Chapter 213-2: Child, When You Grow Up, You Will Fight for Dawn City (Part 2)

Li De silently indulged in a moment of fantasy.

Unfortunately, his greatest cheat the Vampire race, was limited by bloodline restrictions and couldn't produce soldiers without limit. So, the dream of ten thousand Vampires was still just a dream.

All in all, unintentionally creating Castro and gaining a powerful new troop type, the Dawn Bat was undeniably a huge success.

Harrison came rushing to Li De's office the moment he received word of his return.

The Vampire's abundant stamina allowed Harrison to work over twenty sun-hours a day, more obsessive than any workaholic.

But Harrison enjoyed it immensely. He was deeply attached to the city he had helped build piece by piece. It felt like raising a child, his love for Dawn City was no less than Li De's.

"Good evening, Patriarch." Night had already fallen after the long day.

"Harrison, run some tests on Kosso's blood donation. Make absolutely sure it won't harm him.

We'll need to mass-produce Dawn Bats in the future, and the Bronze Cyclops bloodline is essential.

Also, you and Dylon need to test how much Bronze Cyclops blood is required for Whispering Bats to evolve into Dawn Bats."

Harrison nodded and quietly took notes.

For Whispering Bats to evolve into Dawn Bats, they needed the Bronze Cyclops bloodline and 500 Faith Energy, plus a 30-day transformation period.

Li De wasn't yet sure how much Cyclops blood was required per evolution, so Harrison had to test it.

Although called a "bloodline," the Bronze Cyclops bloodline essentially referred to Kosso's blood, since most creatures' bloodline power resided within their blood.

Cyclopes were not Vampires. Thanks to racial talents, Vampires could control their bloodline power during an Embrace, meaning even when injured, their spilled blood lacked any true bloodline power unless they willingly infused it.

Cyclopes, on the other hand, lacked such control, their bloodline power was evenly distributed throughout their blood.

So to obtain that power, they just needed the Cyclops's blood.

However, there was still a huge problem plaguing Li De.

Dawn Bats, despite their power were born at Level 10 as magical beasts and required extremely rare resources to evolve. Leaving aside how precious Bronze Cyclops blood was, just the 500 points of Faith Energy per bat was already too much for him to bear.

After months of accumulation, Li De had only managed to gather just over 3,000 Faith Energy, and now it was all invested into Castro. He was officially broke.

The Dawn Order could only generate around 1,500 Faith Energy per month, due to its current number of believers.

That meant, even if Kosso could supply enough bloodline material, his maximum monthly output for Dawn Bats was three, and that was assuming he invested all of his Faith Energy into it.

If he diverted Faith Energy to other uses, production would drop even lower.

"Same problem again, it's just too hard."

Li De sighed, helpless. Just like the Magic Factory, which had been bottlenecked by raw material shortages, now the Dawn Bats were similarly stuck.

It was maddening, such a great unit right in front of him, and he couldn't use it.

And unlike magical materials, Faith Energy wasn't easy to acquire.

This high-tier power could only be generated through devout prayers from believers. Currently, the population of Dawn City limited the potential number of followers.

Almost all residents who could convert had already joined the Dawn Order. The remaining population mostly consisted of believers who had worshipped other deities for decades.

To make someone abandon decades of habit, even if not impossible, was an extremely difficult challenge.

"Harrison, once Kosso's recovered, get things started.

Regardless of other factors, have him donate blood. We'll store it for now, and later keep it preserved in the Holy Land."

Li De shook his head, he had to face reality. Regardless of whether he had enough Faith Energy or not, he needed to start accumulating Kosso's blood.

With the Divine Remains present, he could preserve the blood's vitality, so step one was storing a batch of Bronze Cyclops blood.

As for the Faith Energy issue? That wouldn't be solved any time soon. He'd have to resort to raiding population during the Months of Deep Winter to increase his number of followers.

"Yes, Patriarch."

Harrison hesitated for a moment. "Patriarch, Holy Maiden Nilo came looking for you today."

Nilo?

Li De immediately pictured that stunning figure, her golden-hued eyes filled with divine majesty.

His face turned slightly awkward. As the head of the Dawn Order, he hadn't checked on the religion's progress at all during this time.

He'd just been worrying about Faith Energy, and now someone had come knocking.

"What did Nilo say?"

Harrison shook his head. "Nothing. The Holy Maiden came to request an audience, but you were away, so she left."

Li De nodded. "Alright, I'll go visit the Dawn Order."

Without delay, he got up and left. He hadn't been to the Order in quite some time, it was due for a visit.

After all, he was the deity of the Dawn Order, recognized by the system, even if the title came with a "Pseudo" prefix.

---

The Dawn Order, as the sole officially recognized faith in Dawn City, had now become the city's largest religious organization.

Under their publicity campaign, most believers of other faiths had one by one embraced the greatness of His Majesty Kachar.

It was already 9 p.m. yet the Dawn Cathedral was still ablaze with light. The warm yellow glow of magical lanterns bathed the hall as if it were daylight.

The Dawn Order didn't demand constant prayer. Instead, it simply encouraged residents to pray during their free time after work.

This lenient doctrine won the hearts of countless residents.

Because of the Order's flexibility and freedom, it rapidly absorbed a huge number of followers.

Many other faiths imposed strict, rigid requirements on their believers. Some deities demanded fixed daily prayers to harvest more Faith Energy.

This kind of burden severely disrupted people's lives, making those gods' followers the first to convert to the Dawn Order.

Ironically, Orders like that of the Goddess of Life, which had lenient and forgiving rules, were the hardest to poach from.

In the main hall, Patril sat in the front row, silently praying toward the divine statue radiating sacred power at the center.

Dressed in a white robe, he bowed his head slightly, placing his right hand atop his left, fingers curled and palms together, the middle joints of both thumbs gently touching the tip of his nose.

This was the posture of the most devout prayer.

As one of the first residents to settle in Dawn City and among the first to join the Dawn Order, Patril had witnessed the city's rise from nothing, and the Order's birth and growth.

He knew exactly who had granted him this blessed life. He knew that if not for the great His Majesty Kachar, he and his son might have starved to death on the road to Dawn City.

His gratitude toward Li De was impossible to express in words. All he could do was pray with utmost devotion every night to feel at peace.

Life now was too good, so good that it made him uneasy.

"Father, I'm sleepy~"

The small voice came from beside him. Little Pat, only six years old, murmured groggily.

Hearing his son, Patril opened his eyes and gave a doting smile.

This was his whole world.

"Let's go home~" he said, ruffling Little Pat's golden hair, then took his hand and began to lead him out.

A few other nearby believers turned their heads at the noise. Seeing the sleepy child yawning beside Patril, they smiled kindly.

"Holy Maiden."

"Good evening, Your Highness."

Just then, voices of respectful greeting came from the entrance. The believers turned to look, and immediately stood up and bowed, hands to chest.

"Lady Nilo."

"Good evening."