The next day, in the Moonlight Empire:
In the throne room, Maximus called for Doran and other officials for a meeting.
"How is the population going?" Maximus asked Doran.
"Since Your Majesty left three months ago, the Starsea Trading continues to transport people."
"Just this month they were able to transport about a hundred million people."
"Originally we had about 350 million people, but now, after our transactions with them, we have over 500 million people," Doran dutifully explained.
"Good progress," Maximus muttered, praising Starsea Trading for its efficiency.
"I heard that the leader of Starsea Trading used all of his wealth to expand his boat caravan, so the efficiency has increased," Doran said.
"Oh? Cedric is really business-minded," Maximus praised.
You know, for these three months of business, they only earned about 6 million magic crystals.
Yet he dared to use hundreds of millions of crystals just to expand his caravan.
Of course, it's also worth it—just transporting 100 million people to him will earn him 3-4 million a month, plus other side businesses.
"What about the money circulated in the Moonlight Bank?"
"There are already over 200 billion gold coins in circulation in it," Tristan said.
"Good!" Maximus couldn't help but nod.
That's another 200 million magic crystals per month.
"Is there any concern regarding this?" Maximus looked at Tristan who looked as if he wanted to say something.
"That, Your Majesty, people have requested to have a higher currency than gold credits."
"Apparently, some nobles have too much money, and gold is somewhat degrading their dignity," Tristan explained.
"Oh, isn't the gold credit exchangeable for magic crystals? Why is this still a problem?"
"That—these nobles and some rich people can't show off enough," Tristan explained the reason.
After all, all strong people use magic crystals to trade, yet they still use gold credits, which are equivalent to gold coins.
People who have just arrived sometimes sneer and mock the Moonlight Empire for still using mortal currency despite its stature.
"Fair enough," Maximus also nodded in understanding.
"Since that's the case, I will add a currency that is equal to magic crystals, called crystal credits."
"That's good, Your Majesty," Tristan heaved a sigh of relief.
"What about the Moonlight Academy, Atom?"
"Uh?" Atom, who was still drunk, looked dazed.
Although he is a dean, he is locked up in someplace getting drunk and wasted.
"About the Academy..." Maximus sighed, wondering if it was really the right decision to make Atom a dean.
"Oh, it's about those brats..."
"I've been teaching them very well..." Atom lied, not wanting his supply of wine to be cut off.
"You're the dean, what teaching are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about their progress..." Maximus repeated.
Atom's job as the dean is to control the hired teachers, not to teach.
"Oh, that! There are already a bunch of tier 2 mages and knights."
"Thanks to the teaching staff that you recruited, their progress is phenomenal," Atom nodded, sighing in relief.
He still knew something about the school, as there were people regularly reporting to him.
Of course, as he was often drunk he forgot the majority of it.
"Is that so? What about those teachers? Are they behaving properly?"
"Yes, yes, they are very good!"
"Hmm, then you better watch them carefully lest they do something detrimental and teach the students something crooked," Maximus reminded.
"Yes, yes, I will patrol the academy daily from now on," Atom nodded like a chicken.
"You better be. I'll have others watch to see if you're being lazy."
Although the chances of the teachers he hired doing something that harms the interest of the empire are negligible due to the contract.
Maximus still had to be careful.
After all, those seedlings are the future of his empire.
Soon, they began to discuss other things happening in the empire.
...
After the meeting, he began to visit the empire on foot, disguising himself.
His first stop is Moonshadow City, the imperial capital of the Moonlight Empire.
"It's really different from before," Maximus sighed.
Previously, he had only seen his kingdom through the monitoring of the formation array or just passed by it.
So it was the first time he looked carefully at this place.
When he first transmigrated here, it was just a small place with barely fifty thousand people.
With the barren land and chaos, there was barely even food, so he had to source it out.
But looking at the liveliness of the ever-expanding Moonshadow City, he smiled.
"Hello, can I get an ice cream?" Maximus walked into one of the ice cream shops.
"Sure, what flavor do you want?"
"Just the chocolate one."
"You're really keen, sir. This is our bestseller that I just learned a few weeks ago," the owner bragged.
"Oh?"
"That's because the main ingredient was just introduced this month, so it's new."
