Materials for the Steel Lord

For ordinary people in Xiahui Territory, the changes brought by victory in war were slow and subtle.

For instance, more and more mountain folk chose Xiahui Territory as a transit point for trade with Nauman City, Agate Stone Plains, and other territories, greatly enhancing the local economy.

The bards in taverns also sang of their lord's glorious achievements, spreading the name of the prophet as widely as possible and laying the groundwork for the future faith.

There were many such things in the territory—things ordinary people would find difficult to notice and simply take for granted, while everyone remained utterly unaware.

But there were also some swift, tangible changes: for example, the nighttime curfew was gone. More and more Magnetic Storm Armor and well-equipped guards stood at the street entrances of key areas, displaying the territory's military strength.

There were also many more hired mountain folk workers within the city.

Many residents discovered in surprise that sturdy men from every tribe were sweating away through the streets and alleys, rebuilding roads and expanding the urban district.

With this influx of strong laborers, Ian's progress in reshaping Rosy Glow City's urban area greatly accelerated. For those who ventured outside less during winter, every trip out gave them a sense of change with each passing day.

—What was that tower? A magnetic storm electric ring?

—That black thing atop the lord's manor... was that a Prismatic Beam Cannon?!

—My heavens, this entire street had been repaved? Even armored suits probably couldn't crush it!

And that was not all.

On Loneflame Peak outside the city, a simple dragon nest had even appeared on a mountainside platform. Recently, residents traveling far from home often saw a dragon's shadow sweep through the sky, giving the locals quite a fright.

Sheo was happily building her nest herself. A young True Dragon leaving her mother's supervision for the first time was much like a young person renting a place after moving out for the first time—she wanted to build a warm little home that belonged solely to herself.

Even when Ian offered to help, she politely declined. He could only shake his head and leave.

Moreover, the changes in Xiahui Territory were not limited to the city.

They also came from the distant Imperial Capital.

On January 9th, Year 774 of Terra, a blue-black dragon-scaled warhorse carried an envoy from the Imperial Capital through the streets at a gallop. It did not slow down in the slightest, yet it struck no one. At the busiest moment, the towering warhorse even seemed to step upon solid ice in midair and race through the sky, drawing cries of alarm from onlookers.

It streaked like wind and lightning through the vibrant Rosy Glow City, all the way to the lord's manor castle by the lakeside, where it finally slowed and climbed the cliff.

Many passersby looked at the dragon horse and its rider in astonishment. Gathering together, they could not understand who would dare charge on horseback toward the lord's manor. Quite a few mountain folk even believed that the rider had insulted their envoy, indignantly gripping hammers and tool pliers as they prepared to demand an explanation.

But Rosy Glow City's local residents vaguely recognized something from the sun emblem on the rider's armor. They stopped the mountain folk and told them the rider's true identity.

That was a messenger from the Imperial Capital.

"Finally here? So they were finally going to formally confer my honors."

Inside the lord's manor, Ian, who had been discussing funding matters with Scott, raised his head. Somewhat surprised, he said, "Still, I thought they would come after finishing the New Year Festival in the Imperial Capital—the celebration ending in the first ten days of January. Looking at it now, they set out at least ten days early."

"My achievements still counted for something." He smiled.

"The Imperial Capital?" Scott, who had been racking his brains over construction funds for the new district, looked bewildered. The Iron Folk scratched his head and looked toward his lord expectantly. "Was that young master of the Ellen Family bringing funds for you, my lord?"

"Of course not." Ian shook his head, then complained, "Don't make Isengard sound like some fool handing me money—we're allies who help each other. His help to me is worth far more than money!"

"Besides, didn't he already send five thousand thalers last time? Who do you think paid for all that alchemical equipment in the new alchemy workshop?" Ian felt that he had to make his subordinate understand who Xiahui Territory's true benefactor was.

"But we really are short of money right now."

Scott looked at the tables and account books before him, pinching his pen in distress. "The new-style farms by Radiant Haze Lake need money, the Elemental Crystal production line in the alchemy workshop needs money, tools for surveying the gorge need money, the new mine needs money, hiring mountain folk workers needs money, and the new district needs money too. Not to mention the sewage system improvements and the alchemy workshop pollutant recovery equipment you demanded—those all need money."

"Not pollutant recovery, but 'reuse equipment.' It can recover at least ten to twenty percent of effective alchemical materials, greatly reducing costs. The sooner it is built, the sooner it pays itself back—and even starts making money."

The young man frowned slightly and glanced at the documents in his hand. "But apart from that... hm. These are all purely expenditures."

Seeing this, Ian could not help falling silent before sighing. "Building up a territory really burns money like water. Had I known, I wouldn't have tried to win people's hearts by cutting taxes for the mountain folk."

