Chapter 165: Various Arrangements Going with the Flow (13)

Boom—Boom—

The sound of the new salute cannon rang out in the Temple area, and the thunderous sound wave spread throughout Dawn City.

The new Dawn Duke is being crowned.

That day, the Temple area of Dawn City was again packed with people, and the noise shook the heavens.

But this time, Luosen's main body did not participate.

He was sitting in the highest tower of Dawn Castle, using the light-shadow technique he had just mastered, quietly observing the clamor of the Holy Weilan Great Temple.

Those with frenzied expressions are almost all ordinary people without power.

There are also many cultivators, but their expressions are calm, purely just observing the ceremony.

In Weilan, the ratio of cultivators to ordinary people is about ten to one, and it is increasing year by year.

The contrast clearly shows the trend of change in the new era.

In the grand scheme, divine authority is weakening and secular power is rising.

In the social atmosphere, piety is fading and ignorance is disappearing.

As for personal cultivation, the threshold is gradually lowering and the standard is steadily rising.

This is the direction of the surge of the current era's torrent.

If one goes against the tide, even if they are supremely talented, they will be crushed to pieces.

If one goes with the tide, even giving it a push, they can harness the era's great power and soar to the heavens! At this moment, inside the Temple, the High Priest finished the tedious prayers and placed the Dawn Crown, symbolizing the Duke's authority, on the avatar's head.

The crown settled, and the sculpture of Mother Nature immediately glowed with a pale white light.

Within the light, holy chants echoed, and countless ancient sacred patterns flickered in and out—this was the eight-ring Natural Blessing technique.

It had little effect, but the light-shadow impact was deeply moving.

Thus, the ordinary spectators became increasingly excited, and even the High Priest beamed with joy.

Luosen, is it not too disrespectful to let a puppet receive Mother Nature's divine grace?

A gentle female voice came from behind—it was his mentor Anna.

Luosen laughed: "Mother Nature is a benevolent and tolerant goddess; she will not hold this small disrespect against me."

After all, what matters now is not the coronation, but Aaron's threat.

He turned his head to look at his mentor.

Just now I received news that Aaron's noble cabinet meeting had just passed the Weilan Property Preservation Act.

Aaron's parliament, which nominally handles Weilan affairs, is just looking for an excuse to pick a fight.

Anna had long heard of this, and had already expected Aaron to react this way, so she was not surprised.

She tightened her skirt, crouched beside the light-shadow magic circle, and carefully examined the fine light-shadow within it, growing more astonished the longer she looked.

This technique doesn't seem simple; have you just learned it?

Light-shadow itself isn't hard; the difficulty lies in the real-time changes that are perfectly synchronized with the real world.

Luosen nodded: "Yes."

This technique, similar to a live broadcast, is an application of Radiant Power.

The maximum broadcast distance can reach 5 kilometers, but with a few relay devices, it can reach 20 kilometers.

It can be fully used for advanced battlefield reconnaissance.

The only drawback is that the ability is hard to transfer, requiring the training of a specialized group of detection mages.

Well, I can hardly understand it anymore.

Anna felt the ground's magic circle was exquisitely complex, far beyond her magical knowledge.

But she didn't dwell on it: "How do we plan to fight this battle?"

Luosen had certainly considered this; even before heading south to Dawn City, he had already begun preparing for war.

Originally, the plan was to use a combined sea-and-land tactic: at sea, use warships' high speed to conduct guerrilla warfare to wear down the enemy; on land, set up defenses for a final decisive battle.

That was preparing to fight a real hard battle.

At this point, the Temple's coronation ceremony had ended, and Luosen stopped feeding magical energy into the magic circle, causing the light-shadow on it to fade.

He stood up, took his mentor's hand, and helped her up as well.

But now I have gained some entirely new magical knowledge. With a new idea, I intend to end the battle directly at sea.

The two stood side by side before the tower's glass window, gazing at the distant, somewhat blurry Holy Weilan Great Cathedral.

Anna said: "Our naval forces are not at an advantage; the sailors lack training and combat experience, and have not fully recovered from the chaos."

I feel that even adding aircraft wouldn't help, because the Aaron people surely have prepared corresponding defenses.

