Above the mage!

Chapter 592 Fourth-Order Ice Cave
This is both a limitation imposed by costs and a true reflection of the needs of the people.

Building a clock tower that can accurately tell time and is durable is extremely difficult.

The core of a fully functional clock tower lies in the intricate movement that drives the clock.

This is no ordinary gear set, but a creation that combines mechanical principles with the enchanting skills of a mage.

It requires master watchmakers to spend time and effort manually adjusting it to ensure the gears mesh perfectly. Furthermore, it requires mages to add basic runes for protection and enhancement to key components, such as "sturdiness," "dustproofness," and "resistance to temperature-induced deformation."
It even requires the assistance of a sorcerer to calibrate the pendulum's rhythm in order to counteract the interference from subtle geological fluctuations and strong winds.

Its internal power source is also expensive:
It either relies on a large counterweight that is lifted by a winch and needs to be reset periodically, or it uses expensive magic crystals to drive a smaller but more expensive magic clock.

All of this means staggering expenses and maintenance costs.

Therefore, having only one clock tower in a city is the most practical choice given the high costs.

Clearly, this large clock cannot cover every corner of the city.

However, indirect coverage can be achieved entirely through a "signal transmission chain".

Families living within the range of the bell's volume, such as artisans in the city center, would inform their neighbors upon hearing the bell.

Suburban villages would respond to the municipal clock with church bells or whistles, forming a crude center-periphery signal network:
Half an hour before the market opened, the municipal bell rang, and then the civilians responsible for security and public affairs in each neighborhood would strike a wooden clapper to relay the information. The curfew bell at dusk also used this method to let the farmers outside the city know that the city gates were about to close.

Of course, it's not true that we couldn't build more bell towers without the financial resources.

Ultimately, the reason is that most ordinary people do not have high requirements for the precision of time in their production and daily life.

For example, farmers start working in the fields about an hour after sunrise, rest and eat when the sun is at its highest point, and finish work an hour before sunset.

Being half an hour earlier or later during this period has almost no impact on production.

The same applies to most other industries.

Some special professions that require precise timekeeping, such as church stewards, bakers, and doctors, can also use simple timekeeping tools to keep track of time.

For example, church priests often use water clocks to measure time by the speed of water flow, ensuring that religious ceremonies are carried out on time;
Bakers use hourglasses to control the fermentation time of the dough;
Doctors use candle clocks, which involve marking a candle with lines. The time it takes for the candle to burn down to a mark represents a specific time, allowing them to assess the effectiveness of medication or changes in the patient's condition.

These tools are cheap and practical, and are sufficient to meet their needs.

Those who need precise understanding and control of time are generally upper-class people such as nobles, mages, and wealthy merchants. They are noble, and their time is also "noble," which is why it needs to be precisely controlled.

But precisely because they were upper-class people, they could afford pocket watches and did not need to obtain accurate time through public clocks.

In this context, setting up multiple clock towers in a town becomes a thankless and arduous task.

Therefore, Elsa initially couldn't understand why Gaode was undertaking such a large-scale construction project:
The North lacked sufficient technology, and all the core components of the clock towers were purchased from outside at great expense.

Gaode has invested enormous resources, disproportionate to its current financial strength, to establish this clock tower network in key areas, including schools.

In her opinion, this was nothing short of a luxurious obsession.

However, out of trust in, or even "admiration" for, Gaode's vision and capabilities, Elsa carried out Gaode's orders with unwavering determination despite her doubts.

Gaode didn't mince words and directly stated its purpose:
The North is taking a different path; it's more like an "industrialization" route.

Efficiency is crucial for industrialization.

Under this premise, a precise sense of time is a powerful tool for improving efficiency.

The best place to cultivate a sense of time is at school.

The clock tower in the school is not just a timekeeping tool, but also a way to teach children about order.

Every morning at eight o'clock, the bell rings, and students must arrive at school on time.

Every hour, the bell rings, signaling the end of get out of class and giving students a ten-minute break.

When the bell rings again, it means it's time to start class, and students must immediately return to their seats, quiet down, and begin the new lesson.

At 5 p.m., the bell rang, signaling the end of school.

This kind of punctual training, day after day, will help students develop efficient habits no matter what profession they pursue when they grow up.

Moreover, the chimes of the clock tower can cover the entire school and surrounding area, gradually forming the time order of the entire city.

The current investment may seem huge, but the future reward will be a highly efficient, orderly, and rapidly developing society, which will be tenfold or even a hundredfold.

Elsa had a vague understanding of Gaode's statements and viewpoints.

Because this idea is so novel.

