The town planner took a couple of hours to come up with a plan. That seemed to be quite a long time, but it was actually frighteningly fast.
After all, he had to consider the stability of the wall, the composition of the earth, the Magic Circles, and many different things.
"Sir, I have finished a couple of plans. Please choose the one you would like to be implemented," the town planner told Shang.
Several plans were transmitted to Shang's mind.
The first one was simply a tunnel leading outside, and that was it.
The price was three Grade Six Mana Crystals.
At first glance, that seemed insane. After all, Shang could just dig one himself.
However, digging the tunnel was by far the cheapest part.
The expensive part was the people Shang had to hire to alter the Magic Circles.
If Shang wanted to control who could enter and who couldn't, all the Magic Circles would need to have an additional entrance added. This would require someone from the Magic Circle provider to come and alter the Magic Circles.
Of course, the first plan was the cheapest one since all of these changes would have to be made regardless of what Shang wanted to do.
The next plan included these things, but it also included an additional wall that would encompass another kilometer.
That would cost four Grade Six Mana Crystals in total.
The third plan included all of these things and an extension of the Magic Circle on top of that. This meant that the Magic Circles from the town would also encompass this addition.
The town planner estimated the price to be around 25 Grade Six Mana Crystals.
Those were the three main plans, but there were also a couple of additions Shang could choose from.
He could build houses.
He could build Magic Towers.
Lastly, Shang saw the options for water.
The first option was basically free since it was just a big vat that caught the rainwater.
The next one was an artificial lake, but Shang would need to hire several people to build a micro-ecosystem in the lake so that the water didn't become stagnant and dirty. The town planner had no idea how much that would cost, but he assumed it wasn't that expensive.
The most expensive option was going to the nearest river and digging a second branch that led through the outer town.
The closest river was around 200 kilometers away, and it wasn't that big. If Shang wanted a big river, he would need to reroute one from about 500 kilometers away.
Shang looked at these options for a while.
"I want the tunnel and the bigger river. That's it," Shang said.
The town planner felt a bit uncomfortable. "Sir, the Mages view the town's appearance with great importance. They will not be very happy about this."
"That's my problem, not yours," Shang said.
The town planner only sighed. "Yes, sir."
Shang nodded. "Please contact the necessary people."
"I will," the town planner said before leaving his office to contact all the necessary people.
After handling that matter, Shang contacted his general, a Peak High Mage that was responsible for all the matters of public security.
"I have plans for expansion, and I need more guards," Shang told him.
"What do you have in mind, sir?" the general asked respectfully.
"The mortal district to the north will receive a major upgrade soon. We will dig a tunnel towards the north, and we will allow the mortals to enter the wild, harvest resources, and use it to build their own district of the town."
"The mortal district will become more important in the foreseeable future, and a lot of money will be invested in it. Of course, I don't want these funds to be misappropriated, and I don't want the district to be ruled by some gangs."
"The mortal district will officially be part of the town now, and I expect it to be clean of organized crime," Shang transmitted.
The general remained silent for a while as he thought about the possible ramifications.
"Sir, I fear we will receive a major backlash from the town's elite," the general said. "The town's elite is only interested in things that make them more money. They will view the mortal district as a dirty pimple that will consume their money."
"That's not your problem, general," Shang answered. "If there are any complaints, they can directly contact me."
"Yes, sir," the general answered respectfully.
After that, Shang told the general all the details about how the mortal district should look and operate in the future.
The general eventually told Shang that about twenty True Mages and three Initial High Mages should be more than enough to handle everything.
Contracting these people would raise the monthly expenses for personnel by a couple of Grade Four Mana Crystals.
It was negligible.
They eventually settled on a plan, but the plan wouldn't be set into motion yet. After all, everything would need to be built first.
Some minutes later, Shang looked north at the mortal district.
Everything was still horrible there, but it wouldn't remain like this for long.
The main reason why the mortal district couldn't flourish was that they were cut off from any form of natural resource.
Nearly every mortal in the town hadn't even seen the outside.
They had been inside this town for their entire lives.
Mortal districts appeared in every town or city automatically.
True Mages or High Mages also had children. Of course, they would help their children and give them an education.
However, if the parents suddenly died or if they threw their child outside for any reason, the children would find themselves on the streets without anything to their name.
Eventually, they would meet each other, beg on the streets, maybe create their own broken-down houses, and so on.
Then, they would have children of their own, and those children would have children.
Eventually, so many beggars would gather in one place that the area wasn't that appealing for the Mages anymore, and they would move houses.
And that was how mortal districts just popped up.
Shang waited for a couple of hours, during which he had to kill another Archbeast.
"Sir, I have finalized the plan," the town planner contacted Shang.
"We can proceed whenever you wish."
