Chapter 115 New World
2015-11-06
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
Today, due to some unexpected events, the exploration of the Wizard Tower has been postponed for a few days.
Because the Old Sea Dog has returned.
In fact, Soren had already thought that the Old Sea Dog was dead. Sailing on the sea inevitably leads to some accidents, such as encountering incredibly powerful sea monsters, facing terrifying storms, or ships accidentally running aground. The fleet that the Old Sea Dog took out had lost contact for two months, and basically, the management of Modo City had considered him dead and assigned his position to someone else. However, it was unexpected that this guy actually came back alive.
Coming back alive is one thing, but the Old Sea Dog was not particularly important in the management of Modo.
However, this time his return was quite interesting.
Because the Old Sea Dog brought back a lot of useful information for Soren. He did not return to Modo City via the Eastern Sea Route but reached Modo by taking another route from the other side of the Amazon rainforest. This is a new route, and the Old Sea Dog’s safe return proves that it is not particularly dangerous. In the rudimentary nautical chart he drew, the final destination of this route is a huge and somewhat desolate island.
Located at the junction of the Eastern World, it is larger than several southern kingdoms combined, with one-third of its land showing signs of desertification, though not as severe as in the Eastern Kingdom. The island has remnants of ancient ruins; very little can be seen on the surface due to the long passage of time, but there may be more undiscovered things underground.
The Old Sea Dog and his crew discovered large city ruins but did not see any indigenous people living there.
This island is about two to three days away from the shipping route of the Eastern Sea, and at present, from what they explored, only some Eastern Pirates use the coastline here as a secret base.
No one from the Eastern Kingdom has deepened their research and exploration of this island.
It is not that the people of the Eastern Kingdom lack a spirit of adventure, but this island is said to be sealed with some powerful Ancient Evil Artifacts in their legends.
The Old Sea Dog and his crew did not encounter any Ancient Evil Artifacts; even if they did, it was unlikely they would come back alive. However, when they were exploring the outskirts of the city ruins, they encountered quite a few Undead and spirits. These entities were beyond their ability to deal with, and after losing a few men, the Old Sea Dog decisively abandoned further exploration and directly led a night raid on the Eastern Pirates’ lair, seizing a warship to return to Modo City from the Amazon rainforest.
The Old Sea Dog still has a bit of wit.
He actually knew to bring back something valuable for Soren to see, which for Soren was certainly not gold or jewelry. Modo City is not lacking in those. The Old Sea Dog brought back some peculiar dark red soil, some special alchemy parts, the corpses of mutated creatures living nearby, and an object that looked like a light bulb.
In the Old Sea Dog’s words, this thing was found in a room within the ruins and had presumably been lit for an unknown duration.
There were two or three boxes of things brought back.
Unfortunately, none of them were of astonishing value, showing that the Old Sea Dog really only made a perimeter tour. Soren picked up a piece of alchemy part and glanced at it, then handed it to Gloria and the Fallen Witch beside him, saying in a deep voice, “Could this be from a fallen Floating City?”
Gloria looked at some of the junk and shook her head, frowning, “Can’t determine.”
“The craftsmanship of these items is not very advanced; if it were really a Floating City that fell there, why didn’t it produce a massive explosion? Logically speaking, there shouldn’t be any large city ruins remaining intact in the Material Plane now. It could just be another wizard city buried in history, and we’ll need to investigate further to be sure.”
The Fallen Witch nodded in agreement and slowly said, “Currently, it doesn’t seem to have much value, but maybe we can consider exploring it after taking over the Wizard Tower.”
“The only complete Floating City ruins that exist in the Material Plane can only be found in the Eastern Kingdom.”
Soren nodded and said, “Hmm. I see.”
After saying that, he turned his attention to the nautical chart in front of him. Based on the chart drawn by the Old Sea Dog, his returning route would pass through the Amazon rainforest and ultimately reach the border of the Eastern Kingdom. Soren’s finger gently tapped on the map, seemingly contemplating some important issue. After a moment, he shook his head and reached out to erase a certain marking on the map.
“The Eastern Sea is too far.”
Soren gazed at the nautical chart, murmuring, “At this critical time of the Saint’s Cataclysm, it is no longer suitable for me to expand my territory again. The Frozen Kingdom is manageable because of Princess Anna and the long princess; otherwise, managing the distance from the Southern Coast would have long been riddled with loopholes.”
“The Eastern Sea.”
“The benefits of taking it over and the costs paid are simply not proportional.”
Soren already held sway over three maritime regions.
If he were to take the Eastern Sea, he would almost have completed the human activities in maritime regions. However, the current situation is that the cost of seizing the Eastern Sea is too high, and the benefits obtained are quite limited. Obtaining another route to Arendelle is no longer of much use to Soren, and he would rather invest that energy elsewhere.
Nevertheless, this sea area still needs to be marked.
The core territory of the Arcane Empire is in the Eastern Kingdom, and the place where the Floating Cities fell during the destruction of the Arcane Empire is in the East. No one can determine whether they might stumble upon a dead rat by blind chance.
Time passed by, and a day went by in the blink of an eye.
Just as Soren prepared to continue exploring the Wizard Tower, a minor unexpected event occurred once more.
Leaffall City.
An important message had been sent from Modo City’s intelligence system, stating that a portion of the half-elves in Leaffall City seemed to have organized and were praying for Soren’s protection, preparing for collective migration to the Overseas Islands. The significance of this matter was crucial, and the subordinates could not make a decision, so it was sent to Soren at the first opportunity. The half-elves are currently a major source of followers for Soren, so he attaches great importance to this matter as well. He would never think having more population is a burden; he would definitely welcome half-elves migrating to the Overseas Islands.
However.
Modo City is already at capacity.
In the initial design, Modo City was structured similarly to ancient Rome, accommodating a population of only several tens of thousands. Even with the third expansion, it would not exceed one hundred thousand. It’s not that Modo City can’t physically accommodate so many people; it’s that various supplies of food and essentials can only be maintained at this scale for efficient operation. The transport capacity in this era is very limited; it takes considerable effort to transport a shipload of fish from Modo City’s harbour to the inner city. An overly large concentration of population would lead to Modo City becoming quite bloated.
If these half-elves wished to come over, their treatment would certainly not be as favorable as that of the first batch.
They would likely only be able to settle in the nearby towns that are currently expanding. Only when all the towns surrounding Modo City are fully established can the supply system truly be built, and the population capacity of Modo City can expand to over one hundred thousand!
………………(To Be Continued ~^~)
