After the Blast Furnace had been fully built, the plan for large-scale steel production succeeded as well. Steel now poured out day after day, and Jiang Chuan had already begun building Machine Tools. With them, he would be able to mass-produce Steam Engines quickly, and selling them to Demacia would bring in another fortune.
Once Jiang Chuan had drawn up the Machine Tool design, he handed it to Nova. Nova could make all of these things by herself.
Jiang Chuan sat in his office, leisurely sipping tea. Laurie came in and said, "President, we've nearly finished recruiting the staff. I've also found a few blacksmiths. They'd done some smithing as apprentices, so they'll have no trouble with the work."
Jiang Chuan nodded. "How are things at the casino?"
Laurie pulled out a small booklet. "There's no major problem with the casino, but business isn't very good. Not many people come."
Jiang Chuan looked through the booklet. It contained detailed figures on the casino's earnings, losses, and other data. Over the past few days, the casino had neither made nor lost money. When he'd taken it over, Jiang Chuan had specifically instructed them not to damage any of its facilities.
Jiang Chuan got up and looked out at the busy people on the island. "How much money do we have left?"
Laurie thought for a moment. "President, we have around two hundred thousand Gold Coins in the warehouse. As for the other materials, there are too many to count, so we're still sorting through them."
"Set aside a hundred thousand Gold Coins to develop the island. In three months, I want it to be a fortress. This is our home base, and we have to make it as strong as one. At the very least, it needs to be able to withstand Soul Night head-on."
Laurie considered this. "President, you know how dangerous Soul Night is. All we can do is pray inside our houses. There's nothing else we can do."
Jiang Chuan smiled. "That's not necessarily true!"
Soul Night was the work of those creatures on the Shadow Isles. As undead beings, they were naturally afraid of sunlight and fire. Only the most powerful undead—like Hecarim and Thresh—were exceptions. During his last trip to Demacia, Jiang Chuan had discussed the Magic Resist Wall plan with Gaster. Though it hadn't worked out, he had still managed to secure a supply of Sunfire Rock. It wasn't as good as Magic Resist Stone, but it did offer some resistance to magic. Apart from Magic Resist Stone, it was the only other kind of magic-resistant stone in Demacia. Once it absorbed magic, it grew hot and began to glow. It would be more than enough to deal with creatures from the Shadow Isles. Besides, Jiang Chuan planned to surround the entire island with Sunfire Rock. The undead couldn't float very high, after all. A single wall would be enough.
Jiang Chuan said to Laurie, "A hundred thousand Gold Coins is a lot, but we have to spend it if we want to turn this island into a fortress. Use the blueprints I gave you to build the houses. Everyone should live together in the Residential Area. The west side of the island is close to the sea, so build the Industrial Zone there. It doesn't need to be laid out like the Residential Area. By the way, where does our fresh water come from right now?"
Laurie replied, "Most of the island's fresh water comes from removing the salt from seawater. There's also a well on the island that provides fresh water directly."
"Good. From now on, extract all our fresh water in one place and store it together. I'll have the Blast Furnace team make a large water tower."
Laurie wrote it all down, then said, "President, these projects will probably take two or three years to complete. I've never heard of this way of building houses before. According to the blueprints, these Residential Area buildings are six stories tall. How can a building be constructed that high?"
Jiang Chuan smiled. "Just follow the method I wrote down. Six stories is nothing. Once you get the hang of it, building thirty-story structures won't be difficult either."
Laurie carried off the blueprints Jiang Chuan had given him and made a record of his requirements.
Since he'd decided to get the Dark Sea Throne's operations underway, the home base had to be made impregnable. Turning Bloodfang Island into a self-sufficient fortress would be no easy task. Securing fresh water and food would both be difficult. They could get fresh water by desalinating seawater, but growing crops on the island would be a challenge. The climate wasn't suitable for farming, so Jiang Chuan decided to introduce fruit trees instead. Coconuts, mangoes, and pineapples would all grow well there.
Edmund knocked and came in. "President, there's a strange person on the island."
Jiang Chuan stopped what he was doing. "A strange person?"
"He appeared on the island out of nowhere. He looks like a Mage."
Jiang Chuan grew curious. "Take me to see him."
Jiang Chuan had always been very interested in the Mages of this world. Although there were heroes who could use magic in the game, the only way to gain a systematic understanding of Mages was to start with one of the lowest-ranking ones.
Jiang Chuan went to the reception room, where he found a purple-skinned man with a roll of scrolls strapped to his back, sitting calmly and drinking tea.
Ryze stood and bowed. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you. While teleporting, I sensed an unusual power on your island. I was curious, so I came to visit."
It was impossible for Jiang Chuan not to recognize the Mage before him. In the game's lore, Ryze was a great Mage who had spent his life protecting the five World Runes of Runeterra—the very ones players used as Keystone Runes: Precision, Resolve, Domination, Sorcery, and Inspiration!
Jiang Chuan had often wondered: since he could use Summoner Spells, surely he could use the Rune and Equipment systems too. But so far, he hadn't figured out how to use either.
Jiang Chuan smiled. "Think nothing of it, Master. Let me show you around the island. That way, you can find the source of the power you're looking for."
Ryze set down his teacup and smiled. "Thank you."
Jiang Chuan led Ryze out of the reception room to tour the island. He took Ryze to the highest mountain and watched the clouds on the horizon. "Ryze, have you come to Bilgewater in search of a World Rune?"
Ryze ran a hand over the scrolls on his back but said nothing. Information about the World Runes wasn't common knowledge. Few people in the world knew about them, and Ryze could count on one hand the people he knew who did. How could someone from an ordinary little island in Bilgewater know about the World Runes? And the strange, powerful energy he'd sensed was coming from the man standing before him—a man with no trace of magic in his body. The only thing that set him apart was the light in his eyes: wisdom, courage, and loneliness.
Jiang Chuan smiled. "Is this your first time in Bilgewater?"
Ryze smiled. "Yes. It is."
Jiang Chuan smiled too. That meant Ryze hadn't found the Precision Rune yet—and Miss Fortune was the key figure in obtaining it.
Jiang Chuan looked at Ryze with a smile. "The person you're looking for is me, isn't he?"
Ryze smiled. "I sensed a strange and powerful energy within you. It surprised me."
Jiang Chuan sat cross-legged. "I'm just an ordinary person."
Ryze said gravely, "Any power strong enough to wield great force comes at a steep price. I didn't come here to take your power."
Jiang Chuan smiled. "I have no doubt about that. And I'm not afraid of you taking it, either. You once had the chance to obtain the power to destroy the world. I doubt you'd covet my insignificant power."
Ryze stroked the scrolls, as if they were the most important things in the world. He looked at Jiang Chuan and smiled. "You're a very unusual person. May I know your name?"
Jiang Chuan smiled. "Just call me Roland. I'd really like to know how you wield the power of the arcane."
Ryze stood and straightened his clothes. Magic gathered around him as he smiled. "Like this."
As soon as Ryze finished speaking, he teleported away.
Jiang Chuan's expression went blank. "Did he just use his ultimate to get around?"
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