Chapter 87: The Age of Guilds
Back when the Blue Sea Civilization was still in its era of competing nations, the greatest goal of every country had been simple: wipe out all the others and unify Blue Sea under a single rule.
Qin Zhi had accomplished that.
Her secret to success was straightforward—so long as she could ensure that she alone could take on every other nation at once, there was nothing to worry about.
Then the apocalypse came, and their God led them into the Temple.
During the Velvet Star period, things had still been manageable. Among the intelligence reports their God had sent regarding the various Safe Cities, there had been only a little over a dozen, and the strongest among them was merely Tier 3. The government and military had run repeated war simulations to make sure that even if all those Safe Cities became enemies of Blue Sea, Blue Sea would still be able to crush them all.
Then came Dazzling Star.
The appearance of more than forty Safe Cities had given the Blue Sea government a faint sense of pressure. At the same time, however, Dazzling Star’s environment—where coordinates were almost impossible to calculate and only cold weapons could be used—had eased that pressure somewhat.
The emergence of flying wings had boosted Blue Sea’s combat power by another large margin.
Even so, Blue Sea did not grow complacent.
As long as they did not possess the strength to completely overwhelm every Safe City in their region, Qin Zhi and the other senior government officials could never truly relax.
It was just like back then: even after Blue Sea had already been unified, the production of all kinds of weapons had never stopped.
Blue Sea might not need to use those weapons, but it absolutely could not afford to be without them.
A Tier 3 Safe City already possessed a shield that could be activated for one hour per day. Tier 4 and Tier 5 Safe Cities would only have even more methods at their disposal.
What use were six hundred Holy Bombs?
Assuming each Safe City received ten Holy Bombs, Blue Sea’s entire stockpile would be exhausted the moment the world contained more than sixty Safe Cities.
Of course, the possibility that every Safe City other than Blue Sea would unite against Blue Sea was even lower than the possibility of Qin Zhi being unable to defeat a Skywing Dragon.
But as long as that possibility was not zero, no one could guarantee that it would never happen.
Now, though, things were different.
A total of 3,712 Holy Bombs.
According to the divine revelation their God had sent down, there were 119 Safe Cities on Green Billow Star.
Even if every single Safe City received a Blue Sea gift package containing fifteen Holy Bombs, that would only consume 1,785 rounds, leaving Blue Sea with 1,927 in reserve.
With more than three thousand Holy Bombs in stock, even if they encountered Tier 6 or Tier 7 mutant beasts—or Safe Cities of the same tier—Blue Sea would have the strength to fight back.
President Qin Zhi left the armory, thoroughly satisfied.
With the Temple’s minimum defensive strength secured, they could now dispatch more personnel out of the Temple and into the various seas to gather resources.
Blue Sea’s territory had expanded enormously, its population had swelled dramatically, and the civilization had now survived three apocalyptic worlds. It was time to thoroughly revise Blue Sea’s governing policies.
The number of Blue Sea residents would only continue to grow. It was no longer feasible to have the government personally direct everyone’s every move as it had before, nor could they simply scatter people across the world without any rules.
Blue Sea needed more active, self-driven forces.
…
“I seriously didn’t expect this! Back in peaceful times I couldn’t even afford a computer. Now that the world’s ended, I actually have enough money—no, enough points—to buy one!”
Wang Moning excitedly switched on her brand-new computer.
In today’s Blue Sea, a computer was undeniably a luxury item. Buying the computer itself wasn’t enough. The owner also had to live in an apartment building with electricity and be willing to pay 800 points a month for internet access.
Every computer came with a full suite of software pre-installed before it was delivered to its owner.
The program that attracted Wang Moning the most was Blue Sea Video, a streaming platform packed with Blue Sea-produced movies, TV dramas, and variety shows that anyone could watch for free.
To people like Song Xi and the others, it wasn’t all that exciting. They had already seen many of the most popular dramas and films before the apocalypse.
But for Wang Moning, who had come from Velvet Star, it was a completely different story.
To her, it was like suddenly gaining the chance to binge-watch every classic masterpiece Blue Sea had ever produced.
Just imagining it made her feel giddy with delight.
Besides Blue Sea Video, the computer also came with plenty of other useful programs.
There was the Bulletin Board, for one. That was also available on mobile phones and was generally managed by the Central AI.
It posted all kinds of information: newly enacted government policies, the day’s market supply, major price drops on goods, newly issued urgent missions, local weather and environmental conditions, and more.
Then there was the Supply Marketplace, which was essentially online shopping. Unlike back on Dark Star, however, it allowed users to purchase virtually anything.
For example, the apartment Wang Moning was currently living in had been bought through the Supply Marketplace.
With a single click to place the order, the Central AI registered her identity as a resident, then automatically sent her the apartment’s access code.
If someone had told Wang Moning three years ago that one day she’d buy a home in just two minutes without ever speaking to another person, she never would have believed it.
The apartment was small, sure, but it had electricity, running water, and internet access.
In the apocalypse, that was a rare luxury.
Staring at the screen, Wang Moning couldn’t help curling her lips into a smug grin.
The computer also included Let’s Chat, the Blue Sea Knowledge Database, Drawing Software, the Blue Sea Intranet, Blue Sea 3712 Mini Games, and more.
She happily clicked through them one by one, but when she reached 3712 Mini Games, she paused.
“…Wasn’t it called 568 Mini Games before?”
Song Xi had also bought a laptop and was browsing the Blue Sea Supply Marketplace when she heard the question.
“The mini-game platform is named after the number of Holy Bombs,” she explained. “Didn’t we just recover another batch? Since the total went up, they renamed it.”
Wang Moning: “…”
Why on earth would a mini-game platform be named after the Holy Bomb count?!
