Talking to Ilminster was anything but a pleasant experience, especially since he often dwelled on his old memories as he spoke, and then, at some point, he suddenly began to count Henry's actions as an elder, and point out the stupid parts of it. His words are sharp and sometimes embarrassing.

But fortunately, Henry has always been tolerant of the elderly and children, but he listened with a smile and never refuted. He knows very well that this old man who likes to act arbitrarily was born in DR212 and has lived for more than 1,100 years, in folk parlance, the older he gets, the more like a child, and his eccentric personality is unbearable even for many acquaintances.

Of course, some of his words still make a lot of sense. For example, what should be paid attention to when fighting against evil gods, and what attitude should be taken to face those uncontrollable forces.

Apparently, the old mage believed that Henry's power did not come from himself, but had been obtained by chance during some adventure. He repeatedly emphasized how he had sealed those uncontrollable powers in his body during the time when the goddess of magic, Mystra, had fallen, and how he had resisted using them.

For more than an hour, Ilminster kept expounding on the theme that the more powerful the power, the more it needs to be restrained, otherwise it will bring irreparable disaster to the world. He is like a chattering old man, instilling those old and conservative values, as if all the forces that are too powerful but cannot be controlled are beasts of the flood, and it is better to ban them forever.

Although Henry scoffed at this view, he was not stupid enough to argue with a stubborn old man. In his opinion, the temporary inability to control zhì is not determined to be unable to control zhì in the future. The power of fear is a very ridiculous thing in itself.

Could it be that the research on new magic should be stopped because it is impossible to control it?

Is it possible to cause disasters and society should stop progressing?

No one in their right mind would think so. Perhaps this great sage of the Valley of Shadows is really old. Started to hate change. From the bottom of my heart, I believe that it is better for the world to remain the same, without any turmoil, and at the same time not to move forward, and to be permanently fixed in peacetime. He went from being passionate about helping others and solving crises to being afraid of trouble and getting tired of getting involved in it, as you can tell from his penchant for hiring young adventurers.

When the sun had gone down completely, Ilminster finally ended his tirade. stood up and shook the cigarette ash on his body: "Okay, thank you for your patience to listen to an old guy like me for a long time." But I sincerely hope that young mages like you don't get lost in power. See it for what it is, and don't let the power affect your thinking in reverse. ”

"Rest assured, Samaste and I are completely different people, and we will never do anything as crazy as he did." As he spoke, Henry also stood up. He knew very well that the first vote of the goddess of magic was nothing more than fearing that he would follow the path of the dragon lich sect leader, so he did not hesitate to make a guarantee.

But Ilminster did not believe this assurance, sighed slightly and said: "This is exactly what I am worried about. You are more talented than him, you are also more aggressive in your approach to your enemies, and you even have the power to strike fear into the hearts of the gods. That's right. You two are different, although he has caused us a lot of trouble after he fell into evil. But it doesn't really threaten the balance of good and evil. And once you fall into evil, then the form of the entire main plane is likely to change dramatically, and a war that will encompass half of the western continent will be inevitable. ”

"Fall into evil?" There was a hint of disdain on Henry's face.

"Don't put me on a par with those idiots who are full of destruction. In fact, like you, I am committed to the principle of neutrality, and I will not offend anyone if they do not offend me. In terms of territorial development, I support the teachings of the goddess of agriculture, on the premise of not destroying the ecological environment, to reclaim as much wasteland as possible, and to use the principle of equal emphasis on handicrafts, agriculture and commerce, so that every ordinary person can live a prosperous life. Do you think that my actions can be associated with evil? What I like is the creation of zào, only the creation of zào can bring civilization. ”

"I'm glad you're doing this, and I've read the Harpists' League's report, especially since Bluvent is almost one of the richest cities in the Western Continent." Speaking of this, Ilminster paused abruptly, and then showed a look that seemed to be able to see through a qiē.

"But some of your other actions are not so reassuring, such as the fact that some of your officers seem to have followed a fellow named Dick back to Turmis. As far as I know, he seems to be a member of the royalist party, and many of the former nobles are trying to secretly train the army and overthrow the current republican system. Don't you think this needs to be explained? ”

After hearing these accusations, Henry not only showed any panic, but instead laughed and nodded: "You are right, I am indeed supporting the royalists of Turmis, to be exact, supporting Dick the person. You seem to have forgotten that I am still the king of West Hartland, and of course, there has not been an official enthronement ceremony yet. As a feudal monarch, I certainly have to take into account the stability of the periphery, and the republican Turmis is too turbulent to be in the interests of West Hartland. And I think this is a pure political behavior, which has nothing to do with good or evil. ”

"The goddess of magic is above! I really don't see that you're still an ambitious monarch. Ilminster shuddered in surprise and almost threw his beloved pipe on the ground.

