Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong seemed to sense the stirring emotions in the heart of the noble lady and turned back to look at her.

Hilveld also turned back and smiled slightly at him.

”Thank you, Lord Captain.”

”No need to say that,” Fang Hong replied, ”This is my dream.”

”It’s our dream.”

”Yes,” Fang Hong nodded, ”Ours.”

In the following days, Hilveld, Kalatu, and Tianlan busied themselves with the Tansnier Commerce Guild discussing the procurement of magic oak. It was mentioned earlier that magic oak and blackwood are regulated substances across the countries in Eteliria, initially intending to pay several times the cost.

However, due to the Grand Princess’s approval, it became much easier, and the Tansnier Commerce Guild was very courteous during discussions, selling them a batch of magic oak with excellent quality at market price.

Still, the transaction required time, and a series of commercial contracts needed signing, keeping everyone incredibly busy these days.

This matter left Fang Hong feeling indebted to Princess Rupert.

Fortunately, they just needed to fulfill the task entrusted by Her Highness the Princess.

However, he mentioned wanting to meet the runaway slave, who was currently in Bargo; the Princess had sent someone to escort him, and it would take at least a few days to reach Tansnier.

Thus, these few days he found himself idly free.

Of course, ”free” is relative; although procurement had little to do with him, he was, after all, the captain and naturally could not completely detach himself. Additionally, having not left Tansnier, he certainly had to fulfill his promise to Lady Aierna, assisting her in researching the Fairy Master matter.

In fact, these days he was constantly traveling between the shipyard and the Alchemists Association, becoming acquainted with the artisans from the Tansnier Alchemists Association.

Due to his dramatic relationship with the Chairwoman, he became quite famous within the local association, and many jokingly wondered if he intended to apply as the Chairwoman’s advisor.

Only Aierna knew they were constructing a floating ship.

In addition to research, she privately inquired about the Colin Royal Family’s secret spies, but since that day, they hadn’t caused any further trouble.

Fang Hong thought the Prime Minister’s people were unlikely to be so magnanimous and speculated that the Grand Princess must have taken action behind the scenes.

However, while the Grand Princess might quiet the royal spies in Istania, it couldn’t influence the Descendants of Flor or the Super Competitive League’s people, uncertain when their next move would come.

Now, the only hope rested on the ’Seven Seas Traveler’ being launched soon.

After leaving Colin Ishurian, they wouldn’t have too many concerns.

Though ideally thinking this, the progress in shipbuilding was not speeding up at all, proceeding routinely. Waiting for raw materials was one aspect; in fact, they first needed to finalize the designs.

The design blueprint left by Hilveld’s grandfather for the ’Seven Seas Traveler’ was ready made. However, their ’Seven Seas Traveler’ was not, although the template was decided early on, with the approximate length, width, and choice of sails thoroughly discussed numerous times.

Yet, the internal layout, along with countless details, still needed to be determined one by one.

Fang Hong himself had some ideas, but the Seven Seas Travel Group was a team, and everyone had their own opinions. Tianlan, Elisa, and Ai Xiaoxiao were chattering in the empty workshop at the shipyard about how the ’Seven Seas Traveler’ should be, like a thousand sparrows flying around the docks.

Parker and Luo Hao occasionally interjected, with the former only concerned about how large the kitchen and provisions storage should be, whether there would be a new oven, allowing him to enjoy luxurious meals onboard.

Would there be a freezer to preserve fresh food and fruits? Would there be a wine cellar to let him get intoxicated during the journey?

Fatty Luo’s opinions were more measured, mostly considering practical aspects.

He proposed that the team should be centered around Fang Hong, and a team with an alchemist at the core should fully utilize this advantage.

Upon reaching Level 20, artisans begin to transition from the novice phase; when they start using magic furnaces to smelt and construct materials, the previous ’handicraft workshop’ alchemical processes naturally become obsolete.

From this stage onward, alchemy transforms into an extremely complex field, with many different categories. Merely handling materials involves distinguishing dozens of categories.

One vital component during this phase of alchemy and artisan production is the extraction of materials.

Contemporary alchemical materials are roughly categorized into a few types:

Minerals, animal products, plant products, and magic power products.

They sound quite simple, yet the methods of handling them differ greatly.

Take mineral materials as an example. Before Level 20, alchemists almost exclusively used ready-made materials—the copper, iron, aluminum, silver, or gold, as well as various common alloys they used, were pre-smelted metal materials, eliminating the need for extraction and refinement.

But post-Level 20, alchemy production typically requires many advanced materials; these advanced materials are usually very rare, requiring alchemists to acquire them themselves. Upon acquisition, they then need to process them themselves.

Managing these materials inevitably isn’t as simple as opening the Artisan System and dealing with them by hand; it often requires an entire procedure with specialized tools. And the higher the grade and rarity of the materials, the more stringent the requirements.