[To save everyone's time, I won't describe the envoys in detail, lest you say I'm dragging the words.]
The envoys of the Empire would not leave immediately, and Salin had to choose the envoys carefully. He also had to communicate with the Archmage Tiffany. His Majesty definitely did not want to sign a secret agreement. Apart from asking Salin to send troops, there were many other small things that he wanted to discuss privately.
Apart from that, Salin also had to send a permanent envoy to Sacred Rock City. This person was not easy to choose.
The pirates who had followed Salin the longest were loyal enough, but unfortunately, they did not have any talents. The nobles who sought refuge with him were not good either. Salin had already rewarded the reliable nobles, and their families were all in Metatlin City. As for the other nobles, Salin had yet to fully understand them.
In the end, Salin decided not to rush. He planned to let Baron Pijacques handle this matter. Baron Pijacques' Deep Forest Town had long been taken over by Salin. The reward for Baron Pijacques had also been confirmed. Although this baron was not very capable, he did not know Salin's secret. Even if he was bribed, he would not make any mistakes.
After Salin arranged a few trusted aides for Baron Pijacques, he would let Baron Pijacques take up the post. Pijacques' child had already been trained by Salin as a mage apprentice. This baron would naturally have some reservations.
Pi Jacques didn't have any reason to reject after he explained the situation to him. Salin directly promoted him to a second-rank viscount. After he left his post and returned from Sacred Rock City, he would be a first-rank viscount. If his son could become an official mage and gain Salin's trust, Salin would not mind making him a hereditary count.
Tiffany and Stephanie, the two level-eight Magic Shooters, had secretly traded many things with Salin during this period. Tiffany was very old. He looked like he was only in his thirties, but he was actually over a hundred years old. Stephanie, on the other hand, was really only in her twenties. Pretending to be a white-robed mage was her personal hobby, and not something the emperor did to Duke Valde.
Because Tiffany was a royal Magic Shooter, he kept a low profile. Stephanie, on the other hand, was completely the emperor's personal mage. Salin obtained a lot of information about Sacred Rock City from her. Stephanie expressed her interest in Salin, and said that when she returned, she would definitely find a way to get what Salin wanted with the emperor.
What did Salin want? What he was concerned about was the warehouse in the palace. Salin knew that the palace of Sacred Rock City wasn't the headquarters of the Glücos family, but the collection inside was extremely rich. What Salin wanted was a copy of all the blueprints inside.
The Glücos royal family had a large number of magical equipment blueprints, but most of them were left in a corner, waiting to gather dust.
Because of this, Salin had privately agreed to Stephanie to increase the trade with Ojavis to two hundred thousand magic cores. He would also fork out another hundred thousand rank four magic cores in exchange for food.
Salin needed a large amount of rations, because Eleanor had provided him with an elven formula that could be used to make a type of elven pill. After taking one pill, one would not feel hungry for three days. The cost of making this kind of Elven Pill was enough to sustain a soldier for five days. Although they were at a disadvantage, the soldiers would be able to reduce the logistical burden by carrying these pills.
This kind of pill was also available in the Myers Continent, but the cost was high, and the army would not promote it. A single pill like this was enough to sustain a soldier for three to five months. In Qin Yin, this kind of pill was used by noblewomen to lose weight.
Most importantly, if the food was stored in the magic warehouse, it would also consume magic cores. The nutrition would gradually deteriorate, and when it was made into an elven pill, the consumption would be infinitely close to zero. In the Elven Plane, the elves only ate a small amount of fruits and vegetables every day, and they completely relied on this kind of pill to maintain their strength.
Only the low-level elves would have three meals a day, just like humans.
Back then, humans were extremely powerful. In the battles between planes, they basically did not consider any logistical issues. A powerful human could create a space, and this space could be torn open at any time, and the resources inside could be taken out. Therefore, this kind of elven pill was meaningless to humans back then.
By the time humans needed this kind of pill, the connection between planes had already been lost. Later Mages imitated the pills based on their memories, and the quality was extremely poor. This was the so-called weight-loss pill, and not many armies used it.
The soldiers of the Royal Swordsman Battalion would carry a bag with them, but that was just in case. It was too wasteful to use this as military rations.
However, the consumption was less than double, and considering the logistical and transportation issues, it was equivalent to saving a lot.
Of course, Salin also had something to bribe the two Magic Shooters with, which was the magic staff materials he got from Joey — the Immortal Mulberry and the Ghost Oak. To raise these two plants to the level where they could be used to make magic staffs, it would not take hundreds of years, but thousands of years.
Both of them knew that Joey had them, but they could only drool, and Joey would not care about them.
