Lord of the Sky City

So, in the days that followed, he pondered what he should buy and how exactly to spend all his Contribution Points.

Initially, Rocky didn’t think this would be a difficult task. After all, it was no different from spending money, and as the City Lord, he may not boast extravagance, but he was certainly capable of spending money,

However, as much as Rocky thought so, when he used the Magic Energy Receiver he obtained after joining the Alliance to check what exactly the Contribution Points could exchange for, he was in for quite a shock; there were just so many things that Contribution Points could be used for!

For Contribution Points, the Sky Alliance had an entire exchange system in place, and the items available for exchange were broadly categorized into three major classes.

The first class was supplies, starting from the most basic of foodstuffs, to everything needed for the city’s development—all inclusive for exchange. The variety was so vast that one could hardly take them all in at once, with resources being the most important. Using Contribution Points, one could exchange for various resources within the Sky Alliance, from minerals, to medicine, to various materials. Virtually any resource could be obtained.

The second class was military equipment, which was self-explanatory. From the standard equipment used by ordinary soldiers, to Void Magic Armor, up to large warships, all military hardware available for exchange with Contribution Points was at your disposal, and indeed, some items, as rumored, were unobtainable elsewhere.

It’s just that these hard-to-acquire pieces of military equipment, although available for exchange within the Alliance using Contribution Points, were not at all cheap. They required thousands, if not tens of thousands, and even up to several tens of thousands of Contribution Points to acquire—an expensive deal indeed.

Besides supplies and military equipment, the third class of items that could be exchanged with Contribution Points was quite special, known as construction.

The so-called construction exchange didn’t refer to a specific item but rather the use of Contribution Points to develop and construct cities. For example, if a city needed to expand its size, one could choose the expansion option in the construction category. Once Contribution Points were paid, the Sky Alliance would dispatch people to carry out the city expansion. Similarly, if a city needed to build a certain type of factory, Contribution Points could facilitate the Sky Alliance to send help.

Even the population could be exchanged with Contribution Points!

Rocky was truly startled when he found out that Contribution Points could be used to exchange for the population. As everyone knows, population is too important for any Sky City, so much so that when gauging the size of a Sky City, it’s not by the city’s scale, economy, or military might, but strictly by its population. This emphasized just how crucial the population is for a city. Never had he expected that in the Sky Alliance, the population could be exchanged using Contribution Points.

For Rocky, this was really an unexpectedly pleasant surprise, yet before he could even rejoice, he saw the price for exchanging the population: 100 Contribution Points for 1 person…

Upon seeing this exchange rate, his excitement promptly dwindled, considering his 1,000 Contribution Points could only exchange for 10 people…

Population is crucial, but it requires a significant base number to be effective. Take Thunderhawk City, for instance; currently, its population is around 3,000. If one more person were added, the population would indeed increase, but would that one person make a difference to the grand development of Thunderhawk City?

Definitely not. Thunderhawk City would need a sudden increase of a thousand people; otherwise, an addition of dozens or even hundreds would be as good as none.

And with just a bit of calculation, it’s clear that relying on Contribution Points to increase the population was a costly endeavor: one person required a hundred points, ten people would be a thousand points, a hundred people would mean ten thousand points, and a thousand individuals—a staggering hundred thousand Contribution Points!

Spending a hundred thousand Contribution Points just to increase the population by a thousand—a question truly worth pondering whether it was a loss or a gain.

But in any case, the array of items available for exchange within the Sky Alliance was vast, ranging from food to population; as long as there were Contribution Points, everything was up for grabs.

After roughly understanding what Contribution Points could be exchanged for, Rocky couldn’t help but feel one thing: it wasn’t enough!

No wonder Farey had agreed so readily to his request; it was only now that Rocky realized he had asked for too few Contribution Points. In the Sky Alliance’s contribution system, a thousand points were definitely not a lot. For rare items only available through the Sky Alliance, these thousand points would undoubtedly be insufficient.

Although he felt his initial request was somewhat lacking, there was nothing Rocky could do now except bite the bullet and not go back to Farey to ask for more. Instead of dwelling on his excessive caution, he decided it was key to first use these thousand points to exchange for some items to enhance his strength.

Faced with so many options for exchange, deciding what to get with his Contribution Points became an important matter. After all, there were only a thousand points in his hand, and once spent, they would be gone.

So in this situation, Rocky spent a great deal of time making his choice.

Firstly, he ruled out city development, although it was an important aspect. Later on, when Thunderhawk City would need to expand from a small sky city to a medium one, the Alliance’s help would definitely be necessary, but for now, Thunderhawk City hadn’t developed to the point of needing the Sky Alliance’s help.

Secondly, he excluded resources like supplies. After the competition with Xia Nai had ended, Rocky had amassed over five million Gold Coins. Allocating a whole million to replenish the city treasury, Thunderhawk City still had some money left—enough to be self-sufficient for the time being, minimizing the need to waste Contribution Points on everyday supplies.

As for mining resources, Orton’s research could make use of them, but not in a large quantity. The smallest unit of exchange for any kind of mineral resource also needed to be more than a hundred pounds, so this option was likewise unnecessary. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

Thus, after all the considerations, the item that Rocky should—and indeed could—exchange for was quite obvious: military equipment.

This category was precisely what Rocky intended to replenish, as it was closely related to what he had to do next!

Since he had proposed to the Sky Alliance to manage the Backhill Village Mine on his own, it indicated that he had already targeted the mine in Backhill Village for his next objective.

Indeed, having control over a mining resource would bring tremendous benefits to the city’s future development. Hence, as soon as he had saved Wilton and learned that he might have the chance to join the Sky Alliance, he set his sights on the mining resources of Backhill Village, planning to reclaim the mines from the demons’ grip!

However, this task was not as simple as just saying it could be done. After Tulip City fell, everyone knew that the demons had become restless. Therefore, the land was bound to be even more dangerous than before.

For Rocky, if he wanted to acquire the Backhill Village Mine, he would need to not only retake the mine but also defend it. Accomplishing this was no small feat—it required not just a strong fleet and city but also powerful soldiers, much like when he had to defend Backhill Village, where people had to physically stand their ground.

And at this juncture, Contribution Points came into their own.

The military hardware that could be exchanged with Contribution Points included not only high-end Void Magic Armor and large warships but also standard-issue equipment and weapons for the common soldiers. And since Contribution Points were more precious than Gold Coins, a small amount of them could exchange for a large quantity of equipment, which was precisely what Rocky needed.

The Guard Corps of Thunderhawk City was already strong, and after incorporating the numerous warriors from Backhill Village, their strength was even more formidable. This was evident from their battle to eradicate the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group, where even a war fanatic like Karina had to admit the strength of Thunderhawk City’s troops.

In this context, equipping the troops with excellent gear would undoubtedly further increase the Guard Corps’ strength. With the support of the aerial fleet added to that, defending the mine didn’t seem like such a difficult task anymore!