Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 222 Deep Cooperation
The magic city of Alayeh is located in the joint conference hall on the top floor of the floating tower in the sky domain.

The three legendary chiefs, who usually seldom interfered with the internal affairs of the Federation, sat around a simple round table for the first time.

This is a practice that has been passed down since the founding of the Federation a hundred years ago. When the Federation faces important decision-making, the three chiefs need to attend a joint meeting together and convene the heads of many departments including the Ministry of Magical Affairs, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Academic Review Department for discussion.

Regardless of the outcome of the resolution, First Chief Kemo Salas has the final veto power.

But today was different from the past. In front of each of the three chiefs was a delicate brass alchemical instrument, and the officials from various departments of the Federation sitting on the periphery were completely confused and had no idea what this was for. However, no one dared to ask the chiefs, and they could only sit upright.

"Magic Shield" Fran McCaughlin sat in the seat belonging to the Ministry of Magical Affairs, secretly suppressing the joy that kept welling up in his heart. According to his position and rank, he was not qualified to represent the Ministry in the joint meeting, but Fran knew very well that this was the value and status bonus brought to him by the forum code name called "Magic Shield".

As the second group of "old people" to join the Spellcaster Forum besides the initial members, Fran has undoubtedly become a core member of the group representing the interests of the Federation in the forum. That is why Lord Salas personally selected his qualifications to attend this crucial joint meeting.

This is a negotiation meeting in which the Federation will truly conduct in-depth cooperation with the Spellcaster Forum and the ancient mysterious existence behind it on a practical level.

It is said that the three chief gentlemen have already held private consultations with Mr. "Observer Neumann" several times. The main purpose of the cooperation is to obtain the anti-magic magic weapon provided by the other party.

"Fa Shield" immediately thought of his two collateral relatives - the twin Quinn brothers. After learning that he was qualified to participate in the cooperation negotiations, he hurried to his house and begged him to try his best to gain some opportunities and benefits for the Exploration Association to participate in the cooperation details of the negotiation.

These two guys are completely ignorant of worldly affairs and have no idea what political means are. This so-called joint negotiation meeting is just a formality. The real intention of cooperation and the details of the exchange of interests have probably been privately discussed by the three chief ministers with Mr. Turing and Mr. Neumann long ago, so there is no right for others to interfere.

Fran then thought about how he was able to get to where he was today, thanks to the rash invitation of the brothers Offrey and Ed, who had allowed him to become a member of the Spellcaster Forum by accident. He really had to find a way to repay this favor...

The "Scorching Lord" Kemo Salas, who was sitting at the head of the round table, suddenly opened his slightly narrowed eyes, bent his fingers and tapped the table three times, and the whispers in the conference room immediately stopped.

"We've gathered everyone here today to discuss the Federation's in-depth collaboration with... Due to the confidentiality requirements of the partner organization, we will not be disclosing its specific information internally at this time. You just need to understand that they hold what we most urgently need."

He paused, looking around, and continued slowly, "This extraordinary weapon will free the Federation from the Church's obstruction and the Seven Kingdoms Wizarding Alliance's constraints, allowing it to independently resist the demon invasion and completely reverse public opinion!"

These words were like a heavy alchemical bomb that exploded directly in the conference hall, and the originally solemn and dignified scene instantly became chaotic.

Surprise, doubt, excitement, and disbelief were intertwined on everyone's face.

Someone tentatively cast a pleading look at the other two chiefs, hoping to seek a hint of confirmation from their expressions, but helplessly found that Lord Dawson looked up at the sky, not looking at others, while Lord Gallagher closed his eyes, looking as if he was daydreaming.

Gould, the combat director, dressed in a classical black wizard robe, finally lost his patience and stood up abruptly, demanding with agitation, "Your Excellency, with all due respect, the Federation already has many members from the Seven Wizarding Kingdoms, and of course some of them... hold religious faith. But are you suggesting that you completely turn the Federation against all the forces of the Southern Territory?"

"A supernatural weapon that can allow the Federation to independently fight against the invasion of demons? Haha, am I hallucinating?" His wording was a bit rude, causing many spellcasters present to frown, but no one spoke to scold him, because they simply did not dare to believe what the Chief said.

Saras smiled faintly, a smile with an inexplicable meaning. He gently raised his hand to signal silence and continued, "You are not imagining it. I will reveal the truth to everyone. You will judge for yourselves the value of this cooperation to the Federation..."

