Chapter 971 Strange Atmosphere
Three days quickly passed, but the hired laborers had cleared many coldwood trees from Extreme Misty Forest, enough to change the scenery on a regional scale.
A tear into Extreme Misty Forest could be seen from the sky.
By the time the hired laborers are finished with their job, Extreme Misty Forest will be divided into two as if someone cleaved it apart.
Leon toured the worksite with Faelyn and two other Winter Cats accompanying them; both were at the Paragon level.
In the past three days, Leon has resurrected the sixty frozen Winter Cats from their cryosleep, and most of them were Rank 2 Transcendents.
At the same time, Leon also performed blood refinement on a number of them, allowing Winter Cats to undergo partial bloodline awakening. Thanks to that, multiple Winter Cats ascended to Rank 3 Transcendents, joining the ranks of Paragons like Duke Blizzardpaw.
However, they were even more impressive than Duke Blizzardpaw.
After being frozen in ice for a thousand years, the Paragon-level Winter Cats had also awakened their unique ice abilities.
Furthermore, they had very high affinities to ice, which made them very resistant to the coldness of the blizzard storm region.
They could have enjoyed great statuses or even competed with Duke Blizzard for monarchy in the Winter Cat Tribe.
However, several of them pledged their allegiance to Leon for giving them new life.
At that moment, one of them was rested on Leon's shoulders like a furry collar while the other was held in Faelyn's arms. No one realized they were both Paragons due to their small sizes, which could be compared to kittens.
After learning the Hundred Transformation Art from Leon, they had chosen to adopt such small forms. Furthermore, they were also a pair of brothers and sisters.
The sister resting Leon's shoulders was Rainshine, and the brother in Faelyn's arms was Snowscar.
"Not bad. To think this much progress has been made in three days. At this rate, it will take another three weeks to clear the obstacles to the north," Leon casually commented while glancing around.
Of course, this was only three weeks to clear the obstacles.
To completely open up the path to the north, they still needed to flatten the ice land in the northern parts and build the main road.
All that put together would take roughly one and a half to two months.
"I heard they already started working on the forest a few hours after Mother, Aria, and Darlene returned to New Capital. The efficiency of command to management is astonishing," Faelyn added.
"Father must have been preparing to reclaim the north from a much earlier time. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible to procure so many working tools at once," Leon assumed.
"If we had mobilized Transcendents for the job, we could open up the north even quicker," Faelyn said.
"Yes, but the Transcendents don't have anything to gain from this. At the same time, we would be taking away the ordinary folks' livelihood. Take a look at them."
Leon pointed at a group of hired laborers, who appeared to be working earnestly on the ice and coldwood trees in the area.
They genuinely enjoyed the job.
"Before the job started, many people were only around Rank 5 to Rank 6 Body Tempering. But after three days on the job, their strength has risen to Rank 9 Body Tempering. And this is mostly due to the nature of their work," Leon mentioned.
At least, that was what he got from the report. Most people were still saving up their contribution points for better rewards
"The north is important, but it's nothing something we need immediately. If we can work towards it while improving the empire collectively as a whole at the same time, don't you think it'll be better?"
"I guess it is better that way," Faelyn replied.
Nevertheless, as Leon and Faelyn toured the area, the supervising official approached them.
"Greetings, Your Highness! We are honored by your presence, Your Highness!" Supervisor Owen excitedly said as if he had just met his idol.
In fact, Leon wasn't any different from an idol.
His collective feats made him nothing short of a legend in the eyes of the people like Supervisor Owen, who had seen each and every change he had brought to the empire.
"Has there been any problems at the worksite in these past three days?" Leon casually inquired.
"Yes, Your Highness," Supervisor Owen nodded.
"However, they were only minor problems and disputes over contribution points. Still, if you are looking for actual numbers, then we have disqualified 342 people from the job over the past three days. Of course, we only disqualified the troublemakers and didn't include the victims."
"That many, huh? That's quite a big problem in and of itself," Leon said with a frown.
Despite all the strict regulations set in place to promote a fair working environment, there were still so many greedy and selfish people who tried to earn more contribution points at the expense of others.
"I personally don't see it as a problem despite the numbers, Your Highness. Most of these cases are mainly disputes over equal distribution versus actual work contribution," Supervisor Owen mentioned.
"Most groups agree to equal distribution. However, not everyone put in the same amount of work. These group leaders felt it was unfair for everyone else who worked hard and wanted to change the agreed distribution."
"Thus, it shouldn't be out of greed, but fairness, Your Highness." Supervisor Owen stated.
"You don't see the problem in that? If the group leaders have already agreed to equal distribution, then they should honor it. Not arbitrarily change the distribution after receiving the contribution points," Leon stated.
"If they felt their group members' work efficiencies are inadequate, they can just drop the members from the group after, not right before the distribution of the contribution points. Do you still think that they weren't greedy?"
"No, Your Highness," Supervisor Owen replied.
"Besides the dispute problems, have you noticed anything else usual on the worksite? The atmosphere feels rather off," Leon mentioned when he glanced at some hired laborer groups.
"I've also noticed the air had become strange lately," Supervisor Owen nodded.
"I think it's mostly due to the refugees, Your Highness. I can't help but feel like they are up to something."