Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 155 Divine Medicine Ignites the Flame, Penglai in Heaven
The day the Qiming, a hybrid-powered armed transport ship, slowly entered Emerald Bay Wharf, the sea breeze was salty and damp, and the sky was bluish-gray.

The lights on the mast echoed those of the lighthouse at the dock, and the successful return of the first voyage brought joy to everyone in the territory who knew about it.

The last time it set sail, the Qiming took seven days to travel from Emerald Bay to Conch Mouth.

However, that was its first long-distance voyage.

They were traveling a route they had never taken before. Most of the crew members had never even been on a ship before. The nautical charts were incomplete, the ocean currents were complex, and the locations of reefs and shoals were mostly based on hearsay.

In some areas where underwater reefs are suspected, small survey vessels are even used as guides to measure water depth, collect water samples, and record wind direction and current speed.

They walked cautiously, like children learning to walk. It took them seven whole days to finally reach their destination.

But when I returned, everything was different.

The autopilot system has completely recorded all the data for the entire route, including ocean currents, wind direction, reef distribution, optimal turning points, etc.

The autonomous driving system, having completed route mapping and recording, can now take off.

The massive ship cleaved through the deep blue sea at unprecedented speed, leaving a long, rolling white trail behind it.

Just a day and a half later, the familiar outline of Hanhai Port came into view.

The ship was gradually unloading more than four hundred slaves who had just been transferred from the orc tribe.

They were in poor condition, confused, weak, and terrified. They huddled in the dimly lit and crowded cabins, the air thick with the pungent smell of festering wounds and filth.

Most of the slaves were thin and weak, with numb eyes and obvious whip marks and brands on their bodies. If it weren't for the Conch Camp providing ample supplies and basic treatment, probably more than half of these people would not have made it to the Vast Sea.

Previously, when the dwarves sold slaves to the Vast Sea, they paid great attention to this point. After all, it would take more than twenty days to travel from the Northern Plains, through the Flag Mountain Pass, eastward along the Razor Corridor, and then across a long desert to finally reach the Vast Sea Lord.

The Seven Luminaries Flower Garland Merchant couldn't possibly provide slaves with good food and medical care, since the price of some medicines might exceed the slaves themselves, making it more cost-effective to simply discard them.

Therefore, even though the slaves were carefully selected and had strong physiques, they would still lose one to two-tenths of their strength along the way.

However, once the "blue route" opened in the eastern seas, the situation changed drastically.

Although many of the slaves were in poor health, they arrived in the Vast Ocean Territory in such a short time. In other words, they didn't even have time to die before they were back in the human world.

Or rather, we've arrived in paradise!

Hanhai has never been stingy with medicines and treatments.

Slaves are consumables in the hands of orcs, trade goods in the hands of gnomes, but in the Vast Ocean Territory, they are machines in the industrial chain, capable of creating value hundreds or thousands of times greater!

As the slaves were disembarking, the Vast Ocean Territory sealed off the port in advance and transferred away all those who might leak information, especially the priests of the temple and the scholars of the Magic Society.

It's best to keep this a secret for as long as possible. After all, just because the dwarfs are unwilling to sell slaves to Han Hai doesn't mean that Han Hai can buy them through other means.

If everyone does this, then the blockade of the dwarfs will be in vain.
The Qiming ship barely stopped. After unloading four hundred dying slaves, it immediately loaded two hundred subjects who had undergone preliminary training and were ready to go to the new stronghold, as well as a large amount of building materials, weapons and supplies.

The mooring lines were untied, the anchor was pulled up, and the massive ship once again sailed away from the harbor, disappearing into the vast sea fog with a sense of urgency and a race against time.

For Hanhai, racing against time is not only about making money, but also about saving lives.

The so-called "money grab" is because the Han Hai region has also started shipping goods to the orc-occupied areas.

The items that the orcs purchased from the gnome merchants mainly included some ironware, a large number of daily necessities, strong liquor, a small amount of spices, and various luxury goods supplied to the upper class.

Lord Chen Mo's initial idea was simple and direct—whatever the dwarves sell, we'll sell, and sell it even cheaper and better!
The ironware produced by Hanhai is of far superior quality to the inferior goods of the dwarfs, and the liquor brewed with seawater rice has a good taste and mellow texture. In addition, with the unique spices from Dongxia, it seems that seizing the market will be a piece of cake.

However, the Dongxia expert team gave completely opposite advice.

Despite the current complex power dynamics, the Dwarf Merchant Guild remains an indispensable and irreplaceable supplier for many daily necessities and some special materials, even though it has imposed a blockade on its territory.

