CHAPTER 538: CHAPTER 456: THE WELCOMING GIFT OF THE TEMPEST CHURCH

The news of the Invincible Fleet’s disastrous defeat at the "Battle of Benin" spread, causing a world outcry.

The first to bear the brunt was the Southern Continent, just a stone’s throw away.

War is always a means, but the interests behind it are the strong driving force. As long as resources are not infinite, world peace will always be just a beautiful dream.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, after completely reclaiming the lost territories occupied by the Hilus, the Tulip Alliance immediately launched a carnival of counter-attack and reckoning against the Hilus!

Particularly in the prior naval battle, a large number of elite army troops were aboard the Hilus Fleet and perished at sea with the no longer invincible Invincible Fleet before they could deploy their most adept boarding tactics.

The now-empty Hilus Colonies were no more formidable to the Tulip Alliance than a harmless little white rabbit.

Aiven and his group, being the most mobile, were responsible for Hilus’s second largest colony, Medical, located on the southeastern coast of the Southern Continent, with the Eritrean Sea leading to the Peacock Islands further east.

Cooperating with the army, they only needed to reinforce the ranks. In the scattered city strongholds along the way, with the essence already swept clean, most Hilus soldiers simply fled at the sight of the advancing Tulip People.

Bang!... Bang! Bang!

Amid the sporadic gunfire.

Seeing that they had already captured the colonial capital of Medical without even a decent hard fight, Gary patrolled ahead while the idle Aiven, Olivia, and Milan hid in a tent dividing the spoils.

"One for you, one for me!"

"One for you, one for me!"

The spoils gathered along the way, besides the locally abundant gold and ivory ornaments, the Southern Continent truly lived up to its reputation as the world’s gemstone reservoir. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, chrysoberyls, emeralds, aquamarines, amethysts, peridots, tourmalines... everything was available.

In addition, several grape-sized bright red essence fruits were placed in front of them.

After the naval battle, the long-closed "Extracting Potion" reopened, and none of the large long-nosed silver shark went to waste, its flesh and blood became their supplements for the Extraordinary Path advancement.

The essence fruits manifesting from the magic spell-side sea monster were certainly a great supplement for the wizards. Since it was Aiven’s war prize, he had full control over it.

Previously hidden away until his young apprentice Angie was just a step away from advancement, Aiven now took them out for distribution with Olivia and Milan.

"It would be nice if this could happen once a month."

Patted the "Magic Pocket" that Aiven had given him, resembling an animal’s stomach, Milan licked his lips with admiration.

Standing beside her, Olivia, who also had a great harvest, nodded vigorously, agreeing wholeheartedly. The advance felt even more exhilarating than ransacking a house. Other than the "Gem Star," all categories of regular witchcraft gemstones were replenished with some to spare.

"The Kingdom’s choice of Medical was indeed correct, unlike Tyrone Kingdom going to Tananarive. Though they might gain more gold coins, such suitable unexpected rewards might not follow."

Phaletis and Tyrone Kingdom, as the two strongest victors in the war, had long debated the distribution plan.

First, they jointly divided the heirloom of the Ilya Kingdom, giving their own side a substantial autumn harvest.

Then Phaletis came to Medical, while Tyrone Kingdom went to the southernmost point of the Southern Continent, to Tananarive Island in the Eritrean Sea facing the Southern Continent.

Renowned for its world-leading production of vanilla and other herbs used for flavoring, making spices, or extracting essential oils, Tananarive yielded considerable profits as a daily necessity.

"I think the primary reason the Kingdom’s top brass chose this place isn’t merely because of these gemstones. It’s because, like Nigeria to the west, this place is rich in coal resources."

"Coal?"

Milan looked puzzled, while Olivia seemed thoughtful.

Other non-industrialized nations disregarded coal, but it was essential for Phaletis Kingdom’s steam industry.

Having proposed the "Overlord Disqualification Plan," Aiven looked further ahead than many and instantly saw through the real intentions of the Kingdom’s leadership.

The plan mainly embraced the "Blood Loss Plan" centered on legal privateering; the "Trade War" relying on industrial cheap products; and the "Dismemberment Plan" rooted in ethnic and religious conflicts.

At its core was the "Trade War," or perhaps the steam industrial revolution behind the "Trade War." The other two aimed to weaken the enemy, while this was fundamentally about strengthening oneself.

Before the Industrial Revolution, although humanity achieved many dazzling accomplishments in agriculture, technology, and culture, the situation of insufficient food and goods never changed.

Individuals and society alike had poor resilience to crises. A natural disaster or man-made disaster could immediately lead to family ruin and even national collapse.

But after the Industrial Revolution, for the first time in history, humanity exceeded the demand for goods, transitioning from an era of material scarcity to one of abundance.

For example: 50 ballpoint pens for nine bucks, shipping included... Only an industrial power could pull off such a feat.

Industry possesses the magical power to turn any scarce commodity into a common marketplace item!

Rich material civilization could support more people, create more social divisions, allowing more individuals to take up professions like soldiers, doctors, workers, merchants, scholars, inventors, artists... and so on, crafting a dynamic and vigorous modern society.

