Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 229 Technological Monopoly

To be honest, Harvey had not expected that the price of weapons and ammunition that he had set on a whim would cause such a huge continental magician organization like the Federation to be short of cash flow in a short period of time.

The beetle soul core used to make the Annihilation Gun was sold directly to the Exploration Society at a price of 500 gold pounds each. After they completed the production and assembly of other accessories, they resold the finished weapon to the Federation at several times the price.

This is obviously a very reasonable price. After all, it is cheaper than the standard magic weapons in the past.

But the problem certainly wasn't that an annihilation bomb cost one gold pound...

Harvey felt that with the Federation's rich accumulation over a hundred years, they would not be unable to afford even the ammunition for the Gun of Annihilation. The most likely reason was that these noble spellcasters had never used worldly money as a transaction equivalent, which led to the mistake of insufficient internal financial reserves.

After all, whether it is the magical materials needed for daily research and experiments, or the precious minerals and plants commonly used to make magical tools and potions, they cannot be easily obtained by simply relying on shiny gold pounds.

But Harvey took a different approach in the transaction requirements for the first order and proposed to pay for the purchase in the form of gold pounds, which really made those unworldly spellcasters of the Federation scratch their heads.

Fortunately, the Alchemy Exploration Society, with whom they have been working closely, still has sufficient gold reserves. They occasionally accept orders for alchemical weapons from nobles and do not mind if the other party uses ordinary coins to pay.

After delivering the first batch of ammunition worth 5,000 gold pounds, the Federation paid for the second batch of 30,000 annihilation bombs entirely with money borrowed from the Alchemy Exploration Society. They even sent a temporary message requesting to use some magic materials to offset the purchase costs, which made Harvey feel a little amused and helpless for a while.

As for the inferior spoils that the Federation continuously sent via the teleportation array - the secret medicine energy storage tanks used by the berserk demon soldiers, which they also wanted to use to offset the cost of ammunition purchases, Harvey completely refused to acknowledge it.

Otherwise, all the demon-specific garbage seized by the Federation during the combat operations will probably fill up Harvey's territory warehouse.

Of course, those glittering gold coins piled up in the warehouse cannot reflect their value at all if they are just left there. Only when the funds continue to flow can they bring actual development effects to Harvey's territory.

Reiner unfolded the thick account book in his hand and placed it on Harvey's desk. He smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, we have just finished counting the gold pounds delivered to the warehouse. They will be sent to the warehouse in town soon. The people from the Dragonstone Merchants Guild are waiting for our advance payment..."

Soap factories, shipyards, sugar mills, textile mills... These new civilian production projects received construction preparation permits from Harvey in a steady stream and were launched one after another in early autumn when the harvest season was approaching.

The Ministry of Construction complained about the shortage of construction workers at the city hall meetings every day. The mines were working in three shifts to intensify iron ore mining, and several alchemy beasts broke down due to the 24-hour non-stop work.

The situation at the steel mill was even more grim. Due to the continuous high-temperature operation and the need to complete the steel production tasks approved by Harvey, many workers suffered from overheating and heatstroke in the early autumn when the weather gradually cooled down. Every day, there were unfortunate people who were carried to the territory medical hospital.

"We're short of people... or too short of people..." Harvey flipped through the work report sent by the City Hall, constantly drawing red circles on the various task clauses and making corrections, muttering to himself anxiously.

Asdalen took the freshly brewed tea from his personal guard and gently placed it on Harvey's desk. After pondering for a moment, he spoke, "Sir...wasn't there a cooperation agreement in the alliance we signed with the Federation involving population migration and slave trade?"

Pierce frowned and said, "Slaves? Those demon prisoners? I think they are completely worthless. These demon soldiers who have been injected with strengthening potions are very dangerous, and they need to be constantly replenished with potions, otherwise they will soon become weak. We can't always allocate soldiers from the defense force to keep an eye on them working for us, right?"

Harvey smiled wryly and shook his head, explaining, "The southern countries have long since abolished the human slave trade. Foreign prisoners of war are completely worthless to us, and we still need to waste food to feed them."

He paused, then said thoughtfully, "When I first proposed this cooperation clause, it was actually to lay the groundwork for a series of subsequent plans, to lay a high-sounding and legitimate reason in advance..."

After the Federation obtained the Annihilation Gun that it developed, it will certainly continue to launch counterattacks against the demon invaders entrenched in the Evil Moon Mountains as it is now.

Once the supply of weapons and ammunition becomes sufficient and the battle mages and warrior followers have all adapted to this new way of fighting, they will definitely completely break with the church and the conservative wizard kingdom forces, and use their record of fighting against the demons to officially declare to the human countries that the Spellcasters' Federation is fully capable of serving as the backbone of the human resistance to the demon invasion and independently shouldering the glorious task of protecting the human race.

As a result, the faith base and secular reputation that the Church of Light had painstakingly accumulated over hundreds of years in the southern countries were bound to plummet. In order to maintain the stability of faith among the nobility and the people, the conflict between them and the spellcasters would certainly become more intense.

