Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 567 - 503: Arms Dealer and Organic Gemstone

A month and a half passed swiftly.

As spring gradually arrived, the northern defense island chain, guarding the "King of Sea Monsters," enjoyed a rare hint of greenery. Although devoid of any advanced plants, only the smallest and most humble, yet the most resilient mosses and lichens thrived here.

"Uha!"

"Uha!"

During this period, wave after wave of troops under the "Tempest Church" banner gathered here. As of today, their numbers had surpassed fifty thousand, suggesting that this defense of the King of Sea Monsters was poised to become a phase battle of the Black Sea Divine Authority.

Among these troops were sea elves, with dense algae-like long hair, ears replaced by fins, sharp teeth, and an appearance resembling beautiful women;

Storm giant spirits, the shortest exceeding three meters, with blue skin covered in strange patterns, surrounded by constant flashes of lightning;

Souls of Drowning, bearing a translucent dark blue body, adorned in attire from various eras, seemingly made of mist or water;

And the most numerous, the primary force—Rapids Fishmen, tall, strong, with gills, scales, and webbed limbs;

Of course, there were also various wild sea monsters, some under the banner of the Black Sea Goddess, others summoned by the "King of Sea Monsters."

In contrast, there were few human priests of "Tempest Church" at the extraordinary level, primarily serving as managers within the camps. Clearly, the church's rebuilding time was too short, and there was a severe shortage of clergy capable of contributing to combat.

As for the elite subordinates of the Pirate King, who should have been an important component, not a single one was seen.

Fisher's words about a superficial harmony seemed more than mere talk.

However.

During this time, no single strong-looking species on the island was the focus of preparation for this extraordinary warfare. The focus was on the metal house on an unnamed island within the defense chain.

Amidst the storm giants who gathered upon hearing the news,

Aiven, wearing a wizard's robe, held a three-meter-long silver staff, which seemed to have no distinct features other than its thickness and hardness, and swung it fiercely.

Instantly, the disordered electric light output by the "Life Magnetic Field," under the influence of the staff, formed a massive bundling effect, twisting the tiny sparks into a violent thunderbolt.

Boom—!

Even though it was several meters away, a large reef serving as the target was blasted into pieces by the brilliant thunderbolt.

During its discharge process, accompanied by the triple threat of high temperature, a shockwave from the rapid expansion of air, and high-voltage current, the reef couldn't withstand it, let alone flesh and blood!

The blue light patterns densely covering the silver staff slowly receded, waiting for the user's next activation.

Under the eager gaze of the audience, Aiven, like a product manager at a new release, passionately spoke to stir the consumption desire of these potential customers:

"The power of our specially developed [Standard Equipment: Thunderstorm Staff] for the storm giants, you've all witnessed.

Additionally, it can connect the power of several storm giants to unleash a powerful electric shock unbearable even for large species."

There was noticeable agitation among the audience at this moment.

"For such a mighty weapon, you don't need to spend three or four thousand, nor even one or two thousand—only 998! You heard right, just 998! And the unit is silver coins.

What are you all still hesitating for?

The greatest tragedy in life is being gone while the money remains. Buying weapons isn't consumption; it's investing in your life!"

Each of these storm giant spirits, capable of solo combat with small species sea monsters after maturing, was an expert in managing lightning. Naturally, they saw the advantages of this weapon, and with such a "Thunderstorm Staff" to aid them, their race would undoubtedly be even more formidable.

Moreover, it was clearly capable of mass production, allowing military formation use, where the effect should be more than one plus one being greater than two.

"We accept all kinds of payment methods, with limited supply, first come, first served!" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Aiven's following words directly shattered the last hesitation among the storm giants.

"Give me one."

"I want one too; I'll pay with ancient gold coins!"

"I was here first, give it to me first; I have flawless aquamarines!"

"..."

As the group of storm giant spirits began arguing, it was like thunder was being orchestrated, while Aiven, observing the scene, was laughing so hard that his jaw almost dislocated.

"Cash and carry, it's yours."

"It's yours."

The individual members under the "Tempest Church" banner, strong yet with a less civilized heritage, had all kinds of traditional bone and stone weapons that couldn't compare to the steel weapons and wizard creations produced by humans.

No one knew what exactly the upper-rank wizard "Steel Man," who built the "Alchemy Workshop," was up to. The workshop integrated its own armory, capable of mass cold weapon production using assembly lines.

Due to limited energy, the arms dealer Aiven focused on two main types of military supplies:

The lower-end products were long-handled armor-piercing awls for the tempest fishmen, with triangular steel awls featuring terrifying blood grooves, offering minimal water resistance—absolutely lethal for fishmen targeting large creatures.

This lower-end product was procured in bulk through channels led by Bishop Fisher.

The high-end product was this [Standard Weapon: Thunderstorm Staff] for storm giant spirits. Using the mature product "lightning rod," which could assist and constrain the human life magnetic field, it was a robust weapon aiding storm giants in manipulating their inherent lightning, virtually custom-made.

However, Aiven held back when dealing with the aliens; although the Armor-Piercing Awl was sharp, it wasn't treated for corrosion. If left in seawater for too long, it would surely begin to rust away.

