Above the mage!

Chapter 634 Teeth and Thin Ice

The goal is ambitious, but the journey is arduous.

The circulation of Plantago coins and Imperial Gold in the Mage plane has long surpassed that of currencies themselves, becoming the scepter of the Plantago Dynasty and the Holy Empire to control the economic lifeline of the world.

The high level of acceptance of these two currencies was not achieved overnight.

With its ancient history, powerful strength, profound heritage and wealth, the Golden Flower Dynasty permeated the trading scene of every city-state with Golden Flower coins.

The Imperial Throne Gold spread across the three continents of the Mage Plane with the rise of the Holy Empire.

As beneficiaries of monetary hegemony, the two countries have virtually monopolized the settlement rights of all cross-border and cross-regional transactions.

At the same time, in order to protect their own interests, they will absolutely not sit idly by and watch a new currency emerge.

Even a powerful city like Linhai had to compromise and back down, and still uses the Golden Bird Coin and Imperial Throne Gold as its main currencies, just to avoid direct conflict with the two giants.

It is easy to imagine how arduous and long the road is for Ziqiongjin of the North to rise in such a situation.

The key to breaking the monopoly has long been clear in Gaode's mind:

Besides needing the strong support of the North's own strength, the most crucial breakthrough lies in possessing irreplaceable strategic commodities.

This kind of product must be something that everyone needs, but is unique to the North, and can only be purchased with Purple Gold.

Only in this way can other forces be forced to stockpile Ziqiong Gold, allowing it to gradually establish credit for cross-border circulation and ultimately break the monopoly barriers between the two currencies.

But this is easier said than done.

The combined territory of the Golden Flower Dynasty and the Holy Empire occupies more than 70% of the Nolan continent, and the abundance of resources and wealth they possess is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

In this situation, what else could the two major powers want but be unable to produce?
This is something even the golden city of Linhai City could not achieve.

What strategic commodities could a backward northern region, long considered a barren frozen wasteland, possibly offer that neither of the two great empires could replicate?

That's the general rule.

But in fact, Gao De had already quietly grasped the key to breaking the deadlock long before he stepped into the North.

However, it is still just a seed. What we need to do now is to patiently nurture it, wait for it to sprout, grow, and eventually become a towering tree.

At present, the core strategy of the North remains "accumulate grain and delay declaring kingship".

Adhering to the principle of keeping things secret and focusing on development.

Although the North has opened two international shipping routes and has established some trade relations, it has been proceeding with extreme caution, akin to hiding one's true intentions in secret.

A shipping route departs from Harland Shipyard and runs between the North and Auckland, operated entirely by a merchant fleet controlled by the North, never revealing the North's core development status.

The other route connects to the Blue Flame Islands, using Sarah's influence in Black Sails City as cover, which can also conceal the development of the North.

The reason for such a low profile is that the value of the North is far greater than outsiders imagine.

The reason is simple: once the food problem was solved, the North, with its almost untapped resources, was actually a treasure trove.

In comparison, it's like an enhanced version of the "Middle East".

The Middle East, which only has oil as its energy resource, is already plagued by constant warfare.

Beneath the snow-covered plains of the North, besides countless magic crystal veins, there are also various rare mineral veins, magical plants thousands or tens of thousands of years old, and abundant ley line resources.
Not to mention the Yoggathira, who is closely related to him and must have an extraordinary origin, planted in the Flora Forest of Valar Bay.

It is constantly changing the soil of Flora Forest, transforming it into a sacred land, and its various unique characteristics possess immeasurable value.

Such abundant resources, if exposed when the Northern Territory is weak, will only attract the covetous eyes of wolves and tigers.

Only when the North has grown strong enough to deter any potential threats will God be comfortable allowing the new North to officially appear before the world.

This power requires many conditions to be met, two of which are: the establishment of the Mage Tower and Sunafa's advancement to the fifth ring.

The Mage Tower needs no introduction; it's a strategic facility in the Mage Plane.

Sunafa's advancement to the fifth ring provides a safety net for the Northern Territory's combat strength.

With her Blizzard and Iceblood, along with the specialization she awakened upon advancement and her exceptional combat talent, Sunafa's combat prowess far surpasses that of other mages of the same rank.

