Something's wrong with my undead

Chapter 534 Shackles
Faced with such direct questioning, Dmitri had nothing to hide.

He sighed and began to explain these "underground businesses".

"In fact, I shouldn't have known this, but Roman trusted me and asked me to take care of them... It's just like what you heard from Savia. We... We sell things from the ruins on the black market. Sometimes they are mechanical structures, sometimes runes, and sometimes there are fire seeds and floating city components. In short, different ruins have different products, but because they all have a strong northern style, rough, ugly but strong and durable, so no one thinks that they are smuggled goods from other countries. Instead, they think they are the private work of the Gittiers."

Dylan was a little confused: "Wait, fire seeds, components of the floating city? Does that mean that all the technology related to the floating city - except for the shell, came from the underground ruins?"

Dmitri opened his mouth, somewhat afraid to look the junior in the eye.

He looked away: "Not entirely. There is also the research of the Veritas people."

Dylan: “…”

He had thought that Nice's self-research capabilities were very poor, but he didn't expect it to be this poor.

Teacher Xia couldn't help but exclaim: "No wonder the Shadow Footsteps black market can buy control modules that are one version ahead of the latest version on the market. It turns out that they are all produced underground. They are really getting older and older!"

Wei Dianyuan: "What do you mean by old? The technology in Ogas has never been interrupted. They have been seriously researching for more than 4,000 years. But it's quite amazing when you think about it. They have been working behind closed doors for 4,000 years, but in the end they are evenly matched with the Veritas."

Da Huang: "Who are you looking down on? The defense level of the airship developed by the wizard is one plus higher than that of the most advanced floating city. The spell resistance, blocking and deflection rates are all high. Except for the compatibility issue of obsidian, it is basically crushing in other aspects."

Wei Dian Yuan: "That must have been after the Black Vortex incident. The technology was upgraded after the Lion King hired people to dig up the ruins."

Da Huang: "The parameters of flying units in the early copies were like this. When free trade really came, the gap was so huge that it was unbearable to see."

...

When the players were complaining crazily, Dylan couldn't help but ask, "Then the Shadow Temple won't do anything about it?"

Dmitri: "On the one hand, we claim that this is the research of the Nice people themselves. On the other hand, the Temple also needs local magical achievements to fight against the dumping of Veritas products... Of course, these can be regarded as "external factors" or "results". The real essential reason is this..."

The old man started to complain as if he had given up everything.

773 years have passed since the wizards replaced the old ten-thousand-year clock with a new calendar.

This is the year 773 when the technology trees of various nations progress slowly, while Veritas soars.

It’s hard to imagine that everyone started from the same starting line at the beginning.

Even the mages started later because of their numerical disadvantage.

The belief system at that time was already very stable. The nation, race and religion were a trinity that were inseparable from each other. Apart from internal power struggles, there was basically one voice to the outside world.

Even so, the religious conflicts at that time were not as serious as they are today.

Therefore, when the people of Veritas communicated with other countries in a friendly manner with the concept of "open communication", the feedback they received was generally positive.

Therefore, with the help of the magic network, countries can communicate with each other continuously.

But faith is an existence that emphasizes boundaries, and communication itself can offend, blur, and dilute boundaries.

For example, when a Nice who believes in shadow and a Luku who believes in holy light are discussing whether "Earth of Annihilation" and "Devotion" have the same origin, both sides can only and must hold their own opinions.

They cannot let the matter go in a friendly and ambiguous manner; they must make sure that they stick to their bottom line and that the other party recognizes and respects their beliefs.

To do otherwise would be to question one’s own gods.

This inevitably led to conflict.

This is obviously something the mage is happy to see.

Because they know that the two have the same origin, and after ignoring objective reality, they simply cannot have an effective discussion.

Just as the mages thought, online communication did not enable more people to reach consensus, but instead created more conflicts.

As a result, every country and every belief felt the crisis, resulting in a conservative inward-looking trend.

Countries have stopped relying on direct communication through the magic network and instead sent exchange groups or relied on the power of "neutral camps" such as the Veritas people.

There is no doubt that the mages gained the most in this process.

