Chapter 281
"The time is not the only issue," Silas continued, sliding a heavy stack of papers forward. "It is the capital. Even pooling the combined funds that every guild members have donated it is barely three million gold… combined with the remaining gold in the treasury and the gold we could get from the trade with the Siren Kingdom we could scrape together five million gold by the end of this month. That is a less than half of what we need."
Silas pointed a shaking finger at Mumud. "And that does not include the Head Mage's spatial expansion requests!"
Mason immediately slammed his hands onto the oak table.
The 1st-ranked Architect had a crazed, fanatical and slightly creepy look in his eyes. He completely ignored the bankruptcy warnings. He stared directly at Mumud.
"The spatial expansion blueprints are divine!" Mason yelled,drooling slightly. "If we invert the mana flow on the load-bearing anchors, we can fit four thousand beds into a barracks the size of a broom closet! The destroyed buildings are just a blank canvas!"
Tell the architect I require a heated obsidian sunbathing spire on the new wall, Vritra’s deep voice echoed lazily in Rudra’s mind from outside. If my scales are cold, I will freeze him and throw him into a storm.
Rudra rubbed his temples. "Vritra wants a heated obsidian spire, Mason. Add it to the list."
Mason furiously started sketching a jagged black spire onto the margins of the blueprint.
"We don't have the funds for obsidian!" Silas shrieked, furiously clicking his abacus. "The gold we need is just going tk incredibly high level!"
"I can leverage a corporate loan from Silver Crest," Cecilia offered calmly. "We can front the deficit. But the interest rates will be heavy to justify the risk."
Silas whipped his head around. He pulled a secondary, much smaller silver abacus out of his pocket.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
"At what interest rate?!" Silas demanded, furiously calculating. "If the rate exceeds three percent, the amortization schedule will bankrupt the future generation! I refuse!"
"We will negotiate the exact percentage later," Cecilia stated flatly.
Rudra looked around the room. The citizens outside were exhausted. His guild members looked tired. He couldn't stand the thought of his territory suffering for half a year just to clear the rubble.
"Six months is too long," Rudra said. The playful tone vanished from his voice. He sat up straight. "I'll stay here. I won't travel. I'll just cook round the clock and manually buff the workers. We can cut the time in half."
"No!" Silas yelled.
Rudra blinked. The young clerk had never raised his voice at him before.
Silas slammed his hands on the table. "You are the Duke! Your growth is the territory's growth. When you travel, you find new resources. Our territory has only been able to grow this much because you have been continuously bringing in new resources whenever you travel. If you stay locked in a kitchen, Stormbreak stagnates. My loyalty is to your future, My Liege, not short-term labor savings. You must travel!"
Rudra stared at the young clerk. A warm sense of pride washed over him. Silas cared more about Rudra's potential than the city's immediate convenience.
"Alright," Rudra said. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the oak table. "If I can't stay, and I can't teach them Mana Heart, then I'll just make something else."
Current, the water magician, frowned. "Make something? Boss, don't tell me you can just create gold due your 1st-ranking."
"I'm not able to create gold," Rudra grinned. "But I can create any skill I want."
The room went completely silent.
"You can... what?" Red asked, lowering his arms.
"A perk of my second legendary class," Rudra said casually. "The Deep Sage. It lets me forge new knowledge, be it a skill, a magic spell, a blueprint or a recipe. I can create one piece of knowledge based on my Wisdom and Intelligence stat."
Ash’s jaw dropped. The earnest Magic Swordsman stared at Rudra like he was looking at a god.
"Wait," Ash whispered, his voice cracking with awe. "Boss, when you mentioned that the skill that you create can help the territory … you mean you can also teach your skills to others?"
"How are you not banned by the S.A Group ?" Colt muttered, his eyes wide as Rudra smiled and nodded his head to their question.
A burning, desperate resolve ignited in the room. Every single player suddenly realized how absurdly broken a Legendary class truly was. They had to get one.
"Mumud and Pairo," Rudra called out. "You guys are the only ones who know my [Mana Heart] skill, so I need your help to help create a version of that everyone can learn,"
Rudra looked at his guild. "And I need you guys' help as well. We are going to build a breathing technique right now."