Chapter 96: The Seedling

Chapter 96: The Seedling

"Borrowing against future resources?"

The three Gods of Magic of the Keville Empire exchanged bewildered glances.

Thanks to Yu Sheng'an's authority over contracts, his language translation was precise—yet the three Gods of Magic were still baffled by this term. They understood each character individually, but combined, the meaning eluded them.

"Mr. Ajef, could you elaborate?" Dandell asked, somewhat embarrassed.

Mages, no matter which domain they hailed from, had always been synonymous with erudition. Many who mocked mages even derided them as "bookworms," which spoke volumes about their reputation.

"Borrowing against future resources, to put it plainly, means leveraging funds from the future. There are many ways to do this, but for the empire right now, the simplest method is issuing national bonds."

"To put it simply, the empire writes IOUs to borrow funds from the public, offering a certain interest rate. Upon maturity, citizens can redeem these IOUs for both principal and interest."

"In other words, it’s equivalent to spending the empire’s future fiscal revenue in advance."

Yu Sheng'an’s concise explanation made the three Gods of Magic suddenly grasp the concept.

So, in the end, it was just borrowing money under a different name!

The three Gods of Magic sighed in relief, though a hint of resentment flickered in their hearts. This Internet God always liked using obscure terms, making them think it was some profound concept.

That said, the idea of borrowing funds from the public in the name of the state was undeniably novel.

"Isn’t this just like loans between nobles? If so, why go through all this trouble? Why not just assign fundraising quotas to the major noble houses?" Dandell suggested.

"It’s not the same!" Yu Sheng'an shook his head. "Assigning tasks to nobles is coercive—it’s no different from taxing them, at least in their eyes."

"National bonds, however, are voluntary. It’s up to them whether they buy or not. Moreover, the minimum bond amount can be set to just one Keville gold coin, lowering the entry barrier and broadening the audience. Besides nobles, even the middle class and wealthy farmers can participate. This way, the empire could easily raise millions in gold coins."

Yu Sheng'an explained.

"This…"

Dandell was stunned. Upon reflection, it did make sense.

Forcing nobles to contribute funds—even if the empire promised repayment—would inevitably breed suspicion. After all, there was no shortage of nobles who had exploited the guise of borrowing to extort wealth.

"Mr. Ajef, I must admit, your vision is flawless. But I believe it’s unsuitable for the present. The empire has just emerged from war. Borrowing from the public so abruptly could easily create the impression of an empty treasury, which might backfire."

The God of Magic Beixi paused, then added:

"Beyond that, though Keville has demonstrated its might, there are undoubtedly evil gods lurking in the shadows, coveting our weakness. We cannot afford to show vulnerability."

Beixi governed Edga, the renowned commercial capital of the Keville Empire. Immersed in such an environment, he had developed an instinctive grasp of economics.

"Beixi is right. Issuing IOUs in the empire’s name is unprecedented—no one can predict the consequences. Given the empire’s current situation, it’s unwise to adopt such radical measures."

Dandell voiced his agreement with Beixi’s words.

Beixi and Dandell's opposition caught Yu Sheng'an off guard, making him suddenly realize that he had been somewhat dogmatic in his approach.

In this world where commercial activities were still quite primitive, and even the capitalistic idea of "borrowing to generate profit" was in its infancy, borrowing money was largely viewed in a negative light by most. If that was the case for individuals, then borrowing in the name of an empire would have an even more terrifying impact.

It was entirely possible that other nations might assume Keville had exhausted its treasury in this war, leading to radical ideas sprouting in their minds.

"Mr. Ajef, you mentioned earlier that there are many ways of 'borrowing against future resources.' What other methods are there?" Qimoer shifted the topic.

The other two Gods of Magic also turned their sharp gazes toward him.

Though national bonds weren’t suitable for the Keville Empire at this stage, they had to admit that the Internet God was truly extraordinary—his thinking was wildly imaginative and unconstrained.

"There’s another way to avoid exposing the empire’s weakness—establishing a bank. Essentially, it’s a currency savings service."

