Chapter 148: Nearly Perfect Solution (23)

In the blink of an eye.

The Kao Queen stayed on White Sturgeon Island for half a month.

During that half month, she basically never left the VIP reception area of Crescent Castle, living a life akin to being under soft confinement.

Fortunately, she wasn't very free in Kao Palace either, so she didn't accumulate much negative emotion because of it.

That afternoon, the Island Baron, whom she could only see once or twice a day, suddenly found her, looking mysteriously: "Your Majesty, come with me, I'll show you something good."

The Queen was irritated by the high latency of transmission orders; hearing this, she waved off the assistant mage assigned to Luosen, signaling him to issue a pause command to Kao.

She complained with a displeased face: "Baron, if this continues, in less than half a year I'll become the Kao Queen Dowager."

"I understand~ I understand~ so I've found you a perfect solution."

"I hope your so-called 'perfect' is truly perfect."

Although she said that, she honestly followed behind Luosen, all the way into the underground Magic Method Laboratory behind the castle.

Luosen brought the Queen to the innermost secret laboratory, opened the door, and inside appeared a spacious, bright, clean room.

The walls around the room were covered with numerous strange magical method runes, completely isolating any outside movement.

The room's furnishings were full of a lived-in atmosphere.

There was a living room, bedroom, washroom, and a special room marked 'Remote Control Room'.

The Queen found that the room's furniture was complete and of very high quality, like a luxury suite in a high-end hotel.

Out of feminine sensitivity, she stopped at the doorway: "Baron, what does this room mean?"

Luosen pointed to the building of the Remote Control Room.

"I built this puppet control room especially for you, costing me much effort."

"As for these living facilities, they're for your daily convenience; the real focus is in here."

"By the way, the secret room also has a hidden door connecting to your residence on the ground floor. Look, it's right here. This way, you can enter the control room at any time."

Seeing the Queen still standing at the doorway, he urged: "Come in, I'm on a tight schedule; after I brief you, I have to leave."

The Queen finally walked in, came to Luosen's side, and looked at the so-called Remote Control Room.

The room was neither big nor small, containing a strange leather chair, with various odd-shaped objects installed around it.

The most eye-catching was a weirdly shaped rune helmet.

Luosen showed a hint of pride: "I call this the Mind Remote Control Hat; come, sit in the chair."

"To ensure comfort, this chair was specially made to your measurements, with a leg rest and foot pedal, and can be freely adjusted."

"I also installed various magic arrays in this room to keep it cool and fresh, so sitting for long won't be uncomfortable."

The Queen hesitated but then complied.

After she sat down, Luosen moved that peculiar rune helmet onto her head, covering her forehead and the back of her head.

"Now, do you feel your mind is very calm?"

"Hmm. But what's the use?"

"Lean against the backrest, close your eyes."

While speaking, Luosen noticed the Queen wearing a summer low-cut long dress; lying back, it revealed a large expanse of scenery.

He stared, stunned.

'This is really huge, even bigger than Naifeini Luoya by a whole circle, almost as big as Dragon Sleep Snow Peak.'

But business comes first.

Glancing once, Luosen withdrew his gaze and continued: "The hat has a 'Mind's Eye' rune; sense it with magic power and activate it."

The Queen did as instructed.

When she did that, her vision suddenly flashed bright, and then she realized she was sitting on a strange ship speeding across the sea surface.

The ship was very fast, and the waves were somewhat high, so it cut through the waves all the way, advancing like a sharp sword.

"It's the Black Stone Warship of White Sturgeon Island!"

The Queen immediately understood, but soon a great confusion arose, as she discovered she was sitting on a bunk in the ship's cabin.

She lowered her gaze, saw her body in a black long dress, instinctively raised her hand to observe, and found this hand was exactly like her own.

Just then, she heard a woman's voice beside her: "Madam, you're awake~"

She immediately turned toward the sound and saw a blue-haired woman walking over: "Madam, you've finally woken up; I thought you'd keep sleeping."