After tapping the table again, the strange, pupilless face of Tarling Enzo suddenly appeared on the dome of the hall. It opened its mouth and spit out a crystal magic stone that slowly floated above the round table in the center of the venue.

The Image Stone automatically activated, and began to replay Chief Gallagher's secret weapon experiments using demon captives in Blackstone City...

The flashback clip of the experiment scene was not long. After seeing the demon captives' bodies instantly decay and disintegrate after being hit by the strange magic weapon, everyone finally couldn't help but stand up with their eyes wide open.

"Annihilation? This magical weapon simulates the innate ability of the dark bloodline?"

"No! This is more like Flesh Disintegration... but why does it also have the effect of physical decay?" "The secret is above! This is a magical weapon that solidifies a high-level curse! A legendary magical weapon!"

Dawson sneered and said quietly, "Look, the Federation has been established for over a hundred years, and our spellcasters' vision and understanding of new things are still so conservative..."

He always spoke sharply and mercilessly, and everyone in the conference hall had long been accustomed to it, and no one showed any anger.

"This is an alchemical weapon! It's imbued with special attack capabilities using magical inscriptions, specifically developed to target the demonic race's physique and physical characteristics..."

The head of the research department quickly stepped forward, bowed next to the chief's round table, and said with wide eyes, "So... we have obtained the finished product of this alchemical artifact? Can we start replicating it?"

Gould, the combat director, snorted and frowned. "How many can you replicate? Are they enough to equip the Mage Alliance's most elite high-level spellcaster regiment? That's a full 150 high-level battle mages! If we could equip every one of them with such powerful high-level magical weapons, would we still have to wait until today?"

The wizard coalition formed by the Federation and the Wizard Kingdom is not without equipment of standard magic tools, but even with the support of a huge magic tool manufacturing organization like the Alchemy Exploration Society, it is still difficult for them to gain an overwhelming advantage on the battlefield.

After all, no matter how good a standard magic weapon is, the caster still needs to use his own stored magic power and combine it with spells to attack. When the magic power is exhausted, the spell-amplifying effect of the magic weapon is meaningless and is not as great as the damage caused by an ordinary sword.

Members of a high-level spellcaster regiment often disdain to use the standard magic weapons issued to them. These cheap, low-level, mass-produced amplification magic weapons are far inferior to their own customized mid- and high-level magic weapons and are a very useless choice.

Salas raised the corner of his mouth, turned his head and glanced at the "Shield of Magic" Fran McCaughlin who was sitting upright on the periphery. He couldn't help but shudder.

"The Chief is hinting that it's my turn..."

He immediately stood up and shouted to the arguing crowd, "Everyone, we have obtained the finished product of this anti-magic weapon from our collaborator. We have secretly commissioned the chief alchemist of the Alchemy Exploration Society to successfully complete a replica!"

The air at the scene suddenly froze...

"Then why are we still discussing cooperation with them? Haven't we already got the goods?"

"Huh! They really underestimate the Federation's capabilities, don't they? They handed such an important finished weapon directly to us. Where does their confidence come from? They think we can't replicate it?"

"Three hundred! No, if we can create one hundred and fifty of these magical instruments, our high-level spellcaster regiment will be invincible on the supply front of the demon army!"

Gallagher, who always wore a black robe, snorted coldly, interrupting the excited discussions in the conference hall.

"Arrogant! Blind! Ignorant! Using this weapon simply cannot be achieved by imitation. It operates similarly to a bow and crossbow, requiring ammunition like arrows to be effective! And we simply cannot replicate that ammunition... We can't even crack its manufacturing formula! This is the ultimate confidence our partners have in negotiating with us!"

He stood up and pulled out a strangely shaped silver metal short staff from the box handed to him by the waiter. He raised his hand in front of everyone and said in a deep voice, "Furthermore, the cooperation we want to reach is far more than just using this anti-magic weapon to equip a high-level spellcaster warband!"

"As long as they have the magic ammunition continuously provided by their partners, spellcasters of any level can manipulate this magical weapon to attack the enemy. Even the most useless low-level research mage can easily kill a powerful demon-enhanced warrior."

Gallagher looked around the hall and finally set his eyes on his two chief colleagues. He looked at them and nodded slightly, then said something shocking that made the whole place silent.

"Furthermore... this isn't a weapon that only spellcasters are qualified to wield. Even if it were given to an ordinary mortal soldier, as long as he underwent simple shooting and aiming training, he could completely replace the spellcaster and confront the demon soldiers head-on on the battlefield!"

(End of this chapter)