Starting from primitive world, building the strongest divine kingdom - Chapter 60

Chapter 60: Implementation of Currency
The Crimson Star Tribe, livestock area, animal pens.

Enzo approached Watt and asked, “Watt, is it mating season for the boars right now?”

Watt quickly replied, “Lord Priest, this may be due to the effect of the peculiar fruits you just fed them. Also, the offspring of the two boar kings have matured quickly and are already adults… But I feel there are other changes in them. Lord Enzo, I need some time to observe before I can give you a definitive answer!”

Enzo nodded.

Allowing wild animals to go into heat… this seemed to be a special effect of the black-striped Dragon’s Blood Tree fruit.

Enzo realized this point.

In the rumors Priest Lucy shared, dragons were creatures known for their strong breeding desires. It made sense that the black-striped Dragon’s Blood Tree fruit would have such effects.

If that was the case…

An idea formed in Enzo’s mind. He instructed Watt, “Watt, later, go to the black-striped Dragon’s Blood Tree near my residence and pick a fruit. Feed it to the other boars and observe their behavior. Record everything and report back to me.”

Watt replied, “Yes, Lord Priest.”

After observing the boars, Enzo returned to the bamboo hut. At this moment, tribal members dispatched by Ward also returned, carrying two small tree saplings about half a meter tall.

Their trunks were almost uniformly thick, tapering rapidly at the top with a slender, dark brown leaf.

Enzo saw this type of plant for the first time and asked, “Is this the ironwood?”

Ward answered, “Yes, Lord Enzo, this is ironwood. Very hard.”

Enzo took out his dagger and struck at the ironwood trunk. He exerted only a small amount of force, about that of an adult tribal man, but even with this force and the sharpness of the dagger, it left only faint marks on the ironwood. Enzo immediately realized this was the material he was looking for as currency.

With its hard texture and difficulty in processing, ironwood was ideal as a material for currency.

He planted the two ironwood saplings and infused them with totemic power.

Under the influence of the totemic power, the two ironwood trees quickly grew.

However, after growing to a thickness equivalent to two fingers and over two meters in height, the ironwood trees ceased growing further. It seemed this was the limit of their size.

However, Enzo could sense changes in the ironwood.

With great effort, he cut through the ironwood trunk and discovered that the tree rings inside turned silvery.

To test further, Enzo separated several roots of the ironwood and induced growth separately.

Eventually, he found that when the ironwood grew to just over two meters, the tree rings inside the trunk were black. Continuing to induce growth turned them silver, and after full growth, they turned gold.

This was simply a natural material for currency!

The discovery filled Enzo with joy and excitement.

However, a problem arose. Ironwood was too hard, making it difficult for Enzo to cut into appropriate sizes.

Upon hearing Enzo’s frustration, Jessica confidently said, “Enzo, I can help with this!”

With that, Jessica invoked her totem and summoned a large swarm of insects. These insects landed on the ironwood and swiftly began gnawing away at it. Despite the ironwood’s hardness, it was quickly chewed into thin slices by the insects.

Jessica then controlled the insects to carve the ironwood trunks into thin sheets as per Enzo’s instructions.

Enzo picked up one of the ironwood sheets, which still had some weight to it despite its pockmarked surface and simple patterns, making it almost indistinguishable from modern coins .

But it was perfectly suitable as currency for this era.

Enzo continued to induce the growth of ironwood while Jessica handled the production, stopping only when they had amassed a sufficient quantity.

At this point, Clara, Tia, and Amy had also awakened.

Enzo summoned the tribal leaders and called for a meeting.

At the bamboo hall of the Crimson Star Tribe.

Enzo sat in the foremost chair of the bamboo hall, looking at the assembled people, and announced directly, “Starting today, these three types of coins will become the exclusive currency of the Crimson Star Tribe. The ones with black patterns are iron coins, silver patterns are hard coins, and gold patterns are gold coins. The exchange rate between them is one to ten.”

On the table in front of the gathered leaders lay examples of the three types of currency.

Everyone picked them up and examined them, nodding in agreement.

Enzo had previously mentioned the benefits of implementing currency for the tribe’s development.

No one objected. He then raised the next issue, “Next, we need to construct a marketplace. Ward will be responsible for the site and construction. Another important task is pricing different goods, which Amy will handle. Lastly, and most importantly, we need to inform and attract people from other jungle tribes to our market. Who can go?”

