"Inter-Kingdom Transportation System: Designed for smooth, efficient and cheap travel between cities. Goods can also be transported regularly, without a need of waiting for strong enough Mages to come along.
Pros:
-Easily accessible to common folk.
-Can enable two Kingdoms to share their strengths and shore up their weaknesses
-Capable of regularly transporting essential items
Cons:
-High initial setup cost
-Will result in a period of loss, as common folk cannot pay much
-Mages and Magic Portals are already accessible in most locations. Hence, financially not feasible."
A train! A damn train!
Daneel could barely control his excitement. As someone from Earth, he knew exactly how important a proper train network was.
He had actually considered this, himself, long ago, but he had discarded it due to various reasons.
Most of all, it had been too ambitious at that point.
However, now, seeing that the Emperor, himself, had been thinking about it, he saw hope.
Sure enough, when Daneel touched the image that was showing this information, detailed plans unfolded.
One of the reasons for him getting so excited was also that the cons that were listed were no longer true.
At least, the most important one didn't apply at all to this age.
Considering the number of high-level Mages that used to exist during the Empire's time, it must have been easy to build and monitor portals, like the ones at the base of the mountain on which the capital city of the Kingdom of the Elves was located.
The longer the distance between two portals, the more the power required to maintain them.
Even the Eldinorians had had to spend large amounts of money to set up just those few portals. They had wanted to show off that theirs was the 'Magic Destination in the Continent'.
Yet, those only teleported someone for a distance of a few hundred meters, at most.
Hence, building a portal between 2 Kingdoms was completely unheard of, and would even seem absurd.
As for regular teleportation, in this Age, Mages were so scarce that only the richest of common folk would have access to it.
So, their go-to methods for transport were either Ether-powered carriages, if they were capable of hiring one and walking.
Goods were always being snatched away on the way by mercenaries, and that had been the reason why Daneel had set up his own 'Angarian Delivery' system, which was inspired by 'Amazon' back on Earth.
Only, the rise of this scheme had been slow, as he hadn't had enough money to pump into it.
Now, with this plan of the Emperor's in front of him, Daneel realized that it might be possible to give that scheme the success he had always wished for.
Also, the other advantages, such as addressing the common folk's needs in traveling, would definitely make even the satisfaction level rise.
Any way he saw it, there was only profit.
And besides, it was a f*cking train!
If this amazing piece of heritage didn't impress him, then he shouldn't even call himself a former Earthling.
Seeing the King enter a deep state of concentration, Eloise had been silent, even though she had been the one to call him over.
She had been very intrigued by this strategy, as even she could tell how useful such a network of transport would be. The economic benefits, themselves, were so momentous.
Teleportation didn't work for large amounts of goods, so, the market of on-foot transportation was a major one which they had entered into.
Clearly, they were both thinking the same things.
Looking at her, Daneel realized that he didn't even need to explain anything. He said, "Eloise, take these plans. As soon as this meeting is over, sit with our assembly line and our finance ministers to modify this so that it can be implemented now. ASAP. Ok?"
The plans the Emperor had drawn up involved using complicated trinkets on the tracks.
Each trinket was capable of absorbing the forward momentum of the 'train' and pushing it forward, just like a spring.
Of course, such extravagance was impossible right now, as hundreds of thousands of such trinkets would have to be made. In this Age, there were neither the resources nor the manpower.
Thankfully, the model of the train, itself, could be adapted.
Instead of coal, like on Earth, this train burned Ether Blocks to propel itself forward.
Also, the Emperor had wanted it in the air simply because it would 'look impressive'.
Again, this was another useless aspect which could be removed.
What he did have to do, though, was add measures to protect the train from possible attackers.
How cool would it look if the train was mounted with crossbows and catapults?
His head buzzing with ideas, Daneel listed them all down inwardly so that he wouldn't forget any of them.
After doing that, he slapped his head.
How could he not have gotten this idea, himself, even after that windfall that had given him almost unlimited resources?
This should have been one of the first things he pursued!
Well, it wasn't too late now. No matter what, he would implement this, even if he faced all kinds of challenges.
In fact, Daneel was looking forward to seeing the challenges, so that he could solve them.
All in all, this was another thing that would change the course of this continent for the better.
Eloise understood this, too, as she obeyed the King's orders and immediately handed him a data trinket.
After Daneel transferred the details to it, Eloise shot him a sweet smile before walking away to check out all the other stuff.
At the same moment, Daneel found himself being called by Kellor.
Kellor was in the section where Mage training techniques were listed. Here, his attention was fixed on a label that read: "Civilian Mass Spell Casting Training."
"My Lord, I think this might come in handy…"
Nodding, Daneel touched this one, too, to see its details.
"Civilian Mass Spell Casting Training: A method to train large numbers of people without prior military experience to take part in a joint spell casting activity.
Pros:
-If executed well, high power of resultant spell
-Gives citizens the feeling of belonging to something they can see
Cons:
-Need to have a subset of citizens who all have a minimum level of Mage skills
-Requires long periods of training
Notes: -Implemented in a certain Kingdom of the Empire, where it was a partial success. Needs to be tweaked more."
