Exploring Technology in a Wizard World

Cheka continued reading through the documents, occasionally picking one up and placing it beside him.

After a long while, Cheka raised his head, gathered about a dozen documents from beside him, and said to Canon, "Canon Steward, I believe there should be backups of the documents on your desk according to the regulations, so I'll simply borrow these for a while. I'm about to investigate the situations recorded in these documents and we'll talk again once I've completed my investigation."

After speaking, Cheka nodded at both Long Mei'er and Canon as a gesture of farewell. Without any further ado, he quickly left the room, exited the base, and no one knew where he went.

A silence fell over the room.

Moments later, Long Mei'er stepped out of the room as well, preparing to leave. As he reached the door, he paused slightly, turned his head, thought for a moment, and reminded Canon, "Canon Steward, since Cheka Inspector was sent by the 'Gray Mist' supervisor, if he is simply investigating regional issues, try to cooperate with him as much as possible.

If he does other things while investigating regional issues, then... within the organization's rules, also try to... hmm, cooperate with him as much as possible.

After all, we are all servants of the True God, we all... have no personal motives."

Having said that, Long Mei'er disappeared beyond the door.

Canon stood alone in the room as the sound of "patter patter" echoed from behind. A demonized white rabbit hidden in the corner leaped out and into his arms.

Canon gently reached out, stroking the soft fur of the white rabbit, and gazed out the door, seemingly lost in thought, and murmured to himself, "No personal motives, huh..."

If there were truly no personal motives, there wouldn't be such a statement, not to mention that this is the second time it's been said.

In actuality, within the organization, everyone has some personal motives, more or less.

These motives are not for mundane wealth or power but, in some sense, something more tempting than wealth and power, which is... Divine Favor.

Yes, Divine Favor.

A person with more Divine Favor is able to have greater contact with the True God, to be closer to the True God.

In the organization, every member of the core level is willing to dedicate themselves to the True God, but dedication varies in degrees.

In the lower levels, these differences are reflected in points, in the number of times one can be resurrected; in the upper levels, they are reflected in Divine Favor.

What exactly Divine Favor is, most people can't say for sure, but one thing is clear: having enough Divine Favor allows one to do almost anything.

For example, when Supervisor Long Mei'er used a small scroll to destroy the entire White Stone City, it was not due to his actual strength. Instead, he used up Divine Favor to communicate with the True God, who then descended Divine Punishment.

It's said that a sufficient amount of Divine Favor can be exchanged for the qualification to enter Heaven.

That's a realm governed by the True God, managed by the Silver Priest, and guarded by angels. In there, death and pain do not exist, and as long as one pledges absolute loyalty to the True God, they can attain eternal life.

One can even go further, completely shedding the shackles of the flesh to become a pure angel, or become... the sacred and invincible Silver Priest, second only to the True God.

"Hoo—"

Taking a deep breath, Steward Canon tried hard to calm his mind, imagining all the possible things Inspector Cheka might currently be doing, softly saying, "No personal motives, hmm, everyone in the organization has no personal motives."

After speaking, he closed the door, sat down at his seat, and began examining the documents, as if nothing had ever happened.

...

In the blink of an eye, nearly half a month had passed.

This period of time, for Shambala Town, was undoubtedly a tumultuous change.

Over a third of the mines outside the town changed hands, and the Mine Owners became Hua'er.

Once impoverished Hua'er has now become the most influential person in Shambala Town, with over half of the miners working for him, and the scale of his mines is still expanding with no sign of stopping.

While expanding, a large amount of ores are being produced and sold everywhere, while various novel structures are being built, enhancing mining efficiency.

Currently, the alchemy tools used for breaking rocks have become less mysterious, known to many. They only seem like a relatively potent gray powder that can unleash tremendous power after a series of special configurations.

If not for a few crucial ingredients that no one knows how to produce, any craftsman could replicate them. Of course, now most craftsmen in and around Shambala Town have entered factories in the mining area, earning high wages, exclusively responsible for using gray powder to assemble alchemy tools, supplied to the dismantling team led by Didak.

Moreover, some rail tracks hurriedly forged by blacksmiths are being laid on the mines. Several people are pushing repeatedly modified mine carts on the tracks, testing something. Some look on confused, some dismissively, yet some are curious, and others think further, vaguely feeling that this might change current mining procedures and greatly improve efficiency.

In short, the mines under Hua'er's command are constantly changing. Although these changes seem crude, they carry a powerful life force, as if preparing to transform the entire mine into a terrifying entity bit by bit.

In a sense, this could be considered a social experiment.

The person behind this experiment, Richard, is also somewhat curious about what the entire mine will ultimately become.

Will there be a chain reaction, thoroughly reforming the entire mining industry?

Of course, it doesn't matter if the expected results aren't achieved, because his true purpose in doing these things is the mining of uranium ores to be used in nuclear weapon research and manufacturing plans.

The reason for making such a spectacle is partly to disguise his real intentions.

After all, launching a massive manpower effort and spending a fortune to mine seemingly useless ore too easily attracts suspicion.

Now, with the comprehensive mining of Shambala Town's nearby mineral resources for sale, while secretly mining uranium ores alongside high-profit trading, it becomes rather discreet.

Even if someone becomes suspicious, their attention will initially fall on a few technological innovations in the mines, like railway transportation, explosives, and potentially more things to come.

This is precisely what he intentionally leaves for others to see.

He is well aware that disguising something so that others remain unsuspecting is very difficult. Even if achievable, it requires tremendous resources and effort, and once it fails, everything would be lost.

In that case, it's better to mislead others from the start, allowing them to harbor appropriate suspicion within a controllable scope.

This way, even if they do investigate, they will only find the answers he has already prepared, unable to uncover the real situation.

Of course, if they don't investigate, that's even better.

But will they?

...