The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 166 Changing Rice Paddy to Mulberry Trees: Endless Trouble

The Elf Kingdom, Moonsong City.

On this day, Doron, a moon elf student, saw that his classmate Mia was wearing a unique and beautiful dress under her outer robe.

This garment seems woven from pure rainbow, displaying ever-changing colors that reveal different charms from different angles. At times, it is as fiery as fire, and at other times, it possesses the luxuriousness of a deep purple.

"Wow, you're wearing such a beautiful outfit. Where are you from?" Doron asked.

Mia proudly boasted, "This is an outfit personally designed by the Sun Elf Master Mochaardo Goldflake! It cost me 150 gold coins to snag it!"

"Is this a design by the Sun Elf Master?" Doron was amazed by the beautiful clothes.

In a fleeting moment, a sudden realization dawned on the student:
In recent years, although Eldorum has produced many inexpensive magical items, the Elven Kingdom still maintains an absolute leading position in the field of art, in the design and processing of high-end handicrafts.

Indeed, some of the creations of the elves are irreplaceable by those godless races of the East!

……

November of the 20th year of the Empire.

Eldoron Floating City, in Elrian's Palace.

Elian looked at the six people in front of him:
"Oh, so the heads of your six magic production bases are all suggesting that Eldoron should expand into the areas where the elves currently hold an advantage?"

"You mean: in fields like high-end handicrafts, as long as we put in the effort, we can also compete with the elves?"

The people in front nodded repeatedly:
"exactly."

El-Erian knew that the managers of these professional production bases judged that there were no major problems.

While the elves currently hold an advantage in most of these areas, it's mainly because Eldoron hasn't focused its efforts on them.

He was certain that once humanity was willing to enter these industries, they would definitely gain a certain advantage.

However, its advantages are not as prominent as those of inexpensive magical items.

From this perspective, the areas where elves have an advantage are mostly characterized by a comparative advantage, rather than an absolute advantage.

Ahead, Amina, the newly appointed head of the Rolling Stone Town magic base and a production mage, enthusiastically suggested:
"Your Majesty, we are no less capable than those pointy-eared elves. As long as we are willing to invest in high-end art and fashion design, we will definitely surpass the elves in a few years or a decade!"

The others echoed this sentiment:

"Yes, Your Majesty. Please announce the new policies and directives as soon as possible."

"These industries that the elves are leading in, although not large in scale, are really profitable!"

El-Erian crossed his arms, looked at the enthusiastic crowd ahead, and smiled faintly:
"No wonder you're so enthusiastic. Elves are leaders in high-end crafts, clothing design, and luxury goods, which have high added value. Compared to the cheap magical products we sell, it's much easier to make money."

"As long as we in Eldoron are willing to invest, we will definitely be able to get a share of the pie."

"Therefore, as Emperor of Eldoron, my opinion is..."

However, to the astonishment of the many heads of magical production bases, Elian calmly stated:

“Abandon these territories. Let the elves make money.”

The head of the Peace Town Magic Base couldn't understand:

"Why? Your Majesty El-Erian, do you not trust us? I swear, as long as Your Majesty is willing to allocate resources, we will..."

El-Erian shook his head, interrupting him:

"No. It's not that I don't trust Eldoron and humans' ability to learn and imitate."

Facing the confused crowd, Elian slowly explained:

"First of all, we should let the Elven Kingdom have its own areas of strength, instead of taking away all their business."

"In this way, the hostility of the sun elves towards humans can be effectively alleviated. One should be lenient when possible."

"More importantly, in the long run, it is beneficial for us that the Elf Kingdom focuses its industrial transfer on these non-practical areas."

At this point, El-Erian smiled knowingly:
"After all, flowers can't replace a horse-drawn carriage."

After a brief explanation, the heads of the magic production bases understood Elian's plan:

"I see……"

"From that perspective, that makes sense; there's no need to compete with the elves in these areas..."

Although somewhat reluctant, the people in charge abandoned their original idea.

After seeing off the leaders, Gret, the dragon vein sorcerer who had been listening to their conversation, looked bewildered and finally couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty Elion, I still don't quite understand."