Directly competing with them in their most profitable sectors could very well provoke a more intense and comprehensive retaliatory blockade, or even military conflict; the risks outweigh the rewards.

The project team believes that competition with dwarfs for goods should be avoided, especially in areas where dwarfs have higher profit margins; these areas should be completely abandoned to avoid alerting the other party.

Although somewhat annoyed, Chen Mo still highly approved of the suggestion.

Lords also have a broad perspective.

Of course, Dongxia will also provide corresponding solutions.

During the long-term data collection process, the orcish community of Hanhai Territory also provided Dongxia with a complete set of data.

After targeted analysis by the Dongxia technical department, it was found that due to the dietary habits of the Northern Beastmen and the fact that the processing methods were far from clean and hygienic, most of them suffered from some non-fatal diseases.

For example, gastrointestinal problems and constipation.

For example, the problem of parasites.

The former is widespread among predominantly carnivorous orc groups, while the latter is more common among omnivorous orc groups.

Because these orcs are physically strong, these ailments are only considered minor pains, but that doesn't mean they don't feel uncomfortable.

The corresponding solutions, whether special potions, precious spices, or so-called divine grace, are extremely expensive, and only a very few top orc chieftains and great shamans can afford them.

Well, ever since he learned that the Seven-Eyed God would occasionally use divine grace to help orcs relieve themselves, the god's status in Chen Mo's heart has plummeted.

The solutions offered by the dwarves were limited to the upper echelons of the Orcs, while Dongxia was an industrialized nation particularly adept at providing large-scale solutions.

The Dongxia Veterinary Medicine Research Center and the Dongxia Medical Research Institute have joined forces to develop two medicines, one for relieving constipation and the other for expelling parasites.

At the same time, the research institute also specially designed a series of deep processing steps.

The high-purity Dongxia medicinal powder is mixed with a large amount of sea buckthorn sap, a specialty of the Gobi Desert in northern Hanhai. This sap has a sour and astringent taste, no positive effects, but no side effects either.

The main purpose is to confuse the ingredients.

In addition, coarse fiber made from seawater rice husks is added to increase the volume and further dilute the medicinal effect.

Yes, this is a "downgraded" process.

Hanhailing's products don't compete with Dwarf in the high-end market; instead, they focus on the mid-to-low-end, so the results can't be too good.

The efficacy is controlled to the point where "patients feel noticeably more comfortable and their problems are relieved, but the illness is not cured." This perfectly aligns with the positioning of the low-to-mid-range market: inexpensive, effective, and requiring continuous use.

Thus, a stomach-soothing and constipation-relieving ointment called "Tongchang Heji" and a tower-shaped insect-repelling pill called "Quxie Baota" began to produce unexpected power within just over ten days after being presented as gifts to the Thunder Cliff tribe.

As the sole authorized distributor of [Smoothing Elixir] and [Exorcising Pagoda] in Bailu Plain, Lao Niu declared, "I don't want anything else. Trade me your worthless slaves."

This is the life-saving strategy of the Vast Ocean Territory.

Compared to selling quietly and making money slowly, this sales strategy is bound to attract a lot of attention from the enemy.

But Chen Mo didn't want money; he just wanted to buy himself more time.

It was early March, just before the "Spring Hunt," a traditional event in which various orc tribes would gather their forces and raid southwards.

At this time of year, even if there were grudges between tribes, they would temporarily set them aside and unite against a common enemy.

But now, things have changed.

The Thunder Bluff tribe launched the first attack on their sworn enemy, the Wildthorn Valley tribe.

The reasons are easy to find—competition for hunting grounds and revenge for old grudges.

But the real goal, though Thunder Bluff wouldn't say a word, was something most warriors knew: capturing slaves could be exchanged for those magical ointments and pills.

The conflict, which started as localized skirmishes, quickly spread like wildfire.

Having suffered a loss, the Wildthorn Valley tribe immediately allied with two other closely allied tribes to retaliate. Meanwhile, Thunder Bluff secretly "offered" a batch of [Soothing Elixir] and [Exorcising Pagoda] to the powerful superior stronghold, the Skyreach Great Tribe.

Soon, the vassal tribes under Motianling's command also joined the war.

The war suddenly escalated.

The purpose of plundering slaves became more blatant. Various informed tribes discovered that compared to heading south to attack the fortified human cities, attacking the neighboring orc tribes where slaves could be captured was obviously shorter, faster, and more cost-effective!
In this situation, even the orc tribes that were not involved in the war began to get nervous.

