Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1840 1812. Surplus
The problem revealed by Xiu Gu is not just that he was ordered by someone to create a [god-slaying weapon].

His own position and his goals became intertwined, creating another problem.

The Round Table Hall was established under the management of Two Fingers. It was also because of Two Fingers’ exalted position in the theocratic system of the borderlands that Two Fingers was able to retain a portion of the Faded Ones even after they were expelled by Queen Marika.

But Xiu Gu is the blacksmith in the Round Table Hall. Does Shuang Zhi know the orders he carries? If so, to what extent?
Does the fact that he can now sit in the round table hall mean... that Double Fingers actually supports his work?
In the round table hall, the two-finger who once supported the Golden Law and Marika's ascension to godhood now harbors hostility towards the Golden Dynasty.
Conspiracy theories, once you get caught up in them, can go on forever. So Lann didn't delve any deeper into the subject, simply storing his current thoughts in Mentos's memory bank.

The investigation will be reopened once new evidence and intelligence become available in the future.

"Qilin, try this, meow!"

Velvetball has recently been experimenting with some local snacks, and it's been stuffing a dried Roya fruit into the mouth of a New World dragon.

After the Qilin's mouth twitched for a while, it nodded in satisfaction.

It can taste the power within these dried fruits, because they grow on the Yatan Plateau, directly shaded by the golden trees. The Roya fruits here also take on a golden hue, and are thus called Golden Roya Fruits.

The people of the Golden Tree still come and go in the city of Rodel.

Some people held up a flag symbolizing the Golden Law, while others held up a flag depicting a sun in an eclipse.

The latter is the emblem of Prince Goldwyn, whose sun, dimmed by an eclipse, is said to be the prince's guardian star.

Lann's warhorse and armor were unique, but not particularly eye-catching.

As you exit through the city gates, two large trees still stand guard. Pilgrims continue to line up to enter the city in an endless stream.

Qilin found walking along the magnificent but long ramp leading to the city gate too troublesome, so it simply jumped to the side as soon as it exited the gate to get away from the queue and started jogging.

But unexpectedly, there was a group of people at the base of Rodel's wall.

The group of people didn't react much when they saw the Qilin jump down; they just glanced at it and then went about their own business.

They were dressed in worn-out clothes and of average build. Several strings of dark stone ornaments hung from their belts. They were carrying pickaxes, which had left a patch of ground pitted and uneven, as if they were digging for something.

This is the Summoner of Stars.

They frantically searched for and excavated meteorites in various parts of the border region, and revered the life that emerged from them.

This is a belief that is quite common in border areas.

After all, the Supreme Will originally sent the Elden Ring to this world in the form of a golden meteor, thus giving birth to life.

Given this origin of life, the worship of meteors and meteorites is only natural. It can be considered a variant of the Golden Tree belief.

Unfortunately, this group of people has had a difficult time in recent centuries.

Because General Ratan sealed away the stars, no new meteorites have ever struck the border region since then.

Their current search target can only be found on meteorites that fell over the long past.

The existence of the Golden Tree has made the people of the Golden Tree, who already have a different concept of time than ordinary people, even less able to distinguish between day and night.

On the main road of the Yatan Plateau, there were still waves of pedestrians. The Rodel Knights, who were soldiers, were more disciplined and carried torches as they patrolled the road.

Qilin followed the avenue extending from the gate of Rodel City and jogged all the way to the Dikedas Elevator.

The name "Grand Elevator" sounds like an elevator, but it's actually a building that resembles a huge palace.

The architectural style maintains Rodel's consistent grandeur and exquisiteness.

The palace itself contains four opposing warrior statues, each seven or eight stories high.

When the large elevator is in operation, the entire palace moves up and down. When it's crowded, it can accommodate thousands of people at a time, moving between Lienia and the Altan Plateau.

Similar to the situation at the gates of Rodel City, the people of the Golden Tree were still queuing up in an orderly fashion at the entrance to the large elevator, just like waiting for an elevator.

Two large golems stood guard on either side of the entrance.

They were about ten stories tall, one holding a huge bow and arrow, and the other holding an axe and spear.

However, the number of people at the entrance to the large elevator was much smaller than at the entrance to Rodel.

and……

"Looks like your business is doing well, my friend."

Lann sat on horseback, waiting in line for the next turn of the large elevator. At that moment, he approached a donkey cart that was bulging with cargo and struck up a conversation with the driver.

This was clearly a grocer. Lann's eyes gleamed slightly in the night, somewhat resembling the golden light of the Blessed One. Coupled with his current angle, craning his neck to look into the donkey cart's cargo bed, the merchant sitting in the front driver's seat couldn't recognize him as a Faded One.

