Bad Money Drives Out Good

The following day, March 1, 1348, when Hahn led the slaves that Altair had previously purchased back to Tingen City and Morse Town, she began her next plan in order to better advance her career: to create an army that would strike fear into the hearts of all, or rather, pirates.

So that evening, she used her "Blood Servant Transformation" ability to create a bloody banquet, turning all the new maids into loyal servants.

Then, Adam was asked to create a special learning dream, to learn extraordinary knowledge, and to become a candidate for becoming Beyonder.

The following day, in the secluded Shipyard that Old Clayton had prepared, Adam was asked to Imagination and materialize smelting, processing, forging and other equipment that were difficult to manufacture at the present stage, and to forcibly manufacture the current era's groundbreaking battleship, as well as the Great Old One era, the late Victorian and Britain Queen Elizabeth-class "battleship".

Fortunately, Altair had been a weapons dealer for over a year, accumulating a large amount of metal resources through various channels such as resource swaps and kickbacks.

After all, for a heartless arms dealer like her, manufacturing weapons only required a few materials, and she simplified every aspect that could be streamlined.

Otherwise, even if she poured all her liquid assets into it, she still wouldn't be able to create its framework.

Due to current limitations in mining, steel forging, and processing technologies, one ton of structural steel typically costs 8-9 Gold Pound per ton. The Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, on the other hand, require 22,500 tons of steel alone. Moreover, this steel is not just ordinary steel; nearly one-third of the structure requires armor steel, specifically KC carburized hardened steel.

Other materials required include over 1200 tons of oak, teak, and pine wood for the upper decks, floors, furniture, boiler and engine insulation linings, and ammunition depot fireproof linings.

Approximately 350 tons of copper and copper alloys are used to manufacture propellers, condensers, pipes, valves, and electrical systems.

Approximately 120 tons of lead, used to manufacture sound insulation, radiation protection, storage batteries, and ballast.

Of course, Altair wasn't stupid. Even if she had acquired these resources in the early stages and then found them useless, keeping them stored away, she wouldn't actually spend a lot of money to create large-sized toys just for fun.

All of this is for the future, since the "Demoness Pathway" already has Sequence 0, but lacks the Beyonder Characteristic of Sequence 1.

The biggest price Altair had to pay until the fleet was completed was that he had to ask Adam for help to materialize tools.

The equipment... I don't know what price I'll have to pay to repay it in the future.

After all, every gift of fate comes with a hidden price, doesn't it?

On June 19, 1348, in an unnamed Shipyard in the West Borough corner of Tingen City, Butler Hahn, holding a stack of recent financial statements, told Altair that the Sheffield Family's cash flow was currently exhausted, and even her coming-of-age ceremony this year could not be held in a grand manner.

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It was suggested that she could use the connections of Audrey's father, Earl Hall, to secure a loan from the bank by mortgaging some of his assets.

After glancing at the report, Altair sighed.

Even with Adam's help to materialize the revolutionary equipment and Altair's manipulation of Machinery Hivemind Sealed Artifact mechanical heart, it still cost around 200,000 Gold Pound to create the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship.

Although compared to the £3 million total cost of the Queen Elizabeth-class ceremonies of the same period, she still got a great deal.

However, a nation and an individual are different after all.

Moreover, regardless of the era, a single battleship could never form a fleet on its own. Therefore, Altair spent nearly a million Gold Pound to purchase a large amount of materials to build a Pearl-class "third-class protected cruiser" and two Ardent-class destroyers, thus creating the prototype of a fleet.

But it was precisely for this reason that the Sheffield Family's cash flow dried up, making it impossible for them to support any more major initiatives.

After handing the financial report to Butler Hahn, Altair nodded and said, "I understand. I'll find a way to handle this."

Upon hearing this, Butler Hahn nodded slightly, glanced at the giant ship behind Altair, paused for a few seconds, and then continued, "The Clayton family has always been a subordinate family of the Sheffield Family, a tradition that has lasted for over 500 years—"

"What I mean is, although the Clayton family isn't as wealthy as the Sheffield Family, Your Count, if needed, I can immediately sell assets to support your next plan."

Altair responded with a smile to Butler Hahn's remark, "Butler Hahn, you jest."

"I've always been aware of the relationship between our two families; otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to get here and see these massive steel ships."

"Although as the host, I have the right to demand that you sell assets and contribute cash—"

"But I don't want to do that. Because at this stage, it's not the right time for the Sheffield Family to use the assets of their servant families."

As he spoke, Altair took out a clean gem that didn't look like it was formed naturally from the Traveler's Bag and handed it to Butler Hahn.

The latter took the gem and examined it under the sunlight. After a few seconds, Butler Hahn asked in confusion, "Count Altair, is this Synthetic Gem?"

Upon hearing this, Altair paused slightly, seemingly surprised, and casually asked, "Butler Hahn has seen Synthetic Gem before?"

"Yes." Hahn nodded and continued, "Within Backlund University, there is a gem laboratory funded by several nobles and Merchant, and they are currently researching Synthetic Gem."

"But the technology made little progress, resulting in extremely small, very expensive, and commercially worthless gemstone crystals."

Upon hearing that it had no commercial value, Altair secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said in an unquestionable tone, "You're right, this is the Synthetic Gem I created using 'the latest technology'."

"I need to use these gemstones to secretly expand the market, generate funds, and lay the foundation for my next plan."

After a two-second pause, Butler Hahn suggested, "Count Altair, could the new gem synthesis technology be used to counterfeit?"

For example: adding natural mineral powder when the gemstone is still unformed, creating microscopic cracks and color bands, and creating a surface layer with added natural minerals.

"Sure." Since Altair had brought out the Synthetic Gem, she had basically mastered the technology, so she said directly, "I can do all of what you're saying."

"As long as you don't sell these gems to ancient families, Royal Family appraisers, or churches with unique identification methods, there's a 99% chance they won't notice."

"If all else fails, then let the bad drive out the good."