Salin wanted the various alchemy blueprints in the Holy Rock City Palace, so of course, he had to give something in exchange. Salin agreed to five million alchemy arrowheads. Salin also gave a sample. These five million alchemy arrowheads had a slightly soft bronze core, and the outside was made with alchemy, and the magic beast shell material. An arrowhead like this could be used dozens of times.
The anti-magic effect was average, but it was still quite useful for the heavy armor of Warriors.
Salin originally planned to equip his army with this kind of weapon, and he had already made more than four million arrowheads. If he hurried now, he could still finish making them before Tiffany left.
What Salin lacked the least was the hard magic beast shell. The red krill he caught, apart from the spears, had shells that were as hard as metal. The spears of the red krill were difficult to make, but after the shell melted, they could be attached to metal.
If these arrowheads were enchanted by a Mage, they would become one-time consumables, but they also had the anti-magic effect. If not enchanted by a Mage, they were only sharper than steel arrowheads and could break ordinary heavy armor.
After testing, Stephanie was very satisfied with the equipment. Of course, Holy Rock City could make these arrowheads, and Alchemy City could also sell them, but the cost was too high, and they could not sell them for more than a million. Salin took out five million at once, which was of great importance to the war of Jialoulan. Even Prince Sephiroth could not refuse.
Salin was also very proud. Creatures like the red krill were too cute. They had magic cores, spears, shells that could be used to make equipment, and meat that could be fed to the thunder dragon.
No wonder Alchemy City dominated the area, and even Holy Rock City did not want to offend them. The resources in the sea were too rich. Whoever could control the sea could control the whole continent.
Sacred Rock City was well aware that Metatlin City was hunting on the sea. However, Holy Rock City could not destroy it, or they could only buy expensive items from Alchemy City. The deal between Metatlin City and the emperor saved the emperor a lot of money.
In mid-July, the envoy group returned, and Salin arranged a grand farewell ceremony. This time, he sent out a battalion of troops to escort the envoy group back. This battalion of troops could legally pass through Phoenix. The Mages in the army had to record magic images and draw maps along the way.
Salin and Prince Sephiroth also had a deal, so he dared to do this. Prince Sephiroth acknowledged his existence, and what he wanted was for Salin to completely seal off the sea routes to the north from Alchemy City. In the future, all the resources in the north would be taken over by Holy Rock City. As for Alchemy City, they could not be forced to buy or sell. Prince Sephiroth invested a lot of money in the name of the empire. Although he did not buy magic cores, magic equipment, materials, ores, wood, magic potions, and so on could all be bought at low prices from Metatlin City.
Prince Sephiroth also wanted to build a navy in Lianyun City to secretly keep Alchemy City in check, so as not to destroy his business. The prince's business was carried out in the name of the empire, mainly to cultivate his own forces. Most of the northern nobles were loyal to the emperor, so the prince did not want to fight for them. However, the southern nobles did not even listen to the emperor. Prince Sephiroth had to win over some and attack some.
Salin was happy to temporarily reconcile with the prince. If he continued to resist, he did not want to be attacked by the Golden Sword Saint. Unless he never left Metatlin City, having such an enemy was even more terrifying than going against a Level-Nine Magic Shooter.
The nobles of Metatlin City were more or less at a disadvantage, but fortunately, Salin let them take over in the middle, which saved them the disadvantage of using up liquid funds. These nobles could also use the money to do other business.
Salin himself was busy building a mercenary group.
In Eleanor's plan, Salin also wanted to build a mercenary group. The existence of this mercenary group was to avoid some trouble. For example, entering Phoenix, entering Jialoulan City, if it was Salin's regular army, they would have to face some questions. Mercenary groups were different. As long as there was an employer, they could go anywhere.
The name of the mercenary group was simple. It was called the Metatlin Mercenary Group, and it was registered with Salin. The size of the mercenary group was 20,000 people. Other than 20,000 people, they were not regular mercenaries, but auxiliary soldiers. Salin agreed to send 50,000 troops, so he continued to expand the recruitment.
His regular army was extremely strict in recruiting soldiers. For mercenaries, Salin still relaxed some of the requirements. A battalion of elites was directly recruited from the regular army, and the treatment in secret was no different from before. This was like selling dog meat. The rest of the auxiliary soldiers were newly recruited.
Even so, the equipment of Salin's auxiliary soldiers would not be inferior to that of any noble's private army.
Salin quickly recruited 30,000 people. There was still a gap of 20,000 people, but it could definitely be filled in a few months. Jialoulan City was in a mess. The original population of tens of millions was reduced to a few million, and they all ran to Qin Yin and Phoenix. The young and strong among these people could all be recruited.
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