Chapter 637: The Jade Splendor Enclave, An Extreme Credit Society! |
One month later. The Jade Splendor Enclave.
The wizard airship emerged suddenly from within the network route in the sky above the Jade Splendor Enclave. The network routes in that sky were interconnected in the form of waterways, and stretched above this wizard land was a long channel of magical energy flowing like a river.
Locke stood at the translucent time-gold crystal window and looked down below. "We have arrived a full day ahead of schedule. It seems the Star Domain Sea's Waterway Plan has not left us entirely unaffected. Its influence has seeped into every aspect of our lives."
Wizard Warwick nodded and said, "Precisely. The speed of travel between the various wizard lands of the Eastern Border Region has improved."
"Not by a great deal."
"But if the Star Domain Sea's Demon Elevation Plan continues, perhaps one day the time cost of traveling between the various wizard lands will be reduced to its absolute minimum!"
Locke gave a small nod.
At the same time, he turned his attention to the current state of the Jade Splendor Enclave below. In the sky above the wizard land, numerous floating islands could be seen, and beneath them lay dark, sunken basin lowlands.
Both places had city structures.
The floating islands sat high in the sky, drawing vast quantities of magical energy upward from the ground below, gathering it within the floating cities above.
The floating cities were breathtakingly beautiful, with verdant mountains and clear waters, filled with magical flying vessels, their level of civilization appearing comparable to Cloud Marsh Wetland at first glance.
The ground below, by contrast, was a bleak expanse of dark mountains and pale wastelands, a scene of decay, with barely a proper city in sight.
Ordinary mortals survived like insects in this forsaken land, living in tribal settlements scattered across the terrain.
Locke took this in with a slight frown. "Warwick, what is going on here? The magical tides on the floating islands can rival those of Cloud Marsh Wetland, yet the ground-level basins are nearly devoid of magical energy."
"The difference in civilization between sky and earth... it is far too vast."
Wizard Warwick waved a hand and said, "Don't ask me. This has nothing to do with us black wizards. You should ask your white wizards about that. This is the handiwork of your people."
"Of course, the White Wizard Associations and Black Wizard Alliances in different regions all operate in completely different ways. Their histories, cultures, and even racial compositions differ enormously."
"So it has little to do with either of you two specifically. At the very least, Cloud Marsh Wetland gives people a fair chance. I can admit that in Cloud Marsh Wetland, hard work does lead to reward."
Witch Shirley let out a cold snort.
Wizard Warwick pointed at the ground below and said to Locke, "This is the unique and peculiar ecology of the Jade Splendor Enclave. It is a region of characteristically low magic and moderate martial cultivation."
Low magic?
Locke said, "So the baseline environment of the Jade Splendor Enclave is worse even than the southeastern quadrant."
Warwick said, "Exactly. So the wizards of the Jade Splendor Enclave established inherited wizard formations across the land and commissioned alchemists to construct floating cities, drawing the magical tides from heaven and earth upward. The floating islands are paradises, while below them is... a burnt and desolate purgatory."
"Locke, you have seen and heard far too little of the world. You have only visited three wizard lands, so your surprise is natural. The white wizard lady beside you seems far more accustomed to this sort of thing."
Warwick said, "Welcome to the most terrifying credit society in the Eastern Border Region!"
Locke looked at him with puzzlement.
By then, the airship had begun its descent toward the largest floating island, drifting downward toward the landing area.
Warwick said, "In this wizard land, only wizards, wizard apprentices, and mortals on the verge of becoming wizard apprentices have any chance of living on the floating islands."
"There are also some slave races belonging to wizards."
"And human servants selected by wizards to serve them. You know how it is. Hypocritical white wizards cannot abide holding humans as slaves, so they can only recruit them in the form of contract workers."
"Beyond those groups, everyone else can only live... down on that ground below."
"And so the mortals on the ground call the wizards above the sky-dwellers."
"But if any sky-dweller dares to default on debts and goes bankrupt through prolonged inability to repay, that wizard is expelled from the floating island and forced to live on the ground."
Warwick said, "Which is why this is one of the most terrifying credit societies in the Eastern Border Region. If you owe money here and do not repay it, you are forced to leave the floating island, go down to the ground, and be worked by your white wizards' black-market factories."
"That fate... is too terrible to contemplate."
Witch Shirley let out a cold snort. "There is no need to be so alarmist. Only wizards who owe money and refuse to repay it could possibly be expelled from the floating islands."
"As long as a wizard works hard, they will not be forced to leave the floating islands. The wizards here are far from as badly off as you describe."
