning direct lord management, or management by the lord's close associates, creating a bureaucratic network extending from the highest level directly to the grassroots.

Officials at all levels would be directly appointed, transferred, and supervised by the lord or the territorial governing center represented by the lord.

This would completely change the mainstream independent responsibility system for territorial cities on the Starry Continent, avoiding situations where civil and military officials of City A were all the city lord's confidants, requiring the territorial lord to go through the city lord to arrange transfers.

Regarding Chen Mo's promotion of Herlan as Chief Administrator, East Xia leaders expressed approval. An experienced old bureaucrat familiar with the Starry Continent's general environment could indeed greatly improve territorial work efficiency.

However, the proposal suggested constraining his power.

It recommended forming a multi-person governing team, having the lord bring in local sand people leaders, centaur leaders, beastmen leaders, foreign human representatives, slave group representatives, and others to create a governing council.

On one hand, this would enhance various groups' enthusiasm for participating in governance and discussion. On the other hand, it would ensure that at any time, no single person could bypass the lord to make decisions the lord didn't know about.

For example, beastman representative Liu Zaiyue didn't understand politics at all. He didn't even know how to write the word "politics."

But he could not only participate in the governing council, he also had voting rights equal to anyone else in the council.

Most of the time, because he didn't understand those complex territorial affairs, Simple Bull could choose to abstain. But once he sensed that a certain topic might make the lord uncomfortable, he could use his voting rights to stop it at any time and promptly notify his lord.

Disputed topics would need the lord's arbitration.

Leader's annotation here was: "One should sacrifice some efficiency in exchange for necessary control. If the development direction goes wrong, the higher the efficiency, the greater the damage."

Following this were lord-direct elite selection mechanisms; establishment of foreign intelligence and domestic supervision agencies; breaking down territorial racial barriers through mixed formations; strongly suppressing racism while promoting collectivism; establishing separate resource allocation and control departments directly under the lord...

In the entire proposal, two points were separately highlighted for specific explanation.

The first was shaping common enemies.

In the view of East Xia politicians, the previous clean and decisive handling of the bandit groups had indeed boosted territorial morale and enthusiasm, but also produced some negative effects, namely greatly diminishing the external threat factor.

Continuous, significant external threats were themselves important means of strengthening internal territorial cohesion.

This was really... Chen Mo helplessly rubbed his hair, which was already nearly a bird's nest.

Managing a territory was too difficult...

Here, the think tank of [Cihang] proposed two core points, one regarding shaping common enemies.

They suggested first shaping within... oh, this couldn't be called shaping, it should be called rooting out internal "saboteurs."

Including lazy elements who worked passively and sabotaged production; dissidents who promoted other territories' superiority theories; external spies and those with ulterior motives who damaged territorial interests, and so on.

Through distinguishing internal enemies from allies, consensus would be consolidated, unity strengthened, and contradictions weakened.

The second step was finding a suitable external enemy. For instance, currently as a subordinate territory under Cloudmist Domain, certain territories under the Greenspine Kingdom were symbolic adversaries.

Enemies were eyeing Vast Sea covetously, waiting for opportunities. Once the protection period ended, they might launch large-scale attacks, causing territorial devastation. Therefore, the people needed to unite, work as one, and give their all for the territory's ultimate victory.

Of course, the think tank also specifically explained why beastman tribes couldn't be chosen as imaginary enemies.

For current Vast Sea Territory, beastman tribes were too powerful. Especially considering that the territory's main resident groups were all slaves from under beastman rule, these people both hated and feared beastmen. If beastman threats were emphasized, it might cause territorial residents to lose courage to resist.

In one sentence, this external threat enemy needed to be strong, but not too strong. It should be the kind we could defeat if we all worked hard together!

The other core point concerned education.

All the above were standards; education was the foundation.

The proposal detailed basic education, cultural education, skill education, and all aspects, naturally including ideological education for loyalty to the lord.

Below were various other measures, some that looked positive, such as strengthening collective ceremonial sense, creating territorial medal and title systems, continuously strengthening collective honor and belonging through internal propaganda, praise, celebrations, commendations, and other measures.

