Chapter 268: Two Bombs at the Waist, Confidence in the Heart Field (33)

Lakeside study.

The clerk, deeply shocked, recorded the emperor's words.

"Artificial sun is a great idea that could let mortals rival gods; once truly realized, our Natural Empire will truly become a divine nation on earth!"

After recording, the clerk, trembling with fear, asked: "Your Majesty, should this achievement be kept secret?"

Luosen smiled faintly: "What do you think? Top-secret!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

If it were merely an artificial sun, Luosen would make it public, even launch a solar national bond to raise funds, build a massive power law ring, and begin feasibility research on the 'practical application of artificial sun'.

But now he has produced something strange in nature, akin to a divine artifact, so it must be kept secret.

And it must remain secret at least until the Natural Empire establishes absolute dominance in this field, or until it becomes impossible to conceal, at which point he will slightly reveal the related concept.

Meanwhile, Luosen's main body immediately went to Kawendi's Laboratory and found Kawendi.

"Continue improving the power law ring's performance; once performance is sufficient, then conduct verification of the practical application of the artificial sun. For now, pause temporarily."

Kawendi was a bit puzzled: "But why?"

Luosen placed the small wooden box he had been given in his hand, shook it slightly, and used telepathic communication: "Because of this little thing. It is not matter, but a magic crystal, its strength exceeds that of Legendary 19."

Kawendi's eyes widened: "Is it the divine power predicted by the Unified Formula?"

"Exactly, it is divine power, true divine power, and a thousand times more wondrous than the divine power predicted by the Unified Formula!"

"It is not advisable to make it public before we have fully mastered it."

Kawendi immediately understood: "Then I will continue improving the power law ring."

Luosen said: "Also don't forget to argue for the artificial sun; this must always be done, and preparations should be made in advance."

"Understood."

Luosen also said: "Besides, I need a group of people to open a secret laboratory dedicated to studying this little gadget. Recommend some young people to me."

Now the laboratory is huge, never lacking such young people; Kawendi quickly assigned a batch of talented young mages.

Soon after, Luosen also found Beier.

Beier naturally had also been following the paper's content and already knew the results of hydrogen isotope fusion, which made him extremely excited.

Upon seeing Luosen, he immediately said: "Your Majesty, since basic elements can mutually transform, if we keep transforming, we can achieve true alchemy!"

Luosen heard and inwardly sighed: "You are blindly optimistic, wanting to fuse gold—even the sun can't do that, let alone us mortals."

In his view, even if humanity on Earth in his previous life lasted until extinction, they could never fuse gold.

In this life, mortals perhaps have a sliver of possibility, but that possibility is absolutely not high.

Of course, he couldn't say that out loud, or it would dampen the youths' enthusiasm.

He patted Beier's shoulder and encouraged: "Then let's open a separate laboratory dedicated to researching the transformation of basic elements."

"No problem."

Beier looked excited, but then immediately asked: "When will we achieve a true artificial sun?"

"That will take some time, because the power law ring is not yet mature, but don't worry, Kawendi is already improving it with all his might."

"Mmm~ that's really good."

Beier's curiosity had already been satisfied by the experimental results; he also knew that improving the power law ring wouldn't happen overnight, so his thoughts were now drawn to elemental transmutation.

Luosen, however, still had another matter.

"Beier, I need a batch of mages to help me extract pure hydrogen isotopes from seawater; the more, the better."

Beier only thought Luosen was researching hydrogen isotopes for the artificial sun, never imagining it was for weaponization.

The reason is that the conditions for basic-element transformation are extremely harsh, making large-scale explosive realization impossible.

He immediately nodded: "This is simple; we have accumulated sufficient experience, we can start right away."

Luosen was very satisfied, after additionally emphasizing the need for secrecy, he then left Beier's Laboratory.

Then he took the young people from Kawendi's Laboratory, formed a 'High-energy Magic Method Laboratory', and began researching the properties of magic under high-energy conditions.

He had a clear premonition: the breakthrough point in the secret of the Tree of Life branches most likely lies in the High-energy Magic Method Laboratory.

Thus, he personally took charge of the laboratory, focusing on researching solidified magic.

Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye three months had passed.

It had been almost a year since his engagement to Empress Zhuo Ya.

Luosen also obtained sufficient hydrogen isotopes from Beier's Laboratory.

He used the principle of elliptical double-focus focusing, with a fission bomb detonation method, to produce a 'Great Sun' with decent fusion performance.

To have enough, he made five 'Great Suns'.

To prevent accidents, he stored the components separately by category, but guaranteed that when needed, they could be assembled within half an hour.

For ease of use, based on the size of the big and small suns, using the empire's current highest technology as a foundation, he spared no expense to create an unmanned aircraft vehicle with a flight range of 1500 kilometers.

Because this vehicle does not require high precision—even being off by a li doesn't matter—its flight speed is therefore very fast, reaching three times the speed of sound.

Naturally, all this was conducted in secret; besides Luosen himself, no one else in the world knew.

By this point, he had two bombs in hand, and the anxiety in his heart was completely swept away.

Even if the apocalyptic demon king Gaomile'er arrived, he would no longer be hollow.

Thus, he gathered his spirit, placing almost all his thoughts onto the High-energy Magic Method Laboratory.

But he does not seek trouble; trouble will find him.

That day, he had just arrived at the laboratory, finished arranging the day's tasks, when suddenly he heard the empress's call.

The empress's position is still very important; he immediately connected via a puppet stand-in, then saw Zhuo Ya holding a report, looking at him with a grave expression.

Luosen glanced at the report and saw the title 'Annual Trade Data Statistics', immediately understanding.