"I think you are far too focused on extreme hypothetical scenarios."
Wizard Warwick looked at Witch Shirley and said, "Works hard? Miss Divine Master, it is you who are being too idealistic. What about a wizard who has lost the ability to work? What if they are injured, or fall ill, or pursue a mistaken research direction and waste a large sum of money?"
"I am not speaking of a full wizard at their peak. I am speaking of the situation where a full wizard encounters an accident and is genuinely unable to repay their debts. They will first lose their property and be expelled from the floating island."
"Because they have been expelled from the floating island, they cannot find normal employment."
"Because they cannot find normal employment, they are ultimately forced into the black-market factories, trading their labor for a small amount of magical resources just to maintain their most basic magical strength in the lower world."
Wizard Warwick laid out the brutal truth of the Jade Splendor Enclave in cold and unflinching words. "The inherited wizard formations across the land draw all the magical tides from the lower world upward to sustain these floating islands that resemble a celestial realm. So a wizard stranded in the lower world, if they do not sell their labor to the black-market factories, will quickly have their magical energy forcibly drained away, lose their magical strength, and see their body grow weak and wretched beyond description."
"Miss Divine Master, have any of your friends ever experienced something like this?"
"No. You are a distinguished researcher at Golden Crown Mountain. Of course you would never encounter such a situation. You have powerful mentors around you, and even if you met with an accident, there would be someone to catch you."
A deep and profound sadness flickered through Wizard Warwick's eyes. "But I have had many friends who fell into exactly the miserable circumstances I described."
"They simply had no backing. They were alone. They had no one to help them. Then they encountered a setback, and due to some accident, they lost their property on the floating island and had no choice but to fall to the ground below."
"Their magical energy was being siphoned away every moment of every day. They sank into a state of extreme misery. The black-market factories came calling, and there they were even worse off, but for the small amount of magical energy supplement those factories offered, they had no choice but to sell what little value they had left."
A deep and profound anger suffused Wizard Warwick's voice. "Some of those friends of mine did perhaps deserve such an end. But others among them only loved their work, only wanted to search for truth, and simply lacked the talent to excel."
"They only lacked talent. So they took out loans to conduct research and came away with nothing to show for it. Then they went bankrupt and were thrown into the lower world. Why should they have been treated this way?"
Wizard Warwick closed his eyes. "Locke, can you make sense of it? I cannot."
"The Jade Splendor Enclave, my foolish and wretched homeland. The white wizard society here is systematically discarding the talentless wizards at the bottom that it deems unnecessary."
"Those wizards at the bottom may have been a little lacking in talent, but what did they do to deserve such treatment? This wizard land is systematically creating the very wizards who end up in its black-market factories." Warwick looked at Locke and said, "And the ones most likely to encounter accidents are precisely those who are most desperate to advance."
"A wizard apprentice or full wizard who is content to hold on to what they already have is actually less likely to encounter an accident. But those who want to climb higher must inevitably take risks, and if they fail, they are forced to leave the floating island."
"And once they fall to the lower world, a vicious cycle quickly takes hold, a continuous descent through the social ranks that ultimately steers them toward the black-market factories."
"This wizard land continuously punishes those who work hard but lack talent."
Wizard Warwick clasped his hands behind his back and directed a challenge at Locke and Witch Shirley. "White wizards, I ask you, is this right?"
"Is that the reason you became a black wizard?" Witch Shirley fixed him with a cold stare. "You black wizards always have your own justifications for the evil you do."
Witch Shirley let out a cold snort and said quietly to Locke, "Locke, don't pay him any attention. Think of who you are and who he is. You are the Throne's last personal disciple. How could you put stock in his words?"
Wizard Warwick smiled with a knowing expression. "And that is precisely why you white wizards will never understand us."
Locke looked at Wizard Warwick with some surprise, not having expected that this abyss werewolf wizard's hometown was none other than the Jade Splendor Enclave itself.
Locke said quietly, "Warwick, do not forget why we came here. We are not here to carry out social reform or to pass judgment on this society."
Warwick immediately understood what Locke meant and voluntarily offered an apology to Witch Shirley. "My apologies. My apologies. I always end up venting some foolish grievances whenever I return home. Please do not take offence, Witch Shirley."
Witch Shirley let out a cold snort. "Think nothing of it. In any case, we are only working together as partners. You had best truly have information on the tomb of that Nameless King's wife."
Warwick said with confidence, "Rest assured. I do. It is simply that the ruins are heavily defended by ancient magical traps, making it difficult to get close at the moment."
"We have arrived."