That was what he said, but if he did not cut taxes for the mountain folk and give them time to recover, then Ian's subsequent development of the Midra Autonomous Region and other mountain folk tribes, as well as his population influx plans, would be delayed by more than a year.

If Ian truly wanted money, he had countless ways to get it. To say nothing else, the large amount of sublimation minerals and Magic Beast materials that he had led others to bring back from the underground secret vault of the Jiamu Tribe could quickly fetch tens of thousands of thalers if sold.

But such precious materials, even strategic resources, were easy to sell and difficult to buy back. Selling sublimation materials for quick cash would absolutely lead to regret in the future.

So Ian and Xiahui Territory were not poor. It was merely that, for a better future, to save time, and for many things more important than money, their cash flow was a little tight.

Temporarily!

"Speaking of which." Ian activated Precognitive Vision and looked toward the pale purple figure at the gates of the lord's manor. "Could I ask the Empire for development funding? I meet the requirements of the Empire's Southern Ridge Grand Development Plan too!"

With that thought, he swiftly rose to welcome the man.

The Imperial Capital's messenger never imagined that a knight sent merely to deliver news would be seized by the local lord and questioned about every rule for applying for "development funds."

He normally paid no attention to Imperial policy. How could he possibly know such things?

Although this lord before him was very handsome, and the messenger would not have minded chatting a little more during leisure time... before coming here, he had done his homework. He knew very well that this white-haired young man had fought shoulder to shoulder with a True Dragon and slain a Third Energy Level mountain folk leader—a fierce figure, a genius among geniuses!

He did not dare fob the other party off with half-understood information.

Thus, unable to refuse without embarrassment and not daring to turn around and leave without saying another word before a patrol knight of higher rank than himself, the messenger knight could only offer a suggestion. "Sir, Viscount Taimo Dikas, who will confer your honors in a few days, is about to arrive. He is an important figure in the Nobles' Hall, so he should know quite a bit about this?"

"That is a good idea."

Having obtained the information he wanted—namely, exactly who would confer his honors—Ian did not continue pestering the messenger and instead let him leave.

He mused, "Viscount Dikas of the Nobles' Hall... I remember he is one of the First Prince's men, isn't he? To think that after all these twists and turns, it would be his man coming to confer my honors."

"He is probably planning to use this opportunity to try recruiting me. What a strange thing. How could the Second Prince permit that? Still, I don't mind. If I can swindle some aid out of him, that would be nice too..."

He had already begun considering how to extract more benefits.

Just as Viscount Grant, who had once accepted aid from Grand Duke Solin and then aid from the Imperial Capital, had said: there was no reason to turn down aid.

A noble who wanted to develop his territory should not fear eating from a hundred households.

Every time you swindled aid, treat it as the last time—then do not fear being found out!

The matter of Ian and Elder Manyan joining forces with the Mountain King to pacify the Southern Ridge unrest had long since reached the Imperial Capital.

Although the Imperial Capital's main topic now was the war front against the Blazing Flame Lands on the western border, the small victory in the Southern Ridge had also caught the attention of some interested parties.

In the first week after the great victory, Ian received letters from many acquaintances: praise from the Second Prince, another batch of aether crystal support from Marquis Barton, letters of congratulations from Isengard and Master Gose... Even Hua An and Frost Butterfly had sent a small note telling Ian that they had found that group of Hot Water Fairies.

They were now trying to relocate the original nest from the cooling warehouse, find somewhere suitable to settle it, and develop it into a true "fairy nest."

If possible, they hoped Ian could come help as well—one Second Energy Level individual truly had some difficulty accomplishing such a task, and no other fairies would be coming to the Southern Ridge anytime soon.

Ian did indeed write down a return trip to Harrison Port in his memorandum.

Xiahui Territory's development had now entered the right track. With his prestige, Sheo's apparent military protection, and Adalbert secretly standing guard as insurance, the entire territory was as impregnable as an Immovable Fortress. It remained perfectly safe even in his absence.

Not to mention that Ian had now mastered the most important "aether crystal production line"!

The Elemental Crystal Condenser acquired from the Jiamu Tribe was in excellent condition. After Azure Tide delivered it back to Rosy Glow City, Adalbert moved it deep into the alchemy workshop.

Apart from a small number of core White Folk guards, no one knew where this alchemical device—worth more than all the alchemy workshops in Rosy Glow City combined—was stored. Those White Folk guards, and even Azure Tide herself, did not know what it was actually for.

Upon returning to his territory, the first thing Ian did was prepare the construction of his own Elemental Crystal production line, completely resolving the territory's energy problem.

