CHAPTER 404: CHAPTER 179: TENSE RAW MATERIALS

Strolling through the streets, Anvis carelessly purchased a copy of the Federation Newspaper to catch up on any major recent events, while simultaneously turning down numerous players’ requests for help.

The headlines on the newspaper were still related to the latest initiatives following the ascension of Leka Kingdom’s Prince Six.

For instance, the nation was investing all its efforts to vigorously support Mechanical development and welcomed all external forces to establish Mechanical Factories within the kingdom’s borders.

Civilians were opening Mechanical Engineering Colleges in large numbers, and they offered policies such as waiving all tuition fees for the first five years for new students.

Clearly, now that Prince Six had ascended to the throne with the support of certain powers behind the Mechanical development, it was his turn to honor the original agreement.

Besides that, there were some other news from the Three Kingdoms and occasional reports of disasters like the appearance of Magic Beasts and other dangers, reminding citizens to stay safe.

Overall, the situation within the Federation seemed normal; under the wise leadership of the noble gentlemen, society was thriving, people were living and working in peace and happiness, as if life was getting better and better.

Although the expansion of numerous Mechanical Factories had occupied lots of farmland and caused many difficult-to-handle issues of Magic Power radiation pollution, forcing many farmers to abandon their tools and work in Mechanical Factories to make ends meet.

However, according to a laudatory report in the newspaper, it was precisely because of these Mechanical Factories that the people gained more employment and income.

While there were some minor negative impacts, for the sake of the Federation’s development, these were merely negligible growing pains. If one could just endure these hard times, a wonderful tomorrow would surely arrive!

"Pfft—These hypocritical nobles, why don’t they experience the wonderful tomorrow they speak of themselves."

Off to the side, seemingly unable to stand the entirely eulogistic article, a young Half-Elf clad in a light green robe and also holding a newspaper couldn’t help but sneer.

"Watch your words! Do you want to spend a few more days locked up?"

Hearing his words, his companion instinctively looked around, and after noticing that no guards were paying attention to them, he then relaxed.

"What’s there to be afraid of? If we have to take crap in reality, do we have to take it here too? The day my Level rises, I’ll be the first to chop all these people down."

However, his companion’s caution seemed to only provoke the rebellious nature of the Half-Elf player.

"Alright, alright, just keep it down a bit..."

With a stiff and somewhat awkward smile, the companion forcefully pulled him away.

However, the brief exchange between the two had already fallen entirely into Anvis’s ears.

In fact, the attitude of that Half-Elf just now was a true reflection of the sentiments of many players at the moment.

Currently, the average Level of players had reached over thirty, and if someone organized them, it would be enough to cause quite a stir.

What they were lacking now was simply a Camp that could justify their disturbances.

And the reason Anvis had come to Silver Moon City was not only to retrieve the secret treasure of the Ancient Magic Empire but also to provide them with that Camp.

Although the Federation’s Magic-guided Mechanical development seemed to flourish rapidly, it wasn’t without hidden dangers.

Once the Nobles and the Chamber of Commerce realized that the cost and efficiency of using skeleton labor far exceeded that of regular workers, the seeds of conflict had been sown.

Familiar with the route, Anvis reached the location of Silver Moon City’s secret black market, draped the Isolation Cloak over himself, and entered the Underground Guild hall of the black market. After paying a five percent deposit to the people there, he posted a special Task.

——To purchase one hundred thousand units of the third-generation mechanical skeletons-ready for labor.

In the task description, Anvis indicates that he is a representative of a trade union from outside the Federation, preparing to invest heavily in the construction of Mechanical Factories. The location for the factory construction has already been chosen, but there is a shortage of sufficient workers now.

At the same time, he offered a surprisingly high purchase price: one hundred and twenty Gold Coins for each skeleton laborer.

You must realize, hiring an ordinary worker for ten years would only require about eighty Gold Coins, which is also the going rate on the market currently.

However, for convenience, the minimum number of transactions at one time is fifty.

Once this task was posted, seeing the potential for profit, people immediately responded, massively buying up completed skeleton laborers from the market and selling them to Anvis.

But after selling nearly ten thousand, the traders realized that almost all the ready stock in the market had been swept clean.

The reason is simple, the dead are finite.

Although in an ideal state, a skeleton laborer can have a service life of fifteen to twenty years.

But the reality is, due to long periods of high-intensity work, among other factors, the Soul Fire of skeleton laborers is seriously depleted. Often they can only last less than ten years before they completely decay into a pile of useless trash.

Once the original skeleton laborers are exhausted, those merchants and Nobles can only purchase new skeleton laborers.

As an important material, many magical experiments of the Necromancy School require the use of corpses.

But now, with another breakthrough in magical techniques, the development of Mechanical Factories directly takes up most of the resources of this previously niche market.

Because they are being purchased for use as labor, those big businessmen do not care about the price. As long as the price is lower than using ordinary workers, they will purchase as much as possible.

For Gold Coins, it is not that nobody thought of past graveyards, but the long-buried remains are also useless, and the number of newly buried deceased is just a drop in the bucket.

In response to this strange phenomenon, the Secret Magic Card Commerce specifically released a new special location card [Mechanical Factory].

Necromancy decks can choose to send their skeleton-type creatures, along with the Magic Card [Undead Disaster] to work in the factory, producing a certain amount of Mana each turn.

If the consumption continues like this, not only will the price of ’raw materials’ skyrocket, the most important thing is, the number of the deceased will soon be insufficient.

In recent years, for the sake of materials, the number of death sentences in the various Kingdoms of the Federation has significantly increased, and the campaigns against bandits have been conducted over and over again.

But the number of those on death row and bandits is ultimately limited, and it would not be right to slaughter civilians indiscriminately just to obtain materials after nearly eradicating them all.

Therefore, to acquire enough labor, there is only one method left.

War—

A war of sufficient scale would provide many high-quality materials.

Turning other countries’ citizens into one’s own labor force, producing more varieties of Mechanical, gaining stronger war capabilities as well as rich spoils of war, a business with huge profits from no capital.

Currently, everyone is still relatively restrained. But as soon as Anvis released this purchasing task, it immediately had some special impact.

A hundred thousand skeleton laborers, more than twenty thousand have already been received successively, and there is still a shortfall of about eighty thousand, which is about a huge order of nine million and six hundred thousand Gold Coins.

So, what should be done to secure as much of this big order as possible?