"This is somewhat similar to the vouchers in the Conquest of Subdomains. Users deposit gold coins in the bank or Magic Tower, and I’ll open an account for them. When they need gold coins, they can summon the internet, verify it at the bank, and withdraw cash."

"This way, the wealth of the entire empire would be concentrated in the hands of the bank. I could lend a portion of these funds to the empire’s financial institutions, similar to the national bonds mentioned earlier. When the term ends, the empire can repay it with tax revenue."

At this point, Yu Sheng'an narrowed his eyes:

"If this succeeds, the empire’s citizens could even break free from the constraints of physical currency. Their money could be entirely replaced by virtual currency, just like internet Points. When transactions are needed, they can simply scan a code via the internet to adjust their balances."

"By then, the empire wouldn’t just save massively on minting costs—this would also accelerate currency circulation and stimulate commercial growth. Merchants would no longer need to carry chests of gold coins when traveling. What this means, I’m sure you all understand!"

Yu Sheng'an took a deep breath:

"We could even use this to establish a financial exchange system, pegging Keville’s currency to mana, and having other nations’ exchange rates tied to Keville’s currency. Then, with just a slight adjustment to the exchange rate—or even without minting new coins, just by tweaking a few numbers—we could strip wealth from all domains."

The three Gods of Magic of Keville were utterly dumbfounded.

With the example of internet Points, they could barely grasp the concept of virtual currency.

But the later parts—exchange systems, exchange rates, pegging, stripping wealth from all domains—frankly, they were completely lost.

"Mr. Ajef, could you explain in more detail?" Dandell humbly requested.

Yu Sheng'an took another breath and began elaborating carefully. He needed the Keville Empire to help him bridge the initial "material phase" of currency.

In this world, currency was still in the stage of being a "special commodity serving as a universal equivalent."

In other words, currency itself was a commodity—gold, silver, and copper inherently held value.

Transitioning to the "nominal" functional stage, where currency no longer needed intrinsic value, was still a long and arduous journey in this world.

Therefore, to attract savings, they would still need physical branches to pull in depositors.

Coincidentally, the emergence of pay-to-win values and vouchers in the Conquest of Subdomains is, in a way, a manifestation of some of the functions of a bank.

Thus, using Magic Towers as bank branches is absolutely a promising venture.

Moreover, now is actually the best time to establish a bank.

Why?

This is another manifestation of War Dividends.

The fact that Keville could withstand an attack from the Saint-Todd United Nations—even counterattacking and leveling one of their capitals—proves that Keville has the military strength to ensure the bank's security.

For depositors, isn’t the most fundamental guarantee the safety of their bank?

As Yu Sheng'an explained, the expressions of the three Gods of Magic gradually stiffened in shock.

It wasn’t until sunset that the three of them reluctantly concluded the meeting.

Even after digesting the lengthy discussion, they still wore expressions of astonishment as they left, their suspicions growing stronger.

The Internet God’s true form might very well be an abyss demon!

What existence from the Azure Star?

He must have completely seized control of some domain, crafting that uniquely directed prayer to conceal his demonic nature, all for the sake of spreading his faith among the largest population—humans.

It’s no wonder Dandell and the others entertained such thoughts.

The concepts Yu Sheng'an spoke of were simply too inconceivable—things they had never even heard of before.

Bear in mind, as Gods of Magic, domain travel was a common occurrence for them. They had witnessed countless bizarre customs and cultures.

Even the remains of the ancient divine race, the Titan Remains, could be recognized at a glance—such was the terrifying depth of their experience.

Yet, despite all that experience, they had never encountered anything like what Yu Sheng'an described.

So how could such things even come into existence? It was truly suspicious.

They had every reason to believe that these bloodless yet lethal financial war concepts could only have been conceived by a demon with a thoroughly twisted soul.

However, now was not the time to dwell on whether the Internet God’s true form was a demon or not.

After all, the Keville Empire was already aboard his war chariot—there was no getting off now.

Fortunately, at least for now, his existence was undoubtedly more beneficial than harmful to Keville.

Or rather, after witnessing the Internet God’s formidable martial prowess and cunning intellect, they would rather become his claws and fangs than the "wage slaves" under his so-called financial war.