The core condenser was already available, while the rest of the production line was actually quite simple. Xiahui Territory could manufacture it itself.

As for the raw material, "Sky Crystal Mushroom," the Jiamu Tribe had a supply channel and cultivation area. Elder Manyan took over the plantations located in the north of the Midra Autonomous Region and within the Odor Autonomous Region. After a brief reorganization, he began sending an unending stream of Sky Crystal Mushrooms to Xiahui Territory.

By the end of the month, Xiahui Territory's self-produced Elemental Crystals would roll off the line, providing abundant, cheap energy for the many newly launched alchemical projects.

"By then, even without me, the territory will develop at high speed. I only need to keep hold of the progress of key projects."

Ian was not someone enamored with power. If possible, he did not want to manage affairs at all and would rather focus on research.

But on the Terra Continent, strength and authority complemented one another. If he possessed strength, authority would inevitably follow.

Some called it "responsibility," but that applied only to responsible sublimators. A considerable number of nobles only enjoyed using authority to satisfy their desires.

Unfortunately, Ian was a responsible person. After the war ended and he obtained the Steel Dragon Nest inheritance, he worked overtime for more than a week, arranging every political matter related to the mountain folk and every development plan for Rosy Glow City before he found time to consider other matters.

Of course, this was not entirely a bad thing—while handling political affairs, Ian had also used the Silver Chip to transform "Kede Jiamu's soul" into an "intermediate spiritual computing unit."

As an "intermediate computing unit" condensed from the soul of a Third Energy Level sublimator, its computing power was nearly a hundred times that of a "basic computing unit." First, the improved soul quality greatly strengthened the computing unit's structure, making overclocked accelerated calculations much easier. Second, with sufficient quantity, the computing units could form more complex and computationally efficient structures.

By observing the structure of the "intermediate computing unit," Ian began upgrading his own soul. While optimizing his computing power once again, he gradually strengthened his soul until it approached the Third Energy Level.

As a result, with the increase in Ian's soul strength, he discovered that the number of "Spirit Calamity Path parallel worlds" he could link to through his Soul Light Body, Guiding Star, was also increasing.

It was precisely for this reason that although Ian had unlocked the Spirit Calamity Path at the beginning of the year, he had yet to choose a parallel world and attempt a technological exchange. Opportunities were precious. If he could attempt to connect to something better, there was no need to settle.

Nearly ten days had passed, and Ian had almost completely transformed his soul into the structure of an "intermediate computing unit." The speed at which his soul strength increased would slow, and it would remain at this level for a long time. At that point, he would begin communicating with parallel worlds.

"Looking at it this way, basic computing units are 'elementary meditation methods,' while intermediate computing units are naturally 'intermediate meditation methods.'"

While experimenting on himself, Ian also summarized the foundation for the future Arcane Path. "But it is still too complicated. I can figure it out, but I have to consider ordinary people too."

He had already taught Adalbert every "meditation method" he had developed, allowing the genius Undead Monarch to help him further optimize them. He also had Adalbert consider how to use the existing "meditation methods" to formulate a set of "apprentice meditation methods" that even ordinary people with only "artificial souls" could learn.

Ian could conduct this research himself, but his time was simply too tight, while Adalbert also greatly enjoyed technology that could strengthen ordinary people. As a leader, one had to assign suitable tasks to suitable people.

Knowing people and employing them well was a lord's most important work. Only the most critical projects were worth Ian's time and effort to research personally.

Ian instructed Scott to continue pushing forward the construction of all major projects within Xiahui Territory with full force. He had something he needed to go out and handle.

As for the money, he would find a way.

In this regard, Ian truly was not worried.

Even if he failed to swindle funding from the First Prince, he could contact the Firestone Group.

The "alchemical coating potion" that could work on armored suits had already proven its practicality, and its performance in battle was exceptionally impressive. It could absolutely be mass-produced—but the project still had several key issues, such as its pass rate, that needed resolving. Thus, he needed to apply for a second round of research funding to stabilize the coating's quality.

—There was no problem with that reason, right?

Ian even had several more sets of reasons prepared, such as "the need to develop special new alchemical equipment," "the need to train a new batch of professional alchemical craftsmen," and "the need to make compatibility improvements for different types of armored suits"...

Every single reason could swindle another batch of research funds!

Ian was an old hand at this!

As for what Ian needed to do that made him leave the territory amid his endless busyness, setting aside so much important research and official work...

Naturally, it was the most critical project.

The new Third Energy Level advancement direction for Immovable Fortress, the new Magic Potion Ian had temporarily named "Steel Lord"—its most critical core material, the Earthvein Source Crystal, had been personally delivered by the Mountain King and was now waiting for him to collect it at the gorge of Loneflame Peak.