The Vastness of Magical Destiny
Chapter 737: Volume 21: The Dark Road - 17: Research and Development Capabilities

Chapter 737: Volume 21: The Dark Road - 17: Research and Development Capabilities

Komer’s proficiency in creature breeding astonished everyone, including Mihailovich and Newman. Even Uma, who had once followed the Dark Emperor Kenifer III, was at a loss for words upon understanding the Vine Devil Strain that Komer had cultivated himself. It was only when Xerob inquired about this that Uma reluctantly admitted that although Komer still had a long way to go in matching the dark Emperor’s magic power and mastery of magic, he was in no way inferior to his former master regarding magical creativity and talent—in fact, he might even surpass him.

The Vine Devil Strain was just one aspect of power Komer had revealed. Both Xerob and Mihailovich were aware that Komer must be concealing many more secrets. After the life-and-death battle three months ago, the power and experience of this inheritor of darkness had leaped forward anew. Especially the brush with death had brought him immeasurable benefits. Many complex questions that were normally hard to fathom often sparked infinite inspiration at the brink of death—this was the so-called epiphany in the way of magical Heaven. Once that thin veil was pierced, the gains for those who experienced the epiphany were invaluable and could not be replaced by anything else.

Komer also knew he was becoming increasingly mysterious in the eyes of others. He did something inconceivable to everyone—taking over Xifnos Island right under the nose of the Red-haired Witch Katrina, even employing the Carter Fleet as bodyguards. No one knew the details of the deal between him and Katrina.

The development of Xifnos Island was booming. Hayreddin had already gathered his old followers and recruited a large number of skilled sailors and seamen from Tilo and Gallipoli. The personnel needed for a merchant fleet was largely assembled. However, in terms of ships, the fleet seemed somewhat weak. A lack of funds constrained Hayreddin’s desire for ships, and although he had ordered two merchant ships from Corinth and Piraeus, for now, Hayreddin could only rely on the three old and worn-out medium clipper ships he owned as the mainstay for his fleet operations.

Two new ships would be delivered for use in six months’ time. During these six months, Hayreddin had to find every possible way to pay for these two new ships. Komer had only paid a small deposit and was now unable to afford the subsequent costs. Not only had he spent all the deposits paid by Katrina, but he had also drawn a considerable amount of funds in advance from Puber, who had firmly refused Komer’s other requests. Hayreddin had to earn back everything for the rest by himself.

Hayreddin had to temporarily go back to his old trade, but this time, the scale of operation would be much broader. With the substantial power of the Caucasus as support and a special license from the Carter Fleet, the fleet could easily engage in various lucrative trades from Bahomon and Bruce to the nations along the Southern Mediterranean coast, exporting smokeless coal, crude iron, and iron ore from the Caucasus and Leon into the Southern Mediterranean and importing various local specialties—fabrics, armor, weapons, salt, and various luxury goods—from the Mediterranean into the Caucasus.

However, for Hayreddin, such trade was merely the basics. In Hayreddin’s view, a shipping route from the vast Continent through the Caucasus to the Southern Mediterranean was the most perfect combination.

The vast Continent had ample supplies of magic crystal ore and magic materials but lacked the necessary refining and smelting abilities. Although the Caucasus was far behind the Mediterranean in terms of smelting scale, Komer had always hoped to develop some special manufacturing capabilities in the Caucasus. Maximi had become Komer’s most loyal collaborator, and part of his smelting industry had been separated out to form a small-scale, yet technically rooted, workshop for one-stop refining and manufacturing, dedicated to processing magic tools and magic equipment.

This was a highly challenging task. The ability to create magic tools and magic equipment was mostly held by the major cities on the Continent, such as Prague, Jazair, Cyprus, and Gutenberg—these regional central cities. Ugru, which had just transitioned from an emerging town to a small city, seemed far from ready to meet such levels and capabilities. However, motivated by Komer’s insistence, this industry was being actively promoted. The continuous recruitment of dwarf craftsmen from all over the Continent significantly improved the technical level of Maximi’s Smelting Workshop. As for manufacturing techniques, Newman often played the roles of both instructor and practitioner, staying in the workshop for long periods, discussing and studying the craft with the dwarf craftsmen and making considerable progress.

Under Newman’s personal guidance and supervision, some basic magic tools had already been roughly produced. With Komer’s arrangement and guidance, mortals with talent and interest in this area began to get involved. They collaborated with dwarfs skilled in ordinary product making and finally made a historic breakthrough in this field, which was almost revolutionary for the Caucasus dwarf craftsmen who had never ventured into magic tool making before.

It was well known that the production of magic tools had always been monopolized by mortals. Although dwarfs excelled in various construction, manufacturing, and exploratory techniques, they were severely restricted by mortal technology when it came to issues related to magic tools and magic equipment. Without the guidance of mortal magic forging masters, craftsmen, or mages adept at forging and making, they were unable to truly create anything of quality. In the mortal world, for each product, critical techniques and core components were always personally completed by mortal masters. But now, they had finally broken this taboo. Despite the still alarmingly high failure rate and the considerable waste of magic materials and ore, Komer considered it worth it. After all, this signified that the Caucasus possessed the most basic R&D capabilities for magical instruments, something that often couldn’t be bought with Gold Shields.

However, Komer’s plans may have to be revised. The Caucasus was indeed important, but now Xifnos Island was the fulcrum supporting his current business. Turning Xifnos Island into his core stronghold in the Southern Continent was exceedingly meaningful, and the unique location of Xifnos Island also facilitated making a difference in this regard. Komer had no intention of relocating the Caucasus workshops to Xifnos Island, but the chaotic warfare in the north of the Kingdom of Shimaina presented an opportunity. Displaced dwarves were searching everywhere for a better life, which seemed like a godsend for himself, and even the Spartans knew to recruit a large number of dwarf craftsmen from Shimaina—how could he fall behind?

(To be continued... For further details, please visit WWW.CMFU.COM, where Chapters are more abundant, supporting the author, and ensuring authorized reading!)