Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 583 The Beginning of the Law Enforcement Network

"Hurry up, rise!"

A series of loud shouts echoed from the vast area that had been cleared out of the lush Forest of Sin beside the capital.

If a knight who has passed the examination of the Imperial Air Management Department and is qualified to ride a flying dragon to travel in the airspace outside the Imperial cities passes through this area, he will see that the once sparsely populated Forest of Sin is now full of people.

This forest, originally a protected ecological area within the capital region of the Golden Empire, has become eerily sinister due to the war between the empire and the orc kingdom.

Apart from the countless yellow orc heads that are still well maintained by the liches who live here and are devoted to practicing magic, and that are hung on the thick, gnarled branches of the Forest of Sin as will-o'-the-wisps.

The many undead skeletons residing here, under the command of the lich archmage, are also the culprits behind the dense, sinful aura of this Forest of Sin.

Within the Golden Empire, the corpses of those who committed unforgivable crimes, who were tried under imperial law and hanged or beheaded, formed the basis of the ecosystem of this vast forest.

There are also many evil mages and material suppliers from other places who specialize in necromancy, and over the decades, there have been quite a few people who have wanted to take over this forest.

But these people either died at the hands of those skeletal undead, or were used as materials for the lich archmage to practice magic.

Such a matter could not even alarm the commander of the defense of the city of Capito in the Empire, let alone the higher-ranking rulers in the Empire.

It is precisely because of the deathly silence that has permeated this forest for decades that many strange changes have taken place. Sometimes, even the lich archmage who is ordered by the Dragon Emperor to govern this place finds it difficult to understand the source of some of these strange changes.

Today, however, this eerie ancient forest is filled with the strong smell of blood and sweat.

Even the lich archmage who always hid deep in the ancient tombs of the forest avoided this vigorous blood and sweat smell.

"Stop cutting down these ghost trees. They've taken decades to grow to their current size,"

The lich mage, wielding a bone staff, stood beneath a twisted pine tree and said with some sorrow to Orpheus, who stood before him, "These ghostly trees are excellent materials for staffs."

"The core of the Ghostwood is sold on the Imperial market for an average of five hundred gold coins per piece to evil mages and necromancers from the outside world; it's a hot commodity among those evil mages,"

"Each year, I can only contribute a small portion of these profits to the capital's finances in order to obtain support from the Dragon Royal Court,"

As the lich archmage spoke, his hands and feet trembled, his face turned pale, and he was so heartbroken that he could hardly breathe.

Before the Golden Empire reached its peak and before the industrialization of magic technology was completed, the lich made significant contributions to the empire's infrastructure by using the undead creatures under his control as laborers.

Therefore, the lich's life was relatively comfortable at that time, and he received considerable attention from many dragon kings in the royal court.

But things are different now. These relatively clumsy undead creatures are almost useless. They are not needed for delicate work, and large-scale infrastructure projects cannot compare with those huge heavy machinery and magical alchemical creations.

So much so that even the Lich Archmage himself had to personally maintain the magic laboratory he had built due to a lack of funds.

While the ghost trees growing in the Forest of Sin are indeed expensive and can be very profitable, not only do trees need years to grow, but ghost trees that are not over ten years old cannot withstand the magical enhancements and enchantments.

This is also because the forest is the property of the imperial government, and the right to interpret all profits belongs to the imperial government.

As for corruption, you'll have to talk to those dragons' financial auditors.

At least a lich mage wouldn't dare to do such a thing in a dragon-ruled kingdom. If they weren't so bold, the lich back then wouldn't have so quickly knelt down to those young dragons who hadn't yet grown to their current power.

Even though Orpheus was the 'Comet Prince' of the Geths, the leader of a race that liked to act as highway robbers, he still smacked his lips in surprise.

"Wow, is being a mage really that lucrative? Just the basic core material for a staff costs five hundred gold coins."

"Not to mention that to forge a powerful staff suited to one's own affinity, a large amount of other materials are also needed. It's true that you can't be a mage without money."

"This is making money faster than we Geese robbed people! It seems the advantage of being a Mind Mage is that you can spend less money!"

The lich mage rolled his eyes and glared at Orpheus, the comet prince who sat squatting like a farmer in the empire with his hands tucked into his sleeves, and said with some disdain, "What is my business worth?"

"The wealth earned from the Empire's black magic industry supply chain is truly terrifying,"

"Although the empire's mages have engaged in excessively insane activities, such as summoning low- to mid-level demons and monsters from hell and the abyss to the empire for experimental purposes, dissecting and reusing them, and selling the surplus materials to merchants from other continents and outsiders, these despicable acts have been far too numerous,"

"Now the Empire has no one capable of summoning demons and devils from the Abyss and Hell planes,"

"But the Empire's strategy of conquering and developing other small dimensional planes and small material planes is nearing maturity, and it has come up with countless tricks."

The lich mage stared at the comet prince with the look one would give a country bumpkin and said, "Every time the Imperial legions reach other minor dimensional planes and the material world, Imperial mages summon abyssal demons and hellish devils."

“These civilizations that are deemed unqualified by the Empire’s Civilization Observation Council, lacking development potential and necessity of existence, will be completely destroyed by the Empire in this way.”

"This real change in environment could easily cause those demons and devils to lose their vigilance against the Empire and thus respond to the call from the Imperial mages."

"As long as the Imperial Legion controls the limits of this summoning and keeps the number of demons and devils within its control, the plan can be truly implemented."

The lich chuckled and said, "Those demons and monsters are still gleefully believing that some foolish mortals, driven by power or revenge, have summoned them to conquer the material world, destroy everything, and enslave everything."

"But when the two sides meet, war will break out,"

"The day the war between the two sides ends and the victor conquers and rules over the local civilized races will be the day the Imperial Legion is deployed."

