Amber, of course, knew that Gwen's' rules' were different from other places, just as Gwen's way of thinking was different from others.
Would a normal person sell their own advanced technological achievements? Would a normal person work hard to turn the magical power that should be exclusive to the nobles and Extraordinaries into cabbages? Would a normal person set up a government office and a set of administrative agencies, and delegate the monopoly power of the lords to the 'civil servants' of the lower nobles or even the commoners?
Gwen did it all, and every time he did it, it was justified.
"Now the Magic Net has begun to spread in the south, and there are already prototypes of imitations in the noble territories near Leslie Hill and Kant Hill. Some of the rich and well-informed nobles have also heard about the magic engine, and they should be very interested. Just as you planned, Viscount Andrew and not Cecil's people will come forward to sell it, which further dispels the concerns of the nobles in the south. If there are no accidents, when spring comes and the trade route is smooth, we will have a steady stream of income. It can be used to purchase more raw ores and expand the population."
After listening to Amber's report, Gwen nodded slightly. "Viscount Andrew is a familiar face in the south. His connections can help us deliver the original Magic Net and the magic engine to the nobles, and as long as they taste a little sweetness … they will not refuse the benefits that follow."
"There is also news from Padrick. The alchemy potions are still selling well in the winter, and some merchants have even settled on the eastern border and the Holy Spirit Plain. But a large number of cheap potions in their hands have also attracted the attention of the local lords, and Padrick is a little worried about this, "Amber reported seriously." He is worried that the nobles will squeeze the distribution side of the chamber of commerce for profit … His original words are: Not every noble is as honest and trustworthy as Duke Cecil, who does business with a conscience. "
Gwen raised his eyelids. "What's the specific situation? I think he sent more than one complaint. "
"I really can't hide it from you." Hu Po scratched his head. "He said that there have been a few bad incidents. In a place further north, there are local nobles who have detained our potion merchants. They want those merchants to sell half of their goods to them at an extremely low price. Otherwise, they will declare our potion merchants to be illegal merchants."
Gwen looked interested. "Oh? Extremely low price? How low is that? "
"… One-third, or even one-fourth," Amber said indignantly. "That's daylight robbery!"
Gwen couldn't help but laugh. "Well … with the current price and the cost of the alchemy factory, even a quarter would still be a profit."
"You're still laughing?" When Hu Po saw Gawain's expression, he was dumbfounded. "They're robbing Cecil of his money! If it weren't for your reputation, I'm afraid they wouldn't have asked to keep part of the goods, but would have directly looted the merchants! "
"It's not good to loot the merchants directly. That way, no one would dare to continue to sell potions in their territory, and I wouldn't be able to extend my hand." Gwen touched his chin and thought for a moment. "Well, write a command for Padrick for me. Tell him that those merchants who have established a foothold should take the initiative to contact the local nobles. Isn't it just a quarter of the price? Sure, Cecil Hill is willing to sell large quantities of potions to them at a quarter of the price. Our potion merchants can even reserve half of the goods for them. The condition is that the local lords protect Cecil's potion merchants' distribution rights in their territory, and prevent other traditional herbalists and alchemists from suppressing and crowding out the potion merchants. "
Seeing Amber's stunned expression, Gwen deliberately smiled and asked, "Do you think the local lords will agree to these conditions?"
Amber opened her mouth for a long time before she finally blurted out, "Of course they'll agree! Only fools won't agree! You can buy a bottle of alchemy potion with a dozen copper coins! If they can get such a huge benefit, you don't have to say that they'll take the initiative to protect the potion merchants, and even help them transport the goods! But what's in it for you … "
Gwen didn't wait for Amber to finish and interrupted, "What do you think the local lords are buying cheap potions for?"
"What for?" Amber froze for a moment. "Anyway, it can't be used to rinse their mouths …"
"It's definitely not for their own use." The half-elf was very cute when she was in a daze, but Gwen didn't intend to tease her this time. "Our potions are 'inferior' diluted with water. Although it's still good for civilians and adventurers, it can't enter the eyes of the nobles. Those local lords must have known this in advance, so there's only one reason why they're buying cheap potions in large quantities — they're for their own subordinates, for their private soldiers, guards, and minions."
Amber wasn't stupid. Sometimes, she just couldn't think straight due to habit. Now that Gwen reminded her, she realized what the cunning old man in front of her was planning.
"What you mean is …"
"Large quantities of potions, as many as you want. The generous Duke Cecil will let every noble army in the Southern Territory use good and cheap potions. The brave soldiers will no longer need to wrap their wounds with stinky black ointment and grass root mud. In the process, I'll just charge a little bit of the cost." Gwen leaned back in his chair and said unhurriedly, "With good potions, no one will use those ineffective herbal ointment and witchcraft. The expensive traditional potions will also quickly disappear. Do you know what this means?"
