Above the mage

Chapter 358 Abundant Family Wealth

The first all-hands meeting of Phoenix's top management concluded here, with the entire agenda being very brief.

However, after the others left, Sunafa did not leave with them, but stayed behind alone.

Gao De and she still have some things to discuss privately.

After everyone had left, Sunafa gently waved her hand, and a chill seeped out. Tiny ice crystals quickly climbed along the crack in the door, sealing the room into a secluded chamber.

"I'm only coming back for a day or two this time, and then I'll be leaving," Gao De said, getting straight to the point.

There's a shipyard in the Plantagenet Dynasty waiting for him to acquire, so he can't stay away for too long.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Where did you go via astral teleportation? Did you encounter any danger?" As one of the few people who knew about "astral teleportation," Sunafa was concerned about God and also very curious about God's experiences during this time.

Gaode has always been very honest and trusting of Sunafa.

This is actually mutual.

As the War Mother of the Zhenbing tribe, Sunafa possesses absolute power and authority, yet she gives him unreserved trust and support despite him being merely a first-ring mage and an outsider. Naturally, he will treat Sunafa the same way.

So Gaode told Sunafa about his experiences and observations over the past two and a half months without any reservations, and also revealed his next plans.

"Phoenix is ​​lacking in so many things, whether it's resources, knowledge, or skills. It needs to establish connections with the outside world in order to fill this gap."

"But given Phoenix's current size and strength, if it rashly establishes connections with the outside world, it could easily be exploited and lose its initiative."

"I acquired the shipyard to solve this problem. With my own shipyard, I can build my own fleet and then initially establish a trade route between Lagos and Vallar Bay."

Gao De's eyes gleamed, as if he were envisioning a blueprint for the future: "A trade route in my hands."

"With both ends under my control, I can minimize the risks."

"The initial scale of trade should not be too large, otherwise it will easily attract the attention of others."

"My king, you have considered everything thoroughly." Sunafa first praised Gaode as usual, his voice steady and cold, somewhat unlike the emotion one would expect when praising someone.

Over the course of our time together, Gaode has actually heard similar things countless times.

For Sunefa, such a compliment, while not necessarily "hypocritical," was certainly not very "sincere," as it was more like a casual, everyday expression.

To put it simply, it's like the phrase brothers always say to each other: "Awesome, bro."

"Acquire shipyards, purchase shops, and manufacture Tier 1 rune constructs." Then, Sunefa got down to business and began to list the major things that Gaode was going to do next.

"And there's also the spell potion for [Rapid Excavation]," God added. "This spell is very useful for the construction of Phoenix, and I plan to promote it among the mages of the tribe."

[Quick Excavation] is a first-level spell. To construct a spell model, you need to take the corresponding spell potion.

A single 1-ring spell potion costs an average of 40 Goldbird Coins.

"At least 20 spell potions are needed to barely meet the current construction and production needs."

"Add to that the spells and potions," Sunafa nodded slightly and quickly summarized the results: "My king, to accomplish these things, the required amount of money is 10000 gold coin or more. 12000 gold coin is a relatively safe and secure level. If the purchase price is halved, then we need to provide resources worth 24000 gold coins."

"At the same time, the quantity of supplies cannot be too large, otherwise you will not be able to return to the Golden Flower Dynasty via the astral teleportation belt." Sunafa was seriously considering the matter, her brows furrowed, while Gaode looked slightly embarrassed.

—From this perspective, my requirements are indeed a bit too demanding.

"Extraordinary items from the Northern Territory are quite sought after in the Golden Flower Dynasty, and can generally fetch a premium of 10% to 20%," Gao De added.

"Alright, I understand," Sunafa seemed to have thought of something, her tightly furrowed brows quietly relaxed, and she chuckled, "My king, this way please."

Without a sound, the ice crystals that had sealed the room had receded, and the door was pushed open by an invisible hand.

Sunafa led Gaode to the treasure vault of the Zhenbing tribe.

The treasure vault is located near the Ice Jade Wutong tree, and its entrance is covered by a thick layer of ice crystals.

However, Sunefa simply waved her hand, and the ice crystals slowly opened like an automatic door, revealing a deep passage.

The walls inside the passage were inlaid with ice crystals that emitted a faint blue light, illuminating the interior of the treasure vault.

"Actually, this place is quite empty most of the time, but ever since I learned that you had a need, I've had my people start looking for and collecting extraordinary items. Now the collection is gradually becoming more and more extensive," Sunafa said as she led the way.

Upon entering the treasure vault, the first thing that catches the eye is a huge ice sculpture depicting Boreas, the first war mother of the Zhenbing tribe, in a lifelike manner.

The surrounding walls were also made of thick ice crystals, and the inside of the treasure vault was filled with many ice shelves, with some storage boxes in the corners.

