CHAPTER 1461: CHAPTER 253: YEARNING FOR DEFEAT (1/2)

——The future rolls in relentlessly, without asking for people’s opinions.

Upon hearing this phrase, Adalbert felt a shiver from the depths of his soul.

He finally understood Ian’s thoughts.

Unlike Inega II, unlike the Duke of Solin...

Unlike all the self-assured and arrogant rulers on Terra...

Ian never aspired for a ’right’ nor did he wish to create something ’eternal.’

He didn’t pursue a dynasty, nor did he seek the long-lasting strength of a bloodline.

What he wanted wasn’t a name to be eternally remembered, nor a system that could function stably for hundreds or thousands of years.

He believed that the path he was on was the ’current right,’ but not the ’future right.’

He thought he would ’succeed now,’ but in the future, he’d ’eventually become obsolete.’

Be it AI, Arcane Pathway, agricultural reform, Supreme Spirit Sect... all of it was merely Ian’s tool, a chisel to reshape the world.

But those weren’t Ian’s dreams and goals.

Ian’s goal...

"Only Above the Sky."

He said with a slight tremble, "That’s all you want, right? Everything else can wait."

"Yes."

Ian’s gaze was gentle yet firm, without the slightest hesitation: "When humans can truly travel safely to distant horizons, my system will be obsolete—but until then, I will create a world where everyone can live happily, without worrying about basic needs."

"So, Adalbert, are you willing to join me in our path toward eventual failure?" he invited.

"How could I refuse?"

Closing his eyes, the researcher let out a wry smile.

But soon, he opened his eyes, the wry smile turning into a genuine one: "To this day, my research has never been wrong, not even once. Even with the Deceased Monarch, though the result was not as expected, it was still a success."

Light glowed in Adalbert’s eyes, fiery red like flames, the usually gentle Deceased Monarch Researcher showed a resolute expression: "It’s not just you, Ian."

He said earnestly, "I too am yearning for a defeat."

Ian smiled.

The Heart of Terra hung silently at the top of the blood-red firmament.

The silver sun illuminated all.

The exchanges and creations occurring within the core chip space were destined to remain unknown to outsiders.

However, in the Xiawei Territory, the leadership was the first to sense the change.

In the first month after Ian’s return.

A batch of Dwarven technical workers, led by Roland, received a series of promotions and awards.

Because they had discovered an ideal site for the construction of an Alchemy Industrial Park between Xiawei Territory and the Midra Autonomous Region in the gorge mouth area, and had already commenced construction.

Meanwhile, inside Xiawei Territory, many municipal staff were required to attend training courses held by the Cadre Academy three times a week.

The curriculum involved rather specialized knowledge about inscriptions, terminal operating systems, and concepts related to the spirit energy network.

These courses sounded difficult, but just like construction workers, even if they knew nothing, by studying earnestly they could always learn some safety regulations and operating methods.

Those who were well-informed knew that the territory was about to lay down a crystal terminal system from Canaan Moore, especially those with connections in the Imperial Capital who were well aware that Yisen Gard from the Ellen Family had been quite active recently.

As the Prophet’s friend and spokesperson in the Imperial Capital, he spared no effort in applying for various preferential policies for Ian and building commercial channels for Xiawei Territory.

However, the more astute individuals noticed a key point: the White Folks Lord seemed not to intend to insert his relatives into the local government staff. The managerial positions in Xiawei Territory and the Mountain People’s internal governance could only be assumed by those educated at the cadre school.

Furthermore, any cadres, including the combat-focused Green Tide, must study, read numerous books, and receive higher education.

Although not explicitly stated yet, it seemed that to rise to power in Xiawei Territory, one must rely not on a bloodline, nor solely on brute force, but rather... knowledge.

Education was necessary.

The winds of education were blowing across Xiawei Territory.

Even if it was only the simplest basics of mathematics and literacy, the Xiawei Territory government was indeed dedicated to eliminating illiteracy in the domain.

No matter who they were, even hunters or herbalists who spent all their time in the mountains had to receive education, and the municipal hall would issue ’learning subsidies’ to every student who met the attendance standards.

Although these subsidies were half monetary, the other half consisted of consumables such as grains, milk, fruits, and oil.

To the Southern Ridge People who had just endured a year-long famine, this was more practical than handing out money directly.

Time passed by.

Soon it was December, Terra Year 774.

Four peaceful months passed without any major events.

The second batch of large-scale agricultural building-grown Radiance Grass in Xiawei Territory had a bountiful harvest. The yield showed significant growth compared to the experimental nature of the first batch, and the total output even reached an exaggerated sixty-seven thousand Talle.

This is not yet counting the price increase after the Alchemy Workshop processes and nourishes the extracted Spirit Energy solution.

You must know, in the past era of Leyan Territory, removing the taxes and the cost provided to Nauman City and the Imperial Capital, the pure profit was roughly around two hundred thousand Talle annually.

Subtracting the territory’s own maintenance of public facilities, road repairs, and city refurbishment, providing farmers’ planting subsidies, maintaining the Alchemy Workshop and research funding, et cetera.

In the era of Leyan Territory, the wealth available for the Lord to allocate was roughly between seventy thousand to ninety thousand Talle annually.

It’s because of this wealth that Baron Leyan could conduct his resurrection experiments.

