When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 538: Chapter 420: Aiwass: I Know Everything Chapter 538: Chapter 420: Aiwass: I Know Everything “…I understand,” Aiwass took a deep breath, holding the small crow that had huddled itself into his embrace with both hands.

He lowered his head and playfully teased the crow’s head with his index finger while casually saying, “You’ve given the people of Star Antimony a large number of orders.

The alchemists, having never seen such a display before, thought a big business had come their way, and kept increasing the scale of taking in apprentices and expanding production.

“And the King of Star Antimony, ‘Valentine VII’, initially failed to realize the problem.

He blindly increased the state’s sponsorship of alchemists, training a large number of Transcendents into alchemists.

“—Soon, the alchemists were overwhelmed as the market quickly became saturated…

or, should I say, your orders had already saturated it.

“And with a continuous stream of alchemists graduating from academies, the state had to continually supply these young alchemists with a hefty amount of sponsorship money.

A third energy level alchemist could receive a grant of two hundred gold coins a month.

But with the market already saturated, this led to an overabundance of alchemical products within Star Antimony.

“The experimentation and development of alchemical products require significant investment, and with enough competitors of similar research progress, it’s quite possible that by the time a research project is halfway done, another house has already completed production.

Thus, their research is either directly scrapped or forced into the market in an imperfect state…

I’m guessing correctly, aren’t I?”
“—You are indeed exceedingly wise, Minister,” Geront gently conceded, even proactively adding, “With an overabundance of supplies and a decline in quality, we certainly had to reduce the purchase price.

You should also understand that this is not our fault.

It was the mistake of His Majesty the King, who was too impatient, and it’s not our place to compensate for that.”
“Yes, so you reduced the order scale,” Aiwass spoke softly while stroking the crow.

“And this was the spark that lit everything.

“In the alchemy profession, unless you’re at the top of the market, you’re basically losing money.

More and more young alchemists, attracted by the lucrative profits of the profession, either on their own volition or through coercion, joined in, quickly putting financial strain on Star Antimony’s treasury.

“And the Royal Alchemy Association, having greatly improved its status and influence with the substantial profits from the previous decades, and without the King of Star Antimony possessing the force of the Path of Authority, had no way to forcibly control the situation.

This left Star Antimony struggling to cancel the sponsorship system or reduce grants…

thus, they chose to increase taxes, which directly led to a hike in tax revenues.

“But even so, the excess of alchemists caused the cost of materials to keep rising; a large number of lower-level alchemists squeezed the market, causing everyone’s income to fall.

With alchemy workshops going bankrupt and alchemists losing their jobs…

they gradually became irritable.

And their attempt to alleviate the pressure within the industry was to shift the burden onto the botanists who supplied materials, using their own power.”
So, the “King” was continuously pressed by the Alchemy Association to lower prices.

They even pushed it to the point where selling materials was no longer profitable, and they had to sell at a loss.

And they had to sell to channels other than the designated suppliers…

It’s unlikely that the “King” smuggling goods during the ascension ceremonies would be alone; there would certainly be many more like him attempting to smuggle overseas.

And this would further increase the cost of alchemical products.

This is exactly why Star Antimony would, through the Lohar Society and Minister Drost’s connections, continue to smuggle large quantities of alchemical products into Avalon.

—Because they had accumulated so much stock that they were going insane.

The Goblin Commerce Association virtually monopolized the trade ports, and even if lines could be seized, it was difficult to open up new markets in other countries.

Moreover, they knew virtually nothing about those unfamiliar markets, and rash entry into them would likely only lead to losses.

Even under such circumstances, Star Antimony still decided to start from Avalon’s side to open the western trade routes.

This indicates that they were pushed to their limit.

Star Antimony might seem all-powerful, but they were already on the brink of collapse.

They could not withstand even the smallest defeat in war, so they always dared not truly engage in war with the Iris Flower, instead mobilizing their entire nation’s strength to suddenly attack and seize Avalon.

After taking Avalon, they completely ignored this land…@@novelbin@@

One of the main reasons was to obtain the “claim” of the Silver Dragon’s kin.

With this title and the Pillar God’s guarantee, they were able to contact other countries for trade.

After all, news across the sea is hard to transmit timely, but Angel Envoys could teleport freely within the temples.

Only with the protection and recognition of an Angel Envoy could the people of Star Antimony initiate trade; and their choice to take the protection of a Pillar God was probably to avoid being targeted and interfered with by the elves.

Additionally, they probably realized the Crown Lord’s dissatisfaction with Avalon and saw it as an excellent opportunity for a geopolitical takeover.

Another reason was that what they wanted was only Avalon’s western port.

That was not Glass Island—Glass Island is in the southeastern corner of Avalon.

Thus Glass Island was abandoned and became desolate…

At first, Aiwass thought it was due to the influence of the Shadowy Celestial Marshal, but now it seems that’s not entirely the case.

Because the people of Star Antimony weren’t focusing on Glass Island!

Their ultimate goal was still to resolve the internal pressures of their own nation.

They could collaborate with Avalon, just as Emma suggested.

In this timeline, Avalon now seemed to be thriving.

Aiwass’s influence was very strong, and the Grand Arbitrator Meg had not been killed by the Red Chancellor.

The people of Star Antimony dared not directly wage war against Avalon, so they chose cooperation.