Chapter 663
Sponsored Content
Saleen gazed at the smiling faces in front of him . Other than Aini and Guya, the rest of the nobles were extremely satisfied with Saleen's terms . The entrapping plan was a success . What did a noble desire? A status which was in line with their ability .
Since Aini and Guya were mages, they knew what Saleen was trying to do . Their ideals were unlike the other nobles, they were not repulsed by Saleen's plan . Aini and Saleen were close friends and Saleen enjoyed a cordial relationship with Aini's parents . On the other hand, Guya's sister was a valuable asset Saleen wanted to groom . In the future her accomplishments might not be inferior to Guya's . Saleen valued these two people the most .
They all understood that Saleen was actually in control of everything by having the mages under his control .
Without Saleen's mages, these nobles were nothing . Given sufficient materials, a mage would not even need to spend a single gold coin . A high grade mage could create food and water, they did not even need to spend money on their meals .
In level-10 magic, there was a very common spell which was learned by almost every grade-9 mage, it was called the Essence of the Elements . It created a paste-like substance . Other than treatment, the largest function of this substance was to allow a mage to maintain their physical strength even if they did not consume any food for months . One serving of the Essence of the Elements could be split into four standard sizes . Creating one set would allow a mage to survive for more than a year . In this period a mage only needed to train, they would not need to do anything else .
That was why a mage would almost surpass the human category once they attained grade-10 . The toughness of their body would begin to change . By consuming the Essence of the Element in the long run, a mage's body could be as tough as some high grade magic beasts .
At this stage, a mage no longer required the supplies normal people needed .
Humans could not do without mages . Without mages, humans would not be able to establish colossal cities, carry out large scale agriculture, or stop the spread of epidemics . Without mages, human cities would be destroyed by powerful magic beasts . If creatures from foreign planes descended on this plane, many creatures here would be exterminated .
Saleen had distributed the wealth, but these people would not get any mages .
Regarding the hunting trips in the Frozen Sea, Saleen conservatively estimated that an annual investment of one-million gold coins would be sufficient . As for the rewards, he planned to hunt two-hundred-thousand red krill . This number of red krill could only sustain the lives of several gigantic grade-9 magic beasts, it would not affect the balance of the Frozen Sea by a large magnitude .
Sponsored Content
If Saleen took risks, he could increase the hunting numbers by several times .
If Saleen sold the magic nuclei acquired from the two-hundred-thousand red krill at a price of one-hundred gold coins per piece he could gain twenty-million gold coins annually . Even though it was not as much as what Holy Rock City got, Saleen did not have as much land, he could only rely on hunting .
Twenty-million gold coins would be sufficient for Saleen to groom an army with one-million soldiers .
Originally, Saleen had trouble selling these magic nuclei . Now that the nobles were sharing his burden by selling eighty percent of the magic nuclei, Saleen only needed to sit back and receive profits only .
Saleen had prepared a detailed set of distribution rules long ago . Since the nobles did not have any objections, he could thus discuss the details with Daniel .
Daniel was also very jubilant . Originally, the Holy See was going after death mages, but Daniel was no longer the top priority of the Holy See anymore . At least before Nicholas got killed, the Holy See would not have the mood to kill any death mages .
Saleen did not leave, he began chatting with the people around him softly . Such interaction was necessary, especially with the twelve earls . Saleen could visit the four dukes anytime, but the rest of the nobles could only communicate with Daniel first .
Using the shortest amount of time Saleen had understood the scarcity faced by the nobles . The nobles had recouped their investments from selling the magic nuclei last year, they were not short of gold coins . Saleen's ration supply was also very stable, but the nobles lacked a source of goods . Of course, they were more in need of land . At the moment, they still had to take care of their own farmers .
After interacting with the nobles Saleen felt that it was too late to grow grain, but the city could still grow vegetables . After the vegetable seeds got processed by the magic disciples, they could be harvested within a month . Saleen agreed to purchase all the vegetables and provide processing for the seeds because of that . That way, the nobles would not be taking care of the farmers in vain already .
Since Saleen had given out so many benefits the nobles also had to reciprocate . Saleen did not open many shops in Metatrin City, but he had to open some in the small towns along the commercial route and the cities outside Metatrin . The nobles provided manpower to help Saleen cultivate businessmen, while Saleen provided magic disciples to help the nobles .
Sponsored Content
After one round of meeting, everyone was very pleased . At this moment, some soldiers entered to report that some skeletal warships were returning .
Saleen then left the meeting hall and went to the harbor . The skeletal warships had sailed at the command of the winged skeleton, but these skeletal warships were commanded by the jade skeletons . They were short of human professionals . they did not dare sail to the Frozen Sea . The skeletal warships' mission was to hunt in the nearby seas and conduct patrols .
Two skeletal warships returned, they had hunted a huge quantity of low grade magic beasts .
It was difficult to estimate the number of magic beasts in the ocean, especially the low grade magic beasts . Even the smallest group contained millions of them . The lower their grade, the greater their numbers . These low grade magic beasts provided abundant food for the powerful magic beasts at sea, they were also the best hunting targets for Saleen .