From the side, Shen Jinyang chimed in, “It’s a tradition. Back before Blue Sea was unified, all the major nations used to compete over who had more Holy Bombs. But not every citizen would regularly check the Temple’s website to see each country’s stockpile.”
Then, no one knew which country had started it first, but someone added their nation’s Holy Bomb count to the title of its game portal. That way, anyone opening the games page would immediately know how many Holy Bombs their country possessed.
The other nations quickly followed suit, and over time, the practice became a tradition.
Wang Moning: “…”
Why did this somehow not surprise her at all?
She clicked into the mini-game platform. Sure enough, the most popular titles were all shooting, survival, and base-building games—perfectly suited to Blue Sea’s national character.
“Captain, haven’t you picked a ship yet? If you ask me, we’d better buy one soon. What if we wait too long and everyone else snatches them up?”
By now, Wang Moning had a very clear understanding of Blue Sea residents’ purchasing power. Anything related to venturing out and fighting would inevitably sell out within a single day.
On Green Billow Star, exploring the outside world required a ship. There were far fewer ships than people. If they delayed, there was a real chance that not even a paddle would be left for them.
Song Xi, however, remained completely unconcerned.
“Don’t worry. I’m looking at large vessels. Across all of Blue Sea, there are only a handful of people who can actually afford one, so we won’t have much competition.”
Before the Little Blue Sea Nation was absorbed, its final population count had been 2.15 million. Of those, roughly 970,000 had been incorporated through the priesthood expansion.
Among the remaining 1.18 million or so, although there had been only around a thousand believers before the expansion, everyone recognized that if the trio hadn’t founded the nation in the first place, so many Dazzling Star residents would never have gathered together and become believers.
Taking that into account, the points distributed to citizens were allocated proportionally, and the trio received a substantial share.
As a result, Song Xi and her two teammates had climbed into the top ten of Blue Sea’s wealth rankings.
They were now genuinely wealthy.
Even if they wanted to head out onto the ocean to salvage cosmic debris, they could afford to do it aboard a luxurious, large ship.
“But we can’t go too luxurious, either. We have to consider the ship’s energy consumption, all kinds of fuel, spare parts, daily supplies, every sort of consumable… And we have to buy weapons, right? If a ship doesn’t even have a cannon, can you really call it a ship…?”
Just doing the calculations gave Song Xi a headache. She set her laptop down on the floor with a thump.
“I can’t do this anymore. So this is the trouble that comes with being rich?”
Back when the trio had barely any points, there had been no need to choose a vehicle at all. They would simply throw on a backpack, grab some jerky, put on their military masks, lasso a random snow beast, and head off on their journey.
Now, not only did they have to pick a ship, they also had to think about the crew it would require.
A large vessel couldn’t operate without people. They needed a captain, a first mate, a chief engineer, electricians, sailors… and they’d definitely want a welder and a carpenter as well.
Just looking at the list made Song Xi’s eyes ache.
She stood up and patted Toya on the shoulder. He was intently studying one of Blue Sea’s mechanical repair courses.
“How about we stick with our old method? You could convert our snow train into a ship. We’d even save the points we’d spend buying one.”
Toya replied quietly, “Ships are much more complicated than trains. With my current abilities, I could build at most a vessel for thirty people. Besides, without snow beasts to provide power, a ship still needs various fuels and energy sources to operate. The best I can do is repair anything that breaks.”
“Only thirty people? Whew… that’s nowhere near enough.”
Song Xi sat back down on the floor.
After the various Dazzling Star nations had merged into Blue Sea, the Blue Sea government had not immediately ordered them to disband.
After all, over the past half year, those nations had functioned normally. Regardless of the original motives of the Blue Sea citizens who had founded them—many had simply wanted to earn points—after living alongside their people for so long, the citizens had come to rely on their leaders.
And the leaders, in turn, had unconsciously begun to see those citizens as their own responsibility.
The government offered everyone two choices.
First: the various small nations could remain as independent nations, with their leaders continuing to govern them.
Second: any small nation with more than one thousand members could convert into a guild. The Blue Sea government would introduce a variety of guild policies, offer guild loans, and even allow guilds to lease farmland.
The choice was obvious.
Everyone picked the second option.
Even the largest of the small nations, Little Blue Sea, couldn’t compare to Blue Sea itself. It lacked a complete social system, comprehensive public policies, and the administrative framework needed to guide and support its residents.
Take Song Xi’s trio, for example. If they chose to rule as an independent nation, then the livelihoods of Little Blue Sea’s population of more than two million people—their food, water, and everything else—would become the trio’s responsibility.
The second option was far better.
Everyone would still be a resident of Blue Sea, and the government already had policies in place to take care of the population. The trio would also receive a generous amount of points, and whenever they wanted to undertake a major project, they could simply recruit people through their guild.
For this voyage alone, Song Xi had already decided to take at least one thousand guild members with her.
If things went well, she planned to come back for even more.
After all, if they happened to salvage half of a shopping mall from the vast ocean, someone would have to haul all that stuff aboard.
“The more people we have, the greater the harvest.”
And who knew?
What if the sea monsters on Green Billow Star could also be controlled by her Gu worms? Then Toya could work his magic as a mechanic…
Staring at the luxurious cruise ship displayed on her computer screen, Song Xi gritted her teeth and clicked Purchase.
“This is the one!!”
Green Billow Star—here comes the Little Blue Sea Guild!
…
At the same time, the thousands of guilds throughout Blue Sea also finalized the ships they intended to buy.
Standing atop a high-rise building, President Qin Zhi looked down at the bustling Blue Sea residents below and the rolling waves in the distance.
She knew that, from this moment onward…
Guilds would flourish across Green Billow Star like flowers in bloom, making the Blue Sea Civilization stronger than ever.
The Age of Guilds had begun.
