Chapter 350: The Seven Sages and the Nation of Truth

The Kingdom of Aithelin is a backwater, or rather, a remote place of exile.

This is an unavoidable reality, and there’s no need to emphasize its backwardness—but what truly distinguishes it from the prosperous heartlands of the continent?

Aren’t the transcendent still transcendent? Yet reality is cruel to those from the backwaters.

“Due to recent difficulties in colonizing the New Continent, the Steam Division has submitted a new funding request—they plan to build more prototype steam-powered ocean vessels, aiming for long-distance voyages within half a year. Additionally, they’ve inquired about the previously proposed project for steam-powered airships.”

“Denied. The previous massive investment in steam fleets performed no better against cloud whales than ordinary sailing ships—high expenditure yielded zero returns. As for airships, the magic conversion efficiency of the new steam engines is still insufficient—denied. We have no interest in squandering resources capable of developing an 11th-Ring spell on floating discs.”

In Huicheng, where Li En resides, the gnomes and dwarves had installed a primitive steam locomotive as a facade, but in reality, this technology has advanced by at least a dozen generations.

Having developed for centuries, even achieving a level of technological progress comparable to an early industrial revolution, yet unlike another world, this technology remains confined to low-magic vehicles due to the dominance of far superior disciplines—it seems destined to remain merely a “Steam Division.”

The point of contention was a vast chamber divided into concentric rings.

At this moment, the one requesting budget allocation was merely a middle-aged mage from the middle ring.

From his position, he appeared to be a mid-level official.

Yet in truth, as the head of the Steam Power Division under the Gear and Machinery Division (gnomes and dwarves) of modern alchemy, he held considerable status—so high that in small nations like Aithelin, their king or queen would personally receive him.

But within this ring, he was merely an ordinary member of the fourth ring, surrounded by hundreds, even nearly a thousand others in the same row.

This was the Stu Federation, the Nation of Books and Magic—the true core of the world’s civilization, yet in territorial size, it was smaller than most medium-sized nations, merely a federation of dozens of cities.

Yet no fool had dared attack this permanently neutral nation without an army for at least a thousand years.

“But Director Dierluo—” the head of the Steam Division began his defense, but was cut off mid-sentence.

“Produce results. Deliver outcomes. Prove that you still have value.”

The one who rejected him was the head of the Gear and Machinery Division, his direct superior, who scornfully shut down the subordinate’s unauthorized appeal.

His anger was justified—budget requests of this level should have been resolved within the branch division.

Instead, these underfunded fools had exploited the special meeting on New Continent colonization to push their proposal onto the grand assembly.

This was outright insubordination—and as a member of the inner ring, he naturally had to reject it.

Director Dierluo glanced at the inner ring and exhaled in relief—the core black ring was empty, and the second ring, the red ring, held few people; otherwise, he would have lost face completely.

The Seven Sages and Thirty-Three Kings form the core decision-making body of the Truth Sage Council, but the positions of the Seven Sages have been vacant for centuries—not because no one holds them, but because they are always filled and rotated; the Seven Sages simply never intervene.

Each of the Thirty-Three Kings oversees one “Division,” dedicated to researching a specific branch of Truth.

They are all extremely busy, and today, due to the major agenda of New Continent colonization, nine of them had actually attended.

“Dierluo, don’t be so harsh. I think the Steam Division has real potential—perhaps one day it will become an independent division. After all, our own division was born from classical magic.” The head of the Gear and Machinery Division, Fieland Shangjin, halted his subordinate’s farce.

If one were a local, one could tell from the name alone—it’s a standard gnome name. He looked like a childlike magical king, wearing glasses and standing on a chair giving orders.

Time always progresses; the backward need not be idle—they need only remain ignorant and close their eyes.