As the Stansome Magic Industrial Base at the northernmost end of the continent entered a frenzied phase of construction, the three Candel Empire Navy ports at the southernmost end of the continent were far from idle.
After acquiring another five Mana Guard Frigates from the Xinfei Merchant Guild, together with the three it already had, the Candel Empire Navy finally possessed a fully organized fleet of new Mana Guard Frigates.
Throughout numerous training sessions and live exercises over the past six months, this new fleet had demonstrated power far beyond that of the Candel Empire Navy's traditional warships. Everyone throughout the navy had reached the same conclusion: its future lay in replacing all its ships with these latest mana warships.
The traditional approach to naval warfare-overwhelming the enemy with large numbers of wooden ships, exchanging volleys of flaming arrows, or even drawing alongside to board and fight hand to hand, with small stone throwers hurling a few rocks at most-had been completely replaced by a new method that used attacks from extreme range and could end a battle without anyone even seeing the enemy's faces.
If the Candel Empire Navy wanted to continue ruling the Endless Sea, it had to change quickly.
However, one important problem stood in the way of that change.
The problem was simple and direct: money.
Over the years, the empire had repeatedly cut the Military Department's overall budget, with the navy suffering far deeper cuts than the Army.
The money the Imperial Navy had previously used to buy three Mana Guard Frigates from the Xinfei Merchant Guild had been painstakingly squeezed out by its finance department, and even then, part of the payment remained owed to the guild. It had also had to offer concessions, such as opening its naval ports to the Xinfei Merchant