"You've dressed your horse very well, sir," the grocer said in return.

He had thought the protruding crystalline horns on the Qilin's body were just decorations.

“Now is a great opportunity to make a fortune in Lienia,” the merchant said confidently. “There’s a war going on in Lienia! Oh, no! To put it more officially, it’s a ‘conflict.’ The Realukalia Academy is fighting the Kalia royal family again.”

"How long have they been quiet? Maybe five or six hundred years? Anyway, they're all studying magic, and none of them are willing to concede to the other. They've been fighting for over a hundred years now!"

He held onto the reins of the donkey cart, speaking with great enthusiasm, turning half his body to speak to Lan En.

The thick wooden planks on his chest, representing the restraint and self-discipline of the people of the Golden Tree, were flung around like shackles.

"I don't know what kind of deep hatred they have, but they still fight even though no one is going to die. They'll fight until Gui Shu is reincarnated and they'll come back to continue fighting."

"But let them fight if they want to," the merchant shrugged, chuckling. "They're quite willing to spend gold to attack their opponents!"

The current trading methods in the border area, apart from the most basic barter system, still rely on gold.

Although Lann didn't know if a group of people who no longer faced death would still care so much about gold, it was probably just a ingrained habit from before the Golden Law era, and that's how it continued.

As for whether other mediums of exchange will evolve with the times, that's hard to say.

“I can see that.” After getting the merchant’s permission, Lann lifted a corner of the cloak covering his donkey cart. “Cracked sapphire, blocky gravity stone, and dried animal livers… all military supplies.”

Broken Pyroxene is a blue crystal that is often found in mine tunnels at borders. When broken, the unstable magic inside spontaneously emerges, forming a magic ball.

The blocky gravity stone was an extra discovery made by the group of Starcallers that Lan En had seen while searching for meteorites. When thrown out, the gravity magic inside would cause a small gravity explosion.

Dried animal livers are a raw material that, when processed using the technology of this world, can be used to make various items that enhance the human body's resistance to damage from fire, magic, and other elements.

This is just a small part of the merchant's donkey cart.

"The people of Lienia don't even look down on the Cracked Glowstone," the merchant revealed more information, "but the Cuckoo Knights of the Serving Academy use it as a raw material to make [Cuckoo Glowstone]. That can be called 'Imitation Magic'."

"Sir, would you like to do business together?" The businessman laughed at the end, "Making money is a lot of fun. Sigh, I've approached many people wanting to join, but most of them aren't interested. They think it's too much trouble."

His description was roughly in line with Lan En's expectations.

Although the Golden Dynasty was a divine age, and everyone possessed an immortal spirit, it was not particularly rich in either material wealth or culture.

This lack of abundance does not mean a lack of plentiful resources, but rather that there are not many progressively higher levels.

After achieving spiritual immortality, people lose much of their enthusiasm for striving for anything else.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Lan En declined his suggestion to do business together. "I suggest you be careful too. Lienia is at war. Even if you're a businessman, they probably won't be able to care about much when things get heated. Although you can return to the tree, that's too slow, right?"

Returning to the tree is not a process where one can immediately come back to life after death. The golden tree needs to be sculpted with a soul, and the physical body also needs time to prepare.

Perhaps only those who return as 'heroes' can remain completely at peace throughout this process. Ordinary people should just wait in line.

"Okay, thanks for the reminder," the businessman said, his smile remaining almost the same as before. "I think I'll be more careful."

Lan En knew that this person hadn't listened to his advice.

He was not afraid of war or conflict at all, because he was a citizen of the Golden Tree. He simply found doing business in war-torn regions quite enjoyable.

In the queue stretching out from the entrance of the large elevator, some people were comforting their livestock, while others were quietly praising the Golden Tree and the Golden Law.

The unhurried people even lit a campfire on the golden grass outside the group, as if they had decided to go camping on a whim. They didn't care at all about the elevator schedule.

This is the leisure of immortality.

When the campfire by the roadside attracted several sparkling butterflies that hovered and danced, the earth trembled slightly.

The foundation of a huge palace also rose up from the deep underground cave in front of it.

The people in line were orderly, waiting for those coming from Lienia to get off the elevator before they went up.

Lan En had initially thought it would be crowded with so many people going up together. But he was wrong. After seeing that there wasn't much space left on the elevator, the people in line simply stopped going up. And the people behind them didn't urge them at all.

Since there's plenty of time, why put yourself in a crowded elevator?
As the on-site administrator held up the two semicircular Didos symbols, they were put together to form a complete circle.

The large elevator started operating again, sinking beneath the surface of the Asian Altar Plateau.

(End of this chapter)