Volume Dragon: Start by obtaining the Infinity Gems

Chapter 172 Dead Roots
Nemesis had long anticipated the arrival of the Golden Legion. The Maztec continent was rich in resources, and the Amn Empire would never be satisfied with just that corner of the Paite region.

However, the Niksarans were not comparable to the primitive civilization of the Pait people.

In the Huakli Alliance alone, there are six pyramids, and each pyramid requires legendary power to break through.

Not to mention the Kurtaka Kingdom that was suppressing the alliance. God knows how powerful they are.

Nemesis had heard from the Niksarans who came from Tikal that the Niksarans of Kurtaka called their king "the human incarnation of Zaltec."

Regardless of the truth, at least in the eyes of the Kurtaka people, the king's strength is probably extraordinary.

"Boris has sent several highly mobile professionals to cross the Death Mountains and explore the central region. Soon, an advance force will set out to negotiate with a government organization called the Huakli Alliance." Saifar said.

Nemesis frowned. Did the Golden Army intend to cooperate with the Alliance?
But this is indeed their best option. If the Golden Legion chooses to go to war with the Alliance, they will then have to face the power of the Kurtaka Kingdom alone.

"I know about the existence of that alliance. They believe in an evil god that accepts blood sacrifices. Will the priests of the Church of Heim agree to cooperate with them?" Nemesis asked with some confusion.

When Sefar heard that the other party was actually an evil god who believed in blood sacrifice, his face turned pale. He sighed helplessly and said, "The Church of Heim cannot influence the Golden Legion. This was Boris' idea, and even Cordel did not object."

Nemesis nodded, and then asked, "What is the reason for you to come to me this time?"

Sefar seemed to have thought of something and took out a black oilcloth. He opened it without caring about the dirtiness, revealing a black jelly-like ball that looked very elastic.

"What is this?" Nemesis frowned.

Sefar said excitedly: "I call it [Dead Root]."

"This is a product I discovered while exploring in the South. It is very flammable."

In order to prove his words, the old wizard used magic power to suspend the jelly ball in the air and then set it on fire. A raging fire immediately burned on the surface of the jelly ball.

The volume of the jelly ball slowly decreased during the burning process, and the speed was extremely slow. Nemesis measured it and found that at this speed, the jelly ball could continue burning for at least a dozen hours.

This thing seems to be extremely stable. The flame can only ignite the surface of the jelly ball. The internal material isolates the heat, and the area in contact with the air determines the size of the burning flame.

Nemesis asked in confusion, "Is there anything strange about this? Are you planning to use this as a replacement for the energy source of the steam engines in the Am Empire? With all due respect, I don't think the lighter stones in the steam engines need to be replaced."

There were a few steam engines in the Empire of Amn, and they were actually first invented on the West Coast.

However, unlike Earth, Faerun does not have large amounts of cheap and durable energy sources such as oil and coal. Most of the energy is deposited into various magical minerals or gems.

And using that kind of thing to power a steam engine is really unnecessary.

However, the big merchants of Amn later reached a deal with the dwarves and bought the lighter stones they made. This is a dwarven magic item that can continuously provide flames. It has a low production cost and the source of fire depends on drawing magic power from the magic network.

The only drawback is that the power is very low.

However, this also gave the steam engine a place to be used. After all, if one is not enough, just make a few more. If the quality is not good, then make up for it with quantity.

Farmland in most parts of the Amn Empire has been transformed into large farms, relying on steam engines for pumping water, digging wells, and other tasks.

Not to mention factories, where parchment and metallurgy can all be used. A worker's annual salary is enough for merchants to buy several lighter stones. Under such circumstances, Nemesis did not pay attention to the steam engine after learning about it, because he did not think it would have the potential to rise in Faerun. The main reason was that there was a lack of chemical fuels such as oil and coal, while magical materials had more precious and practical uses.

The Amn Empire was able to apply the steam engine thanks to its mature commercial factory model and the high cost of domestic labor wages.

Sefar smiled and said, "What if there are a lot of this thing, the cost is low, and it is very easy to make?"

Nemesis raised his eyebrows. To be honest, if cheap fuel like oil really appeared, he felt that the steam engine still had a future.

"While exploring in the south, I discovered a black oil pit, and this black jelly ball is produced in that pit."

"After my research, I found that those black oil pits have a large amount of dead soul energy gathered. In fact, they have become a kind of pollutant. This kind of dead soul pollutant will transform the essence of any living creature in them into a completely new form. I call those black oil pits - [Underworld Tide]."

"You mean, the dead roots are formed by creatures that fell into the oil pit?" Nemesis asked with some surprise.

Sefar nodded and said proudly: "The reason why [Dead Roots] are called Dead Roots is because they are produced from the corpses of animals in the Nether Tide."

"A corpse that falls into the [Underworld Tide] will swell rapidly within a dozen days and then be transformed into dead roots. A 100 kg corpse can be transformed into at least 150 kg of dead roots."

"And 10 grams of dead roots are enough to burn for an hour." Sefar said word by word.

Nemesis' pupils shrank. Sefar's description made him keenly aware that if this information was true, this fuel called Dead Root would become a resource of great influence!

Indeed, in Faerun, magic is the cheapest and most widespread energy source.

The infinite magic power in the magic network is countless levels beyond the energy and technological capabilities of the previous technological society.

However, magic is also the most expensive energy.

Because those who master it are the noblest people on the planet Toril - spellcasters.

How could the high and mighty wizards work so hard to take care of the people's livelihood?

Forget about improving people's livelihood, it would be good if they didn't arrest those poor farmers for experiments.

This also led to a deformed and torn society in Furen.

On the one hand, the top strong ones among them can even walk freely in the abyss (referring to the top legends), on the other hand, the farmers in the village even worry about filling their stomachs.

The society of mages is separate from the society of ordinary people.

One is an advanced civilization that has applied simple energy-matter conversion technology, and the other is a feudal civilization that has just reached the Middle Ages and has maintained this state for tens of thousands of years without any progress.

So, magic is simply not an energy option that will become widespread in society, even though it might be the best option.

This is why dead roots are precious.

It will replace magic power and become a source of energy that can be popularized in ordinary people's society, and will bring amazing changes to mortal society in the future.

　Dead Roots and Undertide borrowed some of Death Stranding
　　
　
(End of this chapter)