The items on the shelves were of various styles, including ores that emitted different kinds of light, mysterious animal bones, or strange parts of ley line creatures.

In addition, there are some magical plants placed in transparent ice crystal boxes.

"Moreover, the Frostwolf Clan and Winterhammer just recently paid a ransom to redeem their Warmother, which greatly enriched the Treasury's inventory." As she spoke, Sunefa walked to a shelf, took down an ice crystal box with the help of a mage, and handed it to God.

"This was prepared especially for you."

Prepared for me?

Gao De curiously took the box. Inside was a pale root shaped like a human finger bone. He could vaguely see bright red sap flowing slowly in the dim light, as if it were alive.

He opened the box.

A faint smell of blood wafted over.

The root felt icy cold to the touch, yet it also carried a strange warmth. Gao De held it in his hand as if he were holding a strange object that was a mixture of ice and fire.

"What is this?" Gao De asked in surprise.

"Wolf Blood Ginseng is one of the 'ransoms' paid by the Frostwolf Clan to redeem their War Mother. It is a specialty of the Frostwolf Clan and is extremely precious among them."

"So far, Wolf Blood Ginseng has only appeared in the Frostwolf Clan."

"The Frostwolf Clan does not only regard snow wolves as ferocious beasts, but also as indispensable and loyal companions."

"Therefore, when a snow wolf grows old, if the clan has the means, they will provide it with food and shelter until it dies of natural causes. If food is scarce, they will hold a ritualistic slaughter for the old snow wolf."

"Wolf Blood Ginseng is a strange magical plant that grows beneath the land where the Frostwolf Clan performs ritual slaughter."

"It is born in extreme cold and grows by absorbing the blood of snow wolves. Its juice contains powerful and pure magic that is different from that absorbed. Consuming it can enhance the magical power of the consumer."

"I thought you would need this, so I specifically added it when I issued the ransom order."

"Fortunately, they only wanted to redeem their own battle mother, otherwise the Frostwolf Clan would have been reluctant to give up Wolf Blood Ginseng, since they themselves don't have much of it." Sunefa smiled slyly.

Enhancing magical power. What a great item!

"It is indeed what I need. Thank you for your thoughtfulness." He put the wolf blood ginseng back into the box and then carefully put it into his arms.

"Of course," Sunafa replied, while using the mage's hand to take ten ice crystal boxes from a deeper shelf and hand them to God.

The box is transparent, so the contents inside are completely visible.

Each box contains five leaves made of ice crystals.

"These are leaves that fell from the Ice Jade Wutong tree!" Gao De was stunned for a moment, then instantly realized what it meant.

When the Ice Jade Wutong was upgraded, all the old leaves fell off, totaling three or four hundred, which were collected by Sunafa's people.

"Yes, when the Guardian Tree was upgraded, it shed a total of 360 leaves, exactly the number of a year. Here are 50 of them."

Drinking water infused with the leaves of the Ice Jade Wutong tree is said to have a remarkable effect on enhancing a mage's mental strength. For mages, its value even surpasses that of magical plants that enhance magical power.

Such treasures would never be purchased at half price; in fact, they would be auctioned off for bidding.

When Gao De first drank the Ice Jade Wutong Water, his mental strength increased from 100 to 132.

Of course, for higher-level mages, the effect of Ice Jade Wutong Water on increasing spiritual power is much smaller.

For a fourth-circle mage like Sunaf, gaining 3 points of mental strength might be considered quite good.

Therefore, the Ice Jade Wutong Leaf is most suitable for a first-level mage, and in a sense, it can be equivalent to a first-level magic potion.

But the price certainly can't be calculated like that, because it can permanently improve the mage's basic attributes.

Therefore, its value is almost equivalent to a higher-level extraordinary equipment. The price of a single Ice Jade Wutong Leaf is around three hundred Golden Bird Flower Coins.

Fifty ice-jade parasol leaves, that's fifteen thousand golden sparrow coins.

With its high price, small size, and easy resale value, this is clearly a golden leaf, not an ice jade parasol leaf!

The problem that Gaode was worried about was instantly solved.

To be honest, most forces would never sell treasures like the Ice Jade Wutong Leaf. They would keep them for internal use or barter them with other forces in exchange for treasures they wouldn't sell.

Because many treasures cannot be bought with money, the Ice Jade Wutong Leaf is one such item.

Both Gaode and Sunafa understand this principle.

But they understand priorities better, and in this situation, they can't afford to worry about those things.

Moreover, the leaves of the Ice Jade Wutong tree are a renewable resource, so it is not unacceptable to donate a portion of them for emergency purposes.

"With these, Harland Shipyard is practically in our grasp," Gao De said with satisfaction, everything was progressing steadily in the direction he had planned.

"There is a ready-made two-masted sailing ship in the Harland shipyard. After successfully acquiring the Harland shipyard, I will recruit crew members to go to sea as soon as possible."