Regardless of whether there are powerful foreign enemies surrounding us or not, humans, a highly intelligent race, cannot escape the long historical tradition of internal strife.

The fence-sitters and conservatives within the Federation, as well as the various organizations close to the Church in the Seven Wizarding Kingdoms, will be forced to choose sides and will no longer be able to sit back and relax and have their way. As for those who refuse to change, they can only wait for the Federation's orthodox spellcasters to become free and begin rounds of brutal purges.

"Once this round of counterattacks in the Evil Moon Mountains is over, war will be imminent in the southern kingdoms. Moreover, this is a conflict between spellcasters and the church. The nobles and ordinary civilians of the secular kingdoms are merely forced to get involved..."

Harvey stood up, walked to the window, sighed softly, and turned to look at Reiner, Pierce, and the others who still didn't quite understand the key point. He said softly, "If a war breaks out in the human kingdom in the southern border involving extraordinary beings, a large number of civilians will be displaced. They will either panic and flock to other areas where the war has not yet broken out, or flee to the remote mountains and dense forests for shelter. But as the war gradually spreads and the entire southern border becomes unsafe... our opportunity has arrived."

……

Fair Holden and Matthews Willy were suspended in mid-air, looking at a demon supply hub that had been completely destroyed beneath their feet. They glanced at each other and laughed in unison.

"Is it almost time? Should we turn back? I'm almost out of magic stones... and the ammunition for the Annihilation Spear is running low. If we encounter another ascended demon, I'm afraid I'll really die here."

This time, Fair didn't refuse outright. Instead, he winked and teased, "Matthews, you've been urging us to return every day since we left. I've never met a high-level battle mage as cautious and fearful as you."

He paused and said quietly, "Have you ever wondered why I've been delaying my return?"

Matthews was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help but asked angrily: "Did you do this on purpose?"

Seeing his expression, Fell couldn't help but burst out laughing. "You really are... We assassinated a high-ranking priest of the Church in Blackrock City! Even if we were clean enough to leave no evidence, we still have to find a way to hide. Do you really want to stand there brazenly in front of those investigators every day?"

As Fell spoke, an expression of extreme disgust appeared on his face, and his tone gradually deepened. "Those hypocritical and shameless people in the Church of Light, even if they can't find any evidence, will secretly carry out various retaliatory actions against the caster. Humph, we are just fighting back..."

The two talked for a while, and suddenly a magic messenger with flapping wings appeared in the air beside them, spit out a scroll with a magic seal on it, and turned into ashes and floated away.

"Haha, it's Andre Weiss, the commander of the scout group. The operation to cut off the demon supply line has ended, and he summoned us to join him for support..."

By the time the two men flew at full speed to the battlefield of the supply line, the battles in the transit fortresses along the way had all ended. The low-level spellcasters of the scout regiment, leading a large number of warrior followers, were busy on the devastated battlefield, constantly using the confiscated energy tanks to extract the blood of the recently dead demon soldiers and hybrid monsters.

Matthews asked in surprise, "What are they doing? Draining the blood of demon soldiers and monsters? What can this thing be used for? Experimenting with magic?"

Scout Commander Andre Weiss stepped forward, nodded reservedly to his two fellow high-level spellcasters, and explained with a smile, "I don't know what this alien flesh and blood with little magic power is used for, but since Alaye has made a request to me, we will just do it..."

He paused and whispered, "But I heard that the mysterious partner who provided us with the Spear of Annihilation seems to be interested in all the spoils from the demons. Whether it's energy storage tanks, the blood of demon soldiers, or even the flesh and blood of hybrid monsters, they accept everything."

Many spellcasters who participated in the supply line attack were discussing privately that the most important ammunition for the Gun of Annihilation seemed to be made by transforming the flesh and blood of the demons themselves, but no one knew the specific formula and production method.

Upon hearing this, Fell raised his eyebrows and sneered, "What? Are there some pretentious individuals among us who think they can crack the formula for the annihilation munitions based solely on these speculations? Those foolish individuals, who only care about the tiny profits in front of them, wouldn't want to tear up the cooperation agreement and turn their backs on us just after tasting the sweetness of victory?"

As early as a month ago, when the first batch of replicas of the Lance of Annihilation produced by the Alchemy Exploration Society were delivered to the Federation, some people began to secretly guide certain opinions within the Federation, believing that this new energy weapon was not much different from the mass-produced standard magic weapons in the past from a technical point of view.

After the ammunition that came with the weapons was delivered, some people immediately began to claim that they wanted to crack the manufacturing technology and formula of the weapons and ammunition through experiments. However, after so much time, there has been no progress.

No matter how the research-oriented spellcasters tested and experimented, these annihilation bullets, which looked like fragments of magic stone, had no special features. The mithril cores sold by the partners to the Alchemy Exploration Society for the purpose of making weapons were immediately destroyed once disassembled, and the magic fluctuations and the structure of the inscription array contained therein could not be observed at all.

It seems that the only option is to accept the obligation, pay the money, and honestly purchase weapons from the agent of the mysterious partner.

(End of this chapter)