"Your Majesty, what is the matter?"

Zhuo Ya placed the documents on Luosen's desk: "Over the past year, the reserves of the Radiant Empire's bank have decreased by twenty million lira."

"The lira is the unit of Radiant gold coins; 1 lira is about 1.2 Ogres, which means a shortfall of twenty-four million Ogres."

Luosen understood perfectly, smirking: "Your Majesty, this is all the result of free trade."

Zhuo Ya sat beside Luosen: "Yes, that's the result of free trade. But I must intervene, otherwise my country will run out of money."

"That's a bit serious, but it really can't continue like this. If a deficit country persists without other revenue to fill the gap, the state will go bankrupt."

As the emperor of a nation, Zhuo Ya certainly cannot stand by and do nothing.

She said: "We need to balance the trade between the two countries."

Luosen nodded in agreement: "I agree. I am very willing to buy the empire's steel, Black Stone, silk, grain, and various fruits."

"Also, we greatly need the empire's high-quality Destruction Light crystals."

Zhuo Ya shook her head: "I will certainly sell those, but the Radiant Empire also needs to produce lightning cars."

The Natural Empire's biggest earners are just two: lightning cars and high-precision magic ring gauges.

These two are basically gold-eating beasts, gulping down the Radiant Empire's gold coins.

Luosen feigned ignorance: "Then just produce them; no one's stopping you."

Zhuo Ya pouted slightly: "I tried making them, but the quality is far worse than yours, the cost is far higher, and the performance is far inferior; there's no way we could outsell them."

Luosen smiled: "Take it easy; back when I was nurturing the production line, I put in a lot of effort."

Talent cultivation, magical techniques, engineering skills, and so on are not matters of a day or two.

"I know, but if the cars don't sell, I won't recoup my investment."

So, I must raise the import tariff on lightning cars to boost the market competitiveness of our domestically produced lightning cars.

Luosen spread his hands: "Go ahead and add it."

This is the Radiant Empire's lawful right; he has nothing to say.

Zhuo Ya added: "Then, for our exported goods, I will increase the export tariff."

In other words, she wants to raise the price of exported goods.

This is also the Radiant Empire's lawful right; morally speaking, Luosen has no reason to interfere.

And Zhuo Ya doing this can indeed balance the trade between the two countries.

But Luosen thinks this is not a good idea, because the essence is dividing an already-made cake, whereas what should really be done is to bake a new cake.

Moreover, the Natural Empire is busy with domestic construction, and Luosen's energy is mostly devoted to the High-Energy Magic Method Laboratory, leaving no time to quarrel with the Radiant Empire.

Would you like to hear my idea?

Zhuo Ya immediately assumed a listening posture.

Luosen pointed westward: "The Holy Elf Empire has been very peaceful lately; do you know why?"

Zhuo Ya truly didn't know.

Although she really wanted to know and sent many spies to investigate, the Holy Elf Empire is hidden in the endless forest sea, making infiltration extremely difficult.

So, she only knows that the elves seem to be up to something big, but she doesn't know what.

Luosen laughed: "Let me tell you: the Holy Elf Empire is currently, on the storm continent across the sea, at war with the Fusion Empire of the great demon Bak."

Zhuo Ya startled: "Ah~ are you sure?"

Luosen nodded seriously: "I'm sure."

Zhuo Ya knew Luosen wouldn't lie about such a major matter, and she immediately grasped his intention.

"To raid the Holy Elf Empire?"

She was tempted, but immediately frowned.

"This is quite difficult; the elf empire's forest sea is extremely dense, hiding countless dangers, and it's even fireproof."

In a normal forest, a single fire can clear it out, but the elves' forest sea won't burn at all.

Luosen smiled: "We can go loot the Dragon Islands in the Thus line: fengbao yang."

"I've heard that many Dragon Islands have abundant resources—gold mines, silver mines, iron mines, more than enough."

"If you keep pursuing free trade, I'll give you weapon aid."

Zhuo Ya was quite moved, for she knew Luosen spoke the truth, and she herself had long coveted the Dragon Islands.

But she could naturally see through Luosen's plan, and couldn't help saying: "You really have a beautiful idea—let me loot money for you to spend."

Luosen chuckled: "I won't just aid weapons; I can also aid a fleet."

"But if I aid the fleet, then the Dragon Islands you loot will be partly mine."

Zhuo Ya immediately refused: "No, just stick to weapon aid."

Luosen shrugged: "As you wish."

To be honest, he doesn't have big designs on the Dragon Islands either.

Because the Dragon Islands are too far from the Natural Empire, with the Radiant Empire in between.

If he took them, it would be just an exclave; if anything happened later, rescue would require great effort.

It's far less comfortable and profitable than leaning on the Radiant Empire to make money.

Then is this settled?

It's settled.

Zhuo Ya is a decisive person; she immediately began preparing the raiding strategy.

Luosen, meanwhile, immediately turned back to the laboratory.

After another month, he finally obtained what he wanted from the High-Energy Magic Method Laboratory.

"It turns out that the World Tree branch is a special divine power crystal."

From this perspective, calling it a divine artifact is indeed fitting.

"Can I make it?"

He now has an extremely thorough understanding of life magic; the so-called "life energetics" is already quite complete, and combined with new knowledge of high-energy spellcraft, it truly might be possible to create it.

Of course, it's just a "possibility".

Because Luosen currently lacks a "stable", "controllable" solar furnace.

He does have an unstable, uncontrollable solar furnace.

After doing a careful calculation, he had an idea.

"Let's give it a try; who knows, it might work."

(End of chapter)