The mission was twofold: first, to send Elsa and Anna to the North; and second, to transport artisans, timber, and other supplies that the North currently lacked.

"At the same time, the Northern Territory also needs to prepare some resources that can be supplied stably, as goods for the return journey, to be transported to the Plantagenet Dynasty for sale, and then the income can be used to build more ships, purchase more supplies and transport them to the Northern Territory, so that a positive cycle can be established and a trade route can be initially established," Gao De said slowly.

Only through mutually beneficial trade and the optimal allocation of resources can Phoenix's development be continuously fueled.

"We also need to hurry up and build a usable port in Vallar Bay. It doesn't need to be too big or too formal, just enough to be functional."

The port is the gateway connecting the North to the outside world and a key hub for trade. Although large-scale construction is not needed at present, it is essential to have a port that can meet basic needs as soon as possible to prepare for the upcoming trade.

"No problem," Sunefa readily agreed, then hesitated for a moment before asking to confirm, "Are Elsa and Anna really that important?"

"Very important," Gao De affirmed.

"They are princesses of the fallen Duchy of Xidian. Of course, this identity is not important; what matters is their talent."

"First is Anna. Although she is young, her talent in runic literature is astonishing. I will personally teach her runic literature, and if possible, I hope she can become the chief runic literature teacher at the Phoenix Department of Education in the future."

Gao De is determined to promote the new rune system built by Mentor He Xi, and Anna is the most suitable person Gao De has ever met.

Her talent for calculations was natural; she was born to study this subject.

"As for Elsa, from what I understand, she is a princess of some renown. She received royal education from a young age and is well-versed in politics, diplomacy, economics, and even military affairs. She also has unique insights and outstanding talent in management."

"During her father's reign, she actively participated in the handling of national affairs, including the construction and planning of people's livelihood in the Duchy of Xidian, as well as diplomatic negotiations and trade with neighboring countries. She was well-regarded by the people of the Duchy of Xidian."

"This talent is very important for Phoenix right now."

"Would people with such backgrounds and experiences be willing to join us? To outsiders, we are an anomaly," Sunafa expressed her concerns.

"Yes, once she comes to the North, she'll be on our side, and she'll naturally do her best."

Gaudé affirmed, "Her country has been destroyed, and she's currently being hunted by the people of the Ovoga Duchy, forced to flee everywhere. The North can offer them refuge, so why would she have any other intentions?"

"Without the protection of the North, she wouldn't even be able to save her own life."

"And once they come to the North, their fate will be inextricably linked with ours. The better Phoenix develops, the more secure her position will be, and the higher her value will be."

"So, from a self-interest perspective, Elsa will also go all out. She's a smart woman and knows what to do," Gao De continued, speaking clearly and logically.

"My king, your strategy is flawless," Sunafa said calmly, offering another compliment.

"Oh, and also prepare some meat chunks from high-level ley line creatures, preferably those above the third ring." Gao De suddenly remembered something else.

This is the food prepared for the dumplings.

Capybaras can successfully grow into second-ring creatures if they consume enough high-quality food containing magic and blood energy during their growth period.

To advance to the next level, the resources required would increase exponentially, making it extremely difficult.

After all, high-quality food containing magic and blood energy is not cheap.

First of all, hunting creatures from the ley lines is not an easy task. They live in the wilderness and are very powerful. Hunting them requires a lot of effort and involves great risks.

Secondly, not all ley line creatures are edible. Some ley line creatures contain potent toxins, or their flesh is coarse and difficult to eat. Even if you spend a lot of effort hunting them, they cannot be used as food.

Only those ley line creatures that have been specially selected, have tender flesh, and are free of toxins, can be used as food.

Finally, transporting the edible corpses of ley line creatures back to the city was also extremely difficult.

This isn't about how many ley line creatures you hunt and how many corpses you bring back.

When mages venture deep into the wilderness, they often need to carry a large amount of equipment and supplies, making their load already quite heavy.

Therefore, it is very possible that a mage could spend two or three days venturing deep into the mountains and killing a small group of ley line creatures, but due to the weight of the load, he could only spend another two or three days bringing back the corpse of one of the ley line creatures.

The combination of these three factors results in the extremely high value of the flesh and blood of creatures from the ley lines, which is generally only affordable for nobles, let alone for feeding to pet beasts, as that would be too extravagant.

However, for Gaode Maps, this is a very minor issue.

The Zhenbing tribe may lack other things, but they certainly don't lack the flesh and blood of ley line creatures.

The Zhenbing tribe has powerful Iceborn mages as hunters. They don't even glance at the flesh and blood of first-ring ley line creatures. The starting point is second-ring ley line creature flesh and blood, which will definitely allow Tuanzi to enjoy the top-level treatment that only the "Capybara King" can enjoy.

(End of this chapter)