Some looked neutral, such as creating lord officer corps, implementing universal military service, establishing comprehensive civilian reward and punishment standards, building pragmatic diplomatic teams, and so on...

Some seemed to have a more tactical flavor.

Such as completing "instrumentalization" of the legal system in the short term; using public trials and public decisions as "demonstrative punishment"; strongly suppressing racism; carefully controlling negative public opinion...

In summary, Chen Mo spent an entire night reading this dozen-page folder, even skipping his usual unshakeable meditation cultivation.

Early the next morning, sporting bloodshot eyes, Chen Mo convened a territorial meeting.

At the meeting, Lord Chen Mo first affirmed the territory's developmental achievements, then pointed out many problems recently exposed, requiring all middle and high-level territorial personnel to brainstorm and propose their own ideas and suggestions.

Using this meeting, Chen Mo naturally completed the formation of the governing team, then began imperceptibly and gradually fine-tuning territorial policies.

During this period, besides continuing cultivation and regularly studying spell models with Master Downs, Chen Mo devoted all his energy to education.

Underage centaurs, sand people children, and slave children all sat together, listening to the great lord teach the first lesson of enrollment!

Although Vast Sea Territory wanted to create a fair and loving society, at this current stage, they had no choice but to intermittently use child labor. Therefore, these children would receive basic courses from territory-selected teachers in a part-time format.

Among them, children with outstanding performance and excellent assessment results would have the hope of ascending in one step, being selected into the lord's direct "Vast Sea Youth Corps."

Youth Corps members enjoyed treatment equivalent to territorial civil servants, completely freed from production.

Under the lord's personal guidance, they would study language, mathematics, history, ideological politics, and other cultural subjects, participate in basic trainee warrior training or mage apprentice cultivation, and even access simple military combat knowledge.

Chen Mo certainly didn't have that much time to teach them personally. The courses used video teaching format.

East Xia designed a heroic, spirited, and imposingly handsome image for Lord Chen Mo, then used AI plus manual adjustment to perfectly reproduce the lord's voice. Thus, the Youth Corps children learned knowledge their ancestors had never been able to access for generations under Lord Chen Mo's earnest video teachings.

Of course, the entire Youth Corps without exception became loyal guards of the lord!

The disloyal ones would be quickly eliminated...

What most excited Youth Corps members was their honor system.

The Youth Corps badge was personally designed by Chen Mo, a blazing torch symbolizing the territory's future and hope.

Youth Corps members wearing this badge walked sideways throughout Vast Sea Territory. Everyone knew how precious this children's army was to the lord. Even professionals would respectfully yield way when they saw them.

Then the lord severely scolded these little ones. Kaga, as Youth Corps captain, was even punished to clean classrooms for a week.

That's right, Kaga was also an underage centaur, naturally a Youth Corps member.

After experiencing the lord's earnest character education, the Youth Corps straightened out their attitude.

The lord said to be polite, to understand politeness, to yield way to the territory's builders.

When encountering them again on the road, Youth Corps members would quickly step aside, waiting for transport vehicles or construction teams to pass first.

Watching those workers' relieved yet envious gazes, this feeling was a hundred times more comfortable than having others yield way to them.

The lord also said to actively throw themselves into territorial construction, adding bricks and mortar to Vast Sea's development.

Because they were completely freed from production, the Youth Corps had no work assignments. Therefore, during spare time, besides morning and evening exercises, little Kaga would organize the Youth Corps to voluntarily join construction sites everywhere, helping mix mortar, carry bricks, push carts...

Don't think they were just going to work. Just wearing that badge was equivalent to showing off.

We are the lord's personal troops!

If they encountered family elders and uncles, those little heads would practically rise to the sky. The adults would also beam with pride, feeling honored, their brick-carrying motions becoming faster, unable to help but boast, further elevating the Youth Corps to the clouds.

Honor at maximum, morale off the charts!

Vast Sea Youth Corps, class after class, some were selected, some fell behind, but overall, the Youth Corps basically gathered all the growing elites in the territory, creating a high-cohesion team loyal to the lord.

Or, in the words of certain politicians, a newly emerging interest group.

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