Another Lottery

Magnus Valorion, led by Neil Thompson, climbed the northern city wall of Green River Town. From the wall, he saw a dense mass of people below. Even Magnus, who was used to the crowded buses and subways of modern society, was shocked by the tens of thousands of people gathered outside the city.

No wonder Neil had rushed to Magnus in such a panic. Faced with this situation, only the top leader of Green River Town, Magnus, could make a decision.

Magnus quickly made a decision and ordered, "Immediately have everyone move to the south gate for registration. Also, deploy 200 city guards to maintain order. If anyone causes trouble, cut them down to set an example."

"Also, mobilize the townspeople to cook porridge for these people! And make it thinner today, not as thick as usual."

Neil nodded repeatedly in agreement, thinking it wise to conserve their food supplies even though they had plenty.

Neil then asked, "Master, what about our policy of distributing grain upon settlement?"

"We're canceling that policy. They should have come to Green River Town earlier. Now, only those with special skills will receive subsidies, and the subsidy standards can be raised."

"Anyway, they can work in the enterprises run by Galen Veritas and earn a living."

It wasn't that Magnus was stingy with the grain, but he understood the principles of "Familiarity breeds contempt" and "No good deed goes unpunished." Being too generous to those who hadn't contributed much to Green River Town could breed laziness or even resentment.

The people who had fled from Greenwood City and Willowbrook Town were relatively docile. Upon learning of Green River Town's requirements, they moved from the north gate to the south gate.

With over 200 city guards maintaining order, although a bit chaotic, the overall situation was manageable.

From these refugees, Magnus learned that shortly after Galen left Greenwood City, the Thunder Guard soldiers stationed there began forcibly requisitioning grain in the surrounding areas, essentially looting. The grain of the people in Greenwood City and Willowbrook Town had been completely taken.

Magnus found it strange, "Why didn't the Thunder Guard soldiers come to Green River Town to loot?"

It turned out that the Thunder Guard's requisition officers assumed that Green River Town, having been sacked a year ago, would be deserted. They didn't bother to check, sparing Magnus's town from being ransacked.

The people who fled from Greenwood City and Willowbrook Town weren't expecting much grain subsidy from Green River Town; they just wanted to avoid starving to death. Although Magnus had ordered Neil to cook thinner porridge, it was still richer than relief food elsewhere, even more than what they usually had in a good year.

For a time, these thousands of refugees were deeply grateful to Magnus.

Magnus's reputation value in the system surged like a rocket, quickly reaching over twenty thousand. Ecstatic, Magnus opened the system panel to check.

Host: Magnus Valorion 

Gender: Male 

Money: 271,920 taels of silver 

Reputation Points: 25,111/30,000 (5 draws available) 

System Storage: 7/10 (Current upgrade cost: 1,000 taels of silver) 

Supplies: Rice, Korean kimchi, Yunnan Baiyao, potato seeds, water, cement, paraquat

Magnus noticed that after his reputation points exceeded five thousand, he gained a lottery chance for every additional five thousand points. Considering the population of Fierce Lion Province was in the millions, he had plenty of chances to draw. However, the cost to upgrade the system storage also increased tenfold after the initial 1,000 taels of silver.

Now, upgrading two more system storage slots would cost him 11,000 taels of silver. Next time, it would cost 1.1 million taels.

If he could sell his grain nationwide, money wouldn't be an issue. Galen's businesses in Green River Town, Greenwood City, and Willowbrook Town alone had already earned Magnus nearly 300,000 taels of silver. Nationwide sales could make him even wealthier.

But Magnus couldn't think that far ahead now. His immediate priority was to see if he could get something useful to accelerate the development of Green River Town.

The current lottery had twelve slots with four categories of prizes: crops, equipment, books, and others. The crop category included cotton, soybeans, and forage grass. Equipment had entrenching tools, long spears, and rattan shields. As for books, Magnus was surprised to see "Postpartum Care for Sows," "Excavator Maintenance and Repair," and "Complete Photography Techniques," all seemingly useless.

The "others" category included refined salt, A4 paper, and nitrogen fertilizer. Apart from the three books, everything else seemed useful to Magnus.

Naturally, Magnus decided not to use all five chances at once but to draw three times and save the remaining two for later.

The lottery wheel began to spin under Magnus's thoughts. The first draw yielded forage grass. Although Green River Town had few horses, just a few dozen low-quality ones taken from the Crimson Vultures, which man could refuse the chance to have a mighty cavalry?

The second draw was also lucky, yielding cotton instead of the useless books. This was real cotton, not just seeds. With this cotton, the people of Green River Town wouldn't have to worry about the winter cold.

"Ha, today's luck is fantastic! No useless stuff!"

"Dear system, let's start the third thrilling draw!"

The lottery wheel spun for the third time. As it slowed down, it landed on miscellaneous A4 paper. Magnus looked at it and sighed, thinking, "A4 paper is better than those three useless books."

"With this A4 paper, I can have books printed for the entire town, eliminating illiteracy and improving literacy rates."

Apart from printing books, Magnus suddenly had another bold idea in mind.