No nobleman or ruler ever believed that his subjects needed to establish a temporal order.

But this is the North!

The things that appear in the North are often things that cannot be seen elsewhere.

So Elsa no longer had any doubts, only anticipation.

It is worth mentioning that on the east side of the Phoenix 10th General Education College stands a stone building that is much smaller than the main teaching building.

It lacks the clock tower in the square and the spacious activity area, yet the sound of film lessons still emanates from it.

This indicates that the building is also a teaching space where classes are conducted.

However, the students among them were somewhat special; they were not school-aged children, but rather more than thirty burly men dressed in identical uniforms.

These are all prospective police officers from the Public Security Bureau. After passing the relevant basic assessments, they are undergoing a two-month pre-service cultural training program.

The training period is quite long, and the requirements are also quite high.

Students should master basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and learn to write their own name and the name of their patrol area.

In addition, there is specialized vocational training, including the security regulations that the Public Security Bureau recently established, which require all of them to be memorized and thoroughly understood.

It is essential to ensure that any sudden public security incident can be addressed in accordance with public security regulations.

The classes also include simulations of various emergency scenarios, such as disputes between indigenous people and new immigrants over land boundaries, or the discovery of suspicious individuals loitering around. These trainee police officers are then asked to take appropriate action on the spot in accordance with regulations.

In addition, there is training on official document recording.

This is a mandatory course for every police officer. Initially, the requirements are not particularly strict, but at least officers must be able to clearly write down the people, locations, and events in a standardized format.

After the two-month training period, there will be an assessment to determine whether you stay or leave.

Only those who pass the assessment can be officially assigned to their posts; otherwise, they will be sent back to receive further cultural training with the next batch of prospective police officers.

If a candidate fails the assessment twice in a row, their probationary police officer status will be revoked, and they will not be hired.

In most parts of the world, security team members who are responsible for patrol and maintaining order only need to be physically strong; there are actually no requirements regarding their "education level."

Only in a few developed cities, such as the capital of the Golden Flower Dynasty or a coastal city, are the requirements for security team members much higher, and often only mages can serve in this role.

And a monk, naturally, has a high level of education.

However, their level of education was merely a byproduct of learning magic, and was never a rigid requirement for maintaining order.

Phoenix is ​​arguably the first city on the continent to explicitly list education level as a competency requirement for its law enforcement officers.

Caitlin initially couldn't understand Gao De's request. In her view, when it came to maintaining order, wasn't combat strength the most important factor?
You can't maintain public order by writing, can you?

Instead of spending time on cultural training, it would be better to do more physical training.

But as this requirement was implemented and put into practice, she gradually came to realize its necessity and benefits.

In the past, when dealing with conflicts between new immigrants and indigenous people, their police officers could only use "force" to forcibly reconcile them, scold them, and warn them not to cause any more trouble.

But often, within two days, the same conflict would erupt again.

Now, police officers will meticulously divide the responsibilities of both parties in a conflict according to the public order regulations, provide a solution, and write a detailed record for both parties to sign and seal. If anyone later goes back on their word, they can refer to the record.

Once the conflict is resolved in this way, it is unlikely to recur.

The changes are more pronounced when apprehending thieves or suspicious individuals.

Previously, police officers could only provide vague information such as "tall man, wearing black clothes," which was not very useful.

Now, however, they can accurately describe the characteristics: "about 1.8 meters tall, with a square face, fleeing towards the residential area to the east."

These characteristics are then transmitted to various patrol points, and officers can often apprehend the suspects quickly by acting on these characteristics.

What surprised Caitlin the most was the improvement in the efficiency of security management.

In the past, when cases were tallied at the end of the week or month, veteran officers relied entirely on their memory to recall: "It seems like there were four thefts this week, and two fights."

The data is vague and unclear, making it impossible to adjust police resources in a targeted manner.

Now, every police officer writes a patrol log every day, recording in detail the situation in the patrol area that day.

After compiling these records, Caitlin only needed to open the files to clearly see which areas had more security problems: for example, there were many disputes in the Arctic Lake area, so two more police officers were assigned to mediate at the location; there were many suspicious people near the West Workshop area, so the number of night patrols was increased.

As a result, the efficiency of maintaining public order is more than double that of before.
Compared to before Gaode Maps arrived, Phoenix's total population has almost quadrupled.

As the population continues to pour in and the city expands, the pressure on public security also increases dramatically.

Therefore, the Public Security Bureau has grown from a small department with only fifty "staff" at the beginning to a large unit with more than a thousand people and is still recruiting.

