Chapter 124: Opening Ceremony Speech [Two-in-One]

Chapter 124: Opening Ceremony Speech [Two-in-One]

"What do I want to do?" Yu Sheng'an chuckled lightly. "Of course, it's for Source Essence! Making money isn’t something to be ashamed of."

His brazen words struck the Wisdom Goddess as utterly absurd, making her feel this guy was nothing short of arrogant beyond measure!

Before she could even vent her anger, Yu Sheng'an continued:

"We’re all cut from the same cloth, so let’s drop the pretenses! I’ll be blunt—are you interested in an alliance? I can carve out a section on the internet similar to the Music Sanctuary, with you in charge. The Source Essence harvested from that section will be split fifty-fifty between us."

"I don’t possess internet authority. How could I possibly manage it?"

"We could exchange virtual divine sparks. Problem solved."

"Preposterous!"

The Wisdom Goddess sneered, looking at Yu Sheng'an as if he were an idiot.

She wasn’t some weakling like Aphnora, with no options beyond forming alliances.

Let’s not forget—aside from the Greg Duchy, her preaching zones spanned multiple worlds, and she fully controlled two small domains.

Why on earth would she need to cooperate with the Internet God?

From a profit standpoint, she didn’t believe the Internet God could bring her more Source Essence.

On the contrary, the Internet God would likely erode her believers.

Moreover, exchanging virtual divine sparks would inevitably expose the vulnerabilities of her Godhood, leaving her at the Internet God’s mercy.

What if he then demanded the internet’s expansion into her preaching zones?

Would she comply? Or refuse?

What, threaten him back by exposing the internet’s divine spark weaknesses?

Hah! Did he think she was stupid?

If the Internet God dared propose such an exchange, it meant the flaws in his Internet Godhood were either negligible or inconsequential even if exposed.

In short, no matter how she looked at it, this deal was a raw one for her.

Why would she ever agree?

The Wisdom Goddess’s attitude made Yu Sheng'an sigh inwardly.

He had already anticipated this possibility.

For gods to form alliances, there were only two prerequisites: either a common enemy or shared interests.

They did share common enemies—the Five Great Righteous Gods, and even other deities.

But this enemy wasn’t dire enough to make the Wisdom Goddess tremble in fear for her survival.

To put it bluntly, even if she lost the Greg Duchy, she’d still live comfortably, biding her time for a comeback.

Given enough time to accumulate Source Essence, she might even hunt other gods and ascend as the King of Gods.

As for shared interests?

The Internet God’s user base wasn’t even as large as hers!

Though he could squeeze out nearly every drop of Source Essence naturally generated by his users’ souls daily—far surpassing other gods in efficiency—this argument was hardly persuasive to her.

At the end of the day, it boiled down to one thing:

The Wisdom Goddess wielded a dominant Godhood. Even in an alliance, she would demand leadership and zero loss to her interests.

Expecting her to invest first and reap rewards later? Unlikely.

Especially when it risked exposing her Godhood’s weaknesses.

"Fine, to each their own. If you look down on the internet, I won’t force it. If one path is blocked, I’ll take another. How about this—I’ll trade you half a bicycle production line in exchange for trade freedom in the Greg Duchy. What do you say?"

With that, Yu Sheng'an raised his hand: "Hey, don't rush to refuse just yet. Hear me out first."

"I admit, promoting bicycles was my way of using merchants to spread the internet. But honestly, this doesn’t affect you much. Even without merchants, take a good look at the nobles of Greg—how many of them aren’t already my users?"

"Don’t be too upset about it. They don’t worship me—they just want to freeload knowledge from my network. In fact, they’ll even stop the common folk from doing the same, afraid they might gain power and threaten their status. Am I right?"

"So it’s not just you trying to stop the spread of the internet—they’re doing it too. Making it truly widespread won’t be easy."

"Besides, what’s the harm even if it does spread? It’s just a single divine technique. I’m not preaching—does that really threaten you?"

"Think about it. When bicycles become common across Greg, won’t it make attending sermons easier? Won’t your Source Essence spring grow stronger as a result?"

