Salin did not ask any more questions, but he thought that if the war happened in Jialoulan, it would have nothing to do with him. But if there was trouble in Kushui County, he could not just leave.
Hopefully, everything would be fine. Salin prayed in his heart. It was the first time he was so concerned about the peace of the world.
Passing through the garden, there was a row of buildings, all made of granite, giving off a rough and fierce aura. There were pillars in front of the door, and two fully armed soldiers stood there. Seeing Narnia and Salin, the two soldiers bowed.
"Mage, you're here."
The soldier on guard obviously knew Nania, and smiled at Salin. Salin noticed that the equipment of these two soldiers was not much different from Baron Cook's elite soldiers. At most, they were high-level swordsmen, not swordsmen yet. But these two soldiers were obviously more confident and experienced. When they bowed, there was only respect in their eyes, not humility.
The elites of the Qinyin Empire could not be underestimated. If there were thirty to fifty of these soldiers surrounding them, a level-one mage would definitely be chopped into meat paste. If they had armor enchanted, even a level-two mage would have to be careful. In comparison, the private soldiers of the nobles in Scotia were not so good, not even as strong as the mercenaries of large mercenary groups.
It was said that Princess Rex could have ten thousand elite troops. When she obtained the rights to the surrounding cities, once war broke out, it would not be a problem to recruit a hundred thousand auxiliary troops. Plus the mages and apprentices in Kushui County, this city should not be in any danger. Thinking of this, Salin was relieved. He had thought too much. If there really was an army that could reach the city, the entire Qinyin Empire would probably be involved in the war.
This was impossible. The Qinyin army under Sacred Rock City's control was more than a million, divided into many provinces. Plus the private soldiers owned by the nobles, the entire Qinyin was like an iron bucket.
Nania brought Salin through the door, and there was a corridor inside. The two went straight up the stairs to the second floor, and a young mage came out to greet them. The mage had short blonde hair, and there was a magic mark on his white magic robe.
"Sister, you're here." The young mage was a bit older than Salin, but he was not yet 20.
"This is Mage Salin, and this is my brother, Cadrick."
"Mage Salin, thank you so much." Cadrick was obviously relieved.
"Don't mention it. Nania and I are friends," Salin replied with a smile.
Cadrick brought Salin and Salin into his own room. This room was extremely strange. There was a bronze railing in the middle of the room, enclosing a ten-square-meter hole in the floor. Below them was the first floor, an even larger room with several dozen alchemy workbenches arranged in an orderly manner. Several hundred Magic Apprentices were busy processing some metal sheets.
Salin recognized that the metal pieces were made from fish scale armor. The apprentices were using the alchemy equipment on the alchemy bench to process the armor. Beautiful patterns appeared on the armor as it burned in the magic flame.
On the other side, there was a long refining table with even more apprentices processing the tendons of magic beasts.
The tendons of magical beasts had many uses, but the most common one was to make bowstrings. The tendons of ordinary wild beasts required a long time to be stewed and woven before they could be used to make bowstrings. A bowstring that could be used for three years was considered to be of good quality. On the other hand, the tendons of Magical Beasts were tougher and more resistant to wear. They would not suffer from fatigue or fracture, nor would they become brittle due to dryness and lack of water.
The apprentices downstairs, on the other hand, were chopping the tendons into thin threads to be used to string armor leaves.
Apart from the ancient plate armor of knights, most armors of warriors needed to be strung together with various kinds of ropes. Inferior armors would be strung together with hemp ropes soaked in glue. Although they were resistant to wear, they could not withstand too much force. When invaded by sword aura, they would easily break and break.
High-grade metal armors would be strung together with hair, metal threads, and leather strips to weave more tenacious ropes. The tendons of magical beasts were the most expensive of all.
In another corner, Salin saw the apprentices enchanting ancient brocade robes.
The Qinyin Empire was rich and populous. Even commoners had the right to wear brocade and satin. Only slaves who had lost their freedom were restricted. However, ancient brocade was only worn by nobles and soldiers. This kind of brocade was heavy to the touch and bright in color, suitable for making formal wear. The ancient brocade robes these apprentices were working on were woven with magically treated silk. The apprentices were working on it for the second time.
There were also workbenches in the rooms on the second floor, but these workbenches were much smaller and did not have the complicated alchemy machinery downstairs.
When the twenty or so magic apprentices saw Salin and Nania come in, they all stood up and saluted. These apprentices were frowning. There was a whole set of machinery on the workbench, crystal tubes, beakers, brackets, crucibles, and so on. In comparison, it looked more like orthodox alchemy equipment.
On the other side of the ring-shaped room was Cadrick's room. Walking into the room, there was an alchemy workbench.
"Cadrick, are these armors for generals to wear?" Salin looked at such a huge alchemy lab and felt a bit incredulous.
"No, the princess's swordsman battalion has a total of ten thousand people. Everyone has two sets of armor and a number of spare accessories. What the officers wear is not something a little mage like me can be responsible for. "
Twenty thousand sets of armor of this quality!
