Chương 166: Exploring the Opposite Bank

Ever since someone in history used an earldom to redeem a divine artifact, the intrinsic value of such relics had been quantified in terms of secular, material wealth. Following that event, several other artifact redemptions occurred over the ages, all using that first precedent as a baseline benchmark. Yet an earldom, at its bare minimum, encompassed a medium-sized city with a population of 50, 000, several fortified castles, and a substantial standing army alongside their serfs.

Quantifying all of these assets and converting them into physical goods for trade posed an entirely new challenge. Fortunately, Li Qinwu had West-Hayden to guide him. West-Hayden instructed Li Qinwu to set pen and paper upon the table, whereupon he began reciting a long list of specialized items. As West-Hayden recited, Li Qinwu wrote continuously for over twenty minutes. By the time they finished, the exhaustive list spanned more than ten pages and contained over a thousand distinct items and pieces of equipment.

Gazing at the items on the pages, Li Qinwu's mind was filled with confusion. Aside from the 100, 000 high-purity mana crystal cores, he had never even heard of the other materials and specialized machinery. West-Hayden explained: "These items will drastically accelerate the development speed of your magitech industry. Ah, 'magitech industry'—you were the one who coined that term, and I find it quite fitting.

In short, with these materials and equipment in hand, we can achieve industrial magitech, manufacture specialized magitech items, and train mages at maximum efficiency. Conversely, without them, if we try to build everything from scratch, it will take at least five to ten years before we even possess a rudimentary magitech industrial base." Li Qinwu tapped his fingers against the stack of paper before him and asked: "These things must be extraordinarily precious, right?

For a single small pendant, is the Church of the Goddess of Life truly willing to part with such immense wealth? Besides, these magical materials and facilities must ultimately originate from the Mage Guild. Will they really agree to sell such things to us? Given our current relationship, any reasonable person would expect them to enforce a strict embargo." West-Hayden nodded, acknowledging Li Qinwu's valid concerns.

"Your worries are well-founded. I am also uncertain whether the Church of the Goddess of Life will spend such wealth to redeem the Purity Pendant. After all, the last artifact redemption occurred thousands of years ago under very unique geopolitical circumstances, where failing to recover the artifact meant the problem could not be resolved. As for the present, as far as I know, the major religious factions across the four human kingdoms are not locked in life-or-death struggles.

In such a relatively peaceful environment, their motivation to buy back the Purity Pendant remains questionable. As for the magical materials and equipment listed, they indeed originate from the Mage Guild—though they represent previous-generation products that the Guild has phased out. The Mage Guild frequently sells surplus equipment to independent mages, and the chambers of commerce keep considerable stock in their warehouses.

Selling machinery is a major source of revenue for the Guild, so securing distribution channels will not be an issue." West-Hayden then concluded: "Even if we fail to secure these materials and machinery through the redemption of the Purity Pendant, you must still concentrate your resources to acquire them by other means. Otherwise, taking those initial steps toward a magitech industry will prove agonizingly difficult."

Having received expert guidance, Li Qinwu headed straight to the dungeon and had Officiant Tork brought out. He first pulled out the Purity Pendant and dangled it before Tork's eyes, causing the officiant's gaze to lock onto it instantly. Li Qinwu then slapped the document packed with listed items squarely against Tork's chest. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Officiant Tork, congratulations—you are hereby released. Take this document back to your superiors. So long as the Church of the Goddess of Life can pay for everything written here, you may redeem the Purity Pendant." Tork was ecstatic. Could he truly leave at last? Having been locked in the dungeon for half a day, he had found the filthy, foul environment utterly unbearable. Now he was finally free to leave—praise the Goddess of Life above!

Tork took a long moment to compose himself before beginning to read the document Li Qinwu had handed him. The man was clearly no expert in arcane matters; he understood very few of the magical items listed. However, he certainly recognized the high-purity mana crystal cores—and the staggering string of zeros following the number caused his jaw to drop in horror.

"One, two, three, four, five... One... ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND?!" Tork nearly leaped out of his skin. A hundred thousand high-purity mana crystal cores! Wealth on such an astronomical scale was something seen only in war reparations between major empires! Flustered and enraged, Tork felt this was pure extortion and blackmail. He instinctively opened his mouth to argue, but Li Qinwu had no patience to argue with a nobody and cut him off instantly.