The Queen felt strange: "Where am I now?"

"In the Golden Ocean, about 500 kilometers from the Kao coast."

The Queen then noticed she wore a very archaic bracelet on her wrist; when she focused on it, she clearly felt a tremendous amount of pure magical power inside the bracelet.

This discovery startled her: "Pure magical power lattice?!"

"No, it's the Philosopher's Stone, Your Majesty."

Luosen's voice came through her ear: "Don't open your eyes, or you might break the mind link."

The Queen complied, but asked: "Philosopher's Stone, what does that mean?"

"A strange lattice capable of storing 'Sage's Power,' an extremely precious good thing."

Such Philosopher's Stones are among the highest achievements of Luosen's Transmutation Alchemy, extremely hard to make; crafting one costs him tremendous effort.

"Your Majesty, if you sense carefully, you'll find it's not pure magical power but a type of pure magical power; they're indeed similar, but there is a difference."

The Queen sensed carefully: "Is there a difference? How can I not detect it?"

"Because your magical cultivation level is too low, you're not sensitive enough."

"Once you truly use it, you'll find that Sage's Power can only be used to transmute powers of Order Level 10 or below."

"Order Level 10? What does that mean?"

"It's the level I defined for various forms of energy, a total of 40 levels. Below 20 is noble energy, above 20 is base energy."

For example, psychic energy is level 13, puppet spirit energy is level 12, pure force energy is level 11, and arcane is the lowest at level 15.

Among the inferior energies, lightning is highest at level 21, while gale is lowest at level 39.

The queen somewhat understood: "So pure magical power is level 1?"

"No, it's level 3."

"Level 2 is soul power, level 1 is ring power. And fate power is level 8."

In other words, Your Majesty can draw on the sage power in the Philosopher's Stone to unleash magical power from all schools except fate.

Rosen still hasn't mentioned some things.

For example, a warrior's battle aura is level 14—higher than arcane but lower than psychic—so bursting battle aura provides decent defense against arcane and lower spells, but virtually no defense against psychic.

Another example: iron force is level 7, natural force is level 8.

Thus iron force actually slightly suppresses natural force. Unfortunately, those with iron dragon talent are relatively rare.

Back to the main topic.

"So, I can't perform divination anymore?"

"Precisely, you can't divine using a puppet. But you can divine yourself and then send the result over."

"Puppet?"

The queen immediately lowered her head to examine her body, checking very carefully, yet the more she examined, the more astonished she became.

"Is this a puppet? Isn't it a flesh-and-blood body?"

As she spoke, the queen heard the baron whisper in her ear: "It is a flesh-and-blood body, but also a puppet."

"Necromancy!"

The queen gasped: "You actually practice necromancy?!"

"Your Majesty, when you carefully examined your body, didn't you notice it was warm?"

The queen started, discovering it was indeed warm, feeling a thumping heartbeat, constantly needing to breathe, and her skin had exactly the same tactile sensation as a living person.

Meanwhile, the blue-haired woman beside her looked at herself with a completely normal gaze, not at all like she was looking at a corpse.

"I don't understand."

The queen was truly shocked; she really had no clue at all.

This was beyond her magical understanding.

The baron's voice again entered her ears: "Your Majesty, have you heard of the 'living dead'? That is, the body is still alive, but the soul has dissipated."

The queen slowly nodded: "I've heard of it, but such living dead usually don't live long."

Generally, they don't live long because no one takes care of them, and also because the care methods are wrong; but I know how to care for a living dead so it can maintain vitality for a long time.

He paused, then the baron's voice continued to enter her ears:

I found a woman whose soul had just dissipated, but whose body was not yet completely dead.

I used a golden blessing to revive her body, then used transmutation to shape her into the queen's likeness, and finally used some special secret arts to make her into the queen's psychic-sensing puppet.