The Wisdom Goddess watched Yu Sheng'an’s confident speech with an impassive expression, unmoved.

Yu Sheng'an sighed, realizing that these fragmented excuses alone wouldn’t be enough to persuade the Wisdom Goddess to open trade.

With that in mind, he cut straight to the point: "Do you know why I’m only willing to give you half of the bicycle production line?"

The Wisdom Goddess sneered, her face twisting with disdain.

Such a mundane thing—she wouldn’t even care if he gave her the whole thing! And yet, he’s being stingy with just half?

Did he really think she coveted a few measly gold coins from mortals?

What a joke!

But that look of contempt lasted only a second before Yu Sheng'an’s next words shattered it completely, leaving her face frozen in shock.

"Because this thing can mass-produce firearms!"

"What?"

The Wisdom Goddess’s pupils dilated sharply.

Firearms, to be honest, weren’t particularly powerful in the multiverse.

A standard bullet’s power was only equivalent to a warrior’s full-strength strike.

A formal magus’s second-tier magical shield could easily block bullets.

Warriors could dodge them outright.

And by the Battle Master realm, catching bullets barehanded was no issue at all.

Yet despite this, firearms still shook the world upon their debut, becoming strategic resources akin to magic artifacts.

Not because of specially modified bullets that could unleash strikes comparable to Battle Masters, Grand Battle Masters, or even Martial Saints!

Those bullets were indeed formidable, but their cost was equally exorbitant—practically on par with high-grade magic artifacts, making them less practical than just using magic artifacts.

The true value of firearms lay in their simplicity—anyone could use them with minimal training.

They could turn an ordinary farmer with no cultivation experience into someone capable of killing warriors—even magi.

One-on-one, a farmer would stand no chance.

But on a large-scale battlefield? A single metal storm could overwhelm even a Grand Magus.

And if warriors were armed with firearms? Their combat power would become downright terrifying.

In other words, a single firearm could replace three years of a soldier’s training!

How could that not be valuable?

"You’re telling the truth?" The Wisdom Goddess’s expression wavered between belief and doubt.

Snap!

Yu Sheng'an flicked his fingers, and a virtual screen materialized beside him.

"Don’t measure my production line by your outdated hammer-and-forge techniques. This is industrial thinking and technological power!"

"Look, even the Dwarven King is trying to steal my technology! That fool’s brain must be soaked in alcohol—how dare he attempt to learn it right under my nose? Hmph, does he really think a production line can be mastered just by glancing at it?"

Amid Yu Sheng'an's mocking tone, the Wisdom Goddess clearly saw Dwarven King Kaut sweating profusely as he struggled to tighten screws.

The endless stream of assembly-line parts left him overwhelmed, without even a moment to lift his head.

Did Yu Sheng'an not know what was going through Dwarven King Kaut’s mind?

Probably some naive hope that sneaking in for a peek would be enough to learn everything.

Instead of succeeding, he had unwittingly become a laborer.

What an idiot!

Did he not consider that the Dragon Factory was the core of Yu Sheng'an’s machine tool production? Did he really think such a place would be open to just anyone?

"Half a production line probably can’t manufacture firearms, can it?"

The Wisdom Goddess’s expression turned serious—seeing one clue, she grasped the whole picture.

The ceaselessly moving production line in the Dragon Factory shattered her worldview, leaving her utterly stunned.

Now she understood what Yu Sheng'an meant by "mass production."

If she could obtain this technology, she would even be willing to trade the Greg Duchy for it!

The value of this technology was simply too immense.

If her believers could each be equipped with a firearm, combined with the might of the Wisdom Legion, her power would skyrocket!

"Of course it can’t produce complete firearms, but you can manufacture firearm barrels. The remaining parts can be handcrafted—or you can try to reverse-engineer the production line and modify it into a firearms assembly line."

Yu Sheng'an spread his hands.

"I want the entire production line!"

"Sure, hand over the Greg Duchy to me."

"Are you stalling for time?"

"So are you!"

The Wisdom Goddess understood.

Yu Sheng'an offering her half a production line was like her opening the Greg trade market.

