The series of measures announced by Lesser Lord Kusanali shocked everyone present. It was foreseeable that Sumeru's Desert region was about to usher in an opportunity for rapid development.
In simple terms, it meant providing people when needed, money when needed, and resources when needed, to ensure the development of Sumeru's Desert region.
At this moment, Setaria was already moved to tears, involuntarily kowtowing in gratitude, and then enthusiastically accepted the task.
She was no longer the fangirl of the former King Deshret; instead, she was now a true and loyal devotee of Lesser Lord Kusanali, willing to go through fire and water for her.
In fact, everyone present who had even a slight understanding of history knew that during King Deshret's era, the Desert region was widely recognized as Sumeru's strongest nation, where an extremely brilliant civilization had Bloomed.
It not only possessed top-tier King Deshret technology guarding all directions but also had mysterious and powerful Jinni to liberate productivity, with clear governance and stable political power. Furthermore, the Archon War in the Sumeru region saw King Deshret, the Flower God, and the Dendro Archon form a three-God alliance, jointly protecting a pure land.
Do not assume that the magnificent King Deshret's Mausoleum, the Hall of Truth, and other structures standing in the Desert region today were built by the blood, sweat, and immense sacrifices of the Desert residents during King Deshret's time. In reality, these were all thanks to King Deshret's technology.
Even in the harsh Desert region, King Deshret, with his wisdom, single-handedly transformed the Desert into a paradise on earth. The people of the Desert lived in peace and contentment, leading easy and leisurely lives. This was one of the reasons why King Deshret was also known as the God of Wisdom at the time.
In comparison, the people living in the rainforest at that time were practically like monkeys that could speak, wear clothes, and lived in trees.
Well, it seems that present-day Sumeru City, Caravan Ribat, and Port Ormos are all built on trees... Unfortunately, the Flower God's death led King Deshret astray, and after King Deshret's unfortunate demise, everything changed.
King Deshret's technological creations gradually spiraled out of control, the Jinni in the bottles were no longer willing to remain slaves to mortals, and humanity's desires expanded infinitely. The history of the Desert region during that period was hundreds of times more chaotic than the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of a previous life.
Chaos, tyranny, and conspiracies permeated the Desert region throughout, leading to the impoverished, harsh, and cruel Desert region of today.
Lesser Lord Kusanali had been gone for five hundred years, and although her prestige remained undiminished in the hearts of Sumeru's people, her command made the Akademiya officials and sages, who were accustomed to living without divine guidance, feel very unaccustomed.
Perhaps, this was the real reason why no Grand Sage in the past five hundred years had chosen to release Lesser Lord Kusanali. If they could be Sumeru's highest leader, why bother with extra trouble and put a 'tightening-spell' on their own heads?
Lesser Lord Kusanali's desire to give the residents of the Desert an opportunity for education was understandable. After all, many passionate young students graduated from the Akademiya each year, and sending them to support education in the Desert was a good option.
Allocating a portion of the annual enrollment quota to students from the Desert was also marginally acceptable.
However, what they found most unacceptable was Lesser Lord Kusanali's plan to allocate a portion of the Akademiya's annual budget to western development. This was simply too much.
The Akademiya's annual budget was limited; the cake was only so big. If more of the cake was given to you, then less was left for others.
Since Lesser Lord Kusanali said she wanted to vigorously support the western plan, no matter how it was arranged, it would not be a small sum. Giving such a large slice of the cake to the Desert region would naturally reduce the funding for the six schools, and their own interests would diminish.
Therefore, which school's funding would be cut, or which school would suffer the most severe losses, became a question that made everyone present ponder deeply. Schools like the Logic School, which was at the bottom of the six schools and not very useful, and the Minglun Faction, which had just undergone a major purge, would definitely be the primary targets for cuts.
To protect their own vested interests, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and reason with Lesser Lord Kusanali.
Just like Iskander, a sage of the Logic School, who was one of only two sages not to collude with Azar and had been under house arrest by Azar for several months. By rights, he should have been on Lesser Lord Kusanali's side, but as soon as Nahida's decision was announced, he also had to speak up.
Iskander coughed a few times, weakly stood up, and said, "Lesser Lord Kusanali, I believe this move should be deliberated carefully, or rather, not rushed."
Nahida looked at Iskander's frail body and felt a hint of guilt. After all, he and Naphis, the sage of the Amurta School, had suffered undeserved misfortune because of her.
If all six sages had agreed to Azar's God Creation Project, then Azar wouldn't have had to secretly do so much preparatory work.
Nahida asked, "sage of the Logic School, can you explain your reasoning?"
Iskander: "Thank you, Lesser Lord Kusanali, for giving this old man an opportunity to explain. In fact, having served as a sage for so many years, I must admit one thing: the Akademiya's prejudice against the Desert region has objective reasons.
Firstly, the people of the Desert region worship King Deshret, which creates a divergence in faith with us who worship Lesser Lord Kusanali. This might be one of the reasons for the conflict between the people of the two regions.
Secondly, as a sage of the Logic School, I am intimately familiar with the history of the Desert region. During my tenure as a sage, I once proposed a plan to develop the Desert region in a meeting. However, I sent people to conduct research, and found that the current Desert region is no longer the Desert of King Deshret's era.
Not only are oases pitifully few, but even the most crucial water resources are extremely scarce. Coupled with barren soil and sandstorms that can strip a person's skin, under these circumstances, I truly do not know how to develop it, or where the money and resources should be spent?
Of course, Lesser Lord Kusanali, I agree with your support for education in the west. Our school can provide students, textbooks, and even support the construction of several libraries in the main gathering places of the Desert region.
However, I am pessimistic about the policy of allocating a portion of the Akademiya's annual budget for western development."
Iskander was indeed worthy of having served as a sage for many years. His arguments were well-reasoned and, most importantly, he conveyed to Lesser Lord Kusanali that he was not opposing for the sake of the school's interests, but rather out of concern that investing resources in the Desert region would not yield results.
As he said, given the harsh environment of the Desert region, what could the invested funds actually accomplish?
Dig wells? That would require water, and the size of settlements in the Desert is determined by the total amount of local water resources. Without water, even if you built a settlement into a metropolis, it would be useless.
Plant trees? Don't be ridiculous. Planting trees in such a vast Desert, how precious are the water resources in the Desert? People don't even have enough to drink, let alone use it for planting trees?
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