Amber touched her neck subconsciously. "Is this the … noose you mentioned last time?"
"Yes, a noose." Gwen sighed softly. "None of them want to see the Cecil family rise again, so they'll use what they think is a clever method to desperately draw blood from the Cecil family. I can only draw blood for them and put a rope around each of their necks."
After a moment's pause, Gwen looked at Amber with a smile. "The shelf life of a diluted potion is very short."
In the large laboratory of the Rune Research Institute, Pitman was invited by Jenny to come to see a special magic circle.
The slovenly old Druil still looked uneasy. Although he was already the person in charge of Druil's magic and magic alchemy industry, leading a double-digit number of apprentices and his own research team, he still wore a plain and old gray cotton robe, with all kinds of useful and useless amulets hanging on his body. His white hair was messy and covered by a faded khaki bonnet. A pair of shrewd little eyes kept darting around under the cover of the bonnet. Anyone who saw him would think that the old man would suddenly pull out a deck of cards and tell their fortune. They would never associate him with the so-called "divine rune expert" or "Teacher Druil".
But he was indeed an expert in this field.
Pitman carefully observed the large substrate on the central experiment table. On the substrate, various rune blocks and magic lines, which were easy to assemble, together outlined a mysterious magic circle. Some threads made of non-magic materials were fixed on the surface of the magic circle by fixing pins to divide the functions of the different areas of the magic circle.
These areas were temporarily divided by Jenny and Kamel. They were not precise enough and could only be used as an aid in the research stage.
"These are indeed transformational divine runes," Pitman said, stroking his beard and nodding as he looked at the symbols marked with special paint. "Well … this confirms one of my conjectures."
"Conjecture?" Jenny looked at the old Druil curiously.
"Whether it is the Church of Nature that Druil once believed in, or the Church of Dreams that the Eternal Sleepers believed in, the pioneers had carried out very careful 'avoidance' and 'concealment' operations in the process of transforming their divine spells into magic." Pitman smiled, his eyes had a cunning light. "These transformational runes only reveal one message …"
Kamel's unique voice with arcane echoes came from the side. "Fear."
"Yes, fear." Pitman smiled. "The authority of God has fallen into the hands of the people, but people are still trembling in fear, as if they are afraid that God will come back and punish those who stole the authority. Even if the pioneers found the rules and techniques to transform divine spells into magic, they still tried to cover up their actions in the process, as if they were deceiving themselves and others to avoid the god who may be gone."
"It was the same in the early days of the Disobedience Plan," Kamel said. "It was not until we confirmed the existence of 'Giant Deer Amoun' and confirmed that he was the fallen God of Nature that our fear was slightly reduced."
Jenny had never thought that she would come into contact with this kind of thing one day, but she had become used to it. She asked subconsciously, "Will the God of Dreams … be like Giant Deer Amoun, fallen?"
"It's hard to say. The strangeness of the gods is beyond human imagination. The body of Giant Deer Amoun is indeed lying in the Realm of Shadows, but God knows what state the gods of the other fallen cults believe in are in." Pitman smiled and shook his head as he moved closer to the magic circle. "Instead of figuring out the state of those gods, we should figure out how this magic circle works as soon as possible."
"Regarding this, we have already made some initial progress." Kamel said. At the same time, he summoned an evocative hand and took a half-meter-tall metal-crystal device next to the test bench.
It was a small magic obelisk, specially prepared for the laboratory environment.
"At first, we tried to use ordinary magic to drive this magic circle, but it failed. This magic circle has a special interface. It will only respond to the dream spells of the Eternal Sleeper. Whether it is activation or control, it needs to be supplemented with special dream spells. Obviously, this magic circle is incomplete. It can't operate independently. It needs a spellcaster to perform a supporting ritual to complete its magic path, "Kamel said as he began to adjust the magic obelisk." This situation is not uncommon. Many traditional magic circles have this' imperfection 'due to inadequate optimization and unreasonable structure, but this has caused us a lot of trouble … "
The magic obelisk was activated, and a stable magic field began to envelop the entire Rune Research Institute.
"But later, we found that we don't actually need to make the entire magic circle work. There is a part of it that is crucial. As long as this part can be activated, then with the help of the diffusion of the magic field, it can play an incredible role."
Kamel raised his arm full of arcane energy, and a small spark hit the magic circle on the test bench. A part of the runes in the magic circle immediately lit up and began to flicker as Kamel injected magic.
Almost immediately, Pitman looked at the wall on the other side of the laboratory.
On that wall, another large substrate was hanging. That large substrate did not have a complete 'magic circle of the Eternal Sleeper', but only the most basic set of runic arrays. But it was that basic runic array that was now flickering and changing with Kamel's movements.
"At present, we can only transmit such simple changes, and the transmission is extremely susceptible to interference. Distance is also a problem, but at least we have proven one thing in the process:
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