They were both giving each other an opening—whether they could achieve their goals depended on their own abilities.

Of course, in the process, they would undoubtedly obstruct each other.

"I want to inspect the goods first."

The Wisdom Goddess no longer insisted on the full production line. After all, the firearm barrel was the most difficult part to manufacture. If that could be produced, the rest wouldn’t be a major issue.

The Internet God was just deliberately trying to provoke her!

Such petty tactics meant nothing to her.

"No problem!"

A faint smile curled on Yu Sheng'an’s lips.

With the Industrial Enlightenment unfolding in Azerai, the leakage of low-end machine tools was inevitable.

He could protect the Dragon Factory, but he couldn’t safeguard the production lines for the Keville nobles.

Human nature had its weaknesses.

By targeting those vulnerabilities, breaking the psychological defenses of the Keville nobles, and gradually stealing the production line—success was only a matter of time.

Even if Yu Sheng'an went all out to block and intercept, at best, he could only delay the process.

Thus, the leakage of low-end machine tools was an unavoidable outcome.

Unless Yu Sheng'an concentrated all production lines under his direct supervision.

But if he did that, what about industrial scale?

What about mass production?

Abandoning progress out of fear of setbacks was foolish!

The development of things followed objective laws—adapting to and leveraging those laws was the true path to success.

Only fools would defy the natural order.

So, using the inevitably leaked low-end machine tools as bargaining chips to pry open the Greg trade market was a shrewd deal!

As long as he could control the core technology and establish technical barriers to dominate the industrial chain, his enemies' efforts would ultimately be reduced to nothing more than low-end manufacturing factories for him.

Besides, with Drone Swarm Tactics at his disposal, did he really have to fear an opponent relying on sheer numbers and brute force?

With both sides harboring their own ulterior motives, Yu Sheng'an and the Wisdom Goddess successfully concluded their deal.

Upon returning to the Dragon Factory, Yu Sheng'an immediately began contemplating how to deal with Dwarven King Kaut.

Dwarven King Kaut's personal strength was nothing to worry about—at most, he was at the demigod realm.

Why was Yu Sheng'an so certain?

The reason was simple: Kazad-dûm was a medium-sized domain, where the upper limit of power was that of the gods—excluding the gods themselves.

In other words, the strongest force in this world could infinitely approach the level of a god but would never truly reach it.

Thus, the Dwarven King's power, at its peak, could only reach the demigod realm.

There were no divine energy fluctuations emanating from him either.

The likelihood of him ascending to godhood was extremely low.

Therefore, killing him would be absolutely effortless.

However, eliminating him alone held little significance.

What Yu Sheng'an was considering was whether he could leverage this situation to seize the interests of the entire dwarven race.

Tap, tap, tap…

Yu Sheng'an rose from his desk and began pacing thoughtfully around his office.

After a long deliberation, his ideas gradually took shape, even forming a concrete execution plan.

He decided to leave the fate of the dwarven race in the hands of the dwarves themselves.

Once resolved, he summoned Sir Bai Ruide and gave him a quiet order.

"T-This…" Sir Bai Ruide was initially startled by the command but soon nodded solemnly before turning to leave and make the arrangements.

No sooner had Sir Bai Ruide departed than Yu Sheng'an's residence welcomed two more guests.

Dandell entered, accompanied by a young Grand Archmage.

Yu Sheng'an recognized this Grand Archmage.

His name was Lucien—the youngest Grand Archmage in the Empire and the most promising genius mage to step into the realm of the God of Magic.

He was also one of the few mages in the Empire who knew Yu Sheng'an's true identity.

"Mr. Ajef, pardon the intrusion!"

Dandell entered the office and placed a hand over his chest in salute.

Lucien likewise bowed and performed the same gesture.

Seeing that neither of them appeared to be in urgent need, Yu Sheng'an gestured to the chairs beside him. "Have a seat."

The two nodded and took their seats.

"Mr. Ajef, the reason for my visit is actually to ask for your assistance with a certain matter," Dandell said, cutting straight to the point.

"Oh?"

