Chapter 72: I'll Be Back in a Jiffy

To be fair, the magic-version Great Lighthouse, also known as Tartarus, is an incredibly powerful Wonder.

One could even say that with the blessing of this Wonder, no individual entity within a five-thousand-kilometer radius of the ocean would be able to resist the Star-Bearer ships. That massive silhouette would be visible from thousands of kilometers away, much like the World Scar caused by Stonehenge, leaving a striking Brand on the reality of the world.

Once Tartarus is completed, the entire Chaos Sea will be illuminated by brilliant psionic lamp-fire; the mere side effects of the lighthouse would be enough to leave all Sea Elves with nowhere to hide, making it easy to track them down.

But Li Ang had no intention of building it in the first place.

Not to mention the astronomical expenditure of materials and Magic, what is the concept of consuming five hundred points of Magic every day? Stonehenge only leaks two hundred points of pure Magic daily, and each living person can only support 0.1 points of Magic; this lighthouse would eat up nearly one-fifth of the territory's Magic resources.

This isn't just as simple as consuming Magic resources, because many Magic resources have fixed consumption requirements. For example, expanding the boundaries of Stonehenge, maintaining the defenses of major cities and outposts, and countering Chaos pollution. These fixed expenditures are necessities of existence and are indispensable.

In other words, after deducting these fixed expenditures, Tartarus actually consumes almost all of the Star-Bearers' disposable Magic resources.

What is the concept of this? Ordinary Humans produce absolutely no Magic resources. According to the data Li Ang stole—I mean, observed—from the players, in reality, only one in a hundred people possesses the aptitude for Magic awakening. Only about one hundred people can provide a 0.1 Magic bonus, and it still needs to be refined.

Whether in the Empire or Bretonnia, Mage corps are very rare and precious combat units. Converting this proportionally, it would take about five thousand Mages permanently stationed at the lighthouse just to ignite it.

And based on the ratio of Mages to normal people, that would be ten million people.

A Wonder that can only be supported by a nation of ten million people, and now, because of the existence of those damned Sea Elves, Li Ang is forced to build it. Can anyone accept such a thing?

"What cruel things those Sea Elves have done, actually taking the lives of ten million people! Ten million people—if those ten million people were given to me, that would be equivalent to one billion! If I had one billion, would I be in this state now?! The Landing Site would have been thriving long ago! The Star-Bearers would have conquered the world by now!"

"..."

That's not true at all, wasn't it all defended against?

And how exactly was that one billion calculated? I have no idea what Lord Li Ang is talking about.

Watching Li Ang, who suddenly popped out one outrageous theory after another, the people present looked at their noses and hearts, falling into silence once again. Because they knew very well that Li Ang was venting his dissatisfaction at this moment.

During this time, they had indeed come to understand that Li Ang is not a god. Ordinary gods do not have such intense emotional fluctuations. Aside from being calculating when it comes to Magic and the surrounding power environment, in other times, as long as he isn't hand-holding or mind-controlling the crowd, Li Ang is actually a very tolerant ruler.

He does not demand that his subjects sing his praises, nor does he force those around him to surrender their loyalty, much less force everyone to develop unreserved belief and love for Li Ang in their thoughts. Everything happens naturally; at least the Star-Bearers have never felt any oppression from Li Ang.

Just like the construction of this Wonder, theoretically, it seems like everyone is going to have to break their bones and tendons, but in reality, the residents know what their territory is actually like.

"My Lord, regarding this Wonder..."

Looking left and right, the official in charge of the territory's infrastructure, Oliver—because a bard more suitable for managing culture had already been captured—stepped out and said very respectfully: "Currently, based on our financial reserves and related material storage, we have no ability to build the Tartarus Lighthouse you mentioned. We still have reserves of Magic and gold mines, but our reserves of copper and iron ore are relatively insufficient and will require some time to process."

"Copper and iron ore? These two are the least likely to be lacking, right?" Hanging his body upside down in the Observatory, Li Ang looked at the glowing Oliver with some confusion.

"Wouldn't it be enough to go outside and slaughter some demons of the God of War? By the way, drag his copper bulls back and kill them all; those things are full of copper blocks outside, wouldn't it be better to just drag them back, skin them, and slaughter them?"

"Demons' weapons are often filled with Magic; wanting to remove the Magic alone without damaging the weapons and minerals is a rather difficult task... Even after absorbing the Magic using the World Scar, it is the same. The residual iron sand and copper sand are of very low quality, far inferior to normal minerals."

"After all, having been blown by the Chaos Wind for so long, it is only natural for the properties of the minerals to change..."

But if that's the case, it is indeed a bit difficult.

Looking at the various necessary buildings and related facilities stacked up in the territory icon, Li Ang frowned.

The population is still too small.

The current total population of the Landing Site is about twenty-two thousand people.

Among them, about four thousand are engaged in hunting demons around the Giant Tree Outpost and Fool's Beach to earn Magic and technology points. And the population in other places is distributed in agriculture and other short-handed production activities.

And for high-density labor industries like mining, it is normal for large mines to absorb thousands or tens of thousands of people. The Landing Site naturally does not have mines of this scale, and thus naturally cannot afford the construction process of Tartarus.

The reason the population is so small is that a significant portion is outside maintaining the routes for the Norscan migration. Now, the north side of the Norsca Peninsula is viewed by Li Ang as his exclusive territory, with about sixty dragon ships sailing in a crisscross pattern, carrying a considerable amount of supplies and population between each other every day.

Many Norscans do not identify themselves as Star-Bearers, but as Norscans.

Their thinking is similar to going out to work; such people are only floating populations, not residents of the Landing Site. And the demands put forward by these cunning chieftains are all much the same.

It is nothing more than wanting Li Ang to show more power and a sense of security, so that the Norscans can gain dignity and space for development. Although this nonsense has already caused Wulfric to angrily chop off several heads, the fact that the stubborn Norscans are unwilling to leave their homeland is an objective reality.

Not enough population, blocked routes; crawling like a turtle is not Li Ang's personality. So, after a brief thought, Li Ang decided to use some external tricks.

"You guys just go ahead and build the Experimental Aerial Battleship in the shipyard first. As for the materials, I'll think of a way to see if I can trick them out of those players. Those players have nothing else, but they have plenty of materials."

Giving a thumbs up to his trustworthy subjects, Li Ang lay on the spot and died at the speed of light.

What the identities of two worlds can bring is the integration of resources from two worlds.

The next second, he opened his eyes in the tank full of nutrient solution.

Alliance Leader!!!! Thank you, boss!!!! I will definitely return the favor with ten updates on the day of the release!! Thank you!!!! (End of chapter)