Chapter 149: Nation-Building Through Wonders

This towering structure stood proudly at the most prominent location in the Cube Kingdom, resembling a giant sword piercing directly into the firmament, proclaiming to the skies the majesty and greatness of the realm.

Passersby all knew that this yet-to-be-completed edifice would soon become an iconic landmark of the Cube Kingdom, designed to express a certain noble virtue held by the cube people.

In His Majesty's own words, this colossal wonder was a symbol of the cube people's cherished regard for time and their passionate love for life.

In reality, the completion of this wonder was not slated for some distant future, but rather for today.

It had taken a little over two months to build. Throughout the construction process, workers had to brave frigid winds and blizzards, while also sparing energy to build the Cube Academy...

Under such challenging circumstances, the Construction Department still brilliantly fulfilled the mission assigned by Mo Fangyuan, finishing this wonder ahead of the deadline.

"Your Majesty, this is the nearly completed Grand Clock Tower! The final stroke of completion must be struck by you!"

The Grand Clock Tower was situated in the bustling downtown area, the most heavily trafficked location on ordinary days.

One of Mo Fangyuan's purposes in doing this was to ensure that whenever people lost track of time, they merely needed to look up at the sky to see the clock tower, while also allowing passersby to gaze upon this magnificent structure and thereby deepen their sense of identity with the Cube Kingdom.

This would encourage everyone to cherish every single minute and second, dedicating themselves to actions that contributed to society.

"Splendid! Then let me witness the final completion of this wonder!"

Although this location was usually a bustling commercial hub, today was Monday, and furthermore, it was late morning with the sun hanging high—the exact time when adults were at work and children were at school. Except for the construction crew, the bustling district was completely silent.

"Very well, Your Majesty..."

Mo Fangyuan noticed that Fang Qiqi's mental state lately had been rather peculiar; she kept gazing at him with an odd expression.

"Perhaps the people's cult of personality toward me has deepened..."

Mo Fangyuan thought with lingering concern. The more the people adored him, the tighter the shackles of the Blade of Empire bound him, and the heavier his psychological burden became...

However, this was not the conventional cult of personality that Mo Fangyuan imagined, yet it resembled one so closely that, in some respects, it was even more fanatical.

"Your Majesty, this is the working hammer. Please take it!"

A muscular, well-built man beside Fang Qiqi respectfully handed a fully durable working hammer, prepared well in advance, into Mo Fangyuan's hands.

"Thank you!"

Mo Fangyuan replied politely, then gripped the working hammer and stepped forward.

There lay the very last block of the entire wonder—a stone brick block that had only been half-secured. Once it was struck and transformed into a fixed block, the wonder's buffs and rewards would be generated, and the Grand Clock Tower would officially become a true wonder structure.

Under the burning gazes of the crowd, Mo Fangyuan arrived before the Grand Clock Tower.

"What a truly beautiful structure."

To be honest, from childhood until now, Mo Fangyuan had never truly appreciated the magnificent or great wonders of his past life up close; he had only ever observed them through internet images, leaving him largely unmoved.

Although the Grand Clock Tower was not one of those historical wonders from his previous life, it possessed the exact same aura. It was this very aura that stirred Mo Fangyuan's deep emotions.

"Clang!"

Sentiments aside, the task had to proceed.

Mo Fangyuan struck hard with the working hammer. The stone brick emitted a sharp ringing sound, and the cracks on its surface diminished somewhat.

"Clang!"

Another strike followed, and the cracks on the stone brick's surface vanished visibly to the naked eye, leaving only a tiny fragment at the very center.

"Bang!"

With the final blow, the stone brick was completely secured. Faint golden light rippled across the surface of the Grand Clock Tower, accompanied by an unknown yet enchanting melody.

Until the pale golden light glowing everywhere across the structure converged, transforming into five golden light blocks that shot straight into the sky. At that moment, Mo Fangyuan looked at the Grand Clock Tower with a sudden realization of how natural its existence felt—every single block imprinted upon it seemed as though they had always been seamlessly fused as one.

[A Clock Tower—A Narration from Time]

In a daze, he seemed to hear a celestial voice, both ethereal and real.

In the fields outside the kingdom, crops matured visibly to the naked eye by a fraction.

Immediately afterward, a piece of sugarcane paper bearing the crafting recipe for a clock materialized out of thin air in Mo Fangyuan's right hand.

He glanced at the clock crafting recipe.

"Well, the framework is similar to the vanilla game, and the materials are mostly gold ingots and redstone."

Having confirmed that this too had failed to escape the fate of magical modification, Mo Fangyuan handed the recipe to a Research Department researcher who had been waiting eagerly nearby, instructing him to take it back for study.

Guided by Fang Qiqi, he then stepped inside the interior of the Grand Clock Tower.

The interior of the clock tower was predominantly of wooden construction, producing a classical, resonant charm with every step taken upon the stairs.

"Not bad at all!"

From an architect's perspective, the interior design of this building was superb, brimming with a rich, classical atmosphere.

Jie Weirong, following closely behind Mo Fangyuan, wore a youthful face filled with an expression of profound weariness.

Architecture—that had once been his dream!

Inside the Grand Clock Tower, there was a wooden spiral staircase leading straight to the summit. Via this staircase, Mo Fangyuan arrived at the core section of the Grand Clock Tower: the Clock Chamber.

The Clock Chamber was a compartment housing the controls for the exposed grand clock itself. Within it lay quite a few complex redstone mechanisms, holding considerable research value for the Cube Kingdom, where redstone technology was only just beginning.

After glancing at the redstone circuitry in the chamber and concluding that these were all things he could manage himself, Mo Fangyuan walked back out and stepped onto the stone brick platform situated on the outer wall of the Grand Clock Tower.

The Grand Clock Tower towered above every other structure in the Cube Kingdom; or rather, the height of the kingdom's second-tallest building, the Kingdom Central Castle, barely reached half of its total height.

Leaning against the stone brick parapet, he looked down at his increasingly prosperous kingdom, then recalled three years ago when, just after transmigrating, he stood atop a lookout tower and surveyed his dilapidated nation for the very first time.

The contrast between then and now was exceptionally vivid.

He had truly accomplished his goal, developing a tiny, battered village into a genuine kingdom.

"Your Majesty, through the meticulous observations of our Agricultural Department, the survival rate of crops within the kingdom has indeed improved. The data gathered from our observations also indicates that we are now fully capable of achieving eight harvests per week!"

Inside the conference room, the Minister of Agriculture conveyed the joyous news to Mo Fangyuan.

"We have also gained a wealth of experience and inspiration from the redstone circuitry inside the Grand Clock Tower. This knowledge will enable our Research Department to further improve iron golem technology..."

"The children love playing beneath the Grand Clock Tower after school."

"People also enjoy lingering around the base of the Grand Clock Tower during their leisure time..."

During the first week following the completion of the Grand Clock Tower, Mo Fangyuan convened a summary meeting in the conference room regarding [The Impact of the Grand Clock Tower on the Cube Kingdom]. All attending members offered overwhelmingly positive evaluations of the clock tower.

History had thus proven that constructing wonders could revitalize a nation, and many more wonders must be built in the future!