Chapter 180: Personal Cultivation and the Fate of the Race (14)

The Eleventh Law Ring is incomplete; it is the ring at the boundary between the Law Ring and the void.

Its biggest feature is that there is no ring pressure.

Precisely because of this, after breaking through it, the soul's power backflows into the Law Ring, causing the soul to collapse and disintegrate in an instant.

When he read this far, Luosen felt as if he were moving from an atmospheric environment into the vacuum of space, and a hidden dread rose in his heart.

"I was risking everything to break through before, and now it looks like I was just courting death."

He continued reading.

"Because the Law Ring is incomplete, it lacks rule constraints, so the upper limit of soul strength becomes extremely high."

"If the two key problems of 'Soul Power Backflow' and 'Power Extraction' are solved, the soul can exist within the Eleventh Law Ring and keep growing stronger."

"The solution to Soul Power Backflow is unknown, but there are two general solutions for Power Extraction."

"The first is the Mortal Faith Method. The second is the Burning Soul Method."

That is Meidianna's rough summary of breaking through the Eleventh Law Ring.

The following sections contain some moderately detailed knowledge, roughly outlining the differences between the Faith Method and the Burning Soul Method.

Its value is quite high, able to save Luosen a large sum of research funds, but it contains almost no knowledge on specific operational details.

After all, Meidianna is only a Seventh Ring Mage; knowing this much is already impressive.

As he read this knowledge, Luosen recalled his past cultivation experiences and his understanding of Law Ring power, silently sighing to himself.

"In other words, the mages of the first ten Law Rings have always been well cared for by the Law Rings, like infants with pacifiers."

"But the Eleventh Law Ring has already grown from a baby into an adult, just as humanity moves from Earth into space. Without the protection of an atmosphere, even the most basic breathing must be solved on one's own."

"Whether one can survive and how far one can go depends entirely on oneself."

"To break through the Eleventh Law Ring, I must understand the Law Ring, the soul, and the world's laws to an extremely profound degree."

He then looked at another piece of knowledge, the Oli conversion.

This knowledge is quite detailed and occupies the main portion of the booklet.

The difficulty is not high; with a few tweaks it can be used directly.

He plans to give it to Kawendi and Beier, letting these two research‑type genius mages study it for him.

But the knowledge needed to break the Eleventh Law Ring is truly high‑end.

For now no one can help him; he must figure it out on his own.

"Wha‑la~"

In the private study of the Swan Castle manor, Luosen set the booklet down, pressed one hand on it, and tapped it repeatedly with his finger.

"If Meidianna is telling the truth, then breaking through the Eleventh Law Ring is inevitable."

"It is not only my personal cultivation, but also concerns the future destiny of the entire human race."

Otherwise, tragedies like the Wailing Plains could occur within the All‑Nature Alliance.

Having money on hand, Luosen immediately pulled out the experimental proposal he had written earlier, made some directional adjustments based on Meidianna's information, and then drafted a document titled *Dawn Plan*, confidentiality level: Top.

He sent the document to his clone, and the clone notified the chief of internal affairs, Alae.

First, he summoned Weilan's External Affairs Director Stonard and Security Bureau Director Tuli Lan.

In the lakeside study, the clone had already produced two copies of the document and handed them to his most trusted subordinates.

"I will establish a top‑secret laboratory to study the profound mysteries of life and the soul."

"You have two missions."

"First, find a group of relevant talents within the All‑Nature Alliance for me."

"Second, secretly construct a large experimental center underground in Mont County."

"All the relevant requirements are written above; read them yourselves."

Stonard and Tuli Lan examined the details separately, then both nodded in unison, saying, "Understood!"

"Proceed immediately."

The two turned and left at once.

Following that, Luosen also found Acting Minister of State Affairs Klub.

"I need the cabinet to approve an emergency allocation of about 500,000 Ogre, for secret experimental research; the specifics cannot be disclosed because they involve Weilan's safety."

It was Klub's first time hearing Luosen speak that way.

Previously there were secret experimental studies, but Luosen would always give a brief description of the content.

As Luosen's confidant, he naturally had no objections and simply cooperated, but since the citizen system is used, the cabinet will have differing voices.

"Lord, this sum is substantial; we need a plausible justification."

After all, the household has grown, the administrative workload has risen a level, so there is now a permanent cabinet member dedicated to assisting the Duke with state affairs.

The cabinet includes Ministers of State, Finance, Taxation, Arts and Magic, and various secretaries, totaling over a hundred people, covering every aspect of Weilan's methods.

More people mean more voices, and more procedures.