Then they came up with a new concept: patent.

——Aren’t you arguing about where “annihilation of the earth” and “dedication” came from?
——It's very simple, just apply for a patent for each spell, so that they are two independent spells.

——Next, whoever wants to improve the spell model must start a discussion based on some kind of patent. By then, won’t it be clear who the new spell comes from?
At that time, Veritas was not qualified to be the "talking head", so they only put forward this constructive suggestion for the purpose of protecting the gods.

All the countries were happy to protect their own gods, so they adopted it one after another.

Initially, this move did work to reduce the amount of arguments.

This concept quickly became a common understanding as various faiths frantically applied for patents for their own spells.

Then the number of patents became a kind of metric.

Then it is like a command, written into the collective will of the extraordinary energy.

Protecting patents is defending the glory of God, and is the duty and mission of every believer.

It can be said that this concept has accomplished all of this without the need for any effort on the part of the mages themselves, and has become a heavy yoke placed on the nations.

The so-called "respective patents" are actually derivatives of the two major schools of magic and combat skills of the Solace Empire.

Later believers improved and adapted the Solaceans' magic according to their own characteristics and obtained completely new magic.

How can we make progress on this basis?

It’s simple, interdisciplinary studies are the future.

Just like the Solace people, or the "superiors" of Solace, they did not voluntarily maintain these so-called "patents".

——Of course, this may be related to the fact that they don’t care about the untouchables at all.

But in short, this road was blocked by the believers themselves.

The gods are equal and recognize each other's existence, so they are rarely double-standard in defending their patent rights.

That is, defending one's own magic system is defending those of other gods.

This is also a consensus.

The Nice people saw the possibility of further improving the land of annihilation in the impact of the Luku people's holy light, but they would not use the "patent of holy light".

The Luku saw in the Nessian Shadowflame the potential to spread devotion into sacred ground, but they also would not use the "patent of the Shadow."

There is no need to pay for the patent of magic.

It just requires a heartfelt acceptance and an offering of your faith.

Two completely different beliefs are no less than self-destruction for a transcendent, especially one above level five.

That's why it's fatal.

Therefore, each country can only seek breakthroughs in its own magic system and develop slowly.

No doubt, this is what the Veritas would like to see.

Although they were the proposers and builders of the "new order", they had no scruples at all.

If the nations at this time were slowed down by the stigma of stubbornness, arrogance, and conservatism, then the light-footed wizard was undoubtedly striding forward.

Veritas is a godless world. They untied patents from "spiritual payment" and instead used money to reward any inspired creator. Magic technology made rapid progress during this period, leaving other countries far behind.

Although this process seems very fast now, at that time, it was nothing more than the laughter and chatter of mages promoting technological breakthroughs on the magic network radio day after day until the listeners got used to it.

Most ordinary people are slow to sense the situation, but they are the main believers.

Even if someone discovers something, the voice will always be drowned out by the dullness of the crowd and will not make any waves.

Therefore, when they discovered that the market was flooded with cost-effective magic technology products from Veritas, they did not feel incredible or scared, but ecstasy as consumers.

Cheap potions, daily necessities, enchantment consumables, even magical equipment and large machinery are so cheap.

With these, why bother about anything else?

Crisis awareness often only exists in the minds of smart people. It is the clarity that comes after seeing the essence through phenomena.

Unfortunately, the main body of faith cannot see this.

As a result, products from Veritas naturally occupied the market. Under such circumstances, there was no need to accelerate the already slow pace of independent research and development.

...

After hearing this, Dylan found it unbelievable.

"Have you never struggled? Like raising taxes on the wizards' goods to increase their prices?"

Dmitri smiled bitterly. "Of course there was. It is said that there was once a "Cold Mind Potion" that was incredibly cheap. The price was one-fourth of the local product, but the effect was almost doubled. In order to protect our own alchemy factory, we used a decree to increase taxes on this batch of potions, making their profits lower than their transportation costs, and eventually made that company give up the deal.

"It did have a good effect at the beginning, but when the magic network broadcast the mages' opinions on the matter and the ridicule that 'the people of Nice have to pay three times the price but only enjoy half the effect of the potion', the people were boiling with anger. They questioned whether this was a conspiracy and investigated the collusion of interests behind the alchemy factory.