The moment Daneel read it, he understood why Kellor had been attracted to it.
The Elves!
Patting his Grand Court Mage's shoulder, Daneel said, "Take the details, Kellor. You'll be responsible for this. See if it's even possible for us to apply something like this."
After he filled the data trinket for Kellor, too, Daneel just couldn't wipe the smile off of his face.
He had to say that he was very, very satisfied with how useful this meeting had already turned out to be.
As for the rest, the commanders were captivated by all military formations, and, according to them, they would need time and in-depth study to decide on the best ones to prioritize. So, Daneel handed all the data regarding that section over.
Finally, Elanev was also given everything from the Fighter Techniques section, along with a special goal: to shortlist the best Fighter techniques that could be given to the army to make it stronger.
After this delegating of duties was done, all 8 Sovereignz sat back down in their seats with their eyes still shining.
They still couldn't believe that they sere actually in possession of so much 'wealth' that would be coveted by any force in the Central Continent.
Daneel had already chosen his 'area of focus', too: he was going to study all the Champion Paths available, along with the Paragon Constructs. In the short run, these two were the things which would benefit him the most. Even though he was inclined to wait for the final seal to break to gain access to the best Champion Paths, he still wanted to acquaint himself deeply with everything that was available.
Addressing the Council, Daneel said, "Now that all of you have your assignments, I would like to remind you about one additional matter. We currently have three special, secret forces."
"Three?"
Hearing this, the 8 whispered among themselves. How could there be three?
The King answered their question.
"The first one is the Domination Corps, which will be remotely guided by Luther. The second is our secret Mage Force, which the world thinks doesn't exist."
"What do you mean, My Lord? I've examined those Mages. They really did lose their Mageroots."
Shaking his head, Daneel said. "I think I forgot to mention this, then. Why would I do something like that to my own soldiers when everything was in the palm of my hand? Their Mageroots are merely 'hibernating'. With a jolt, they can be awakened. However, all suspicion must first be removed. So, they are living their lives normally, for now. After a period of time, an initiative by the government will give them all 'special' jobs in the Palace, where they will begin training anew. Kellor, Cassandra and Aran: you'll be in charge of that."
By now, the King shocking them had become such a common thing that almost no one even flinched when they heard this revelation. Instead, they took it for granted, as that was what they had come to expect.
But…that made only two.
"The third is the small Warrior squadron made up of all the intruders who so kindly decided to invade Lanthanor. They're still being 'reformed', but after that is done, they will be swearing Oaths to serve Lanthanor. They will be our most secret hidden knife: no one can know that they exist."
This news actually made wistful smiles appear on the faces of most of the 8 Sovereigns.
A Warrior Squadron!
That was something that was unheard of in the Central Continent.
Yet, they were now in possession of one.
Lanthanor…really was starting to accumulate a level of hidden strength that would startle anyone and everyone when revealed.
Daneel's agenda was done, for now, so he chose to disperse the meeting.
"Let's meet again after these matters have been finalized. Everyone is dismissed. Faxul, stay back."
Daneel had been giving thought to Faxul's idea, and, in the process, he had come across a problem that he had missed before.
After everyone else left, he said, "Faxul, like I said, I like your plan, but there is a problem."
"Hmm?"
"Well, everyone already knows of the relationship between us. Even if an attack does happen, it might look…choreographed, and I will be suspected to be someone aiming to unite the Central Continent. Besides, they know that my 'master', and my former commander is in charge of the Hidden Kill Sect. It will raise too many red flags, and put too much of a spotlight on me. We need to avoid that. Even if the fake attack is carried out perfectly, suspicion will still definitely rise. Already, there are a few suspicions, so it might not be best to take a risk."
Daneel was thinking of that 'Head' when he said this. According to the Hero, he was someone terrifying who would definitely notice something amiss in a common plan like this.
The problem was that a pattern would form, which was noticeable.
So…he had to break the pattern.
"How about if the Black Raven Kingdom allies with the Hidden Kill Sect?"
"Same problem. It will still look suspicious because of my ties. Something…completely different should happen."
"Like what?", asked Faxul, scratching his head.
He was at his wit's end. Weren't these the only options they had? What else could be done?
At that moment, Daneel got a daring idea.
"Axelor."
"Excuse me, what?", exclaimed Faxul, sure that he had heard wrong.
Yet, Daneel only repeated the word.
"Axelor. Consider this. No one else knows about what has happened with the Empire Spirit. And Axelor is completely closed off to the entire Central Continent. What if…you act as if you are the Empire Spirit, and get in the good graces of the Empire Spirit who is present and active in Axelor?"
"Is that even possible?!"
"Drakos says so. The Empire Spirit's consciousness is available to you. He says you can access it to learn all the mannerisms, etc of that crazy Raven."
The more Daneel thought about it, the more it made sense.
He could find solutions for other problems in other ways. Yet, this was a golden opportunity to enter that closed Kingdom which was sealed off to all.
And…this was certainly a way to break the pattern.