And it's not only the cabinet that has differing opinions; the public also has many idle, enthusiastic citizens.

These people take the term 'citizen' seriously and place particular weight on Luosen's promises as Duke.

Although they are not particularly capable, they are keen on politics, habitually monitoring every move of the cabinet, especially daily expenditures, fearing the misallocation of everyone's money. Given Luosen's immense prestige, they could of course ignore it.

But everyone is not a fool.

After a few instances of acting arbitrarily, the previously accumulated trust vanished, and the various edicts became jokes.

This would severely dampen the enthusiasm of Weilan's new citizens.

Enthusiasm is important; it greatly boosts people's initiative, thereby significantly stimulating production efficiency.

If that disappears, society essentially regresses to the aristocratic era, even the slave era, with everyone becoming walking corpses living day by day.

Therefore, if Luosen wishes to accomplish truly great deeds and endure long term, he must lead by adhering to the rules he himself set.

He wants to spend money, that's fine, but he must let everyone know where the money is going, and preferably make as many people as possible feel that the money is well spent.

Such a reason is somewhat hard to find for contemporary rulers.

Because people cannot imagine something they have never seen.

But for Luosen, there are piles and piles of noble-sounding excuses.

He thought a bit and said, "Let's just say we're setting up a medical laboratory."

"This laboratory is mainly used to research treatments for various epidemic diseases, such as tuberculosis, childhood lung disease, brain disease, fever, and difficult childbirth in women, etc."

These ailments indeed pose a great danger to the populace, being one of the leading causes of death among ordinary people, so it's fitting to study them together.

Luosen also had a thought: "It seems we need to split the duke's private property from Weilan's public property, though that doesn't seem easy either."

If too much private property is split, subordinates will naturally follow suit, and soon there will be another set of interest factions.

If too little is split, it's useless.

After careful consideration, Luosen decided to still look for an opportunity to split.

Because as civic awareness gradually takes root, splitting is inevitably necessary.

"As this duke, like the northern nobles, I should have a fixed salary paid by the public bank. But the hereditary iron‑cap duke, as long as Weilan exists, will not receive a small salary."

The salary is not set high—just ten thousand ogres a year as a token.

Of course, this is the nominal salary; what really matters is the hidden benefits.

For example, using Bai Tian E Bao, with the state covering maintenance, and also having children receive the finest master education from a young age, etc.

On the other side, Klub's eyes lit up: "Lord, this reason is very justified; I'll go back to discuss the appropriation."

He also asked: "Lord, are 500,000 ogres enough?"

Now Weilan has plenty of money—18 million ogres have just arrived in the account, and they even printed paper money, so a little squeeze can produce a large amount of cash.

"It's enough for now; if not, we can add more later."

"Understood."

Klub answered, but did not turn and leave.

"Lord, there is another matter concerning food supply."

"Over the past year, grain prices on the White Continent have risen by a full twenty percent; originally they were increasing orderly, but recently the rate of increase has shown some abnormality."

"How so?"

This matter is very important; Luosen pays close attention to it.

"It's risen excessively fast, as if someone behind the scenes is manipulating it."

"At the same time, Weilan's own grain supply is still insufficient; for at least the next two years we will need to purchase large amounts of grain."

"If grain prices continue to rise like this, they will likely far outpace our speed of earning foreign currency."

Luosen naturally knows this.

Although Weilan as a whole is already increasing grain production, grain is not something you can just wish to have instantly grow from the ground.

The south may lack neither farmers nor fertile land, but because grain crops have not been planted for a long time, it lacks both good seeds and planting experience.

White Sturgeon Island's mountain potatoes have also been increasing output rapidly, but reclaiming wasteland takes time, and people cannot live on potatoes alone.

Therefore, to achieve Weilan's grain self‑sufficiency will inevitably take at least two years.

Thus, these two years will be quite passive.

Buying grain requires a lot of money, and besides, it may be choked off deliberately by opponents.

"I know about this; I will try to find a solution as soon as possible."

Klub really can't think of what solution Luosen could come up with.

But past experience tells him that this mage duke always finds a way out of seemingly dead‑end situations.

So he again saluted and then turned and left.

The matter of the soul laboratory is tentatively arranged like this; once the laboratory is set up, we believe there will soon be much progress.

But the second matter Klub mentioned has made Luosen concerned.

He has a vague feeling: "Perhaps someone is secretly manipulating international grain prices!"

Manipulating grain prices is extremely unethical, yet it can indeed make a lot of money, and it directly affects Weilan's food security.

"We need to investigate the cause properly."

(End of chapter)