Otherwise, a professional laboratory-grade Cultivation Chamber would cost two to three thousand Talle, and he had over forty in his lab, with various alchemy and Spirit Energy devices so expensive they’d make you gasp.

However, after Ian reformed the agricultural production method, he could more efficiently utilize the natural realm of Xiawei Territory, and the output rate of agricultural buildings directly tripled the original amount.

According to current research results, the Radiance Grass, which originally took over a year, or even more than two years to produce, now under professional cultivation has reached a stable harvest once every eight months.

What does this mean?

This is another two to three times improvement! In total, it’s at least a six-fold improvement!

The annual net profit of Xiawei Territory reached one million Talle, a terrifying figure for a single territory.

Of course, Radiance Grass is currently the main pillar industry of Xiawei Territory. It can be said that apart from Radiance Grass, Xiawei Territory only has coating agent contracts making money... and more than half of this million will be used for territorial construction.

Libraries, schools, baths, theaters, terminal installations, mountain development, mine exploration... there are too many places to spend money. Not to mention, Ian himself saw on the Extinction Star Path, the ’Asphalt Highway’ connecting directly from Xiawei Territory to Nauman City and Indigo Mountain cost quite a lot.

Even though Ian copied his own city planning, which could save a considerable amount of time for actual construction, construction also requires money and people.

Not to mention the manufacturing and maintenance of ’Armor Suit’ and the costs of the Elemental Crystals production line... these are bottomless pits, and even Ian couldn’t help but furrow his brows at a glance.

— It’s true that military industry is hugely profitable, but the funds required for military R&D are massive as well!

Yet this cannot be avoided, because Ian has many weapon designs that he doesn’t want to share with The Empire, as it would increase his future hindrance in conquering the Whole Terra.

He must independently establish a military manufacturing department in South Ridge.

Fortunately, Ian signed another weapon contract with the Firestone Group, and coating agents can not only be used on armor but also on engines, to reinforce them for short-term overclocking. This entirely new usage method inspired many alchemists on the Empire side, which again brought in a substantial sum of funds.

And the bundling of the Magnetostorm System also provided the Empire’s infantry units with a means to confront certain armored units—plus the associated derived electromagnetic barriers can indeed create an information black hole in certain areas, facilitating the Empire’s squad operations.

In addition, Canaan Moore has designated Xiawei Territory and Harrison Port as the ’trade windows’ of South Ridge. In the long term, this is also an extremely rich funding channel.

However, distant water can’t solve near-term problems. The profits from the second batch of Radiance Grass were basically all spent on military construction, and Ian didn’t keep a bit for himself.

Of course, he is not at a loss.

Now Ian needs materials that are extremely difficult to buy with money, Fourth Energy Level materials, and the development of the territory, the popularization of Artificial Soul technology, constantly enhance the basic quality of personnel within Xiawei Territory.

But the truly important thing is that the Mountain People also began building agricultural buildings internally, starting to pursue the task of ’100% food self-sufficiency’.

This is a five-year plan, the Mountain People are heading north toward developing the Black Swamp Zone, which is a fertile foothill plain most suitable for planting crops, and the rivers and lakes along the way are also suitable for constructing agricultural buildings. It will be an excellent granary.

Once everyone knows they won’t starve to death, people’s aspirations will immediately increase drastically.

Most people who can’t get enough food will only think every day about how to get enough food.

After solving the big problem of food for the Mountain People, leveraging the prestige of this matter, Ian held a Mountain Tribes Chieftain Priest conference in the Midra Autonomous Region.

After the conference, the Mountain People established a belief system centered on Ian, especially after Ian showed his Heart Light Body, illuminating the entire venue’s Heart of Guidance, all Mountain Tribes Chieftains present were easily won over.

— Master, I’ll call you Master. If you said earlier you were at Third Energy Level, we wouldn’t have dared to harbor any little thoughts.

Ian’s thought on this was ’the weapon of criticism certainly can’t compare to the criticism of weapons’.

Terra People are indeed stubborn in this regard, without a little Heart Light Body intimidation, they will always have little thoughts.

If Immovable Fortress Ian hadn’t recently been on Dragon Island with the Dragon King, repairing the Body of the Dark Gold Gigantic Dragon, and reading Dragon Island’s information library, he would surely come up with a way to project the Dark Gold Colossus Dragon to really declare who is the legitimate one with the identity of the Dragon God!

Additionally, Ian also reflected on himself—he let the Mountain People eat their fill, then, aside from looking for food, this group didn’t have much else to do, now that they’re well-fed, won’t they just start imagining things?

Ultimately, the quality of the Mountain People is indeed not too good, they are always competitive and brave, and with an enemy present, this kind of personality is courage, but without an enemy and especially idle... will lead to internal conflict.

Therefore, Ian wants to build schools in the various past autonomous regions of the Mountain People, now the ’Silverpeak Earl’s Jurisdiction’.

The teachers for these schools are the original tribal priests.

This caused shock and dissatisfaction internally among the Mountain People—who would teach their knowledge to ordinary tribal members? Compared to the Tara Confederation, the Mountain People’s system is even more backward.

But Ian couldn’t care less.

Unwilling to open, with resistance mentality, unwilling to teach others knowledge, then perish.

"To me, it’s just changing a different batch of people to be priests."

In this regard, Ian straightforwardly expressed his opinion: "Follow my orders, or go see the Dragon God, you choose."

Although everyone seems pious, none wanted to see the Dragon God.

Mountain People really love dragons.