The wizard airship descended onto the landing platform with a great rumbling sound.
The three of them disembarked together. The No. 1 Main Island was nothing short of a paradise of birdsong and fragrant blossoms, the air uncommonly fresh, and every person walking the streets was a wizard.
Magical lampposts lined the clean roads, and carriages drawn by magical creatures were everywhere to be seen.
Warwick skillfully hailed one such magical carriage and, after paying one hundred magic stones, had Locke and Witch Shirley board with him.
Warwick said, "Our destination is the Cinder Esoteric Order Academy on Vortex Reef No. 13. However, Vortex Reef No. 13 is connected to the No. 1 Main Floating Island by a magical bridge built by an architect."
"Both of you, the Cinder Esoteric Order Academy contains the planar coordinates and the teleportation gate leading to the tomb of the Nameless King's wife. You may prepare yourselves mentally right now. Tonight is the perfect opportunity for our archaeology team, composed of four doctors of archaeology, to show what we are made of."
A deep and intense hunger flashed through Wizard Warwick's eyes. "If we can unravel the secrets of the Nameless King from the Era of Stars, we will certainly earn this year's Istoria Archaeology Award!"
"I am willing to have my name placed last. I only ask that you both help me unravel this ancient secret that has been buried in history."
Inside the carriage, Locke and Witch Shirley sat on one side while Warwick sat on the other.
As the carriage rolled along, Locke observed that the No. 1 Floating Island was an entirely self-contained little society, with buildings packed closely together and magical devices everywhere.
To the civilization on the ground below, it would indeed appear as though it were an immortal realm.
But Locke was reluctant to pass judgment. For one thing, his standing was still modest. For another, he had only just arrived.
As a wizard, how could he form a verdict about a region's civilization based purely on first impressions?
Yet deep down, Locke genuinely believed that the advancement of civilization ought to naturally raise the quality of life for everyone within it.
The Jade Splendor Enclave's model of civilization, one in which the strong plundered the resources of the weak, sat uneasily with him.
Locke thought, 'Perhaps the fifty-three wizard lands of the Eastern Border Region each pursue their own paths of development, and that diversity itself is one of the driving forces behind the vitality of our wizard civilization. The differences between the southeastern quadrant, Cloud Marsh Wetland, the Land of the Six Towers, and the Jade Splendor Enclave are indeed profound.'
He thought further, 'But I have not yet encountered anyone from the proper wizard academies of this region, so I do not know what the research capabilities of this region's wizard academies are like.'
'Perhaps they have their own strengths in certain areas.'
Inside the carriage, Witch Shirley said to Warwick, "That is not necessary. Things should be as they are. There is no need for your performance, black wizard."
Locke also smiled at Warwick and said, "Mr. Warwick, your contribution to this expedition is plain to all. Up to this point, you are the one who has contributed the most."
"It is fairer if we determine the order of our names based on each person's contribution."
Wizard Warwick's eyes curved into a pair of satisfied arcs. "Truly worthy of someone from Cloud Marsh Wetland. In your land, hard work does indeed bring reward."
"Otherwise your wizards over there would not be so fond of working hard."
"Very well. Let us determine the order of our names according to the merit-based system you all love so much."
The magical carriage carried the three of them across a wizard bridge of approximately five kilometers in length, then arrived at Vortex Reef No. 13.
This vortex reef was a small floating island suspended within a storm vortex in the sky. The island appeared to contain only a small city, and at the center of that city stood the Cinder Esoteric Order Academy.
Warwick dismissed the soundproofing barrier around the carriage, paid the wizard coachman, and was the first to step out.
At that moment, standing before the castle building of the Cinder Esoteric Order Academy was already a wizard dressed in black wizard robes.
This middle-aged wizard glanced at Warwick and said, "Instructor Warwick, you were gone a very long time this time."
Warwick smiled and said, "My two friends were simply too hospitable. They kept me entertained in Cloud Marsh Wetland for two months, nothing more."
"Instructor McKinley, the timing of our departure is entirely up to us anyway. Two months later makes no difference whatsoever."
Warwick said to Locke, "This is Wizard Christopher McKinley."
"He and I are both full wizard instructors at the Cinder Esoteric Order Academy."
"We have been teaching here for many years. The Cinder Esoteric Order Academy is an archaeology-focused wizard academy. And we hold our own white wizard status here in the Jade Splendor Enclave. In the Jade Splendor Enclave, money can buy anything, including white wizard status!"
"So Miss Divine Master, do not think about suddenly turning on us afterward. Both Wizard McKinley and I are White Wizard Association... members."
"We are good wizards."
