Chapter 125: The Great Lighthouse

While Bruno was explaining the importance of independent thinking to his mage apprentices, a large crowd of serfs had already gathered on the southern bank of the Idar River's delta, eager to sign up.

The scorching sun blazed down on the land, drenching the serfs' foreheads and backs with sweat. Yet, their enthusiasm for signing up to build the grand wonder remained undeterred.

Yes!

After several months of rest and development, Idar was once again beginning the construction of a new wonder!

With the population of Idar increasing and the completion of the three-masted sailing ship, Bruno finally had enough money and manpower to undertake this grand project.

So, when news spread that the Earl was about to embark on another building of a wonder, the serfs of Idar erupted with excitement.

This was because, thanks to Bruno's deliberate promotion, his policy of granting freedom to serfs had long been widely known and praised throughout the territory.

Each time a wonder was constructed, it meant that a small group of diligent serfs would be granted their freedom by their benevolent lord.

This was a leap from serfdom to a freeman!

And those who were freed would have two choices.

They could either receive a piece of land, freely granted by Earl Bruno and become a free farmer residing in Idar…

Or they could choose a house within the territory and a financial stipend from the Earl, continuing to work in production teams while earning significantly higher wages and bonuses compared to when they were serfs.

Although the treatment of serfs in Idar was not the harshest within the empire, it was also not particularly generous.

After all, the Norman Empire was essentially in an era of "who's the worst."

The nobles of the empire were competing in their relentless exploitation of serfs, continuously lowering their moral baselines.

Thus, even though Idar was not excessively harsh on serfs, their lives were still difficult.

However, compared to other nobles, Bruno's exploitation and control over the serfs could already be considered exceptionally merciful.

Coupled with the political halo of freeing serfs, Idar stood out as an exception.

Through this approach, Bruno was able to significantly fuel the serfs' desire to become free commoners, thereby maximizing their labor efficiency.

By building wonders and freeing serfs, the serfs gained hope, and Bruno gained a workforce that would never slack off.

This was a win-win situation!

Apart from wonder construction, Bruno also implemented alternative labor paths to freedom, such as through roadwork and farming these avenues granted freedom to far fewer serfs compared to building wonders.

If no wonders were under construction, these alternatives were seen as highly desirable. But as soon as the building of wonder started, nothing else could compare.

Thus, despite the construction site only just being confirmed, the serfs had already rushed to enlist.

However, this time, the wonder that Bruno planned to build was not the Alhambra, which stood alongside the Citadel of Namur.

After completing the system-assigned wonder-building task [Hanging Garden], Bruno was given two new wonders to construct: [Citadel of Namur] and [Alhambra].

Due to the urgent need for fortifications and a suitable location, Bruno prioritized building the Citadel of Namur.

He had assumed that the Citadel of Namur and Alhambra would need to be completed before new wonder-building tasks would unlock.

However, once the Citadel of Namur was firmly established on the southern bank of the Soren River, a new feature appeared in the system interface Wonder Construction System.

Similar to collectible card games from his past life, when Bruno opened the Wonder Construction System, he saw an orderly arrangement of purple-tinted cards in the interface.

At the bottom of the interface was a progress bar alongside the number 2.

Among the cards above the progress bar, those representing Hanging Garden and Citadel of Namur were already lit up, glowing faintly.

Within this Wonder Construction System, all wonders that Bruno could not yet build were marked with a gray lock icon, preventing him from seeing their names or appearances.

However, beyond the locked wonders and the already-built wonders, several dark gray cards were not locked—meaning they were available for selection. The Alhambra was among them!

This meant that Bruno was not restricted to building the Alhambra next.

Since he had the option to choose his next wonder, Bruno naturally wanted to pick the one most beneficial to Idar at this stage!

With that in mind, the name of Idar's next wonder was clear:

The Great Lighthouse!

Unlike the previous system-assigned wonders, the Wonder Construction System provided basic descriptions of each wonder, including estimated costs, labor requirements, construction time, and potential benefits for the territory.

Most importantly, the System also offered a brief explanation of each wonder's special abilities upon completion.

Having prior knowledge of the wonder's effects was far more useful than some lengthy, encyclopedia-style description!

This allowed Bruno to strategically choose which wonders to build based on their benefits.

Otherwise, if he had to guess each wonder's effect, he would be at the mercy of luck. And considering Bruno had never won a single poker game since his transmigration, relying on luck was not an option.

For example, after completing the Citadel of Namur by the Soren River, he discovered that it had no special wonder abilities. If not for the bonus gift package provided upon its completion, Bruno would have been hugely disappointed…

The Great Lighthouse, officially known as the Lighthouse of Alexandria, was like the Hanging Garden one of the world's Eight Great Wonders.

It originally stood on Pharos Island, near Alexandria, Egypt, and remained standing for over 1,500 years, making it a structure of remarkable historical significance!

But what shocked Bruno the most was its incredible special abilities…