Chương 144: Secular Kinematics

"You mean my 100 cavalrymen were ambushed by mages, leaving them either dead or wounded—completely wiped out?" Inside the Governor's Mansion hall, Li Qinwu's expression was grim, uttering each word with heavy weight. Looking at Li Qinwu's terrifying appearance, Jin Lanbo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and gathered the courage to reply, "Yes, Your Majesty. When your cavalry launched an assault on New Cia, they suffered a massive surprise attack by mages.

The mages' very first wave of attacks killed seventy percent of the cavalrymen, while the rest were all wounded and captured. Our Guild personnel stationed in New Cia gathered intelligence revealing that the leader of the mages who ambushed your cavalry is named Fortier. He is a professor dispatched by the Mage Guild to assist Earl Fisher, commanding a force of 200 mages.

He seems to have developed an interest in the unusual weapons utilized by your troops, which prompted him to launch the ambush to secure the special weapons in their possession." With that, the merchant lowered his head, waiting cautiously for Li Qinwu's reaction. Li Qinwu's eyelids twitched rapidly. He sensed that things were gravely amiss—a total loss of the cavalry, and more importantly, Goblin-Run's fate remained completely unknown.

He currently suffered a severe shortage of generals capable of leading independent forces, and Goblin-Run was precisely one such general. The fellow was daring, inventive, and brave enough to single-handedly lead troops to raid key enemy strongholds in the rear, possessing invaluable raid experience. If he were brought back and given a whole regiment of cavalry, Li Qinwu couldn't even fathom what terrifying potential he might unleash!

As for the leak of the muskets, Li Qinwu wasn't worried about that in the slightest. Muskets were hardly high-tech marvels to begin with, and as weapons deployed on a massive scale, maintaining absolute secrecy indefinitely was impossible. So long as the enemy exerted enough effort, they were bound to acquire muskets and gunpowder through various channels sooner or later.

The advantage muskets provided him was meant for crushing cold-weapon forces during the initial startup phase; once the enemy suffered enough pain in the later stages, they would inevitably resort to all sorts of means to procure muskets of their own. As for the gunpowder formula, any alchemist or mage who took a quick look, gave it a sniff, and ran a basic experiment could easily figure it out.

In the late game, it was highly likely that this world might break down into a bizarre spectacle of musket lines shooting at each other. Thus, Li Qinwu had long been prepared for the leak of musketry technology. He was currently nursing a massive headache—no wonder he hadn't seen a single mage during the final decisive battle against Earl Fisher's army; turns out they had gone off to pound his cavalry instead.

Li Qinwu massaged his temples, looking at the sharp-eyed merchant before him, and asked, "Jin Lanbo, was it? I've remembered your name. The intelligence you brought me is vital. What reward do you seek?" Jin Lanbo rubbed his hands with a beaming smile, a thoroughly calculating look across his face.

"Milord, I am a businessman through and through. If possible, please grant me permission to establish a Guild branch within your territory. This will bring immense wealth to your kingdom!" Li Qinwu was tempted as well. This fellow had brought a thousand head of livestock in a single shipment; doing business with an entity of such scale would certainly be a win-win proposition!

If the Alliance wished to develop healthily, it needed to establish communication with external factions, and commercial trade served as an excellent channel. Furthermore, he was currently sitting on piles of gold and silver while the Alliance had yet to establish a monetary system. Holding onto this currency served no practical purpose; spending it all to convert it into grain and supplies was the sensible path forward. Li Qinwu nodded.

"Granted. I permit you to set up a Guild branch within my territory. We will discuss the specific details when the time comes. You are dismissed."

"Your Majesty is truly wise! You will never regret today's decision." Grateful, Jin Lanbo bowed his way out of the lord's hall. The Monster Forest was a massive treasure trove filled with rare flora and fauna, unexploited purely due to its perilous nature. Now that a monster regime had emerged in the Monster Forest—and a stable one at that—so long as he secured priority in establishing cooperation, he might very well claim a prominent standing within the Merchant Guild.

After Jin Lanbo departed, Li Qinwu began contemplating how to rescue the captured goblins. According to the intelligence provided by the merchant, roughly 30 goblins had survived. Especially Goblin-Run—the guy who possessed the talent to lead troops in raiding key enemy strongholds in the rear—he absolutely could not be allowed to die! Li Qinwu summoned several of his key subordinates to brainstorm a solution. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

In his spirit form, West-Hayden remarked casually, "Don't you have a professor in your hands right now? Use that old professor's life to trade for your men. It's just 30 goblins—the Mage Guild will be more than happy to make that trade!" Li Qinwu thought about it and realized it made total sense. He might as well use that old geezer Fendis to exchange for his soldiers. He immediately dispatched troops to catch up with Jin Lanbo, who had just left and should still be well within reach.

Jin Lanbo belonged to the Merchant Guild and possessed wide connections; having him contact the Mage Guild to arrange a hostage exchange was the best possible route. While the soldiers went out to locate Jin Lanbo, West-Hayden asked Li Qinwu to accompany him down to the third underground level, mentioning he had something he wished to hand over to the Mage Guild along the way. Following West-Hayden's spirit form, Li Qinwu arrived before a table on the third underground level.

The spirit pointed to a small wooden chest on the table.

"Open it." Li Qinwu opened the small chest, revealing an exquisitely crafted ring lying inside. West-Hayden stared at the ring, a deep wave of nostalgia flashing through his eyes before settling into a long sigh.

"Goblin, do me a favor and deliver this ring back to the Mage Guild while you're at it. From this day forward, I will serve as the magic advisor for the Intelligent Species Alliance. Sigh... let's leave it at that." Li Qinwu looked at the ring, which was engraved with West-Hayden's name. This was a Sage's Ring issued by the Mage Guild to its mentors, representing a mentor's authority and wisdom.

