Chapter 54: Why? Do you like this reason?……

"Of course I do," the little bird said dejectedly.

"Well then, I have a dream!" Lin Zhao immediately began to pitch his concept.

Based on the knowledge he had furiously crammed, the civilization of the Sorcery Kingdom had suffered catastrophic losses during the Great Calamity ten thousand years ago. Countless sorcery spells and knowledge had been lost, and many spell authorities related to fire and light had vanished entirely, forcing them to rebuild their entire civilization system.

However, this reconstruction was severely lopsided. Specifically, the Sorcery Kingdom and various regional states poured nearly all their systems and human resources into warfare; every single action served the purpose of war.

Consequently, under such circumstances, all resources of the Sorcery Kingdom were staked on sorcerers. The needs of ordinary people were suppressed to the extreme, leaving them with only one path to rise above: becoming a sorcerer.

Lin Zhao knew this was wrong.

Although humans were fragile, they possessed the most precious "self." If they could utilize better tools, it would undoubtedly propel the strength of the entire Sorcery Kingdom to the next level, rather than squandering all resources solely on making people sorcerers.

Unfortunately, although he was in his senior year of high school where knowledge was most comprehensive, he only knew the bare surface of radio technology, nor did he know whether the fundamental laws of this world were the same as Earth's.

It did not matter, however. Lin Zhao knew that science was not a specific formula or a specific rule, but the discovery of stable, repeatable laws. If sorcery also followed these laws, then sorcery was also science.

"Since communicating via sorcery can directly target the spiritual anchor of a sorcerer to transmit messages accurately, it proves that the spread of sorcery follows fundamental laws. We can build a main station, use a specific sorcery to manufacture a batch of unified communication talismans, and then embed identical spiritual anchors in these talismans. This way, we can send messages from one place to these talismans..."

Lin Zhao spoke fluently: "At the same time, if each talisman has the spiritual imprint of its owner left at the headquarters, whenever one talisman owner wants to call another, they can directly notify them using the stored spiritual imprint..."

"We can also send them messages through the switchboard of the talismans..."

"Talismans require charging. There are plenty of charging sorceries within sorcery, but most are used for various destructive forces. We need to improve a charging method so that it can provide continuous and stable power..."

Lin Zhao casually slapped a telephone model onto his concept, explaining it in a very simple and easy-to-understand manner. However, the bird totem in front of him let out a huge yawn, buried its head in its wings, and fell fast asleep.

Lin Zhao instantly grew angry, grabbed the plump little bird, and shouted right in its ear: "Squawk!"

The sound was terrifyingly piercing, so much so that the nearby glass bottle instantly shattered, and Ji Yaoguang, who had been sitting aside smiling and unresponsive, snapped back to reality instantly, suppressing the rising drowsiness in his heart with hidden terror while keeping a blank face.

Sijin's totem bird was scared right out of its wits on the spot, taking quite a while to recondense under Ji Yaoguang's calm glance: "Are you, are you trying to murder me? My little totem is just a bird; it can't handle a scare like that."

Lin Zhao said coldly, "Were you listening to what I just said?"

"Of course I was listening," the totem bird complained, repeating word for word what Lin Zhao had just explained. "I am a Heavenly Sorcerer after all. Even when I'm sleeping, I don't forget what I hear. I don't understand any of that stuff you talked about. You shouldn't be coming to me with this; you should go find the ritualists of Mount Chatu. They love researching these things the most."

Lin Zhao said with some dissatisfaction, "That's for phase two. We need to make a plan right now. If you don't even understand the plan, how can we proceed to the next step?"

"Besides, I explained it so simply, and you still don't understand? I want to make a talisman like a conch shell—one for each person, so anyone can communicate with other talisman holders at any time, and you can sing to these talisman holders whenever you want. Isn't that great?"

Sijin shook his head: "Conch shell talismans are painstakingly cultivated by the Mermaid Kingdom of the Sunless Sea. The mermaids there not only have to cultivate conch shells, but also golden clams and blue clams. Just the annual tribute works tens of thousands of them to death. Almost none of them die of old age. A conch shell talisman for every single person... Such a cruel thing, my brother definitely wouldn't allow it, and your family's old tree wouldn't agree either."

Lin Zhao was shocked: "That is way too excessive. If that's the case, it's all the more reason to research the talismans I described, so we can eliminate cruel things like conch shells."

"You'd better not. Compared to other regional states, the Mermaid Kingdom has it a bit hard, but at least they're safe," Sijin shook his head. "Conch shells, money clams, and soul pearls are the source of how mermaids survive in the Sunless Sea. Back then, your family's old tree sacrificed himself to protect them! The Mermaid Kingdom is the regional state that selects the most sorcerer apprentices during the great annual trials next to the Feather Kingdom, and conch shells account for a third of that major achievement."

Lin Zhao felt conflicted, but he still tried to argue: "Any mass-produced item will drastically reduce costs. How do you know it won't work if you haven't even tried?"

The totem bird said faintly, "Of course we can try, but, little Zhao, where are you going to get the money?"

Lin Zhao frowned: "This kind of ordinary primary-stage experimental research shouldn't cost that much, right? If we recruit a dozen research dogs like Bai Ren, I think a salary of ten thousand golden clams is already very high. For a whole year, that's only around a million. A tree core from the old tree would be more than enough."

Ji Yaoguang shook his head slightly: "No, talismans and rituals are researched by two schools: Master Qihong and the Lord of the Feather Kingdom. They are extremely xenophobic. Unless you join them, they will charge exorbitant prices for all kinds of talismans. Six million golden clams is definitely not enough to develop a new instrument that ordinary people can use."

