naruto-story Chapter 213: The Divine Library of the Hall of Nine Colors
Chapter 213: The Divine Library of the Hall of Nine Colors
The rest of Ethan’s month in Goldenveil was uneventful.
He oversaw Veronica’s and the maids’ training, helped Tomas with the important task of continuing to work on the city’s legal code, and, of course, trained intensively with Evelyn.
By the end of the month, a lot had changed in Goldenveil, even though the population growth was minimal.
Since the winter was turning out to be quite mild, with no heavy snowstorms and temperatures rarely dropping more than two or three degrees below zero during the day, the construction of new homes had exploded.
Even before the month ended, Goldenveil already had over a thousand residences nestled among the paved streets.
Of the city’s just over five thousand inhabitants, only about seven hundred still slept in the barracks.
Since few were single, and since most families were large, only about two hundred houses were now needed to finally house the entire population of the region.
Of course, the housing wasn’t the only change.
After the divine city core was activated, curiously enough, Goldenveil’s fertility rate seemed to have skyrocketed.
Even Doran, who had decided to wait until his wife reached the third stage, soon felt life pulsing in her womb.
Aerick also didn’t take long to put another child in his own wife’s womb, something that deeply delighted Ethan.
Soon, two more great talents would be born in Goldenveil.
With over three hundred women already pregnant, the summer promised to fill the city’s nights with the cries of newborns.
At that very moment, Ethan stood on Goldenveil’s main avenue, on one of the many plots reserved for the construction of important structures.
The icy air bit at his face, and his breath came out in thin white clouds that dissipated against the winter sky.
Over the past few days, in the month that had just ended, he had built the city hall and improved a few smaller commercial establishments.
Now, with about a hundred thousand gold coins still in his pockets, he was thinking about what the next step should be.
’Perhaps a library?’ Ethan thought, recalling the state of education in Goldenveil.
He couldn’t say it was a bad situation, or that it displeased him.
During the day, the children studied in two shifts. At night, the adults received two-hour classes.
He had made attendance mandatory for everyone, but the classes weren’t very demanding.
It wasn’t even a real school curriculum.
They learned only basic math, reading, and writing.
The moment someone was deemed capable of at least reading a simple book and writing a letter, they were excused from the night classes.
Unable to think of anything better, Ethan ended up deciding on the library.
There were other structures that would be useful for Goldenveil, but most of them would take time to prove their worth.
The steel refinery he planned to build was a good example of this. If mining hadn’t even started yet, what was the point of having a refinery ready?
A library, on the other hand, would be an immediate source of knowledge for any interested citizen. And, more importantly, most of the system’s creations already came stocked with items.
"Uh... I could build an armory too, right?"
Ethan pondered, imagining himself erecting a weapons and armor depot already stocked enough to equip an entire army.
After mulling over the idea for a moment, he just smiled and shook his head.
His free and common gacha tickets, combined with Doran’s skills and the large contingent of dwarves in Goldenveil, had already armed the guard sufficiently to face any enemy that dared to appear.
Having made up his mind, Ethan activated his instant construction ability.
His eyes sparkled as dozens of options appeared before him, projecting into the air as shimmering translucent panels.
His attention, naturally, fell on the most expensive option he could acquire without it being considered excessive.
[Name: The Divine Library of the Hall of Nine Colors
Description: An ancient library that once housed over a million books, ranging from simple combat techniques to the most refined arts of warfare and agriculture. Everything can be found here.
It has space for ten staff members and, at most, five hundred readers at the same time.
It has its own registration system for borrowing items.
Monthly Maintenance: Three lower-grade mana cores.
Effects: +100% knowledge absorption rate, +50% reading speed, +50% comprehension and learning rate.
Price: 10,000 gold coins]
The price was steep, ten percent of Ethan’s current wealth, but he didn’t mind.
He would still have nearly ninety thousand gold coins left, and in two months, with the end of winter, Ron would already be heading his way once again.
Without hesitation, Ethan tapped "buy." His eyes sparkled as a massive structure began to rise from the ground before him.
First, a staircase rose up, made of white concrete mixed with almost pinkish shades of gold, winding around the statue of a beautiful woman holding a book in her delicate hands.
Behind the staircase, the library rose more than five stories high.
A magnificent Victorian building that dominated the Goldenveil landscape with even more grandeur than Ethan’s own mansion.
The handsome young man didn’t hesitate to step inside.
His eyes sparkled when he realized that about five percent of the shelves were already filled, totaling more than fifty thousand books.
As he walked over to the production section and noticed dozens of books on mining scattered across the shelves, his lips curved even further.
Apparently, he could finally begin training Goldenveil’s miners. After all, once he defeated Alistair, he would found the barony’s first vassal city—a city entirely dedicated to iron extraction.
"Ah..." He sighed with a broad smile. "I just want this winter to end already, so I can beat that damn Alistair and start my work at the iron mine."
After finishing his tour of the library and hiring a trustworthy manager who already knew how to read and write to take care of it, he headed to the barracks.
It was time to see what Cain and his men had accomplished at the Hell Soldier’s portal.