The ring functioned as an official seal, capable of stamping important documents to grant them legal validity—an item only mentors had the right to wear. Li Qinwu smiled.

"You're asking me to deliver a resignation letter for you. A mentor position... can you really bear to part with it?" West-Hayden fell silent for a long while before letting out another sigh.

"How could I possibly bear to? I climbed all the way from the son of a peasant to the rank of mentor, sacrificing my entire youth in the process. How could I bear to part with it?!" Li Qinwu asked in confusion, "Why on earth did you run off to hide in a border city like Poloya in the first place? I don't buy that bullshit story about human body research!" Earlier, West-Hayden had claimed he was ostracized by the Mage Guild for conducting human body research.

Yet what was the purpose behind his research into magical prosthetics? It was to help amputees restore their physical functions! Would someone who designed a research project like that go around chopping off people's limbs just for research? Wasn't that putting the cart before the horse? Furthermore, he had previously dispatched his young apprentices to treat the wounded. Li Qinwu didn't believe he was the kind of person who possessed such a twisted, monstrous nature.

West-Hayden stared into Li Qinwu's eyes and asked a question in return, "Goblin, do you believe the existence of magic has made this world better, or worse?"

"Is that even a question? Of course it's..." Li Qinwu instinctively wanted to say "better," but the word caught in his throat. Had the existence of magic truly made this world a better place? Reflecting on his time in Poloya, he felt that the technological level of this world was exceedingly backward, making survival for ordinary people unimaginably harsh. Take medical science, for example.

The medical level here was roughly equivalent to the era in Europe when the humorism theory was proposed—no matter what the illness was, the solution was surgical bloodletting. Hadn't Miss Hannah established a medical company? She had gathered a group of barefoot doctors who used captured herbs to treat respiratory burn wounds using bloodletting, which resulted in a soldier being bled to death.

The operating barefoot doctor was subsequently beaten to death, and it was only when the matter reached Li Qinwu that he realized the natural science of this world was so hopelessly backward. Why was it so backward? Li Qinwu felt it was tied directly to the existence of the Healing Spell. In any world, the ones driving social progress were inevitably those who controlled vast social resources—such as the nobility. When nobles fell ill, they developed medical science to save their own lives.

As medical knowledge spread, the lower classes eventually reaped the benefits. However, this world possessed magic. There was no need to develop medical science, as noble mages naturally reserved their spellcasting for noble lords alone. The lower classes couldn't afford a mage, leaving them to wait for death whenever they fell ill. Without profit as a driving force, medical development ground to a crawl. Were other industries similarly delayed in their development due to the presence of magic?

Seeing Li Qinwu remain silent, West-Hayden spoke on his own accord, "Goblin, the mentors and professors of the Mage Guild divide research into two fields: Magicology and Secular Kinematics (that is, natural science). Yet research into Secular Kinematics ground to a halt 1, 000 years ago. The current research climate operates under the assumption that magic is omnipotent, causing almost all research resources to lean overwhelmingly toward Magicology."

West-Hayden shook his head repeatedly, expressing his complete disagreement with the doctrine of magical omnipotence.

"Whether magic is omnipotent or not, I do not know. But I believe abandoning Secular Kinematics is an absolute error. The development of magic is far too niche—it is a luxury reserved solely for the elite. Meanwhile, advancements in Secular Kinematics bestow grace upon all of humanity. To abandon the study of Secular Kinematics is to abandon the future!!" By the end of his words, he grew emotional, even shouting outright.

He stared intently into Li Qinwu's eyes and asked, "Goblin, clever goblin, how do you view this matter? Which side do you stand on? Magicology? Or Secular Kinematics? Quick, let me hear your thoughts!" Li Qinwu let out a soft chuckle, making a grabbing gesture in the air.

"I want both! Why pit the two fields of study against each other? Develop them together! Use Magicology to observe Secular Kinematics, and use Secular Kinematics to verify Magicology. Advancing both systems in tandem—wouldn't that be wonderful?" West-Hayden looked at Li Qinwu with absolute disdain.

"Goblin, academia is just like people: to survive, it must plunder resources. Magicology and Secular Kinematics are like two starving men—both wish to eat their fill, but there is only one loaf of bread. If one wishes to survive, it must strike the other down!" Li Qinwu wagged a finger back and forth.

"No, no, no. Don't make it sound as though a life-or-death struggle is the only path. The reason your Mage Guild cannot develop Secular Kinematics is because you mages rely on magic for your livelihood, making it necessary to suppress the growth of Secular Kinematics. Furthermore, as a group monopolizing knowledge, you mages make it difficult for anyone else to conduct research.

Even if someone wished to pursue research to achieve a certain goal, under conditions where Magicology has advanced so far, most rational individuals would naturally choose to study Magicology rather than Secular Kinematics. Therefore, when both internal and external driving forces are lacking, and Magicology holds total dominance, the decline of Secular Kinematics is only natural—unless..." West-Hayden was utterly stunned by Li Qinwu's words. Seeing Li Qinwu pause, he asked instinctively, "Unless what?"

Li Qinwu said casually, "Unless there exists a regime facing external enemies that needs to grow powerful by any means necessary—one that cannot secure the support of Magicology and thus has no choice but to pour its entire soul into Secular Kinematics." West-Hayden's eyes lit up, scanning Li Qinwu up and down. Li Qinwu struck a posture that plainly conveyed: That's right, you're looking at him.

In truth, Li Qinwu had left a crucial thought unsaid: Unless the leader of this regime already knows the general trajectory of Secular Kinematics, faces minimal trial-and-error costs, understands precisely how much power it can unleash, and possesses more than enough internal drive to invest heavily in it.