However, most of the positions are "patrol officers," or, in Gao De's previous life, "auxiliary police officers." They are not formally "staffed" and are mainly responsible for daily patrols, maintaining order, and assisting regular police officers in handling simple cases.

Despite having such a large influx of people, Phoenix has consistently faced a labor shortage.

It's not just talent that's in short supply; even basic labor is scarce.

The reason is simple: Phoenix is ​​developing too fast.

The astonishing speed of development has led to a massive demand for jobs.

Building roads requires manpower, cultivating farms requires manpower, and constructing houses requires manpower.
The period when infrastructure construction is at its most booming is also the period when the economy is most dynamic.

Even though the North doesn't have a real economy in the strict sense right now, the principle still applies.

Phoenix is ​​a vibrant city.

Gaode spent half a day driving around Phoenix from beginning to end.

The inspection not only involves observing the changes in Phoenix and the implementation of various projects, but also "checking for omissions and filling gaps" to see if there are any missing points or overlooked details.

As it turns out, Phoenix developed efficiently and steadily under the joint leadership of Sunefa and Elsa.

The matter in the North has been temporarily resolved and is now closed.

Gao De's main purpose in returning this time was to bring back the Rock Ridge Giant Oak seedlings and plant them as soon as possible; he did not intend to stay in the North for long.

So after a short rest, he immediately rode his snow wolf and headed straight for Valar Bay along the newly opened G318 highway.

This time, Gaode spent less than half a day on the road.

Instead of going directly to Flora Forest, he first went around to Valar Port.

After all, Vallar Bay was the place that Gaode first envisioned establishing a branch city in.

Although Ironforge has now stolen the title of the first branch city, there is no doubt that Valar Bay, with its unique resources of Valar Harbor and Flora Forest, which have connections to the outside world, will become Phoenix's first branch city once it is established.

In fact, its status is comparable to that of Phoenix.

However, the path to building a city in Valar Bay was far more difficult than that of Ironforge.

Ironforge was able to be built so quickly because it already had the foundation laid by Winterhammer, and the stone houses, workshops, and fortifications could be directly modified and utilized.

Two years ago, Vallar Bay was a deserted wasteland with no buildings or facilities; everything had to be built from scratch.

Building a city out of thin air, or one that meets Gaode's requirements and vision, and becomes one of the two bright pearls of the future northern region, is neither easy nor something that can be rushed.

Most of the current projects in the Vallar Bay area are still focused on expanding the port and building its supporting facilities.

After wandering around the port, Gao De finally arrived at Flora Forest.

But just before he was about to leave, he received an unexpected surprise.

"This is a fourth-tier ice Fiend?!" Gao De exclaimed in surprise as he looked at the ice crystal bottle that Elder Gain had handed him.

The bottle contained a deep, icy blue halo.

Tiny ice crystals flickered faintly within the halo, emanating a chill several times more intense than any third-tier ice aura he had encountered before; even through the ice crystal bottle, he could feel its bone-chilling cold.
"Exactly!" Elder Gain nodded repeatedly, his tone full of joy: "This is a fourth-tier ice aura retrieved from Ice Silk Island!"

"Ever since we received your message, we have been sending people to Ice Silk Island to investigate every now and then. Unexpectedly, when we went there last month, we were shocked to find that the ice cave on the island had been upgraded, and all the ice energy produced had become fourth-tier!"

Gao De's heart skipped a beat.

Ice Island was a deserted island he encountered unexpectedly on the route when he last sailed from Wallar Bay back to the Plantagenets aboard the Columbus.

Because of Mandora's Eye, he discovered the third-tier ice cave on this deserted island.

Among them, there are 1,056 third-order ice demons.

Gaode only selected four of them, which just completed the upgrade of the Frozen Blade.

He left the remaining ice demons in the ice cave and did not move them again.

This was because he had already discovered that the ice cave was undergoing an upgrade.

After several years, decades, or even hundreds of years, it will become a fourth-order ice cave, producing even more precious fourth-order ice energies.

If the third-tier ice element is removed, the advancement process of the Ice Cave will be directly interrupted.

Because the Ice Cave is protected by Ice Silk Worms, there is not much to worry about later arrivals getting there first.

Therefore, Gaode simply had someone mark the location of Ice Silk Island on the map and send it back to the Northern Territory, so that the Northern Territory could send people over regularly to observe the situation and ensure that the Ice Cave could be discovered as soon as it advanced.

He had thought the process would take at least ten years.

Unexpectedly, less than a year later, the Ice Cave successfully advanced to the fourth tier.

This was much faster than he expected, and it happened just when he needed to improve his combat power the most—it was like sending charcoal in snowy weather!

(End of this chapter)