Henry smiled and shook his head and explained, "No, it's not for power, it's about mastering more resources. My goal is to recreate the glorious magical civilization of the Nethril era, and as I am sure you know, this requires a large number of mages and a lot of resources. Only after more land, population, and wealth can I have enough money to invest in education, maybe ten, twenty, thirty, or even a hundred years, and one day I can make the city float in the air again. ”

Ilminster shook his head with a wry smile and exclaimed, "It's crazy! I now finally know where that palpitating feeling comes from. ”

Speaking of this, his eyes inadvertently revealed a trace of nostalgia for the past: "I have to say, this is a great dream, whether it is the Floating City, or the core of Mythera, which can infinitely extract energy from the magic net, it is the yearning of all mages. But I advise you to give up. I once saw a real core of Mithera in Mystrono. It is a work of art that perfectly combines magic and alchemy. It is simply not possible to do it with the current level of craftsmanship. ”

"Just because you can't do it now doesn't mean you can't do it later. If the Great Arcanist Iorem was able to create it thousands of years ago, why can't we modern people? If the craft can't be improved, the principle is not clear and can be studied, but if you don't even dare to think about it, then the magic of the future will only decline more and more. As an arcane user, I think it's a sadness. Henry didn't care about the other party's face at all, and retorted directly.

In this regard, he has always stood by his opinion. What kind of lost technology, to put it bluntly, is not the lack of exploration spirit of modern mages. One by one, they all cling to the magic net, and only study the spells that can be released through the magic net. Perhaps only the legendary mages would have dabbled in primordial magic, but the research was far from being done by the arcanists of the Nethrel era.

Although the magic net gave the mages a more convenient and safer way to cast spells, it imprisoned their minds. What Henry had to do now was to invest more in education so that more people could join the mage ranks, and then pick the best ones to rejoin the study of primordial magic.

It's a huge undertaking, and even with the guidance of a virtuoso remnant of the Nessera era, Borken, it will take more than a few years to achieve initial results. But the investment will definitely not be less than a few million gold coins, most of which will be used to improve people's livelihood and education. Only when there are more smart people can we recruit enough apprentices.

As an old-fashioned and legendary mage, Ilminster clearly knew the ins involved. At the same time, he could also feel the strong enterprising spirit of the young man in front of him, so he could only shake his head helplessly in the end: "Okay, I hope your country will not become the same as Serre." I've heard that your new new city in the north has begun to openly sell slaves. ”

"Rest assured, I will only allow those orcs to capture those evil monsters, and there will be absolutely no good races such as humans, elves, gnomes, dwarves, and halflings. Of course, you can think of this as a kind of self-defense, because the monsters kill the merchants and rob them of their goods. Wouldn't it be more merciful to let the monsters work than to kill them outright? Saying that, Henry spread his hands indifferently.

He didn't think there was anything to make a fuss about. Instead of killing these guys who only know how to destroy on the spot, it is better to capture them as slaves, which can not only supplement the problem of a large shortage of labor, but also earn a lot of profits and taxes, and at the same time, the orcs who advocate martial arts can also have a place to vent their excessive energy.

The most important thing is that under such continuous encirclement, it will not be long before the monsters of the Supreme Wasteland retreat into the depths, and the large swamps that have been vacated can be developed and can be turned into large areas of fertile farmland.

In Henry's impression, if a country wants to become strong, it must have one or several pillar industries. In a continent of intrigue, turmoil and war, there is nothing more important than food, so he wants to make his country the most important food producer.

Just like the United States on the planet, first the dollar was pegged to gold, and then the dollar was pegged to oil. Through two financial reforms, it made itself the only settlement currency in the world, so that it could plunder the wealth of other countries at will.

But what Henry has to do is not so complicated, he just needs to pry open the doors of all the surrounding countries with food, and then promote cash crops to these countries. In this way, their grain production will gradually decrease, and when they exceed a certain distance, it will be too late to change it back.

As long as the export of food is banned, food prices in these countries will inevitably skyrocket, followed by violent instability. In such a bad situation, I am afraid that no matter what excessive conditions he proposes, the other party can only grit his teeth and agree. If you firmly grasp this, you will be able to manipulate the economy, politics, and military of other countries, and thus turn them into outright vassals.

It can be said that this is a relatively mild method, which does not require war or bloodshed, and although it is a little despicable, it does not violate the bottom line of the Harpists' League.

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