Chapter 507: Chapter 22: Reform_2
Jones drew his sword and walked over to another piece of armor, then swung his blade.
"Clang!" The sword only left a scratch on the armor; nothing else happened.
"As I just mentioned, the trigger relies on speed. If the speed isn’t sufficient to pose a threat to the armor, it won’t activate."
"Excellent, I’m very satisfied," Benedict II said, gently applauding.
"The price?" Yilin asked. "The cost of the swords and armor, and the price of that stone. That’s my main concern. If the cost is too high, it means we won’t be able to equip them on a large scale."
Jones replied, "The swords and armor are approximately five times the price of regular armor of the same quality, and the stones are about a fifth of that."
"Five times... a fifth... So, triggering them three times would essentially cost a new sword or a set of armor, correct?"
"That’s roughly what it means."
"Acceptable. This means we can form a Special Knight Corps."
"That might require a bit more time."
"What do you mean?"
"What I just told you is only the production cost. Of course, it’s not wrong to assume that. After all, even for regular armor and weapons, I do include profit margins. It’s entirely possible to sell them while maintaining proportional profits. But now there are two additional issues. One is the materials—specifically, this stone. It’s a consumable, and once used on a large scale, the demand will be enormous. However, the materials available on the market are limited and primarily controlled by the Blood Elves. Yes, in the Elf Forest. Persuading the Blood Elves to increase production won’t be easy, and if we directly make bulk purchases, the price may skyrocket. At that point, this technology loses its value. Presently, I can only produce about a thousand of these stones per month. We’ve searched the Kolin Peninsula thoroughly, and there aren’t any deposits of this mineral. Perhaps you could allow me to explore your territories for resources."
"That’s not a problem at all," Benedict II nodded.
"Furthermore, there’s another issue that hasn’t surfaced yet. Magic Power. Once production scales up, the demand for Magic Power will be astronomical. I’ve secretly bought up all the Elf slaves and Blood Clan slaves I could find, and hired many Blood Clan freefolk as well, but it’s still insufficient. We’re currently fine-tuning a Magic Power Absorption Array—if successful, we won’t need manpower for input anymore. But that will take some time—that thing... is quite intricate."
"So in summary, we’ll soon have a Special Knight Corps equipped with magical weapons, right?"
"You could say so. In fact, there’s something even better."
Dora handed over a magic wand, which Jones took, chanting an incantation followed by "Wind Blade!"
Instantly, the blue stone at the tip of the wand flashed, and a pale blue, crescent-shaped Wind Blade shot out, slicing a scarecrow in the distance cleanly in half.
Benedict II and Yilin were stunned, their eyes widened.
"A magic wand—for Mages. It operates on the same principle, but it’s more powerful and has a greater range. However, it requires the user to have some foundational magic knowledge, at least enough to chant basic spells. Attack range, direction, trajectory, power control—these all need to be embedded in the incantation."
"Uh... we don’t have people like that."
"They can be trained. It’s not very difficult, but it does require time. Look," Jones showed the wand to Yilin and Benedict II in detail, "it has seven slots, meaning it can hold up to seven energy stones—three sets of seven, for twenty-one uses. Additionally, the energy stones can vary. The red energy stone earlier contained fire-based Magic Power, while the blue energy stone holds air-based Magic Power. Different energy stones enable different types of magic. Training basic-level Mages is indeed harder than recruiting soldiers who are ready to use, but the difficulty has its reasons. For ordinary people, we can only supply fire-based or shield-enhancing types. Fire is preferred for its straightforward destructive power. Shield enhancements are similarly simple. As for more potent or longer-range magic, giving it to ordinary soldiers is risky and prone to misfires, leading to friendly casualties. Those require professionals."
"You’ve thought this through thoroughly," Yilin sighed helplessly.
"Of course, I am a professional," Jones replied with a smile.
"Is it possible to craft energy stones capable of more than ten uses?" Benedict II asked.
"It’s possible, but if we produce them now, the cost wouldn’t be just three times—likely three hundred times over. Not worth it. The current design is the most cost-effective solution. We’re still working on improvements, hopefully raising the limit to over ten uses. That will take time, probably..."
"Wait, are you saying it’s possible to create affordable energy stones capable of more than ten uses?"
"Yes, precisely. But that’s likely two or three decades away. The research progress is slow, although I am expediting it. If we push it now, the costs would remain exorbitant. Let me show you around."
"Alright."
Jones began giving Benedict II and Yilin a castle tour.
In recent years, the Keltos Continent could be said to have reached the peak of unrest. Even before Gray’s "death," when Gray went missing, the turmoil had never ceased. For the Isaac Kingdom, ever since Gray’s emergence, instability and constant warfare have plagued the realm.
In the summer of Holy Calendar 10753, Gray first appeared in the surface world. By the end of the year, he met Benedict II for the first time. Benedict II was then thirty-six years old, in the prime of his life.