"That's right," the little bird also nodded. "Sorcerers all have a very high opinion of themselves, especially ritual sorcerers. They've been pampered in recent years, given plenty of money, yet they cause just as many problems with their talismans and refuse to pay compensation... I've been annoyed with them for a long time."

"And the manufacturing methods for various instruments and devices are kept strictly secret by each family and school," the little bird complained, then couldn't help continuing, "The young students they recruit all have to sign sorcery contracts not to leak the methods outside their school. Because of this, the prices of ritual items remain stubbornly high."

Ji Yaoguang smiled bitterly: "There's no help for it. The way of instruments and devices requires massive amounts of materials and painstaking cultivation to nurture. The students of every school are built from piles of money, so of course they have to earn it back."

Lin Zhao instantly grew dissatisfied.

Was this Sorcery Kingdom too pathetic, complete with monopolies and academic factions?

However, if it came to needing money...

Lin Zhao frowned slightly, then looked at the little bird, before raising his gaze to look at the old tree.

The two of them instantly felt a chill in their hearts, tacitly avoiding the bright, glowing gaze of the little golden crow.

"Alright, then let's do this. Brother Jin, come on, take inventory of how much money the Di Kingdom has left," Lin Zhao smiled as he pulled over a stool and sat down, then said to Ji Yaoguang, "Yaoguang, you take inventory too, of how many healing leaves, wooden beads, and various fine divine plants can be produced daily. Brother Jin, you go first!"

"About this matter..." Sijin's totem bird struggled for a moment, then immediately decided to shift the blame elsewhere: "There isn't much money. Over the years, the Di Kingdom hasn't had free terrestrial Qi supplies from the Sorcery Kingdom, and the money spent on corrosion cleanup has been astronomical. Not only is the treasury broke, but we've also racked up quite a bit of debt. But my brother let me keep some private savings, though I'd still have to go find my brother for that. Otherwise, even if I took the money out, he'd just confiscate it."

Lin Zhao figured that was true; Sijin wasn't very reliable, so the Lord of the Di Kingdom probably had more weight.

"Well then, what about you, Brother Yaoguang?" Lin Zhao looked to the side.

"Um, I calculated," Ji Yaoguang earnestly took out a list. "Not counting sacred wood or white wood, if we use the highest-priced golden pith wood for production, I could exhaust all my sorcery power in a day and make about three pieces, with each piece worth a little over ten million golden clams."

The little totem bird nearly drooled: "Don't sell it, I'll take it. Fifteen million golden clams per piece, I'll take as many as you have."

"This doesn't concern you. I know how to negotiate the price with the Lord of the Di Kingdom." Seeing this, Lin Zhao knew the old tree had definitely been shortchanged by them, but this was a lot of money indeed. Thus, he enthusiastically asked Sijin, "Is this enough money to make the talismans I talked about?"

"This..." Sijin hesitated, "If we keep getting this amount, of course it's no problem. However, if your tree returns to the Sorcery Kingdom, all the products yielded by his totem wood will belong entirely to the Sorcery Kingdom... they won't be yours anymore."

Lin Zhao was immediately displeased: "That won't do. He is my person, and the tree is mine. If anyone else wants it, they have to trade something for it!"

The little bird rolled its eyes and didn't argue with him. Anyway, this was a family financial dispute between a wife and a father-in-law. No matter who managed the old tree's money, it was never going to be given to Sijin to manage. Why ask for this trouble?

"By the way, when is the Lord of the Di Kingdom coming back?" Ji Yaoguang casually changed the subject while calculating how he should account for the income he ought to give Ah Zhao from his divine father if they really returned to the Sorcery Kingdom.

"Who knows? The Qihong Kingdom seems to be in a lot of trouble. Not only are they offering money, they're also offering three strands of terrestrial Qi. Seeing such heavy stakes, my brother flew right over, and he probably won't be back anytime soon."

"In that case," Ji Yaoguang said decisively, "how about Ah Zhao and I go to the Qihong Kingdom to find the Lord of the Di Kingdom, and by the way, discuss this matter with Master Qihong as well?"

"Great, great, great!" The little totem bird immediately clapped its wings and cheered, "Perfect! The Qihong lineage excels at crafting all sorts of ingenious mechanisms, and Master Qihong is also the most formidable ritualist. If he can't make the talisman you want, no one else in this world probably can. I'll go help you notify my brother!"

With that, the little bird spread its wings and flew away, terrified that staying another second would cost it its entire fortune.

Lin Zhao stretched lazily, feeling a bit tired. He rolled around twice on the eggshell's grass blanket, and feeling it wasn't enough, he pulled Ji Yaoguang down to lie beside him.

"Yaoguang," he called out to him.

"Here," Ji Yaoguang answered softly.

"Yaoguang."

"I'm here."

"Yaoguang."

"I'm here."

Lin Zhao turned over and looked at him: "I'm hungry, be proactive."

Ji Yaoguang hesitated for a split second between dashing out to drag Weisheng Wu over for Ah Zhao to eat or offering himself up for Ah Zhao to eat, and then shifted closer to press his head against Ah Zhao's face.

Lin Zhao rubbed against him with satisfaction: "Yaoguang, why aren't you in a rush to take me to the Sorcery Kingdom anymore?"

"The turmoil there is far greater than in the Di Kingdom. I want to wait until you are familiar with the Sorcery Kingdom before we go, and besides..." Ji Yaoguang hesitated for a moment and said softly, "Here, I am only your tree."

At that instant, Lin Zhao's heart blossomed with joy.