In other words, this puppet is an extension of your soul, Your Majesty. You can directly control her via psychic sensing, and no one will discover you are an impostor. Even the three sages guarding the royal family, if they don't get close up, won't notice any abnormality.

This flesh-and-blood puppet remote-control technique can naturally be used by Rosen as well, and thanks to Laifu, it's even more convenient.

But there is a cost: Laifu's three-line ultimate operation will lose one line.

On the other hand, the queen's heart went thump-thump, feeling the baron's magic was like a miracle, incomprehensible.

She wanted to ask how he did it, but she also felt that even if he explained, she might not understand.

"I want to ask, why can psychic sensing perceive such a great distance?"

Rosen chuckled: "This is thanks to Your Majesty bringing the psychic meteorite."

He paused, then briefly explained the basic principle.

Psychic energy decays quickly, weakening rapidly with distance, but the decay of electric power is much slower.

With Your Majesty's psychic meteorite, I added a conversion device in the middle, achieving the transformation psychic → electric → psychic.

Don't think it's just a sentence, but setting up a zero-delay transmission channel for electric signals took a lot of effort.

Of course, these are all secrets, so there's no need to tell the queen.

Although the queen only got a rough idea, she was utterly shocked.

She couldn't help but sigh: "Baron, you are truly an unbelievable magic genius!"

The mages of Kao, upon obtaining the psychic meteorite, could only use it to cast large-scale sleep spells, yet this island baron actually produced something nearly miraculous.

After a while, the shock in her heart somewhat subsided: "Do I need to maintain the puppet's vitality?"

Of course, you need to control her to do everything a living person needs to do, but don't worry about forgetting; when there's no remote control, if a special situation occurs, the communicator will promptly remind you.

It won't let your puppet starve to faint, or wet the bed at night, losing the queen's dignity.

Right, there should still be some time before reaching Kao; Your Majesty, settle the puppet's personal matters, then let her continue sleeping?

The queen did as she was told.

While resolving the puppet's personal issues, although she knew no one was around the puppet, she felt somewhat uncomfortable, with a sense of embarrassment at undressing in front of the baron.

After finally settling it, she again controlled the puppet to rest, then removed the psychic remote-control hat, and saw the baron standing beside her, smiling at her.

"Your Majesty, now you don't have to worry about losing control of Kao's political situation, right?"

This indeed nearly perfectly resolved her worries, but there is still a small flaw.

"What do we do if the sage power in the bracelet runs out?"

Rosen spread his hands: "This is a problem I haven't solved, but fortunately Your Majesty is the queen of Kao, and normally you don't need to cast spells yourself."

"If it truly runs out, I will rush over to personally recharge you, and a full charge should last about half a year."

"Rushing over to charge my bracelet? That would take a lot of time."

Luosen gave a slight smile: "Your Majesty, this is what I should consider."

Upon seeing his smile, the queen faintly felt that this Baron must have mastered some kind of high-speed travel magical device, just like her airship, and possibly even faster than the airship.

Next, Luosen carefully explained to the queen various precautions for using puppets, and finally gave her a dedicated puppet usage manual.

"Alright, Your Majesty, let's discuss future cooperation now."

Upon arriving at the lounge outside the control room, Luosen sat down on a chair and handed a list to the queen.

"We have established a new route with Levinde, and I hope Kao can also join the trade."

"This list records the items our island needs, with prices we are willing to pay marked afterward."

Opening new trade is a good thing; the queen nodded and agreed.

She took the list and examined it closely: "The price is quite good, but I heard that Levinde's Neptune family plans to jointly open a large shipyard for building Black Stone cargo ships with you."

"Indeed."

The queen entered negotiation mode, tapping the list lightly with her finger, showing the competence of a strong woman.

"Then, Baron, how can you be willing to transfer the technology of the lightning messenger magical device?"

Rosen Ziran had already thought of it: "Usually, I only sell finished products."

"But if Kao can give me sufficient support in Weilan's civil war, I can sell a copy of the magical book on the basic principles of lightning."