Salin was too lazy to calculate. In short, it was a huge expense. Although this was the princess's authority, how could the emperor rest assured with such an elite army? After all, if there was no prince, the princess could inherit the throne and become the empress.
Princess Rex's actions were definitely not for the sake of a military parade, but for preparation for war.
"Cadrick, you called me here in such a hurry. What's the trouble?" Nania asked.
Cadrick looked at Salin and said, "We still need more than two thousand sets of armor. We're almost done, but there's not enough Restoration Water. The mages are not here, and I'm alone …"
Salin smiled and said, "It's fine. How much Restoration Water do we need to make?"
Making Restoration Water was too easy for Salin now. After his Magic String grew and he became a level-two mage, Salin could continuously make 48 servings of Restoration Water, each serving of two thousand grams. This amount of Restoration Water was enough for bathing, not to mention drinking it.
"We need a lot. If the three of us make it continuously, it'll probably take a day."
"So much?" Salin pondered. Nania was already a level-three mage. Although she was still far from leveling up, making Restoration Water did not require too much skill. The amount she could make should be about the same as his.
"There's no other way. These horn ribbons were etched with magic, and need to be constantly washed with Restoration Water. It's useless even if you soak them. If we don't deal with it quickly, these horn ribbons will be useless. "
Salin was not familiar with alchemy, but he knew that these horn ribbons were magic equipment, and those etched patterns definitely had magic attributes.
"No problem. Prepare the containers." Salin did not want to shock the world, so he simply treated it as practice. Otherwise, if he and Nania were to work together, they would not even need a day to produce enough power.
Metal flat-nosed pots were carried in. These flat-nosed pots were not small, and there were shallow holes on the base. The surface of the metal pots was covered with magic patterns.
Salin estimated the number of pots a normal mage could make, and continuously cast the level-one spell, Restoration Water, twelve times before stopping. This was equivalent to a normal level-two mage continuously making 24 servings of Restoration Water.
Nania did not stop either, and continuously made more than 90 servings of Restoration Water. Cadrick was overjoyed. His sister and this level-two mage had made more Restoration Water than he had imagined. This way, he was confident that he could complete the mission.
He hurriedly took out the magic cores and stuffed them into Salin and Nania's hands, so that they could recover their Magic String. Salin had only used a quarter of his Magic String, but he did not refuse Cadrick's good intentions. After all, the princess was paying for it.
The flat-nosed metal pots were carried out one by one, placed into the alchemy machinery, and fixed in place. The Restoration Water flowed through the crystal tube at a constant speed, and in a glass bubble, it dispersed into dozens of torrents, scouring the horn ribbons inside the glass bubble.
The horn ribbons were black, and after the scouring, the original greenish-brown color was revealed, revealing the etched magic patterns. The Restoration Water gathered at the other end of the glass bubble and flowed out. It was already pitch-black, and could not be used anymore.
Salin quickly recovered the Magic String that he had used up. He was a little bored. He had thought that it would be arduous work, but it was just casting a few level-one spells. Looking out from the window, those apprentices were busy, cleaning up the washed horn ribbons one by one.
Every apprentice was so young, and so serious. They did not seem to feel that it was embarrassing to do this at all. Apprentices who could operate alchemy machinery were at least level-six magic apprentices. These apprentices were all less than twenty years old, and it was only a matter of time before they became official mages.
Salin couldn't help but sigh. There were quite a few mages in Scotia, but they definitely did not have such a large number of apprentices. Magic apprentices might be useless on the battlefield, but mages would not do the work in front of them, so they could only rely on apprentices.
With a large number of apprentices, they could produce enchanted armor on a large scale. After the most basic alchemy process was completed, the mages only needed to activate the magic array, input mana, and the whole set of magic armor would be formed.
Even the lowest level magic armor could resist the sword aura of a swordmaster. It could even resist some low-level spells, such as acid sputtering, icicle, level-one fireball, and so on.
Ten thousand sets of such armor on a swordsman could definitely form a steel torrent. Even a swordmaster could not resist the loosely organized mercenaries, not to mention the private soldiers of nobles.
Salin finally understood why Qin Yin called it the Magic Empire. Although the situation in Kushui Prefecture was a bit special, the nobles of the empire could hire a large number of apprentices to do this as long as the emperor allowed it.
One in a hundred apprentices could become an official mage. Every apprentice in this alchemy factory had the potential to become a mage. It could be said that they were all elites among the apprentices.
Only Princess Rex's method could attract countless elite apprentices to settle in Kushui Prefecture. Everyone had a chance. What a great temptation it was for magic apprentices! If there was such a place in Ceylon City, Salin would have been willing to work for the princess even if he had to sell himself.
The job was to train, and the princess would be responsible for all the expenses. Such a good thing had never appeared in other places on the continent.
Princess Rex's investment was worth it. If she was given another ten years, she would have more mages, great mages, and magic shooters.
Because she knew the value of magic apprentices.
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