Just as I became the Emperor of Humanity, the system appeared?

Chapter 13: Accumulating Faith Points to Upgrade the System

Tester was obsequious and extremely fawning towards the foreign envoy.

To ensure the foreign envoys had a good time, Tester specially selected a group of graceful and beautiful maids to serve them.

Amidst the sounds of traditional instruments and the fragrance of fine clothes, the banquet atmosphere gradually warmed up.

During this time, in order to test the waters of the alien envoys, Tester casually mentioned Leon's bottom line.

Before he could finish speaking, the snake-man's expression changed drastically.

It suddenly straightened its upper body, covered in fine scales, its tongue hissing, and slapped Tester hard across the face: "Insolence! We, the eight races, have come together, and this paltry gain is hardly enough for anyone to share?"

Tester's cheeks immediately swelled up, but he dared not speak out in anger. He could only force a more humble smile, apologize repeatedly, and order his attendants to bring him finer wine and more exquisite dishes.

Of course, Tester was quite adept at serving the alien races and was skilled at mediation. Under his arrangement, these alien envoys were completely "forgetting about home".

The goblin messenger, in particular, was surrounded by women on either side, drinking the orange-yellow liquor with slurred, drunken eyes, and shouting, "Tester, my good friend! Time... we can give you, but we can't wait indefinitely! The final deadline is—one month!"

Tester nodded repeatedly: "Yes, esteemed envoys! I will certainly persuade His Majesty the King and all the princes and ministers to increase the compensation within a month!"

In order to persuade Li Ang to increase the compensation, Tester mobilized his network of connections in the capital, uniting many officials in the capital to come and submit petitions every day.

Li Ang's expression was cold and stern. He had Steward Mike send all these people away and record them on the list of those who surrendered.

"A month?"

Knowing the alien races' deadline, Li Ang was pondering how to make thorough preparations during this period.

Suddenly, the "Golden Godhood Faith System" underwent a strange change!

A golden message appeared: "Collect 300,000 Faith Points to upgrade the system to LV2! Unlock more system functions!"

Looking at the panel, Li Ang's current Faith value is only 194876 points (maintaining a slight increase every day!).

"The advanced biological organs from the Ratman Merchant Guild are almost ready for delivery! The Ash Knights' modification is urgent! Once the medical servants begin modification, their faith points will be depleted rapidly!"

"However, without upgrading the system, the current functions and the in-game store are really limited! Sacrificing 300,000 faith points can give us a glimmer of hope!"

After repeatedly considering the pros and cons, Li Ang decided that he still had to give it a shot.

To gather over 100,000 faith points, a large amount of devout output from the people is required.

Li Ang decided to take a tour of his capital city and its inhabitants.

Before the inspection, Li Ang specifically asked Andrew to report on the situation of the Treasury and the Grain and Provisions Department.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Treasury currently holds 5.72 million gold coins, 29 million silver coins, and 86.5 million copper coins."

(Mainland China's monetary system: 1 gold coin = 100 silver coins = 1000 copper coins)

"As for the grain and provisions department, the current reserves are: 140,000 shi of rice, 280,000 shi of wheat, 90,000 shi of corn, and 300,000 shi of fodder!"

（正常情况下：1万石粮食≈1万士卒/100天；1万石草料≈1千匹战马/100天的正常消耗。）

Li Ang was quite satisfied with Andrew's report.

Andrew did have financial acumen and political skills; otherwise, the money and provisions of the Treasury and the Food Service would have been embezzled, lost, and sold off by a group of officials.

"With a solid financial foundation, gaining the faith of the capital's citizens becomes easier!"

Leon was glad he had insisted on his decision. If Prime Minister Tobias had really transferred all the savings from the Treasury and Food Service, he would have been left with nothing.

...........

Amber Town, one of the satellite towns on the outskirts of the capital, is a typical agricultural town that specializes in producing rice for the capital.

In recent months, the wrinkles on the forehead of the town mayor, Baron Migler, have become so deep that they could trap flies. He is about forty years old, and his brown hair has been streaked with silver. His once well-fitting aristocratic clothes now look somewhat loose, clearly due to his increasing thinness.

Serfs, large-scale farmers, tenants, and freemen kept reporting that their wheat plants were being attacked by large numbers of aphids.

Many wheat plants have experienced yellowing leaves, shriveled ears of wheat, and wrinkled stems.

If this continues, this year's wheat harvest will definitely be drastically reduced!

Amber Town has 200,000 mu of wheat fields, which under normal circumstances can stably produce more than 500,000 shi of wheat per year.

This is also an important source of food to keep the capital running.

Migler knew that if wheat production dropped drastically, his time as a small-town baron would be over, and officials from the Royal Grain Bureau would punish him, possibly even sending him to the guillotine!

"Has no farmer come up with a solution? Is there no way to get rid of those nasty aphids?"

Have you tried organizing people to catch the aphids?

Migler flew into a rage at his agricultural officers.

Several agricultural officials, heads hanging low, said with wry smiles, "Your Excellency, we have already organized serfs and free men to catch aphids, but the results are very poor. Aphids are very small, and there are too many of them. Two hundred thousand acres of wheat fields—no matter how much manpower we expend to catch them, it's all in vain!"

"We even contacted the pharmacists in the capital, but the insect repellent they sent was useless!"

Miguel was deeply troubled. He tapped the table. "It seems the only option is to spend a fortune to send magicians from the Mage's Association to the capital. Let them use their magic to wipe out these pests!"

The clerk standing nearby immediately objected: "Your Excellency, while the magic of mages is indeed wondrous, most of it is extremely destructive. Killing aphids is easy, but wheat plants are equally fragile. If they are affected by the mages' group magic damage, the plants will be destroyed, and the yield will be zero. Our sin would be immense!"

Miguel suddenly broke out in a cold sweat; the document's statement made sense.

Those high and mighty magicians don't care whether the wheat plants survive or not. Once the spell is cast, the damage is irreversible. If the aphids are killed and the plants are destroyed, then it's all meaningless.

"What should we do then?"

Miguel was so weak he almost collapsed to the ground.

At that moment, a messenger reported: "Your Excellency, His Majesty the King, along with Cabinet Minister Andrew and Commander Edmund, have arrived with their entourage!"

Migliorton was dumbfounded: "His Majesty the King has arrived? And he's brought cabinet ministers and corps commanders with him?"

Given Amber Town's status as a satellite town guarding the capital, it is usually only deputy officials from the Grain and Provisions Bureau who come to inspect the work; even the bureau's chief official rarely comes.

For example, the former king Gudroni never came here even once!

"Hurry up and get me dressed! Meanwhile, have the town's honor guard step forward to greet His Majesty the King and all the esteemed guests!"

Miguel tried to pull himself together, frantically trying to smooth out the wrinkles in his robes, his heart pounding wildly.