"Since you say that high-end crafts and fashion design are fields where you can easily make a lot of money, why should we, Eldoron, give up the opportunity to make even more money?"

In the years following the establishment of trade between the two countries, Gretel clearly felt that the country was becoming increasingly wealthy and prosperous.

Now that a new opportunity to make big money is right in front of us, why should we give it up?
El-Erian smiled faintly:
"Grete, think about it."

"Now, the Elven Kingdom faces two paths."

"One path is to take enormous risks and spend decades imitating our production techniques and methods in Eldoron, until we can mass-produce all sorts of daily necessities, practical vehicles, weapons, armor, and magical items, just like us."

"This road is full of thorns and difficulties."

“One path is to abandon the thousand-year-old staff-making and alchemy workshops, and continuously shift industries to areas where elves have an advantage, such as high-end handicrafts and clothing design. This way, we not only won't have to compete with us, but we can also easily make a lot of money, and even export back to Eldoron.”

"This road is wide, flat, and lined with flowers."

"If it were you, which path would you choose?"

Gretel answered without hesitation:
"Of course, it's the latter option."

At this point, Gretel suddenly realized:
“I understand, but if we take this wide and flat road, the Elven Kingdom will gradually lose the ability to manufacture magical items such as wands, magic staffs, robes, and potions. Even ordinary non-magical items such as carriages, waterwheels, clothes, shoes, and armor will require a lot of effort to make.”

"Ultimately, the Elven Kingdom will become extremely dependent on us and increasingly unable to live without us."

"If a disaster or war breaks out in the future, aesthetic considerations can be abandoned, but our manufacturing industry is truly essential!"

Elian nodded with a smile:
"exactly."

"We will proactively leave a wide and flat road for the Elf Kingdom."

"That way, they won't compete with us for the difficult path that truly leads to victory."

In Elion's plan, this was a step towards conquering the Elven kingdom from the perspective of economic production!
Undoubtedly, it will take at least several decades for the Elven Kingdom to gradually abandon its original manufacturing industry and become completely dependent on Eldoron's products.

Before that, Elion needs to shift his focus to a new mission—

Respond to the Empire's 30-year-long invasion from the Abyss!

……

November of the 20th year of the Empire.

It was another peaceful day in the floating city of Eldoron.

At dawn, the dazzling sunlight shone on the streets of the floating city, and drifting clouds floated past on both sides of the city's fence. Birds chirped intermittently, praising the beauty of the dawn.

boom!
Suddenly, a surge of magical energy exploded inside a small building, blasting it to pieces, and colorful lights shot straight into the sky.

"what happened?"

"Wait, that's His Majesty Elion's arcane laboratory!"

"His Majesty El-Erian said earlier that a dimensional observation would be conducted today. Did something unexpected happen during the observation?"

Secretary Siluca led a group of mages to the ruins of the arcane laboratory, and frantically shouted towards the smoke from the explosion:
"Your Majesty El-Erian? Are you alright?"

The acrid smoke slowly dissipated, revealing Elian's figure. This high mage, whose magic had reached the peak of the initial legendary level, appeared to be unharmed.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Gentlemen, the situation is not good."

"During the dimensional observation experiment, I observed a huge crisis!"

As Elian emerged from the smoke, his expression was extremely serious:
"According to the observation results, it is estimated that in about 10 years, that is, in the 30th year of the Empire, the Abyss plane will collide with our prime material plane."

"At that time, a dimensional rift leading to the abyss will appear on the continent!"

A bottomless abyss?

Over the past 20 years, thanks to Elian's educational reforms, the mages have developed basic concepts of planar geometry and have a general understanding of multiple outer planes.

For example, the lawful good [Heaven] is divided into 7 levels, and the lawful evil [Hell] is divided into 9 levels.

The chaotic and evil Abyss has countless layers, at least several hundred, and is the home of demons!

"Your Majesty Elion, do you mean that the almost endless number of demons from the Abyss will flood the continent?" Secretary Siluca asked in surprise.

(End of this chapter)