When comparing such a society to past simple agricultural and pastoral societies, which is stronger? The answer is obvious.

Thus, the Industrial Revolution serves as a significant turning point in the progression of human civilization.

As for why the Tulip Alliance, especially the Phaletis Kingdom, is currently the place where steam engines are most widespread in the entire civilized world of humanity?

Because Phaletis is actually the first place in the entire human world to discover coal. Before the discovery of coal mines in various colonies, Phaletis accounted for 80% of the world’s coal production!

This is also one of the important reasons why the Alchemy School returned to the Old Continent and chose Phaletis as their beachhead.

Additionally, the development of the steam industry cannot do without abundant iron and coal, but for Phaletis during the initial popularization period of the steam engine, what they lacked most was iron.

Because at that time, the yield of iron was determined by the size of the forest.

Wood needed to be mixed with iron ore and burned to produce quality iron, and about 100 kilograms of wood could only yield 1 kilogram of iron. At that time, a normal iron factory would consume 2400 mu of forest in a year.

Thus, the forest coverage rate of Phaletis fell to as low as 10% at one point.

It was not until recent years that they took the lead in finding a way to smelt iron using coke, fundamentally reversing the situation.

At this rate, it may be only a few years before Phaletis alone produces more iron than the combined production of iron from all other countries in the world. And in this era where the number of cannons represents military power, iron production is almost synonymous with military strength!

Moreover, with the development of the steam engine, the impending long-range ironclad ships of the future will make these coastal coal-producing areas excellent supply points.

After roughly explaining the importance of this territory to the two people, Aiven turned to look at the military map in the tent, which had a large portion turning from red to blue, worriedly said:

"Now the only thing that worries me a bit is where did the remnants of the fleet finally escape during the Spirit Storm? Why couldn’t even the seagulls find their tracks?"

As the Tulip began its counterattack reckoning.

Sak Empire’s colonial capital, Saint Louis City.

In the love nest built for the "Canary."

Prince Clement, the Governor of the Southern Continent of Sak Empire, was holding his lover’s slender, soft waist and whispering sweet nothings, indulging in the infinite beauty of this "beauty," sharing military reports with her without a care:

"My Diana, you see, thanks to your suggestion. This time, Hilus suffered a big loss, allowing us at Sak to gain great advantage without losing a single soldier; you truly are my lucky star!

I’ve already told Your Majesty about you, and when the rewards come down, you’ll be titled Duchess Diana! Aren’t you happy?"

In Sak, which had significant interests and power in the Southern Continent, took advantage of this opportunity to seize several Hilus enclave-like resource points.

However, their common understanding was that the largest Hilus colony, Lobito, which was also one of the most resource-rich areas in terms of minerals and forestry in the Southern Continent, remained untouched for now.

That was the final dignity of Hilus, which already had little territory in the Southern Continent.

"Of course... happy."

Clement didn’t notice the very reluctant smile on the face of the beauty in his arms.

Diana, also known as "Curse School’s" Phanes, although she knew nothing about the saying "three years after another three years," she felt that her undercover mission was truly uncomfortable...

What will happen if this increasingly infatuated playboy suddenly proposes to her one day? Should she accept, accept, or perhaps accept?

...

Unaware, the Hilus people, experiencing a mass exodus, did not know that the bad luck hanging over their heads had not ceased.

Half a month after the war, another explosive piece of bad news was brought back to the colonies by outbound merchant ships.

The fleet remnants of seventeen remaining ships did not hideout in a secret Navy Base as initially anticipated, attempting to rise again for battle.

Instead, while retreating toward Luanda, they encountered a super strong storm at sea and... the entire fleet was wiped out!

The merchant ship found broken hulls of Hilus Battleships near uninhabited islands along its route, and also a trio of survivor squad who confirmed human and material evidence beyond any doubt.

This also meant that Hilus’s last military strength in the Southern Continent was entirely wiped out, resolving the only suspense left for Tulip.

But an even greater mystery arose, why did the storm that could destroy an entire fleet not affect Tulip’s return journey?

When Aiven received this breaking news and hurriedly returned from the already conquered Medical preparations to assist Angie, who had fully completed her pre-advancement preparations, conduct the official Wizard promotion.

He suddenly received a Spirit Realm Communication from Dean Fisher of the Tempest Church, the contents were brief with only one sentence:

"Tempest Church’s meeting gift to Tulip, hoping you will like it."

Evidently, in the past, the "Mother of Sea Monsters" harbored hostility towards all humans, which was intimately connected to her path, representing irreconcilable contradiction for anyone. Even with fiery maritime developments, no Human Kingdom ever thought to associate with the Black Sea’s ruler, at best maintaining a respectful distance.

But Hipponoe, sealed for 300 years and herself becoming a human god, might not be the same.

In this instance, it was quite an explicit gesture of goodwill.

However, when Aiven received Fisher’s transmission, he felt a chill down his spine as though stung by a scorpion, immediately relaying it back to the homeland.

Better let the Queen, Crown Prince, and veterans in the Royal Capital worry about it.

Thinking of the situation with the Tempest Church and that Goddess, benevolent gestures of goodwill likely signify... enormous trouble!