This time around, the two skeletal warships had run into pikes, a type of low grade magic beast . Pikes had differing grades, the lowest at grade-1 while the highest was at grade-3 . Adult pikes were all at grade-2 .
The two skeletal warships did not carry any spatial equipment, but each of them still captured about forty-thousand to fifty-thousand pikes . A pike was not huge, so the storeroom could contain them . The jade skeletons onboard were intelligent spirits between grade-5 and grade-6 . Under the winged skeleton's upbringing, they could advance continuously . If a spirit's promotion relied solely on natural progress the speed of promotion would be extremely slow though .
Pikes were creatures with magic nuclei, their skin was very tough and they swam at high speeds . They had fallen into a trap set by the two skeletal warships . The skin of almost one-hundred-thousand pikes, excluding their magic nuclei, could be used to manufacture many pairs of boots .
Saleen's army was located in the north, their boots needed to shield against the cold and be waterproof . Since the pikes lived in frigid waters, their skin was the best material for insulation . Even though it was a little wasteful, Saleen had not planned to use these materials for other uses .
Saleen kept the low level magic nuclei for himself, he did not plan to market them . The market for low level magic nuclei was larger, but the profits were small . The profits of the nobles would also reach a plateau, it was not very meaningful to transport these magic nuclei to other places .
Gazing at the busy silhouettes working in the port, Saleen sighed in his heart . "Now I have another route of obtaining magic nuclei . Sooner or later the price of magic nuclei in the Qin Empire will be lowered slightly . Since the quantity of magic nuclei will be kept steady, many mages will increase their training tempo . Alchemy City will release twenty percent of the magic nuclei every year because they are afraid that the number of mages on the mainland will reduce drastically . "
Saleen had not thought about increasing the hunting numbers . Firstly, he was not clear about the threshold for overhunting . If he killed too many intermediate grade magic beasts, the population of the sea magic beasts could not be recovered easily . He had to figure this problem out gradually . A huge number of land magic beasts had gone extinct because of overhunting by humans, Saleen did not want this to happen to the ocean too . If that happened, mages would find it challenging to survive in the future .
Sponsored Content
The port had warehouses, but these magic nuclei could not be stored inside them . Daniel was discussing matters with the nobles, while Nailisi was overseeing the activities on behalf of Saleen .
Nailisi ordered two demons to lead some spirits and Caucasus troops to transport the unprocessed pikes to the underground cold storage first . At that place, the hunted creatures would be further processed . Their magic nuclei would get extracted while their skins would be carefully removed . The teeth and bones of many magic beasts were useful, it was the same case for these pikes as well .
In the future, the arrowheads of Saleen's main forces would be reliant on these magic beasts . Of course, it was more durable to use metals, but it was very tedious for mages to process metals . In comparison, the cost of production would be lower if bones were used . The effect of refining a magic beast's bones was much easier than using magic to refine steel .
Most of the holy masters and heavy infantrymen from the expeditionary army were killed by the alchemical arrowheads .
Jade skeletons from both vessels came to visit Saleen, he had chosen to meet them in a fortress . When the jade skeletons bowed at Saleen, Saleen realized that the two spirits possessed a high level of intelligence . These summoned creatures would not just listen and obey orders, they were like the winged skeleton, they could act on their own initiative .
"My Lord, Sir Soldier has gone to the Frozen Sea alone, he asked us to transport these goods back . There are some hunted creatures here as well, please inspect them . " The two jade skeletons handed over their spatial equipment .
"You can use this thing too?"
"Yes, but the space inside isn't very big, only important items are stored inside," the jade skeletons replied .
"What else did Soldier say?"
"Sir asked us to look out for pirates . After returning, we are to travel south to protect our ships . Sir wishes to tell the Lord that he will not venture too deep into the Frozen Sea, he will return in about two and a half months' time . "
Saleen looked at the skeletons' bodies, they were only clad in normal bone armor . Saleen then asked, "Why is your equipment so lousy?"
"Sir Soldier doesn't have the time to craft new armor . Speaking of this matter, we still have to ask the Lord to help us . "
Saleen pondered, "Indeed, the winged skeleton's death alchemy skills are pretty good, but they consume too much time . I can use my Water Flame Alchemy to help him resolve this issue quickly . "
"How many of you are present at the moment?" Saleen was enquiring about the number of jade skeletons .
"There almost one-hundred of us already . Sir Soldier will not create too many, he said one-hundred is the limit . "
"Mm, you two can go do your work first . Later on, I will craft one-hundred sets of armor which will be suitable for you . If you have any special needs, tell me now . "
"My Lord, as spirits, we are most afraid of drawing power from the death plane . It will be good if the armor contains Green Spirit rocks . If it is not available, obsidian rocks will be acceptable too . "
"What about your weapons?"
"My Lord, we are skeletons, we can wield whatever the humans wield . It would be best not to use any metal materials, as we can use magic too . "
Saleen cackled, "The tone of this skeleton is no different from that of a human . When making requests, it feels perturbed as well . "
Be that as it may, the jade skeletons had delivered a piece of good news, they could use magic, which meant that the winged skeleton could create one-hundred intermediate grade mages for Saleen and these mages would also possess good melee abilities .