Although the massive zero-ring spiritual technique is fierce, if a ship's over five hundred crew members are all equipped with high-level spiritual talismans, plus their own steadfast minds, it can be ignored.

So, the only thing that can actually work is the lightning aircraft.

But there are currently too few aircraft; even if we produce them desperately, having thirty ready by the time war breaks out would be a great fortune.

Why is production capacity still so low despite capturing Weilan Giant Island?

Because the giant island has not yet been fully organized, the corresponding talent and factories have not been built.

Although the supply of raw materials and supplies has surged, the equipment and talent on the production side have not improved much, so short-term production capacity growth is very limited.

Simply put, the bread is in hand, but it hasn't been eaten and digested into strength.

So Anna really couldn't figure out how to resolve the battle at sea.

Luosen smiled and explained in one sentence.

Because I have developed a completely new ship-mounted magical device; just install it on a ship and it will greatly enhance the warship's naval combat power.

But what exactly it is, I'll keep it a secret for now.

There's also something Luosen didn't say: he will do his best to leverage the international situation to force Aaron to lower the intensity of the war.

He paused, then smiled and said, "Instructor, you came specially to see me; you're definitely not just here to discuss the battle situation, right?"

Anna narrowed her eyes and smiled: "Don't call me instructor; it feels weird."

She took out a book, the title being Luosen's Cultivation Record: "I've come to ask about cultivation, Duke Luosen."

"What specific questions do you have?"

Luosen has heard this kind of question a lot lately; his ears are practically developing calluses.

Because countless mages visit him every day.

I didn't expect the instructor to also be unable to bear it.

He took the book, leaned against the tower wall to flip through it, while Anna stood beside him, her plump bosom pressing against his arm as she pointed to a page and said.

"I tried all the communication magic-ring techniques you mentioned; the effect is indeed better than before."

"But according to my calculations, when I touch the fifth ring wall, the current rate of improvement still seems unable to break through, even with a soul treasure diamond."

Luosen had closely observed Anna's cultivation, nodded in agreement: "Indeed you're still a bit short, but not by much."

Anna instantly felt disheartened: "So you're saying my cultivation talent can only stall at the four-ring?" Luosen patted the book in his hand: "Anna, the techniques described in this book can probably boost cultivation efficiency by 5% to 20%."

"With its help, the difficulty of breaking through the fourth-ring wall can be reduced by 20%."

"In other words, within three years, the Alliance will surely see a surge of many Four-ring Masters."

"I preliminarily estimate that tens of thousands will emerge, more than twenty times the current number."

"But Five-ring Sages will still not be many, likely rising from the current dozen or so to forty or fifty, but probably no more."

At a glance, it seems like a several-fold increase, but given the huge base of mages, it's merely going from one in ten thousand to three or four in ten thousand—still about as good as a lottery draw.

Anna sighed: "Ah~ I was being greedy."

Luosen, however, laughed: "Just following the techniques in the book, promotion is naturally difficult. But I haven't told the whole story, because I'm personally still researching some secret techniques to assist in breaking through the ring wall."

"I haven't fully succeeded in researching these techniques yet, so I didn't write them down. But once the instructor touches the fifth ring wall, I should have usable results."

"The method to break through the ring wall is knowledge every mage dreams of."

"The Frost Envoy Laifeng is researching it, and Luosen naturally is as well."

"He previously had a secret technique to lower the ring wall's height, which could help people break through the four-ring. After obtaining Laifeng's secret technique, he gained a completely new approach."

"But he's been busy lately and hasn't had time to research."

"Of course, even if the research succeeds, it won't be used recklessly; instead, it will be given as a reward to cultivators who have contributed to the nation."

Anna listened with great joy and was also greatly shocked: "Luosen, your research on magic rings has actually reached this extent?"

Luosen laughed heartily: "It's not that exaggerated; at most I can help people break through to the five-ring, and I can't do anything higher."

"The five-ring is already high enough."

Anna immediately began to look forward to her cultivation prospects.

Of course, this is ultimately a personal matter; she still has official duties.

"Luosen, where do you plan to build Weilan's arcane industry zone?"

When on White Sturgeon Island, Anna had always been responsible for organizing and managing the arcane factory, serving as the head of the island's production department.

