If he put himself in the perspective of an ordinary citizen—
A complete stranger suddenly comes to your door, wanting to trade an unfamiliar, seemingly worthless "currency" for your hard-earned meat.
And at this moment, no one has taken the first step yet.
Even if the thing is called "money,"
if it hasn't been circulating among the people,
then it isn't accepted by the market at all.
Not knowing whether this "Mora" can be spent elsewhere—
By common sense, even Morax himself wouldn't accept such a trade.
So the problem appears.
How do you break this deadlock?
How do you make everyone willing to take the first step?
How do you make them willingly accept Mora,
instead of obeying a divine order and being forced to use it?
Yes—time would eventually normalize it.
But that would be a distorted and unhealthy system.
Morax nodded.
"If it were me, I wouldn't be willing to trade either."
Zayn laughed. "Exactly."
"So we must make currency meaningful, so people want to use Mora."
Morax asked, "How do we give it value?"
"Right now," Zayn said, "the most valuable thing in Liyue is grain."
"We can peg the currency to grain.
Use the gods' authority to guarantee it,
and establish a bank."
"The people can exchange grain for currency.
Thus, Mora becomes backed by grain."
"And once that happens,
the currency has real purchasing power—
and people will willingly use it."
Morax's eyes brightened.
If currency equals grain,
then even if someone doesn't want wheat,
they can still accept Mora—because Mora can always be exchanged back.
Trade becomes smooth.
As they walked, Zayn explained the basic concepts of banks,
and even gave it a name:
Liyu Bank.
Afterward… everything was handed to Morax.
With Zayn's chronic desire to slack off,
managing a bank was absolutely impossible for him.
Morax, however, wouldn't personally manage it either—
but he could at least select suitable people among the citizens.
"Everything is ready except for one thing!"
Zayn clapped Morax on the shoulder.
"Morax—hurry and create Liyue's currency!"
Morax: "…"
Shouldn't you, the Archon of Manifestation,
be the one fabricating objects?
…Yet when it came to Zayn,
this somehow felt strangely reasonable.
"Very well. Wait a moment."
Morax closed his eyes.
He began shaping the concept of a perfect currency:
—imbue it with his unique divine authority as anti-counterfeiting
—small and easy to carry
—multiple denominations
—uniform, indestructible, unmistakable
And then—
The world's very first Mora appeared in his hand.
Before Morax could even admire it—
Zayn snatched it away at lightning speed.
"So this is the currency you imagined?" Zayn said, eyes shining.
"This looks like real money!"
"And since you created it,
we should name it after you—
let's call it Mora!'"
Zayn grinned triumphantly while secretly pocketing the first coin.
A priceless collectible!
Morax: "???"
Why does the currency bear his name?
What was wrong with calling it "gold coins"?
…Forget it.
Arguing with Zayn over naming would only cause endless talking.
Better to surrender early.
Besides…
"Mora" did sound unexpectedly pleasant.
With Mora created, Zayn openly resumed his salted-fish lifestyle.
All remaining work was dumped on Morax.
After all—
if he did everything,
then would this still be Morax's Liyue,
or would it become "Zeno's Liyue"?
Managing mortals was exhausting—
Zayn had learned that firsthand in Cities: Skylines.
"Have you heard?
The Geo Lord is opening a new institution called Liyu Bank!"
"Really?"
"Of course it's true!
Who would dare joke about the gods' affairs?"
"They say the Geo Lord is selecting capable people to run it!"
"What's a… 'bank'?
Liyu, I understand—named after the two gods.
But what is a bank supposed to do?"
"How should I know?
It's founded by the Geo Lord and the Feather God.
We mortals just need to trust them."
"Indeed, all we need is to wait and watch.
Everything the gods do is for Liyue's prosperity."
As with everything gods did,
The news spread through Liyue like wildfire.
People didn't know what a bank was,
but they trusted the gods.
During the selection day,
Morax personally presided over the recruitment—
The crowd was massive, likely half of Liyue came to watch.
Some wanted to participate.
Most simply wanted to watch the excitement.
Morax quickly selected three suitable candidates.
He handed each of them a book titled "The Bank Manual."
They were told to study it thoroughly.
And then…
Morax left.
Perhaps…
Does this count as "training"?
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
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