Ward and others pondered this question.

Heru spoke up, “Lord Priest, I volunteer! The Vanguard squad often encounters people from other tribes during explorations and has experience in communicating with them.”

“Very well, Heru, you will be in charge.” Enzo said decisively.

With the selection of personnel settled, the meeting came to an end.

Despite its brevity, the impact of the meeting on the Crimson Star Tribe was enormous.

Enzo had only mentioned the implementation of currency and the establishment of a marketplace, but there were many underlying issues to resolve, including pricing goods and determining compensation for tribe members in different roles. As currency was introduced, the tribe’s economic order would take shape.

The old way of hunting and sharing food collectively among all tribe members through the Hunting squad would disappear.

Instead, individuals would need to procure their own sustenance.

If the tribe wished to continue growing and attract more people, this shift was inevitable.

…

Outside the tribe camp.

Yara was leading a group in weeding the fields, where various plants were thriving, bringing genuine smiles to their faces.

Suddenly, another member rushed in hurriedly.

Yara frowned and called out, “Kitty, why are you running so fast?”

The member named Kitty immediately replied, “Yara, I just saw Lord Monta and learned the latest news. The tribe is now introducing currency and implementing a series of jobs. We can earn currency by taking up other tasks in our free time. According to Lord Monta, we can become official members of the tribe by paying 500 iron coins to escape our slave status. And by transporting ores back and forth just twice, we can almost earn that amount!”

Yara was thrilled and asked eagerly, “Is that true?”

Kitty nodded enthusiastically, saying, “Lord Amy has already updated the relevant information on the notice board at the ritual square!”

Upon hearing this, Yara immediately dashed towards the ritual square.

And not just him, but other tribe members were as well.

The notice board was inscribed in the script of the Barren Mountain language. While not everyone could fully comprehend it, many could make out its general meaning by piecing together familiar characters.

The contents of the announcement are numerous, but generally fall into the following categories:

Residents of various areas in the tribe camp would be free to move around, choose their preferred jobs, and receive corresponding rewards. The tribe would establish a marketplace where common goods would have standardized prices. The tribe encouraged childbirth. Once the marketplace was established, anyone could sell goods there. The tribe would gradually phase out centralized distribution of food, pottery, and other items.Members could purchase these at tribe stores in the marketplace. A law enforcement team would be formed to maintain order in the marketplace. …

After reading the entire notice, hardly anyone expressed dissatisfaction.

Instead, many tribe members cheered loudly. After all, in a tribe where resources are distributed uniformly, balancing contributions and rewards is challenging. Thus, the principle of ‘more work, more gain’ was considered normal.

Indeed, as Enzo had anticipated, the tribe members unleashed a remarkable burst of energy.

Despite their initial discomfort, they experienced unprecedented satisfaction after spending earned currency to personally purchase needed goods from the rudimentary tribe store.

Especially with the availability of salt, albeit in limited quantities, it brought immense happiness to the tribe members, who continued to chant Enzo’s name in celebration.

They worked harder than ever.

Even at night, many tribespeople chose to stay up late and work by the light of the moon.

…

At Enzo’s residence, Clara, Tia, and a few others gathered once again.

Amy stood behind Enzo, gently massaging his shoulders as she spoke, “The introduction of currency and the cancellation of centralized resource distribution have indeed stirred up many tribe members, but they’ve also caused quite a bit of chaos. Both Ward and Monta have complained to me multiple times about frequent disputes among the members.”

Enzo wasn’t surprised by this at all.

Like wild beasts in the jungle, fights over food were inevitable among humans too.

Despite their intelligence, they retained a certain wildness.

Enzo chuckled and replied, “Since they seem to enjoy fighting so much, why not let them train in Clara and Tia’s training area for a couple of days? I bet they’ll behave themselves afterward. Besides, their combative nature is a good thing. We’re likely to have conflicts with Plata Plain in the future, and we’ll need plenty of fighters.”

The training area and its exercises were designed specifically for the tribe’s warriors.

Regular tribe members couldn’t endure such training.

Hence, while other areas experienced significant changes with the introduction of currency, the training area and Battle squad remained unchanged.

However, this proposal could only temporarily solve the trouble.

Clara understood this well and added, “We need to establish more detailed rules. Perhaps we can create a dedicated place to post combat missions.”