"Shut your mouth! This matter is far beyond your authority to negotiate. Take my demands back to your superiors, let them ponder it, or send a proper envoy to negotiate in detail. Now, you may leave." Li Qinwu made a sweeping "after you" gesture. On second thought, Tork realized the goblin chief was right—a matter of this magnitude was way out of his league, and it was best left for the priests and High Priests to sweat over. As he walked out of the dungeon, something suddenly occurred to him, and he turned around.

"Where are my escorts? Without them, I cannot return safely to the Kingdom of Sasos." Li Qinwu let out a dry chuckle.

"Them? They aren't going anywhere! They brought weapons illegally into Alliance territory. They can look forward to serving their sentences smashing rocks!" Tork gasped in sheer horror.

"What?! You cannot do this! They are Paladins! They are the living executioners of the Goddess of Life's divine will in the mortal realm! You have no right to imprison them!!" He was genuinely consumed with fury—how could sacred, mighty Paladins be judged and sentenced by filthy, lowborn goblins?! SLAP! Li Qinwu delivered a stinging backhand straight across the officiant's face. The force knocked out several of Tork's teeth, sending him crashing to the dirt floor, dizzy and unable to stand.

"Listen to me carefully: this is the Alliance. So long as someone breaks the laws of the Alliance, even a god will go smash rocks! As for whether I have the right—" Li Qinwu slowly clenched his heavy armored fist.

"Power is right! Because I possess the power to control your fate, I have the right to judge you!" An evil grin broke across his face as he looked down at the utterly terrified officiant, who was now trembling violently in sheer fright. Li Qinwu waved his hand, ordering several cavalrymen to escort the man back to the human realm. Over the next few months, a calm descended upon the Alliance. Li Qinwu concentrated his efforts on completing the construction of the mage tower.

Upon its completion, West-Hayden moved into the tower, leading several dozen young mages to operate its core mechanisms. By monitoring the flow of mana tides within a 500-kilometer radius, the Alliance successfully acquired its very first magical facility. With the ability to track mana tides secured, repairs on the captured flight vessel could finally begin.

The work mainly involved patching the holes ripped into the gasbag: grinding mana crystal cores into a fine powder to seal the breaches, followed by inscribing the necessary magical runes over the surfaces. During their previous campaign in the Kingdom of Sasos, they had seized a vast quantity of mana crystal cores, including many of inferior quality. Li Qinwu drained their remaining mana, ground them into powder, and followed West-Hayden's instructions to create crude gasbag patches.

He then had Miss Hana and the young mages work overtime, inscribing magical runes whenever the local mana tides were calm and stable. This delicate task lasted over half a month. Eight patches—covering a total area of roughly one square meter—required more than thirty mages working continuously for that entire duration. This experience gave Li Qinwu a newfound appreciation for the daunting challenges of a magitech industry.

If they ever wished to construct a flight vessel from scratch, it would likely require hundreds of mages working in tandem. Unable to wait for the slow, natural cultivation of native spellcasting talent, Li Qinwu instructed the Crimson Queen to temporarily halt the production of mount spiders during this period and switch entirely to spawning Burner Goblins. Burner Goblins possessed an innate affinity for magic alongside high intelligence.

Provided they were properly educated and trained, turning them into versatile arcane talents would pose no problem. To this end, Li Qinwu sought out Gob-One—who had grown noticeably thinner by two whole sizes—and encouraged him to push his limits and sire a few more litters for the noble cause of the Alliance's magitech industrialization. A few days later, repairs on the flight vessel were officially completed.

Li Qinwu gave the original crew a brutal beating, executed two hardheaded dissenters to force the rest into submission, and bound them with System Contracts before ordering them to conduct test flights. The test results were highly encouraging: the vessel had fully regained its original performance capabilities. Boarding the flight vessel alongside an exploration team, Li Qinwu set off toward the uncharted territory on the far side of the great river. He still had no idea what lay beyond the river's opposite bank.

If conditions permitted, he intended to develop the land and dispatch personnel to establish colonies.