Previously, White Sturgeon Island produced only low-end arcane products to avoid provoking Aaron, but now that they have completely broken with Aaron, they naturally need to start seizing the high-end market.

The tower is not a good place for talk.

Luosen then said: "Instructor. Instructor, I'm used to shouting it; I can't change it right away."

Anna covered her mouth and chuckled lightly: "Shout if you like, but don't shout during intimate moments; it sounds weird to me."

Luosen laughed heartily: "I actually find it refreshing, so I insist on shouting."

"You little rascal."

The two walked side by side toward the tower and arrived at the study in Dawn Garden.

Luosen pointed to the Weilan map on the desk and said: "I plan to establish an arcane industry zone in the inland Ru'er County and Hongyuan County on the south bank of the Broken Gold River."

"These two counties are adjacent, bordering the Broken Gold River, making water and transport convenient, and they can also connect to the rich black stone mines of Highland County, securing a cheap energy supply."

"And after opening new shipping lanes, Hongyuan County becomes a key transportation hub for Weilan, its geographic location even better than Dawn City's."

"Finally, it's also far from the mainland, so it won't be affected as soon as war breaks out."

Anna examined the map carefully: "What will the arcane factory mainly produce?"

Luosen had already thought about it; the ideal situation would naturally be to cover all aspects.

"Each would have an advantage, but it's impossible in the short term because Weilan doesn't have that many talents."

"So we can only seize a portion of the high-profit market."

Luosen has also figured this out.

He still does not intend to clash head-on with traditional strongholds in traditional fields, but to open up new fields.

"Originally, low-end daily-use arcane devices should continue production; although the items are small and cheap, the volume is large, making it a decent source of income."

"Moreover, I plan to focus on three brand-new fields—electric carriages, civilian ships, and civilian transport aircraft—to establish a series of arcane industrial systems."

"There are currently no competitors in the market, not to mention we can set our own prices and establish standards for each field."

"Once the market gets used to our products, newcomers will only be able to chase after us all the way."

"Before, on the island, we dared not bring out good things, fearing the big fatty of the White Continent would learn them."

"Now Weilan Giant Island also has a decent scale."

"Although we're still at a disadvantage, as long as we cultivate talent well and use some market competition tactics, we can completely go toe-to-toe with the big fatties of the Natural Alliance."

"Of course, the Radiant Empire's wrists are too thick, making it still hard to match, unless he gains the full strength of the Natural Alliance."

Anna narrowed her eyes and smiled: "Making money from these three things is hard to avoid."

Afterward, the two discussed the relevant planning of the industry zone in detail in the study.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Selena returned from the coronation ceremony.

She complained to Luosen as soon as she saw him: "Dear, the Duchess's Auric Gem Crown is really too heavy; my neck is about to break."

Luosen smiled: "I'll give you a good massage tonight."

She also asked: "Will Uncle Huo Lande and Uncle Te Wude come for the army reconstruction?"

Weilan's legion will undergo reorganization, but not now; it will wait until after the war.

What is currently being done is to appoint the existing legion's adjutants to official positions, then continue training to meet the upcoming battle.

Selena nodded, took the clear water from the attendant, and drank a large gulp.

"Uncle Te Wude would love to; he agreed right away."

"As for Uncle Huo Lande, he's still a bit emotional, but he finally nodded."

"It's good if they can come, after all, both uncles are rare warriors of the family."

These two Adrian family members, Te Wude's abilities are average; he is a qualified naval commander.

But Huo Lande is truly a talent, capable of commanding both army and navy, and has fought several brilliant battles.

Since he has the ability, of course we can't let it go to waste; we will definitely use him, and use him boldly.

Because with his current prestige on Weilan Giant Island, he can completely hold the fort.

Now that the coronation ceremony is complete, Luosen is the fully legitimate Duke of Weilan.

Although secretly we have already mustered our strength to fight Aaron, on the surface we naturally need to maintain harmony.

Especially toward Aaron's envoy.

After all, war is a matter of life and death; we cannot let the enemy easily discern our intentions.

Even if both sides know they will fight, the when, where, and how involve many lives and even determine the final victory.

The next morning, in the front courtyard's council area's grand study, the clone began formally receiving foreign envoys.

The first envoy was Sir Yalak from Aaron, who could be considered half an acquaintance of Luosen.

(End of chapter)