Once you advance to the fifth ring, after a little time to mature, you can achieve strength that is almost invincible at the fifth ring level.

With its unparalleled top-tier combat power, it represents the most formidable deterrent force among all the duchies on the entire Nolan continent.

At that time, apart from the three giants—Linhai City, the Holy Empire, and the Golden Flower Dynasty—no other force would dare to claim they could easily conquer the Northern Territory.

Moreover, with the help of the Mage Tower and the Ice Jade Wutong, the three giants would have to carefully consider the cost of conquering the Northern Territory unless they sent out a seventh-ring mage.

Therefore, in Gaode's strategic plan, the overall development of the North and the improvement of the mage level in Sunaifa are equally important and indispensable.

Therefore, he specially obtained a Ring-Up Potion for Sunefa in Black Sails City, and now he is even providing "financial" support in order to help Sunefa break through to the fifth ring as soon as possible.

To help Sunafa break through the Fifth Ring Road as soon as possible, Gaode has already begun its preparations.

The "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" is one thing, but in Black Sails City, he spent a fortune to buy top-tier ring-up potions for Sunafa.

Now that the bounty has been paid, it has provided Sunafa with a steady stream of financial support, allowing her to purchase the necessary cultivation resources without any worries and to focus all her efforts on breaking through to the fifth ring.

Outsiders, especially within the Sea Sentinels, mostly believe that Gao De had not previously enjoyed high-quality cultivation resources, wasting his exceptional talent and a lot of time.

After joining the Sea Sentinel, resources were available, and potential was realized, allowing them to soar to new heights.

That statement is only partially true.

After Gao De became the King of the North, the cultivation resources he could mobilize far exceeded the imagination of the Sea Sentinels, but the Sea Sentinels had no way of knowing this.

But it is absolutely true that Sunafa has never enjoyed any high-quality cultivation resources.

Therefore, with the help of relevant cultivation resources, such as high-level magical potions and magical plants, Sunafa's cultivation speed can advance by leaps and bounds.

Gao De had just forwarded the message that the reward had been received to Sunaifa via Ethernet Lingxin when his gaze was drawn to the red dot next to the contact list.

That was the new friend request notification he designed for Lingxin.

Gaode's consciousness subtly activated, and the red dot was turned on.

Pale blue light waves spread outwards like ripples on water, and against the backdrop of the gray-white space, a semi-transparent card appeared with clear instructions written on it.

"Lady Flora requests to add you as a friend."

Gao De then remembered what Sunafa had mentioned a few days ago:

With all the important departments and nodes in the North successfully equipped with keys, she is now preparing to begin distributing private keys to the city hall's senior management.

It's both a benefit and a way to facilitate communication.

As a highly influential figure in the North, Flora was naturally among the first in the North to possess a private key.

The first thing Lady Flora did after receiving the key was to log in to the Ethernet and add Amap as a Lingxin friend.

However, Gaode Maps hasn't logged into Ethernet in the past few days, so it doesn't know how many days ago the friend request was sent.

As he thought about it, he clicked the "Accept" button in the bottom right corner. "You have added Lady Flora as a friend. You can start chatting now!"

Just as Gaode was about to exit the Ethernet after the addition was complete, Flora's card flashed in the next second.

A message popped up in the chat box instantly.

"Hello, I am Lady Flora."

Gao De couldn't help but chuckle.

This little guy happens to be online.

"Greetings, Lady Flora. I am High Mage. What are you doing, Lady Flora?"

"?"

"Lady Flora is discussing spiritual matters with a mage!"

Gao De pursed his lips, as if he could already see the little guy questioning him on the Lingxin panel about why he asked such nonsense, looking at him with disdain for his lack of intelligence.

"Shouldn't Lady Flora be at the farm at this time?" God asked again.

"I'm done! Lady Flora doesn't need to keep an eye on things."

After the busy initial construction phase, the Ministry of Agriculture has largely stabilized, and the relevant technical personnel have been trained and tested in practice.

This allows the farm to operate largely independently, without Flora having to keep a close eye on it.

Lady Flora is finally free from working from dawn till dusk like before, so she has time to chat about spiritual matters.

Gaode Maps knows all of this.

The reason I asked was purely for casual conversation.

Casual chatting is just talking about useless nonsense.