What if I go out and someone raids my base?
As these miraculous medicines became widely popular among the northern orcs and their influence grew, the White Deer Plain was thrown into chaos.

In previous years, by early March, the orc vanguard would have already pressed the foot of Dongguan Ridge. Now, it's almost April, and the allied forces of the various tribes haven't even raised their flags yet.

Faced with this inexplicable situation, the High Chieftain of the Orcish Royal Court dispatched three special envoys in succession to intervene forcefully and mediate.

Of course, the various orc tribes, who had already fought so fiercely, would never admit that they came here to rob each other of their money.

Don't ask, the answer is that there was a grudge between their ancestors. The other party provoked them, and they could no longer tolerate it, so they fought back.

After much back and forth, by mid-April of 1428, the various strongholds of the White Deer Plain finally reached an agreement, assembled their forces, and under the command of the Blood Howl General sent by the Great Chieftain, began another southward campaign.

What was Chen Mo doing during the time gained during this chaos?

He was launching an airship.

At first, when the lord was recruiting and training airship personnel on a large scale, the territorial officials seriously tried to dissuade him.

Well, firstly, the dwarfs' airships are not for sale to outsiders.

Secondly, the dwarfs' airships weren't actually very useful.

More than one country has considered using dwarf airships in warfare, but in practice, these aerial balloons have proven to be far too fragile.

Ground mages, magic circles, and even elven archers can all hit this thing, and all flying units are no exception; they can all be easily killed.

All we need to do is fly over it and make an opening.

However, what was ultimately revealed was a behemoth that no one had expected.

An airborne information relay and surveillance airship from the Xia Kingdom, codenamed [Penglai].

This is a non-rigid airship, with its surface covered by a nano-composite skin material. It is strong, tough, and has a micro-damage self-healing function, making it capable of withstanding most harsh weather conditions.

The airship's inner layer is a helium barrier layer, with a theoretical design value that the helium leakage rate is less than 1% per year.

The surface integrates a flexible solar thin film to power the entire system, while the high-energy-density metal-air battery serves as a stationary power source, ensuring a long-term, healthy energy cycle without frequent, large-scale mobility.

The propulsion system employs a distributed electric propulsion system with more than twelve ducted fans throughout the body, providing vector thrust, with the focus on maintaining the airship's hovering and low-speed maneuverability.

As a behemoth with a total payload of 21 tons, the Penglai airship is equipped with a long-range sensing radar and a synthetic aperture imaging radar, which can penetrate clouds and light vegetation cover. In other words, when Penglai is looking over attentively, hiding in the forest will be of no use.

It is equipped with an external long-range photoelectric sphere that integrates ultra-high resolution optical zoom, infrared thermal imaging, short-wave infrared and special imaging sensors, which can clearly distinguish the details of large organisms on the ground from tens of thousands of meters above the ground.

Meanwhile, [Penglai] can also serve as a communication relay station, providing information support and reconnaissance guidance to other reconnaissance clusters within a radius of 100 kilometers.

These reconnaissance clusters are, of course, high-altitude drones.

The Penglai airship itself carries two 1.5-ton high-altitude long-endurance reconnaissance drones, codenamed Jinghong.

When Penglai remains stably stationary at an altitude of 20 to 25 kilometers, [Jinghong] will serve as an important supplement to extended reconnaissance, conducting large-scale, continuous tracking and scanning within a range of 5 to 10 kilometers below Penglai.

This system has consumed a full month and a half of Lord Chen Mo's transport capacity. Apart from the masts of the [Qiming] ship at the beginning, the lord has done nothing but transport large items recently.

Even so, [Penglai] is currently only equipped with a portable command station.

The integrated command cabin, ground control terminal, computing hardware cluster, spare parts and replacement system in the overall plan will take at least another month and a half for Lord Chen to move.

With such a huge investment, there's no doubt that [Penglai] was placed at the top of Qishan Pass.

From here, its surveillance range can easily cover most of the Razorfen Downs, the only route the orcs must take to move south, as well as the edge of East Pass Ridge, and even vaguely reach the northern border of White Deer Plain.

Beneath the clouds, the orcish raiding army slowly approached.

Above the clouds, cold, unyielding eyes were already open, silently recording their every move.

All the noise, the schemes, the dust raised by the knights, and the angry roars of the beastmen were transformed into points of light and streams of data projected onto the big screen.

A storm is brewing, and this time, who will be the hunter and who will be the prey?
Still unknown!

(End of this chapter)