"In the end, they got the answer they wanted. The investor behind the factory was the noble who participated in formulating the new regulations. Although the noble argued that he was motivated by national interests, no one believed him... In the end, the decree was repealed and the factory closed down. As for the noble, one day later, he was reported to be engaged in forbidden necromancy research. Afterwards, he was burned to death on the street amid cheers."

Demetri sighed and said, "But there is still a benefit. It was after this incident that the Temple shut down all the magic network receiving ports in the country. Except for the magic network that is still covered, we have tried our best to distance ourselves from the Veritas people."

Dylan: “Is there no resistance to this?”

Demetrius: "It is said that there is no such thing, because the mages invited a paladin to the show and then wantonly ridiculed our faith, which has long caused widespread dissatisfaction. This decree incident is just a fuse."

...

Teacher Xia: "No wonder there are so many old underground receivers in the north, and they are all run by idiots below level five. It turns out there is a story behind it."

Wei Dian Yuan: "Have you also done a lot of daily cleaning of wild sites?"

Da Huang: "Do you think he looks like that? He is more like a maintenance worker."

Teacher Xia: "You are slandering me. I call that recycling! There is a mission!"

At this point Dylan ended his conversation with Dmitri, who had told him everything he knew.

As for that Ogas, he didn't know either.

That was the mission of the family heir, and only Roman knew it, and he was only responsible for carrying it out.

Everyone's eyes fell on Teacher Xia.

After all, the root of the soul was eaten by his dagger, and now there must be an explanation.

“My advice is to go back to the village and ask.”

Teacher Xia said, "Anyway, we have cleared the fourth floor and gained a lot of experience. It's time to go back."

Da Huang: "It's not a good idea to keep doing this. When can we build a communication node here?"

Everyone knows that this is just talk.

It is not as serious as the infiltration of the Vilitas in the south, where the faith is in name only.

The faith of the North remains as strong as ever, and any compromise is only with its own people. It is impossible to allow them to solidify the products of Yuanling technology in a certain area, or even connect them into a line.

When that day comes, the Negril Theatre might even be renamed the McCalla Theatre.

After a few more words, they finally decided to go back to the village.

As for Savia, just let him wait.

The most awesome mechanical puppet in history returns to the factory to report work logs + provides one-stop maintenance and care. Doesn’t this make sense?

……

The next day, at Lord McCalla's mansion.

Solace rushed in through the door. He was a spirit, but in order to avoid giving people a sense of incongruity, he moved like a normal person.

But in fact he can pass through walls, doors, and even underground.

"What did you bring back? Oh, by the way, I'm not in a hurry."

His prediction made Heine hesitate to speak.

"It's clearly stated in the communication technique."

Heine pointed at the returning quartet, especially Mr. Xia.

"They found something from the descendants of Alan Gittier. This may be related to your coming to Macalla."

Teacher Xia cooperated and handed over the dagger.

Since it was not bound, Solace easily pulled out a string of souls.

As soon as these dead souls appeared in Mackala, they were instantly purified into pure silver soul bodies, and their sizes suddenly expanded.

The room was instantly filled with people.

Solace asked in surprise, "What did you do? Did you go through some kind of sacrificial ceremony?"

Teacher Xia scratched his head.

I really can’t accept this.

"This may just be part of the battle, don't be surprised."

Heine summoned Louden and asked him to take these strange souls to the other world.

Because Teacher Xia kills monsters for the sake of experience, and with the fourth-level Savior's strict selection, those who can be killed by the Twin Daggers of Sin are basically elite individuals, and their souls are relatively well preserved.

Although consciousness has long been erased, it is possible for a new consciousness to emerge under the nourishment of raw materials.

Solace continued grabbing, handful after handful.

In the end, he was numb, and after finally clearing the dagger, he found the source of the soul that seemed to be deliberately avoiding him.

"Four thousand years..."

Solace sighed, his gaze seeming to span an endless number of years.

Then he absorbed the light blue ball into his body and closed his eyes.

(End of this chapter)