"Then I'll go find Lady Flora later, okay?"

"Okay~" The little one didn't ask why, he was just happy.

"Come quickly, Lady Flora has left something good for the mage."

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

Flora has always been a little person who is never bored and is good at entertaining herself.

Before becoming Gaode's pet, she had always lived alone.

Everything in the jungle was fun in Flora's eyes.

The newly sprouted red berries are covered with morning dew. She can squat on the branches and count the dappled sunlight after the water droplets roll off. As she counts, she starts chatting with the berry tree, asking it how some of its fruits are sour and some are sweet.

Insects chirped in the grass, and she could lie on the blades of grass, squinting as a loyal listener.

Even a tender sprout that has just broken through the soil can be examined for a long time. She can gently touch the tip of the sprout with her fingertips and tell it to take its time and that it will grow as big as the other older ones.

It seems that Flora can find hidden fun in anything.

Sometimes when she's tired, she'll find a plump, sweet flower bud to use as a little bed, curl up and crawl inside. The petals will gently close, enveloping her and the room full of floral fragrance as she falls asleep.

Sometimes, after sleeping for several days, the flower buds would only have half a petal open when I woke up.

Sometimes, after sleeping for several months, when the flower buds emerge, the original tender shoots have already covered the vines.

Occasionally, I would oversleep and wake up to find that several years had passed, and the saplings in the forest had grown into towering trees that could block out the sun.

She wasn't upset; she simply brushed off the petal fragments from her clothes and happily went off to explore new fun.

When she first started out, she found flower buds that grew too fast. After only three months, they bore heavy fruit, waking her from her sweet dreams and leaving her covered in fruit juice.

Later, she became smarter and would tug at the calyx of the flower buds and chatter to find out which flower was slow-growing before she would feel comfortable going inside, no longer worrying about being "driven off the bed" by the fruit.

Flora never kept track of how long these days had lasted.

Until that day, while she was sleeping, she received a summons from a mage named God, and she responded to the summons.

Her life trajectory suddenly underwent a dramatic change.

At first, it became more interesting, more exciting, and busier.

But this is nothing to Lady Flora.

Though small in stature, her heart is vast.

But one day, after the monk had left the northern border for who knows how many days, the little boy suddenly experienced a feeling that was very unfamiliar to him and that he had never felt before.

She didn't know what to call this feeling; she just felt an emptiness in her chest, like a dandelion whose fluff had been blown away by the wind.

Driven by this feeling, she would feel that her small home was empty.

So he would often fly above the house and gaze towards the Phoenix city gate for a long time.

When Lady Flora used to live in nature, nature was a hundred times more spacious than this small house, yet she had never felt this empty.

The little one was very distressed and couldn't understand what was going on.

Occasionally, Sunefa or Elsa would see her sitting on the roof and ask her what she was doing.

Lady Flora simply shook her head and said nothing.

She herself didn't understand what she was feeling, so how could she explain it to others?
As time went on, the little girl's feelings did not disappear, but she gradually found ways to cope with them.

She would go out "treasure hunting," and if she found something she thought was good, she would bring it back and then take it all out when the monk returned.

Of course, little people are different from ordinary people, so what is good in her eyes is generally not the same as what is considered good in the world.

It could be a strangely colored little flower, a uniquely shaped ordinary stone, a particularly plump ear of wheat, or even a piece of ice with exceptionally beautiful patterns.

These things may be worthless in other people's eyes; strictly speaking, they are all useless.

But with Gaode Maps, every single item is a top-notch treasure.

Therefore, he specially set aside a room to display and collect the good things that Lady Flora brought back.

Just this once.
"What is this?" Gao De looked at the new little gadget that Flora had pulled out, completely bewildered.

Although it wasn't small in Flora's hands, it was indeed a little gadget.

It was something resembling an animal tooth, its entire body a pale ivory white, but it was tightly wrapped in a thin layer of ice with a faint blue luster.

The ice layer wasn't thick, and the outline of the teeth was clearly visible.
The tip has a slightly rounded curve, unlike the sharpness of a beast's fangs, but it exudes an indescribable sense of weight.

The surface of the teeth has fine lines, like naturally formed totems, winding and spreading along the curves of the teeth, and faintly shimmering in the light.

(End of this chapter)