"Hehe, by then, not only will the local interest groups that the Imperial Legion needs to eliminate be wiped out, but those abyssal demons and hellish devils themselves will also become a source of revenue for the Imperial Legion."

The lich mage said smugly, "Theoretically speaking, a material world can have at least several opportunities to harvest those abyssal demons and hellish devils that can never be completely killed."

"As long as the Empire's legions are careful to remain hidden, concealed among the local indigenous civilizations and races, they can harvest the bodies of those fools with almost no limit." "And that's not all. To maintain their long-term combat effectiveness and morale, the Empire's elite main battle groups, with the help of the Empire's mages, have been quietly infiltrating certain relatively peaceful areas of Hell and the Abyss."

“In those regions, there are training camps set up by the Empire’s elite warbands, where new recruits are tested on their ability to kill demons and devils.”

The lich boasted arrogantly, "In the major elite battle groups, such as the Demon Hunter Legion, the requirement for new recruits to be promoted is to kill a low-level demon with their bare hands in order to meet the qualification standard."

"The emperor's imperial guards are even more terrifying. It is said that each guard will travel alone to choose their own opponent. You should know the significance of that."

"Because these madmen have killed all the demons and devils in the vicinity!"

Even though the lich mage is now just a down-on-his-luck, impoverished mage who has to personally maintain his laboratory, he couldn't help but hum softly when he thought of the Golden Empire's current power.

"Tsk,"

The seemingly aloof Comet Prince couldn't help but click his tongue again, saying with a hint of admiration, "Your Golden Empire is truly inhuman; your actions are so dirty, treating other material worlds' civilized races and abyssal demons and devils like pigs to be slaughtered."

"Oh, no, our Golden Empire isn't really human, but I like it!"

Although the Comet Prince, a high-ranking legendary figure, did not believe that the Golden Empire was powerful enough to act with impunity, he knew that the chaos in the Abyss and Hell was just like that.

Even a brave mortal, with caution and a bit of luck, could make a name for himself in the abyss and hell, let alone a well-organized civilized nation like the Golden Empire.

In fact, it wasn't just the Golden Empire that regarded the demons and devils in the abyss and hell as beasts; almost all material world civilizations with power held this attitude.

The fact that ancient magical empires even used gods as experimental subjects reveals the attitude of a true civilization towards other races.

Malice and danger are everywhere in the universe.

"Fortunately, I may have already passed the most dangerous moment,"

Orpheus thought to himself as he listened to the lich mage's boasting.

In the world of Ekania today, the Immortal Dragon God has almost no means of directly countering or restricting the Dragon Emperor and the Gogmora Dragon Horde of the Golden Empire.

Even the metal dragons of the southern continent have now entered the Golden Empire and come under its order.

Orpheus could even imagine the immortal dragon god now gritting his teeth in his hellish kingdom.

Tiamat would not allow any of the five dragons to surpass her authority and prestige, not even her own blood descendants.

Tiamat was unwilling to let any dragon's fame and authority surpass her own, including any dragon god.

In particular, the Dragon Emperor in the world of Ekania even wanted to subjugate the gods to the monarchy. Such a huge humiliation was a thorn that Orpheus believed could not be erased by time.

"Tsk tsk, it's a pity that my life has always been controlled by that old mother dragon Tiamat. Otherwise, being able to work under this dragon emperor would be a fulfillment of the ancient pact between the Githians and the Red Dragon Clan."

"How comfortable it is in this country! If you want to be a bandit, just join the legion!"

The Gith have an innate affinity for the Red Dragon race, a result of mutual attraction stemming from their bandit nature and the influence of an ancient pact.

"Right now, I can only try harder to catch up with Phyllis, while appeasing that old hag Tiamat and looking for an opportunity to see if I can gain the red dragon's attention through my own achievements,"

"Perhaps there will be another opportunity to break free from Tiamat's control in the future."

Thinking of this, Orpheus squinted at the area not far away where giants and earth and wood magicians were gathered.

There, a huge pillar of light was gradually rising.

This beam of light was cast from materials including the outermost protective shell of yak steel, as well as mithril, gold, copper, and other materials that served as energy conductors and energy links.

The cost of just the outer shell of this pillar of light alone exceeded ten thousand gold coins.

And this does not even include the most important magical function module.

This was the first major project Orpheus took charge of after being introduced by Phyllis Tiamat: the construction of the Golden Empire's all-encompassing instant messaging system.

In addition to serving as a signal base station and relay node connecting the empire's powerful domain, this beam of light also has the function of amplifying the power of the empire's domain by using the energy it collects.

Therefore, the function of the magical link beneath the outermost shell of this pillar of light is to absorb natural elemental energy, and even the sun's light and heat, for energy storage after its successful construction.

According to Orpheus's design, this pillar of light, as a base point, is sufficient to cover an area spanning dozens of miles.

Because it was the first pilot project, Orpheus, after consulting with his superiors, chose the Forest of Sin, which was closest to the capital, as the first pilot base.

Besides the fact that such a facility cannot be placed in a city like the capital, the dense negative energy in the Forest of Sin will also serve as one of the tests for the beam of light's resistance to interference and pressure.

However, Orps also knew that above the project he was in charge of, there was another, even more important project.

It was precisely because of the importance of that project that the engineering work overseen by Orpheus became an experimental site.

Orpheus raised his head and looked at the top of the pillar of light that stood tall in the sky. The top of the pillar of light, which was like a tower, resembled a dragon's claw, but the center of the claw was deeply indented.

The Comet Prince knew that was where the magic module nodes of the Golden Empire's all-encompassing legal network were located.

However, due to the Comet Prince's new arrival, he cannot handle this important magical module.

(End of this chapter)