"Previously, everyone planted staple food, but due to demand, now there's a new variety of crop harvested every day," the owner explained.
Previously, Maximus left Doran with all kinds of spirit seeds.
However, people preferred to plant easier and more familiar crops that they knew and had tasted.
Now, after a few months have passed, people have moved on and tried all kinds of crops that they fancy.
Anyway, the empire will buy them regardless, as long as they are able to plant them.
"Impressive, learning to create new recipes in just a few weeks," Maximus praised.
You know, previously these people didn't even know how to read.
So even if all the recipes and formulas were available in the Moonlight Library, it was useless.
The only benefit they got was low-tier manuals that only had pictures they could follow.
The result of this was slow progress.
Furthermore, due to not knowing many words, they could barely master the spells that they learned.
"Hahaha, it's because of His Majesty."
"You know about those vocational schools?"
"Yes," Maximus nodded.
Of course, he knew; he was the one who ordered them to be set up.
Moonlight Academy couldn't accommodate all of his people, so he set up vocational schools in each city.
And the teachers there were tier 3 teachers he hired from the Arcane Continent.
Just slightly worse than those at the Moonlight Academy.
"That's right, the teachers there are amazing."
"Previously, I didn't even know how to read and didn't know many words."
"But just one spell from the teacher there, he instilled various words and knowledge in me."
"Hey, who knew it's so easy to learn?" The owner sighed.
Years ago, he was only a farmer, who didn't know how to read or write.
He still envied those scholars who could get an official position in the kingdom.
But now, with just one spell from the teacher, he seemed to become the most knowledgeable man there is.
Of course, it's an illusion; he still needs to practice to use the instilled knowledge fluently.
"That's great."
"Hmm, it's really a blessing to have Your Majesty."
"It's indeed a blessing to have Your Majesty" Maximus praised himself without changing his face.
"Here's your chocolate ice cream," the owner said, handing him the ice cream.
"Thanks." Maximus smiled as he walked out, appreciating the atmosphere of the city.
You can no longer see the semblance of the previous Moonshadow City, as everything has been reconstructed from scratch.
Up until now, there is still ongoing construction, expanding the city outward.
As he walked, he came across a mother who was taking her child to school.
"Remember to study well," the mother reminded.
"Eh, can't we just have fun? Anyway, we are already rich," the child looked at his mother in puzzlement.
Previously, his family were just down-to-earth farmers who were dying of starvation.
Now that they are rich, he thought he could take it easy and have fun.
"Who says we're rich?!"
"Look at the family next to us. They can already afford tier 2 resources, yet we can barely afford the resources for your training."
"Isn't food, shelter, and clothing enough? Why bother with training?"
"What do you know?!"
"It's said on the Moonlight Forum that these are dangerous times, and we'll be cannon fodder if we don't train well."
"But the Moonlight Empire is so strong, there's no need for me to."
"Besides, I'm not that talented, so training would be a waste of my time." The child pouted.
"Hmph, is this what you've learned in school? Talking back to me?!"
"I said, you will train well, so you will train very well!"
"If I hear one more word from your mouth, I'll ground you and feed you vegetables for the rest of your life." The mother reprimanded.
Although her son's words made sense, she's still the mother, so she's the one who's right.
After all, there's nothing wrong with training oneself and achieving something.
"Vegetables?!" The child's voice raised a little.
Although he was used to eating vegetables as they were the only staple food previously.
However, with husbandry booming, all kinds of meat and delicacies had already spoiled his taste buds.
Just imagining himself eating vegetables while his parents and siblings ate all kinds of things made him shudder.
"No! Of course, I will train with all my might and make you proud!"
"The child can be taught. Make sure you beat the neighbor's kid on the next test."
"No problem..." The child reluctantly agreed.
"Hahah, good boy, how about I buy you ice cream?"
"Ice cream? Yes, yes, I want ice cream," the child nodded eagerly.
"Let's go there. I heard there's a new flavor."
Watching the mother and child talk was a little interesting.
Previously, when Maximus walked around the city, the most common topic of conversation was whether they could eat their next meal.
Now, it's still the same, but instead, they're talking about what to eat next.
Soon, Maximus roamed around the city, discovering all kinds of changes.
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