Luosen also brought this book, titled Secrets of the Creator, Initial Exploration of Lightning's Essence, which explains some basic electromagnetic principles and fundamental methods to achieve electromagnetic waves, but does not mention any specific technology.

"Can I take a look?"

"For now, only the first three pages can be viewed."

The queen took the magical book and looked at it.

After reading the first page, her eyes widened in shock.

After reading the second page, she instinctively clenched the pages with both hands.

After finishing the third page, she felt somewhat lost and reluctantly returned the magical book to Luosen.

"Baron, what support do you want? As long as it's not excessive, I will certainly satisfy it."

She wasn't worried about domestic opposition; if there were opponents, just handing this magical book to them would leave them speechless.

In her eyes, this was again a strategic magical book capable of changing a nation's fate, a priceless treasure! Luosen smiled slightly, took out six Morning Star bank deposit slips from his pocket, and gently pushed them toward the queen.

"Your Majesty, please look at this, especially examine the magical seal closely."

Speaking, he also thoughtfully handed over a magnifying glass.

The queen was puzzled and examined it carefully.

As she looked, her expression changed, and she took out one of them: "This slip won't be fake, will it?"

Luosen nodded: "Obviously."

The queen startled: "You did this?"

Forging bank deposit slips is not simple at all.

Luosen shook his head: "Not me, it's the Levinde Royal Family."

"My idea is that, when needed, please Your Majesty publicly point this out, causing the Morning Star Bank to lose its credibility."

What matters most for a bank is, of course, credit.

A bank without credit will go bankrupt instantly!

But if Luosen exposes this, it will backfire, inviting hatred and suspicion from the Weilan populace.

But if Kao does it, there will be no repercussions, and its effectiveness will be far greater than if he did it himself.

The queen's eyes lit up: "Oh~ Baron, you're really wicked!"

If Kao does this, the credit of Morning Star Bank will vanish completely.

The main users of large-denomination bank deposit slips are the marquises of the Southern Prefecture, various ancient noble families, and emerging wealthy merchants.

These people hold tremendous influence in the south, but now their money deposited in the bank is unsafe! Why do people fight to the death?

Isn't it just for money! Therefore, a single move could cause severe internal strife within the Southern Prefecture.

Even the duke could possibly die suddenly from this! Luosen smiled: "Your Majesty, I will first thank you for your assistance."

While speaking, he straightforwardly pushed the lightning magical book on the table forward: "Your Majesty, it is yours now."

The queen was very happy, but also somewhat troubled: "How should I bring this book back to Kao? Should I copy it?"

Luosen was about to say, "I'll send it over in a few days," when a communication from the Magic Method Center interrupted his thoughts.

The sender was Kawendi, and the message contained ecstasy.

"'Lord~ There's an extremely huge breakthrough!'"

Luosen instantly rejoiced as well, a genuine smile appearing on his face: "Ah ha, after investing so much money, we finally see some returns!"

For Kawendi's laboratory, he had already invested a full 350,000 ogres.

This is indeed 350,000 in real gold and silver, accounting for forty percent of the Magic Method Center's total budget.

Despite not seeing much return, he still poured it in solidly.

He immediately rose to say goodbye: "Your Majesty~ I have urgent matters, feel free."

The queen felt very curious, because in the past half month she had rarely seen Luosen smile.

Usually he is as calm as still water, occasionally frowning in thought.

And whatever could make him so open-hearted must be a major good news.

Although knowing it's untimely, she still couldn't help asking: "May I know?"

Luosen startled, instinctively wanting to refuse, but lowering his head to look at the queen, he saw her looking up with an eager expression like an elementary school student seeking knowledge.

After a few seconds of silence, he pondered and said: "Knowing a secret requires paying a price."

The queen hesitated slightly, then said: "Let me see it first, then we can discuss the price, okay?"

She obviously wasn't someone who couldn't afford the price, so Luosen nodded: "Alright."

(End of chapter)