Though the Thunderstorm Staff falls under the category of Extraordinary Weapons, it possesses a specific deep sleep mechanism. In the future, if an enemy were to remotely activate the deep sleep mechanism, it would be rendered useless.

Even though an alliance had been formed between both parties, as a qualified Navy Officer, it was still essential to take precautions.

In reality.

After arriving at the defensive island chain, while routinely deploying the Sea Birds for reconnaissance, Aiven quickly discovered that the coastal area of the polar region was rich in deposits of coal, iron, copper, silver, and diamonds, which could provide the main materials for his armament manufacturing.

Luckily, the island had sufficient labor. Using them to mine various minerals, then processing and selling them back, Aiven executed a series of clever maneuvers, profiting greatly.

Aiven hadn't forgotten that at the beginning of last year, these guys had annihilated an entire Great Treasure Fleet, and the gold and silver they had on hand were enough to build houses with.

"Pfft—"

In the Alchemy Workshop, Olivia withdrew her gaze from the window with a smile, finding it rare to see such a shrewd side of Aiven, and indeed entertaining.

She then lowered her head, her hands moving quickly and precisely, finishing the final gemstone-setting work on a pair of matching rings, one large and one small.

During this period, their research project on "Standardized Gemstone Industry" had already shown preliminary results.

They first continued to stimulate the original "Gem Shells" to reproduce furiously. Although each felt exhausted, it provided Aiven and Olivia with enough excellent host bases for creating Demonized Creatures.

Then they demonized them. As long as they survived the extremely low probability of demonization, becoming Demonized Gem Shells, everything would no longer be a problem.

As they selected superior breeds, they faced another formidable enemy—time.

However, since the Vitalist School could stimulate plant growth, they could certainly stimulate animals as well. Moreover, through directed induced mutation, they saved a lot of time that would have been spent on ineffective breeding screening.

With feasible ideas in hand, Wizards equipped with various magical witchcrafts turned their thoughts into reality with an efficiency scientists could hardly match.

In no time, they found one Gem Shell among the first batch of Demonized Gem Shells that perfectly met their expectations. Utilizing its traits of self-reproduction and cross-reproduction, they encouraged its development and propagation by all means.

In less than two months, it grew to the size of a washbasin, its crystal-clear shell surface sprouting clusters of gemstone crystals, trailing behind a group of smaller Gem Shells the size of bowls, all stable genetic clones of its kind.

Aiven introduced specific substances into their environment, making them no longer grow colorful mixed gemstones as before, but rather pure gemstones of a single variety.

In the first batch of experimental gemstones, the two chose rubies and sapphires.

Rubies refer to corundums that are red or pink in color.

Sapphire originally means blue corundum, as this color is the most common. In fact, sapphires include all corundums except for red ones, such as green, yellow, purple, colorless, etc.

Corundum (AL2O3) is colorless and transparent, but when it contains trace elements, it acquires color, appearing red when containing chromium, blue when titanium and iron are present, green when iron is present, and yellow when iron and nickel are present.

Thus, these two types of gemstones were the simplest for them; just by adding a specific metal element alongside aluminum elements, they could be created.

Beyond the material composition, Olivia invented the "Quenching Demon" process. By introducing "Magic Element" during the growth of synthetic gemstones, these organic gemstones acquired traits similar to those of natural mineral gemstones.

Moreover, because a stable living environment had been provided for the Gem Shells, the characteristics of the gemstones they produced were highly consistent, with the quality of the gemstones (concentration of Magic Element) increasing as the physiological age of the Gem Shells increased.

Ultimately, describing it was simple, but the two of them endured countless hardships in between.

Finally, their efforts paid off.

Today, the first batch of sapphire clusters produced by that original maternal Gem Shell had reached the minimum standard for Witchcraft Gemstones, and the two eagerly harvested them.

They obtained a dozen or so organic gemstones, both large and small, looking even purer than natural sapphires.

After placing the original maternal body back in the water, the mantle membrane beneath the shell would continue to secrete and precipitate new gemstone clusters, and since the mollusks never shed their shells, the gemstones produced in the future would only get bigger and better.

Now Olivia selected two of the best-quality gemstones and personally crafted them into a pair of rings.

"Ha, it's done!"

Having doubled as an arms dealer, Aiven happened to join the girl, gently embracing her waist from behind and whispering in her ear:

"What's done?"

"Close your eyes, there's a surprise!"

Aiven chuckled and followed the instruction gladly.

The girl picked up the larger one, carefully chose Aiven's left hand, and finally slid it onto his ring finger.

"Done."

Aiven opened his eyes and saw the new ring on his ring finger, and a silent laugh escaped him.

The middle finger symbolizes being in love, while the ring finger represents being married.

At the same time, the girl mischievously shook her right hand, a matching ring on her ring finger.

"Haha, I don't really mind, as long as you dare to wear it home like this, I'll dare to immediately go to my brother Duke to propose!"

Hearing this, Olivia's delicate eyebrows immediately tilted upwards.

There was a hint of menace!