Chapter 104 (1/2)

The rest of the council members, oblivious to the circ.u.mstances of the time, c.o.c.ked their heads in confusion. Duke Pendleton asked once more, unable to understand the situation.

“I thought it was impossible to use magic in the other world, for mana doesn’t exist in that place?”

“That is precisely why I developed the object the Director of Security possesses now. It is an artifact which allows one to use magic even in an environment completely void of mana. That is also why it was designed like an object that would blend in perfectly in my world.”

“… Is that possible?”

“It was quite feasible. If it weren’t for the opposition from the Royal Family during its final stages of development.”

Yoo-rah spoke with a hint of criticism in her voice. Irritated, the Emperor coughed dryly a couple times before he asked.

“Why did my predecessor oppose your idea?”

“When you apply extreme heat to a mana crystal, it purges the crystal of all the impurities that give it a solid form and leaves behind pure mana in a liquid crystal state. We then put those liquid crystals under extreme pressure again.”

“Wait, won’t mana simply turn into gas and evaporate if you do that?”

“That is why we mixed finely ground dragon bones to hold the mana in place.”

“…”

Most of the council members’ jaws dropped, and they stared aghast at the Queen. How could she even think of using dragons?

Dragons were beings that could render the world asunder with a mere cough. Ironically, they possessed so much power that they were powerless.

“Don’t be mistaken. I used the bones of dragons that had died before the 7 Days of Calamity, not the dragons of today.”

“… Did they really give permission?”

“That’s how desperate the situation was back then. The time and leisure we have now is something we couldn’t have even dreamt of.”

“Should I be proud of this fact? That my ancestor objected to a project that even dragons made sacrifices for?”

The Emperor criticised himself, and Yoo-rah continued with an awkward expression on her face.

“It was something that would have been impossible without help from the dragons. It may have been possible to compress the mana once with our abilities, but compressing and purifying the already-pressurised mana crystals again and again was only possible with the help of the dragons. So we compressed the crystals repeatedly until it was no longer possible. At the end of it, we had used…”

Yoo-rah stopped and took out a fountain pen from her pocket before she finished her sentence.

“We had used more than a million of the purest mana crystals to create just one about as large as this pen I’m holding.”

There were only expressions of pure shock in the room. One million. Although it was simply a number on paper, the weight of that number was extraordinary.

Not to mention she had only used crystals of the highest purity. Its monetary value alone was enough to run the Empire for hundreds of years. And it had all evaporated.

“I remember now. We were so desperate back then.”

“It’s still painful to remember, nostalgic as it is. It was no exaggeration to say that all of the races had truly gone mad back then.”

The few elder council members that were aware of the circ.u.mstances back then shook their heads bitterly.

“Wait, even if everything else is as you say, how did you manage to procure such a quant.i.ty of mana crystals? From what I know, the number of mana crystals we excavate annually don’t reach ten thousand.”

Duke Pendleton asked his question, and both the Queen and the elder council members let out a sigh simultaneously.

“We scoured the continent and gathered all the mana crystals back then. It was still not enough, so all of the races scoured once more in search of mana crystal deposits. Most of the mana crystal mines that exist now were found back then.”

“… And it’s still incomplete you say?”

The Emperor asked with a mix of astonishment and fear. The Queen answered blatantly.

“It’s just a prototype. Once the development phase was over, the plan was to ma.s.s produce it and deploy a team of agents into the other world. We couldn’t possibly send just a lone agent behind the enemy line right? But the defensive coat’s development finished just before we finished making our first prototype. So the Grand Council had to make a decision. And the Emperor took the side of the defensive coat.”

The objection was understandable. It was akin to burning the stable down to catch some fleas. They may have been desperate when there weren’t any solutions, but when another solution presented itself, there was no reason to willingly waste so much resources.

“The Grand Council still contemplated continuing its development, as they had invested so much resources on it already, but there just weren’t going to be enough mana crystals left if we started ma.s.s producing defensive coats. The gate could have opened at any moment. And they were exhausted from the number of casualties and the constant shortage of manpower. So they eventually decided on the defensive coat, which would demonstrate immediate results.”

All of the council members sighed, having to digest such a dire past.

“Makes sense why they rejected it.”

Duke Pendleton muttered, and everyone else nodded in agreement. Yoo-rah smirked, seemingly finding their reactions amusing as she continued.

“It didn’t matter what they chose, since I was the one developing it all. Having decided on ma.s.s-producing the defensive coats, I recycled and reused the byproducts of my other projects. But I couldn’t find a way to recycle that artifact whatsoever. I mean, it was and still is impossible to destroy something made of finely ground dragon bone in the first place.”

“But you’ve never thought of a different use for that artifact until now?”

The Emperor complained to Yoo-rah, and she replied back with a grumble.

“And how am I supposed to use it? I am a developer, not a user. You shouldn’t expect such a creative use of that artifact like the Director of Security demonstrated. And do you really think I had time on my hand to think of something else when both the Empire and the Grand Council were nagging at me about the defensive coat? I’ve experienced enough minimal funding, endless hours, and soul-crus.h.i.+ng work in the engineering departments of my previous world already.”

“So the result of an incalculable funding had been shoved in the corner of storage until now?”