"Lucien, you explain it to Mr. Ajef."

"Yes!"

Lucien nodded, his eyes burning with intensity as he spoke:

"Mr. Ajef, I would like to invite you to attend the opening ceremony of Felix Magic Academy and deliver a speech!"

"I hope you can speak favorably of light magic during the ceremony. To be frank, ever since you proved that Thunder Magic can be converted into Light Magic, Thunder Magic—already renowned for its offensive power—has surged in popularity. In contrast, Light Magic has suffered a severe blow."

"As one of the conventional seven schools of magic, Light Magic has long been criticized for its lack of offensive and defensive capabilities in the early stages, resulting in few mages choosing it as their primary discipline after graduation. Now, with this additional setback, I fear that the number of mages specializing in Light Magic will dwindle even further, which would be detrimental to the Empire's magical heritage."

"At present, you are the only one capable of changing this situation. I sincerely hope you can attend the opening ceremony and deliver a speech!"

Lucien spoke with utmost sincerity as he pleaded.

"Light magic is highly practical.

"Light Burst is a conventional and effective opening spell.

"Yet, none of this can mask the fact that light magic lacks sufficient offensive and defensive capabilities in its early stages.

"Compared to Thunder Magic, which already boasts formidable attack spells like 'Electric Snake Paralysis' at the first tier, light magic doesn’t gain true lethality until the third-tier spell—Focused Beam!

"Admittedly, once light magic is cultivated to higher levels, its power is no weaker—if not stronger—than other magical disciplines.

"For example:

"Fourth-tier spells: Scorching Sun, Invisibility.

"Fifth-tier spells: Phantom, Light and Shadow Distortion.

"Sixth-tier spell: Absolute Purification.

"...And so on.

"But how many can actually cultivate to such advanced magic?

"Most mages never progress beyond fourth-tier spells—some even less.

"So when graduates choose their primary magical discipline, practicality is inevitably a major consideration.

"Light magic was already in decline.

"Now, with Yu Sheng'an confirming that 'Thunder Magic can be converted into Light Magic,' well, light magic’s status has plummeted even further.

"If this continues, fewer and fewer will study light magic. Once the advanced spells fade into obscurity, leaving only textbooks behind, how would this conventional magic differ from Specialized Magic?"

"No problem!" Yu Sheng'an nodded.

My friend, you’ve come to the right person at the perfect time!

Had you asked a few days earlier, I might not have agreed.

But now?

With my Contract Godhood granting me partial authority over the light domain, across all of Keville—no, even the multiverse—there’s likely no one better suited to promote light magic than me.

"Wonderful! Thank you for your help!" Lucien exclaimed, his face alight with joy.

He had brought Dandell along precisely because he feared Yu Sheng'an might refuse.

Yu Sheng'an simply smiled without responding.

"To be frank with you, Mr. Ajef, I intend to appoint Lucien as Vice President of Felix Magic Academy. Once he’s acclimated, the presidency will also be handed over to him," Dandell explained, clarifying why Lucien was so concerned about the legacy of light magic.

"Oh? And why is that?" Yu Sheng'an asked, surprised.

After all, a mage’s growth heavily relied on master-disciple traditions.

Thus, mages placed great importance on their lineage.

Assuming the role of Magic Academy President wasn’t just about leading an institution—it meant wielding influence over generations of students.

"I wish to truly live up to the title of 'God of Magic'!" Dandell declared, his expression filled with longing.

Yu Sheng'an was taken aback.

The realms of magic were divided into:

Magic Apprentice, Magus, Grand Magus, Archmage, Grand Archmage, and Saint Magus.

Because Saint Magi possessed power nearly rivaling that of the gods, some had begun referring to them as Gods of Magic.

In truth, the genuine God of Magic was a realm above Saint Magus.

Legends spoke of true Gods of Magic existing during the era when the ancient Titan gods ruled.

But for unknown reasons, like the Titan gods themselves, they had mysteriously vanished into the river of history.

The path to divine magical power had since been severed.

"I look forward to that day!" Yu Sheng'an said with heartfelt blessings.